What OS do you prefer?

[ibjsb4]

Your here, why not try the Buntu flavors first?

Lubuntu

sudo apt-get install lxde

Xubuntu

sudo apt-get install xfce4

Classic

sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback

They can all be installed on your current Ubuntu install and you can choose which one to run at login by clicking on the login icon.

[Hawk999]

Don't like encouraging the use of third party software like Easylife.

Because?

Both Easylife and AutoTen have always worked fine for me. I never had any problem with them. But if you have different en better info on this I am happy to hear it.
Now it seems you are making a baseless assumption without any argument or explanation.

Besides you claimed that:

I prefer Fedora but expect to be puzzled how to set up Flash etc.

Seems you are moving the goalposts.

First you claim that you have to "expect to be puzzled how to set up Flash".
Then when I show that it is in fact very easy to do, you switch context and claim now to have a unspecified problem with Easylife.


That however is a personal preference and has nothing to so with being puzzled when installing Flash.
Installing Flash on Fedora is a simple two click process. Nothing puzzling about it.

[iamkuriouspurpleoranj]

^I run Fedora and CentOS as main systems. I also know what it's like to be new and to find it confusing to look for things where they were in Ubuntu and not find them. The new user might think the Adobe package is Flash and wonder why it's still not working or why there are both YUM and rpm choices in the dropdown.

Third party software is inherently a security risk. It's nothing personal against Easylife. In addition, I'm a reformed slacker and my inner critic is turned off by concepts like "easy life". There are even some unnecessary packages in there, some related to the developer's home country Brazil.

I accept third party for libdvdcss2 and mscorefonts because there's no other way but then again I don't have either right now so you can live without them.

Don't attack me for trying to set a potential new Fedora user's expectations at the right level. Fedora is a great distribution but it can be frustrating for those who don't yet know the lay of the land. It also targets a more technically minded person than Ubuntu does and doesn't seek to woo the casual home user who just wants everything to work with as little effort as possible.

I sometimes wish Fedora had these things but like you say, it's not really difficult when you know how.

When you know how.

[ibjsb4]

Third party software is inherently a security risk.

That must only apply to Fedora, nothing inherent about it in Ubuntu. There's lots of good third party software out there, just look at launchpad PPA.

[iamkuriouspurpleoranj]

PPAs are installed at the user's discretion. They are maintained by the individual developers themselves and there is nothing intrinsically safe (or unsafe) about them. It's no safer than installing random freeware from Sourceforge, for example.

Ok, I understand the real risk with PPAs is dependency-related. However, they still represent an additional layer of trust. Why run a safe and secure operating system and then take unnecessary risks for an additional menu item or something in an existing piece of software? If Ubuntu does something wicked/stupid, I at least know who/what/where they are.

But back on topic, Fedora is a good choice for sitting alongside Ubuntu, as are openSUSE and Debian. Arch might be your cup of tea but experiment with it in VirtualBox first.

[iamkuriouspurpleoranj]

http://askubuntu.com/a/52882

[pootan]

I'm a bit confused with the Fedora talk here and flash. I installed Fedora 18 last week and flash worked out of the box.

Edit: on second thought I may have enabled 3rd party repositories.

[ibjsb4]

But back on topic

Thats funny

[taidoka]

Well I'm running Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon edition (3.2.0-kernel) with latest version of cinnamon running.
I like it but it's always the same: Linux is tweaking because it's rough around the edges.
It's not Mac OS X but it's configurable. And it's not 'blinky' like other OS are

[terry_gardener]

you could try something something different like manjaro