[CentOS] CentOS for non-tech user

[Tait Clarridge]

On Tue, 2009-09-29 at 15:38 -0400, Alan McKay wrote:
> I've been generally unhappy with my CentOS desktop both at home and at
> work, when it comes to thinks like sound and video.
> 
> I'd recommend going with Fedora Core, to be honest.   Much as I love
> CentOS on my servers.
> 
> 

This is more a reply to the general thread, not Alan's answer above.

When I first picked up Linux for personal use I had tried CentOS and
found that it was not properly or easily configured for any multimedia
use. This was when I was starting to use Linux and didn't have the
patience to configure everything. 

This is when I switched to Fedora for personal use, I have used Fedora
Core 8 through 11 and haven't found any major issues configuring it for
what I need. 

There can be issues with any distribution regarding HD sound, but if you
google them the answers are almost always there. That is all I've had
major problems with in running it on my laptops.

I use a Toshiba laptop and it has worked flawlessly through each of the
versions (except for the sound problems noted above). 

CentOS is great for server use and if you want to learn CentOS for use
as a server, Fedora is a great place to start because they are both
redhat based. Chances are that if you got something to work in Fedora,
you can get it to work in CentOS (maybe with a few extra tweaks).

I am not an Ubuntu basher, but I felt it was babying me a little too
much. More than I would want to when learning a new system. Nothing like
trial by fire to grow your linux knowledge.

With most Linux installations you will end up tweaking something that
isn't working as advertised. I am not trying to scare you away from
linux, but in my experience it has been the case that I had to "get my
hands dirty" on more than one occasion.