Official Fedora Core 1 (Yarrow)

[Bevan C. Bennett]

Brittany wrote:
> What are the difference ( besides the test part) is both official Fedora
> Core1 Yarrow and Official Fedora Core 2 TEST1? 

The differences are legion, the most critical being the switch to a 
2.6.x kernel in FC2. There are also a number of smaller changes, like 
all of the 'redhat-config-*' packages being renamed/rewritten to 
'fedora-config-*'.

> I know their test but do
> they both have the same software installed? 

Very nearly every package is updated in some way. Some changes are small 
  and some are less so. libgnome goes from 2.4 to 2.5, for example.

> I really like what i am
> seeing on Fedora Core2 but i think i need to go to step one first before
> going off and testing software of which i have not yet have any
> experience of working with. 

In general you'll have a much easier time dealing with release versions 
of software than test (prerelease) versions.  There are quite a number 
of third-party rpms for FC1, for example, but almost none for the test 
(most repositories will wait for the actual release).

> I also would like to know how to unistall FC2 safely so i can install
> Yarrow (what does that mean?) onto my machine so i wouldn't have to deal
> with the updates,blah. 

What do you mean by 'safely'? 'Downgrading' is generally a potentially 
hairy thing to do. The safest approach would probably be to backup any 
personal data and perform a clean FC1 install.

Yarrow is the codename for the FC1 release. Every redhat (and now 
fedora) release has a codename that relates in some way to the previous 
codename. See http://freshrpms.net/misc/redhat-releases/ for a list and 
many explanations.

As for what 'yarrow' normally means...
[bevan at saladin ~]> dict yarrow
 From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

   yarrow
        n : ubiquitous strong-scented mat-forming Eurasian herb of
            wasteland, hedgerow or pasture having narrow serrate
            leaves and small usually white florets; widely
            naturalized in North America [syn: {milfoil}, {Achillea
            millefolium}]