If you only use the official repositories, then sure…maybe. The difference between a newbie and an expert Linux user though is that the expert has stopped trying to get the applications he wants, that should run and instead just goes with the general purpose apps that are supported by the Distro itself.
Like, I rather dislike the Anjuta IDE. But it’s the only IDE that has packages for CentOS–thus it is the one I use. I would like to use Code::Blocks, as it seems to be a fairly good app (on Windows), but they’ve only got packages for Red Hat, and the source code can’t find the packages it needs (that I do have installed) when I try to compile it from source.
Knowing better than to fiddle with it, I’ve given up. But the newer you are, and the less technical you are, the better the odds that you are going to follow all the little message board postings saying how to fiddle with your system to get it to work. At which point the odds that you are going to break your system go way up. And if your system breaks, again you need to be pretty techy to fix it (though to some extent, if you have your data on a separate partition from the install, often it’s probably faster to just do a reinstall.)
How much experience do you have in running Linux? How much about package management do you know?
First, a newbie having to go beyond the official repositories is unlikely except for a few packages such as Opera (which is very good about packages) and the latest version of Firefox (which bypasses the package system entirely, but generally avoids problems except in odd cases) and maybe a very few other pieces of software. I am a total software geek, and 99.9% of my needs are filled by the official repositories.
I have relatively limited experience, and I do know how to install software that is not from the repositories without causing any problems whatsoever. With apt-get, dependencies will be handled even if I get the initial package from an arbitrary location. It is not a problem.
This is wrong, in my own experience.
This is distro-dependent to a large extent. I came from a Red Hat and Fedora background, which is essentially where CentOS is from, and the package management system there isn’t nearly as good as the system in Ubuntu. Ubuntu leverages the much larger, better-maintained, and broader Debian package repository, whereas Red Hat went its own way and, in my opinion, kinda got stuck in the weeds from the perspective of the home user. (Corporate types love Red Hat because they can purchase support contracts for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and get total packages guaranteed to run.)
I used to be that way. Increased experience lead to better fixes, the best being switching to Ubuntu.
Old man chiming in:
BIL sent me an old “Emachine”, 2001 or something. Lot newer than any of my Win 98se boxes. I have XP on our laptop as it came that way and I find that I hate XP.
Anywho, Got the 'Ubuntu" CD and put 512 M RAM in the “E” and a little 40 GIG 5400 rpm HD and did the install.
Works good, I get here through my LinkSys BERF81 router and ‘Gimp’ does more than IrfanView so my photo needs are covered. Got Spyke so I hace IM ability and I’m good to go. Faster than the laptop XP which has more horsepower, and faster than my 98se.
We are on WildBlue Satellite as it si the fastest thing we can get out here in the boondocks.
I don’t do games or fancy photo work or work-work as I’m retired. Had “ubuntu” about a week now and I like it better all the time. Still have my other boxes right next to it and so am always making comparisons.
