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I only need one program on wine and it is listed as a platinum install, and works flawless for most people. After that i do not care about windows software. OpenOffice.org works fine in place of Office 2007, and so far i have found a program for every need.
I love the speed and simplicity of fedora so far. I really only do about three or four things on that computer read e-mail, surf the net, and pay my bills.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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The state of the Linux desktop
In the final summary, I’m a fan of Fedora and Ubuntu, but for different reasons. Fedora, while unpolished, is a solid distro for adventurous Linux users and developers who want to be on the bleeding edge. Power users deserve a good distro that is usable and feature-complete without a lot of polish or distraction – and that’s what Fedora is.
Ubuntu is the flip side. It’s very polished, closing in on Apple in terms of usability and applications. It’s not quite there yet, but getting closer and certainly a persuasive distro for people switching from Windows. If you’re looking to get a friend started with Linux, don’t hesitate to begin with Ubuntu.
If you look at Fedora and Ubuntu separately, you might have a distorted view of the Linux desktop. That’s because they’re really part of the same ecosystem, and you have to understand one to get the other. Ubuntu is pushing to take the raw gems of open source and cut and polish them for end users who don’t necessarily share the open source ethos or technical skills of the traditional Linux user. To borrow a musical metaphor, Ubuntu is the indie band that’s landed a major label contract and spent ten weeks recording with Jeff Lynne to produce an album full of top-ten singles. It’s going to annoy some of the original fans, but bring in a boatload of new ones.
Fedora is the long-suffering indie band that keeps churning out fantastic but niche albums that few people buy. But the ones who do buy Fedora’s brand of indie tunes are the ones that by and large pick up their own instruments and pick out a few tunes. Some of them might even sit in or start their own bands. While the Ubuntu fans are grinding away at the local nightclub, the Fedora fans are plunking their guitars in the garage. Which distro should you choose? Well, did you come to play or did you come to dance?
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Interesting take John i would have to agree with you for the most part. What small differences i have found so far is that Fedora seems to have cutting edge in some areas, but total polish in others. For instance the add/remove software features is far more intuitive to the seasoned windows users than the synaptec package manager. The ability to add a software with a almost windows like install is nice, but it still has the questions and checks that make it linux.
Ubuntu though does install smoother, and more basics than Fedora, and Fedora tends to have more bells and whistles to deal with. I noticed that Ubuntu has everything that you basically need to run a solid home computer already there like openoffice.org, and thunderbird. Both have firefox as the browser. Both openoffice.org, and thunderbird are in the Fedora repository, but need to be installed. The reason i choose to go back to Fedora was that both times i have tried to use Ubuntu it failed to allow me to use some critical feature of my system needs. The first time was my wireless router, after a long search on the net i found that it doesn't support that router. So i went with Fedora which came loaded with wireless router support in piles. This last time it was printer support.
For both Ubuntu, and Fedora i was able to find the print driver online (same one actually at the brother printer site), but in Fedora it took literally 2 minutes to install it, and in Ubuntu it took 4 hours of trial and error with no success in the end, i read dozens of pages of support with ideas of how to install, and each just added lines of code through the system, and nothing worked. In Fedora i took the same two files downloaded and double clicked them and it asked Install? a yes click and one more do you trust this site question and it unpacked, installed and configured the printer. The funny part is that before i installed Ubuntu over my older Fedora install, i had added that same printer, and it had worked great the first time, so it was not lack of knowing what to do that cause the problem in Ubuntu, it was the OS lack of support for loading drivers.
I may try Ubuntu again soon on another box, and then i can take the time to learn to build the system, as I do cherish the idea of a solid stable OS that is ready to run. But i question if Ubuntu wants this system to be polished like a apple type OS then why not add a little more hardware ability to the package? I assume that answer is that this comes as a price. That price being having all the bells and whistles installed can cause many problems, since everyone has a different setup and different hardware needs, so to add all that is dangerous. But then they need to make there install system a little bit more able to grab basic drivers and files and install them a bit better.
Anyway i am now happy to be a linux nut, and look forward to seeing what it can do for me. I do appreciate your input, encouragement and help. I also appreciate some of the other guys that have tossed in a thought or two now and in the past. Little bits go a long way with these type of projects. I only have two more add ons i want to attempt on the Fedora install. One is a windows software program i want to run under wine, and as I said i have read it works flawlessly, and i want to try to install and setup Skype so I can talk with my brother on the other coast. So far from my research, it seems that that works better in Ubuntu. Hhhmmm can you say dual boot?
Last edited by Robh; 09/02/10 02:58 PM.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Quote:
Hhhmmm can you say dual boot?
Why not download and install, for example, VirtualBox and just run the other Linux within Linux? Or VMWare Player? That way, you don't have to reboot and get the best of both worlds.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Well I hope Fedora works out for you. It does sound like you're trying to use an older version of Ubuntu. The newest is 10.04. There were REAL BIG changes. Loading programs is easy. Just go to the software center find what you want & hit install. A lot more driver support as well. Instant use of my USB dialup modem, My printer is 12 years old with no issues. Great easy networking of the Ubuntu & Win XP machine. I just love it.
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I had 10.04 installed i loved it too, but could not get it to see my printer no matter what i tried. I may try it again soon on my laptop there were things i liked better about it, and stuff i liked better in Fedora. They are very similar, but strangely different.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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