[daip] Question re AIPS compatibility with the latest RedHat rev

[Samuel Conner]

Dear Designated Aip,

  I am about to purchase a laptop PC and install Linux on it and after that, AIPS. For maximal compatibility with the network at the institution I am moving to, I've been advised to use RedHat rather than other linux distributions. 

  The nrao website notes a variety of compiler issues which I will take into account. The latest RedHat revision mentioned in the AIPS pages is "RedHat 9", which is no longer commercially available or supported by RedHat (though ISO images are still available for download).

  Unless there is a good reason not to, I would prefer to use the latest revision of RedHat for standalone PCs, which is "RedHat Professional". 

  I have two concerns:

1) is there any reason to believe that AIPS might not run properly under this version of Linux? If I have to, I could download ISO images of the early RH9, though I am a little intimidated by that, having not done it before.

2) Can I confidently use an older version of the gnu compilers, such as the gnu 2.95.3 revision, in more recent revisions of Linux?

I don't know enough about OSes to know whether these are stupid questions with perfectly obvious answers.

I appreciate your patience and help.

Sincerely yours,

Sam Conner