[Cumbria] CUMBRIA LUG -- Red Hat cp SuSE

[Schwuk]

Ken Hough wrote:
> Thanks for the Red Hat v8.0 CDs.

You're welcome...

> Red Hat doesn't give much choice as to alternative file formats. eg does 
> not offer Reiserfs, only ext3.

Reiserfs is supported, just not through the partition wizard in the
install. I have a couple of reiser partitions on my red hat server which
are recognised fine. All the tools are there, there just seems to be an
omission in the install...

> After installation, had a hell of a job finding how to install more 
> software from the Red Hat Cds.
> Eventually discovered how to by looking in /usr/share/doc/redhat*. ie 
> should use command
> 'redhat-config-packages', but there doesn't seem to be any icon or menu 
> item to lead to this.

It's the 'Packages' entry under the 'System Settings' menu... I do have 
issues with the menu layout that Red Hat have chosen...

> SuSE has entries for the YAST management programme(s) from the desktop 
> menu (obviously only available to root).

Again, all the tools are there, they are just scattered about. Hopefully 
they will fix this... Current places to look are 'Preferences', 'Server 
Settings', 'System Settings, 'System Tools', 'Extras | System Settings' 
and 'Extras | System Tools'.

Not the most intuitive of menu structures, eh?

'Packages' (and all of the other tools are available to all, but you 
have to supply the root password before they will run.

My other complaint about the red hat tools is that not all of the a 
command-line alternative. It's like they expect you to install X on a 
server just to configure it... Webmin to the rescue... :)

> 'redhat-config-packages' can be crashed. I've done this a few times now.

'neat', the red hat network configuration tool crashes if left open for 
a long time as well.

> Doesn't seem to be a 'search' option in 'redhat-config-packages' as in 
> YAST under Suse Linux -- a serious omission???
> Overall, I find YAST easier and more functional than the Red Hat equiv. 
> Also, it doesn't seem to crash!

The package manager is awful. it's designed for windows converts and has 
no real flexibility. It's what forced me to learn the rpm commands...

> Don't seem to be any lightweight text editors on the Red Hat CDs such as 
> Pico, Joe or Jed.

joe (2.9.7-7) and jed (0.99.15-3) are on the cd's, just not in the 
package manager. Pico and Nano do appear to be missing... Personally I'm 
a vi(m) man...

> Kdevelop (rated as probably the best Prog dev IDE) is not included on 
> the CDs, but is with Mandrake download version and with SuSE.

also on the cd (2.1.3-3)

> I'm not keen on the Red Hat default KDE setup and there seems to be the 
> odd wobbly / bug. Even so, I still
> prefare KDE to Gnome.

I've given up on KDE. I've also tried vanilla Gnome 2 and prefer red 
hat's implementation of it. That said, I am now looking at alternatives 
like openbox ( http://icculus.org/openbox/ ).

> Will carry on playing to become familier and maybe get a fairer comparison.

I haven't had chance to install SuSE yet - will let you when I do...
-- 
Schwuk