On 9/21/06, Uno Engborg <uno@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ian Malone wrote: > On 21/09/06, Kwan Lowe <kwan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> Arthur Pemberton wrote: >> > I have a computer science class mate who is interested in switching to >> > Linux, starting small with installing it and dual booting. He fits the >> > type that should be able to switch easiy: non-hardcore gamer, non >> > hardcore multimedia. >> >> I'd definitely recommend Fedora Core for computer science students. >> It has a >> boatload of development packages (as do the others, but in FC they >> are extremely >> easy to install). Kdevelop and Eclipse are available, as are all the >> standard tools. >> >> In addition, if you're in CS then you likely have a raft of >> mathematics classes to > > <snip> > >> packages are available for Ubuntu, but not in the default Synaptic >> "Mathematics" >> section (as of Ubuntu 6.0.6). >> >> To be clear, I'm impressed by Ubuntu. It's extremely easy to install >> and use for the >> normal stuff (Email, web, multimedia, wireless). Fedora has a >> slightly steeper >> learning curve, but it pays off when you need to do more elaborate >> things. As is >> true for any distro, you can make Ubuntu more Fedora-like and vice >> versa; it's just >> a matter of the default installation choices. >> > > My 2p, I'd agree with the above. Ubunutu's major advantage (at least FC5 > vs Dapper, which is maybe a little unfair), is simpler hardware > support out > of the box; eg. my dad's rt2500 based wireless card works in Ubuntu, > but the module has to be manually compiled and installed in FC. > Doing stuff which isn't supported is maybe slightly more difficult in > Ubuntu > (eg. I can get WPA working for this card in FC, but not in Ubuntu). > It's easier to get Ubuntu working on your machine than FC, it's harder > to mess about with it. So the answer is obviously it depends what they > want it for. I have similar experiences. E.g. VMware Server installs easily on FC5 but not so on Ubuntu. If we compare using Xen on FC5 and Ubuntu it
Follow this steps, it is really easy to install VMWare on ubuntu, as it is on Fedora also. http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_vmware_server
gets even clearer. In FC5 Xen was up and running after just a hour or so, on Ubuntu I never managed to figrue out how make it work, even though there was plenty of documentation at the Ubuntu site. I would recommed Ubuntu if you are going to lure somebody into using Linux It looks very polished and professional, but if he is going to use it for real work use Fedora. Ubuntu is still valuable as a live cd when you need to boot into linux occcationally perhaps to do an ssh to your home server. > > I've noticed the Gnome based distros are getting more alike. > This isn't always a great thing; eg. the disc manager in Ubuntu > really doesn't want to mount FAT or NTFS as anything other > than root-owned read-only. A slight problem in a live disc. I would say the likeness is a good thing, at least if it comes from using the same upstream gnome source. This means that bugs can be fixed in one place to the benefit of all. Regards Uno Engborg -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
-- Guillermo Garron "Linux IS user friendly... It's just selective about who its friends are." (Using FC5, CentOS4.4 and Ubuntu 6.06)
