As I’ve said in my previous post, while switching to Linux, I used two popular distributions to evaluate before I switched. One was the Fedora from Red Hat and the other was Ubuntu from Canonical. There are a
number of posts on web on comparisions between these two distributions, some of them very comprehensive touching all aspects of an operating system, and the others are personal experiences of various people on how much the distros are in alignment with their personal preferences. This post falls into the latter category.
1. Setup:
Both the distros have clean & uncluttered installation routines. Fedora gave me advanced options to select/de-select packages to install where as Ubuntu was like a one-install-package-fits-all which I didn’t like, but given the focus of Ubuntu that it’s part is to make installation easy for noob, I’m okey with it. Ubuntu allows to add packages from CD after the installation is complete and booted into the OS.
The installation package for Ubuntu is quite small, and you need a network connection immediately to download lots of extra s depending on your requirements. The installation package of Fedora is much larger with far more options to choose from on the DVD.
2. Installations:
Fedora uses RPM packages, and handles them through a package manager. I couldn’t work with package manager to install most of RPMs I’ve downloaded from net, The package manager seems like hanged and felt less responsive. I had to use the terminal to install them from command line. I didn’t like that. Package downloading is through “yum”, it’s good, but not that user friendly.
Ubuntu uses DEB packages, and handles them through Synaptic package manager. This has a nice GUI, can see what’s going on (Terminal button) during the installation, and feels more responsive. Package downloading is through “apt-get”, and we can handle that using a GUI (Add/Remove Programs) which I liked a lot.
3. Stuff:
Both Ubuntu & Fedora doesn’t provide proprietary stuff like mp3 codecs out of the box - we have to download them. Ubuntu scores here with it’s easy to use interfaces to find and install things. The repository concept in Ubuntu is matured than Fedora. Fedora wasn’t able to handle some of my queries for downloading proprietary stuff.
4. Hardware Detection:
Both the distros score well in hardware detection, Fedora scoring more. Fedora detected my WebCam and Wireless Adapter without any extra effort, where as in Ubuntu, I had to use my Windows drivers for Wireless and tweak/update packages for webcam to work. Other than this, both the distros ran fine on my hardware. One more area where Fedora scores is that when ever I connect an LCD Overhead projector to my laptop, I had to logoff and login again in Ubuntu where as Fedora seamlessly switches the display to the projector. A very major drawback for Ubuntu as per me.
5. Stability & Speed:
Both the distros were rock solid in terms of stability. No point in comparing them in this issue. Speed depends on the number of packages you install, so the more you install, both of the distros become slow.
6. Security:
Biggest downside for Ubuntu as there is no built in firewall. But downloading and setting up one was damn easy, so no issues as per me. Being Linux, both of them are secure agaist viruses and worms.
7. Simplicity:
Ubuntu’s philosophy: give the user what they need, no more unless they want to add that themselves. I liked that. Some people say this makes Ubuntu is for n00bs, No, Not necessarily so. Installing things are simple in Ubuntu than in Fedora.
Apart from these, somehow Ubuntu is connecting in some sort I can’t explain, but I feel easy using Ubuntu than Fedora. May be Fedora making me to use the command line a lot, search a lot for things to install, installing things using package manager isn’t a breeze, the regular popup warnings from SELinux blocking apps from running, and can’t recall what else. It’s a complete misconception that Ubuntu is for n00bs. Just because a distro is simple to install and use and doesn’t come with all bells and whistles, it can’t be called as a distro for newbies. Ubuntu can handle things which any geek want to do on a Linux box.
Disclaimer: All these are my personal opinions, I’m not flaming any distro nor am I waging a distro war. If you are a Fedora fan, I do know that it’s a solid, stable and secure distro. It just somehow doesn’t connect to me 
), the best office suite (even now), and the greatest IDE for programmers (Visual Studio) though limited to their proprietary .NET programming.