Fedora Linux 12
Some desktop Linux distributions are perennial favorites and Fedora is definitely one of them. Fedora’s slogan is “freedom, friends, features, first” and, while some may consider it rather cheesy, it’s a nice sentiment.
The latest release of Fedora is version 12 and it includes some nifty new features. I downloaded the Live CD version of Fedora 12 that features the Gnome desktop environment.
What’s New In This Release
Here’s a sample of some of what’s new in this release:
Updated version of Grub with ext4 support
Faster boot time
Spanning desktop across dual monitors
Better webcam support
ABRT (automatic bug reporting tool)
Gnome 2.28
KDE 4.3
Empathy replaces Pidgin for IM
Epiphany uses WebKit instead of Gecko
Ogg Theora 1.1
NetworkManager enhancements
PackageKit command line software install enhancements
RPMs use XZ for compression instead of gzip (smaller downloads)
For most desktop users the faster boot time, better software compression, Gnome 2.28 and KDE 4.3 will probably be the main reasons to upgrade to this release. Some of the other new features may come in handy though, depending on your individual needs.
I don’t run multiple monitors nor do I do much with webcams so neither of those features is useful to me. Nor do I install software from the command line so the enhancements to PackageKit don’t hold much appeal for me. Still, there’s nothing to really complain about as far as new features go. There’s probably more than enough here to make it worthwhile to upgrade.
(9 votes, average: 2.78 out of 5)
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Desktop Linux Reviews Forum
How is it with netbooks? I saw on the website that it has optimizations for Atom processors.
FWIW, I have had problems with the last 2 Fedora releases on my Compaq Presario (Athlon/nvidia). For me, if I can’t make Compiz work AT ALL, then a distro isn’t up to snuff. OTOH, Fedora works great on my Dell Latitude D810 with Intel video. I guess it’s just a matter of proprietary drivers but c’mon… I LOVED Fedora 10 (that blue flaming globe during startup ruled!) and Compiz worked on it once I jumped through a few hoops… why not now? It took me hours to even get the nvidia drivers installed on f12, only to find that Compiz either white-screens or leaves you without titlebars. I know this is off topic… sorry… as a final digression I’ll just mention how much I despise grub2.
I can’t even get the LiveCD F12 to run on my test PC. On other PCs, it takes something like 5 minutes wall clock for the LiveCD to load. Afterwards, it runs slower than molasses in winter. Did not have such problems with previous versions of Fedora.
Had I used virtualization software to test F12, chances are I would not have known that it refuses to run on some hardware.
I installed Fedora 12 KDE and it’s been working nicely. It included KOffice 1.6 instead of OpenOffice or Abiword.
It should come as no surprise that Flash and DVDs don’t work out-of-the-box as with most major Linux distributions they cannot (legally) include these pieces. It takes a moment to install it, but it isn’t a killer.
On the plus side, my Broadcom wireless card was recognized and available out-of-the-box in Fedora 12! A First! No need to use fwcutter or anything to slice-and-dice the proprietary drivers! This alone is a feature I hope the other distributions include!
Ran Gnome version in VM Ware Player under Vista. It did install in about 5 minutes. Only minor hickup was when it gave me an error and said it had to “reinitialize” the hard disk. I said OK and install proceeded without a hitch. I use VM Ware Player exclusively now as I am able to change video resolutions at will. Virtual Box still has not figured this out yet. I am running VM’s at my laptops native 1280×800 res. regardless of distro.
Running the Gnome LiveCD right now on the laptop. Wireless had to be set up manually, but it did work(Atheros). I also like the fact that it includes only the essentials. I can do all the photo work I need on Gthumb, including light editing. All I had to add was Gnumeric, K3B, and Wine. It still makes me wonder though, with such a minimal compliment of preinstalls, how did they still get to 694mb?
Oh well, still a very fine effort. It seems as if Fedora is finally getting in the game. Ubuntu should be very worried. I for one, am switching to Fedora on my desktop machine, and will run it in VM on the laptop under Vista until I can do a bit more stand alone testing. After that, it may replace Vista on the laptop. Unfortunately Ubuntu has lost me with their failure to support my laptop video and other oddities since version 9.04. They finally got wireless right, but that is about all.
My one issue is the recommendation to beginners. While the tech oriented will be able to add the RPMfusion repo and acquire multimedia codecs as well as video drivers, the system is not intuitive to those un-familiar with Linux in general.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Fedora in theory (though I hate their package management), but there are many distros ahead of Fedora that I would recommend to beginners.
Install speed from the live CD is very fast because it’s just cloning a filesystem image – the same one the live environment uses – onto your hard disk. Installation from the traditional installer (DVD, or a net install) will be somewhat slower, as it actually installs a whole set of RPM packages as you’d expect.
The live CD is somewhat light on software because of space issues. Fedora ships a very large range of languages on its live CDs which reduces the space available for software, so there isn’t room for OO.o. For F13 we’re probably going to introduce a 1GB or 2GB size live spin, which you could burn to a DVD or write to a USB stick. That will allow us to include software that doesn’t fit on the current live images.
Fedora has been my distribution for my servers since FC1, but sadly they have dropped support for Via C3 in F12. Looking for an alternative…
Jim, I think that Fedora has great software, and it is particularly useful for those who fall into one of these categories: 1) enterprise user who is evaluating future Red Hat Enterprise Linux releases and wants to help make them as solid as possible. 2) Free software enthusiast who wants a pure, or as close to pure, Linux experience as possible; Fedora delivers. 3) Those who want to use or evaluate the very latest in Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) features. Fedora leads here as well. 4) Those who want the latest virtualization features; again Fedora is a leader.
I cannot, however, recommend any Fedora release to a beginner unless they are a self driven beginner. The Free Software stance alone is enough to keep people away. I am sure that Adam will howl about this, but the last couple of releases, while very much leading edge, have not been the models of stability or ease of installation because there have been a number of impediments that a large number of people have complained about.
That does not make Fedora (any version) a lousy release; it is a leader in quite a few respects, as I have highlighted. I just think it is best for the experienced user, one who will use it, test it, evaluate it, and report back on findings. I have done so many times in the past; unfortunately for me, this is not one of those times, for I feel it does require an investment in time, both to take advantage of it, scope out potential issues and their solutions, report defects to help improve it, etc., and right now, I just cannot devote much time to those things.
I wouldn’t push people away from Fedora, but I would hesitate to recommend it to a beginner without at least bringing up its strengths and weaknesses. It has a LOT of strengths; it has a few weaknesses – the cutting edge nature sometimes reveals things unexpected that the user community finds after release. Based on my own experiences with Fedora 7,8,9,10, and 11, (I think I liked 7 and 10 best, but had a horror of an experience with 11 Final after a great initial Live experience with 11 Alpha), I would leave this one to the veterans.
Fedora is a good distro but you need to install manually the Flash plugin and the “libdvdcss”.If a beginner wants to try Fedora I suggest this “installation guide”:
http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-fedora-f12.html