fc6 nearing eol but f7 not useable yet (rant or feedback?)

[Robin Laing]

Mike Wright wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Rant or feedback?  You decide.  This is all IMHO.
> 
> I'm becoming concerned about the end of life for fc6.  It has been
> stable for me and is the first of the fedoras that gave me a
> more-or-less useable multimedia experience.  (vlc is awesome!)  I'd like
> to continue using fc6 but am guessing I need to create my own repository
> before fc6 disappears from the public repos.
> 
> The reason I'm so concerned is f7 blows chunks.  I've been running RH
> and its ilk since 5.2 (never got 4 running because I couldn't afford a
> Matrox video adapter way back then) and have to say this release is
> buggier than my vegetable garden.
> 
> I'll start by logging into a Gnome session.
> 
> First mess is the "Package Updater".  1) That's not the !@#$%ing
> program's name.  Its toolbar icon has no properties associated with it
> so I can't even tell what it launches.  The app itself has no "About"
> button.  In fact, one must perform command line forensics to even find
> out that the program's name is "pup".  (I prefer the spanish
> pronunciation.)  Why, oh why, is every package preselected?  Why is the
> "update list" window not resizeable?  Absolutely one of the worst user
> interfaces I have ever used.  Actually, it's hard to call it a UI since
> there is no interaction allowed except "click the mouse several hundred
> times", quit, or apply, and it provides no user feedback except when it
> barfs on itself.  Is it hanging?  Is it running?  Is it stalled?
> Absolutely no way to tell.  Oh, a dependency issue.  Option of ignore or
> continue?  No way, those choices are not available.  Error out.
> 
> Second, where did the Applications->Run Program option go?
> 
> Third, why does the bottom toolbar show up about two inches below the
> top one?  Right clicking on its far left edge gives me some options:
> click "expand" twice and it returns to its position at the bottom.
> 
> Why are the toolbar widgets now locked to the toolbar?  What, don't like
> us rearranging things according to our own tastes?  OK fine, just right
> click, Unlock.  Right click, Move.  Swell.  I get the plus sign shaped
> move cursor but it doesn't work!  I can't rearrange the toolbars.
> 
> Well, maybe it's got its panties in a bunch.  I'll just logout and try
> again.   Oh my!  Isn't this sweet.  Where are the toolbars?  Why doesn't
> right click do anything?  Fortunately,  I shortcut keyed an xterm.
> Enter the shortcut key combo and I get an xterm window with borders and
> no prompt, no cursor, zippadeedoodah!
> 
> OK.  Ctrl-Alt-F1 gives me a mingetty.  "useradd nextvictim; passwd
> nextvictim; init 3; init 5".  Login as nextvictim and logout.  Login
> again as nextvictim and ecco!  Where are the toolbars?  Desktop void of
> everything except the background image, no right click response, just
> another dead session.
> 
> As a side note, this box has been around for a while and has lots of
> distros scattered throughout its drives, and all of them are rock solid
> so this definitely points to f7 and not the hardware.
> 
> Q: if it's really to be known as f7 why are the kernels named
> "something.fc7"?  I think the decision to change the naming scheme
> wasn't wise.  Google on f7 and you'll get lots of hits on the function
> key but very little on fedora.
> 
> Q: why was it decided to put marketing names on the applications and
> remove their properties?  How are we supposed to help debug, etc, if the
> program identities are hidden from us?  This decision forces users back
> into CLI mode.  Kind of defeats the whole GUI approach, doesn't it?
> 
> Apologies to all who have put in so much hard work but this release
> looks like it was done by speed freaks with a mouse compulsion who love
> python, not because it's polymorphic, but because they don't have to pay
> attention to types, and since they don't have to pay attention to types
> then, what the hey, why pay attention to the differences between lists
> and dictionaries? (definitely a rant!)
> 
> Enough for now.  I have to figure out why I have two different versions
> of dbus with mangled dependencies (which cause pup to bomb).  I'll also
> take a look at KDE to see if I have better luck there.
> 
> I would be curious to hear from early adopters what their f(c)8
> experiences have been like.
> 
> Thanks for listening to my $0.02,
> Mike Wright :m)
> 

Basically I agree with you on most points.  As for changes to gnome, I 
have seen that these are part of the upstream mess and I don't like 
them.  Moved to KDE.

My wife won't let me move her to F7 until it works well on the desktop. 
  Until then FC4 on her laptop.

Hopefully F8 will be better and when the outside distros have her 
needed/wanted software then I will upgrade the desktop and see if it 
will work better than F7.

-- 
Robin Laing