i have got a c714nr compaq presario laptop which i, as a student generally use or will use for programming and project purposes..Most of my programming and project work requires linux installation ..

my laptop comes with vista home edition preinstalled...i have the recovery dvd. now i want to dual boot it with linux..

i wanted to know which one is better ubuntu 7.04 or fedora 8? i have both iso cds created... i will not be using the internet connection as i dont have internet access.. i have tried searching for a suitable answer in other forums but the ebate seems to be never ending...i want to be able to program c, c++, java (basicstudent level languages) in my linux os.

can u please help me ? i would appreciate if someody would give me a convincing answer...thanks in advance...

The answer is.... both will do.

Beyond that, it's personal preference. Mine would be Ubuntu Latest (8.04 Hardy heron) for the ease of use / upgrade / package management.

But every time I look, there is less and less difference that really matters. Ubuntu seems to be winning in general though.

However, Ubuntu does require a 'net connection for anything beyond the basic stuff.

Heck, Life as a student requires a 'net connection for anything beyond the most basic stuff.

Tickle your lecturer until he wakes up and runs an apt-cache for his students.

Try Ubuntu 8.04 if you want to use the newest Eclipse IDE as there are some additional steps you have to take to make it work. I haven't heard about similar problems on Fedora, though I do not use it (Ubuntu is my primary Linux distribution).

cheers,
lukost

If you do use Ubuntu, be aware it handles the root access issue in a non-std way.
Could be important if you are messing with the system a lot.
Apart from that, prob not much difference for just programming.

hi...

do i have to take care of the rpm packages if i use fedora 8 or is it fine if i install software the non rpm way? i am really really new and you have laugh at the questions asked but can u please enlighten me with this one..i want to install software into my os at ease..which is why i am a little confused..what is this rpm and non rpm? does rpm apply to fedora...? no idea...please explain

for programming i would recommend zenwalk, the installation cd comes with programming tools, whereas, if you downloaded ubuntu or fedora liveCD format, it comes with software for the regular user and you would have to download the programming tools.

RPM stands for Redhat Package Manager. it is used to manage installed software from repositories. Fedora uses RPM

Ubuntu uses APT, which serves the same purpose, but APT is not compatible with RPM.

Ubuntu has a web:

http://www.ubuntu.com

You can get the 8.0 version from there and burn it to cd. I tried to install Ubuntu Studio 7.10 and I ran into the problem about the root that was mentioned in this post. I was not able to do any administration in it so I could not use it. I later was told about the root issue with Ubuntu that you can read on their web. It says that you have to use the "sudo" command.

thanks for the info..

i have finally decided to go with fedora 8 as all my other students have redhat/fedora..so it will be better if we had to exchange software..isnt it? thanks for ur support..i will keep u updated about how the installation went..

In linux you don't have to exchange(did you mean steal?) software. Its free.

no, Ubuntu uses deb. APT is a manager for it, the same as yum is to fedora.

I just installed the latest Ubuntu into VirtualBox. The only difference is you issue sudo -i instead of su - for root access. Really not a big deal.

He's doing programming, so he probably means exchange in the true sense of the word

yeah, sorry about that, must have not been thinking straight.

i dont mean stealing... as i dont have internet it is difficult forme to download stuff...so i can borrow it from some frind of mine...

all my friends use redhat 9 but so i thought it would be easier to get rpm from them... can i take any software from them and install it here even if i have ubuntu?

pardon my ignorance ...

thanks

They use Red Hat 9?, that is ancient, I would advise them to upgrade to something at least slightly newer. Ubuntu uses .debs, but you can use a program called alien to convert rpms to .debs