wanting to try CentOS

I've been using LMDE for awhile now and before that I was familiar with Ubuntu. I wanted to try something more stable and I heard that CentOS was one of those distributions.
Anybody here using CentOS? How do you like it? Were you able to install dropbox and trackpoint?
Most importantly, does it run out of the box? Or is it like Arch Linux?

 

Run it on some of our servers, very little experience on the desktop, but when I tried it years ago, it was very stable and mostly well configured out of the box. Multimedia and up to date desktop software were things I seem to remember encountering problems with.

If you are familiar with LMDE and Ubuntu - why not try Debian stable or Ubuntu LTS version ?

 

I heard CentOS is most stable so I wanted to give it a shot and compare it to Ubuntu LTS and LMDE.
What is Debian Stable? Isn't it close to LMDE?

 

i did try centos but being using scientific linux which is pretty much same (red hat clone) so all i can say they are rocksolid stable only problem is need too much tweaking and repository are different so if you mixup it cause a real problem and very less software if you dont do banking .....etc stuff then

i recommend you to try stella which is base on centos created by some romanian geek looks like linux mint kinda to me great distro.........)


as far centos and scientific linux credibility they are used on many supercomputers so

and also recommend you to see scientific linux forums they are very friendly and usefull also one of moderator created and share its own repolist which can be used by centos users as well ......

 

I only need to run 5 things on my linux
1) trackpoint -- thinkwiki has a solution to that
2) dropbox -- anybody tried it?
3) Firefox + lastpass
4) Thunderbird
5) Office

 

LMDE is based on Debian testing. Debian testing is where Debian is stabilised (release critical bugs and fixed software versions) and becomes Debian stable, where it will only get security fixes for 2 years (though there are select backports).

In general the stability is in the same ball park for Debian Stable, Ubuntu LTS and Centos, going to be down to tyour personal requirements (such as working trackpoint) as to which is better.

 

trackpoint you have to check but centos has best drivers support expect nvidia so i guess that wouldnt be problem

2. dropbox is include or in repository

3. firefox included by default and you can install chrome .rpm package just like windows to run google chrome which work like charm

4. Thunderbird installed by default

5. office include but old one you can install new one from download form site and

http://scientificlinuxforum.org/index.php?showtopic=1408

centos it not very candy distro like linux mint but worth learning easy way is stella

stella is basically CentOS remix (centos + nux repository +el) which include all package under one repository


http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/stella-linux.html

also please

http://www.dedoimedo.com/

and search centos you get lot of worth reading stuff...........)

also last thing centos is 20 years supported distro so 6...................6.5 is same with some here and there security + kernel upgrades

 

I read about Stella but it looks like a one man job so I would rather avoid it. I will give Debian stable and CentOS a try.

 

I found CentOS and Scientific Linux to be solid but quite slow.
I think there are live ISOs to try them.
Honestly, I think you'd rather stay with Mint Debian.

 

I installed CentOS however their software manager has no dropbox and the update ruined my flash (solved), not really a good out of a box experiance --> kind of a bummer. Also Im not sure how to copy and paste via the nautilus. In LMDE I could have simply typed in sudo caja and this gave me file manager with root privilages to drag and drop files. For some reason sudo nautilus doesn't work. For some strange reason Add/Remove Software doesn't even have a VLC player, which I thought was a pretty common open source application.

 

Can you launch Nautilus from a command prompt after elevating with the su command? On my Arch system, I type gksu instead of sudo from the application finder to launch anything elevated. I'm a Linux noob, so my apologies if this is in no way helpful to you.

 

You're not a sudoer by default, I remember that's what the admin checkbox enables during installation of Fedora (which has the same base as CentOS).

These may help fix that:
http://www.centos.org/docs/4/4.5/Security_Guide/s3-wstation-privileges-limitroot-sudo.html
http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/BecomingRoot

 

I think you need to add the RPMForge repo to get VLC.
Anyway, I'm not surprised you're disappointed, honestly.
As suggested previously, you could have done a better choice with Stella.
If I remember well, Fedora is also based on RH Linux, and is possibly a better alternative to Stella, if you're afraid of a one man show.

