Red Hat 9.0 Qs and comments

[66FMC]

My initial opinion of Red Hat 9.0 is that it has come along way since the last time I tried it. After using it for awhile, I'm disappointed with its "out of the box" performance. I'm sure it's my lack of experience with Linux so maybe you guys can help me out.

Multitasking seems to be fairly slow as well as networking. Programs take longer than Id expect to load, but this is all being compared to Windows XP.

Here are my system specs:

ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 333FSB
512 MB Crucial PC2700 6ns
Highpoint RocketRAID133 controller
Maxtor D740X ATA/133 40GB x2 RAID0
ATi Radeon 8500 (retail)
Sony 16x DVD-ROM
Lite-On 52x CD-RW

I'm using onboard audio and nic. I installed just about everything on the 3 Red Hat disk, and have done nothing yet but transfer some files over from the server and exploring the OS. I don't feel intimidated at all by Linux, and I feel I can pick it up fairly quickly, but Id rather not someone tell me to go read some big old archive of information. I don't think I'll be able to use Red Hat as my personal computer. No google toolbar... xchat stinks for IRC in my opinion, and a lot of my other favorite programs from Windows I won't be able to use.

Any tips, comments, flames?

 

[cleverhandle]

Originally posted by: 66FMC
My initial opinion of Red Hat 9.0 is that it has come along way since the last time I tried it. After using it for awhile, I'm disappointed with its "out of the box" performance. I'm sure it's my lack of experience with Linux so maybe you guys can help me out.

Multitasking seems to be fairly slow as well as networking. Programs take longer than Id expect to load, but this is all being compared to Windows XP.

Here are my system specs...

There are a couple programs noted for slow startup - OpenOffice being the absolute worst. Mozilla is still a little sluggish to start, but not too bad. No others stand out. My hardware is slower except for a 15.3 Cheetah, and I'm not bothered at all by load times. So if everything feels slow, there's probably a hardware problem somewhere. Check your logs and dmesg and see if anything stands out.

I don't think I'll be able to use Red Hat as my personal computer. No google toolbar... xchat stinks for IRC in my opinion, and a lot of my other favorite programs from Windows I won't be able to use.

While I don't use IRC or the Google toolbar, I suggest you give Linux programs some more time. Off hand, I can't think of a single Windows program I prefer over its Linux equivalent. It's just a matter of learning something new. Just because a Linux program performs the same function as a Windows one, don't expect it to work the same way.

 

[Granorense]

Originally posted by: cleverhandle

Originally posted by: 66FMC
It's just a matter of learning something new. Just because a Linux program performs the same function as a Windows one, don't expect it to work the same way.

I agree!

 

[Nothinman]

No google toolbar... xchat stinks for IRC in my opinion, and a lot of my other favorite programs from Windows I won't be able to use.

I rarely used the google toolbar when I had installed in Windows, on Linux Galeon has a google search box and that's the extent of my use of it.
xchat kicks mIRCs ass as an IRC client, I used to love mIRC but now I can't stand it after using xchat for a while.

 

[66FMC]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

No google toolbar... xchat stinks for IRC in my opinion, and a lot of my other favorite programs from Windows I won't be able to use.

I rarely used the google toolbar when I had installed in Windows, on Linux Galeon has a google search box and that's the extent of my use of it.
xchat kicks mIRCs ass as an IRC client, I used to love mIRC but now I can't stand it after using xchat for a while.

That's probably true, but I use Invision 2.0 in Windows, not mIRC, and xchat doesn't hold a candle to that.

 

[elzmaddy]

You need a Google toolbar? Get the Opera 7.1 browser (available for Windows and Linux) It has toolbars built in and you can add as many as you want and customize them to search different sites/search engines. Plus I enjoy the tabbed browsing and the convenient hot list open on the side of my screen. Edit: However, there is a banner on the shareware version.

