Fedora Core 4 vs. SUSE 10.0

[zenarcher 0]

I don't want to start a debate or anything, but I'm just curious as to comparing two systems. My Linux experience is pretty well limited to the last couple of versions of Mandriva and the last couple of versions of SUSE. Currently, I'm using SUSE 10.0.

 

Anyway, I've done some reading on Fedora Core 4 and wondering what the pros and cons might be between FC4 and SUSE. I kind of like some of what I've read about FC4. It appears I can get most any packages I use now in Mandriva for FC4. Also, it appears that setting FC4 up as RAID0 is about as easy as SUSE, which was my primary reason for switching to SUSE in the first place.

 

So, if any FC4 users would like to share some comments and considerations, I'd really be interested in learning.

 

Regards,

zenarcher

[zenarcher 0]

Well, I just ordered FC4, so I guess I'll see what it's about, firsthand!

 

zenarcher

[Justbill 0]

Hmmm,

 

I think you'll be happy with FC4. That is what I'm back to using. If you remember, I was using SuSE 9.3, it was OK, but I found a few things that I could not do with it. I tried SuSE 10.0, and, like 9.3, it was ok, but still, there were things that I did with FC4 that didn't seem to work in SuSE. It seems like some of the commands didn't work the same as FC4, and getting extras in FC4 seems easier to me. I don't know how much room you have on your hardrive, but when I installed FC4 on my machine, I selected "custom installation" and then when I got to the page where you select the packages, I checked "everything" (at the bottom of the page). It does take up quite a bit of space, but, you get a lot more than in the typical desktop install. If you have the room on your hard drive, thats what I would do. I will say that FC3 seemed a little less buggy to me. FC4 gave me some problems durring the install, and FC3 always installed easily. And I really do not like the way "up2date" works in this version. I've been using yum, it just seems to work better, and without the snags. Yum does come installed on FC4, you have to open a terminal, SU & password, and then type

yum update

 

Any how, FC4 will be a lot closer to Mandriva than SuSE was, and you should'nt have any problems with it.

 

Justbill

[zenarcher 0]

Hey Justbill,

 

Thanks for the information and opinions on FC4. I really appreciate that! One of the things I noticed was that FC4 would easily allow the SATA RAID0 array setup, which is impossible with Mandriva, unless you have a PhD in programming. I do like that about SUSE and think it will be about the same with FC4.

 

I have plenty of room on my hard drive, as I run a pair of 80Gig SATA drives, so in RAID0 array, it's something around 150GB of hard drive space. I'm running 1Gig of RAM, so no problem there, either.

 

I should have the FC4 here in about a week, which is fine. I'm in the middle of incoming parts for a computer I'm building for a customer, so really want to get that out of the way first, anyway.

 

I remember you were trying SUSE and encountering some problems. I've had no problems with SUSE, except a bit more complex getting my HP multifunction printer to work right. It worked without any problems with Mandriva. I'll keep you posted when I get the FC4 and get it installed.

 

Thanks again,

zenarcher

[danleff 0]

I'm impressed with FC4. I installed it on my sata drive with no problem. Yum and installing packages from source were a breeze. I did (as you know) the HP drivers with my HP 6210 multifunction printer/fax/copier. I also compiled the madwifi drivers without incident. I will try my DSL connection next.

 

I just downloaded Mandriva 2006 on dvd and will try this over the next week.

 

Some day a raid0 array. I may seek your help on this!

[Justbill 0]

As an afterthought!

 

You may also want to consider CentOS 4.2 . I'm using it on my second machine, its a

 

HP Pavilion 6630

500 MHz Celeron

256 MB ram

80 GB hard drive

 

CentOS 4.2 installed perfectly and easily, runs great, and everything worked from the start! CentOS is basically a fedora clone, and for me it has been one WITHOUT all the bugs!

 

It actually seems to run better than FC4 on my Presario! And its specs are better:

2.93GHz Pentium 4

512 MB ram

160 Gb hard drive

 

Just a thought about CentOS 4.2 , Take it for what its worth

 

Justbill

[zenarcher 0]

Justbill, thanks for the Centos information. I'll sure keep that in mind! Also, thanks for the info on your experiences.

 

Danleff, thanks also for sharing your experiences. I'm wondering if FC4 is going to deal with my HP printer in a more friendly way. It's possible, I suppose, as Mandriva handled it just fine.

 

Good deal on the SATA drive. As you know, I'm running a pair of 80GB WD hard drives in SATA RAID0 array. Yeah, I know, I've heard nothing but bad about RAID on every forum. Especially RAID0. "What if a hard drive crashes...you lose your data?" Well, with one IDE drive, my question is: "What happens to your data if your single IDE drive dies?" Same thing. Bottom line is, with either setup, I keep a backup of anything that's important.

 

My experience with the SATA RAID0 array....IMHO it's faster. I don't think it's my imagination. Also, I like the tiny cables used with the SATA drives, as I think they help with cooling restriction in the box. I use a full tower case, as it is, since I believe I get better cooling in the case. Also, six case fans. I live with the noise...it's part of my environment and my hearing isn't as good as it used to be, anyway, so not that annoying.

 

Danleff, setting up SATA RAID with SUSE is a snap. Even I figured it out in about five minutes. During the initial install, you merely do a custom partitioning. The instructions for defining the arrays are step by step in the SUSE manual, but I think most of it could be figured out even without reading. The ONLY thing you have to keep in mind is that the boot sector CANNOT be part of the RAID array, or it won't boot! If you try to set it up in RAID, SUSE warns you that you're making a big mistake! I merely set something like 15MB aside as boot, then let SUSE create the RAID array out of what's left of the drives. Not a single problem! With Mandriva, you have to figure out how to set them up with mdadm and I found that impossible. You have to totally understand all the quirks of the particular distro, to do so. Not the case with SUSE. If I'm reading FC4 information correctly, it sets up the RAID array exactly in the same way as SUSE...again, very simple. If you have problems, that I can help with!

