Fedora Core 6 review

[Valour]

This is the first Fedora Core review I've written, but it's not because I didn't want to write one before. I've tested every Fedora release since the very first one, and have declined to write about it because it never seemed to work properly and I don't like writing totally negative reviews. At first I figured that the bugs and problems were just growing pains from the switchover from Red Hat Linux, and then from the move from the 2.4 to the 2.6 kernel, and other various things. There are no more excuses left, so I think it's time to break the silence about the inferiority of this desktop operating system, now in its sixth release.

Fedora Core 6 review

[Dark_Schneider]

I read with attention your review.

You know, what I'm finding sad is the fact that people can't site website without having to use proprietary software which make that some people can't see them because they are not using the right system. I'm finding sad that mp3 have patents and so people can't listen music as they want. With DRM it will be even worst.

It's true this is not convenient for the end user who just want something that works. However thanks to linux and openSource movement, we have more open drivers sometimes which are better quality thanks to their opensource nature.
Thanks to opensource we now have 2 greats programm for free like OpenOffice and firefox. This couldn't be possible for a company doing proprietary software : Corel failed with WordPerfect, Netscape failed with Netscape. Opera doesn't fail because Opera is Free ( and now even without the ad bar ) and they are targeting mobile devices ( in which people pay licences ). So without OpenSource, this wouldn't be possible.

So at first, this annoy the user, i can understand, i'm myself an user. However in the long run, this could turn into something beneficial for the end user ( more choice, more liberty )

[brad-x]

Repository of additional software, similar to Ubuntu Universe:

http://fedoraproject.org/extras/6/i3...data/repoview/

Now able to be switched on during the installation process.

Ease of adding software repositories: this can be done by installing an RPM which enables the repository, as is done with freshrpms, livna, etc. These repo maintainers have elected to cooperate with each other to maintain versioning compatibility as of late, making them safe to use together since Fedora Core 5.

The less functional Ubuntu remark leads me to think the writer is preferential to Ubuntu, but I digress...

I detect a lot of bitterness from people stating that Fedora is unsupported and that Red Hat has deemed desktop Linux unprofitable. The fact is, desktop Linux is unprofitable, and most Linux distributions are unsupported by their very nature. For an unsupported "second class" citizen in the Red Hat world, Fedora comes off with a lot of polish, and credit should be given where it's due.

Proprietary driver installation can be improved on any Linux distribution, that's for sure. The state of flux the Linux kernel is always in with various distributions makes it difficult if not impossible for binary driver maintainers to keep an RPM or an Ubuntu package in sync with the current kernel version. That's why nvidia and ATI themselves ship source based installers.

[giallu]

Ah, and thanks for moving my previous post on the offtopic forum. I really appreciated your interpretation of "free speech"

[Valour]

Originally Posted by giallu

Ah, and thanks for moving my previous post on the offtopic forum. I really appreciated your interpretation of "free speech"

When did I guarantee free speech? Besides, "fighting words" are not protected speech under the US constitution anyway. If you don't believe me, look it up.

If you write messages that attack me or another member of the forum, they get moved, edited, or deleted. I moved yours to the Hall of Shame because it attacked me. That is not acceptable behavior in this community.

[giallu]

Originally Posted by Valour

When did I guarantee free speech? Besides, "fighting words" are not protected speech under the US constitution anyway. If you don't believe me, look it up.

If you write messages that attack me or another member of the forum, they get moved, edited, or deleted. I moved yours to the Hall of Shame because it attacked me. That is not acceptable behavior in this community.

Fair enough: can you please quote the "fighting words" in post? I am sure there was some misunderstanding as english is not my primary language.
That said, is it still possible to strongly disagree with your review? if not, I can safely go away now...

[Valour]

Originally Posted by giallu

Fair enough: can you please quote the "fighting words" in post? I am sure there was some misunderstanding as english is not my primary language.
That said, is it still possible to strongly disagree with your review? if not, I can safely go away now...

Attacking my credibility and calling me a liar is not what I consider to be helpful and informative conversation. Criticize the review all you like, but don't try to attack me over it.

I've been reviewing operating systems for my sites and others (Linux.com, Newsforge, LinuxPlanet) for four years. I have used more operating systems than anyone I know (except maybe J.F.), and have developed a consistent and standardized method of reviewing them from the perspective of the target market. When companies or projects screw up, it does no good for distro fans to try to silence journalists who write about the problems and shortcomings of a product. Ignoring reality does not make it go away, and it's better for a reader to see a negative review of an operating system and avoid it than it is for the same reader to try that operating system for himself, become frustrated, and swear to never use it again.

