Some time ago I installed FC2 at the request of an employer. That contract ended over a year ago, and FC2 is an orphan. I am gradually feeling more pressure to jump from FC2, and do not wish to remain with the Fedora Core Project, as I don't want to make installing and upgrading my machine into a hobby. I already maintain a Debian machine for my girlfriend, but I'm not sure I wish make that big a jump, so I am considering what, if any, of the CentOS distros may be most like what I am now running.
It appears that CentOS 4.x may be the closest, based on the website. I am interested in maintaining a very similar user interface to what I am now accustomed to (Gnome), and wish to have little, if any, modifications to, for example, /mnt (may be /media now, I guess) /etc and similar for my network settings. I am not running LVM, and do not wish to. I am not running a wireless network, and do not wish to. I am not running a web server, nor do I wish to. I am running kernel 2.6.10, and I see that CentOS 4.x is 2.6.9, which I suppose is pretty close. I do not run SELinux, nor do I wish to.
I currently use XP boot manager (I dual boot and have one of those machines which tries to "repair" itself if it sees modifications to the MBR) to load GRUB which then can boot various versions of FC2.
What, if any, other concerns need enter into my decision? Recommendations for gotchas?
Should I just download the disc sets and install on a test machine and see which I feel more comfortable with?
Thanks for your time.
Mike