Fedora or Ubuntu?

[ubudog]

Which one is better Fedora or Ubuntu?

[Dekkon]

Depends on what your going for, probably not the answser you were expecting.

I choose Fedora because of there rolling updates, I prefer to have KDE 4.2 when it's released, not in six months when I'm expecting the next version. :)

[namegame]

I prefer Fedora. Overall, it feels more like a professional operating system to me. I also like the inclusion of SElinux by default.

EDIT: I haven't used Ubuntu since 7.04, I'm not sure if the current release includes SELinux, so take my statement with a grain of salt.

[Vince4Amy]

Fedora since I haven't liked Ubuntu since 6.06.

[aeiah]

you're obviously going to get a bias towards ubuntu here :p

it really does depend on what it's being used for. we use fedora at work as virtual machine hosts and for our web servers. sure, this is quite simple with ubuntu too but we found that the convenience of the fedora dvd and the stability were what we needed. i find it a little bit opaque compared to ubuntu though but that's probably because im used to a debian way of doing things.

for the desktop id say ubuntu. its really where it's strengths lie. that and as a customisable debian server

[ubudog]

Well maybe not. More people are voting for fedora so far.

[ubudog]

I've used fedora before but my wireless didn't work right at all. Neither did Xorg or really anything. In the video's the lips were always out of sync. So that's why I prefer ubuntu. Everything works.

[Simian Man]

I prefer Fedora and don't use anything else any more.

Fedora has more up to date software
The DVD install is great for customization
I prefer yum to apt
I prefer PacakgeKit to Synaptic
I prefer root to sudo


Ubuntu is pretty good too though :).

[Antman]

Which one is better Fedora or Ubuntu?
What's "better" for me, may not be "better" for you.
I now run Ubuntu LTS 8.04.2 on two machines because I need them to be more stable when playing World of Warcraft ;) (more info on that in my blog).

But I still have a Fedora desktop that I use to build my own custom Fedora LiveCD/USB spins (complete with needed codecs and apps). I setup a local Fedora repo with updates, so whenever I make a CD/USB spin it already has all the current updates on it.

Also, Fedora makes it so easy to create LiveUSB flash sticks from the iso's. I don't even burn cd's of it anymore, I just copy them to USB stick with the liveCD tools.

I find Fedora to be a little more cutting edge than Ubuntu if you are looking for that. Having new features is something I want on some machines, but not all.

[mihai007]

I just don't get it... what is with those polls?
How on earth are you going to rely to such a poll posted on the ubuntu or fedora forums?
Usually in here are the ubuntu users so even if they would think fedora is better for this and that, the overall score will be in favor of Ubuntu...

[james.paige]

I use ubuntu for all my systems/servers but I just heard about the new feature in fedora that let's you create a wap from your laptop so anyone can connect to it and get internet. pretty sweet to me. lets hope that feature gets put in ubuntu soon!

[liamnixon]

Wow, I figured everyone would go for Ubuntu. ;)

That said, I think Fedora has a better package manager. When I type "apt-get" in the terminal it vomits tons of depenencies onto my screen and it looks sort of unorganized. Yum is fast and prints a neat list of what all needs to be installed. It also seems to install/uninstall less, but maybe that's just me.

[TpyKv]

I am now using Fedora, as it is the only one that works out of the box, on my Sony Vaio Laptop. Fedora is incredible - and very, very stable.

Ubuntu on the other hand, I am having lots of problems with - and havent been able to use for the past few months. In fact that is why I am here now, to check if the bug has been resolved...

It won't hurt to give both a try - will take you a day to set them up - but wel worth exploring. I personally prefer synaptic and sudo, and don't really like the Fedora way of working, however if it doesn't work for you....

[Antman]

Yeah, and I didn't even vote. There should be another option that states: Depends on the situation.

[ubudog]

I use ubuntu for all my systems/servers but I just heard about the new feature in fedora that let's you create a wap from your laptop so anyone can connect to it and get internet. pretty sweet to me. lets hope that feature gets put in ubuntu soon!

Maybe in Juanty Jackalope!

[ubudog]

I just don't get it... what is with those polls?
How on earth are you going to rely to such a poll posted on the ubuntu or fedora forums?
Usually in here are the ubuntu users so even if they would think fedora is better for this and that, the overall score will be in favor of Ubuntu...

Look at the poll results. 6/10 people voted for fedora so far. The poll isn't over yet.

[ubudog]

Look at that. 7/10 people for fedora now.

