why I ditched FC2T2 after 2 hours

[kenlin]

I've been anxious to tryout both Kernel 2.6 and Gnome 2.6, so I donwloaded and installed (fresh install) FC2T2 on my HP Pavilion ze4315 laptop. FC1 plays very nicely with this laptop, so I had high hopes.

After the install, I had no sound, my touchpad lost the tap-click and scroll, and it didn't recognize my wireless usb adapter (Linksys wusb11). Not a good start.

The wireless was my first priority, so I got the latest drivers from at76c503a.berlios.de compiled and installed with no problem. I rebooted and the boot messages started scrolling by so fast I couldn't read them. I assume they were errors related to the drivers module, but don't really know.

So I reinstalled FC1 at that point. Yea, I could have booted from the DVD again and removed the offending drivers, but I was highly annoyed. A major release should make things better, not break things already working. I also realize that this is a beta release, but again, things that worked fine before were now broken.

Should I be hopeful that the final release will be any better?

[Ug]

It most certainly will be.

The purpose of that test is bug squashing. Nothing more. And bugs were what you experienced.

[djf_jeff]

FC2 is a huge mass of untested software... Personnally, I will completly skip FC2. I tried it and too many new and untested software is in it.

I found that RedHat turn it into a big testbed for RHEL. Hey, a big switch to 2.6 and at the same time the first mass inclusion of SeLinux with the new Gnome, new KDE, new OOo, etc...

I think that they should first stablize the FC2 with only the 2.6 kernel and in the futur release, include SeLinux.

Not too much in one release...

[Ug]

Originally posted by djf_jeff
I found that RedHat turn it into a big testbed for RHEL. That was always the intention.

[foolish]

People who don't want bugs shouldn't use test releases at all. Only pilots who know how to use the ejection seat should do test-flights.

I'm sure fedora core 2 will be fine. Of course, core 3 will be better, but that later releases will be better than current is almost always true, I think it will be so with core 2 as well.

[Jman]

I'm waiting for FC2. By then I hope most of the major bugs will be squashed and the transition will be relatively painless.

I like the innovation of the rapid release schedule. By the time features trickle down to the Enterprise version, they're stable.

[djf_jeff]

Hey, I didnt say I'm not able to test pre-release, I have report at least 10 bugs or so...

And UG, yes, RedHat did say at the beginning that Fedora will be the testbed, bug I have expected a little more stable product than that.

FC2 is scheduled to be out in 1 1/2 month, say 2 months. It's a little time for this very big change I think...

And for Mandrake that have always too short testing time will release the final version of 10.0 after Fedora and beginning test at the same date. And they dont have SELinux over that...

Dont take me wrong, I like Fedora but FC2 is too much for too short testing time...

[LordMorgul]

The primary feature of FC2 will be the 2.6 kernel, which is staying on track with linus so far (latest 2.6.4-1.305 is built from patch-2.6.5-rc3-bk2). SELinux is and will be optional and can be turned off at install or any time requring only a kernel reboot. This is not a feature being shoved down anyone's throat, and it is coming of age very quickly from what I can see.

Coming up from FC1 which was essentially a massaged version of RH9, this is very ambitious.. but since many of the deveopers are involved in both FC2 and upstream projects the benefits of their work extend beyond Fedora alone. The work done on Fedora and Gentoo with SELinux will pave the way for others: sure its a bit rocky at the moment, but that is why it is optional.