Re: Ubuntu alternative for RPG programmer -- LINUXDESKTOP4I

I hear you on the IBM thing, but with Systems Director Navigator for i5 OS... (wow, I am tired after typing that name) and VirtualBox, the CA thing is just not worth it on Linux. Dismal is not the word for it either.

As for the internal on the ThinkPad, F11 even supported the damn BroadCom inside the Dell mini 10v... well, after adding the RPMFusion repository and updating, that is.

Oh yeah, probably do it in my sleep, so if I forgot to mention it before... the repository at RPMFusion.org rocks! Don't leave yum without it! <lol>

On 01/29/2010 09:43 AM, Jay Peasley wrote:

I have experimented with Fedora 12 and it seems like a fine
distribution. The rub I had with it wasn't Fedora, but IBM's dismal
maintenance of the iSeries Access for Linux package. Anytime a group of
updates came through, I had to find the Motif and ODBC upgrades and
dis-allow them. Sorting through a hundred updates was a pain. I never
have that issue with Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

I have tried a number of Linux distributions, Ubuntu, Fedora, openSuse,
Linux Mint, PCLinuxOS and a couple others and I keep coming back to
Ubuntu. I am going to try Debian shortly, as I had to get a Debian sound
patch for KdenLive to work on Ubuntu. If you have a certain hardware
issue with one distribution, I have found that because it runs at the
kernal level, all the distributions have the issue. On my Thinkpad R61,
the internal mic doesn't work, except for a patch from a user. It
doesn't work with any of the distributions. One of Linux's week points.

If you haven't tried Clonezilla, I would recommend it. You can save your
Karmic partition to an image on another partition, or a SATA or a NAS,
and if you have issues you can restore the image fairly quickly.

HTH,

Jay

-----Original Message-----
From: Aaron Bartell<aaronbartell@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-to: Discuss& plan a Linux based desktop environment for IBM i
<linuxdesktop4i@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Discuss& plan a Linux based desktop environment for IBM i
<linuxdesktop4i@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [LinuxDesktop4i] Ubuntu alternative for RPG programmer
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:10:12 -0600

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/