I am currently running FC5 and i like it. it was my first distro and i chose it as a means of learning linux.. I am now ready for a newer challenge. I tried slackware but i think it is too advanced for me still.i i will try it again later.. so now i want something more challenging than fedora but, with more functionality. any suggestions.

There's no Linux that'd have "more functionality" than Fedora, since a Linux is an OS that's using Linux kernel and most of them have GNU apps installed on top of that. So, to have more functionality, don't install another Linux but install the programs you need. If you need more challenge, then try another distribution that's more difficult to use (sounds a bit odd to me): Gentoo or an LFS system perhaps. Fedora is by no means less functional than any other distribution; it's just what you install on it and how you configure it. The possibilities are endless; you can turn Fedora from a newbie-friendly teaching-box into a big web server if you like (though there might be lighter choices around).

One tip: I'd adivice you to try to write the "problem" in a nutshell into the very first sentence on the post; this way people can see it by putting their cursor over the link to the thread (so they don't necessarily need to open the post to see quickly what you have in your mind). Of course it's up to you, but I would find it more helpful if I can see "I need more challenging OS" when I put my mouse cursor over the thread's link, than if it shows me "Hi, I'm Betty from New York and I'm having a flu" just a friendly note..

Gentoo Is For Ricers!!!

I was in the same situation, well almost, i started on FC4, hated FC5 so went looking for something else, i found Arch.

It doesn't hold your hand through configs, they are all text files, but it is EXTREMELY well documented, simple to use, and had what i was looking for, a good package manager. Despite Linux being Linux whatever distro, i cna honestly say i learnt alot more using arch than i did fedora

Another nice challenge is spelling Perl correctly. Oh, actually no it isn't...

Another vote for Arch. Pacman is an insane package manager that just simply doesn't suffer from versioning conflicts when even the over-glorified dpkg does on occasion. I'd recommend Frugalware over Arch however the documentation is a tad too sparse at the moment so probably less newbie friendly. The BSD-style init system in Arch is very nice though.

[QUOTE=b0uncer]There's no Linux that'd have "more functionality" than Fedora, since a Linux is an OS that's using Linux kernel and most of them have GNU apps installed on top of that. So, to have more functionality, don't install another Linux but install the programs you need. If you need more challenge, then try another distribution that's more difficult to use (sounds a bit odd to me): Gentoo or an LFS system perhaps. Fedora is by no means less functional than any other distribution; it's just what you install on it and how you configure it. The possibilities are endless; you can turn Fedora from a newbie-friendly teaching-box into a big web server if you like (though there might be lighter choices around).
/QUOTE]
thanx for the tip both of them. that not what i really meant by functionality(I think I chose the wrong word there) i meant something less gui friendly..I dont just harder too use.. i was put onto to gentoo i will try this next

Free_beer, what would we do without your valuable input to this discussion:

Ricer - "a colander like utensil that forces food through tiny holes, giving potatoes, for instance, the texture of cooked rice"

Gentoo, the bane of potatoes?

i was hoping for a more difficult to learn linux distro that was as good or better than fedora...any suggestions now i think i phrased better now.. i hope everyone is still interested enough to still post..

difficulty is a subjective thing, it all depends on the user ability etc.

Like above, i reccomend Arch, it gave me a greater feel of satisfaction and control

Look out potatoes, here I come!

I've heard alot of good things about Arch and have thought about giving it a try. I've switched around a bit trying the Fedora's and Debian's. I still have FC5 on my machine, but I've grown to really like Gentoo to (almost) exclusivity. So, I'll second that recommendation to try Gentoo.

I would have throw in my vote for Gentoo also. At first I was intimidated by the portage system but it was solely because I lacked understanding of it. The thought of everything on my system compiled *specifically* for me has given me a warm fuzzy feeling. You build Gentoo from the ground up so it's tailor made for you.

Potatoes Beware, Gentoo users will unite against you evil, evil starches.

not really. i installed fedora with no understanding of packaging or filesystems partition or anything else. and i managed to be up and running in no time.... however slackware i had read up on all these things.. as i stated fedora was a great learning tool, now it is time to try something else.you guys have all convinced me to try gentoo thanx for the advice...

this is kinda irritating to me. to the mods pls let me quote this one.Real hackers depend on their brains not on their machines! So it doesn't matter what software you are using. It's HOW you use it.

please i must know what is a ricer??