After using Redhat 8 with great anticipation for the last week, this is the conclusion I have come to - it needs to refine itself quite a bit before it can be considered a serious contender to either Windows XP or MacOS X. Let me elaborate why -

I am not a KDE or GNOME purist so I have no problems with Redhat changing the desktop to simplify the interface for the end-user. In fact, I think that such a step is required by some vendor(s) to help Linux take the next step. I think that is the only right step Redhat took with their latest distro. Otherwise, it looks like a hurriedly put together distribution, totally ignoring important suggestions by Linux fans.

Take for example their "simplified" menu. I am still confused by what program is categorized under what menu. Maybe their intentions were noble, but they should have put more work behind trying to consolidate/simply KDE/GNOME menus.

Some functionalities that are considered seamless because of how WinXP and MacOS handle it, are poorly implemented in RH8 -

1. After I had installed ALL components in Sound & Video, I could not play mpegs off of a web site. Not cool

2. Even though my hardware listing showed that the system had detected my HP Photosmart printer, I had to physically create a queue and install the driver. Too much work.... But even after that when I printed a page, I got gobbledegook. Right about now, I was losing my faith in the new "Windows Killer".

3. RH8 supposedly has a great Package Manager similar to the Add/Remove programs in Windows but I could not see any of the programs I installed in that list like Opera, Forte, etc. Now, that isn't ANY help at all to have just the system components listed in that.

I wouldn't say the whole OS was a loss. It shows a lot of promise and is certainly the best distro from RH to date, but it certainly would have been significantly better if they had listened to RH supporters or other vendors like Mandrake and SuSe who have a better pulse on what makes a better desktop. I think I'll try out Mandrake 9 and see how it feels.

Anjan
http://www.synergistics.net/conan_sm.jpg

General concensus around the 'net seems to be that Red Hat 8.0 is a very good distro and it works well, except in one area - multimedia support, an area in which it seems to be weak. I installed Limbo and NULL Beta releases, and I'm awaiting shipment of a newer version. I think it is a very good release, overall, but I do think that it misses the pulse of the consumer market. Apparently that is not the current target market. I think that Red Hat 8.0 makes a good choice as an overall system, and the desktop software is useful for business desktop systems. For the general consumer market,either Mandrake or SuSE make better choices among the major distros,and Lycoris Desktop/LX makes a great, simple desktop system. I happen to like Lycoris Desktop/LX for simple tasks, Mandrake as an easy to configure, extensible choice, and Libranet as my do anything choice. I tend to use Lycoris during the week and either Mandrake or Libranet on the weekends or when I'm testing out software.

If you're not happy with the choice of KDE or Gnome, try another window manager.

I personally use WindowMaker www.windowmaker.org and the RPM is on the RedHat CDs for those who don't want to install from source.

I'm curious: did everybody make a fresh install or did some of you update your system?
I would like to know what the experiences with updating from 7.3 to 8 are.

Anne

I did a fresh install seeing as I screwed up7.3 anyhow

I hope it works ok now?

Anne

yea ive installed 8.0 a couple of times heh i tried updating some drivers for an ati radeon from the DRI project page and screwed up xfree couldnt get it fixed so i re-installed then after four hours of re-installing and editing lilo & grub i finally figured out duh! i was editting the wrong line in lilo the entire time thats why it wouldnt boot into LILO :-\ oh well im up and running now even installed the mp3 plugin for xmms before finally going to bed heh

Finally got the Palm conduits set up. Found the answer in the comp.os.linux.redhat newsgroup. Run this from the command line:

gpilotd-control-applet --cap-id=1

I believe that MPEG support was pulled because somebody started yelling about licensing/patent/copyright/some-such-nonsense. Bummer if this is true.

In my opinion i think RH is trying to aim towards bringin in the windows users, and making linux compatible to THEM. not good in my opinion. instead bring windows users to linux.....dont dumb down what could be a great OS just to bring in some windows users to the linux side. i prefer mandrake and im downloading 9.0 right now, (if its good ill prolly go out and buy it, its cheaper than paying mandarke membership if i want 2 support them, and i got em on disc)

mandrake has some newbish stuff thats good but later its very configurable, most of the configs are still there and are ready to be used, WHILST they have easy to use newbie features and docs. what i especailly like is the mandrake control panel, if anything thats the only feature from windows that i actually like.

I started using Linux around RH 7.1, and I thought 7.3 was quite okay. I'm just starting to learn Linux, and I'm doing so at a slow pace - as a hobby since I' m working.

Anyway, aside from the it's cuteness (I think it's also a bit more stable and a bit snappier than 7.3), I think Red Hat dropped the ball on 8.0. The menus are confusing (I wouldn't call it simplified), and it lacks of multimedia support - even more frustrating. I was hoping this release will be the ONE (a la Matrix).

I am speaking as an average user. And at work, I use both Macs and PCs. I have flipped back and forth between Win2k and RH in my home computer and it's current life as a Linux box has been it's longest one. I had resolved to be a bit more patient and try to learn as much as I could when I can. I admit, my resolve is starting to falter... I now accept the fact that in the end, computers are tools and what matters is to get things done....

[Sigh] Seems I must travel back to Dagobah and seek Yoda's advice on this one.... [Patience, you must have....]

Thanko: I really appreciate you posting the conduit info.

<sarcasm> I guess I really should have known that one ... probably right in the Red Hat 8 docs. </sarcasm>