[Kingsley]

I prefer Fedora and have been using it since the 8th release. The look and feel is much more professional. Yum allows me to easily test out newer software before it gets pushed to a normal update. Though I do have to admit that the tab-completion for packages in Ubuntu's apt-get is much smoother than that of Fedora's Yum.

[ubudog]

I used fedora 4 when I was 5 years old, but now I use ubuntu.

[bapoumba]

Moved to Recurring Discussions.

I voted Ubuntu!

[Dragonbite]

At what? Being blue? Being brown?

Ubuntu is good because it makes itself easy to get, install, update, manage and upgrade. In a short time you have a nice, workable system which is why I like it for setting up at home. I set up the server and each Ubuntu installation could view the shared files without me having to do anything.

Fedora is good because you are not stuck with what somebody else thinks you should have installed, the hardware detection is better in some instances and it allows you more control over everything. Plus the packages are more up-to-date than Ubuntu.

So I have Ubuntu on 3 machines, Fedora on 1, openSUSE on another and IPCOP on another.

[ubudog]

I've got ubuntu on 3, sadly windows on 1:( apple on 1, and fedora on 2.

[linuxisevolution]

Wow, I figured everyone would go for Ubuntu. ;)

That said, I think Fedora has a better package manager. When I type "apt-get" in the terminal it vomits tons of depenencies onto my screen and it looks sort of unorganized. Yum is fast and prints a neat list of what all needs to be installed. It also seems to install/uninstall less, but maybe that's just me.

Are you saying apt-get is like vomit? :P

[linuxisevolution]

I have 1 machine with Windows Xp/Ubuntu 8.10, one machine with Windows xp/Ubuntu 8.04(mine), one machine with Ubuntu 8.04, one server with Debian 4, a Laptop with Ubuntu 8.04, a laptop with FREEDOS and NETBSD, and a MAC with OS 8.1. :D

[Simian Man]

Are you saying apt-get is like vomit? :P

He's saying apt-get's output is ugly. I agree with him :).

[linuxisevolution]

He's saying apt-get's output is ugly. I agree with him :).

How is it ugly? I like it...

[ubudog]

Yes I agree with linuxisevoulution.

[linuxisevolution]

Yes I agree with linuxisevoulution.

Thank you ;)

[ubudog]

You are welcome.;)

[Simian Man]

Have you guys ever used yum, pacman or any other command line package manager for that matter? The command line output of apt leaves a lot to be desired.

[gnomeuser]

Are you saying apt-get is like vomit? :P

He is saying that the terminal output from yum is nicer and more readable than that from apt-get, I would tend to agree.

Aside that I like PackageKit better than the tools shipped by default in Ubuntu as well as the feature development tactic and interaction tools (mainly wiki and bugzilla based which feels more natural to me than Launchpad).

That being said, I am no longer using Fedora.

I wish both distros could learn from each others strengths and weaknesses though.

[SunnyRabbiera]

I prefer Fedora and don't use anything else any more.

Fedora has more up to date software
The DVD install is great for customization
I prefer yum to apt
I prefer PacakgeKit to Synaptic
I prefer root to sudo


Ubuntu is pretty good too though :).


I never had good experience with yum, Packagekit seems OK but I think synaptic is far more versatile.

[WatchingThePain]

A Fedora update broke my system, so I just use Ubuntu.
I wonder which one has more users.

[SunnyRabbiera]

I also found YUM much too slow sometimes in the past, apt is way faster.

[Antman]

I wonder which one has more users.
Fedora 10 is hovering around a million users. Not sure of the total count of all Fedora users, but I'm sure it's a lot more than just 1 million.
http://blog.internetnews.com/skerner/2009/02/red-hat-fedora-linux-10-nears.html

Last time I heard, Ubuntu was at 8 million total users in 2008.
http://www.internetnews.com/software/article.php/3780651

[Chemical Imbalance]

I never had good experience with yum, Packagekit seems OK but I think synaptic is far more versatile.

+1 I think Synaptic is the best manager I will ever use

I can't stand Packagekit's simplicity

Otherwise I like Fedora -- though it doesn't have Hardware Drivers for easy installation of proprietary drivers. (last time I used it)

Does anyone know if there is anything like that in Fedora?

[acimmarusti]

I tried Fedora 10. After getting all available updates I wasn't able to log in again. My laptop crashed just before asking my user name and password!. I reinstalled and the same thing happened! I checked the md5sum of the images before burning the dvd and checked the dvd for errors but everything came out fine...

I don't like the "bleeding" edge fedora offers, that's probably why my computer crashed. I prefer more tested reliable software.

