[TriLUG] Credit where Credit is due

[Andrew C. Oliver]

> 
> Any specific reason why?  I occasionally hear this and the reason used
> to be that they had more up-to-date stuff, but that's not really much of
> an issue now and I really am curious.  
> 

They still have more up to date stuff.  Granted I can't know for sure
because I've chosen to upgrade my web server this week.  (see below)

alias RH='Red Hat a/o RedHat Linux ;-)'
alias RHL='Red Hat Linux as opposed to just Gnome'
alias X='Ximain'
alias RHG='Red Hat distro of Gnome'
alias XG ='Ximian distro of Gnome'

At least as of RH 7.0 red carpet has been generally more stable (and
hence crashes less) than up2date or its web based version.  Their
network is also more reliable and doesn't loose my registration on
occasion forcing me to hunt down that little card I lost in between
Chapel Hill and here.

<rant> 
I may again purchase 7.2.  I did not purchase 7.1 in protest of the
crappy new licensing deal with up2date and how it nicely forgot that I
did have a license for BOTH rh 6.2 and 7.0 but would only update one of
my systems although one is running 6.2-slim+all+patches because I'm too
busy, and its pain in the butt to get the proxim driver to compile under
newer kernels if someone wants to hack that system go for it *g*..  
</rant>

Mozilla doesn't crash under XG.  It crashes under RHG.  At least for me.

Netscape 4.xx sucks and I don't care about any of the other browsers
that don't actually load all web pages I might go to.  (I wouldn't go to
msn.com)


Java GUIs crash more under RHG than XG at least for me.  (Netbeans,
ArgoUML, etc).  


I like the look/feel XG sets up by default better.  I have less
configuring to do.  

In general, except for the occasional conflict between RH and X packages
I just seem to have less miscellaneous problems with XG.  When I get
something that I have to compile from a tarball, it nearly always works
with XG, but sometimes I get to go create links and do funny things for
RHG.

Lastly, I like Evolution despite its crappy Outlook-style interface. I
never could get it to work w/RHG.  (How's that for a Microsoft style
takeover)

trivial:

I really like the monkey over the water background
I like their startup scenery better.  Reminds me of the time I spent in
Germany and of favorite beers.

Anyhow, I find it easier to criticize things rather than say why other
things are good or better.  So next time I'm using my laptop, I'll tell
you what I like less more specifically.

<rant>
I can tell you one thing I hate is upgrading RHL over XG.  It TOTALLY
screws EVERYTHING up.  This time the XG installer wouldn't even work
(nor would mozilla), I was able to manually install most of the packages
and then the rest through red carpet.  When I installed RHL71 over XG I
had to give up and start from scratch.  With RHL72 over XG I guess its a
50% improvement either in RH, XG or my technique because I managed to
get everything installed by forcibly installing packages enough to get
red carpet running and then making it install everything.  Worked like a
charm except now I have two gnome feet instead of 1, but I'm not sure
thats bad. *g* (one has RH stuff the other XG stuff).  To be fair the RH
installer did warn me it was going to hose everything, of course as I
recall the options sucked (hose or quit).
</rant>

> I have nothing against the guys up at Ximian, heck, I have a few friends
> who work there, but I think that their packaging leaves a bit to be
> desired, IMO
> 

hehe...I bet the poor sap that has to generate packages for all the
different distros has a crappy life.

-Andy
-- 
www.superlinksoftware.com/cocoon/andy/resume.xml?src=tagline - got web
                           application developers?
www.sourceforge.net/projects/poi - port of Excel format to java
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/bugParade/bugs/4487555.html 
			- fix java generics!


The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to
vote.
-Ambassador Kosh