 

you have to install extra 3rd party repository to install vlc dropbox ....etc

http://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResources/Repositories


its not candy stuff i told you did you read mrk links about centos you see lot of tweaks about repositories there the problem with cent os is mixing repository

 

Hello All

Another vote for Stella, or at least the Nux Desktop repository

http://li.nux.ro/repos.html

I use that along with EPEL and a base CentOS install. No problems, upgraded from 6.4 to 6.5 fine recently. I used to use EPEL and RPMForge with priorities set, but ran into the VLC dependency issue mentioned above.

I take the point that Stella/Nux is a one man operation, but I think he is being sensible and providing a carefully mapped repository that does not overlap with the CentOS/SciLi/Springdale ones. If he stops maintaining the repository, you still have the applications which are likely to remain compatible with the CentOS 6 base for the rest of the support period, even if not updated.

Dropbox worked, but I had to put a sleep script on it so that it waited for the connection to settle. Thinkfan works fine (X61s) and I haven't needed it on an X200s (quiet fan but works properly). Both my Thinkpads use trackpoint only so can't help with trackpads.

I'm typing this on RHEL7 beta. Early days but will probably be keeping CentOS 6 on the work laptop for some time

 

Hello fblais:

Respectfully - I believe Fedora Core releases (now Fedora releases) came/comes first and that RHEL releases are the benefactor. Yes?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux#Relationships

My first was RHEL4 which was based on Fedora Core 3.

HTH

 

No problem.
My point was not to say which one came first, but only that they're in the same family tree.
As opposed to Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, etc.

 

Beesu is quite useful. https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1846282&postcount=1

 

Current Fedora isn't as 'cutting' as it used to be, runs fast, stable. Read Mrk's review on Fed20 Cinnamon.
On an old Thinkpad; trackpoint otb, Dropbox can be installed manually pretty easy, f.i. link or with tools available like Fedora Utils or EasyLife, see discussion here link
Lastpass as a FF add-on? No experience there but I see no issue.
Thunderbird and LibreOffice are available in the repos.
Give the live-cd a spin, you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

Okay after giving CentOS a try for about 3 days, I have to admit that it is a little too much for me. Maybe few months down the road I will come back to it again, the way I did with Debian. For now back to Linux Mint, Ubunut based version this time. I love their default program selection and out of the box experiance.

 

Don't know the current situation but some while ago CentOS' developers have had serious sys upgrade rolling out issues. I recall they got heavily criticized for not upgrading their repos/servers even after several months after Red Hat had released their new version.

That of course meant old kernel, old sys files that potentially left the users' systems vulnerable.

 

Current situation is: much improved.

The CentOS mailing lists might make interesting reading this month, because of the Red Hat deal. Link below leads to a reply by Karanbir Singh with comments about build process...

http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/2014-January/139774.html

I'm an end user, anyone planning to run a server should perhaps read the mailing list archives and make their own judgment about relative risks of each of the Linux distros.

EDIT: it has just occurred to me that the Enterprise Linux 'ecosystem' is quite unusual in that CentOS, Scientific Linux, Springdale Linux and Oracle Linux are all clones built from the RHEL srpms. Should one clone become unreliable, it might be possible to 'cross grade' to the repositories provided by another. I recollect that some were advising that step when CentOS had their troubles. Oracle Linux once distributed a bash script that would actually reset all the repositories for you! You have in effect four independent builds using different build tools of exactly the same system. Fault tolerant?

 

That's good news. The link to Red Hat will no doubt have potential improving CentOs' internal infrastructure as well.

Yes it would be a cool feature to cross-over to, say, Scientific Linux's repo should your Red Hat clone fail to deliver properly. I suppose the repos in question would also upgrade the system? You would then end up with Scientific Linux on the welcome screen during your next boot instead of CentOS?