Fedora vs. Ubuntu...

[pixel]

With the understanding that this is a total long shot: Has anyone switched from RHEL/Fedora to Ubuntu recently?

I started with RH based distros ~10 years ago, and managed a RHEL server and a few Fedora workstations for a few years for work, so Fedora felt like a natural choice for me when I decided to go linux only on my home desktop. I've been mostly happy with it, I'm very comfortable with yum and the RH way of doing things.

I did try Ubuntu briefly a few years ago and did run Debian on a desktop for a while ~2003, and while they were fine in that I didn't have big problems, I always felt like things were just a little different and in the end I went back to RH because it was good enough and familiar.

So here's the thing, I'm pondering switching to Ubuntu for both my primary desktop and my (2 year old now) Eee netbook. I don't really want to have 2 incompatible distros to work with and part of the motivation is that Ubuntu still maintains a netbook remix/spin but I'm fairly sure Fedora has dropped theirs (I can't find it.) It also seems like there are more packages available for Ubuntu or that they're more readily available.

Has anyone made this sort of switch? What did you feel you gained? Did you feel like you lost anything? Any gotchas that you encountered?

Anyone on the Ubuntu side of the fence have a good compelling reason to switch? I'm honestly not unhappy with Fedora just trying to see if the grass is greener on the other side.

And for the sake of some pretty: Have a few recent desktop screenshots...
GNOME on Fedora 12. (Bar on the bottom is an old version of Docky/Do)

Window-y goodness...

Comments

[snakeling]

I can't really help with your question, but my Eee is starting to get on years, too (I've got a 900), and I thought I should point out that the Netbook Remix version of Ubuntu is way slow on it. I'm using Xubuntu, though, which runs great, and is of course compatible with Ubuntu, which I run on my desktop.

[pixel]

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm running Fedora 11 on mine right now because I've just honestly been too lazy to bring it up to 12 and with 11 it was giving me install issues but has run well, It's a 701 with the RAM upgraded to 1GB so pretty limited (4GB SSHD with an 8GB card in it.)

[snakeling]

I've got about the same specs, and UNR is just no joy, as Gnome is way too heavy :/

Xubuntu uses XFCE, and although it lacks a couple of features that would make life on a netbook easier (the launcher and the optimisation of screen space via maximus and the window-picker-applet), it's so much lighter that the trade-off is worth it.

[pixel]

Interestingly I've been running GNOME on the netbook with F11 and really haven't had too much to complain about, I've heard that Ubuntu installs mono by default (Xubuntu doesn't) and Fedora does not, I wonder if that's got anything to do with it.

Granted I don't do much more than websurf + email check on my Eee these days so I don't expect a whole lot from it either. I didn't even install flash on it. What I WANT is a nice 13" laptop that I can run linux on, small enough to still be portable but big enough my eyes don't hurt to use it.

[snakeling]

I know I uninstalled Mono from my desktop, but I can't recall whether I had uninstalled it from the netbook before the slowness annoyed me enough to switch. Could be.

[kerravonsen]

Agreed about Xubuntu on an EeePC; XFCE is so much lighter and faster than GNOME or KDE. (And making themes for it is pretty easy, too)

[darkemeralds]

I have no technical insights to offer, but your screencap of that fireworks scene is excellent! Did you color it up? My cap wasn't so pretty.

[pixel]

I cheated, grabbed it from fugly_graphics the other day ;) should have mentioned that up there.
Looks like her photobucket is out of bandwith, I'd be happy to share mine if you want it.

[darkemeralds]

I must have hit it just right, because I got the wallpaper and am now staring happily at it on my own computer. Thank you!

[pixel]

You're very welcome!

[kerravonsen]

Reasons I like Ubuntu:
* A HUGE number of packages come standard; no dependency hell to get extra packages working
* It Just Works
* The six-monthly releases are a good balance between going mad with continual updates, and being frustrated with really old versions of programs

As for differences between the two; I use CentOS (RedHat clone) at work and Ubuntu at home. Mostly very similar to work with, just a few things that keep tripping me up when switching between one and the other.

