On Mon, 2005-08-22 at 11:46 +0900, Dave Gutteridge wrote:
> Anyway, to keep this on focus with CentOS, if CentOS is designed more to
> be a "server", and "desktop questions" are beyond the scope of this
> list, then why did the installer offer me "personal use", "workstation",
> and other varieties of installation other than "server"?
>
> More to the point, am I being illogical by assuming that if I have a
> distribution of Linux, and I go to a web page that offers Linux
> software, that I would assume that I can download and run it? Why am I
> running Linux if I can't run Linux applications?
Well, that's kinda like saying "I run windows, can't I go to any page
that offers windows software".
There are many flavors of Linux, and certain apps make certain
assumptions about the environment they are built for. If you run
Windows 9x or NT you will find that some applications won't work on that
version of windows. The same is true of Windows XP, 2000, and Vista ...
some apps won't run on those platforms either because of the
expectations of the application.
Also Linux is a pretty fast moving target for some things because of the
rate that the UI, compilers and other technology is evolving.
> Are distributions really different enough that one can't run some
> applications and another can't run others? Wouldn't that be kind of
> insane? I mean, I can understand a specialty build that has clear
> warnings on it that it is built for some specific platform or purpose.
> But why does CentOS have a desktop (two, in fact) if it's not designed
> to handle "desktop" problems?
In a way CentOS's closest windows cousin is Windows 2000 ... good for
corporate desktops, but not good for multi-media or having the most
cutting-edge features.
CentOS and it's relatives are somewhat hobbled by that fact that they
hark from a part of the world where patents of software algorithms are
recognized and so are not allowed to distribute encumbered technology.
Such things like DVD decrypting software, MP3 processing, MPEG 2 & 4 and
many other things mostly related to multi-media at this point would be
illegal to distribute in the USA and a few other countries.
Some other distros that hark from other parts of the world will include
such things and so may be better suited for home desktop use.
Regards,
Paul
