Scientific Linux Forum (new)

[joutlan]

I'm not sure if this is the right place, but I'd like to announce a new forum dedicated to Scientific Linux. It's located at:

http://scientificlinuxforum.org

Scientific Linux is a recompiled RHEL6, and is based around FC12.

If you are thinking of switching to a Rock Solid Enterprise Distro and stay in the RH family (as an in-law), this is definitely for you.

Live, installable media at the following official site: https://www.scientificlinux.org/ SL has moved up to 23 at DW this date, and
17 over the 3 months list.

I'm personally using SL6 as a business and a home desktop with full mulitimedia capabilities. Having loved Fedora, I'm sold on this distribution!

Why am I posting this? To help launch a new forum, and because for some reason, SL is not very well known given it's rank on DW

Fwiw

[smr54]

May I ask, without trying to start trouble, has it been accepted now as an official forum by the SL folks? Never mind, I see there is a link from the main site.

A brief bit of backgfround for others---for many years now, CentOS has been considered the main free equivalent of RHEL. However, as the developers began getting lives, and getting busier, releases have been taking longer to get out there--this, plus some other things have been causing some dissatisfaction among CentOS users.

ScientificLinux, funded by various universities, and possibly governments--I'm not really clear on all details, I just know that unlike CentOS, some of the developers are paid--is quite similar.
NOTE--Marius, who knows more about these things mentions that saying "universities" may be wrong. This note was added after his post below.)


I don't think that they are as strict about compatibility with RH, but it's basically the same, and in almost all cases, can be used. Their development has been, as far as the equivalent of RHEL6.0, ahead of CentOS and many disgruntled users having been switching. I don't know what most businesses are doing, according to one of the CentOS developers, CentOS and Debian combine for a large portion of the server market.

Until recently, the SL site had no forum, only a mailing list. The forum is a recent addition, and I don't know if it's taken off yet or been officially approved. If the number of SL users grows, as it probably will, the chances are that the forum will grow too.

I take the time to post this because as someone who works with CentOS/RH, and has followed some of the drama about CentOS releases, this post might satisfy some folks' curiosity as well as answer the question that some have, why post this on a Fedora form. Speaking for myself, though not, of course, for the moderators who make these decisions, I think it makes sense.

[Evil_Bert]

Yes, sense enough. As it's announcing a forum for a free Linux distribution, once and in a straightforward way, I don't think there are any issues.

As a matter of interest, my next distro may well be SL6.

[bob]

Joutlan, I'll also thank you for the info, however you've been around long enough to have read the Posting Rules (which should be a guideline for your personal life ) and I wish you had given the Staff the courtesy of a "heads up" PM or email to clear the link before posting.

Hand-slapping aside, SL deserves a great Forum and I'd encourage anyone who has some free time to join and contribute their knowledge.

[joutlan]

Originally Posted by bob

Joutlan, I'll also thank you for the info, however you've been around long enough to have read the Posting Rules (which should be a guideline for your personal life ) and I wish you had given the Staff the courtesy of a "heads up" PM or email to clear the link before posting.

Hand-slapping aside, SL deserves a great Forum and I'd encourage anyone who has some free time to join and contribute their knowledge.

Hi Bob...I certainly should have given you a heads up..I didn't even think of that...it's was late, and tax season for me....my apologies. But yes, it's all in good faith....just spreading some cheer smr54, I posted on the Fedora forum because I think this bunch would be most interested....e.g. those considering something not so bleeding, but maybe more stable...staying with Yum, etc. I have posted an announcement on the SL Mail list, here, and I think that's it!

[Mariusz W]

Thank you for the announcement!

To make this announcement in the Fedora forum makes sense and is welcome, since many may be using both Fedora and CentOS (CentOS has been quite common in as a default OS at some academic institutions around the world), and due to the growing dissatisfaction with CentOS have expressed interest in Scientific Linux.

@ smr54

Scott, I am not aware of any university (or government) support for Scientific Linux. I only heard of some Physics Labs. However, the only OS I saw in various academic places where RedHat was a de facto standard OS from around 2000 to 2005, was CentOS.

im sure Bee will have fun using the smilies over there ,

---------- Post added at 03:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 PM ----------

one thing, i dont like IPB boards. would of been better off to go with vbulletin and install 3.8.7

[smr54]

To we non academics, physics labs and universities are the same thing.

As I said in my first post, I'm not clear on all details, but they are funded, which is one of the major differences between them and CentOS.

Thanks for the correction. I've added a note to my post above.

[spoovy]

SL is funded (indirectly) by taxpayers across north America and Europe. Fermilab in the US and CERN in Europe are pushing the boundaries of physics in incredible ways - CERN's activities at the Large Hadron Collider have been big news in the UK for several years now; i'm amazed how little awareness there is of SL in the linux community.

Anyone not familiar with the LHC should look it up immediately by the way, it's mind-boggling!

[spoovy]

What about Oracle Linux? What's that got to do with a new forum being started for Scientific Linux?

[bob]

What about Oracle Linux? What's that got to do with a new forum being started for Scientific Linux?

(I moved the post to a better thread on the subject)

[smr54]

Hrm, what about it? Oracle, for awhile, was working with RH, then decided to release their own Oracle Unbreakable Linux. It's basically rebranded RH. They also offer RH 5.x with a 2.6.32 something kernel, though that's not the default, and some other vendors might not support that as a platform. They got out their version of RH 6, but as of late February of this year, did not support it as a platform for their own Oracle database.

[spoovy]

Originally Posted by bob

(I moved the post to a better thread on the subject)

Maybe a link to that thread? Otherwise I look like a nutter!

[qmemo]

heh, that's what you get when you put your head in other peoples ****

[bob]

(ever notice that "Search" button up there? ) http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?p=1448502