Moving from Fedora to Ubuntu - am I doing the right thing?

[Mark Haney]

Chris G wrote:
> I've been running Fedora (7 and 8) for the past year or two, before
> that I ran Slackware for several years.
> 
> I'm considering moving to Ubuntu and I'm wondering if my reasons are
> right. 
> 
> It seems to me (and this is what I'm asking about) that Ubuntu, when
> compared with Fedora, has:-
> 
>     A much bigger range of software available, I have found quite a
>     few things available in the Ubuntu repositiaries which aren't in
>     the Fedora ones.
> 
>     A better software management system (apt v. yum).
> 
>     In many cases more up-to-date sofotware.
> 

I've run virtually every distro out there.  From Slackware 3 to (now) 
Gentoo, Kubuntu and Fedora.  So, maybe my thoughts will help.  (Or maybe 
not, but you asked for them.)

Ubuntu is fine for typical users who aren't 'too techie'.  My kids and 
Mom use Kubuntu on their systems. They do work well and are just as 
stable as any other linux distro.

Fedora is considered by many 'bleeding edge'.  It's the latest and 
greatest, which doesn't always translate into a 'user friendly' system 
for daily users.  I've rarely had that kind of trouble, but it can be 
frustrating.

Maybe I'm slightly biased with regards to apt vs. yum.  I've got two 
Debian boxes that I am working my tail off to scrap because debian's 
package management system is utter crap.  I've never had more trouble 
out of a package manager than I do out of those servers.  Sure, ubuntu's 
package management is better, but it's still Debian and that just bugs me.

In all honesty, I don't think there's THAT much difference between them. 
   The repos are stocked with similar apps, but I'm sure there will be 
Fedora packages that won't have ubuntu equivalents.  That's just kind of 
how it is.  is that bad?  No, just different.

I think they are all good distros.  They all have pros and cons. 
Changing one for another is fine, I just think 'the grass is always 
greener' proverb applies here.  It might look better on the outside 
looking in, but you'll find the functionality similar enough to not be 
such a show stopper.

(And now my $0.50, I wouldn't give up Gentoo for anything.  Rolling 
upgrades are the greatest thing for those of us who don't want to take 
down production servers to upgrade them.)




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Mark Haney
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