So.... Has anyone installed

[salvorhardin]

Fedora Core 4 yet? Just got back and saw my iso images torrent was finished. What's the hip word on the latest version of Red Hat? Should I blow away my SuSE 9.2 partition? Any hiccups or belly aches?

[Tux]

1. It won't

Detect the sound card on my notebook nor let me use the LCD at full resolution. Thinking of installing it on the desktop to see if it works there. Otherwise, no real problems.

Edit: Works just fine on the desktop. Don't have the speakers hooked up but all is well thus far. I think the Fedora Project did well on this. I do like how Red Hat let Fedora Core be on it's own with only minium influence from Red Hat. Knoppix is still best for beginners though.

[Deja Q]

2. I have - do the following if you encounter these:

1. Burn at lowest recording speed. And be sure to use the installer's media test option.

2. If it bombs out, reboot and on the fedora menu type in what it says to do a text-only install (the GUI will be installed, but the interface for installing will remain text-based)

3. Use the CD version only. The DVD version, if you want to install other components from it later on, won't be recognized. :eyes: (bad oversight, RH) Of course, yum can probably be used to install from the web too...

4. For Java, more work has to be done for some website compatibility - go by THESE instructions from the following site: http://stanton-finley.net/fedora_core_4_installation_notes.html#Java

BUT: Keep an eye open for the directory the extract process makes; I found it was JDK1.5.0_04 and NOT JDE1.5.0_04 so those install notes are wrong - but ONLY in the java directory name that is created; the procedure is otherwise correct and I can attest to that.

All in all I had those problems, but they were simple to overcome and it beats the shit out of SUSE (forgive my language but SUSE SUCKS even though it's mindless to install... SUSE is slower to boot, even after optimizing, and Novell's intro "free" support - the reward for spending (now $100) for it - is essentially WORTHLESS and they won't even accept bug reports). Even RH online updates are free (up2date icon from the Gnome taskbar or "yum update" from the CLI), so don't sign up for a pay-for account.


My system:
Abit NF7 mobo

1GB RAM (2x512MB PC2700 memory modules)

Athlon XP 2100@2700 (336MHz FSB)

3com 3c905B-tx NIC

Abit nforce chipset-based NIC

Sound Blaster Audigy

Nvidia Geforce 5900GT (nvidia's website has additional notes; you have to edit a text file manually but the directions are EASY as pie to understand)

Epson Stylus 2200 printer

Epson Perfection 3170 scanner

All work great.

[salvorhardin]

3. Hey, thanks for those tips Hypnotoad

I've been thinking about blowing away my SuSE 9.2 partition with FC4. I don't like that 90 day support trick that Novell played with SuSE either.

[Deja Q]

4. Definitely worth it in the end, IMHO...

Since the initial install gripes were resolved it's been smooth sailing. Mileage will vary depending on the computer's peripherals or if it's a laptop (one review of FC3 said that ACPI had to be manually installed/adjusted in order to work) But I'm happy and am glad I needn't spend a penny on Novell anymore... unless it's British slang in which case I'll be happy to spend a penny on them all day! :wow:

[salvorhardin]

5. I always hated Novell

from back in the day when Novell *was* networks, unless you wanted that IBM Token Ring crap, so I was leery when they bought SuSE. True to Novell's anti-consumer spirit, they managed to mess up a good thing.

Right now I'm torn between FC4 and Ubuntu. I'm tending towards Ubuntu right now because it's Debian based, and I've had a soft spot in my heart since Debian 2.0 when I was running it on my butterfly keyboard IBM Thinkpad 701c. On the other hand, my enlightened friends that run Linux are running FC4 now so it might be in my best interests to move over to FC4.

...or I could go an entirely different route and switch to Sourcemage or Gentoo. Sourcemage has the coolest logo of them all so I may just switch to that. :silly:

If qnr sees this, how hard is it to install Sourcemage as a dual boot system?

[qnr]

6. It's simple. :) Any questions you might have can be cheerfully answered

on IRC. irc.freenode.net on channel #sourcemage

If you have a client set up for use via your browser:

irc://irc.freenode.net/sourcemage

[salvorhardin]

7. Thanks qnr!

I'll be sure to drop by #sourcemage one of these nights soon.

[Lowell]

10. I recently got the SuSE 9.3 upgrade

It installed and upgraded seamlessly. I've had nothing but good luck with my SuSE since I installed it several years ago.

I will admit I was surprised at Norvell and their 90 day support on installations, but I figured I should have any bugs worked out within that time frame.

I rarely ever boot into Windows anymore. If I do it is because I have to use my Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. But then I do use GIMP for most of my photo manipulation and management.

[Dogmudgeon]

8. Fedora Core and Audio

CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics) at Stanford has a version of FC4 that has been "tweaked" to optimize it for audio and electronic music use. Using the ALSA/JACK audio system, it is possible to assemble a high-performance audio lab using completely free software. In comparison, Sonar for Windows costs between $300-$1100 and is not readily extensible.

Planet CCRMA is the suite/platform/repository, and the home page is http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software

--p!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. Inertia keeps me pinned down on FC3.

It works so well I haven't mustered the time and patience to upgrade.

An aggravating factor is I run yum -y update regularly so I have the most secure version of everything anyway.

Edit: lotsa typos