Hi there.

Just not to be rude, let me start with a short intro about myself. I started using Linux with Red Hat on my desktop way back in 1997 (?) thanks to my friends at TNO Delft. Then after 4 years I switched to Mandrake, then Ubuntu (you see the path of least resistance... yes I am just a Linux consumer.) Then Ubuntu came up with Unity and since then I can't find a system that would be as easy and reliable as Lucid Lynx. I don't care about 3D desktops and semi transparent windows...

I have tested Centos in Virtual Box. I have good first impressions. Some things I could not figure out but I did not try too hard either (I am not used to working hard!) Before I spend time with a full-blown installation, could you please help me with these questions?

(1) Till what year will be automatic security updates provided for CentOS 6?

(2) Is hardware support about as good as in Ubuntu?

(3) Does a usb drive get automatically mounted when plugged in? (I mean out of box not after configuring all kinds of things.)

(4) Can flash plugin be installed and updated from repository with yum/synaptic?

(5) When an automatic update installs a new kernel, does grub configuration get updated automatically?

(6) When installed side by side with Windows 7, is the Windows partition readable from Linux?

(7) How does boot time compare to other distros? (I mean out of box, I know that it can be tweaked.)

Thank you a million for answering these questions. Maybe Unity is a good thing after all, whipping all the lazy guys like me out of their cozy Ubuntu lives, forcing them to be more involved. Ugh...

Jiri

1. In best case? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux#Life_Cycle_Dates

2. No idea. Check http://elrepo.org/

3. Isn't that some desktop manager thingy?

4. Adobe says it will discontinue its version, but until then http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/PluginsFor64BitFirefox

5. Yes. You mean there are still package managers that don't do that?

6. Another one answered in CentOS Wiki.

7. No idea. That has never been a problem for me.

Thanks jlehtone!!

Welcome to the CentOS fora. Please see the recommended reading for new users linked in my signature.

There is no general answer to hardware support, nor to boot time. If you encounter a specific issue then ask, with the info per the recommendations in the guidelines.

You may want to look at How to Mount an NTFS Filesystem and /etc/sysconfig/kernel.

You're looking at two different products made for two vastly different markets.

Unoobtu caters to the "free as in beer" consumer Linux user who on a good day might get their shoe laces tied within 3 or 4 tries.

RHEL/CentOS is made to be racked in a Data Center where it's looked after by real SysAdmins who can at least spell "OS" without googling it.

Your questions have almost zero need in a Enterprise class Linux OS.

CentOS/RHEL is not bleeding edge, it's not Fisher Price, it's not Consumer Friendly, it's just not.

What CentOS/RHEL is, is a rock solid, stable, secure, Enterprise Class OS that lasts for several years instead of several weeks before needing a upgrade.

If you're trying to move from Unoobtu (and who wouldn't is the question that comes to my mind) try PCLinuxOS.

They take the concepts of consumer friendly Linux and wrap it up in a nice custom Distro backed with a friendly (but not fawning) community support forum.


//no, I'm not a PCLinuxOS fanboy, I don't even use Linux on the desktop just on servers, and it's not for the lack of trying, its because I can't stand the crappy wanna-be desktop Linux apps that are out there that claim to be "just as good" as the big boy apps - but in reality aren't even close//

This being Social some thread wandering is expected, and I beg to differ on the desktop comments. I have (and sometimes do) run many OSs on the desktop including RedmondOS versions from WfW, W95, W98, the Win Me abomination, XP, never Vista, through W7; Amiga OS, OS-X wild cat variants; Debian and derivatives such as Ubuntu; Mandrake/Mandiva; PCLinuxOS, SuSE, Red Hat 3.0.3 -> 9, Fedora Core 1-6, Fedora 7-rawide, and real licensed RHEL 3-6 and derivatives including WhiteBox-3, CentOS 4-7, Scientific Linux. My daily desktop of choice for home/work is CentOS-6/RHEL6.

I'll also join in and add my comments. I won't follow Phil's lead and list all OS that I've used over the last n years but just state that I have a workstation that happily runs CentOS 5.7 and a laptop running RHEL 6.2.

I actually have that laptop configured for dual booting. RHEL 6.2 is my normal working system -- the other half of the disk drive has had CentOS 5, Scientific Linux 5, CentOS 6 and Scientific Linux 6 on it at one time or another.

What I will say is that one will not have a perfect desktop environment with RHEL (or any of its clones) "straight out of the box". A little customisation will always be necessary.

Hmmm ok I am getting the idea. Thank you all for your posts.

Recently I noticed that RH started selling a desktop system again. I realize now that most CentOS users are server people but is there or will there be a Cent OS version of this?

http://www.redhat.com/products/enterprise-linux/desktop/

CentOS builds the union of whatever TUV releases as SRPMS in the various public RHEL repos. There are no separate server/client/workstation releases. One size fits all, and you pick what you want for your purposes.

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I gotta agree the linux apps are terrible