Re: Ubuntu alternative for RPG programmer

Hey...

I find Fedora a good choice for _me_.

Ubuntu is NOT bleeding edge. They are supposed to be the stability leader, particularly with the LTS versions (which is what Dell uses). Fedora IS bleeding edge. I live dangerously. It comes from all those years in Early Programs with IBM and two weeks in Rochester trying to load our then production system tapes onto V2 and upgrade to V3. (Don't even get me started... <lol>)

I have had that kind of failure with Fedora upgrades (FC5, 6 and 7 were hard). But I have had very few issues since Fedora 8. Not that they aren't there... I just haven't had any... until 12. 12 didn't play well with WPA2 and there were some grub issues after headless, remote upgrades, but nothing that installing a rescue CD and re-grubbing the MBR wouldn't cure.

Unless you are ready to play, Linux in the Ubuntu LTS versions is best for you, but may not support everything you want, since you are a developer.

And yes, I think you could deal with Fedora... but it's different than Debian distributions, particularly in the network configuration area. If you go there... F11, not 12 yet. I have F11 on my Dell mini 10v and it works great, including VirtualBox with Windows and Client Access or i Navigator or whatever they call it. Plus all the toys you mentioned for RPG Development... Eclipse, RPG NextGen, SQuirreL SQL, JTOpen debugger...

And I still run F11 on my desktop. F12 is running on all my servers and mail server and Wayback, which is a VirtualBox server in my network lab. When it stabilizes there and supports everything that I want (run from a VirtualBox session) then I will upgrade the last two machines.


On 01/29/2010 09:10 AM, Aaron Bartell wrote:

Hi all,

Upgrading Ubuntu from 9.04 to 9.10 has proven to be a hair-pulling
experience for me. After trouble shooting for 6hrs I am still not able to
boot into the latest kernel version from GRUB and instead am booting into a
previous 9.10 kernel version which seems to also cause my sound and printer
to not work (among other things) which means I have no Skype (something I
use for business). This is my first "I can't seem to fix this" for Linux -
took 1.5 years to get to it. Here is the issue for anybody wanting to know:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KarmicUpgrades#Unable%20to%20Load%20Linux%20Drive

Anyways, I am wondering what others are using for Linux desktops that don't
screw you over if you choose to upgrade after a new version has had ample
time to fix any issues. After doing some reading it seems Ubuntu likes to
be more on the bleeding edge and I would rather NOT be bleeding or on the
edge for my business desktop.

Bruce Hoffman mentioned Fedora as a solid choice on iWeekly last week. What
do others recommend?

My application needs:
- VirtualBox
- JungleDisk
- Firefox (Flash needs to work well, no hacks)
- OpenOffice
- Pidgin
- SOAPUI
- tn5250j
- RPGNextGen
- Skype
- Filezilla

BTW, I am doing my best to resist getting a MacBookPro. I am in need of a
new laptop, and now a reformat of my desktop, so I am highly tempted to
migrate based on the many hours of consulting I lost.

Aaron Bartell
http://mowyourlawn.com
http://mowyourlawn.com/blog/