I know very little about UNIX/Linux.  I just down loaded the Fedora install and I am putting it on a lab machine.  This machine will end up as my Mother in Law's computer to do web surfing, email, letter writing and such.  

I'll say the GUI install has impressed me so far.

What am I in for?  Opinions?  Experiences?

From a business standpoint how easy is this to support or maintain?  

Fedora has automatic updates, so maintenance should
be no problem.

You may have a problem if you install some hardware
that Linux doesn't have drivers for.

The only drawback I can see for web surfing might be
some websites that have Microsoft WMV videos
that will not play in Linux.
There may also be  some Apple Quicktime
content that does not play too.

Other than that, it should be no problem.

As you get better at Linux, you may want
to customize your gui.
Learn about window managers, and environments
like Enlightnement, etc.
My favorite is Windowmaker, though.
Good luck.

Try this quiz that can help you pick a distro.  www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

The problem with Fedora Core is that it is a development version for enterprise RedHat and they only support bug fixes/security updates for a limited time.  What you want to do is use CentOS www.centos.org/ so you can get the best of both worlds with what amounts to a enterprise RedHat but for free with updates for 7 years.  

FWIW I LOVE Redhat as a enterprise OS but Fedora Core isn't the best solution for a home user, like I said try the quiz it's fairly informative for a new user or if you liked what you got with Fedora use CentOS so you will always be patched.  b

if you are going to use this as a standalone system.  when you get it up and running setup a user account with a password.   and obviously setup a su account with a difficult password.  

then go into services and the turn offf sshd.     that way no one will remotely take over the system

Great advice team!  

So I am going to play with Fedora for a while, but I will look at that disto quiz to what will suit my MIL best for surfing.  

So I ran up2date and it listed about 100 patches/add-ons.  As they load i get a actionable message "The package X is not signed with a GPG signature.  Continue?"  That's a PITA!  I am sure there is a way to say "yes to all" but I can't find it.  

Other than a web PC for my MIL this is my crash course in Linux.  Currently I am running a small IT services company.  I have no Linux in my 15 years experience, and none of my clients has ever had any significant Linux.  I have managed UNIX Engineers in the past, but I never had the time to go hands on with Linux/UNIX.  So any other tips, both strategic and tactical on Linux are very welcome.  

Thanks team.  

use the terminal   logon  as su.  type   yum  update

Quoted: use the terminal   logon  as su.  type   yum  update

change the repositories first!!!!

the defaults take FOREVER.

even red hat recommends you change the repositories before updating.

go here:
www.fedorafaq.org/

essential for new fedora users.

(includes updates for repositories -  a new yum.conf file)

but as he pointed out, ignore the goofy up2date thing.

open a console.

type "su".

type "yum -y update"

There's nothing wrong with Fedora (as far as I know) but I have been recommending Ubuntu to anyone who wants to try a desktop linux that "just works".  Updates are automatic and completely painless, functioning similarly to Windows Update but without requiring reboots.

You can d/l it, or I'd be glad to send you a Ubuntu disk pack (Install disk and Live disk) if you PM me an address.  (You can get them shipped free directly from Ubuntu, but it takes a few weeks to ship from South Africa.)

Jim

Quoted: There's nothing wrong with Fedora (as far as I know) but I have been recommending Ubuntu to anyone who wants to try a desktop linux that "just works".  Updates are automatic and completely painless, functioning similarly to Windows Update but without requiring reboots. You can d/l it, or I'd be glad to send you a Ubuntu disk pack (Install disk and Live disk) if you PM me an address.  (You can get them shipped free directly from Ubuntu, but it takes a few weeks to ship from South Africa.) Jim

+1

I'm on Ubuntu right now, and the transition from Win XP to Ubuntu was much less painless that I thought it would be. The occasional web glitch because I'm not in IE, and the increasingly infrequent missing codec/plugin, that's about it. And I've had little trouble with getting Linux to play WMV and MOV videos.

Two hours tops getting the codecs, programs, wine, etc and you're good to go for just about forever with Ubuntu.

Quoted: use the terminal   logon  as su.  type   yum  update

Dig it.  

Advice like this is going to make me hate GUI...

Quoted: There's nothing wrong with Fedora (as far as I know) but I have been recommending Ubuntu to anyone who wants to try a desktop linux that "just works".  Updates are automatic and completely painless, functioning similarly to Windows Update but without requiring reboots. You can d/l it, or I'd be glad to send you a Ubuntu disk pack (Install disk and Live disk) if you PM me an address.  (You can get them shipped free directly from Ubuntu, but it takes a few weeks to ship from South Africa.) Jim

I'll down load it, thanks for the tip!

Quoted: Quoted: There's nothing wrong with Fedora (as far as I know) but I have been recommending Ubuntu to anyone who wants to try a desktop linux that "just works".  Updates are automatic and completely painless, functioning similarly to Windows Update but without requiring reboots. You can d/l it, or I'd be glad to send you a Ubuntu disk pack (Install disk and Live disk) if you PM me an address.  (You can get them shipped free directly from Ubuntu, but it takes a few weeks to ship from South Africa.) Jim I'll down load it, thanks for the tip!

It's also available as a "Live CD" if you want to give it a test-drive.  Be forewarned, any live-cd is slower than a real install of the same distro, but you can get a good overview of the system that way, plus make sure your hardware all works properly (sound, video, etc.).  I'd recommend 256 megs ram for a live-CD, although it should boot and run at 128 megs.

Jim

Edit:  I see I already mentioned the live CD earlier.  Oops.  It's past my bedtime...brain is shut off.

Quoted: Try this quiz that can help you pick a distro.  www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/ The problem with Fedora Core is that it is a development version for enterprise RedHat and they only support bug fixes/security updates for a limited time.  What you want to do is use CentOS www.centos.org/ so you can get the best of both worlds with what amounts to a enterprise RedHat but for free with updates for 7 years.   FWIW I LOVE Redhat as a enterprise OS but Fedora Core isn't the best solution for a home user, like I said try the quiz it's fairly informative for a new user or if you liked what you got with Fedora use CentOS so you will always be patched.  b

i downoaded centos  over bittorent last night.   i have not used that before.   thanks

im gonna install it on a bench computer at work today

I have many lab PC's so I am putting CentOS and Ubuntu on systems.  

I downloaded Fee-AV last night.  I *think* in installed it...  But I am not sure.  It does not appear anywhere.  I guess I have to find the executable and hand load it or command line it?

So much to learn.  Good times.

*cough*

The linux distros I would recommend are:

1. Slackware
2. MEPIS
3. Knoppix STD
4. damn small
5. kubuntu

just my 2 cents.

MEPIS is nice for beginners.

Edit: I would recommend ubuntu but... I don't like Gnome. I use Fluxbox mostly, sometimes KDE