Rating: 
Summary: Almost perfect - so close
Review: I have been using various Linux distributions for years and RedHat 9 is finally what I consider to be a excellent, professional-looking product that is fairly easy to use.
My only complaint is the fact that you must pay an annual maintenance fee to continue to use the "up2date" program. In these days of computer security awareness, installing software patches is extremely important to having a 'secure' computer. "Up2date" simplifies this task so you don't have to put much thought into keeping your Linux updated. People often think that Linux=Security, but if I have to continue to pay for updates - then I will be disappointed. I understand that these companies need to make money, but I don't think computer security should be the basis for profit.
Rating: 
Summary: Tell Bill Gates where to stick his licensing fees
Review: I only started to use Linux (starting with Red Hat 8.1) in May of 2003, but as of writing this in the following July, I can say that I was hooked from day one. The latest Mac commercials say that "Anything you can do on a PC, you can do on a Mac. And more." Add another more for Red Hat Linux.Integration with Windows XP is absolutely seamless. Because MS likes wiping out your hard drive's master boot record, it is necessary to partition using the XP installation disk first for three partitions. One will be NTFS for the XP install. Second will be a FAT32 partition, considering that Linux can't write to NTFS. The third will be simply blank, that will go to your Linux partitions. Once the XP install is done, you can install Linux by using Disk Druid (included in the installation disks) to split the third partition into what you need (ext3, swap, etc.). Tell the guy who says that fdisk won't work with XP that he's right and wrong. It won't work, and you don't need it. Red Hat comes with all the programs you need. OpenOffice.org handles just about any MS Office file with ease. If you've ever used any web browser, Mozilla doesn't even need to be learned. GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is far better than anything when prices are compared. It does everything that a Paint Shop Pro-level program would do for FREE. Quanta Plus for KDE is equal to or better than Macromedia HomeSite. Best of all, Linux in itself is a stable and secure open-source operating system. All programs have bugs, and Linux programs are no exception. Regardless, you won't find yourself restarting three times daily because of the blue screen of death. In fact, I highly suggest using the included "BSOD" screen saver to laugh at your former agony. Open source also means that you have the entire Linux community at your hands if anything ever goes wrong, rather than just a few-hundred overpaid Microsoft programmers. Somebody once said, "If you want your words read, write error messages for Microsoft." I've only found two real problems. The first is that Red Hat doesn't include support for MPEG video or MP3 compression, notwithstanding that it's way too easy to simply download programs that will play such files. Second is the current lack of games available for Linux. Even I run Windows, but it's only for nothing more than games. As far as drivers are concerned, the only big problems you'll find are on network controllers, software-controlled modems, and certain brands of printers. Epson and HP have the best track record in this respect, and LinuxPrinting.org rates the Epson Stylus C82 as the best Linux printer out there. NONE of these problems deserve me docking a star off a 5-star rating. Linux has already sliced up a huge share of Microsoft's hold on the server market, and within the next five to ten years many expect it to start accelerating its pace at the home and business market. The open source revolution is only getting started. Microsoft's claims to fame with Windows Server 2003's security can be easily read as a huge desperation move. They're about to lose, and they know it. Home users are next. Jump on the bandwagon, everyone! If the Internet was a revolution, the next one is Linux. Don't listen to the naysayers; you'll never regret spending just forty bucks on this. I know I didn't.
