Red Hat, oops, I mean Fedora still sucks...
As you well know, from time to time I post my experiences with different distro installs and testing. I tried Redhat 9. 0 a long time ago and had nvidia and rpm problems. I just tried Fedora Core 3 the other day and nothing has changed.
As you well know, from time to time I post my experiences with different distro installs and testing. I tried Redhat 9.0 a long time ago and had nvidia and rpm problems. I just tried Fedora Core 3 the other day and nothing has changed. No, wait, I actually made it to the desktop this time without swapping video cards. Of course that was after the first install attempt froze because of samba, I had to start the install again and uncheck anything samba and voila, installation continued. Gnome sucks (except speed wise, I found it faster than KDE), plain and simple, too simple actually. Where is all the settings? Where is the windohs partition? I could 'see' windohs from Suse. I don't dare try a different desktop not 'native' to the distro. I have enough problems with the default desktop. So I am sittin' at the desktop thinkin' the picture is off center because the nvidia driver is not installed, down that dark, bumpy road I go. Fedora offers NO NVIDIA DRIVER, why? Suse makes you click yes to the user agreement, why can't Fedora do the same (I hate to say this but Billy G. is right about distros not taking heat for copyright infringement, blah blah blah)?. Fedora, legally, is a 'ghost' so they can't do the same as Suse, but wait a minute, I saw nvidia drivers in the Debian apt archives and Debian is a 'ghost' too. Did I mention Fedora sucks? Red Hat/Fedora is way over rated. So I go get the latest nvidia driver, and of course there is some, uh, lots of dependancy problems and manual file configuration JUST LIKE OLD WINDOHS! After screwing around for an hour, I can't get to the desktop anymore, JUST LIKE MY FIRST 'RED HAT' EXPERIENCE. So I deleted the partition to make room for Debian. I hear Debian has excellent package management, not to mention lots of 'em (packages). What newbies really need is a 'Suse like' distro with a GUI apt-get. RPM REALLY STANDS FOR RETARDED PACKAGE MANAGEMENT! Good thing I switched to cdrw's for iso burning, I got tired of throwing money in the garbage! Debian is 9 disks, thats right, you are not going blind, 9 disks. I will be trying Debian 3.0 r3 and installing lots of the 'newer' unstable stuff. By the way people, DON'T WAST YOUR TIME WITH THE DEBIAN 'NET INSTALL' CD IF YOU HAVE A DSL/PPPoe CONNECTION. PPPoe is not supported, it wanted me to use my modem (which I use for faxing only) or a 'cable' connection. Can you imagine installing a couple of GBs of Linux from the internet with a 56k modem? MY LORD, get real!
P.S. I am not sure it I posted my Mandrake 10.0 experience. It was a little better than Fedora but it is still based on the Red Hat/rpm model which I am starting to despise. I didn't like the corporate money grab attempts from the website. It wasn't that great that I would pay for support or anything else from them. Overall, I thought Mandrake 10.0 was ugly and confusing. I don't know why it is so popular. So far Suse is winning my 'desktop' but I find it lacking in cutting edge software and mutimedia. Stay tuned...
P.S. I am not sure it I posted my Mandrake 10.0 experience. It was a little better than Fedora but it is still based on the Red Hat/rpm model which I am starting to despise. I didn't like the corporate money grab attempts from the website. It wasn't that great that I would pay for support or anything else from them. Overall, I thought Mandrake 10.0 was ugly and confusing. I don't know why it is so popular. So far Suse is winning my 'desktop' but I find it lacking in cutting edge software and mutimedia. Stay tuned...
Participate on our website and join the conversation
This topic is archived. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast.
