[wlug_org] Fedora Core 1 Out of Box experience - SuSE 9 Replacement?

[Carl Klitscher]

Hi All,
I had assumed that the plan was to deliver a working useful system to the
punters that they could maintain themselves with the minimum of fuss. To me
this means, as an example, that things like java, flash and realplayer need
to work out of the box. I know that there are Linux versions available for
download but some, java in particular, can be less than forgiving during
install.

In FC1's case none of the above work out of the box. This can be rectified
on the day so we do deliver to expectation however this means a separate CD
with all of the extras required that FC1 doesn't ship. The FC1 package
maintainer also leaves something to be desired in that not all packages
shipped are selectable. To get the rest you need to drop into command line
and know what you are looking for.

As an alternative we could use SuSE 9. The install process by default loads
a number of the web 'enhancers' (and I use the term loosely) and the
maintenance and upgrade manager is a lot more granular and newbie friendly.

So, the questions are:
1) Do we continue with FC1 and add the required packages manually?
2) Do we switch to SuSE 9?
3) Do we provide both and let the punter decide?

Personally I would appreciate the opportunity to do SuSE as I feel it is
more appropriate for the situation. I sympathise with what the Fedora
people are trying to achieve however even though it uses RH as a base there
are enough changes in there for it to have moved back into the experimental
stage.

Carl