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Re: Best simple Linux for not-so-novice user?

On 2008-09-23, Singburi Sam <singburi_sam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Which Linux should I install?  I'd described myself as a (very)
> old hat regarding Unix in general, but an ignorant newbie
> regarding modern Linuxes.  I intend to do *nothing* sophisticated
> with either hardware or software, and do *not* want to spend time
> learning Install procedures.  I'm relatively comfortable with
> lower-level  methods.  (For example, I usually do 'vi /etc/passwd' or
> 'vipw', etc. rather than 'adduser'!).
>
> I've been running an old RedHat system for several years; the
> computer is failing so yesterday I bought a Compaq laptop; the
> computer store installed a Ubuntu/WindowsXP dual-boot system for me.
> I'd never even heard of Ubuntu, but figured it wouldn't
> matter much. Now I'm faced with the choice of adapting to Ubuntu,
> switching to Fedora, or ???.  I noticed some messages
> suggesting Fedora tends to be unstable.  Should I go with
> Fedora 8 rather than Fedora 9?
>

    Fedora is "cooker" for RHEL. Based on that I wouldn't
expect much out of it if you're just a "mundane desktop user".

> (By the way, I could live without Windows at all, but it's
> "free" to install.  Are there good reasons for installing Linux
> only, rather than a "dual-boot" configuration?)

    What do you need Windows for?

    Why not just run Wine/Crossover/Cedega or VirtualBox/wmare?

>
> I'm sure my question has been asked and answered many times
> in many forms already -- so much so in fact that I'm afraid it will
> just add to my confusion to wade through all the discussions.
>
> The very first thing I learned about Ubuntu is that it lacks the
> concept of root password!  This disconcerted me obviously, until

    ...it's pretty easy to re-enable this if you know what you're
doing. If it's a problem then you're kind of the sort of user they're
trying to keep the sharp objects away from.

> I learned that my own password was good enough, apparently,
> as long as I could spell 'sudo -i'.  I decided it might be convenient
> to have a more ordinary root login, but was unable to adduser
> with id 0. This particular Ubuntu peculiarity may cause no trouble,
> but I fear it represents a philosophy antithetical to mine which
> I will grow to hate.
>
> Meanwhile I discovered neither csh nor tcsh was installed!

    The complaint that "X is not installed" is pretty lame for
any Debian based distro. If something isn't there by default,
it's pretty trivial to add it later.

[deletia]

-- 
	vi isn't easy to use.				 |||
							/ | \
	vi is easy to REPLACE.

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