Fedora Vs. CentOS

[JLambert97]

I am thinking about moving over to a Red Hat based OS. I can't decide between Fedora and CentOS. Can someone please point out the differences to me and what each one is better for. Which one do you recommend?

[dhicks]

I am thinking about moving over to a Red Hat based OS. I can't decide between Fedora and CentOS.

 

What particular project do you have in mind? Red Hat itself, and CentOS, tend to have really quite old Linux kernals - this is by design, these are intended to be stable, working systems that you know do exactly what they say they do. Fedora tends to be more up-to-date, with the very latest kernals and features, along with whatever stability issues still need ironing out. When I st up a Ceph cluster a few months ago I wound up having to use Fedora as I needed kernal support for particular file system features, but if you're just running a web server or similar you might be better of with CentOS.

[jinnantonnixx]

What do you want to do?

Centos, while it can be used on the desktop, is a more conservative (i.e. older and more stable) release and is favoured as a server OS.

Fedora is a cutting-edge desktop with newer packages.

 

At work I use a mixture of Centos 6 and Ubuntu servers and I don't find myself preferring one over the other. My work desktop is Ubuntu 12.04, and at home I use Ubuntu 14.04 as I prefer Unity over Gnome or KDE.

[unixman_again]

I first installed Redhat 5.1 and I've carried over into Fedora and I've always found it very stable. My only criticism is their seeming random naming conventions Red Hat Linux and List of Fedora releases. Fedora started with cities, and moved to scientists, with a few random things included. (What is a 'Beefy Miracle'?)

[jinnantonnixx]

.... and moved to scientists, .....

 

With amusing results....

 

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=922433

[cpjitservices]

Fedora is very Bleeding edge... everything is very new! CentOS is everything thats been certified in Redhat..

 

If you want stability and for everything to work as it should stick with CentOS... that said I have a few Fedora boxes for certain projects that only run on Fedora.

[jinnantonnixx]

What do you think of Centos's implementation of Gnome? I find it weird. It's like MATE or Gnome 2, then you hit Activities and you get a Gnome 3 screen. I got the 'Windows 8' shudder when I saw it. Like they glued two interfaces together. Edited September 12, 2014 by jinnantonnixx

[cpjitservices]

What do you think of Centos's implementation of Gnome? I find it weird. It's like MATE or Gnome 2, then you hit Activities and you get a totally different style of screen. I got the 'Windows 8' shudder when I saw it.

 

Thats because if your running Centos chances are your running a server and minimal install should be used... CLI only

[jinnantonnixx]

Thats because if your running Centos chances are your running a server and minimal install should be used... CLI only

 

Touché! That'll learn me.

 

Going off on a tangerine, PointLinux caught my eye. It's Debian 7 but with MATE interface and bundled with non-free drivers. So if you can't be bothered configuring Debian, it could be worth a spin. It's quietly building a nice reputation. I might take a look on the weekend.

http://pointlinux.org/

Edited September 12, 2014 by jinnantonnixx