Finished with Fedora

mikekay · #1 7th April 2009, 03:34 PM

Well ladies and gentleman, I wish it were not so - but once again Linux has proved to be unusable, at least this version of it. I am not a Windoze fan, but at least I know what to expect. I had great hopes of using Fedora as a VPN server - and to evaluate it as a desktop operating system. It fails on all fronts. I have tremendous respect for people involved in building a free operating system, but it has to work. I cannot get the resolution on my screen fixed - both my NICS just disappeared after a reboot and will not come back, and on top of that, waiting for answers on this forum has proved fruitless. Not ONE response to either of my posts.

There have been improvements from the last time I tried, but I believe this is the LAST time I will try. Linux is not mature enough for the general market. The documentation is weak and not well oriented to new users - and there is nowhere to turn for answers if there is a problem.

Maybe a purchased version with full support behind it like Redhat is the answer - but why bother. I know Windows will do what I want - currently with a whole lot less problems.

I am ONLY commenting on this operating system as a desktop system. Not as a server....

I wish it were not so. Now to wipe the drive and install XP........sigh.....

Evil_Bert · #2 7th April 2009, 03:38 PM

Moved to Linux Chat as it is not a support question.

SomeDamFool · #3 7th April 2009, 03:57 PM

Sorry to hear that. I gave up on Linux twice, once at Fedora core 2 and again at core 4, but I kept tinkering with it as I used Windows. Using both Linux and Windows in the beginning is the best route.

I haven't used Windows since 29 October 2006, and they will take my Fedora away when they pry it out of my cold dead hands. Sure problems crop up, but now I can either fix them or be patient with the forum, search other forums, or re-state my questions.

My suggestion: find an old PC in a dumpster, install Fedora on it, and play around with it. With another OS as your everyday OS the frustration won't be there. I did that at first, and my attitude was ; "I'm !@grr!&*$ gonna make this work!"
Mike

***Dan*** · #4 7th April 2009, 04:01 PM

Mikekay:

As you've probably figured out by now, fedora is not the best choice for someone new to Linux or for use in a mission critical commercial setting. It's just too bleeding edge for those purposes.

In the real world, one needs to use the tools that will work for them, and it looks like Windows® is well suited for your needs, and your existing experience and skills will serve you better in that environment.

A quick word about community support forums.

Please understand that everyone here, both the staff and the community population are volunteers. This makes predicting when the right person with the right answer getting to your question -- and being able and willing to answer it -- difficult at best. We do what and when we can. If such ambiguity is an issue for you, a commercial operating system which provides contracted support. is definitely the way to go.

Thanks for trying fedora, and good luck with Windows XP®.

Dan

mikekay · #5 7th April 2009, 04:07 PM

I appreciate your comments very much. I am in a production environment and have some leeway to try new things, but the bottom line is eventually I have to get the VPN server up and running.

To be perfectly honest - I detest Windoze for a whole lot of reasons and was really hoping to get this working. I am going to take your advice - install Fedora on a crap machine and play with it for a while. Then I may be able to reintegrate it into our production environment.

Thanks a lot.

I knew THIS post would get a response.............;-)

JN4OldSchool · #6 7th April 2009, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikekay

I appreciate your comments very much. I am in a production environment and have some leeway to try new things, but the bottom line is eventually I have to get the VPN server up and running.

To be perfectly honest - I detest Windoze for a whole lot of reasons and was really hoping to get this working. I am going to take your advice - install Fedora on a crap machine and play with it for a while. Then I may be able to reintegrate it into our production environment.

Thanks a lot.

I knew THIS post would get a response.............;-)

Yeah, it almost got a snippy reply from me until I read Dan's magnanimous post. He has the correct attitude, I do not have to be so patient.

Are you sure it is the tool and not the user that is the problem?

But Dan is correct, Fedora is the LAST distro you would want to use. If you want to stay close to Red Hat then try CentOS. Otherwise debian would be a great choice. Your biggest problem is not the state of Linux, it is not understanding what Fedora is supposed to be.

Really, try a more stable distro, it should make all the difference.

PatMcLJr · #7 7th April 2009, 04:29 PM

yea, use what works for you.
you might want to simply set it aside for now and try Linux again later.