 

[thesix]

I use MozillaFirebird on all my systems, including Windows 2K/XP, Redhat. Standard version doesn't include mail client though. Of course, it's feee (Shareware Opera ? that's odd, not many people will pay for the full version, I guess.).
I like it better than Mozilla for one reason : load very much faster. If I understand correctly, the focus on Mozilla project will move to MozillaFirebird, which use the same engine but tries to be lightweight on everything else ( again, I don't know much about Mozilla's developing project, I can be wrong. )

 

[Granorense]

The one I am having probles is the Konquerror in KDE (SUSe 8.1). It displays most of the sites correctly, but the one I am on the most it doesn't which is of course Anandtech. When I click on Forums everything gets wraped and shrunk to the left. Really bad.

 

[clicknext]

Hey I felt it was a bit slow too, being a noob switching from Windows XP. I have an AthlonXP 2000 with KT400 though.

 

[zantac]

Originally posted by: 66FMC

Originally posted by: Nothinman

No google toolbar... xchat stinks for IRC in my opinion, and a lot of my other favorite programs from Windows I won't be able to use.

I rarely used the google toolbar when I had installed in Windows, on Linux Galeon has a google search box and that's the extent of my use of it.
xchat kicks mIRCs ass as an IRC client, I used to love mIRC but now I can't stand it after using xchat for a while.

That's probably true, but I use Invision 2.0 in Windows, not mIRC, and xchat doesn't hold a candle to that.

Invision is mIRC.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: cleverhandle

Originally posted by: 66FMC
My initial opinion of Red Hat 9.0 is that it has come along way since the last time I tried it. After using it for awhile, I'm disappointed with its "out of the box" performance. I'm sure it's my lack of experience with Linux so maybe you guys can help me out.

Multitasking seems to be fairly slow as well as networking. Programs take longer than Id expect to load, but this is all being compared to Windows XP.

Here are my system specs...

There are a couple programs noted for slow startup - OpenOffice being the absolute worst. Mozilla is still a little sluggish to start, but not too bad. No others stand out. My hardware is slower except for a 15.3 Cheetah, and I'm not bothered at all by load times. So if everything feels slow, there's probably a hardware problem somewhere. Check your logs and dmesg and see if anything stands out.

I don't think I'll be able to use Red Hat as my personal computer. No google toolbar... xchat stinks for IRC in my opinion, and a lot of my other favorite programs from Windows I won't be able to use.

While I don't use IRC or the Google toolbar, I suggest you give Linux programs some more time. Off hand, I can't think of a single Windows program I prefer over its Linux equivalent. It's just a matter of learning something new. Just because a Linux program performs the same function as a Windows one, don't expect it to work the same way.

You prefer OpenOffice over MS Office?
Or what do you use for office productivity? I would go straight Linux but office productivity holds me back considerably.

 

[pitupepito2000]

Originally posted by: cleverhandle

Originally posted by: 66FMC
My initial opinion of Red Hat 9.0 is that it has come along way since the last time I tried it. After using it for awhile, I'm disappointed with its "out of the box" performance. I'm sure it's my lack of experience with Linux so maybe you guys can help me out.

Multitasking seems to be fairly slow as well as networking. Programs take longer than Id expect to load, but this is all being compared to Windows XP.

Here are my system specs...

There are a couple programs noted for slow startup - OpenOffice being the absolute worst. Mozilla is still a little sluggish to start, but not too bad. No others stand out. My hardware is slower except for a 15.3 Cheetah, and I'm not bothered at all by load times. So if everything feels slow, there's probably a hardware problem somewhere. Check your logs and dmesg and see if anything stands out.

I don't think I'll be able to use Red Hat as my personal computer. No google toolbar... xchat stinks for IRC in my opinion, and a lot of my other favorite programs from Windows I won't be able to use.

While I don't use IRC or the Google toolbar, I suggest you give Linux programs some more time. Off hand, I can't think of a single Windows program I prefer over its Linux equivalent. It's just a matter of learning something new. Just because a Linux program performs the same function as a Windows one, don't expect it to work the same way.

