Fedora 9 XFCE Spin **Beta**

[Olcay]

Since yesterday there is a Fedora 9 Live XFCE i686 - **Beta** spin on http://spins.fedoraproject.org/
But i couldn't found any recent info about Fedora 9 XFCE Spin, is there any newer progress report about this spin?

[JN4OldSchool]

The beta part means that the team has not had any feedback on how consistant Xfce is in their spin. I wouldnt let this worry you, they just used the base F9 install and added the Xfce parts to it. It should work fine.

You can always just do what I did and install the Gnome version then install Xfce on top of it. I find it is better to have Gnome installed as a sort of DE "backup" anyway, just in case. I have used F9 with Xfce on 2 computers since F9 came out and it works great.

[RahulSundaram]

Hi,

The beta was composed only a few days back and like JN4 mentions it doesn't add anything beyond what is already in the original Fedora repositories. I am the spin maintainer. Feel free to write up your reviews and/or provide any feedback.

[robert-e]

Hi,
First of all, please dont regard the following as trolling.
I have been using Fedora on and off since FC6, with a longer run on FC7, and now almost exclusive use of F8. I am reading post lately about F7 being out of support time, and realize that soon I will be in the same position with F8. Concurrent with the advice of Wayne, i think that F9 Kde is not a choice for me, given my limited "bug dealing with" ability. That is not to downplay the excellent help of the forum members. My thinking is this...I have a couple of options: Stay with my now working F8 for the next year to two, and then reasses my options, and risk doing no updates at all; moving to F9, which frankly scares me half to death (well, close anyways); or going to Centros/Kumbuntu, although I would miss the interaction with the Fedora Forum members (I enjoy your company).
Another issue that has much to do with the foregoing, and more personal to me. I internet connection is with Hughes sat. system, and limits me to a 200 mB download each 24 hours, with a "free" time from midnight to 3am Eastern. Thus downloading multiple ISOs is awkward to say the least. This brings me to my point. The idea of Jigdo, and the ability to update an install ISO with minimum downloading is very attractive, and in theory could be done during the 12am to 3am time. However, in practice, this does not work out. The Jigdo process seems to get hung up on some mirrors for very long times (wget problem/), and thus I run out of "free" time, with very little Bytes to show for it. One the one time it was able to successfully complete the download of a Respin (using Bittorrent), the resulting ISO had to be burned to a DVD, as it was too big for a CD, and then when I went to us it to install, it hung, and I guess I was too discouraged to find out why, or what to do to fix it.
Anyways, these are my "thinkings", and again, I am not finding fault with anyone, just kicking some things around in my head. I would appreciate your comments, and again, thanks for letting me voice some of my thoughts.
Regards,
Bob

[JN4OldSchool]

Originally Posted by robert-e

Hi,
First of all, please dont regard the following as trolling.
I have been using Fedora on and off since FC6, with a longer run on FC7, and now almost exclusive use of F8. I am reading post lately about F7 being out of support time, and realize that soon I will be in the same position with F8. Concurrent with the advice of Wayne, i think that F9 Kde is not a choice for me, given my limited "bug dealing with" ability. That is not to downplay the excellent help of the forum members. My thinking is this...I have a couple of options: Stay with my now working F8 for the next year to two, and then reasses my options, and risk doing no updates at all; moving to F9, which frankly scares me half to death (well, close anyways); or going to Centros/Kumbuntu, although I would miss the interaction with the Fedora Forum members (I enjoy your company).
Another issue that has much to do with the foregoing, and more personal to me. I internet connection is with Hughes sat. system, and limits me to a 200 mB download each 24 hours, with a "free" time from midnight to 3am Eastern. Thus downloading multiple ISOs is awkward to say the least. This brings me to my point. The idea of Jigdo, and the ability to update an install ISO with minimum downloading is very attractive, and in theory could be done during the 12am to 3am time. However, in practice, this does not work out. The Jigdo process seems to get hung up on some mirrors for very long times (wget problem/), and thus I run out of "free" time, with very little Bytes to show for it. One the one time it was able to successfully complete the download of a Respin (using Bittorrent), the resulting ISO had to be burned to a DVD, as it was too big for a CD, and then when I went to us it to install, it hung, and I guess I was too discouraged to find out why, or what to do to fix it.
Anyways, these are my "thinkings", and again, I am not finding fault with anyone, just kicking some things around in my head. I would appreciate your comments, and again, thanks for letting me voice some of my thoughts.
Regards,
Bob

