On 2 August 2012 21:34, Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 6:17 PM, Brian van den Broek
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> This morning, I've installed Fedora 17 (LXDE edition) on my desktop.
>> I've run only debian derivatives (mostly ubuntu and crunchbang). I've
>> been running linux exclusively since 2005.
>>
>> The ways of those who talk of yum and rpms are strange and unfamiliar
>> to me. As I suspect other MLUG'ers have gone from ubuntu (or at least
>> debian-based) to Fedora, I am hopeful that some wisdom can be shared
>> to help me avoid the painful bits of the process. Anything I can watch
>> out for that folks with my transition tend to stumble over?


Hi all,

Thanks, Hendrik and Mathieu.

In response to Hendrik (who suggested Debian): I thought about Debian.
I'd run stable on my desktop for a while (*too* stable ;-) and the
current freeze didn't seem the time to adopt testing. Plus, I was
wanting to try something new. If the Debian based staggered rolling
Mint had got the regular updates it had been supposed to, I might have
tried it. If Debian CUT gets off the ground, I'll likely give that a
go.

In response to Mathieu:

> Granted my experience with RPM distros is a little far behind, but be
> mindful of how you install packages.
>
> Make sure you use yum, and avoid installing rpms directly as much as possible.

I avoided direct installs and even PPA's when running ubuntu and other
debian derivatives. Or, eventually I did. I was running out of toes to
shoot off, but learned my lesson in time that my limp is barely
noticeable :-)

So far, yum, I like a great deal. It somehow "fits" my mind better
than apt-get. (I never really used aptitude.) The GUI
wrapper/front-end that ships with Fedora 17 LXDE is mighty awful,
though. I did like synaptic for discoverability, but the current GUI
is too painful for that. Finding out about alternatives is on the
list.

<snip>

> If I may ask though, why switch distro "bases" entirely? There's a big
> world between Ubuntu and Debian already; and in all cases (rpm or deb
> distros) you're able to install your own custom environment as you see
> fit. I know of people who use ratpoison (or awesomewm) as a tiling
> desktop manager rather than anything else on Ubuntu, with great
> results. If you're familiar with a particular type of distro, I'd
> encourage you to stick with it when possible rather than "waste" time
> relearning things. In all cases you'll be customizing your environment
> anyway, so might as well not change the underlying foundation if
> you're already okay with it, and just need to change the graphical UI.

`"waste"' time learning? I don't understand! ;-)

In seriousness, I've lived in Debian and derivative land since I
started with ubuntu and thought if I was changing I might as well see
how things look outside my comfort zone. I wanted to be positioned so
that in 6 months or so, I can make an informed choice between deb and
rpm based distros. (And, it seemed easier than switching teams to see
what this vi thing I hear so much about is like.) With a few weeks to
go until the teaching term starts, reinstalling anyway to take
advantage of a new SSD, being unhappy with what I'm running, Debian
testing being frozen, etc., etc., it seemed like I'd wait a long time
to find a better time to make a radical change.

So far, so good, but I'd love to know what was wrong with automounting
to /media/drivelabel that automounting to
/run/media/mountingusername/drivelabel fixes.

Thanks again,

Brian vdB
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