Thursday, September 14, 2006
Work, Work, Work...
Recently I picked up a job where they allow us to use Linux. We are using Suse 10.
I have played with Fedora cores for a while now, but I have never had any formal usage, but now I get to use it 100% of the time.
I am finding the experience to be a little mixed.
Some things work the same or are very similar, other things work better. However, there are some things that are more of a PITA than I want to deal with...like Dependencies...
Those of you who have used Linux will understand what it is that I am talking about.
There are also several programs that exist in Windows, that don't exist or are still in their infancy, for linux.
This makes it a little difficult for me, but not impossible.
I am also learning the great things linux allows a user to do, it they know anything about the configuration settings and files...
But I digress.
I should be telling how things are, not how I perceive them.
We were given machines, laptops, that have a variety of features, like bluetooth and wireless. We have a dual-boot setup with windows xp and linux suse 10.
What does this mean? Well, linux is not running on ext2 or ext3, but on a fat16 system, with almost no HDD space to speak of.
And then, well, suse isn't a polished as some of the other systems I have seen, and that means "dependency hell" which is where you end up when you try to upgrade or add something and it relies on something else, and so on...
In fact, I was installing something, which we will call "component A"...
Component A needed Component B to be installed FIRST.
Component B needed Component C to be installed FIRST.
Component C needed Component D to be installed FIRST...
Are we getting the picture here?
This happens for about 7 separate components...so I get to the 7th one, and it says (and I am not kidding) that it needs Component A to be installed FIRST...
This was a circular dependency.
So, anyway, I asked if we had to have the dual boot system, or if we could go straight up to Linux, and I was told, SURE!
Now, I don't like SUSE, so hmmmm...
I asked, can I use any Linux distro? SURE!!
So, I think I will go with Fedora...
I have played with Fedora cores for a while now, but I have never had any formal usage, but now I get to use it 100% of the time.
I am finding the experience to be a little mixed.
Some things work the same or are very similar, other things work better. However, there are some things that are more of a PITA than I want to deal with...like Dependencies...
Those of you who have used Linux will understand what it is that I am talking about.
There are also several programs that exist in Windows, that don't exist or are still in their infancy, for linux.
This makes it a little difficult for me, but not impossible.
I am also learning the great things linux allows a user to do, it they know anything about the configuration settings and files...
But I digress.
I should be telling how things are, not how I perceive them.
We were given machines, laptops, that have a variety of features, like bluetooth and wireless. We have a dual-boot setup with windows xp and linux suse 10.
What does this mean? Well, linux is not running on ext2 or ext3, but on a fat16 system, with almost no HDD space to speak of.
And then, well, suse isn't a polished as some of the other systems I have seen, and that means "dependency hell" which is where you end up when you try to upgrade or add something and it relies on something else, and so on...
In fact, I was installing something, which we will call "component A"...
Component A needed Component B to be installed FIRST.
Component B needed Component C to be installed FIRST.
Component C needed Component D to be installed FIRST...
Are we getting the picture here?
This happens for about 7 separate components...so I get to the 7th one, and it says (and I am not kidding) that it needs Component A to be installed FIRST...
This was a circular dependency.
So, anyway, I asked if we had to have the dual boot system, or if we could go straight up to Linux, and I was told, SURE!
Now, I don't like SUSE, so hmmmm...
I asked, can I use any Linux distro? SURE!!
So, I think I will go with Fedora...
