In the past weeks I have tried the latest PCLOS, Mandriva, Fedora ans SUSE and I have succeeded in rendering each of them next to useless with SUSE being the worst, ie. easiest to break, and Fedora is a close second. I don't intentionally try to break it, but it inevitably happens given time.
My habits are to install the OS, then to update it. After this I customize and add programs that I use and like, including alternative desktops, Compiz, AWN and Screenlets. I even do this on my tiny eeePC. Eventually something goes wrong with RPM; it is predictable. Nothing like this happens with the same procedure in Debian based distros. I could change my habits, but why should I have to. I demand a lot from myself and my equipment, so why not demand it of the OS. If you install lots (and I do), you like all of the features (and I do) and you use lots of different desktops and window managers (and I do) then stick with a Debian based distro. If you use a distro pretty much the way it comes then, yes, and RPM based distro can be great.. The second criticism is that while an RPM based distro may have one or two different programs not found elsewhere (this is universally true, BTW), none has the choice that Ubuntu, Linspire or Debian has. It isn't even close. There are a couple of programs that I use that are not only not available, but I can't get them to install at all given all of the dependencies they have in ant RPM based distro. One is a database for my movie collection and it is used almost daily. People should use what they want, based on their needs and habits. I know my needs and am not inclined to change my habits. I also know what the OS can deliver (Ubuntu and competing distros) and that RPM is just not up to the task, in general, IMO. Nothing in my recent experience has shown me otherwise. And I am not alone in this low opinion of RPM. See: http://lwn.net/Articles/223183/ http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=article-rpm http://www.linux.com/articles/23480 http://mandrivausers.org/lofiversion/index.php/t13712.html http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-50050.html http://forums.opensuse.org/general-chit-chat/394035-rpm-vs-debian-easier-more-stable.html http://www..linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2002-06-17-005-26-OP-SW-0012 You get the idea. RPM has problems. Face it. BTW, I have broken dpkg and apt, but I have always been able to fix them and resume from there. When you break a RPM distro then you are by and large done for. Roy Linux: Fast, friendly, flexible and .... free! Support Open source. <*,)}}+< Only dead fish go with the flow! ----- Original Message ---- From: Don Cooley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, September 3, 2008 1:14:15 PM Subject: Re: [LINUX_Newbies] Re: Hello all : ) On Tue, 2 Sep 2008 15:45:43 -0700 (PDT) Linux Canuck <linuxcanuck@ yahoo.ca> wrote: > We have some excellent Fedora people here. I am not one. Pulse audio > gives people trouble on several distros including Ubuntu. > > I have used Mandriva 2008 and must say it works well. It is fast and > full featured. I did notice that the repositories are not as deep as > Ubuntu, but I could run much of what I wanted. I do not like their > package manager. It is not as flexible as Synaptic and the > descriptions are lacking detail. I also found that I could not > install some packages due to dependency problems. Once you have lots > installed, it is only a matter of time before RPMs get out of sync > and you can't install something without breaking something else with > any RPM based distro, Mandriva included. > > Debian based systems are much more forgiving and problems are far > fewer. I install lots of programs and I have seen almost any > conceivable problem. RPM only works if you stick to a small number of > programs and never go outside of the repositories. Once you do, you > are in trouble. Compare this to Ubuntu where you can install from > dpkg, Synaptic, Adept, Ultamatix, Get-deb and more and have few > problems and the repositories of Ubuntu are deep enough that you > seldom need to look anywhere else. > > That being said, you are right. Mandriva 2008 is worth exploring. I > use it and like it. I can see where newbies would benefit up front, > but can foresee problems down the road. ( I began my Linux experience > with Mandrake, many years ago, pre-Fedora, so I would recommend it if > I could, as I have lots of affection for it, notwithstanding their > mistreatment of Gaël Duval.) > > Roy > > Linux: Fast, friendly, flexible and .... free! > Support Open source. > <*,)}}+< > Only dead fish go with the flow! > A few thoughts. Have you've tried one of the latest well-known rpm based distros? I'm not sure if rpm has improved or if distros have made changes that enable rpm to work better. I haven't experienced the now infamous dependency hell that plagued people in the past. I have openSuse 11.0, Mandriva 2008.1, and Fedora 9 on my machine. openSuse has some software packages that I just haven't seen elsewhere. I hate how openSuse software is scatterd over so many da*n repositories but yast is much better and faster than it was. Fedora 9 had an rpm for yum that can be installed that protects one from removing essential packages from the base install which works nicely. For those who have had big rpm problems in the past I can certainly understand the hesitation in recommending it to new users. That being said I don't think that deb distributions are without dependency problems entirely either. I have experienced some dependency problems with Debian but still would highly recommend it. -- Regards, Donald Cooley Registered Linux user 444909 -- Whoever named necking was a poor judge of anatomy. - Groucho Marx __________________________________________________________________ Ask a question on any topic and get answers from real people. Go to Yahoo! Answers and share what you know at http://ca.answers.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from this list, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED] & you will be removed.Yahoo! 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