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Fedora Core 1 Released

EvilAlien writes "The Fedora Project has released Fedora Core 1, aka Yarrow. The release was expected on November 3rd, but was briefly delayed. The release notes has quite a bit of good detail, and is worth checking out for any preliminary questions you may have. Download options include BitTorrent in addition to the traditional collection of FTP mirrors."

74 of 566 comments (clear)

  1. Is this the one . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    . . . that people should be using Windows instead of? Maybe Red Hat can clarify that for us.

    ~~~

    1. Re:Is this the one . . . by Alan · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, they mirror files, but if it fails to find it on their server, it'll fail over to any other servers noted in the .ebuild (ie: the original distribution). But hey, if that doesn't work you can find the file and put it into /usr/portage/distfiles yourself, or modify the ebuild to point to the right place.

      This is harder if you need files to install your network, but then you use the pre-compiled files, or install the files from floppy or CD.

      If you want to download and use local copies of the install files, I'm sure that's possible as well, though not the "normal" way to do it. Maybe you should post to the gentoo user forum or user list and see if anyone has any suggestions.

      Course, that assumes you haven't completely given up on it :)

    2. Re:Is this the one . . . by yomegaman · · Score: 3, Funny

      Microsoft has been advertising on Slashdot for many months at least. I guess it shows you how effective banner ads are if you're just now noticing it. :-)

      --
      ...wearing a skin-tight topless leather jumpsuit, with cutaway buttocks and transparent crotch panel.
    3. Re:Is this the one . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      We apologize again for the fault in the comments. Those responsible for sacking the slashbots who have just been sacked, have been sacked.

  2. Slashdot editors are the best. by VAXGeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    Usually, I'd just expect some vague headline, like "Fedora Core released", but our editors have gone ABOVE AND BEYOND the call of duty and attached a brief synopsis of what Fedora is and why this is an important news item. I'm glad they didn't just say "Fedora released" and call it that.

    --
    this sig limit is too small to put anything good h
  3. A couple of links by Mr_Icon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Bittorrent Link

    Alternatively:
    btdownloadcurses.py --max_upload_rate 350 --url http://torrent.dulug.duke.edu/yarrow-binary-i386-i so.torrent

    A few installation screenshots

    --
    If you open yourself to the foo, You and foo become one.
    1. Re:A couple of links by Kyouryuu · · Score: 3, Interesting

      - Everywhere the Red Hat emblem used to appear, the new Fedora logo does. - Almost all of the major programs in Red Hat 9 have been updated to their most recent incarnations. - CUPS is used for all printing needs. - More recent version of the Linux kernel (still not 2.6, that's for the next version of Fedora). - Same lack of built-in NTFS read-only capailities and MP3 support in XMMS. Based on beta 3, that's about all I'd put down as new. I might go insofar as to say it's a tad bit faster, but it could be psychological. :)

    2. Re:A couple of links by rgmoore · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm quite happy with the new kernel version, since it supports DMA mode on my new SATA drive, while the kernel in RH9 would occasionally hang if you tried to turn DMA on. Not a huge thing, unless you happen to have an affected drive, in which case it makes a world of difference. There are some other kernel changes that should make life nicer for laptop users.

      Some other random changes that I notice in their release notes:

      • Improved ACPI support
      • Include new Bitstream Vera fonts
      • Added D-BUS
      • Added DVD+RW tools
      • Moved from GNOME 2.2 to 2.4

      They've also removed a number of packages that are either no longer necessary (e.g. QT2, LPRng) or have licensing issues (e.g. pine, some aspell packages).

      One other big change is that they're moving from using ASCII to UTF8 wherever they can. That's one of those things that's kind of annoying while the switch is taking place (they mention that this could cause problems with telnet and ssh, since they don't explicitly negotiate the encoding) but will presumably make everything easier in the long run.

      --

      There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.

    3. Re:A couple of links by brett_sinclair · · Score: 2, Informative

      You're actually downloading a directory called yarrow-binary-i386-iso, containing three isos (descriptively called disk1, etc...). These are the ones to burn.

    4. Re:A couple of links by spurious+cowherd · · Score: 3, Interesting

      no NTFS...yeah..that can be a pain. For some.

      No MP3...as long as the license for the codec is what it is you'll never see anything even remotely associated with Red Hat including it.

      No 2.6...well 2.6 is not ready for the parameters of this type of release yet. And 2.4.22*.nptl does moderately rock...

      prelink is absolulely amazing

      I'm actually looking forward to how the "extras" path will pan out. For me on my personal boxes Fedora is a no brainer

      but not for my servers.

      unlike many of the /. whinegers I'm quite happy to tell the Powers That Be to fork over the money to Red Hat.
      For them it's the "security" factor.Easily understood in their finacial world
      For me it's the oppertunity to finally pay back Red Hat for some quality production level code that I have used over the years.

      --

      Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.

    5. Re:A couple of links by oobar · · Score: 3, Informative

      If you mean Bram's FAQ, then yes. But nobody ever accused him of being great with documentation. A much better FAQ is here.

    6. Re:A couple of links by j-turkey · · Score: 4, Informative
      Looking at the screenies, I must ask: how is this different from RH9?

