Fedora core linux

Red Hat Gives Away Fedora Core

Summary: Fedora Core 1

A reasonably good start for a very promising Linux distro. Tinkerers should give it a shot. Those wanting a bug-free experience should skip this version and wait for the next release.

Web: http://fedora.redhat.com Pros: Easy install, lots of software Cons: No MP3/DVD playing and a buggy application install tool Price: Free Editor's Note:

Jim Lynch is the community manager for eWEEK.com, ExtremeTech and PCMag.com. There's been a lot of confusion over Red Hat's new Fedora distro, but very little written about how it performs. We asked Jim to take a look at it for the eWEEK.com audience. Here's what he came up with.

In the process of changing its support and development model for non-enterprise desktop Linux, Red Hat has given a gift to the community: Fedora.

Fedora is essentially a tweaked version of Red Hat 9 -- or Red Hat 10 -- that the company has opened up to outside developers to extend and support. This is good for everyone concerned, and it speaks well of Red Hat as a company for doing it.

Overall Fedora makes for a decent desktop platform, marred by a few annoying bugs (more on that below).

What's In Fedora Core 1?

There's a lot of goodies bundled with this distro. Here's a very brief rundown of what you can expect:

Gnome 2.4 KDE 3.1.4 Abiword OpenOffice.org The Gimp Mozilla Konqueror GAIM Evolution Epiphany

Slideshow: Take a look inside Fedora Core 1.

The Fedora CD contains a lot of software, far too much to list individually here. So be sure to visit the Fedora site for a complete list of packages and last-minute package changes included on the Fedora CDs.

Page Two: Installation Installation

If you've ever installed Red Hat 8 or 9, then Fedora will seem very familiar. The process is essentially the same, using Red Hat's Anaconda installer. We opted to throw in everything, including the kitchen sink. So our install was probably a little bit longer than most people's; it ran about 45 minutes or so. We installed it on a box that also had Windows 2000 on it, and the dual boot worked nicely for us, with Grub as the boot loader.

We had no problems with installation. All we had to do was insert the CDs when prompted, click through a few screens of basic information, and the installation pretty much took care of itself. Our network card, monitor, video card, etc. were all found and properly installed. The only manual chore was to create our user ID and password.

We rank Fedora's install program among the best for desktop Linux distros (no surprise there, since it comes from Red Hat). We would feel comfortable giving a copy of Fedora to anyone who has installed Windows 2000 or XP, as it's pretty similar in terms of the expertise required to install it.

After you boot up (there's a nice GUI boot screen in Fedora), you can change the login screen from the default Red Hat Bluetooth screen to Happy Gnome, Circles or Happy Gnome (with user browser). We're Gnome people, so we promptly ditched Red Hat's Bluecurve theme and went with Happy Gnome (hey, what's not to love about a theme with a name like that?).

Desktops

KDE and Gnome are both included (although each has the usual Red Hat customizations; love 'em or hate 'em, they're there). We opted for Gnome, as always, and for the Crux desktop theme. It just feels more Gnome-like to us than the Bluecurve one. Aside from a quick once-over, we didn't bother much with KDE; it's a fine desktop, but just not our cup of tea.

Page Three: Add/Remove Applications Burps Add/Remove Applications Burps

Since we opted to install everything, there wasn't much to do in terms of adding software after the installation. However, having heard about some problems with adding and removing software in Fedora, we wanted to check it out. We decided to remove Abiword and then add it back again. The removal went fine, but we couldn't reinstall it again afterward. The Add/Remove program tool kept crashing each time we tried.

So instead of using the flawed Add/Remove tool, we opted to install it via Apt. So we installed Apt and then fired up a terminal window. From there we typed "apt-get install abiword" and voila, Abiword was back on our system.

We're not sure what the deal is with the Add/Remove Applications tool in Fedora. But it's probably worthwhile to skip using it in this version and simply get Apt. Learning the basics of how to use Apt doesn't take much time, and it'll probably save you a lot of RPM headaches. If you want a nice GUI-based application tool, try using Synaptic after you've installed Apt.

Where Is Galeon?

One thing that we found especially annoying about Fedora is that the browser Galeon isn't bundled with it. Instead, Epiphany is included. Frankly, we think Epiphany stinks. We don't even like the name of the stupid thing, to say nothing of how bad it lags behind Galeon in features. We're sure that Epiphany will eventually catch up to Galeon, but why settle for an inferior browsing experience when you can have Galeon instead? Fedora developers, please make sure that Galeon is bundled in the next release. And please consider giving "Ephiphany" a new name. Maybe we can have a contest in the eWEEK forums to pick out a new name for it.

Still No VPN Wizard

We found it annoying and bordering on bizarre that there is still no VPN wizard for Fedora. Since it's based on Red Hat (heck, it is Red Hat), it's way past time for an easy way to connect to corporate VPN networks. This isn't rocket science. Windows has had it for ages, and it ought to be in every Linux distribution by default. As many people use their desktops at home to telecommute, the ability to connect via VPN quicky and easily is a basic feature essential for any OS.

Page Four: No Luck With MP3s or DVDs No Luck With MP3s or DVDs

If you're hot to trot to play your MP3s or DVDs, then you'll be a bit disappointed in Fedora. For legal reasons, it doesn't come with the ability to play MP3s (the appropriate plugin is missing from XMMS) or DVDs. We discovered this after we had downloaded Ted Nugent's excellent "Crave" MP3 to give it a shot on Fedora. We got a popup message explaining why that was left out of XMMS.

There is a way around the MP3 problem, however. You can download the 1.2.7 version of XMMS (ftp://ftp.xmms.org/pub/xmms/) and then install the MP3 plugin for it (try doing a Google search for more information). We soon had the Motor City Madman's "Crave" blaring from the speakers of our Fedora box.

As for playing DVDs, it's not a big deal for us. We don't even bother playing DVDs on our Windows box, never mind on our Linux boxes. When it's time to watch DVDs, we prefer to plop down on our comfortable couch and watch them via our Sony DVD player.

There are numerous articles on the Web detailing how to get DVDs playing on Linux, so if you really want to, it is possible.

The Verdict on Fedora

Overall we like Fedora, but have some reservations. The application install/remove tool problems absolutely must be fixed. We could not recommend this distro to a Linux newbie until that problem was resolved. The lack of MP3/DVD play might also be an issue for some users. Unless you're a tinkerer (and what real Linux geek isn't?), it might make more sense to just wait until the next release and see if the bugs have all been worked out.

Once some of the current bugs are fixed, Fedora could be considered for use on the corporate desktop. It already provides a rich array of functionality and comes with lots of excellent software such as OpenOffice, Evolution and GAIM.

However, companies considering an alternative to Windows would probably do well to wait for the next release of Fedora. The install/remove software bugs in this version are too much to expect a mainstream corporate desktop user to deal with, and will increase support costs. So sit tight and wait for the next release, or opt for one of the other corporate Linux distros, like SuSe.

Jason Brooks has more details on the Fedora project, which clears up some misconceptions on Red Hat's direction and motives.

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