Area	RedHat	Ubuntu
Package manager	yum, install with "yum install", configured in /etc/yum*, add repos in /etc/yum.repos.d	apt, install with "apt-get install", configured in /etc/apt/*, add repos in /etc/apt/sources.list.d
Apache	Config in /etc/httpd, restart with /etc/init.d/httpd restart	Config in /etc/apache2, restart with /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

[pixel]

I've not had much (if any) issue with dependency hell on recent (fedora9+) versions of Fedora, but I believe there are more packages available for Ubuntu.
ItJustWorks has been better and better on Fedora, my new laser printer install was a breeze (something I've not seen on Linux EVER) and I regularly put stuff on both my Blackberry and my Kindle without problem. The only thing that requires fiddling with is my Nvidia graphics card, and that's one time at install.
Fedora is on 6mo releases now too. But I've seen that lots of times the things I get out of the fedora repos are pretty old, like I get ruby 1.8.6 unless I install it by hand and I've been loathe to do that if I don't absolutely have to.

I'm pretty sure yum vs apt is a non-issue other than re-training the fingers.
I don't currently play with apache much, but again it's just a re-train thing. Do you use things like 'service httpd restart'? Is that available in Ubuntu?

[kerravonsen]

Do you use things like 'service httpd restart'? Is that available in Ubuntu?
It is available; I simply don't use it because old habits are hard to break.

[pixel]

Eh, so I didn't intend that comment to come off as snippy as it might have. Sorry :( Its just the more I dig the more it seems that both distros have matured into very similar platforms and there are some lingering misconceptions about Fedora because it's less popular.

I think I am going to try out Ubuntu, if only for the adventure and the better package availability.

[blnchflr]

I use Ubuntu, because it's familiar and Things Just Work - or can be made to work easily. In both OpenSolaris and OpenSUSE I've so far given up trying to get my wireless to work (without which my laptop is basically a dead lump - I spend most of my time online, and the router is two floors down, so hooking up by ethernet is not an option), whereas in Ubuntu, even before my wireless was supported ootb, I could compile the driver myself; apparently not possible in OpenSUSE.

Good luck if/when you change - tell us about your experiences :o)

My desktop on Lucid (Ubuntu 10.04) Beta 1, let me show you it:



…I can get rid of the Easter theme now, can't I.

[pixel]

I don't know how but I might have talked myself into switching just for the adventure.

You've gone toolbar-less, something I aspire to with Gnome-Do's assistance but haven't quite managed as you can see. Maybe I will force myself with new Ubuntu install. BTW is that AWN?

[blnchflr]

Yes, it's AWN!

I don't know if you already know a fix for killing the last Gnome panel, but I use

sudo mv /usr/bin/gnome-panel ~/.panel

Restoring it if you regret, then, should be as simple as

sudo mv ~/.panel /usr/bin/gnome-panel

Beware, though! That removing the last Gnome panel disables Alt+F2, if you use that a lot.

Back to your post, I forgot to say I love your wallpaper, too :o) !!

[seekingferret]

Don't forget that in addition to the Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Kubuntu maintains a version of the KDE Netbook Shell, which might or might not be more to your taste but in any case is compatible with the Ubuntu repos. I've never used the KDE Netbook Shell, but I run KDE 4.4 (On OpenSuSe) and happen to think that Plasma is sexy as hell.

[tonybaldwin]

I switched from Fedora to Ubuntu in 2007, so that was a while ago.
I was tired of yum breaking stuff, which happened a lot. I don't know, maybe it doesn't do that as much now?
Apt (esp. w/ aptitude, rather than apt-get) is, in my experience, a better package manager. Consequently, ubuntu was just more stable, mostly, and, I believe has more pkgs available (not sure on that one).
The ubuntu release schedule makes little sense to me, though.
And, now, I'm primarily using Debian (although still have ubuntu on my laptop due to better support for some hardware).
Ubuntu is better at keeping updated/current with new software than Debian, but debian is rock solid, and I feel like it doesn't try to make as many decisions for me as ubuntu does (don't want hand-holding).
Of course, you asked about ubuntu, not debian.
Ubuntu is good.
Debian is my fave, but given the choice between Ubuntu and Fedora, I'd pick Ubuntu. I used RH then Fedora from about RH7.1 until...whichever fedora was around in 2007.

[fioletv]

And I had a problem with Red Hat Linux.
(Sorry, Fedora!)
Do not works on my MSI Wind U90.
Or at least network do not works properly.
But I plan giving Fedora a try again!.