solarian Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 (edited) Hi! Due to the recent happenings with Mandriva and Gael Duval in particular I've made up my mind that the next Linux release I'll install will be not Mandriva. The problem though is that I'm not really so familiar with other distros, been using Mandrake/Mandriva as my primary distro of choice since 9.1, although I've tried out Ubuntu, Knoppix, Kanotix, Mepis and a few other more obscure ones. I'm quite busy with work these months and have no time to learn to dig through config files to set everything up (Arch, Vector, etc), but I'm no newbie that needs a dumbed down windblows replacement, so no Linspire, Mepis, PClinuxOS for me too. I'm thinking between SuSE and Fedora Core, but maybe you could suggest some other. Please don't suggest Ubuntu, I have psychological incompatibility with it. I've got a few questions about SuSE and Fedora Core, please answer if you have the time. 1. mp3, divx, xvid, dvd support. Is it easy to set up those, i.e., just some driver install or smthing? 2. what about repos? which has more software available? is there anything like easy-urpmi? 3. the general quality, which of those two you think is more stable and bugless? 4. maybe there's anything else I should know? Thanks! Edited March 16, 2006 by solarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Mandrake/Mandriva was Red Hat based, therefore, you're probably best bet would be to use something along these lines or a derivative. Fedora is more or less the same as Red Hat, has yum as it's package manager, and pretty easy to use, and works more or less in the same way as urpmi. Cent OS is also a 1-1 Red Hat clone, and also has yum. This might be your best bet if you don't want to worry about where the config files exist. Unfortunately, I've not used it in much detail, but it did work easily, and I could find all the config files really easy. I only predominantly use Red Hat at work, and it's only got rpm for installing packages, not even yum or anything similar that works like urpmi. You can use this as a repository for Fedora: http://dag.wieers.com/packages/ he makes the rpms in case you can't get anything through yum and don't want to compile yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarian Posted March 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Thanks, Ian! Know anything about SuSE? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Never used SuSe :P I was going to download it a while ago, but then never got around to it. Arctic uses Fedora, and if you look in the Mandriva Review (rant) post by iphitus, he's just said a load about Fedora in there. He'll also probably be able to tell you a bit more than I can about it. I can't remember what it was, but something put me off about SuSe. I can't for the life of me remember what it was exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarian Posted March 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 heh, ok maybe I'll go the Debian way and install Kanotix, I have fond memories of it ----- still, if someone can tell more about SUSE, please do, or Fedora Core Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 (edited) Kanotix is just great, IMO way better than Mandriva, Mepis, Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS. But it needs some care... after all it's Debian Sid/unstable under the skin, and some things may get broken now and then. A slightly annoying thing is that the most fruity posts at their support forums are in German, but IMO this isn't a stopper... Edited March 16, 2006 by scarecrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlc Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 I've got a few questions about SuSE and Fedora Core,please answer if you have the time. 1. mp3, divx, xvid, dvd support. Is it easy to set up those, i.e., just some driver install or smthing? 2. what about repos? which has more software available? is there anything like easy-urpmi? 3. the general quality, which of those two you think is more stable and bugless? 4. maybe there's anything else I should know? First, Fedora Core 5 will be out in 4 days (20th) With a lot of new goodies that wont be in others :) 1.) Yes, several repo's to add to get all that, I'm running rawhide right now (fc5) and using vlc/mplayer/xine/rhythmbox/banshee all with all the video codecs and mp3/aac stuff 2.) Personally, I use freshrpms/dag/dries and grab ati/nvidia src.rpms from livna. You can also get gui frontends to yum like yumex 3.) Fedora all the way (i sort of hate suse so I might be a little bias) ;) 4.) Fedora kicks a lot of ass, and always comes out with bleeding edge software in each release and keeps it stable. I'm actually running rawhide on a backup server, yeah i know that is a little scary and don't recommend it :) Just give Fedora/Suse a try and see what you think. I help a lot of people here with Fedora and a few others that hang around here, so if you can't get help on fedoraforums or mailing list, ask here and I'll help you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarian Posted March 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Thanks for the info, scarecrow and cybrjackle So I'm now torn between Fedora and Kanotix, will try them out sometimes soon (after the new Fedora comes out). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlc Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 (edited) Just to name a few things Gnome-2.14 KDE-3.5 gcc 4.1 selinux + lots of other security features open source java stack with apps like ooo/azurues/rssowl/eclipse build against gcj mono stuff xen http://sourceware.org/frysk/ http://sourceware.org/systemtap/ For the most part, the latest software packages that are out. Edited March 16, 2006 by cybrjackle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarian Posted March 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 (edited) I read one review (at Linux.com I think) which said that the new F5 is a huge drag for the system resources, namely - it has 512mb RAM recommended and lots of daemons should better be switched off, and also has problems with ATI cards due to Xorg 7.0(I have ATI Radeon 9000). Edited March 16, 2006 by solarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 I can only second cybrjackles comments. Fedora is a great distro and the most stable one I came across till now. I don't have good memories of SUSE and its Yast thingy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial Intelligence Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Well you don't want anyone to suggest ubuntu to you so I don't then :D And you don't have time for Arch also...hmmm Perhaps Foxlinux, it's a little distro though but good nevertheless. http://www.foxlinux.org/ FoX Linux is a single-CD desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Fedora Core, with KDE as its preferred desktop, main components recompiled for the i686 architecture and out-of-the-box support for popular multimedia formats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarian Posted March 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 I like Arch in concept, have read reviews and their homepage, just really don't have the time for it now, maybe in autumn. Thanks for the suggestion, A.I. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlc Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 I read one review (at Linux.com I think) which said that the new F5 is a huge drag for the system resources, namely - it has 512mb RAM recommended and lots of daemons should better be switched off,and also has problems with ATI cards due to Xorg 7.0(I have ATI Radeon 9000). That review actually falls under "extremly clueless" person. They were wrong on so many degree's it was really a wasted news day. 60% resources, with no claim to why or stats? If you think I would run a distro on at least 5 box's that was 60% worst than anything else, I would be considered insane :) I actually think (feel) fedora is extremly fast compared to the majority of distro's out there. Some interesting stats Dave Jones(kernel guy) did http://kernelslacker.livejournal.com/35270.html Here is a post from one of the fc/rh guys https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-mark...h/msg00113.html I've seen a lot of bad reviews in my time, even for distro's I don't really like but this was just not worth the time was used to review it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarian Posted March 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Thanks for the info. And how about xorg? I'd really like to have X with my ati. :) p.s. It was not bought with Linux in mind, and I don't have the money to buy nvidia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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