Hi lancebaynes87!

 On 2011.09.29 at 04:28:18 -0700, lancebaynes87 wrote next:

> SOLUTION #2
> if we install the:
> 
> http://www.osst.co.uk/Download/scientific/6rolling/x86_64/iso/SL-61-x86_64-2011-07-27-Install-DVD.iso.torrent
> 
> that's a "rolling release". Now I haven't used any "rolling release" based Linux distros so I don't know what that exactly means. Q: does it mean that if I install it once, then I never have to re-install it again because of a version upgrade, ex.: Scientific-Linux 7 comes out, and neither do I need to "dist-upgrade"? - Because rolling release means that there is no more version numbers?

Well I'd say that rolling release concept isn't strictly related to your
need, so you can ignore the fact it's "rolling" for now. It has more to
do with the way versions are set and flows of package updates.

There is no automatic migration to SL7 once it's out (well, most
likely), and manual upgrade isn't recommended, there is no dist-upgrade
equivalent. You will most likely have to reinstall. However, this 6 year
long support is for SL6 alone, it means that for 6 years you can stay on
SL6 (6.1, 6.2, etc - updating between these is very painless, also kind
of optional if there is no need), without reinstalling anything.


The other question is that lot of desktop needs require fresher distro,
not 6 year old, so using SL6 in 2017 on desktop might be a bit annoying,
so to say; therefore, if it's about desktop, you might want to reinstall
to SL7 soon after it's out, maybe in 2 or 3 years or something. However,
this depends on usage patterns of your systems and you can ignore this
for now, too.

SL6 seems to be great for your needs, so just install 6.1 and start
using it, you can understand all these rolling release concepts and
others later, as they won't affect you for now.

-- 

Vladimir