Responses to this topic
Ahem...Dylaar: Would give the history of computing, the world and GUI's one more time. As for my slow computer, DID YOU NOT READ THE PART WHERE I HAD A NEWER FASTER COMPUTER THAN THE PIII THAT I BUILT MYSELF. Did I once state my computer was fast? ONE MORE TIME FOR THE BLIND AND STUPID, KDE IS MORE OF A RESOURCE HOG THAN GNOME, NO MATTER WHAT F*CKING COMPUTER YOU ARE ON! Dude, unless you are a computer scientist from MIT, don't automatically assume people are stupid in here. I fix old and new computers with all the different flavours of windohs. I de-virus windohs when ALL the so-called antivirus softwares fail. NONE OF THIS I WENT TO SCHOOL FOR. As for the plug and play, most distros have excellent hardware detection and AUTOMATIC SETUP!
ReFoRMaT you can disagree with Dylaar or anyone else here all you want but please do it in a respectful way. There is nothing in Dylaar's post that warrants the inconsiderate way in which you responded. While at Linuxcompatible, please remember and practice the first rule of Net etiquette.
I highly respect you Dapper but...this dylaar character was calling me an idiot in a 'read between the lines' manner. Then to add insult to injury, he (I will assume it is male) had to verbally barf about my 'slow' computer. If he or anybody else cared to read the WHOLE thread carefully and NOT selectively, there would be no need for this conversation! My apologies to you and the OTHER posters. Delete my previous post if you feel you must.
I respect you as well ReFoRMaT, but I did read the whole thread, (and have enjoyed it) and didn't get that at all. It doesn't appear to me that Dylaar had the intention of doing anything other than trying to be helpful. Why don't we ask him about it?
Dylaar, were you purposely trying to insult ReFoRMaT?
Dylaar, were you purposely trying to insult ReFoRMaT?
You're almost always gonna run into some type of difficulty when you try to live on the very outside of the Linux envelope no matter what Distro you're using. Why do you think Patrick Volkerding is sticking with the 2.4 kernel in the upcoming 10.1 version of Slackware, and maybe even the 11.0 version?
Remember Jimf43's tremendous problem using the latest 2.6 kernel with Mepis? He lost a bunch of info on his ReiserFS partitions due to a bug no one was yet aware of.
I'm presently running two machines at work with Core 2, and with the updates, both are working as close to perfectly as I could ask. It's gonna take a while for Core 3 to get sorted out. When it is, that's when I'll upgrade.
You can avoid many problems in Linux by just staying one version behind the latest. If you drop back to Core 2 I'd be willing to bet you're Nvidia problems will go away.
Remember Jimf43's tremendous problem using the latest 2.6 kernel with Mepis? He lost a bunch of info on his ReiserFS partitions due to a bug no one was yet aware of.
I'm presently running two machines at work with Core 2, and with the updates, both are working as close to perfectly as I could ask. It's gonna take a while for Core 3 to get sorted out. When it is, that's when I'll upgrade.
You can avoid many problems in Linux by just staying one version behind the latest. If you drop back to Core 2 I'd be willing to bet you're Nvidia problems will go away.
It's interesting how our experiences differ. I'm running Core 3 right now. It's doing some funky things in the background right now, but has been generally stable. It is also the first distro I have been able to get my wireless card to work with, although it's with a third party driver (linksys WMP54gv4 card using the ralink driver). it locked up solid with ndiswrapper (stack issues). kinda reminds me of Windows!
I also have Mandrake 10 beta version running rock solid. However, it refuses to compile a generic kernel-source and won't conect my wireless card.
I have to agree with Dapper Dan, stay one version behind and you get a much more stable and flexible system.
I also have Mandrake 10 beta version running rock solid. However, it refuses to compile a generic kernel-source and won't conect my wireless card.
I have to agree with Dapper Dan, stay one version behind and you get a much more stable and flexible system.
I'm back and I don't care what you guys think, I have hung around enough chat rooms and assorted forums to know when somebody is being patronizing. Regardless, me and my SLOW computer have CALMED down now. Ok, enough with the yelling (talking to myself out loud).