I'm coming from using Mandriva 2007 PowerPack and Ubuntu 6.10, both of which were easier to install than FC6. Both of them were easier to configure, as well. Mandriva didn't have problems with networking or installing proprietary extras. Ubuntu made it easy to add repos for the proprietary bits. FC6 had nothing but trouble and failed to live up to the modern standards for desktop operating systems that are set by its competitors. There's no way I can say a lot of nice things about it when it can't compete with other desktop GNU/Linux distros.

[J.F.]

I take it you don't care for Fedora Core. I don't think it's aimed at folks like you. I think it's aimed more at developers and small business. It has installation settings that can help choose what to install based on how you use the machine. Ubuntu doesn't have that. Want to set up Ubuntu for development? Go try and find all the development packages scattered all over their repos (I really HATE that about Ubuntu).

The only architectures supported are x86, AMD64, and PPC.

Uh... that's the only architectures supported by MOST distros. It's certainly all Ubuntu supports.

Yes, their own default package manager sucks, so use it ONCE to get the Smart Package Manager from the extras repo and then ignore it. Use SPM for all your FC installing/updating needs. It can even handle FreshRPMs and Livna at the same time without getting into conflicts. It's also easier to add repos to than the default package manager.

I agree that some things are harder than other distros - Ubuntu makes it much easier to add nVidia drivers or Java, for example. However, it's not THAT hard, and their are plenty of pages that help guide the uninitiated. That said, Fedora Core is probably a step away from the more "user-friendly" distros like Ubuntu. It won't appeal to the Windows crowd at all.

So I think FC might be for more people than you do, it does take more work. I agree with much of the review, but it could have been dealt with. What I suggest if people want to try FC6 is this:

Enable the extras repo during the installation.
Install smart and smart-gui (which is in the extras repo), and use it instead.
Add the FreshRPMs and Livna to smart.
Consult a decent HowTo page, like the Unofficial Fedora Core Guide or FedoraFAQ.

Once you learn how to deal with these things, Fedora Core isn't so bad a distro. It won't be for everyone, though.

[Valour]

The problem with adding the Fedora Extras repo during installation is that if Anaconda can't contact the repo, the entire installer crashes and you have to reboot. So you're at the mercy of your network connection and the availability of Extras. I've installed FC6 about ten times so far on three different machines, and have not found a way around this. I also have not found a good, standard way to add RPMs for wireless cards without a wired Internet connection. I can't seem to find all the right RPMs, and if I do, the network configuration tool screws everything up.

I'm no fan of Ubuntu, though I think it has improved much since the last release. Fedora, though, is lagging behind other distros and in general keeping alive the notion that Linux is hard to configure and use.

[Valour]

Originally Posted by J.F.

I take it you don't care for Fedora Core. I don't think it's aimed at folks like you. I think it's aimed more at developers and small business. It has installation settings that can help choose what to install based on how you use the machine. Ubuntu doesn't have that. Want to set up Ubuntu for development? Go try and find all the development packages scattered all over their repos (I really HATE that about Ubuntu).

Uh... that's the only architectures supported by MOST distros. It's certainly all Ubuntu supports.

Yes, their own default package manager sucks, so use it ONCE to get the Smart Package Manager from the extras repo and then ignore it. Use SPM for all your FC installing/updating needs. It can even handle FreshRPMs and Livna at the same time without getting into conflicts. It's also easier to add repos to than the default package manager.

I agree that some things are harder than other distros - Ubuntu makes it much easier to add nVidia drivers or Java, for example. However, it's not THAT hard, and their are plenty of pages that help guide the uninitiated. That said, Fedora Core is probably a step away from the more "user-friendly" distros like Ubuntu. It won't appeal to the Windows crowd at all.

So I think FC might be for more people than you do, it does take more work. I agree with much of the review, but it could have been dealt with. What I suggest if people want to try FC6 is this:

Enable the extras repo during the installation.
Install smart and smart-gui (which is in the extras repo), and use it instead.
Add the FreshRPMs and Livna to smart.
Consult a decent HowTo page, like the Unofficial Fedora Core Guide or FedoraFAQ.

Once you learn how to deal with these things, Fedora Core isn't so bad a distro. It won't be for everyone, though.

Would you like to write a review of FC6 from a different perspective? I'll certainly publish it if you do.