FC5 vs (K)Ubuntu

Hi there.

Just thought I would start a new thread to discuss this, as it was being inappropriately discussed in another thread.

Vinci was saying that (K)Ubuntu was not good for newbies because it needed lots of command line configuration/editing of text files to install proprietary nvidia drivers. This seems to me like a bit of a troll, but if it was, then I have fallen for it.

But Vinci, could you tell me how you install nvidia drivers and edit xorg to use 24 bit depth in FC5 without using the command line or hand-editing your xorg.conf file, as I am interested to know?

(K)Ubuntu may not be perfect, but it is pretty easy to get nvidia drivers installed and running with apt-get (even using synaptic if you hate the command line that much).. But when it comes to more complex things like editing xorg.conf, I think most of us find it easier to hand-edit the config file. There may well be a GUI editor available for it, but as I have no need for it, I am not aware of it. I suspect the same is true with FC.

<edit> Oh and Vinci, I think FC5 and Debian SID and Ubuntu are all excellent for different purposes. FC and Debian sid, in keeping up to date do have the possibility of breaking dynamically linked binaries etc. Some people like the stability of having a standard system that does not change for 6 months or a year, since this prevents unexpected breakages. For this reason I think Ubuntu is good for newbies since once you have installed it, your install will be the same as anyone elses.. with debian SID (and FC, I imagine) the current version changes day-to-day, so if you update yesterday and I update today, our systems will be subtlely different. The fact that once they have released a stable version Ubuntu just released security fixes is a *feature* not a reason to criticise it.</edit>

Personally, I don't like the concept of "newbie" distros. I did Red Hat 7-9 and 1000s of distros in between, but I never got far untill I found a mentor who could show me what was behind the curtains.
But, I *AM* an ArchLinux troll , so you may want to take my advice with a grain of salt.
((BTW: RPM and APT tend to break too often))

Hey all//

I'm no expert, just a competent linux user and multimedia developer who recently started using Ubuntu so that I could have a Debian based distro on my portable computer. I switched from FC4 which I had been using for years...

Anyway, I'm pretty satisfied with the Ubuntu desktop on my portable EXCEPT for the problems I'm having with 3d graphics. I have an ATI Radeon 7500 mobile graphics card and cannot get 3d drivers (DRI, fglrx or ATI proprietary) loaded properly, so I'm using Ubuntu's, which are unsatisfactory. So while Ubuntu might be good for newbies in terms of compatiblility and the convience of the Debian repositories, one has to consider hardware compatibility with their rig...

//Kliger

as it happens my partner is a linux newbie (of 2 days age) and she installed ubuntu linux by herself fine. - i had to resize her windows partitions (using partition magic under win32) but after that it was plain sailing. (to be honest she'd probly have done partition portion fine too if it didnt need resizing and her windows partition wasnt so valuable)

personally, id say ubuntu isnt *the* easyest distro for newbies, but the support on it is very good, its very professional in its release / impressions, and after seeing my partner do it, it say it's fine for newbies.

installing nvidia drivers isnt a big issue.

that said, she wanted kde and not gnome and this was a vanilla ubuntu distro install. but typing "apt-get install kdebase" and then selecting it from the gdm screen isnt a deal breaker, is it ?

you have to start somewhere. - if i were starting linux now, i'd wish i started with ubuntu.

Running FC5 on my desktop.
Game looks good.
Full graphics options, no problem.

Anyone considering running FC5 should have a look at: http://www.stanton-finley.net/fedora_core_5_installation_notes.html

Really useful.

Installing from the live CD is fairly simple. Synaptic covers up the need to use apt-get on the command line. Though there are a few things that will always require command line use such as dvdcss and what not other things. Current nvidia drivers are available through synaptic, but must be configured through xorg.conf but if the time is taken the file is not really that complex.

If there is a problem there are hundreds of message boards with grumpy people waiting to pick on those who ask for help.

I run FC5, it works for me very well on my laptop (HP ZD8000) all resolutions are fine (tweaked xorg.conf) internal wireless card is working no problem, just yummed fro ndiswrapper (after I setup the ATI fglrx graphics drivers -which was just another yum). I run Neverwinter nights, tale in the desert, Americas army and most importantly secondlife, however the latter needs work by it's developers to make it stable).

Also I use it at work, I am a PHP, (My)SQL developer,and Java developer, and itt serves me fine for all that. Pity there is no dreamweaver equivalent (NVU - cant touch it) however there is always VMWare Workstation or Parallels to boot a windows box within my linux box both of which are working fine under FC5.

In summary, coming from a SUSE background I am finding YUM package installer far superior to anything SUSE has and ultimately - its Redhat - need I say more.

What do you get if you cross a white hat with a black hat?

Forget the primary colours: You get a RED HAT.

byeeee