I just might have found my perfect distro. I am in the process of downloading SimplyMepis04.06. It has KDE, mplayer (if I read one of many reviews right), apt-get/deb package management, native nvidia support and assorted other goodies. The only thing I am not to thrilled about is no Firefox browser 'right out of the box'. Guess I will 'deal' with that after the install. Somebody had suggested ProMepis (I believe it was Dapper) but after 'Googling' the difference between (strange how the difference is not stated on the Mepis site) Pro and Simply, I decided I don't need the extra 'serverware', etc. that comes with Pro (not yet anyway). I am praying to the Linux Gods that this is the 'one'. A common theme I am reading all around the internet is fed up windohs users waiting for a decent, bugfree (at least somewhat), functional and not so complicated that it takes weeks to get working distro. These same users have been down the path I am currently on and waiting in the wings, ready to pounce on such a distro.
I just might have found my perfect distro. I am in the process of downloading SimplyMepis04.06. It has KDE, mplayer (if I read one of many reviews right), apt-get/deb package management, native nvidia support and assorted other goodies. The only thing I am not to thrilled about is no Firefox browser 'right out of the box'. Guess I will 'deal' with that after the install. Somebody had suggested ProMepis (I believe it was Dapper) but after 'Googling' the difference between (strange how the difference is not stated on the Mepis site) Pro and Simply, I decided I don't need the extra 'serverware', etc. that comes with Pro (not yet anyway). I am praying to the Linux Gods that this is the 'one'. A common theme I am reading all around the internet is fed up windohs users waiting for a decent, bugfree (at least somewhat), functional and not so complicated that it takes weeks to get working distro. These same users have been down the path I am currently on and waiting in the wings, ready to pounce on such a distro.
I have to wait for the stores to open to buy a larger capacity writable disk. Dang Simply, simply don't fit on a cdrw. Jeeze, if it ain't one thing, it's another. (contraction: ain't (colloquial) am not, has not, have not, is not, are not - who ever said ain't, ain't in the dictionary?)
Guess what, I am posting this frrom ProMepis 'live'. Mepis makes Suse look like dog food. I am outta here to install it to the harddrive. Pro has a newer kernal than Simply AND (Pro) has Firefox. I want to especially thank DapperDan for steering me in the Mepis direction. I just hope the harddrive install goes as smooth as the 'live' boot up. I AM IN SHOCK AND AWE PEOPLE! Hey noobs, don't waste your time, money or disks on the other wannabe distros. Mepis is the 'poop' man!
I may have spoke to soon. Don't get me wrong, Mepis IS pretty cool but...nVidia problems again *sigh*. Got the driver to install in both versions but I can't change the refresh rate (higher). If you boot the install @ 800x600, that is the highest you will get AND an all time high of 60Hz in the drop down menu. Same goes for 1024, except for a highest refresh of 70Hz. I am posting this in Suse 9.1 @ 1024x768 with a refresh of 85Hz. I just don't understand why the driver installs in most distros, but is buggy as hell. Mepis is a 'heart in the right place' kind of situation. The 'Simply' was much more stable than the 'Pro' b04. In the Pro, my onboard ESS sound was terrible (excellent in other distros). I went to change it from 8bit to 16 bit and Pro locked up like a bank for a long weekend. I definitely like the look and 'style/thinking' behind Mepis but that is not enough to set my win2k install disk on fire with lighter fluid yet. Apt-get worked good for about 99% of the time. Apt is way better just for shear freedom of choice (even if some of it will crash your system). Limited software dictated by a corportation (Suse) sucks, gee sounds like somebody (M$) we all love to hate. I found Pro to be buggy and unstable, I chose not to install Apache Server for the first Pro install (I will install anything over and over to give it the benifit of the doubt) which caused me to not get on the internet even though I had a 'connection'. On the bright side I got my HL-1435 brother laser printer to work in Suse even though they say they don't support it (I chose the 1430 model in drivers). Now I will do my imitation of a stuck record, if only Suse had apt-get (I looked high and low in the packages and installing third party is a nightmare in Suse so I can't be that bothered). I am going to give SimplyMepis another bunch of installs to see if I can work the bugs out. If any body has had similar experience with the nVidia driver in SimpyMepis 2004.06, I beg of you, post the solution pllleeeeeeeaaazzze. My video card is a GeForce FX5200 128MBddr ('k, stop laughing anytime y'u'r' ready). One more thing, how do you shut off the graphical background boot once Mepis is installed, its all 'funhouse mirror' bent out of shape and annoying.