According to http://distrowatch.com/ , Ubuntu ratings are higher than any distro out there. And that's Ubuntu alone, without counting Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio and Mint which is based of Ubuntu. Fedora is 4th after Ubuntu, OpenSuSe (which I think is a great cutting edge distro) and Mint.

[gnomeuser]

Last time I heard, Ubuntu was at 8 million total users in 2008.
http://www.internetnews.com/software/article.php/3780651

Actually Mark never backed that number up with data despite being asked to repeatedly. There is no data available for the amount of Ubuntu users worldwide. It could be compiled using the same method as Fedora uses.

[PilotJLR]

Actually... Fedora uses a more scientific (but obviously still error prone) method to come up with their number. Smolt:
http://smolt.fedoraproject.org/

[Bart_D]

+1 i think synaptic is the best manager i will ever use...

+2

...i don't like the "bleeding" edge.....i prefer more tested reliable software.....

+1

[Faolan84]

Isn't this about as bias as walking into the an NRA or GOA assembly and polling everyone on their stance on gun control?

[OutOfReach]

I've used both and I must say I prefer Fedora. There is something about it that makes it feel a bit better than Ubuntu. It feels a bit faster too, which would be expected since it isn't meant to be like Ubuntu (easy for the absolute beginner) which means that it doesn't include unnecessary things that Ubuntu includes. Plus the artwork in Fedora is really professional grade work. The package management is OK, a package manager is a package manager, right?
Now hopefully, Jaunty or Karmic will change this. I still have hope for Ubuntu since it is a great OS, and it helped me a lot with getting started with Linux.

[liamnixon]

+1 i think synaptic is the best manager i will ever use...
Actually, as far as GUI package managers go, then I would agree with you, as Fedora's GUI tool doesn't seem up to snuff. Then again, I'm not big on that stuff. I usually update via terminal, which is where Fedora is better for me. \\:D/

[Dragonbite]

I've found Yum's CLI and messages a little easier but I still prefer the GUI method (for looking around at apps especially) of Synaptic over Yumex.

Even Adept is better than Yumex in my opinion, but Yumex has come quite a ways. I used Yumex with CentOS 4.3 and it was horrible for me (dial-up internet connection didn't help either). The Yumex I put on Fedora 10 is better but still has a ways to go.

I wonder if Fedora would ever make or set Synaptic to work easily with Yum? I know Synaptic can run with RPMs as isn't that what PCLinuxOS uses?

[ubudog]

Isn't this about as bias as walking into the an NRA or GOA assembly and polling everyone on their stance on gun control?

Hey some people are voting for fedora.

[Dekkon]

I've found Yum's CLI and messages a little easier but I still prefer the GUI method (for looking around at apps especially) of Synaptic over Yumex.

Even Adept is better than Yumex in my opinion, but Yumex has come quite a ways. I used Yumex with CentOS 4.3 and it was horrible for me (dial-up internet connection didn't help either). The Yumex I put on Fedora 10 is better but still has a ways to go.

I wonder if Fedora would ever make or set Synaptic to work easily with Yum? I know Synaptic can run with RPMs as isn't that what PCLinuxOS uses?

Don't know about the Gnome version but the KDE Version has been using Packagekit for some time now.

[Simian Man]

Don't know about the Gnome version but the KDE Version has been using Packagekit for some time now.

Yeah the Gnome version uses PackageKit. I guarantee you that Ubuntu will drop Synaptic for PackageKit in a few versions too.

[Chemical Imbalance]

Actually, as far as GUI package managers go, then I would agree with you, as Fedora's GUI tool doesn't seem up to snuff. Then again, I'm not big on that stuff. I usually update via terminal, which is where Fedora is better for me. \\:D/

I use apt-get more than gui also, but that still doesn't make Packagekit better than Synaptic :)

I think apt-get is amazing anyways

[izizzle]

I'm gonna try Fedora for the first time this weekend and see how it goes....I hear the artwork in Fedora 10 is amazing...

[Antman]

Jeezz..... so I removed Fedora from my main laptop and put Ubuntu on my main laptop so i could play Warcraft (I was having weird issues with WOW after a Fedora update and didn't feel like tracking down the issue)... so then what happens after several days of using Ubuntu 8.04.2?!?... My wireless stops working. ](*,)

I was at my son's karate class trying to surf and I couldn't connect... :mad:
In a pinch I grab my Fedora usb flash stick and boot from it and BAM... I'm connected and surfing.

Gonna try PClinuxOS 2009.1, if it works I may use it for a while and see if things stay stable, if not, I'm going back to Fedora.