I dont really get what you are asking here? This is an Xfce thread yet you dont even mention this DE. Are you suggesting you would like to try the Xfce spin? If it were me, in your shoes, I would obtain the full F9 Gnome DVD then just install Xfce from yum. This would keep your DL low (except for that initial update). I started out with KDE and I loved it. I couldnt stand Gnome at all, I mean really hated it. So, I forced myself to use it. I also learned Fluxbox, e17 and a few others just enough to become proficient. I learned to sort of let go of the lifeline tying me to DEs and WMs. Then I really got into Xfce and found bliss. It just suites me. So, it isnt like you dont have options, and really, Gnome and KDE are so similar in so many ways. In the end, no matter which GUI you pick the customability options are amazing. You can pretty much do what you want with any of them. Case in point, most people think I am running Gnome instead of Xfce. In fact, I do run a lot of Gnome components.

As far as your DL issues, I would be happy to send you a CD/DVD as would many others in here. You have but to ask. There are also places you can purchase these for next to nothing. I suggest going to F9 now, the major problems have been worked out and it really is a good, solid version.

[robert-e]

JM4.
No, not really asking for anything; just your thoughts on some of the things I mentioned. WRT to the CD/DVD offer; I would never ask anyone to send me one; this is just a hobby thing for me, as I am long retired, and not much is critical in my world anymore. The main interest is in the learning. My trashing in install is less problematic, in that I now have two working F8 machines, and can use the non-trashed one to ask (plead?) for help; and much to the credit of this board, help is always forthcoming. Sometimes my ability is so limited, that I have problems acting on the helpful suggestions. WRT the download issures; that will be a recurring problem, and I imagine in the future will become less problematic. I will eventually find another more usuable ISP. Actually, the problem is worse than I first reported. Even with a usable install CD/DVD, the immediate updates are uaually in excess of 350 mB, and I cannot lett PUP do the job, as it crashes part way through. I have to kill the PUP automatic update service, and use YUM or YUMEX to select packages carefully to get the update to complete. It takes a long time, and gets pretty tedious.
I did choose this thread because it mentioned respins; and at least to me, any effort to get the ideal of respins (Fedora Unity and Jigdo) to work is dear to my heart. It would save me so much trouble.
WRT to Xfce, I have noted your enthusiasm with it, and have it in the back of my mind to try it out; but not just yet. I am still much to green at this stuff. On another note; I am worried about the automatic use of LVM on an install, and recall your way of dealing with that. I need to do some more research on partitioning, and hope that you will not mind when I come to following in your footsteps.
So, in summary; I am not complaining, and hope I dont come across that way. I found this thread about respins, and wanted to throw out some of my thoughts on the subject, and perhaps in some small way point out some problems and my hopes for continued improvements.
Regards,
Bob

[Olcay]

Hi,

Originally Posted by JN4OldSchool

You can always just do what I did and install the Gnome version then install Xfce on top of it. I find it is better to have Gnome installed as a sort of DE "backup" anyway, just in case. I have used F9 with Xfce on 2 computers since F9 came out and it works great.

Actually i was very happy with Fedora 8 xfce spin but after F9 release i installed gnome desktop.
I personally prefer xfce over gnome and kde, it's always more stable for me.

Originally Posted by RahulSundaram

Feel free to write up your reviews and/or provide any feedback

I have just downloaded iso file and i will install it

[Olcay]

Just a quick feedback after installation;

1- There is no default photo import application ( my prefer is gthumb but maybe it has many dependencies for a live cd? )
2- Default fonts setting is not as smooth as gnome. ( its not a big problem because i always change default fonts settings and apply some lcd patches )
3- Background doesnt change automatically ( is it just gnome feature? )
4- Still Xarchiver instead of Squeeze

But as said its Fedora 9 with XFCE not a beta release

[RahulSundaram]

Hi,

1) Yep we dropped gthumb for mirage.
2) Might file a RFE with screenshots
3) Yes, that's just a GNOME feature. We only use the non animated single image in Xfce
4) Yes, that's because squeeze was pretty unstable back then.


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http://lwn.net/Articles/278937/