I've been using linux exclusively for some time now. About 3 years. The computer I am typing this on has only one operating system on it. Ubuntu. Its quite nice. And Gee, gnome is kinda like osx. At first I thought it was too simplistic, but after a while I was in awe of its speed, and elegance. This is my first expirence with gnome. It took me about an hour to figure out how to edit the menu but after that it has been smooth sailing. The computer rus responsively. BTW type nautilus applications:/// in a konsole to open the menu editor... right click to add a launcher. Took me a bit, and I don't know why its done that way considering the first thing I did was to add a menu editor option to the settings in the menu. Go here for an excellent guide to the distro: http://www.myjavaserver.com/~mike001/ubuntu/
Helps with everything I needed to get it all up and going just how I like it. It took a bit, but now I have a simple, elegant desktop and a fast feeling computer. It doesn't make a link to the windows partition if you have one but adding a line like:
/dev/hda2 /mnt/windows ntfs defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
Then it automatically puts the icon on the desktop, though I would delete the link.
Helps with everything I needed to get it all up and going just how I like it. It took a bit, but now I have a simple, elegant desktop and a fast feeling computer. It doesn't make a link to the windows partition if you have one but adding a line like:
/dev/hda2 /mnt/windows ntfs defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
Then it automatically puts the icon on the desktop, though I would delete the link.
Hi guys...
As long as we're sizing up new distros, I'm coming to you from Slackware 10. Just installed it this morning, and I'll have to say this is a vast improvement over the problems I ran into with Slack 9. Or it could be I'm just more experienced with Linux now.
Anyway, I found out that Slackware has a package management utility called, and this is priceless...
slapt-get!
It works almost exactly the same as apt in Debian or apt-get RPM in Fedora just with tarballs rather than Deb packages and RPMs.
I really like this! Slackware isn't nearly as difficult as I once thought it was, and it runs like a damn scalded dog! In fact, it feels like it runs better than Gentoo did on my system, and this still with the 2.4 kernel!
The hardware detection was excellent, and the text install is very easy to follow.
It seems to have a more "solid" feel than either SuSE 9.1 or ProMepis. My desktop of choice, IceWM installed without complaint as did Firefox. Java, flash, and realplayer plugins for Firefox were up and running in no time, and for a while, I'm gonna stick with Kmail over my longtime favourite, Evolution just for a change of pace.
This is a truly solid way to go with Linux. I feel very at home with Slackware, which is not the same feeling I ever got with all the other distros I've ever tried. Of course it's still early yet...
Slackware doesn't have all the GUI configuration utilities that SuSE, Fedora and Mandrake have but I'm willing to forgo a little convenience at this point to learn how to configure things manually.
The standard DE is KDE, but it also offers Gnome and XFCE. I can't say enough about how much I'm enjoying this. I still don't think Slackware is a good "newbie" distro, but once you have some Linux under your belt, I think you should definitely give Slackware a try!
As long as we're sizing up new distros, I'm coming to you from Slackware 10. Just installed it this morning, and I'll have to say this is a vast improvement over the problems I ran into with Slack 9. Or it could be I'm just more experienced with Linux now.
Anyway, I found out that Slackware has a package management utility called, and this is priceless...
slapt-get!
It works almost exactly the same as apt in Debian or apt-get RPM in Fedora just with tarballs rather than Deb packages and RPMs.
