Redhat as Workstation

jibbajabba

I love using RHEL at the moment even as workstation.
But as we know it has its problems when it comes to NTFS support, Codec Support etc.

I did get everything running pretty much (even dual monitor and whatnot) - but what about RedHat Enterprise Workstation - does the same limitation applies ?

Limitation as in Codec and NTFS support that is ?

I mean NTFS-3G works just fine and all - still wondering if I should rather swap to SuSE for a workstation OS etc.

Thawts ?

Paul Boz

Why make life harder than it has to be? I mean you can use whatever you want, but as you've already laid out, certain compatibility issues may arise. Operating systems are like vehicles. You wouldn't use a car to take out on the lake to go fishing, just like you probably wouldn't use Solaris for a home desktop operating system. Each operating system has its uses.

jibbajabba

I am sure I am not the only one who wants to use Linux as a workstation OS

Paul Boz

Gomjaba wrote: »

I am sure I am not the only one who wants to use Linux as a workstation OS

Linux is not Linux is not Linux. There is obviously a difference between support to use a distro such as Ubuntu or Debian for a desktop operating system and using Solaris or most flavors of enterprise Red Hat. Different flavors of Linux have different purposes.

jibbajabba

Well this is why I am asking if someone has experience with RHEL Desktop and if this has the same issues as RHEL Server

I don't WANT to make my life harder than it already is but I simply don't have experience with the various distros .. if I did I wouldn't have to ask now would I

Paul Boz

Of course, that's why I'm saying that it's going to be a headache. I used to work with a dude that used Solaris for a desktop OS and he spent more time making it work than actually using it

darkerosxx

I haven't used the desktop version. Just try it out and let us know. I work with and know quite a few people who use RHEL/SuSE as their main desktop not because they want to, but because it provides skill, much like many people training in Cisco use Cisco equipment in their house. Is it practical? No. Does it help you in the long run? Definitely. I also know a few people that had lengthy conversations with people at Google that said they got their jobs by being Linux fanatics...using all kinds of distros at home. It can help.

I wouldn't use a car to pull a party barge, though, even if I was a car mechanic.

undomiel

I've been using openSUSE for my desktop for over a year now and it's been working great. Easy package management and has some good GUI utilities, though I still do most of my configuration from the command line. I've worked with RHEL and CentOS and I just don't think they would make for as good of a desktop experience.

darkerosxx

I have to agree with you. It's been a long time since I used any linux distro for my normal use desktop, but when I did, I preferred openSuSE over RHEL.

jibbajabba

Thanks guys, maybe I give it a whirl.

I am just trying to improve my Linux skills which is the main reason I want to switch over to a Linux based workstation.

Mishra

Gomjaba wrote: »

Thanks guys, maybe I give it a whirl.

I am just trying to improve my Linux skills which is the main reason I want to switch over to a Linux based workstation.

Perfectly good reason. I would start with Ubuntu since that is the desktop of the future ATM. You are likely to get more valuable experience this way.

jibbajabba

Mishra wrote: »

Perfectly good reason. I would start with Ubuntu since that is the desktop of the future ATM. You are likely to get more valuable experience this way.

It is based on Debian isn't it ?

I just got a fresh copy of SuSE Enterprise Desktop - gonna have a whirl tonight

shednik

Mishra wrote: »

Perfectly good reason. I would start with Ubuntu since that is the desktop of the future ATM. You are likely to get more valuable experience this way.

For desktop use I personally like Mint better then ubuntu, it seems to run better on my hardware. All in all though its only for desktop use....CentOS is running as a server I have.

darkerosxx

Gomjaba wrote: »

It is based on Debian isn't it ?

I just got a fresh copy of SuSE Enterprise Desktop - gonna have a whirl tonight

Cool! Take some screenshots of anything cool/interesting. I haven't seen it in a few years.

jibbajabba

So far I only have pain

I am using as main monitor a Dell 30" and a Dell 20" rotated 90 degrees on the right.
It was a blast to setup on RHEL - on SuSE - I am fighting ... First, it recognizes the 30" as the 20" and I seem to be unable to get the second screen added (the 20" which SuSE probably thinks is the 30") ...

I had to Acronis back my workstation to Vista tonight as I am on on-call and need the PC back sharp ish ..

Gonna have a try tomorrow again after I researched the whole thing more thoroughly .. So far SuSE is a bit more pain than RHEL

vCole

I couldn't even get my dual monitors to work in Ubuntu

jibbajabba

FadeToBright wrote: »

I couldn't even get my dual monitors to work in Ubuntu

That would be a deal-breaker

jibbajabba

Just browsing through Novel's Knowledgebase ..

I hope this is a joke

4. You will need a graphics card for each monitor, even if there is only one card in your system. If you show only one card in the list, then simply add another one of the same type. After installing the drivers click FINISH

SIMPLY ADD ANOTHER .. Sure - I just grab another 500 quid card - easy as pie .. Pffff ..

Slowhand

Gomjaba wrote: »

SIMPLY ADD ANOTHER .. Sure - I just grab another 500 quid card - easy as pie .. Pffff ..

