is centos7 the one for me?

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geoffnewzealand
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is centos7 the one for me?

Post by geoffnewzealand » 2015/06/18 08:23:44

Hi folks, I'm just exploring OS options and was hoping to ask some basic questions...

I''ve been on Fedora for a while (22 now...) but just I'm over the constant work involved to stay functional - is centos as stable as they say?

Can I set up a dual boot to try it out - easily?

Is it a good option for a home desktop for an low-level geek/user?

I write stuff, watch movies and browse - can it do all of that no worries?

I love Gnome3 - is it there by default or is it something new?

Thanks!

Geoff

owl102
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Re: is centos7 the one for me?

Post by owl102 » 2015/06/18 12:16:23

geoffnewzealand wrote:is centos as stable as they say?
Usually yes, at least CentOS 5 and CentOS 6 were very stable and never disappointed me. Regarding CentOS 7: There seems to be a nasty bug in the current Intel video driver at the moment, and Gnome 3.8 - especially Nautilus - are not as stable as I would like them to have. I guess that's one of the reasons why RHEL (and CentOS) 7.2 will switch to Gnome 3.14 instead, and RedHat is currently fixing bugs in Gnome 3.14 to prepare this migration step.

What I like about CentOS is how they handle point releases. The main system stays the same but certain components like LibreOffice will be updated to a newer, but approved version. This way you will not get the hottest (and quite untested) stuff but will not stuck completely to old versions like you do when using other "stable" distributions like Debian or Ubuntu LTS.
Can I set up a dual boot to try it out - easily?
You can set up a dual boot without problems. Is it easy? This depends on how familiar you are with partitioning your hard drive and using the custom disk layout stuff in Anaconda, the installer of Fedora and CentOS.
Is it a good option for a home desktop for an low-level geek/user?
This is a question I can't answer easily. The problem with CentOS is that most people use it as Server OS. There is desktop stuff in the base repository of CentOS, but it's limited. You will get a basic system with Desktop, Office, Firefox and so on but when wanting "more" (like Pidgin as chat client) you are dependent on foreign repositories. The epel repository tries to fill the gap between the CentOS base repository and the Fedora base repository, but it will not fill the gap completely. Usually the content of epel growes with time and since CentOS 7 is quite new it's not as filled with software as the epel repository for CentOS 6.

Regarding rpmfusion - which you already know by using Fedora - there is a problem: There used to be versions for CentOS but they stopped supporting it. So there is no rpmfusion for CentOS 7. There is a different repository to fill this gap - called nux-desktop - but again, it does not fill it completely.
I write stuff, watch movies and browse - can it do all of that no worries?
Yes, but you have to use the epel and nux-desktop repositories additionally.
I love Gnome3 - is it there by default or is it something new?
When installing CentOS 7 you have the choice of using Gnome 3.8 (will be updated to 3.14 with version 7.2) or KDE 4.10.

So coming back to the initial question: Is CentOS 7 the one for you? I don't know but IMHO it's worth trying out, especially really solid Linux desktop distributions are hard to find. (And IMHO Ubuntu gets worse with release to release.) If there are problems we are here for helping you out.
German speaking forum for Fedora and CentOS: https://www.fedoraforum.de/

geoffnewzealand
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Re: is centos7 the one for me?

Post by geoffnewzealand » 2015/06/19 08:30:37

Thank you for your time in replying. Kinda 50/50 eh? I might wait until 7.2 is released and then have a play with that one - I'll hang-in there with Fedora for a bit longer :roll:

Awesome to see that you have a responsive and supportive community - half the problem solved already :D

Geoff.

owl102
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Re: is centos7 the one for me?

Post by owl102 » 2015/06/19 09:53:53

geoffnewzealand wrote:I might wait until 7.2 is released and then have a play with that one
Since CentOS 7.2 will not arrive before September why not play with this one now? Just when judging Gnome stability keep in mind that it will be updated to (a more stable) Gnome 3.14 in the future.
Last edited by owl102 on 2015/06/19 14:54:32, edited 1 time in total.
German speaking forum for Fedora and CentOS: https://www.fedoraforum.de/

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AlanBartlett
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Re: is centos7 the one for me?

Post by AlanBartlett » 2015/06/19 13:03:19

I will just add a quick comment to agree with what owl102 has written and say that with your current experience of Fedora-22 you should not have any problems adapting to CentOS-7.

Perhaps (temporarily) having a multi-boot system would allow you to gain some experience of C-7?
Image 100% Linux and, previously, Unix. Co-founder of the ELRepo Project.

geoffnewzealand
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Re: is centos7 the one for me?

Post by geoffnewzealand » 2015/06/20 06:43:51

Fair enough! I'll download an iso then and have a go - and it's the full package that I need right?!

Geoff.

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Re: is centos7 the one for me?

Post by AlanBartlett » 2015/06/20 13:44:55

I would recommend that you download CentOS-7-x86_64-DVD-1503-01.iso from a nearby mirror site by taking this link.
CentOS-7-x86_64-DVD-1503-01.iso
This DVD image contains all the packages that can be installed using the
installer. This is the recommended image for most users.
Image 100% Linux and, previously, Unix. Co-founder of the ELRepo Project.

geoffnewzealand
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Re: is centos7 the one for me?

Post by geoffnewzealand » 2015/06/21 03:44:19

Thank you!

Is there a tutorial somewhere to guide me through the partitioning process? i have one Os installed (F22) and want to dual boot. It looks like I can partition during the install or is it better to use Gparted before starting? I read through the help docs available on the install pages but they stop short of being step-by-step - lots of knowledge assumptions being made there - so it would be good to get it right from the first step ;)

geoff.

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AlanBartlett
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Re: is centos7 the one for me?

Post by AlanBartlett » 2015/06/21 14:08:19

For a tutorial guide to partitioning the disk, I expect others will be able to make suggestions . . . I don't have anything to hand. There is, of course, the RHEL7 Installation Guide.

You can do it either way, just as you surmised. Either partition the disk before starting the installation or partition the disk during the installation by selecting a custom partitioning scheme. In both cases you need to ensure that your existing Fedora partitions are deselected to ensure that they are not obliterated.
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ChubaDuba
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Re: is centos7 the one for me?

Post by ChubaDuba » 2015/08/28 23:14:15

geoffnewzealand wrote: Is it a good option for a home desktop for an low-level geek/user?
It all depends on your needs. I've been using for a long time CentOS on a home computer. I use CentOS 6. I really like!

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