      Yeah -- those screenshots really tell the whole story, don't they? ;)

      All kidding aside, they've made some significant changes to the RH9 core. Check out the release notes.

      The stuff that really interests me is:

      • Prelinking: (search for it in the link above) From an end user perspective, it will make applications load faster, as dynamicly linked libraries will be loaded ahead of time into unused memory.
      • Exec-Shield: (again, search for it in the release notes) Exec-shield purports to randomize VM addresses and make parts of applications (as well as their stack) non-executable. Think of it as "damage control" for security holes. The integrated stack protection (that the Exec-shield kernel addition replaces/includes) is very important for foiling buffer overflow attacks.
      • /proc/cpufreq (again, see the notes) Maybe this has been done elsewhere, but I've neither used or seen it. Apparently, you can do CPU clock throttling. This is particularly useful for laptops where CPU speed is scaled down to conserve battery. This technology is still in its infancy (for Linux, anyway) and has a way to go, but is an excellent start nonetheless.
      • Laptop mode compliments /proc/cpufreq and changes disk access to a sort of block-mode that will space apart disk accesses allow for the disk to spin down and conserve battery.
      • Extended RPM/Up2Date support: Up2Date now supports APT and YUM, as well as local databases. (I read somewhere that the default package management is now APT but cannot confirm this.)
      Anyway, this is just the stuff that piqued my interest. There are plenty of other changes that look pretty promising. I hadn't read much about Fedora until recently, and nothing technical until today -- but after scanning over the release notes, I'm ready to dump my RH9 desktop box and install Fedora.
      --Turkey
      --

      -Turkey

  4. Re:Why? by acceleriter · · Score: 2, Insightful

    People make fun of Debian for being "politically pure" and slow to update . . . but it may be the last one left standing in the end.

    --

    CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.

  5. crappy desktop by madHomer · · Score: 4, Funny

    I hear the desktop is pretty bad. I'll just stick with windows :)

  6. Still concerns about security errata by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Good, solid base of stable kernel, glibc, gcc and XFree86 releases. Not sure how the 8-month no-backport security fix policy is going to work though; it could be a right shambles having to update all sorts of stuff and dependencies just because of hole in nano requires upgrading to the latest version etc.

    Still, looks like RH's first-rate QA has been put into place (unlike in Mandrake), and hopefully they'll keep that up as the community gets more involved.

    M

    1. Re:Still concerns about security errata by Rik+van+Riel · · Score: 5, Informative

      One of the nice things about Fedora being an open source project is that participation by others (eg. the Fedora Legacy people) is encouraged.

      If a lot of people want backported security fixes, there's nobody stopping them from doing the work and putting up an apt or yum repository with those packages.

      (one nice feature of Fedora is that up2date now talks apt and yum, so you can get your packages from anywhere you want, not just Red Hat)

    2. Re:Still concerns about security errata by buchanmilne · · Score: 2, Interesting

      One of the nice things about Fedora being an open source project is that participation by others (eg. the Fedora Legacy people) is encouraged.

      (I would use a different description, maybe "with an open development system", rather than "open-source", since the are neither mutually exlusive nor mutually inclusive)

      I really wanted to know though how that differed from (say) Debian, Gentoo and Mandrake (who have been had open development systems for at least a year each, especially Debian).

      If a lot of people want backported security fixes, there's nobody stopping them from doing the work and putting up an apt or yum repository with those packages.

      Sure, but considering it takes time and hard work to get on the early vulnerability annoucement lists, it is unlikely for this to happen any time soon, so Fedora-lagacy updates will be a few days behind other distros.

  7. Features by AKAImBatman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And the most amazing feature of Fedora? The fact that it's bigger than our Sun! I mean, what the *7#$ is on those 3 CDs?! Oh wait, let me guess. In true RedHat fashion, we have 3 FTP server, 7 email servers, 300 email readers, 20 instant messenger, 5 web browser, 3 versions of xBill, several hundred programs that sound like they do something interesting but don't, and 1 kitchen sink.

    I mean really, what ever happened to "core system" vs. "extra software"?

    1. Re:Features by squiggleslash · · Score: 2, Insightful
      The fact that it's bigger than our Sun!
      Before saying that, you really should buy the Solaris 8 for Intel Media Pack, which comes on your choice of a DVD or around ten* CDs.

      * Well, I can't remember the precise amount. Put it this way though, it's way more than three.

      Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar came on three - two for the core OS and one for the development tools. Mac OS X 10.3 comes on four - three for the core OS, and again an additional one for the development environment.

      Unfortunately, we're getting to a point that installing an OS will be just like it was in the eighties - "Please insert DVD #12 and click OK".

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    2. Re:Features by freeweed · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know, no one's forcing you to install any of what you listed.

      Unless the Fedora installer has changed from what RedHat (free) used to have, you can pick and choose as little or as much as you want. Install just the core stuff and you won't even be asked for the 2nd and 3rd CDs.

      Personally, I like it. Much easier than hunting around for online all day.

      Oh, and last time I checked, many other distros are even larger (iirc, Debian was up to 5 CDs a while ago), so I don't see where the RedHat bashing comes from.

