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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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!.