I agree with CleverHandle, once you learn the tips, tricks and shortcuts of Linux programs, you won't be able to live without them. An example: I use kde, if I want to search something in google I do the following: Alt+F2,gg:string, and woola I have done a search in google. There are a lot of shortcuts to do searches in konqueror. To view them go to Settings/ConfigureKonqueror/WebShortcuts, and then you can view them and add new ones. Also Mozilla does come with a Sidebar that allows you to do searches in google.

 

[Panther505]

Originally posted by: Elemental007

Originally posted by: cleverhandle

Originally posted by: 66FMC
My initial opinion of Red Hat 9.0 is that it has come along way since the last time I tried it. After using it for awhile, I'm disappointed with its "out of the box" performance. I'm sure it's my lack of experience with Linux so maybe you guys can help me out.

Multitasking seems to be fairly slow as well as networking. Programs take longer than Id expect to load, but this is all being compared to Windows XP.

Here are my system specs...

There are a couple programs noted for slow startup - OpenOffice being the absolute worst. Mozilla is still a little sluggish to start, but not too bad. No others stand out. My hardware is slower except for a 15.3 Cheetah, and I'm not bothered at all by load times. So if everything feels slow, there's probably a hardware problem somewhere. Check your logs and dmesg and see if anything stands out.

I don't think I'll be able to use Red Hat as my personal computer. No google toolbar... xchat stinks for IRC in my opinion, and a lot of my other favorite programs from Windows I won't be able to use.

While I don't use IRC or the Google toolbar, I suggest you give Linux programs some more time. Off hand, I can't think of a single Windows program I prefer over its Linux equivalent. It's just a matter of learning something new. Just because a Linux program performs the same function as a Windows one, don't expect it to work the same way.

You prefer OpenOffice over MS Office?
Or what do you use for office productivity? I would go straight Linux but office productivity holds me back considerably.

Well I use MS Office on Linux....

1 of 2 ways.
1. rpm of office build off of a extremely customized version of wine
2. CrossOver office!!! supports Adobe Photoshop, IE6, MS Office 2K & XP (Not too great with Access or Outlook though) ~59 bucks but well worth it as it it a user license not system and in linux you can install it as your user in your home dir.

If you are really interested in linux then you may want to look at their 30 day trial Crossover and see what you think. I have been a full time linux user (on my work and home systems) for about 2 years now and I still have to use a windows system on occassion (mainly to do finances- MS Money shared by wife and I). To do that I sprung for VMWare and install W2K in it and then use a VM machine to do the MS tasks and when I want to I bounce back to Linux

 

[Flatline]

RH 9 seems to be a bit slower as a desktop system than most of the other 'nixes. I'm not sure why that is, but I've noticed it when I tried out 'nixes on the same machine.

 

[Acanthus]

I was gonna go with Red Hat 9 yesterday, DLed the ISOs from their site and got ready to install, went to make a driver CD. No drivers available for any component of my P4T533-C, or my extigy .

 

[dblevitan]

I've never used RH 9 - I prefer Mandrake for desktops. It works very smoothly on my P3 900, with no alterations. You might want to try mandrake since it seems to be tuned more for desktops than for servers (something that Red Hat has traditionally targeted). You don't need a google toolbar if you use mozilla (although you can install one from http://www.mozdev.org). Instead, use mozilla bookmark shortcuts (http://www.google.com/mozilla/google-search.html).

I don't know about IRC - I never use it. The only chat program I use is AIM, and in my opinion, gaim is much better than the official AIM client. In terms of office software - I use MS Office with Crossover Office - Word, Outlook, and Excel all run beautifully. Quicken also works very well, and even IE works if you really need it. What other programs do you need?

Also, search on google and google groups about any hardware that you don't think is supported. A lot of the time drivers are available but have not made it into the kernel yet.