 

I'll probably be driving everyone crazy for help with FC4 once I have it and install it. The use of YUM and sources for additional packages will be a challenge for me, since I really only understand the SUSE method.

 

Regards,

zenarcher

[zenarcher 0]

Fedora Core 4 has arrived today. I'll probably start installing shortly and will be pleading for help!

 

zenarcher

[zenarcher 0]

Well, Fedora Core 4 and I did not get along very well! The install would not even begin until I disconnected all USB devices including the internal multi-card reader. Quite unlike Mandriva and SUSE in that respect.

 

Having done that, I attempted to set up my SATA RAID0 array. It seemed very similar to doing so with SUSE 10.0. Not so, apparently. Everything appeared to be right, but when I tried to continue the installation, I kept getting an error about sdb not being mounted, after which the installation would shut down.

 

I tried three different times, after reading the installation instructions, but could not resolve it, so decided to reinstall SUSE 10. Once again, I attempted the KDE 3.5 updates, at which time, my sound system began having issues. In several applications, including YAST, I'd get a KNOTIFY crash. Likewise, with KDE system sounds, the sound was broken and stuttering. Thinking I had done something wrong, I did another clean install, this time up[censored] everything EXCEPT KDE...staying with KDE 34.updates. The sound is now working just fine.

 

I have created a couple of new problems, which I don't understand. I installed SANE, as always, but cannot find it in my menu.

 

Also, I was always able to set up my Sony PDA, with the USB connection so I could sync with Evolution. Not this time! Maybe I don't remember exactly what I did before, but I can't get it to sync. It seems that I had to chmod permissions, but I cannot find anything on /dev/usr/ttyUSB0 or on USB1. I don't know why.

 

Fedora Core 4 would have probably worked fine, if I were not so stubborn about my SATA RAID array, but due to the fact that I could easily set it up with SUSE, was my primary reason for switching to SUSE in the first place.

 

So, that's the update....

 

Regards,

zenarcher

[Justbill 0]

You may not be missing much!

 

Even though I am running Fedora Core 4 on my main computer, it is primarily because the wife and kids like it! I had a good deal of problems getting it to install myself, it crashed severall times at the initial boot, and then I found out that I had to give it some commands just to get started, like:

 

linux resolution=1024x768

and

acpi=off

 

And then at that as I said before, several things still don't work correctly. Personally, I prefer using this smaller, older machine that I am using now, with CentOS 4.2 on it. Everything worked from the start, and the install was simple! So, for me the jury is still out on FC4, but it aint looking good! So, like I said, You may not be missing much.

 

Justbill

[zenarcher 0]

Good to hear of your experience, Justbill. I don't know what I was doing wrong in setting up the RAID array, but obviously, something. When it comes to setting up RAID, I have yet to found any distro as friendly as SUSE...period. It does sound like Centos is easier to deal with. I may give that a try one of these days soon. Actually, I have to say that I like SUSE...really haven't had any problems until this issue between SUSE and KDE 3.5 came up, where the sound messes up and KDE says it isn't their bug, but a problem that belongs to SUSE. SUSE has failed to respond with an answer.

 

I just can't figure out why I've created problems with SANE and sync in my Sony PDA with Evolution. Never had those problems before. But, I have a theory on that. Always, I've found that one needs to have beer on hand when installing Linux. The best installations I get are with a beer in one hand and the Linux DVD in the other. This time, I was out of beer and it was too cold to ride the motorcyle to get some. The wife had the car at work, so it was a beerless installation.

 

As much work as it is, I like trying these different distros. I should be trying them on one of the other boxes I have, but mine is the only one with the dual SATA drives. I get a lot of computer customers interested in Linux, after my pitch, so trying to learn all I can so I can help them.

 

Regards,

zenarcher

 

Late Note: One problem down. I uninstalled the latest version of SANE and went back one revision. When I did, my SANE icons are now back in the main menu and SANE is working fine!

[Edited by zenarcher on 2005-11-23 12:10:44]

 

[Heffo_J 0]

G'day all,

I've been using Suse 10 for a while but have recently switched to Fedora Core 4. I made the move to FC4 because no matter how hard I tried I could not get my WIFI card to work in Suse. I did like Suse 10 though. My WiFi card worked with Knoppix but I find that too geeky. Kanotix almost worked: seemed to get the card almost working but couldn't quite do it and I couldn't find any help.

 

Last weekend after many many hours of mucking around I finally got my card to work in FC4 thanks to THIS web site. There was a very helpful article here that stepped me through.

 

I now find that unlike just about every distro that I have tried FC4 doesn't get my sound card to work. How is this? Every distro I've used can make it work: why not FC4?

 

The moral of the story is captured by the old adage: "what you pick up on the swings, you miss on the roundabouts". In other words, each distro has it's pros and cons. I have never found the perfect one yet. UMM!

 

My 2 cents worth

 

Regards

John

[danleff 0]

In Fedora, alsa is often set to mute. Don't know why.

 

What sound card is this, or is it onboard?

 

Try going root in a console and bring up alsamixer by typing in;

 

alsamixer in the console window. See if the master setting (the first graphic bar) is set to zero. If so, use your arrow up key to set it up to almost 100%. Then hit the esc key.

 

After that, type in;

 

alsactl store

 

Then see if you have sound.

[Heffo_J 0]

Hello Danleff,

 

I did the alsa mixermaster to 100% but the next command you suggested alsactl storedid not work. It comes back as:

 

bash: alsactl: command not found

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks very musch for your help.

 

John