I've been using debian and debian based distros (ubuntu, knoppix, antiX, mint, etc) for years, as well as slackware just for fun (dependency errors and missing firmware, fun for weeks!), but I haven't really dived too far into RPM based systems.

I tried fedora a while back (fedora 19 I think), but ran into problems with seting up partitions in the installer and couldn't find a solution so I shelved it for later. I also tried a VM of openSuse for a few days just to see what my buddy was so enamored with about it, but also wound up abandoning that.

What would you all suggest for getting my feet wet with trying out RPM based systems?

Hi,

since you don't seem to have preference I'd say you can't go wrong starting with one of the free rebuilds of RHEL. So, take a look at CentOS (now an official Red Hat project) or perhaps Scientific Linux.

Evo2.

What would be the benefit of using CentOS for everyday use? From what I've read it's mostly geared towards server side use, or as an enterprise workstation due to it's stable (read: old) package base.

Same question about Scientific Linux? Due to it's intended audience it doesn't seem to be the best looking option for personal everyday use, however I could be wrong. It seems it's focus is more on use in labs and such rather than personal home workstations. Thoughts/opinions?

Unless you're involved in packaging your own software, you seldom notice the difference between rpm and deb.

The new version of the Anaconda installer is a nightmare: I've used it 4 times, and I'm still confused without the printed instructions! Of course, it's not just Fedora - the rest of the Red Hat family have it too.

If you're looking for something non-Debian, you might like to look at PCLinuxOS, Salix, or Manjaro.

I have only tried about 3 rpm-based distros, so I don't have a vast experience with them, but why not give openSuse a second try? It's one of the best rpm distros I've tried. Is very professional, and I completely love Yast, its centralised configuration tool.

Well I said rpm based not just referring to the different package types, but also meaning different systems entirely since systems that use rpm are often very different from deb/dpkg systems in other ways than just their package management.
I tried the fedora installer (I'm assuming that's what Anaconda is?) once and yes.. nightmare is an accurate description.

I'm looking for something non-debian, but also something that will give me experience in something that would actually matter (arch for example will teach me LOADS about manual configuration of various systems that are very arch specific, doesn't carry over to real-world jobs much unless someone has arch installed on enterprise equipment). So that in mind, would a slackware based os have skills that carry over? PCLinuxOS, from their website seems to be debian based as well (using apt and synaptic), am I mistaken? How would that be much different than another debian based os? Manjaro, arch based? Would that really be useful for building skills that can be applied to many other areas?


I've been considering openSuse because I do like the look of the system, and yast does look appealing. Does yast have any application outside of opensuse distros though? For example, if I use yast for configuring my kernel settings, will it hold my hand the whole way or will I actually learn about what I'm configuring?

Well, to be honest I don't think Yast will teach you much in case you want to acquire knowledge that can be applied to other distros afterwards. However, being Linux, you can get as far as you wish, and being Yast basically a GUI frontend to various CLI programs, you will be able to use the CLI to do the same stuff you do with Yast.

That said, if you want a "learning experience", then probably openSuse is not the best distro for your purpose. Keep in mind that, although -- in my experience -- all Linux distros have plenty of similarities they also differ in many ways, so a skill with a particular command may not be useful when it comes to some distros, or the way you do things in some distro may not work at all in other distros.

I am rpm and kde blockage/dyslexic/dementia in the mind myself. So I can't speak from experience.

http://openmandriva.org/

The last time I tried Open Suse was version 9 and Mandriva had a Spring name to it.
Open Suse was OK then for me. KDE was easier then also for me.
Now. I just run stripped down Window Managers mostly.
It defines "ease of use" in my case.

As far as the stripped down window managers, that's how I run things. I'm currently using i3 as I found it (so far) to have the easiest learning curve and it does what I need it to. Tiny foot print too is nice.

That said, I know that large DEs have their place. KDE is one of my least favorite; I've tried it at various stages of it's development and I just never really cared much for it at all. So if I go with suse I may take about an hour to poke around in KDE then I'll replace it.

Looking at mandriva it seems they have some enterprise focus with their distro. What do you know about it in that context?

On OpenSUSE you can choose which DE to use by default during install. IIRC, you can choose between KDE, Gnome and XFCE.

The way I approach a linux distro is it'll only teach you as much as you want to learn from it. So I guess I can use opensuse, and dig into the inner workings of YAST to learn how it does what it does.

Hi,
I would think that the main benefits for everyday use would be
- Stability
- Low maintenance
- Traditional default UI
- Great documentation

However you didn't say you wanted a distro for everyday use (I'm assuming by that you mean as a desktop type system): your post implied you just wanted some experience using an rpm based distro.

That is basically correct.
Same answer.
SL provides a perfectly good workstation/notebook system provided the hardware is supported by the kernel. I use Debian on my personal machines and work laptop but use SL on all other work machines (both servers and workstations). If Debian wasn't available, SL would be high on my list of candidate distros for any machine that didn't require bleeding edge software.

Evo2.

Brilliant, thank you for the concise response.

Regarding my use case, I do just want some experience with rpm based systems, but the way I'll be getting that experience is on a personal use system as I don't really have a server to test anything other than that.

So last question about SL/Centos, for you: since they have the same parent os, will the documentation be fairly interchangeable? If not, what exactly is the difference from cent to sl?

Hi,
Ok
Yes, I use RHEL and CentOS documentation for SL administration.
As I see it the main difference is that CentOS strives to be as close as possible to being RHEL, where as SL is a little more pragmatic.

See for example: http://scientificlinuxforum.org/index.php?showtopic=924

Evo2.

Nada. Sorry.