Rating:
Summary: Tell Bill Gates where to stick his licensing fees
Review: I only started to use Linux (starting with Red Hat 8.1) in May of 2003, but as of writing this in the following July, I can say that I was hooked from day one. The latest Mac commercials say that "Anything you can do on a PC, you can do on a Mac. And more." Add another more for Red Hat Linux. Integration with Windows XP is absolutely seamless. Because MS likes wiping out your hard drive's master boot record, it is necessary to partition using the XP installation disk first for three partitions. One will be NTFS for the XP install. Second will be a FAT32 partition, considering that Linux can't write to NTFS. The third will be simply blank, that will go to your Linux partitions. Once the XP install is done, you can install Linux by using Disk Druid (included in the installation disks) to split the third partition into what you need (ext3, swap, etc.). Tell the guy who says that fdisk won't work with XP that he's right and wrong. It won't work, and you don't need it. Red Hat comes with all the programs you need. OpenOffice.org handles just about any MS Office file with ease. If you've ever used any web browser, Mozilla doesn't even need to be learned. GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is far better than anything when prices are compared. It does everything that a Paint Shop Pro-level program would do for FREE. Quanta Plus for KDE is equal to or better than Macromedia HomeSite. Best of all, Linux in itself is a stable and secure open-source operating system. All programs have bugs, and Linux programs are no exception. Regardless, you won't find yourself restarting three times daily because of the blue screen of death. In fact, I highly suggest using the included "BSOD" screen saver to laugh at your former agony. Open source also means that you have the entire Linux community at your hands if anything ever goes wrong, rather than just a few-hundred overpaid Microsoft programmers. Somebody once said, "If you want your words read, write error messages for Microsoft." I've only found two real problems. The first is that Red Hat doesn't include support for MPEG video or MP3 compression, notwithstanding that it's way too easy to simply download programs that will play such files. Second is the current lack of games available for Linux. Even I run Windows, but it's only for nothing more than games. As far as drivers are concerned, the only big problems you'll find are on network controllers, software-controlled modems, and certain brands of printers. Epson and HP have the best track record in this respect, and LinuxPrinting.org rates the Epson Stylus C82 as the best Linux printer out there. NONE of these problems deserve me docking a star off a 5-star rating. Linux has already sliced up a huge share of Microsoft's hold on the server market, and within the next five to ten years many expect it to start accelerating its pace at the home and business market. The open source revolution is only getting started. Microsoft's claims to fame with Windows Server 2003's security can be easily read as a huge desperation move. They're about to lose, and they know it. Home users are next. Jump on the bandwagon, everyone! If the Internet was a revolution, the next one is Linux. Don't listen to the naysayers; you'll never regret spending just forty bucks on this. I know I didn't.
Rating:
Summary: Serious Desktop Alternative to Windows
Review: I own XP and I do like it very much -- but I also want to expand my OS options and I really do like Red Hat 9 among other Linux distros. Here is my review:
1. Red Hat 9 is better than RH8 in the areas of MUCH IMPROVED fonts (in all applications, esp, in mozilla browser, it is clear and sharp), STABILITY (no more strange lockups), and SPEED (applications pop up faster). Plus Red Hat 9 easily installed and found all the drivers necessary for my HP ZE1115 notebook. Even though I have RH8, I can recommend heartily RH9 to others.
2. Red Hat 9 is better than other Linux distros I tried (Mandrake 9.0 and 9.1; SUSE 8.1). SUSE is NOT friendly to notebook installation and its font is not comparable to RH8 or RH9. Mandrake 9.1 is better than Mandrake 9.0, but still while it is improved, its font lacks RH9's sophistication. However, in Mandrake 9.1, you can import MS TTF automatically by clicking (a big plus), but not in Red Hat 9 (you still need to use shell command lines). In overall comparison, Red Hat 9 satisfied my needs better than all other distros.
3. Windows users should easily migrate to Linux especially using RH9 (b/c it is easy to install and desktop is much like windows). If you are not into games, but in everday computing (web surfing, word processing [OpenOffice.org is compatible with MS Office], and other needs, then RH 9 will not disappoint you. As a Windows user, I really like Linux's Virtual Desktop; literally you can have four (default setting) desktop and use each desktop according to your catagoriezation of work. Windows cannot do this. In sum, I think, anyone who tries RH9 will not be disappointed but will enjoy Linux's world with ease even those who are diehard Windows users.