      --
      Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
    3. Re:Features by AKAImBatman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I have no problem with extra software CDs. All I want tho, is the ability to download the core system without having to juggle 3 CDs! If I then want to install extra software, I'll go get the third CD. Do you have *any* idea how long it takes to download 3 CDs? Even on the OC3 at work, we're still talking an entire day.

    4. Re:Features by jspaleta · · Score: 2, Informative

      there is a boot.iso image that is very very small.
      Its actually sort of a waste actually to burn such a small iso to cd...unless you have a business card cd.

      Anyways burn the tiny iso to a cd...then do a net install. No fuss, no muss.

      And there is certaintly room for community effort...ie YOU...to help rework some of the installer software groupings so you could have a very minimal working install using just one cd and no network. In fact i think people are sort of working on that very issue, though they wandered off the mailinglist with what they were doing.

      -jef"put the 'get off your arse and help out' back in community"spaleta

    5. Re:Features by AKAImBatman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      > there is a boot.iso image that is very very small.

      This is the way BSD does it, and I like the idea a lot. Do you have a link to this ISO? I checked their download site, and no boot.iso was listed. Here's what I see:

      Parent Directory 04-Nov-2003 11:49 -
      MD5SUM 04-Nov-2003 12:00 1k
      yarrow-SRPMS-disc1.iso 04-Nov-2003 11:39 610M
      yarrow-SRPMS-disc2.iso 04-Nov-2003 11:39 610M
      yarrow-SRPMS-disc3.iso 04-Nov-2003 11:38 610M
      yarrow-i386-disc1.iso 04-Nov-2003 11:38 630M
      yarrow-i386-disc2.iso 04-Nov-2003 11:38 637M
      yarrow-i386-disc3.iso 04-Nov-2003 11:38 616M

    6. Re:Features by cayenne8 · · Score: 2, Informative
      I've been using Gentoo for awhile now. I really like the fact that it only installs a base system, and you add what you need.

      When ever I need something....if I know the name of the program, just do emerge and it grabs the code, takes care of all the dependencies, grabs any other progs it needs...voila, in minutes, I have the program compiled for my system, and with the flags I want for it. No clutter with 5 different verisons of a functionality unless I want it.

      Updates are a breeze too. emerge -u bang.....its done, or just emerge -u world, go to sleep, and you have the lastest and greatest of everything you run on your system. Give it a try.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    7. Re:Features by QuantumRiff · · Score: 2, Informative
      Your wrong, it doesn't even come close to windows.

      If you want a have a windows 2003 Server, thats 1 CD, an exchange server 1CD, office 2003 3 CD's, visual studio.NET 5 CD's, SQL Server at least 1CD etc, etc, etc.. I love how anyone that compares windows to linux (bug reports, install size, etc) seems to forget that there is a hell of alot of software on distribution CD's. It includes everything, not just the base OS that windows includes. I wonder how many bugs windows has in bugtraq if you add windows, exchange, office (including outlook) iis, sql server, etc.

      --

      What are we going to do tonight Brain?
    8. Re:Features by freeweed · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Re-read my post.

      you can pick and choose as little or as much as you want. Install just the core stuff and you won't even be asked for the 2nd and 3rd CDs.

      Just download the first CD. Done. Assuming you don't want any extras that is :)

      Having said that, if it takes you an entire day to download 3 CDs, talk to your provider. Takes me a couple of hours at most with my cable ISP. Or use the nice Netherlands mirrors, they're always fast :)

      --
      Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
  8. What the... by Geekenstein · · Score: 3, Insightful

    64 MB minimum for text mode, 192 minimum for graphical? When did we get so bloated? It looks like we're catching up to MS with an OS that has always had efficiency of resources as a primary strength. What gives?

    1. Re:What the... by bluelip · · Score: 2, Insightful

      64MB is _CLOSE_ to a recent Windows install?? HA!

      You are still mostly free to uninstall whatever you'd like.

      This isn't the only distro out there. If you need something small, try one of them that will even leave space after being put on a few floppies.

      --

      Yep, I never spell check.
      More incorrect spellings can be found he
    2. Re: What the... by jensend · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You can still run a text installation using RH packages with quite a bit less than 64 MB. Graphical environments for Linux have become much more resource-intensive than they used to be, but an X 4.3 install with a less-resource hungry DE than Gnome or KDE, such as XFCE, can still do fine with 64 MB. RedHat is here giving numbers which they will support and which ought to provide plenty of performance, not the "actually tolerable with" or much less the "bare minimum" numbers.

    3. Re:What the... by ComputerSlicer23 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Don't forget the hanging installer that silently fails to tell you you are out of RAM. I've had lots of RedHat installs lock up the VM (I think) on the machine. Specifically during the OpenOffice install. Install on a machine with 128 MB of RAM with a pretty small swap space (~128MB of RAM). The installer will hang installing Open Office. I guess it isn't so bad, because OpenOffice will run like a dog with that little RAM. When you do an install of OpenOffice you need plenty of VM (either real, or swap), above and beyond what they say you need.

      Now, to explain why you need that much, is that the entire installer is loaded into RAM on a RAM disk. It makes testing easier, and it speeds up in the install a lot. If the installer is on disk, and memory is tight, you end up disk seeking a lot to read the program you want to execute, along with the fact, that you probably lose the disk space the installer was on, and a partition (any other way has a chicken and the egg problem). If the installer mounted loop back on the CD, it takes more room on the CD (because loopback can't be compressed that I know of), and then you'll have to seek around the disk.

