Tag: fedora core 5

Fedora Core 5 (FC5) Update…

A lot has been said about Fedora Core 5 (FC5) recently, so I thought I would pull together a few things of interest.

Q. Where can you get it from?
A. Try here: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/Download

Q. What is it like?
A. I like the review by Howard Rogers.
Q. Can I install Oracle Database 10g Release 2 on it?
A. There has been a lot of hot air produced (mostly by me) this week about this question, but the answer seems to be NO! Here is a draft installation guide I wrote against a beta version of FC5, but so far I’ve had no luck getting this installation to work on the final release of FC5. I’ve decided to leave the article on my site as a testament to my failure 🙂 Please add to the comments if you have any workarounds.

Q. Can I install Oracle AS10g Release 3 on it?
A. Strangely enough, this seems to work fine. I wrote this installation guide against a beta version of FC5 and it works fine against the final release also. Miracles never cease 🙂 Of course, installing and being stable are two very different things!

Q. Can I use FC5 as a VMware Server host or client?
A. Yes you can, but it’s not exactly straight forward and reliable. The VMware forums will help you get it sorted, specifically these threads (host, client).

Q. What do you think about, FC5 Tim? (Asking yourself a question is kinda freaky :))
A. I don’t like it. My main interest is in server software and FC5 seems to break just about everything it touches, so CentOS4 (a Red Hat clone) is the obvious choice for me.

I hope this information will make life a bit quicker and easier for anyone reading.

Cheers

Tim…

Ubuntu and Fedora Core 5 (Test 2)…

As always, I’ve been having a little scout round at whats going on in the Linux world at the moment. I’m pretty happy with CentOS 4, but it doesn’t do any harm to have a play. Here are some thoughts after a quick play with Ubuntu and Fedora Core 5 (Test 2).

Ubuntu
The recent hype about Goobuntu, a possible Google variant of Ubuntu, made me sit up and take notice. I’m not sure it really exists, and if it does, I’m not sure it’s designed to be a Windows-Killer, but all the press increased my interest in Ubuntu.

You can read all about Ubuntu on the website, but suffice to say, people are claiming it’s very user friendly and a possibly the best Desktop Linux available at the moment. There seems to be some groundswell behind it, and the latest stories have made it seem even more attractive.

It came on one CD, which makes a change from the 4-5 CDs for other distributions. The installation was straight forward, but didn’t appear easier than any of the Red Hat variants. In some ways, the lack of a GUI installer made it seem even more geeky than some other distributions.

Once it was installed it seemed very much like any other distro I’ve used. It uses the Gnome window manager, so it feels very much like Red Hat with a different theme. The menu structure looked a little simpler and the “Add/Remove Applications” screen was neat, but it didn’t change my life.

I might have a go at installing Oracle on it, but then again, I’m not sure I can be bothered 🙂

My verdict, nice enough, but what makes it better than any other distro?

Fedora Core 5 (Test 2)
I was a devout FC fan before I switched to CentOS. I started to download all 5 FC5 CDs, but then switched to the 2.8G DVD. As the dumb-ass user I am, the only thing I noticed was change in graphics. I guess the new look and feel is an attempt to differentiate Fedora from Red Hat’s enterprise distro. Apart from that, it all looked like more of the same to me. So far I’ve not been able to install 10g R2 on it, but it’s still a beta, so who cares.

My verdict, nice enough, but what makes it better than any other distro?

I can’t really tell the difference between all the distributions these days. CentOS works well for me because it’s a clone of a distro that Oracle support, but apart from that, my daily life is unaffected by it.

The only thing that might make me eager to switch is if some heavyweight company puts their name to a free Linux distro. Like Google with Goobuntu? 🙂

Cheers

Tim…