[YLUG] automount gnome

[mike cloaked]

On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 8:40 AM, Arthur Clune <arthur at clune.org> wrote:
>
> I'd suggest something different. Is this a machine for doing work on?
> If so, why not just install CENTOS/RHEL and have done. You seem to
> have a never ending stream of problems all caused by running bleeding
> edge distros. Personally (and I'm sure Mike Cloaked will disagree) I
> don't consider Fedora stable enough to do serious work on, but I am
> happy to live behind the bleeding edge if it makes my life simple.

In this case I would agree with you Arthur.  I think that bleeding
edge distros like Fedora 10 are fine provided you have sufficient
knowledge of the system to make the tweaks you need to keep the system
operational.  I have a number of systems running F10 with no problems
(apart from one with an Intel Integrated graphics chip that is not
properly supported by the latest xorg until the move of some of the x
setup to the kernel is completed). Of course there is huge and rapid
progress towards running systems without xorg.conf, and with evdev,
kms, and hal doing setup of graphics any old stuff in configs from
even a year ago will likely not work under new bleeding edge systems.
For some systems not fully supported in the newer x support then there
is still a need to have an xorg.conf (eg nvidia graphics, or if
running vncserver for example).

However there is also the need for anyone using a bleeding edge system
to follow the advice of those who have worked closely with it on a
continuous basis.  If a user is not in that category then I agree
completely that a more stable distro such as centos or rhel is a more
appropriate way forward.  Of course there are other stable distros
that are also popular such as Ubuntu. Nevertheless almost any distro
will need some tweaks to get things working to the user's complete
satisfaction.

Eventually all distros will need to move forward to KDE4 and of course
Gnome is moving forward also with new desktop versions being developed
as I write. In addition newer lightweight desktops are now becoming
more popular too - such as XFCE.  Additionally there are new file
systems on the way and ext4 will be the default in F11 for example and
btrfs is not too far away also (better fs !). We live in a world of
rapid software advances and for anyone who can and wishes to follow
these developments using a cutting edge system is a good way to go but
it does mean keeping up all the time, and also accepting that things
will occasionally break and need fixing!

In addition there are some good working practices with any linux
distribution that mean following a route to getting a system working
can be done with minimal pain - it is very easy to configure a system
to give maximum pain, particularly if you choose to do a lot of
customisation. If you are running server facilities then you do need a
working knowledge of how to set the server up - whether it is a web
server, file server, nfs server, dhcp server etc etc.  There is
guidance on the web if you dig around, but you also need some more
intimate knowledge of networking, apache, nfs as relevant to the
server you are setting up.  In addition when setting up some
facilities like connecting to a vpn it is vital that an understanding
of the networking needs of a vpn are absorbed otherwise you can be
flogging a nearly dead horse to death.

There is guidance available on the forums, and indeed there is
expertise on the Fedora forum and plenty from current developers there
too. However you also need to be aware that there are some less expert
people who will offer advice and this can lead to problems, so you
need to analyse advice with care before using it.

Anyway to cut to the chase - yes, it is probably a good choice in the
case of this thread to make a switch to an easier distro for the O.P.
to use.

-- 
mike