[K12OSN] Release cycle too fast
Jim Kronebusch
jim at winonacotter.org
Sat Apr 2 05:04:05 UTC 2005
> I might decide to try out Debian exactly because of
> the long release cycle. I maintain computers for a
> lot of family members who have very basic needs.
>
> Thanks to all for answering so many of my questions on
> this topic.
>From what I hear Debian, CentOS, WBEL, RHEL, etc are slow release versions.
K12LTSP is built from Fedora because it is a fast paced new release type
distro and it allows the ability to be constantly changing which works great
in a constant development stage. I love the fast pace of K12LTSP. Now for
my main servers, I don't use it. I have a few hundred customers for which I
sell email,dns,mysql,web,etc services to. I want to have those machine run
with as little interaction as possible and feel fairly safe that updates
won't be so drastic as to change my config files or risk a service going
down even for a few hours. I have chosen WBEL which is a generic free
spinoff of RHEL for those servers. I still get a very RedHat feel so it is
similar to what I am used to when working with Fedora and K12 so it make
switching back and forth very friendly for me.
The point is you have to choose an OS that fits your needs. If you are
running desktop systems for fairly computer illiterate users just for
browsing the internet and word processing, then choose something like RHEL
or a spinoff. But if you want to take advantage of new features asap then
choose something like Fedora.
Keep in mind the other problems you'll have with your less techy users using
a slow moving distro however. Say they want to plug in a USB pen drive,
oohh, that feature might not be available yet. Say they want to scan with
the new scanner they bought, they may have waisted their money. You get the
picture. A non techy user is also the first to get frustrated when the
stuff they buy doesn't just bang work when they plug it in. And when you
tell them that feature won't be available for another year or they have to
blow the system away and start from scratch with a new OS to get it, you may
loose them back to a pirated copy of Windows from their neighbor.
I know it is tough with all of the options and versions available out
there. The best thing is to try them out and find what suits you best. I
have settled on different versions for desktop and servers. And for LTSP
you can throw it on any distro you want, you will just be missing the
bundled apps you get with K12LTSP. I managed to even throw a version on YDL
and PPC Ubuntu, so your possibilities are fairly endless.
And as far as upgrades, I have my home K12LTSP server performing a yum
upgrade while I type this email. I hope when I am done I'll be running the
newest version of K12 without any extra CD's. But as far as major
distribution updates go, such as Fedora Core1 to Core2, I am still brought
back to my Windows Nature. I never do upgrades on major releases, too much
risk of old crap and old problems following with. Just as you could upgrade
from say 7.3->Fedora Core3 as stated in a previous email, you could have
upgraded from Windows95->WindowsXP, but no techy in their right mind would
do so :-) But that doesn't mean the standard home user still can't.
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