I guess you are a system administrator so surly you must appreciate the raw feel you get with Linux. It treats you like you know what you are doing and so you must.

Good Luck,
Pat Jr.

SomeDamFool · #8 7th April 2009, 04:53 PM

That's the spirit! Playing with Linux on you 'crap machine' will be interesting and even fun. Each time you learn something new it will feel great, and in time you will realize you are the boss of it, you are in control.

I decided to go 100% Linux when the hdd in my laptop was failing. I was dual booting Fedora 6 and Win XP and one morning I couldn't get either to boot. I went back and forth and finally XP said: 'no bootable disk found'. I figured the drive finally died but tried Fedora once more and it said 'There are errors on your ntfs partition. Do you want to fix them?'

I was amazed, but clicked yes. For 20 minutes things were working and only occasionally asked my permission to continue. Finally it said "Fedora needs to use Windows scandisk to complete the operation. Is this OK?" I was blown away. I clicked OK and after a bit it said "You need to boot Microsoft Windows to re-initialize your ntfs partition."

Afterwards both Windows and Fedora booted again, and I did nothing but give my permission, I didn't actually fix anything. That was a turning point for me. Most of the time Windows can't even fix itself, but Fedora fixed my Windows partition almost without my participation. The hdd lasted four more months, then I replaced it.

ShivaS · #9 7th April 2009, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikekay

[..]but the bottom line is eventually I have to get the VPN server up and running[...]

Then you chose the wrong Linux distro. Fedora WAS/IS NOT intended to be used as a server OS. Please try CentOS instead, if you like the RedHat flavour( it's built from RedHat Enterprise sources).

marko · #10 11th April 2009, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikekay

Well ladies and gentleman, I wish it were not so - but once again Linux has proved to be unusable, at least this version of it. I am not a Windoze fan, but at least I know what to expect. I had great hopes of using Fedora as a VPN server - and to evaluate it as a desktop operating system. It fails on all fronts. I have tremendous respect for people involved in building a free operating system, but it has to work. I cannot get the resolution on my screen fixed - both my NICS just disappeared after a reboot and will not come back, and on top of that, waiting for answers on this forum has proved fruitless. Not ONE response to either of my posts.
......
Not as a server....

I wish it were not so. Now to wipe the drive and install XP........sigh.....

I went back and looked at your posts, the "lost network connections" one had virtually no details on what your hardware was. You didn't even say what Fedora version or arch type you had. The Forum members tend to turn off when a post like that shows up because we have to go through the tedious line of questioning to get more details (note that the forum guidelines suggest you post such information for help posts).
In your first post (Just getting started http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=218759) you did get replies from several people and those replies (all on April 3rd, the same day as your post) all predated this post here you made on April 7, so I'm a bit puzzled as to your "Not ONE response " comment.

UPDATE: this outside post: http://www.kde-apps.org/usermanager/...PHPSESSID=e5af
that I found in just a couple minutes of google says the Asrock GE Pro M2 board boots "Has booted every Linux I've let lose on it."
so the board at least has some previous success (including the Sis900 ethernet)

marcrblevins · #11 14th April 2009, 01:35 AM

Sorry to see you go. I tried to set one up ions ago, didn't need it afterward.

Googled for:
vpn server fedora

There are so many ways and flavor to use. PPTP, IPSEC, etc. Geez.

Good luck with your future endeavor.

mauser1891 · #12 17th April 2009, 05:43 AM

I'm sorry... Roll with me on this... roflmao...
It's ok, go back and do what you need to do in Windows.
But remember that you can dual-boot. Linux, whatever distro you choose has a learning curve.
Windows is click-and-go. Hey, I can't even use a Mac.
My first distro was Slack back in '97.
Also remember, users can't even install Windows usually. Their to scared, who do they call...
Us IT/MIS people, and then ask what was wrong.

When we try to explain it their eyes glaze over from their ignorance. Just simplify it like I did.
I just told them... "It was broke, I came, now it goes..."
A desktop environment is alot different from a server environment.
You can't just migrate from a click-n-go OS to a real OS where you can compile your own kernel.
So, please remember to have a sense of humor while reading my Two-Senses...