      You need that much RAM for the filesystem, which eats into how much RAM you can have use for the running programs. They could probably build a different installer that took a lot less read (16-32) RAM, but it would be much harder test both methods (RAM disk, loop off the CD, and network basd installs would be fundamentally different, where as right now most installs are nearly identical), so they opted for the one that has the most flexibility. If you need a very small install, do the install on a big machine and use cpio or tar to copy the files over to the dinky install machine.

      You can get a RedHat machine to run on a 32-64MB machine if you run the right software. You can't run Mozilla. You can't run a full GNOME or KDE desktop. However, if you are willing to crack out fvwm or twm, it's not a that hard to get a GUI desktop. You'll need to slim down your Linux kernel, and remove stuff you don't need. You might need to rebuild your glibc to take up less space.

      You'll need plenty of patience, and plenty of swap to do it on, but heck, I ran X on a 4MB RAM, 20MB of swap on a 386 25Mhz. I used fvwm2 and I couldn't run anything except lynx to browse the web. I read my e-mail in elm, and ran elvis as my text editor. Last time I checked, most of that stuff or something nearly equivilent is still on the RedHat CD (minimal vim, and links).

      Look at how much more your current machine can do. I run Linux (Leaf based distro) off a 64MB flash disk in a dinkly little router configuration. (It has 512MB of RAM, but that's because that was the only stick of memory I had to spare when I built the thing, it'd work with no more then 16-32MB of RAM easily, probably 8 if I worked hard at it). It's about what I used to do with my linux installs. It's not like the resource conservative installs made great desktop machines. Sure they we're great if all you wanted to do was run a bunch of xterms, and maybe have a cute background. All the features that are on RedHat cost memory. OpenOffice has the ability to read Office Documents, and the ability to do all that WYSIWYG formatting. 6-7 years ago, you did that via a text editor an latex, easily done in 16MB of RAM. That will still work today on RedHat. You can browse the Web using Mozilla, that takes a lot more memory then Netscape 3.0 did when rendering stuff. You can't use KDE with all it's eye candy and slick integration, you used to do that with fvwm or twm (or God forbid, by switching virtual terminals, and screen). Six years ago you could run X in a lot less memory, and I'll bet you still can if you dumped all of the advanced rendering extensions used for 3D/DRM and other recent feature advancements. If you want smaller memory foot print, recompile all your apps to take out PAM support, to take out LDAP integration, to take out the X app support. Go back to running straight up inetd,

    4. Re:What the... by lactose99 · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is really for the install, as the install process is contained in a ramdisk. You could run the OS with 8-16 MB of RAM after its installed, although I don't know why you would want to (particularly if you had 64 MB at your disposal for the install).

      --
      Fully licensed blockchain psychiatrist
  9. One important issue... by swagr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I looked around the website and they don't really explain how important a priority stability is.
    They do have a QA "project", but they also say they want to "Be on the leading edge of open source technology..."

    I take it we're not talking OpenBSD/Debian-stable level of reliability. That's fine. But what's the goal? Will this stuff be /directly/ used by RedHat, or is there a "polishing" step?

    --

    -... --- .-. . -.. ..--..
    1. Re:One important issue... by Eyston · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think Fedora is an answer to the whining of people who run Debian but say even unstable is too behind the times (gnome, xfree, etc).

      All the flaming of Redhat for switching to a model that resembles a commercial Debian has been amusing. They take away boxed CD's that you could buy for XX dollars (which tons of slashdotters would flame anyways, 'who would pay for what you can get for free', as seen by SuSE 9 threads) and replace it with a leading edge distro that focuses on quick updates that would be impossible to accomplish with a boxed distrobution method (call it debian unstable). They will then take what they learn from Fedora and incorporate it into Redhat Enterprise line of software (think of it as analogous to debian stable).

      Of course that asks why use Redhat instead of just Debian? For personal use it really comes down to flavor, but for Enterprise use it is an easy question.

      -Eyston

  10. Theme Song by use_compress · · Score: 5, Funny

    We're tired, we're droopy
    We're all a little loopy
    A Fedora Core Test Release
    Is invading your PC!

    New features - interesting!
    The code could use some testing
    That's why we are requesting
    new bug reports quickly!

    On our ftp site is the place where you will see
    The stuff that we've been working on since 1993!
    We're tired, we're droopy
    We're all a little loopy
    It's a Fedora Core Test Release
    Come and join the fun!

    -- http://lwn.net/Articles/50994/

  11. Re:Now the question is... by MoxCamel · · Score: 2, Informative
    where can I buy a boxed set of it? I prefer the convenience of pressed CDs..

    You won't be able to buy the boxed set, but you should be able to buy it (eventually) from the usual places.

  12. Re:Now the question is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    > where can I buy a boxed set of it?

    Simple. To purchase a boxed copy, simply mail your $699 to:

    The SCO Group
    355 South 520 West, Suite 100
    Lindon, Utah 84042
    USA.