Remember, it's not that Linux is incompatible with your computer, it's your computer that's incompatible with Linux. And that's why Linux is better than "M$".

Note: I fought every temptation to type Lin(s)ux, and I'm very proud of myself for making it this far and not failing.

jibbajabba

Slowhand wrote: »

Remember, it's not that Linux is incompatible with your computer, it's your computer that's incompatible with Linux. And that's why Linux is better than "M$".

Note: I fought every temptation to type Lin(s)ux, and I'm very proud of myself for making it this far and not failing.

Couldn't wait so took out my laptop for work and kept playing with the big one

Basically the driver from the repository is sh** so even if NVIDIA says you should use it - I didn't and downloaded / installed the current driver ..

Now using the NVIDIA Control panel I finally have two screen. Trouble is - I cannot rotate just ONE screen. Both screens are now one and no matter where I add the "CW" option in the xorg.conf BOTH screens getting rotated

It certainly is not easy

kalebksp

Gomjaba wrote: »

Just browsing through Novel's Knowledgebase ..

I hope this is a joke

4. You will need a graphics card for each monitor, even if there is only one card in your system. If you show only one card in the list, then simply add another one of the same type. After installing the drivers click FINISH

SIMPLY ADD ANOTHER .. Sure - I just grab another 500 quid card - easy as pie .. Pffff ..

It looks to me like it wants you to add another card in it's control panel, not another physical card. Sort of like how in Windows there will be two listings in device manager.

jibbajabba

kalebksp wrote: »

It looks to me like it wants you to add another card in it's control panel, not another physical card. Sort of like how in Windows there will be two listings in device manager.

I see .. well the device manager in Windows shows only one card because it IS in fact just one case but with two ports ..

Anyway .. it is 2.30am here and I consider SuSE a *fail* now ...

I was prepared to even pay for the Enterprise SuSE - like I paid for RHEL .. but to be honest, this is rubbish. In my opinion it is more likely that people work with dual monitors in an Enterprise environment than in a private home. Think about music industry, graphics and whatnot.

But SuSE - which is everywhere mentioned as THE distro - is so far the most painful Linux distro when it comes to Dual Screen setups .. So basically since yesterday , all I wanted to achieve, is a main screen and a secondary screen which is rotated in 90 degrees .. Every other distro I tried : one damn entry in the xorg.conf .. in SuSE : It flips the whole setup and whatnot ..

I think I go either back to RHEL or something completely different .. and sorry .. I hate Ubuntu

I thing I did think about was installing RHEL again, grab the config and try it on SuSE - but at the moment I cannot be bothered

darkerosxx

Did you try calling support? You get support with the free trial, if that's what you got.

jibbajabba

Nah, didn't contact them .. and yes, so far I have the free trial. I thought you get it only with the full version but if you get support with the trial as well then I might just give it yet another try ...

jibbajabba

Days without luck ..

Now I bought a RHEL Desktop subscription and will ask RH Support to sort

jibbajabba

How bloody useless - the support that is

Fixed it myself at the end (right screen physically rotated and so is the x window)....

NOW I am happy

darkerosxx

Nice, congrats.

jibbajabba

NTFS / Codecs and work stuff now on too .. starting to like Linux as workstation after all

jibbajabba

Linux really is a Love-Hate thing isn't it .. Geesh - what a day ...

VLC for example .. mplayer is nice and all, but it doesn't play streams from ie. di.fm ..

So I tried to install VLC - getting killed by dependencies errors even though they are there ..

So next step - using rpmforge repo. Ok, VLC installs fine .. but doesn't start ...

Next try after I removed it again - downloading an older version - getting killed by dependencies again ... so used rpmforge repo and yum installed the rpm with dependencies from rpmforge.

Great - that worked .. VLC is starting fine ... (cannot test sound etc. as I just checked it using VNC).

Run yum update again - VLC and dependencies got updated ... bang - doesn't work anymore ..

removed VLC - reinstalled RPM - dependencies problem

Took me a while to figure out that 'wxGTK' is somewhat incompatible with VLC - or at least the version used by the newer VLC ...

So removed that - downloaded the older version and also the older VLC - job done ... next step was to exclude 'wxGTK' and 'vlc' from the global package management to avoid updates..

Next "problem" - mouse speed - feels sluggish - I also need to find a way to auto-login with root into GNOME ....

Trouble is, I am really a beginner when it comes to Linux as a workstation and it certainly isn't easy ...

Which reminds me, time to make an Acronis of that thing lol ...

dynamik

Gomjaba wrote: »

Linux really is a Love-Hate thing isn't it

That really sums up my experience as well (at least at a desktop-level; it's been fine for specific server roles, such as a web server). It's like one moment I'm impressed with the flexibility and control I have, and then the next I'm inundated with frustration because some seemingly simple task takes hours of research to complete.

My current strategy is to run Mint full-screen in VMware Workstation and do as much as I can in that, but then I can fall back to Windows whenever I need to.