schoappied said...

|I'm interested in the scientific-linux distro. I have some questions 
|about some packages I like to use.
|
|Are R-project and texlive in scientific linux? Which versions?

SL is basically a rebuild of RHEL, with the concept of "sites"
added (sites provide a way to customize installations per site).
So if RH supports it, it's there, otherwise not.

There are some contributor packages uploaded to the site; you
can easily check these to see if the software you're interested
in is pre-packaged for use with SL.  But in general, RPMs built
for the equivalent version of the RH version or other rebuilds,
such as CentOS, work fine.  The usual dependancy caveats apply.
Also, RPMs built for the equivalent Fedora Core will work.  For
instance, EL4 and hence SL4 are based on FC3, so FC3 packages
usually work for SL4.

|Is it possible to choose kde or gnome as desktop manager?

Yes.  Just run "switchdesk".

-Miles (not affliated with any Linux distributor including SL)