Moving on from Ubuntu?


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I have been using Ubuntu for a while now (I forget exactly how long) - and it is my primary OS for browsing and working. I would like to, however, move on from using Ubuntu - particularly reading about Shift Linux and it's reasons for moving away from Ubuntu. My needs are not particularly complex - as I am still a relatively new user.

  • No particular preference on Desktop Environment, Gnome or KDE - its all good.
  • Being still new to Linux - large repositories and and an easy to use package manager would be handy.
  • PC is med/high spec - Core2, 2GB RAM 256Mb GFX card - so performance/speed is not a problem.
  • PC would generally be used for browsing, IM, music and coding in Java. All my java programs are compiled and run in Terminal - so no big requirements there.

A few questions though - I am so used to being able to $ sudo apt-get install for obscure packages that I can't be bothered searching through aptitude/synaptic for (when I know the name anyway) - will things be much different in terms of command/syntax in other distros?

My university currently uses Fedora as their Linux system - but I have heard some things about Fedora not being particularly open-source, as well as requiring you to pay for some drivers? MP3 support is a must, and I have heard some horror stories concerning that from friends.

The idea is that I want to learn more about Linux - and moving on from my entry distro seems like a good way to go. So, recommendations appreciated :)

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fedora you can to yum-install packagename I believe, opensuse has something similar as well too (zypper I believe) Just add the livna repository in fedora and you can get mp3 and all that easily, not sure its updated for fedora 10 yet though.

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The livna repository has been merged with freshrpms and dribble into RPM Fusion. Simply enable the free and the non-free rpmfusion repository, and you can enjoy all the 'evil' packages like MP3 support, VLC, MPlayer, kmod-nvidia etc in your Fedora 10 installation.

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Shift or Fedora.

Fedora 10 is looking very, very good.

I haven't used Linux since 2005. I've been researching Fedora plus a few other Gnome-based distros, and if I had to choose a distro at this point I'd go for Fedora.

Mind you, Shift is also Gnome-based, and you can bet you'll get unparalleled support around here. It'll be a quality product.

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Looks like I will be grabbing a Fedora ISO when I get the chance, and when I have time to actively test it - Shift as well :)

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Fedora doesn't have you pay for anything.

In fact, they are more "free" than Ubuntu, in that they do not include patent-encumbered software - but you can add them if you are legally allowed to under your local laws.

Things like MP3 and DVD encoding are not supported on initial install, but you can add these in with a few simple commands on their FAQ site.

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Arch Linux would be great for you IMO. It provides everything you're looking for, and you'll be able to learn alot about Linux in general. Pacman is an amazing package manager also. I recommend reading the well written wiki for anything and everything you need.

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I am currently running Fedora 9 (soon to be 10) on my Thinkpad x40 and everything including WiFI (w/ WPA) was able to work right out of the box. Like the other Fedora users said, just enable the additional repos and you'll be all set.

If you have a server or are looking for a workstation distro you might want to look into CentOS 5.

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I have not tried F10 yet but Fedora's Package manager always sucked for me (I've tried the new on in 9 too). IMO debian flavors have the best package management systems. but I've only tried Redhat and Debian based OS, so don't know about others.

Remember all the distro's are Linux by heart. So you are not going to see much difference except some packaging and applications which you can get easily in any distro you want.

just my opinion ...

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I have not tried F10 yet but Fedora's Package manager always sucked for me (I've tried the new on in 9 too).

...

I have never thought that yum install celestia was worse (or "sucked" ) than apt-get install celestia.

Call me crazy, but they both did the job of identifying dependencies and installing them.

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I'm sorta surprised that no one has mentioned OpenSuse 11 for use. Not seeing Mandriva is one thing but Suse man this is a rough crowd.

I say we make this a real learning experience and do Gentoo. ;)

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I'm sorta surprised that no one has mentioned OpenSuse 11 for use. Not seeing Mandriva is one thing but Suse man this is a rough crowd.

I have heard some good things a bout OpenSuse... But I guess I am still scared to leave the comfort of my Ubuntu installation... Which funnily enough - I just broke :laugh:

Installed NetBeans - uninstalled, did sudo apt-get autoremove to get rid of the packages I no longer needed. Now JDK does not work (terminal commands like "javac") and Netbeans won't install or run again :laugh:

Then again, nothing taught me more about linux than breaking it and then fixing it again :)

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I have never thought that yum install celestia was worse (or "sucked" ) than apt-get install celestia.

Call me crazy, but they both did the job of identifying dependencies and installing them.

+1

But I personally prefer...

yum -y install celestia

I'm just used to it, considering that the Linux distro I use most is Fedora...

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A quick question - I am trying to decide between using KDE and GNOME for my day to day tasks. It appears, however, that Ubuntu's implementation of KDE 4.1 is bugged to hell. I am seeing random lagginess and visual anomalies (for example, white boxes round notification area icons, making them impossible to read). The thing is, my PC is hardly underpowered, and I have the latest ATI driver installed (Ubuntu installed it itself) - so is it Ubuntu, or should I steer clear of KDE 4.1?

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Its not about how you use it, but how it works.

yum used to broke after few weeks: problems like missing dependencies are very common, also it always downloads the package lists every time I try to install something, probably there was a caching option, I wonder why its not enabled by default!?

I wanted a package manager that just works... and apt-get was that.

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Moving to Fedora would be a good move... it will help you learn more about the workings of RedHat. I've been using various RedHats and Fedora, CentOS (RHEL clone), since RedHat 7.3 and I've been happy with them.

I also suggest Debian, which is what Ubuntu is based on. If you are becoming more of a Linux power user, Debian is also a good next choice.

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