On Wed, 30 May 2012 10:41:09 -0400 (EDT)
Eric Myers <[email protected]> wrote:
> I switched to Fedora because it had become popular with many of the
> physics projects I was familiar with. Both CERN and Fermilab created
> their own versions, which eventually merged in to Scientific Linux.
>
Fedora EPEL is a software repo for Enterprise Linux distributions
(including RHEL, CentOS, and Scientific Linux). It has a lot of
the same FOSS in Fedora packaged for Enterprise Linux distributions.
> I've become frustrated with Fedora because of the difficulty of
> upgrading without just doing a fresh install, and the fact that then
> the installer no longer gives you a chance to do your own disk
> partitioning, though I may have found a way around this using their
> kickstart installer.
You definitely can do your own partitioning with Anaconda, the Fedora
installation program. On one screen, you are given a bunch of choices
like Use All Space, Replace Existing Linux Systems, etc. The last
choice is Create Custom Layout. This selection allows you to do you own
partitioning. There is also a checkbox labeled Review and modify
partitioning layout which allows you to modify the default partitioning.
> It appears to me that Fedora is now driven
> strongly by the server market and less interested in improving the
> user interface.
Considering the share of Red Hat's revenue that comes from server
software subscriptions, that perception is not surprising.
That having been said, I have two arguments to demonstrate that Fedora
still has a strong interest in desktop/mobile computing.
One way to evaluate the development priorities in Fedora is to look at
the Feature List for each version. For Fedora 17, I counted 19
features that apply to desktop/mobile software, 22 features that apply
to server software, and 19 features that apply to both.
The following projects are examples of efforts by the Fedora Project in
advancing the modern Linux UI. The radeon and nouveau open source video
drivers support the vast majority of graphics hardware and are 3D
accelerated. These drivers use kernel mode-setting so that there is a
flicker-free user interface. The IPA system provides an identity
management system that is comparable to Active Directory. I find the
GNOME 3 UI to be very productive. oVirt provides a nice solution for
EL6 virtual desktops. Other desktop software which is actively
developed in Fedora includes NetworkManager, PulseAudio, and
LibreOffice.
Aram
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