[wolfen69]

hey, why don't i start a ubuntu vs. fedora thread on the fedora forums? geez, i wonder what the results will be. ;)

[mamamia88]

tried fedora thought it was ubuntu without synaptic.

[Yownanymous]

I've had nothing but problems with Fedora, but Ubuntu has (so far) run pretty smoothly.

[wolfen69]

I've had nothing but problems with Fedora

fedora has to be one of the worst distros out there. problem after problem.

every other distro works great on my machine. it's not my hardware. plain and simple, fedora is junk.

[Antman]

Jeezz..... so I removed Fedora from my main laptop and put Ubuntu on my main laptop so i could play Warcraft (I was having weird issues with WOW after a Fedora update and didn't feel like tracking down the issue)... so then what happens after several days of using Ubuntu 8.04.2?!?... My wireless stops working. ](*,)

I was at my son's karate class trying to surf and I couldn't connect... :mad:
In a pinch I grab my Fedora usb flash stick and boot from it and BAM... I'm connected and surfing.

Gonna try PClinuxOS 2009.1, if it works I may use it for a while and see if things stay stable, if not, I'm going back to Fedora.

Ok... I figured i would calm down a little and try to fix Network-Manager. Well, I fixed it by removing it. lol
Instead I installed WICD and now I am happy again. I just hope it stays stable like LTS is supposed to be.:rolleyes:

[Chemical Imbalance]

Just tried installing fedora on my new desktop and...nothing!

I assume its the fact that i'm using nvidia...

Just a blinking cursor

Ubuntu works fine though by default


Hmmm...;)

[CraigPaleo]

I prefer Fedora. Overall, it feels more like a professional operating system to me. I also like the inclusion of SElinux by default.

Ubuntu comes with AppArmor by default. SELinux is in the repository though.

[dragos240]

A little outdated, but this article should do the trick http://www.pcworld.com/article/146400/desktop_linux_faceoff_ubuntu_804_vs_fedora_9.html

[C!oud]

I thought that the latest Fedora release without a doubt was better than Ubuntu.

[konqueror7]

putting package management aside, they look to me the same...but to include the package management, i guess i would choose ubuntu because primarily of apt-get...:D

[Simian Man]

fedora has to be one of the worst distros out there. problem after problem.

every other distro works great on my machine. it's not my hardware. plain and simple, fedora is junk.

I have installed Fedora on a lot of machines, never with serious problems like what you describe. I just want to say it's hilarious you dislike Fedora so much when your avatar is the Red Hat logo :). I just see Fedora as evolving so rapidly whereas Ubuntu seems content where it is.

[Faolan84]

I like OpenSuSE. It has the better stability than Ubuntu but is fairly cutting edge like Fedora. I find it to be a great compromise. Also, there has been a lot of improvements to Yast in the last few releases -- things actually work now. I remember when you could perform an action in Yast several times and it not register *cough*9.2 and 10.1*cough*

[Chemical Imbalance]

I think OpenSuse has the crispest Gnome layout I've ever seen by default and I love their artwork. Yast is great too, but I hate that you have to add a million repos just to download something like conky or gufw (I'm spoiled by Debian) :)

I'd probably be on OpenSuse if it wasn't for lack of many of the packages I like

[Faolan84]

I think OpenSuse has the crispest Gnome layout I've ever seen by default and I love their artwork. Yast is great too, but I hate that you have to add a million repos just to download something like conky or gufw (I'm spoiled by Debian) :)

I'd probably be on OpenSuse if it wasn't for lack of many of the packages I like

You have to be careful about that too. I remember several of the releases had problems with upgrading to the next version if you used those third party goodies. I think that's been mostly solved now and had to do with the fact that the other repositories weren't in sync. I usually wait a week or two before doing a full version upgrade so that the repos settle and most of the traffic has calmed down.

[Greedo]

I like fedora for servers where I don't have to deal with the interface as much and for the red-hat based service command for restarting apache or mysql or nagios, snort, etc. Also I'm agreeing with everyone else as far as the simplicity and cleanliness of yum vs apt-get.

but for personal computing (and I even asked one of the Fedora guys at one of the conferences I went to) they said they would NEVER support codecs on their system so that we could watch mpgs or wmv files in Totem. And therefore if I'm having a distro on my personal pc/laptop then I prefer Ubuntu

The other 2 other great distros out there are Knoppix and Slax for troubleshooting machines & networks, although I'm still looking for a way to make Slax a permanent install on one of my boxes. There's lots of great tools on that one.