I really like this! Slackware isn't nearly as difficult as I once thought it was, and it runs like a damn scalded dog! In fact, it feels like it runs better than Gentoo did on my system, and this still with the 2.4 kernel!
The hardware detection was excellent, and the text install is very easy to follow.
It seems to have a more "solid" feel than either SuSE 9.1 or ProMepis. My desktop of choice, IceWM installed without complaint as did Firefox. Java, flash, and realplayer plugins for Firefox were up and running in no time, and for a while, I'm gonna stick with Kmail over my longtime favourite, Evolution just for a change of pace.
This is a truly solid way to go with Linux. I feel very at home with Slackware, which is not the same feeling I ever got with all the other distros I've ever tried. Of course it's still early yet...
Slackware doesn't have all the GUI configuration utilities that SuSE, Fedora and Mandrake have but I'm willing to forgo a little convenience at this point to learn how to configure things manually.
The standard DE is KDE, but it also offers Gnome and XFCE. I can't say enough about how much I'm enjoying this. I still don't think Slackware is a good "newbie" distro, but once you have some Linux under your belt, I think you should definitely give Slackware a try!
ReFoRMaT, your best bet is to simply stick with a distro, any distro, and get better at it. The more you bounce around, the harder it is to get any real "feel" for that distro or Linux in general. This is why some people try to virtualize Linux (using VMware or VirtualPC) within Windows or OSX before committing a machine to it so they can adjust to it.
Dapper Dan, when I used to cruise the Gentoo IRC channel, we had many Slack users that were checking us out, in addition to LFS users or people getting ready to go LFS. I like Gentoo because it installs lean, no matter what stage you use. I imagine Slackware is the same way. I guess I just got so used to Gentoo that I haven't had a need to try any other distro for personal use. Caution: most users to switch to "lean" distros like that rarely go back to ones like RH, SuSE, Mandy, etc. Hope you can adjust...
Dapper Dan, when I used to cruise the Gentoo IRC channel, we had many Slack users that were checking us out, in addition to LFS users or people getting ready to go LFS. I like Gentoo because it installs lean, no matter what stage you use. I imagine Slackware is the same way. I guess I just got so used to Gentoo that I haven't had a need to try any other distro for personal use. Caution: most users to switch to "lean" distros like that rarely go back to ones like RH, SuSE, Mandy, etc. Hope you can adjust...
"/dev/hda2 /mnt/windows ntfs defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1"
Tips and tricks are always welcome, thank you.
"As long as we're sizing up new distros, I'm coming to you from Slackware 10."
I have yet to try Slack', Gentoo, Ubuntu, some of the *oppix's and Damn Small.
"ReFoRMaT, your best bet is to simply stick with a distro, any distro"
Nah, what 'fun' would that be? If I did that, I would never find that 'comfortable shoe'. Besides some distros find most of my hardware better than others.
"the harder it is to get any real "feel" for that distro or Linux in general."
They all 'feel' just about the same depending on the kernel because the 'extras' 'satellite' the kernel. Some distros have better incorporation of 'extras' than others. I won't mention any names but some distros are a complete mess like they were assembled by drunks, ugly and disorganized.
Tips and tricks are always welcome, thank you.
"As long as we're sizing up new distros, I'm coming to you from Slackware 10."
I have yet to try Slack', Gentoo, Ubuntu, some of the *oppix's and Damn Small.
"ReFoRMaT, your best bet is to simply stick with a distro, any distro"
Nah, what 'fun' would that be? If I did that, I would never find that 'comfortable shoe'. Besides some distros find most of my hardware better than others.
"the harder it is to get any real "feel" for that distro or Linux in general."
They all 'feel' just about the same depending on the kernel because the 'extras' 'satellite' the kernel. Some distros have better incorporation of 'extras' than others. I won't mention any names but some distros are a complete mess like they were assembled by drunks, ugly and disorganized.
