I've got a Fedora 4 distro on DVD from the FEDORA 4 UNLEASHED, and a
Fedora 3 from a local LUG member. I'm wavering over which one to
install.

This will be my first Linux install ever, on an Acer laptop with 1GB
RAM and 100 GB hard drive. (The laptop was new this January.) The LUG
members seem to feel that FC3 is more stable, but to be honest I'm
not quite clear on why they think FC4 is more risky. I'd think it
would be _less_ risky, in that it's more likely to have drivers for
all my laptop hardware.

Advice, please?

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?"
"My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters."
"The waters? What waters? We're in the desert."
"I was misinformed."

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On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 22:25:30 -0400, Stan Brown wrote:

> I've got a Fedora 4 distro on DVD from the FEDORA 4 UNLEASHED, and a
> Fedora 3 from a local LUG member. I'm wavering over which one to
> install.
>
> This will be my first Linux install ever, on an Acer laptop with 1GB
> RAM and 100 GB hard drive. (The laptop was new this January.) The LUG
> members seem to feel that FC3 is more stable, but to be honest I'm
> not quite clear on why they think FC4 is more risky. I'd think it
> would be _less_ risky, in that it's more likely to have drivers for
> all my laptop hardware.
>
> Advice, please?

FC4 is getting to be fairly solid but it still has some quirks
particularly when you try to do the first update. Once you've managed to
get all the updates installed then it's fine. Installing and updating FC3
will be a smoother experience. In either case you'll want to install yumex
which is a graphical package manager which vastly simplifies doing
installs, removes and updates. Redhat includes an updater called up2date,
but it's dreadful. You can get yumex from,

http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/sta..._rasmil_dk.html

You'll also want to install webmin, it's a great browser based admin tool
that works with most every Linux distribution,
http://www.webmin.com/

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On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 22:25:30 -0400, Stan Brown thoughtfully wrote:

> I've got a Fedora 4 distro on DVD from the FEDORA 4 UNLEASHED, and a
> Fedora 3 from a local LUG member. I'm wavering over which one to
> install.
>
> This will be my first Linux install ever, on an Acer laptop with 1GB RAM
> and 100 GB hard drive. (The laptop was new this January.) The LUG
> members seem to feel that FC3 is more stable, but to be honest I'm not
> quite clear on why they think FC4 is more risky. I'd think it would be
> _less_ risky, in that it's more likely to have drivers for all my laptop
> hardware.
>
> Advice, please?


100 seasoned Linux geeks say FC3 is better than FC4 but neebie you think
FC4 is better?

Add me to the linux geeks (101) who say FC3 is better. FC4 is using the
latest greastest GCC 4.0, Gnome, KDE, etc which means finding software and
hardware drivers that will work with GCC 4.0.

By now there are adjustments for FC4 but you'll have to install
compat libraries to make some standard apps work with the compiler.

FC3 has more rpms already compiled and ready to install like mplayer,
xmms, alsa sound drivers.   The screensaver and system logger work from the 
install.

Bottom line FC is a test bed for RH but the FC4 official release is not as
stable or as well supported as FC3.

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On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 19:44:59 +0000, noi wrote:

> On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 22:25:30 -0400, Stan Brown thoughtfully wrote:
> 
>
> 100 seasoned Linux geeks say FC3 is better than FC4 but neebie you think
> FC4 is better?
>
> Add me to the linux geeks (101) who say FC3 is better. FC4 is using the
> latest greastest GCC 4.0, Gnome, KDE, etc which means finding software
> and hardware drivers that will work with GCC 4.0.
>
> By now there are adjustments for FC4 but you'll have to install compat
> libraries to make some standard apps work with the compiler.
>
> FC3 has more rpms already compiled and ready to install like mplayer,
> xmms, alsa sound drivers.   The screensaver and system logger work from
> the install.
>
> Bottom line FC is a test bed for RH but the FC4 official release is not
> as stable or as well supported as FC3.

I'm using both at the moment in a production environment and don't have
any significant issues with either.

If you're not doing rocket-surgery then go ahead and use FC4... you most
likely won't have any troubles you wouldn't have with FC3, despite the
perfectly accurate statements above.

--
"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."
Benjamin Franklin (I didn't know he was a Buddhist)

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

> .......
> FC3 has more rpms already compiled and ready to install like mplayer,
> xmms, alsa sound drivers.   The screensaver and system logger work from
> the install.
>
> Bottom line FC is a test bed for RH but the FC4 official release is not as
> stable or as well supported as FC3.

binaries precompiled for FC3 should run ok on FC4 usually, the
kernels are pretty similar

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On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 22:25:30 -0400 in linux.redhat.misc, Stan Brown
favored us with...
> I've got a Fedora 4 distro on DVD from the FEDORA 4 UNLEASHED, and a
> Fedora 3 from a local LUG member. I'm wavering over which one to
> install.

Thanks to those who replied. I was hoping for a definitive answer but
this seems to be an area where people disagree.

"Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes."
:-)

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?"
"My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters."
"The waters? What waters? We're in the desert."
"I was misinformed."

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Thu, 15 Sep 2005 01:31:38 -0400, Stan Brown wrote:

> On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 22:25:30 -0400 in linux.redhat.misc, Stan Brown
> favored us with... 
>
> Thanks to those who replied. I was hoping for a definitive answer but
> this seems to be an area where people disagree.

It is logically impossible to get a definitive answer when one doesn't
exist. Responsibility is the price of freedom.

--
"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."
Benjamin Franklin (I didn't know he was a Buddhist)

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