Rating: 
Summary: Red Hat Linux is an absolute ZERO!! Read info
Review: I tried to like it. I really did, but a person does need a degree in computer science to install any new programs. The mp3 player is disabled, no video player, and incompatibility with most online programs out there. I don't like windows but I absolutely HATE Linux Redhat 9.0. I wanted to burn a CD of my work before I switched back to Windows, but even the damn CD burning program would'nt burn the CD. All it said was no data even though I moved the data I wanted to be burn't in the appropriate box. My father would say something is PISS POOR when it was the absolute lowest quality possible. Linux Redhat is truly a piss poor product. I threw out the CDs and now I am going back to Window Millenium because at least that works and I can actually get other programs to work with it. Piss Poor garbage! Buy Windows!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Redhat makes it easy.
Review: I use a custom built system K7ADA with AMD1600+, Gforce4 ti4200. I am also pretty new to linux. The one thing I can say is I didn't have a single problem installing Redhat9. I put RH on it's own HD, and it installed everything just fine. I started it up and everything worked great. It even recognized my gforce4 which was a nightmare on RH8. (but luckily nvidia's drivers are getting easier too.) IMHO this is a great distro for all people interested in linux. It has the ease of use for us begginers, but also comes with all the advanced stuff you'll want to learn later on. All in all a great OS!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful OS! Does So Much For So Little $$$!
Review: I was amazed - this is a very complete package. Besides a tight OS you get full-featured word processing, spreadsheet, presentation graphics, task management, web editing & browsing, e-mail, contact and organization software, fax software, CD burning software, multimedia, and on and on and on. It installed effortlessly on two computers, recognized everything and installed the proper drivers, and configuration is a piece of cake. About the only thing that requires any more than casual computer familiarity is the disk partitioning before you do the actual install but it is explained very well in the manual. All you have to do is read it and follow the steps. And it doesn't care if you change hardware or install on other computers. No codes to enable it and no disabling if it detects too many changes. I'm still running dual boot simply because I have a few program where I still need Windows so I can boot into either OS whenever I want or need. ... Unbelievable value!
Rating:
Summary: Good - but not perfect
Review: I was pleasently surprised by this distro. I performed side-by-side installations of Red Hat 9 and SuSe 8.2, and found them to be pretty comparable in ease of installation. Red Hat takes a bit more time to install, and, opposite SuSE, seems to prefer the GNOME desktop over KDE. However, unlike SuSE, Red Hat is a bit of a memory hog, both in terms of hard drive and RAM; it also does not provide as much in the way of multimedia as does SuSE. Bluecurve presents a nice, clean look to both KDE and GNOME. In the end, my major issue with this distro was its responsiveness; with 256 meg of RAM on my 933 MhZ system, Red Hat just was not as quick as SuSE . Still, I would not hesitate to recommend this distro to first-time Linux users.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Linux distribution, best I've work with.
Review: I was very impressed with this offering from Red Hat. The install was clean and simple, with no problems on my Dell 8200 (P4 2GHz, 512MB RDRAM, 40GB). Video and sound was working right out of the box. The install process was simple. Took me a little while to get my printers working the way I wanted, but nothing major. Linux is an operating system for experienced users, or a new user who is *really* willing to put in the time needed to learn a computer system. If you're an average user with no technical understanding of computers, and are looking for something stable and non-mico$oft, you'd be better off to look into Apple's Mac OS X. Having said that, I feel this is the best, most user friendly version of Linux I've ever worked on, and would highly recommend it to any experienced user.
Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone
Review: I've been a Linux user since 1993 and have been running Red Hat since 1995. Bottom line: Linux, frankly, isn't for everyone. If you're easily frustrated with technology, have more money than time, are satisfied with whatever comes out of the box, and don't mind security and privacy problems, then you're probably better off just sticking with whatever Microsoft puts in the box. Personally, I like a little more choice and a little more frugality, so Red Hat works for me. Their support has been good enough to get me over whatever glitches I've run into that I can't figure out on my own.
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