Red Hat student, Fedora Sucks as base system. What now?
 

Hi every1,

Guys this is my situation, I recently took Red Hat classes and plan on getting certified soon... I have been running Ubuntu as my base system (which is Debian Based) and I thought since I'm learning a RPM based system, it makes sense to get rid of Ubuntu and run Fedora as my base system. Honestly speaking, Fedora didnt deliver and after only two days I removed it, and ran CentOS but since its more of a server than Desktop OS, I ended up getting worst results. I ran into many problems and wouldnt make sense to mention all of them, but my question is what are my options from here? I can always re-install Ubuntu and run CentOS or RedHat for practical purposes but I wanted to make that my last option. any Suggestions would be really appreciated. Thanks

CentOS and Fedora are great as Desktop or Server solution...what problems have you encountered ?
I am also a Debian user since 3.1 ..but currently I'am running centOS for kvm virt on a low level server.

I have 8G of Ram on my notebook and this thing only see 3G (I know i probably have to get updates for this to be sorted), other stuff include my 3G card and a few other things, but as I said before it doesnt really matter. I needed to run either of these OS's and so that I could start playing with them, especially sense their RPM Based.

Why not run it in a virtual machine, or dual boot ?

do you have a 32-bit system? maybe you need to use a PAE kernel in order to use more than 3 GiB of ram.

Just a thought.

Mandriva is RPM-based too. I use PCLinuxOS which is a spin-off of Mandriva, however it uses a version apt-get/synaptic for RPM-based distros rather than yum, so the method of installing and upgrading would resemble Ubuntu's, not Redhat's (though you can still use the rpm command).

I need to get a PAE kernel for it to see more than the 3G, but either than that, I prefer playing with RPM's, commands, config's...etc...etc which are related to red hat on a base system rather than on a virtual system, reason is you get to see exactly what a change does and since you are more on the base system tahn you are on the virtual than it gives you more time to try out stuff, but at the moment Fedora is not cutting it nor does CentOS, any other OS you guys know of that are RPM based and worth using?

have you tried opensuse? its my all time favorite.

It also has an outstanding control center called Yast which can be really useful
when you are not in the mood of the command line :)

OK, do you understand the purpose behind Fedora? Fedora is a Red Hat sponsored project; which caters for the latest and greatest software which may not be 100% stable. The Fedora project develops future releases of RHEL.

If you need to practice for Red Hat certification, then CentOS is what you should use as its a free clone of RHEL. And yes, it is very much a server centric type of OS since that is the purpose of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

If you need an OS that just works on your desktop, then Fedora is not what you should use - Fedora by the very nature that its cutting edge; means you'll have to tinker with it to get everything to work.

Using Ubuntu/Mint will ensure that everything just works straight after installation.

Thanks for all replies, I guess I will have to either virtualize it or dual boot (don't know why I never thought of that)

Thanks again... back to formatting!!!

The same could be said of a lot of distros. Personally I find PCLinuxOS less problematic than Ubuntu/Mint for a variety of reasons which I will not go into here. (I have used *buntu/mint for nearly 5 years)

If you want to get certified on RHEL, you have to use Centos unless you want to pay for RHEL. Fedora is too different to use for practice for certification.
Here is the RHEL/Centos Admin/Howto guide: http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_boo...ion/index.html (free to read online doc)
You may want to dual-boot until you get comfortable.
Please state your processor, specifically 32 or 64 bit. If you've got 8GB RAM, a 64 bit install is recommended, but a 32 bit with PAE will work also.
http://www.redhat.com/rhel/compare/
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_boo...ide/index.html

I merely used Ubuntu/Mint since the OP mentioned he had installed Ubuntu as a base OS. You are right that this is true of a lot of OS's.

I personally only use anything non-Fedora/RHEL for (very) rare testing so I'm not in a position to comment on whether PCLinuxOS is better/worse than Ubuntu/Mint.

I don't understand why you would not use RED HAT if you are trying to learn more about RED HAT. They offer a student discount. :)

That being said, CentOS is a 99.99% compatible "clone" of Red Hat. If you find that CentOS gives you "worst results" and "many problems" then why not work through these problems and find a solution, maybe that will help you learn more about Linux and maybe increase your chances of passing the certification exam. Giving up so quickly does not bode well for your future success in the field. :(

If you have tried Red Hat, CentOS, and Fedora, and hate all of them, then maybe you should reconsider your desire to become Red Hat Certified. ;) It sounds like your are more comfortable with Ubuntu, which happens to offer a certification program as well: http://www.ubuntu.com/support/traini...d-professional