CentOS 5.0 and Scientific Linux Live CDs -- first impressions

My test box seems to like Debian-based distros and dislike Fedora and SUSE. I've never been able to get Fedora, SUSE to even boot, in fact, on this VIA C7-equipped ECS EVEm motherboard. Early in the booting process, the system resets itself, and just keeps rebooting, never getting anywhere.

So on my test box, I give up, but the Red Hat-derived CentOS 5.0 and Scientific Linux 5.0 do load in my Dell Optiplex 3 GHz Pentium 4 work box, on which I can explore them as live CDs but not actually install them to the hard drive.

CentOS 5.0 loads OK, if a little slow (it was flummoxed for a minute by an unused SATA port), but upon launch looks much like Fedora, which is should, since CentOS is a Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone. It's a way to get Red Hat functionality for servers and desktops without paying Red Hat fees.

Just like in Fedora, CentOS runs a nice GNOME desktop with the usual apps. But there's no information anywhere on the root password, so I can't configure my static IP and get Internet into the box. If you have a DHCP connection, no doubt this isn't a problem, and you might like using a RHEL workalike. But since I need to do a little configuration, the CentOS live CD isn't of all that much use to me.

So I pump the Scientific Linux CD into the Dell. It's another RHEL clone, this one made by a group of real scientists, including those at Fermilab.

During the boot process for Scientific Linux, I'm told the root password is sluser; so are the standard, non-root login and password. Simple enough.

It boots, and since Scientific Linux, like CentOS, is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, the app choices look pretty much the same. Only the desktop art looks different. I'm quite comfortable in GNOME, since I also have a Debian box that is set up with it.

So I configure the network. I've never done a static IP configuration (or any other kind) in Red Hat before, and it takes me a few minutes. But I manage to get Internet flowing through the box. I also start Open Office Writer on one workspace, the GIMP on the next.

Even though this is a live CD, things are surprisingly snappy (I'm running with 512 MB of RAM). Since Scientific Linux is a RHEL clone, I give much credit to Red Hat. While the Raleigh, N.C.-based Linux leader is known for its server installs, this system is functioning quite well indeed as my desktop for the moment, and I wouldn't hesitate at this point to make Scientific Linux (or Fedora or RHEL, for that matter) my default desktop OS.

Now I haven't tried to install any additional apps, and I am running this on my best box, so this all goes for a new, modern system. I'm not saying that Dell made an error in shipping their new non-Windows desktops and laptops with Ubuntu, but here I am using a polished desktop environment, Flash is already installed, sound works right away with no configuration, and the thing is more responsive than Ubuntu, at least in this live CD environment (the Ubuntu live CD doesn't run nearly as well, but since I haven't done a Linux install to this box, I can't vouch for the way it works with a hard drive install).

Before I reboot and get back to my "real" work, I figure I'll try to install some applications and see how that works. I go to the Applications menu and select Add/Remove Software. There's not much there -- most of the apps are already installed. I have Open Office, but I want to install AbiWord. Where is it?

I find Yum. I figure out how to add the repositories. Then Yum crashes. I reload. I add repositories again. I can't seem to find AbiWord, but it just might not be there. Clearly I need some Red Hat tutoring. That's where six months of Debian, apt and Synaptic will get you ...

But overall I'm impressed with Scientific Linux (and by extension RHEL). Aside from the package-management trouble (which at this point I think is solely due to my inability to figure it out), this is a fine desktop setup. And did I mention that it's fast?

All I need now is a new PC that I can install either CentOS, Scientific Linux or Fedora on -- maybe Dell will sell me one.