Life cycles - how long is yours?
 

Hi,

I am about to change distro. Dont get me wrong, Fedora is the best... :hattip: but it changes too fast. This year saw the FC12, and the FC13 mid-summer, the FC14 is due for Yule. Too fast for me :banghead:. If I have to re-install, re-configure and re-figure-out every six months, I waste too much time. I do have projects to get done too, ya know...:p

So, in short:

What is your distro and how long have you had this particular install so far?

Thanks

Thor

Now I'm working with:

Ubuntu 10.04, have it for a week or so.
Debian Squeeze a month (supermicro server)
Debian Squeeze 3 months (storage server for video / music)
Ubuntu 9.xx (don't remember) on a multimedia computer


I'm changing too often ... . I allways install with a separate /home so I don't loose too much information. One advantage of reinstalling is that I know how to install all my software by hard :).

I use Slackware. The Distro itself is not updated until Pat deems it ready. But when it is, it's one of the most stable systems you can get. The only problem maybe for you that Slackware doesn't have dependency installing automatically. Personally I like this way better. But Slackware doesn't have a specific schedule to be released so it may be a while.

Mandriva One, Free, PowerPack editions:

Desktop updates are provided for 12 months (desktop environments, browsers, major apps).
Base system & components updates are provided for 18 months (Linux kernel, Apache, etc.).
At certain times, Mandriva may choose to extend updates support for certain versions of Mandriva Linux.
Some products may benefit from an extended maintenance offering, for 18 more months.

Get a rolling Distro. Its version never changes. I use Arch linux. its great

As you see, I use Fedora, but I've never felt the need to adopt every new version. I always wait to see what sort of reaction a new edition gets, and I check whether it has anything in it that I need. Actually, I'm expecting to move to CentOS 6 when it comes out.

Have a look at OpenSuse. It has a longer life cycle, but is not too dissimilar in feel to Fedora.

Hi,

Thanks all of you. There is a mix here, short, long. I Use FC10, and am glad to see I'm not alone...

The question folds around security updates. If I'm pretty safe on the Net, is a new install really needed?

I'll download Arch and see what that does. I just tried Debian's netinstall but there seems to be a problem contacting mirrors...so I don't know what that is all about.

It's long(er) time use I'm looking for - I do NOT want to go back to hell...erhm...windows...

Thanks for the light in the dark!

Thor

And OpenSuse - there's annother name popping up all over the place - why not?

Eh, I'll try em both...

Thor

man...I ran out of blanks...

Just had a deep look into Debian - looks like the winner, if I get that *** sound going in applets...

Arch rolling release FTW! :D

I also have Ubuntu 9.04, but it sees little use anymore...

Arch Linux -- I've had this install for over two years! :)

Is'nt it somewhat "iffy" that I cannot get on to the Debian website from my Debian install? I can reach every site, except www.debian.org...

And some mirrors are unreachable as well...

This is weird.

Thor

I'm running Mandriva 2010.1. I originally installed Mandrake 7.2 back around 2002 and I have never reinstalled, just updated.

Now, some of the updates were thrilling, particularly in the early days. But the last several have gone off without a hitch.

No problems accessing the Debian site from a Debian machine here.