[gnomeuser]

Just tried installing fedora on my new desktop and...nothing!

I assume its the fact that i'm using nvidia...

Just a blinking cursor

Ubuntu works fine though by default


Hmmm...;)

Funny, I have an nvidia card and Fedora works fine here, X and everything. Now you don't get the proprietary driver but that is for good reason, since it causes all manners of bugs in other parts of the system due to it's notorious stack abuse problems and other nastiness. In the upcoming F11 release you even get the nouveau driver by default, which means the chance to get KMS and other nice pieces of technology.

As all that is required to get the nv driver working in Fedora is installing using the default settings. I can either assume that you hit a bug which should be filed, messed with it in which case it is not Fedora' fault or you are purposely misstating your experience.

[gnomeuser]

but for personal computing (and I even asked one of the Fedora guys at one of the conferences I went to) they said they would NEVER support codecs on their system so that we could watch mpgs or wmv files in Totem.


Downstream Fedora will not directly support the codecs as they are not available in the Fedora repos. Which is the case for obvious legal reasons. However you can get support from the repo where you get them, be that if you buy commercial codecs from Fluendo or if you install them from rpmfusion.org.

If the root cause of the problem is a bug in the downstream Fedora GStreamer core stack then naturally we will handle your bug the same as ever and issue fixes with great haste.

Another option is filing your bug with upstream, that way the problem you hit gets to the attention of the right people and everyone benefits. Naturally keeping a bug with downstream is nice as well to they can patch the package in between upstream releases as well as track current known issues.

It is not the case though that this is an entirely unsupported scenerio.

Kind regards,
The Fedora Fairy

[PilotJLR]

I like fedora for servers where I don't have to deal with the interface as much and for the red-hat based service command for restarting apache or mysql or nagios, snort, etc. Also I'm agreeing with everyone else as far as the simplicity and cleanliness of yum vs apt-get.


Few people want Fedora on a server, just because it does move so quickly... servers (for most needs) should be stable and predictable, and that is not Fedora's goal.
Try CentOS if you want a free Red Hat for a server; it's a rebranded RHEL.

FYI, though... the "service" command is included with Ubuntu 8.10 and up.

[Chemical Imbalance]

Funny, I have an nvidia card and Fedora works fine here, X and everything. Now you don't get the proprietary driver but that is for good reason, since it causes all manners of bugs in other parts of the system due to it's notorious stack abuse problems and other nastiness. In the upcoming F11 release you even get the nouveau driver by default, which means the chance to get KMS and other nice pieces of technology.

As all that is required to get the nv driver working in Fedora is installing using the default settings. I can either assume that you hit a bug which should be filed, messed with it in which case it is not Fedora' fault or you are purposely misstating your experience.


Purposefully misstating my experience? Yes, you have discovered I am the archnemesis of the Fedora distro! :rolleyes:

I burned the 64 bit live GNOME cd, booted normally and just as the kernel is finished loading and about to enter X, the screen simply stares back with a blinking cursor in the top left margin.

Why would somebody go out of their way to make up a story like that? Who cares about an individual distro so much that they make up a story? :o

I use whatever OS or distro fits best, whether that changes by the year or month, so be it.

Honestly I don't understand why you would say that

I think Fedora's great (works fine on my laptops) The mention of Ubuntu was just a joke since this is the UbuntuForums :P

[Mehall]

Agreed.


I'll be sticking with Ubuntu, or rather, Crunchbang, for some time.

The kernels for 8.10 (and this hit me in other distro's, not just Ubuntu-based ones) have a weird issue with my laptop, but it's manageable (just annoying), but if I didn't mind ignoring all the development that has went into the current Crunchbang I'd use the 8.04 release version.

I'll use 9.04 and hope that the weirdness of kernel is away ;)

[C!oud]

Agreed.


I'll be sticking with Ubuntu, or rather, Crunchbang, for some time.

The kernels for 8.10 (and this hit me in other distro's, not just Ubuntu-based ones) have a weird issue with my laptop, but it's manageable (just annoying), but if I didn't mind ignoring all the development that has went into the current Crunchbang I'd use the 8.04 release version.

I'll use 9.04 and hope that the weirdness of kernel is away ;)

Or you could just compile a new kernel.

[JackieChan]

The better one is a matter of preference. I think Ubuntu is better, but I can totally respect the opinions of people who disagree with me. Both operating systems are very similar, I love both of them a lot.

[BGFG]

Both are great. eagerly waiting for Fed11 and Karmic.