CentOs good 5.3 for desktops???

[irlandes]

I have read a number of times on various URL's that CentOs is a server distro, and not a desktop distro.

Gosh, you sure coulda' fooled me. I am typing this posting on my CentOs 5.3 boot.

I just ran .wav music; .mid music; mp3 music; I have played DVD movies. I surf the web. I have a photo editor, cinelerra, though I don't know yet how to use it. It has GIMP. I assume I can play CD music, but haven't bothered. M3u works.

OpenOffice.org works fine.

I can do photo editing. I can convert pdf to jpg. I can produce .wav from .mid and I suppose I could burn it into CD's. Lame is there, so I assume I could make into mp3.

I can play youtube. I had to set it up just as I had to on Kubuntu 9.04 but I think I can play mms stuff.

Though I have not been using it much in recent years, I did publish a book for my kids a few years ago using Lyx. That is on this CentOs boot.

So, clearly, CentOs works fine for desktop from my perspective, as far as I can tell..

Why do people say it is not a desktop distro?

Is it ignorance or prejudice on their part?

Is it because it might be a bit harder to set up with many of the usual desktop fun things?

Or, am I missing something?


I want, if I can, to get it set up, because I like the long support cycle. I tire of 6 to 18 months and I can't hit anything with my update or apt-get or yum. It takes me a lot of work to get everything running like I want it, then in a few months it is abandoned.

Kubuntu 6.10 was a dar ned good install, and did everything I want a distro to do, until support went away and I couldn't get any new apps I needed..

So, I am wondering if I am missing something important that will bite me one of these days if I put a lot of work into CentOs?


One worry is if I install an updated app, such as firefox 3.5, which seems pretty slick,there is no way to get security updates, or is there another way to get that stuff other than through CentOs repositories?

Thanks for any tips. One advantage is with multi boot I can always go to a temporary distro if there is something unusual I need to do.

[Calipso]

The only drawback of using Centos for a desktop OS is that the packages are rather old. For a server that is great but for a desktop user not so much since users would normally want something newer than say Firefox 1. Other than that, it's perfectly fine for being a desktop OS.

[irlandes]

Okay, that is what I wanted to know, thanks.

Actually, 5.3 uses Firefox 3.0.12.

I am not sure I will be using CentOs long-term. Like Blackbelt, I sometimes try different things, trying to find optimum solutions.

One real problem I have noticed is when I update, there are four bad dependencies and I have to use the --skip-broken option on update to get the other updates. I am not yet sure if this is CentOs team problems, or what? I cannot believe Redhat would stay in business long if they pulled that on corporate systems.

[philwebs]

I also liked Centos when I tried it, and also thought it would be a good desktop (KDE was done right). As commented the available packages could be old and many items were missing (because it is a server distribution).

I have settled on PClinuxOS which is a rolling general distribution, therefore usually none of the six monthly disruption. Package selection is ok. Also quite conservative so it is still on KDE 3.5 (with 4.3 in testing)

I also like to look at other distros, and it is a journey to find the right blend which appeals.

Phil

[Calipso]

oh you're right! ti does include firefox 3. RHEL 5.4 has just been announced so I'm sure CentOS will have the updates soon. I'm sure this will bring some updated software as well which should make it more attractive for a desktop.