On Sat, Aug 04, 2012 at 01:10:47AM -0400, Brian van den Broek wrote: > 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.
I don't understand why the freeze is relevant. It makes testing a little more stable for a few months while they get ready for the new major release. And if you call it 'testing' instead of 'wheezy' in your source.list it'll revert to being up-to-date as soon as the next stable is out. I think it's probably getting to be time to move my server to 'wheezy'. > 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.) I've always used aptitude. I wonder if that makes a difference. For routing upgrades it;s aptitude update aptitude safe-upgrade Occasionally that's too conservative. The interactive aptitude, using 'U' for a less conservative upgrade gives you a huge list of ways to fix bad package dependencies. It's usually not worth going to this much trouble, though. Usually, when just waiting a few days is all that's needed for the remaining dependencies to trickle down to testing and make things OK again, I use the interactive aptitude to install individual packages. I get to read about them before I install. There's supposed to be another tool that tells you stuff about current problems with them. but I haven't used it/ > 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.) I've been wondering about vi, too. But when I have something that needs editing, it's so much easier to use emacs than learn a new tool. > 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. This may be relevant on a multiuser system. Don't know what the /run is for, though. /run used to be used with daemontools, a competing way to keep services running, as I recall. > > Thanks again, > > Brian vdB > _______________________________________________ > mlug mailing list > [email protected] > https://listes.koumbit.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-listserv.mlug.ca _______________________________________________ mlug mailing list [email protected] https://listes.koumbit.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-listserv.mlug.ca