  13. can't install linux on a VIDEO CAMERA by positive · · Score: 5, Funny

    this is a funny story. I have a new asus motherboard with firewire built in. I was running windows (just to test the hardware, mind you..) and then finally got around to trying to install linux on a separate hard disk.

    linux (redhat 6.x and latest gentoo) and even freebsd refused to install! huh? never saw THAT happen before.

    well, turns out that I had my firewire camera (not a real camera but a canopus firwire media bridge that looks like a FW camera) connected and all I can think of is that the funny asus bios considered THAT a 'disk' and when linux and bsd scanned the 'installable devices' via a probe, it found the camera device but wasn't smart enough to know it wasn't a disk/storage device. so the install hung hard.

    removing the firewire cable allowed the installs to continue (all of them).

    the very thought of linux or bsd trying to install itself on a VIDEO CAMERA just makes me laugh. imagine the design issues of that - when the system boots up, does it display titles on the video camera eyepiece? if it fscks, does it have to rewind the tape often? does it have the 1024 cylinder limit if you boot from mini-DV? ;)

    just kinda funny, I guess. the new motherboard bios' are trying to abstract the media type and say 'disks are disks, no matter if ide or scsi or firewire'. ha!

  14. Re:Now the question is... by Rik+van+Riel · · Score: 4, Informative

    One of the reasons for the name change from "Red Hat Linux" to Fedora is that everybody can sell CDs with the distribution now.

    No need to rename it to "pink tie linux" or "green sock linux" any more, every cheap CD shop selling CDs with Fedora can call it by its real name.

  15. best feature: up2date does apt and yum! by stephenb · · Score: 3, Interesting
    From the release notes:
    The Red Hat Update Agent (up2date) now supports installing packages from apt and yum repositories as well as local directories. This includes dependency solving and obsoletes handling. Additional repositories can be configured in the /etc/sysconfig/rhn/sources file.
    Cool!
  16. silly, but not... by gid13 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Although this was silly of me in a certain sense, I originally interpreted "download options include bittorrent and..." to mean that the web browser in this release would include a bittorrent client. And then the obvious occurred to me that they just meant you could use torrents to download the iso. But really... It would be VERY nice to have an integrated torrent client. Mozilla Firebird people, are you listening? Just because you're the best browser around doesn't mean you shouldn't implement this. :)

  17. I'm a switcher... by lww · · Score: 2, Insightful

    to debian from RH8/9 servers. At the risk of inviting religous controversy, if I'm going to use a non-sponsored distro, I'd rather use one with more of a proven record as a successful community driven project.

    Plus, let's face it, apt-get is apt-goodness.

    1. Re:I'm a switcher... by maelstrom · · Score: 2, Informative

      Apt-get works with Redhat too.

      http://freshrpms.net

      --
      The more you know, the less you understand.
    2. Re:I'm a switcher... by Espectr0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seems to me that all that Debian has got to offer these days is apt-get. That's the first thing they say, and forget to say that almost every distro in the world now supports apt-get (even slackware)

      Debian users say that debian is great because it's so stable. Well, if i wanted to use a stable server i would use freebsd (record in uptime in netcraft)

      Debian users say that debian is great because the latest software is always available, i still say "no xfree 4.3" and tons of other packages that are missing, and they don't mention that mixing stable packages with unstable packages will break the system. You either use stable or unstable, and if you go with unstable you cannot go back unless you reinstall.

      Debian users say that debian is great because of the social contract. Well, that social contract is the one that keeps some great packages from being packaged officially like mplayer and tons others.

      So, what's the only thing that debian really does (good) that others can't? It runs on tons of architectures.

      I dont know who is a bigger PITA, the debian zealot talking about apt-get and .debs or the gentoo zealot talking about their customized, bloat-free systems (they seem to forget that you need extra libraries to compile programs that you only need for compiling and not for regular use, filling up your drive really good with all the development libraries)

  18. VNC installation by petard · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Installation via VNC is now supported. To initiate a VNC-based installation, pass vnc as a boot-time option. If necessary, a password can be set by adding "vncpassword=<password>" to the boot-time options. The VNC display will be "<host>:1", where <host> is the hostname or IP address of the system installing Fedora Core.

    It is also possible for the Fedora Core installation program to initiate a connection to a listening VNC client. This is done by using the vncconnect boot-time option[...]

    That's really cool, and more useful than it sounds... I was looking for just this feature several months ago when installing RH on a laptop whose video card was supported by XFree but for some reason wouldn't work with the graphical installer. (Tweaks were required for the configuration file.) I know there's a text-based installer as well, but it's so much easier to select packages on the GUI install. It sounds like this will be a nice successor to RH 9.

    --
    .sig: file not found
  19. Fedora vs. RedHat, and RHCE by Doc+Hopper · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My interpretation of their move is this:

    1. They weren't making money on commercial RedHat releases. There are a few zealots like myself that run down to CompUSA (or whatever) to grab the latest release when it hits the shelves, but it was mostly to show our support for the company.

    2. There is a lot of profit to be made in "support" in boxed product sales, and the enormous expense of Windows server licenses validate this proposition. They just need to be priced considerably below Windows support levels to compete.

    3. Most desktop users want a bleeding-edge distribution so they can run the latest games and apps, and RedHat didn't want the tech support headaches and expense.

