Fedora 7 Released 186
fedoraman writes "Fedora 7 has been released. With Xorg 7.3, KDE 3.5.6, GNOME 2.18, and version 2.6.21 of the Linux kernel Fedora 7 comes with all the latest and greatest open source desktop software. Fedora 7 drops the traditional 'Core' nomenclature, since it includes both what used to be termed the Core and Extra components by default. Fedora 7 is also the first release to be constructed with Fedora's revolutionary new build system, which is designed to improve the ease of developing derivatives and Fedora-based software appliances. As usual, extensive documentation and release notes are available. Torrents are also available and ISO images can be downloaded from mirrors around the world."
Re:Does it use a "hacked" kernel? (Score:2, Interesting)
Additionally, the big distros are usually some of the main contributors of code to the kernel. Sometimes they have modifications to the kernel that they feel should have been included in the mainline. Sometimes it turns out that they were right but that the changes haven't been tested thoroughly yet.
Lastly, some stuff, like Bootsplash, could easily remain a project on its own without having to be part of the mainline kernel.
-Benjamin Vander Jagt
EFI? (Score:1, Interesting)
-Peter
Re:Nice but is it bloatware? (Score:4, Interesting)
-uso.
Re:Nice but is it bloatware? (Score:3, Interesting)
I've tried the latest Ubuntu, and it's installing on my laptop (have had it on my desktop for a week now, and am very happy) as I come across this article... I'm going to stick with Ubuntu.
I've used FC for a couple of years now, though, and I have to give it props, they've been excellent, overall. If I hadn't just done all the installing I've done, I'd be willing to give it a shot.
I'd like to take the opportunity to say that Linux has come a long way, and I really believe that users that'd need to stick with Windows are more the exception than the rule... gamers and people that need very specific software. Otherwise, I think most people would be pretty happy with one of the more popular Linux distributions.
Re:Sorry CD Users (Score:4, Interesting)
No. They are not. I want a set of CDs with all the RPMs on them (just as I had with FC2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). The LiveCDs have a minimal Fedora install. If you want to put it on your computer (and toss out the CD), you need to do a network install. I have 17 computers here. I don't want to wait hours and hours for a network install on each one.
Re:Distribution Wars? (Score:3, Interesting)
I started out with RedHat 6.x, and kept with it until about Fedora Core 2, at which point I started looking around at some other distros. I settled on Ubuntu, and while I think Fedora is great for certain people, I think Ubuntu is a better general-purpose distro.
There's one install disc, which contains everything most users need to get started, then users can use the "Add/Remove Programs" app or Synaptic to get whatever else they need from the repos. Fedora on the other hand, has 5 or 6, unless you use a dvd iso (hope you don't run into bandwidth cap problems), and if you try to skip burning one CD, but the installer decides it needs one package off that CD you're screwed (I don't think there's even a way to cancel the install at that point, or go back and change which packages you want installed). On the other hand, it looks like Fedora offers a network install option, which would be very handy, I think.
I don't know about Fedora 7, but I do know that the latest Ubuntu has put a lot of effort into making it easy to get binary drivers and proprietary codecs if you want them, whereas past versions of Fedora didn't include those.
Ubuntu, on the other hand, doesn't include any development packages by default, so if you want to even consider building anything from source, you have to install the build-essential package. Fedora includes most of the common development stuff by default (or at the very least, you can choose to include it during the install).
For me, I just prefer the look and feel of Ubuntu's default Gnome setup over Fedora's. The default Fedora desktop gives me a headache. Same goes for the respective KDE desktops.
So, in all, I think Ubuntu is a better all-purpose user distro, especially for those new to Linux. Fedora would probably be better for developers, or for someone who wants to customize their installation more, to get exactly the type of system they want.
Re:What's the story with Extras? (Score:3, Interesting)
Sort of - but 'developer centered things' tend to trickle down.
One of the many reasons I've heard was that Extras packages were treated like second-class citizens. If somebody broke something that was in Extras, there was a tendency towards 'Oh, well, it's not in Core'. In a way that's a developer issue, but really it affects everybody.
From a marketing perspective, having all of Extras in Fedora (proper) is huge.