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gEDA-user: Some Linux distros to consider
I recently installed linux on my machine for the sole purpose to install gEDA. I went through a couple of Linux installations before I got gEDA to work and I would like to share my feedback. (Short answer below...see conclusion)
There were 3 criteria I wanted the distro to fulfill be fore I chose:
1) It had to have Firefox 2.0 or later, 2) It had to have the latest version of OpenOffice, 3) I wanted the source code as well as development packages to be installed with a full install of the distro.
First I tried Slackware 11.0. I've known about/used Slackware since about version 3.4. I really like the way Slackware has progressed and kept up with new packages. I would be using Slackware except that with 11.0, it comes with Firefox 1.5 and does not come with OpenOffice. Call me lazy, I just wanted everything ready to go right after the immediate installation. I didn't even install gEDA before I reformatted and
tried again.
Next I tried Ubuntu. I've tried this distro in the past and liked it. I think it has a good installer and a lot of features. I'm not sure why I didn't go with this one (it's been 6 wks since I installed it) but it might be because it has an older version of OpenOffice. I didn't install gEDA on this one either.
Finally I settled on OpenSUSE 10.2 with the GNOME desktop. SUSE has older versions of both firefox and openoffice, but needed to make a choice so I settled on this one. I really like it, especially the GNOME desktop with the X-sumthin-or-other that adds desktop effects with an open-gl enabled card (I have an nvidia 5500). The effects are really cool...I like the way I can make the desktops become cube faces and switch between each one using ctrl+alt+left-mouse-click. I don't know what the package is..I'll post it if there's interest. It's really cool!
Ok, back to gEDA....I
couldn't get gEDA to install after I installed SUSE. I needed to the install development packages to please(which I believe requires/says to install the devel pkgs in one of the gEDA files...I just didn't bother to read it). Also, I assumed they were installed since I chose a full installation with the SUSE installer. So after 2 failed installs, 1 gEDA upgrade, 1 new user addition(I was using root as my primary user-sorry to all you purists out there!) and 1 sucessful install I was able to get gschem running. I didn't have time to try out the other apps, but what I need to do is follow the tutorial, so that will be the next thing I do. I am excited about using this software though...I've worked with various other schematic capture and layout apps and I believe I will be able to create designs with gEDA just as I created them with the other apps.
Conclusion -
1. OpenSUSE works well, the development packs need to be installed
post-install (I opened the software installer and selected every package that had development in the name).
2. Slackware - This distro should work well...I think that if you choose full install, it installs all of the packages including the development ones. You may also want to choose the GNOME desktop as your default desktop during installation.
3. Ubuntu - This distro should also work well, just be sure that the devel packs are installed or be sure to install them post-OS install.
I'm pretty sure gEDA will work well with any distro out there. My goal here was to find one that I can download, burn, install, have the latest version of firefox and openoffice, and then install gEDA with minimum hassle. Also, I've been following some of the distros on distrowatch.com and I think many new distro updates will have the latest version of firefox and openoffice. I just wanted to get up and running with gEDA.
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