Migrate from Ubuntu to other (RPM?) distribution
 

Hi,

since yesterday I'm looking for new Linux distro for me. My criteria:

1. Distro used in corporation (not Debian based). I've used Ubuntu for several years, but it looks they mostly use RPM based distributions. I'd like to be more Pro :D And what is annoying in Ubuntu, that they shove up more and more commercial software. Or that $$$ on download website... wrrrrrr

2. I'm beginner in C, C++, Java and Python programming. I think that any Linux based OS is good for programmers, but e.g. I heard opinions that Fedora is one of the most useful.

3. It will be installed on my notebook. Although there is many negative opinions about Unity in Ubuntu, I'm used to it and I think it looks really great and neat. Maybe it is strange, but I'd like good-looking distro :) My first impression from black Gnome topbar or clunky default look of KDE is not good. I'm rather used to topbars like in Ubuntu, MacOS, not to bottombars like Windows. I know I could install some addons, but where does it work good enough? Where it is good enough merged with OS, comparable to native solutions?

Could you help me with this choice?
I know I should try myself. I reviewed some Youtube presentations, I read some articles and finally I decided to try Fedora. But its stability... I hoped to go through the installation process at least without problems. But already there I met first bug :/

Best regards,
nadic

I think you have answered your own question. If you are not interested in Debian based and are looking for an RPM based distro use Fedora.

Well that is NOT fedora !
Fedora has a WAY too short of a life span, only 13 months.

for the server and the office i would buy RHEL 6.4
It has a 10 YEAR lifespan
or
Install the free rebuild CentOS 6.4

Sure, but RHEL and Fedora are related. I suppose that knowledge from Fedora could be useful in RHEL or other RPM Linux distribution, more than knowledge from Debian-based distributions.
And I prefer Fedora to RHEL (or rather CentOS, I don't want to pay), because it is for my home laptop, not for office. And as it is in homes, I like to try new software, new solutions, so I'm not intrested in couple of years old-very-very-stable-tested packets. I like that pursuit of new release :)

For your use case scenario, Fedora looks like a very good choice, in my opinion. :cool:

Also, you can go for openSuse, it is stable, comes with new software and has a corporate counterpart.

Honestly, other than not knowing the RH-specific ways of doing things, and not knowing rpm & yum, working in Debian-based distros won't hamper your knowledge. If you know the underlying OS instead of learning the distribution specific tools, you can move from Red Hat to Debian to Slackware to Gentoo and you're going to feel right at home with a very small learning curve. I actually learned almost everything I know on Red Hat when I used to do servers at work so I got to go to training and certifications, but use Debian almost exclusively at home (although I really want to like Chakra).

Myself, as far as rpm distros, I like Mageia the best. Very granular control of packages much like Debian. My beef against RH/Fedora is that many packages aren't available to install by themselves, but rather as "megapackages" where you get everything and the kitchen sink. Doesn't bother me working on servers since I'm not installing anything but the absolute BASE gui stuff most of the time, but when building my desktops it really irked me.