Das Nullniveau lauert über uns

So, after about 6 years of using Ubuntu I switched (kind of back) to Fedora a few weeks ago.

Why? Because of a few reasons. Of those, the two biggest ones are:

• Each of the (desktop) releases got more buggy over the years.
  A colleague of mine once said that every release except the LTS ones is just a public beta. While at the time I did argue that, but in the meantime I have to agree with him.
  In my case, on all of my computers 11.04 broke at least on essential service. (WiFi, graphics and sound to be exact.)
• The switch to Unity
  While there may be positive voices about it, especially regarding long-term Linux users (e.g. here; sorry, german) I agree more with this opinion on /. that Unity “throws away years of UI experience”.

So … I know – in regard to the second point – that there’s the Classic Desktop (which I use at work) but no one knows how long this will be supported (so I consider it a hack).
What bugged me most about Unity is the global menubar (again, I know this can be circumvented by deactivating the plugin … but again: hack) because this effectively breaks focus-follows-mouse (there’s much discussion about that at the Ubuntu bugtracker). And this is a feature I use since I use Unix desktops and I just won’t live without.
As for the first point … there’s simply nothing to say about it other than such screw-ups aren’t acceptable.

Also, I more and more get the feeling Ubuntu aims to be a free Windows than a Linux distribution …
So … I switched to Fedora 15 (beta at the time). A step I haven’t regretted – at least for now.

But as with everything Fedora naturally has it’s bad sides too, so here’s a short summary of my first impressions.

Pros:

• Gnome3
  Overall I really like working with Gnome 3. Sure, there a a few downsides (e.g. a click on the Terminal icon doesn’t open a new Terminal if one is already open which I find quite annoying) but overall I really enjoy working with it.
• “Bleeding edge” Software
  Using Ubuntu I always had to set a quite a few ppa repositories to get the software I wanted at all or at least to get the versions I wanted (e.g. Rapid-Photo-Downloader).In Fedora I got all I wanted almost out of the box. Almost, because I had to add just one special repository: RPMFusion. (Which is more like enabling the partner-repository in Ubuntu than adding a bunch of external repositories.)
• I got rid of NDISWrapper (more about that in the Cons ;)
• The installer is way better
  e.g. because of the feature to decrypt encrypted partitions before installing so you can use them again. (Worked flawless even with the partitions I created while installing Ubuntu.)
• Two finger scrolling
  Worked out of the box (vertically and horizontally) on my laptop.

Cons:

• There are also some bugs (e.g. this). But that’s to be expected and I’ve encountered nothing really serious so far. (Just wanted to have it in the list.)
• I never got NDISWrapper to install (because of dependency problems of the kernel modules). So I ended up spending 15 bucks for a natively supported Wifi-USB-Stick.
• I didn’t get some programs (e.g. Skype) to work in a 64bit installation
  I just wouldn’t run (stable). So I ended up with a 32bit installation which doesn’t really pose a problem thanks to the PAE kernel.

(As a sidenote: On the server-side I’m still quite happy with Ubuntu.)

Last, but not least, a few tips:

• The Fedora documentation is a good starting point after the switch to Gnome 3
  (Yay, finally an shutdown-option again. ;)
• Focus follows mouse
  As I stated: I need this. But it’s gone from the Gnome 3 settings and you won’t find it in the Gnome 3 tweak tool also. To still get it working type

  gconftool-2 -s /apps/metacity/general/focus_mode -t string mouse

  in a Terminal.

• Changing backgrounds
  In Gnome 2 you could add a xml definition for changing backgrounds (background.xml) directly in the background menu. This capability seems to be gone in Gnome 3. What still works is setting the same xml file using the settings manager

  gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri "file:///home/<username>/Pictues/backgrounds.xml"

• Broadcomm Wifi on Acer
  If you can’t get your bcm43xx-Wifi to work on an Acer laptop (it instantly turns off again after activating it) you’ll just have to blacklist “acer_wmi”. (Will break bluetooth but I think Wifi more importat; will work on Ubuntu too.)

