20090623 ubuntu to centos like coming home again - plembo/onemoretech GitHub Wiki

title: Ubuntu to CentOS: Like coming home again link: https://onemoretech.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/ubuntu-to-centos-like-coming-home-again/ author: lembobro description: post_id: 304 created: 2009/06/23 05:26:41 created_gmt: 2009/06/23 05:26:41 comment_status: open post_name: ubuntu-to-centos-like-coming-home-again status: publish post_type: post

Ubuntu to CentOS: Like coming home again

Seven months ago I embarked on an ambitious experiment: to see if Ubuntu was that “better mousetrap” for the kind of work I do every day on and off the job.

I learned a lot during those months. A lot about Ubuntu, but also about Linux in general. As someone who “grew up” on Red Hat Linux and then switched to FreeBSD for a couple of years, my experience with other Linux distributions had been limited.

In choosing to try Ubuntu I was especially interested in seeing if more “bleeding edge” capabilities in the newer kernel versions it used, as well as the wider selection of userland applications (especially in multimedia), could make my computing life easier and more enjoyable. After briefly giving the latest Fedora (at the time version 6) a try.

I found that running Ubuntu did give me access to many software packages not available for Red Hat. There were also a lot of cool, new features in the base distribution not yet supported by Red Hat. The newer versions of the kernel Ubuntu uses did provide better support for various hardware devices than Red Hat Enterprise.

All that said, last night I began the painful process of moving my systems back over to CentOS. Like an earlier transition from Fedora to CentOS, in the end I found that the shiny new features Ubuntu promised, even when delivered, were not enough to make me put up with the eccentricities and instability of working close to the bleeding edge.

My only consolation is that the years of posts covering some of the more difficult aspects of configuring Red Hat systems will make the transition much easier.

Oh, and THANK GOD FOR DAG WIEERS AND RPMFORGE!

Without their hard work I’d still be compiling all the stuff I need that that upstream doesn’t ship!