[TriLUG] Fedora Core 2 Test 1 (FC2t1) initial impressions

[Brent Fox]

On Fri, 2004-02-13 at 07:29, Magnus Hedemark wrote:
> Target machine was a 1.1GHz Celeron, 256MB RAM, Adaptec AHA-2940UW with an 
> 18GB IBM SCSI drive.  I already had a pretty good feel for how well 
> Windows 2000,  Red Hat Linux 9 and then later RHEL and its various clones 
> ran on it.  I was never terribly impressed with the performance of this 
> machine before as a desktop.
> 
> I grabbed the ISO images from the DuLUG torrent (remember, please keep 
> your BT client running after you get what you want to help others out).  
> Installation was easy.  My only nit was I didn't like how the progress bar 
> was moved to the bottom of the GUI in Anaconda and seems to give less 
> verbose information about progress.
> 
> Booting up was mostly uneventful.  I got some errors when services were 
> starting like trying to apply a software patch to the CPU, some 
> IDE-centric stuff (on a SCSI system), etc.  The sound card was detected 
> but the test sound was completely silent.
> 
> But these are minor issues, and to be expected from a first test release 
> of a distribution with a brand new major kernel version.  All things 
> considered, this is an excellent first attempt at a 2.6 kernel desktop OS.
> 
> Sadly, the Workstation install option does *not* include KDE.  There is 
> still this very Gnome-centric attitude about Fedora, likely heavily 
> influenced by Red Hat.  I was able to manually add KDE when I was given 
> the option later in anaconda to customize the package selection.

It should be possible to install KDE with the installer.  There is a
screen in anaconda that shows the default list of package groups:
Desktop (GNOME)
Office Suite (OpenOffice)
Web browser (Mozilla)
etc.

At the bottom of that screen there are two radio buttons:
(X) Accept the current package list
( ) Customize the set of packages to install

If you select the second button and click next, you'll get a package
selection screen that allows you to de-select Gnome and pick KDE.


But yes, I agree that the new kernel is much snappier for desktop use.


Cheers,
   Brent


> When I logged in for the first time, my jaw dropped.  This old Celeron box 
> was downright quick, and the login time (keep in mind this is the *first* 
> login, which usually take longer!) felt a lot faster than my 2.4GHz P4 at 
> work that is running one of the RHEL clones (and previously ran Red Hat 
> Linux 9).
> 
> I decided to give it a trial by fire.  I clicked on the Mozilla icon.  
> Surely this would give me an opportunity to go to the fridge and grab a 
> cold drink.  No way!  Mozilla fired right up!  And, again, this was the 
> *first* time I ran it which should take longer as it is creating a bunch 
> of files and directories on the disk to store preferences and such.
> 
> Evolution crashed with a SEGFAULT the first time I connected to my IMAP 
> server downstairs.  The guys in #trilug were able to point me to spot's 
> RPM's for a newer build of Evo (I think it was jbroome if I'm not 
> mistaken).  The RPM's installed ok but gave some complaints on the way.  
> Evo then started up alright and grabbed my mail.  I still couldn't get it 
> to connect to the TriLUG mail server.
> 
> Even OOo (OpenOffice.org) seemed to be a lot quicker.  This is a major 
> accomplishment since, IMHO, OOo was far too slow to be of any use to me in 
> previous releases.
> 
> This distribution is still rough around the edges, but the performance 
> improvements are nothing short of stunning.  If you have a spare machine 
> around, it's very much worth trying this out. I think you'll enjoy the new 
> life it can breath into slower CPU's.
> 
> --Magnus
-- 
Brent Fox <bfox at linuxheadquarters.com>