    I think they just looked around at the playing field, saw that they could do little or nothing to prevent people from repackaging their product and selling it for a couple of bucks a CD, saw the numbers from their standard box sales versus the impressive revenue from comparatively few Enterprise Linux sales, and said "screw it, it's not worth our money to try to sell what everybody gets for free anyway".

    Sad fact of life, that. Not enough freaks like me that like to buy the boxed set, I guess.

    But I'm excited that Fedora is coming out with a release hot on the heels of the end-of-life announcements on RedHat boxed products. I think they'll find that the flexibility afforded them by a more open development model for their distribution, ala Mozilla.org, will help keep their server products competitive and "feed" the Advanced Server distribution with good ideas.

    It remains to be seen how well it will take off, though... an awful lot of "mindshare" of hard-core Linux geeks is already invested in other distributions. As for me, I think they are doing it right, and although I'm certain they'll be off for 4-6 months of a rocky start, within a year they'll have a pretty solid volunteer contribution effort and a distribution that finally keeps up with cutting-edge features of other distributions. They've been behind the curve a long time (ugh "up2date" sucked vs. apt-get upgrade) on keeping their distro fresh; it is nice to see they've moved to a method that, perhaps, can keep it more current.

    I wonder how they plan to handle RHCE's? I plan on taking the exam as soon as I finish reviewing for it, but I can't help but wonder if this move to Fedora on the desktop means that soon-to-be prospective RHCE's will no longer be able to just download the latest Redhat release and go, or if they'll need some special "student edition" of their Enterprise Linux product?

    1. Re:Fedora vs. RedHat, and RHCE by jmorris42 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You would lose that bet. I'm very close to releasing ISO images of "white box enterprise linux". I have all of the heavy lifting done, currently I'm polishing things up a bit and starting in on cleaning out logos.

      And no, I don't expect to be sued. RedHat understands the consequences of releasing software under the GPL. Besides, they would have to be zarking mad to try sueing a public library for publishing GPL software. They would be reviled second only to SCO. :)

      If they find something I have missed I expect they will drop an email, I'll make a corrected set of images available and that will be that. They aren't at war with us, they just made a business decision that non-enterprise customers weren't all that profitable. Personally I think it is going to cost them in the long term, but that's just my opinion and it is their call to make. They are the ones who answer to the shareholders.

      --
      Democrat delenda est
  20. Inadequate version number. by ChangeOnInstall · · Score: 5, Funny

    You don't honestly expect me to "upgrade" from Linux 9.0 to Linux 1.0 do you? At this rate we'll never catch Windows 2000.

    --
    What has *science* done?!? -- Dr. Weird (ATHF)
  21. Totally ridiculous by Outland+Traveller · · Score: 5, Informative

    Look at the facts:

    Support for Redhat 9 is good through April 2004.

    You can download Fedora for free. Fedora has been specifically packaged to make 3rd party distribution easy, and looks like it's going to include all of the functionality of old redhat+up2date for free.

    The new enterprise products have guaranteed 5-year support cycles. THIS IS HUGE. The low end, desktop-oriented enterprise workstation offering is 179$, including 1yr up2date support.

    All of Redhat's software is still GPL.

    I don't see what the anti-redhat has against one of their best neighbors and diplomats to the outside world.

    1. Re:Totally ridiculous by scons · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Well, not totally ridiculous, if you ignore the "Red Hat sucks" part of the rant and look at the substantive issue about what retail Linux users are losing.

      What I'm going to miss is Red Hat QA, which to me was the real value-add of Red Hat and which is not part of what you get with your free Fedora download. (Check out the last two lines in the comparison chart with the Enterprise Linux version.)

      Due to Red Hat's QA, I always had a high degree of confidence that what I would get from up2date wouldn't break my RH system. Call me paranoid, but I don't have the same degree of confidence that the "developer community" will have the resources (time, machines and testing methodology) to maintain the same level of quality, especially given that the code base in Fedora will be apparently much larger than RHEL. I will be delighted if I'm wrong, but I'm expecting a gradual decline in quality.

      Increasing the amount of support you get for $179 if you buy RHEL is okay so far as it goes, but that doesn't change the fact that the increase will price the QA-tested product out of many Linux users' home-computing budget (including mine).

      I don't really blame Red Hat, because I think this move does make business sense for them. But I'm really disappointed that the retail Linux market never materialized to the point where they could keep shipping a high-quality, tested Linux desktop for ~$50-$70 and make money doing it.

  22. Re:Now the question is... by Otter · · Score: 2, Informative

    People may still be doing it but it violates Red Hat's trademark and they have acted against people in the past for doing exactly that.

  23. Re:Obligatory Gentoo... by mungtor · · Score: 2, Funny

    Gentoo is great if you have a week to wait for your system to compile. Hell, by the time an "emerge gnome" is done they've gotten to the next release. :)

  24. RedHat is NOT killing their desktop. by GroundBounce · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can't anyone on /. read? RedHat has simply said that they are not chasing the CONSUMER desktop for the time being. If you read the articles and if you go to RedHat's site, you will see that they are still quite interested in *corporate and business* desktops, where the application base is more controlled and limited, and there generally is not the need to support every consumer USB widget under the sun. Their "Enterprise Linux" offerings have versions tailored for both servers *and* (corporate) desktops.