So, after about 6 years of using Ubuntu I switched (kind of back) to Fedora a few weeks ago. Why? Because of a few reasons. Of those, the two biggest ones are: Each of the (desktop) releases got more buggy over the years. A colleague of mine once said that every release except the LTS ones is just a public beta. While at the time I did argue that, but in the meantime I have to agree with him. In my case, on all of my computers 11.04 broke at least on essential service. (WiFi, graphics and sound to be exact.) The switch to Unity While there may be positive voices about it, especially regarding long-term Linux users (e.g. here; sorry, german) I agree more with this opinion on /. that Unity "throws away years of UI experience". So ... I know - in regard to the second point - that there's the Classic Desktop (which I use at work) but no one knows how long this will be supported (so I consider it a hack). What bugged me most about Unity is the global menubar (again, I know this can be circumvented by deactivating the plugin ... but again: hack) because this effectively breaks focus-follows-mouse (there's much discussion about that at the Ubuntu bugtracker). And this is a feature I use since I use Unix desktops and I just won't live without. As for the first point ... there's simply nothing to say about it other than such screw-ups aren't acceptable. Also, I more and more get the feeling Ubuntu aims to be a free Windows than a Linux distribution ... So ... I switched to Fedora 15 (beta at the time). A step I haven't regretted - at least for now. But as with everything Fedora naturally has it's bad sides too, so here's a short summary of my first impressions. Pros: Gnome3 Overall I really like working with Gnome 3. Sure, there a a few downsides (e.g. a click on the Terminal icon doesn't open a new Terminal if one is already open which I find quite annoying) but overall I really enjoy working with it. "Bleeding edge" Software Using Ubuntu I always had to set a quite a few ppa repositories to get the software I wanted at all or at least to get the versions I wanted (e.g. Rapid-Photo-Downloader).In Fedora I got all I wanted almost out of the box. Almost, because I had to add just one special repository: RPMFusion. (Which is more like enabling the partner-repository in Ubuntu than adding a bunch of external repositories.) I got rid of NDISWrapper (more about that in the Cons ;) The installer is way better e.g. because of the feature to decrypt encrypted partitions before installing so you can use them again. (Worked flawless even with the partitions I created while installing Ubuntu.) Two finger scrolling Worked out of the box (vertically and horizontally) on my laptop. Cons: There are also some bugs (e.g. this). But that's to be expected and I've encountered nothing really serious so far. (Just wanted to have it in the list.) I never got NDISWrapper to install (because of dependency problems of the kernel modules). So I ended up spending 15 bucks for a natively supported Wifi-USB-Stick. I didn't get some programs (e.g. Skype) to work in a 64bit installation I just wouldn't run (stable). So I ended up with a 32bit installation which doesn't really pose a problem thanks to the PAE kernel. (As a sidenote: On the server-side I'm still quite happy with Ubuntu.) Last, but not least, a few tips: The Fedora documentation is a good starting point after the switch to Gnome 3 (Yay, finally an shutdown-option again. ;) Focus follows mouse As I stated: I need this. But it's gone from the Gnome 3 settings and you won't find it in the Gnome 3 tweak tool also. To still get it working type gconftool-2 -s /apps/metacity/general/focus_mode -t string mouse in a Terminal. Changing backgrounds In Gnome 2 you could add a xml definition for changing backgrounds (background.xml) directly in the background menu. This capability seems to be gone in Gnome 3. What still works is setting the same xml file using the settings manager gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri "file:///home/<username>/Pictues/backgrounds.xml" Broadcomm Wifi on Acer If you can't get your bcm43xx-Wifi to work on an Acer laptop (it instantly turns off again after activating it) you'll just have to blacklist "acer_wmi". (Will break bluetooth but I think Wifi more importat; will work on Ubuntu too.)