    Additionally, for individuals and small companies who want to do their own support, there is still Fedora, but it will have a shorter support lifetime.

  25. Re:Bit torrent! by Stalin · · Score: 2, Informative

    Don't click on this. It is one of those gross site links.

  26. Re:um.. by damiam · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No software goal would be complete without having at least two or three separate open source projects working towards it.

    --
    It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
  27. A couple of other links by brett_sinclair · · Score: 2, Interesting
    When you're done downloading and installing, get more rpms from the "old" fedora (these days called Fedora Extra, I believe).

    Check out this for more details.

    There's also a lot of extras at Freshrpms (although not updated for Yarrow yet).

  28. Stability? by tjwhaynes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I looked around the website and they don't really explain how important a priority stability is. They do have a QA "project", but they also say they want to "Be on the leading edge of open source technology..."

    I take it we're not talking OpenBSD/Debian-stable level of reliability. That's fine. But what's the goal? Will this stuff be /directly/ used by RedHat, or is there a "polishing" step?

    If you are talking about this stuff ending up in RH Advanced Server, then yes, this will be heavily polished before release.

    If you are talking about RH Linux 10, well, that won't be happening. This is the new world right here.

    Speaking as someone who runs Mandrake Cooker (someone pick up that reader who just fainted) stability concerns really don't worry me too much as I can hack the problems as they occur :-) However, this stuff has gone through basic Redhat QA so it can be assumed that it won't eat your dog or sleep with your wife :-)

    This is a distribution for the release early, release often crowd. The primary release (which this is) should be treated as being a reasonable base to build on. Once you hook up the apt-get or yum tools to the respective repositories, upgrading broken packages should be easy enough. Fedora will be making an appearance on my laptop in the next week or so - time will tell whether Fedora is stable enough. If you are nervous about being an early adopter, sit back and watch the forums, newsgroups and mailing lists for show stoppers that might hit your configuration.

    I'm happy to see Fedora hit the streets. I've been running RH 8.0 on this laptop for a while now and I miss the absolute bleeding edge that the Mandrake Cooker tree gives me. Running Fedora on this laptop will allow me to track the latest stable release series. Mandrake Cooker allows me to track the latest developer releases on my desktop box.

    Cheers,

    Toby Haynes

    --
    Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
  29. Worst release process ever... by A+Masquerade · · Score: 4, Informative

    Red Hat have always had a bit of a reputation for lousing up the release process of a distribution when it comes to getting mirrors ready before the release.

    Fedora has taken this to new and astounding heights. I got the notification that Fedora was ready to mirror 31 minutes before the supposed official release time. The download.fedora.redhat.com name wasn't in the DNS. The permissions on the repository prvented us rsyncing, and there were no pre-release torrents in place.

    So at release time there were no mirrors and no torrents available. Worse, the mirror list their download page points to are the old Red Hat mirrors which use a different directory heirarchy to the new Fedora tree, so those links are both wrong and to machines that don't have the damn software.

    Its now 4.5 hours after release time. I have had a torrent client set running for most of that time (as soon as I got a torrent URL), and the torrents have not completed. The immediate throwing open of the release to the general public means I can't get rsync access to the main site. So my mirror, and I guess many other are not anywhere near synced.

    Frankly I'm pissed off and will probably not bother to mirror in future.

    1. Re:Worst release process ever... by ElderKorean · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wonder how many people have done like me.

      Gets notification that RedHat 9 is the last of the series.

      Sees that Fedora is essentially the replacement for the average geek.

      Has a bit of a read about Fedora.

      Downloads the current Fedore Core release 0.95

      Burns this to a three CD set.

      Just about to setup systems and have a play.
      Checks Slashdot for daily fix.

      Fedore Core 1 is out.

      Bastards.... ...more coasters.

      Is there a site somewhere that has some basic information about ALL the various releases that are around. And when the next major updates are expected?

    2. Re:Worst release process ever... by tekspot · · Score: 2, Informative

      Try distrowatch.com. I think the only reason I have not done same thing is that I've read another article on ./ that mentioned scheduled fedora release this week. Regards!

  30. Re:Desktop? by prof187 · · Score: 2

    You can (or at least are supposed to be able to) drag and drop fonts into nautilus and it's supposed to install...

    --

    My other sig is an import.
  31. Distros on DvD? by phorm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think that DvD's are becoming popular enough that perhaps big distros will be available on the larger media format as well. If I had to choose from >2 CD's or a DVD for a slightly higher price, I'd go for DVD.

    Oh, and "core system" vs "extra software" went out the window when the GUI came around in popularity and people started biatching "how come software X isn't here, bah!"

    I'd say that if you were a previous RedHat user, Fedora's multiple CD's shouldn't bother you, and you can always stick with Debian (my pref) or whatever you otherwise use.

  32. Re:Why? by justsomebody · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think I can answer you that.

    Fedora Core is the best Redhat so far, I'm using it flawlesly on my notebook since beta2.

    Being in bussiness of which important part is Linux on desktop, I'm really happy with this decision. While normal distro is cool for normal user, it's not so good for corporate user.
    Reasons:
    1. Don't need 5 programs fo each need, I need one, and one that works.
    2. Don't need such urge on being up2date with everything
    3. I want terrily tested and really working stable distro
    4. Give me a clean distro and I'm filling only the gaps that don't suit me or the gaps that are not covered

    As home user:
    1. I want to test software to decide which one is better
    2. If let's say Gnome 2.6 would be today, today would be the day I would be installing it, some softwares I keep daily with cvs
    3. I want everything
    4. Read 3, I have everything

    DIfferences between Fedora Core and Readhat WS Professional are the same as I stated with previous descriptions.

    But as here Fedora Core is just a test bed for Redhat WS (difference is as follows, al features are tested in Fedora before they are implemented in WS, Fedora Core is accessible for users to interact but WS isn't, Fedora will support outside package repository, WS won't), everything goes as I want, I get one fresh and up2date and one stable for the price of one.

    Why should you run this? Because people that were bitchin over Debian being more_free, well this Redhat is practically the same but with Redhat support, because developers are still working on Fedora, hell they test there things for WS, so I doubt that Redhat would stop working on Fedeora.

    Killing their desktop? No, they just extended it to likes of more people

    --
    Signature Pro version 1.13.2-3 release 83.5 beta3try7 after-breakfast edition
  33. Re:um.. by Alan+Cox · · Score: 5, Informative

    Believe me "do we just join Debian" was a seriously asked question in planning Fedora. But Fedora is about somewhat slightly different things like regular and rapid releases and so the idea of merging into Debian didnt look like it would work out.

  34. The King is Dead, Long Live the King by Schlaegel · · Score: 3, Interesting

    RH 10 == FC 1

    Red Hat still puts resources into Fedora.
    Red Hat still puts QA into Fedora (in fact they caught flack for delaying it).
    Red Hat opened up the development to outsiders through Fedora.
    Red Hat changed the products name into something everyone can use and sell.

    We get a more open, supported, release often OS.

    So far this sounds great. In the coming months we will see if this really is a win/win.

  35. Watch the fine print! by rduke15 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hidden in the release notes:

    - The input of non-ASCII characters from the system console is not possible; only graphical applications support the input of these characters.

    If I understand this correctly it means a jump back of several years with the inability to write accented letters in the console.

    In other words: useless crap in which you cannot even write 3 words in a row (except in English of course)

    Can that be true?

  36. not too late by jab · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's never too late to change your mind. Debian is fairly gung-ho on the idea of multiple maintainers for packages, which makes for a reasonable entry point for folks from other distributions to join the fun. Another good hook is Debian's Testing distribution. The basic idea is to have a usable software collection with a time granularity between Unstable (daily) and Stable (roughly two year cycle). Testing doesn't currently get the tons of programmer nourishment it so richly deserves, and instead relies on automated QA programs and a few gallant human efforts. With some additional manpower, this would be a great layer in the distribution/maintenance system for something like Fedora to emerge.

  37. Gentoo gripes by EvilAlien · · Score: 2, Informative
    Sounds like you want the Gentoo Reference Platform discussed in their install documentation:
    Note: A complete Gentoo Linux 2-CD set contains the Gentoo Reference Platform, which is a complete pre-built Gentoo Linux system including GNOME, KDE, Mozilla and OpenOffice. The Gentoo Reference Platform ("GRP") was created to allow rapid Gentoo Linux package installations for those who need this capability. The "compile from source" functionality, which is the cornerstone of Gentoo Linux, will always be a fully-supported installation option as well. The purpose of the GRP is to make Gentoo Linux more convenient for some users, without impacting Gentoo's powerful "compile from source" installation process in any way.
    Of course, updating without a network connection becomes a problem, but you shouldn't have too many issues with file inavailability. I've run Gentoo for some time and it is extremely rare that I cannot get ahold of source necessary for compilations, and I've always built my Gentoo systems from stage1 or stage2.
    --
    perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
  38. Re:For you, then... by T-Ranger · · Score: 3, Informative
    One of the actual changes in 'Fedora' over 'Red Hat Linux' is the terms of the copyright. 'Red Hat Linux' is copyrighted with a very specific requirements for use.

    Significantly, you couldnt sell CDs with 'Red Hat Linux' on them and call it 'Red Hat Linux'.... The product included support, and RH was getting lots of calls from people who had bought 'Red Hat Linux' out of the back of a van (or whatever :P)

    With 'Fedora', OTOH, anyone can burn off CDs and call it 'Fedora'.. Well, more people can, there are still some restrictions Im sure.

  39. Re:Brief synopsis then? Please? by bhtooefr · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is a full blown stable 1.0 release, it appears... not even a 9.1 release.

  40. Re:um.. by dbarclay10 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I asked a few months ago about whether or not there are any plans to let people maintain packages (I'm a Debian maintainer, and I'd love to see what things in the Debian toolchain are worth porting over and vice versa).

    I was told that it was a long-term goal, 6+ months at least before anybody would be allowed to contribute.

    Any idea if those plans have moved forward?

    (For reference, if this is shown to anybody else who participated in the discussion at the time, my handle was "ElectricElf")

    --

    Barclay family motto:
    Aut agere aut mori.
    (Either action or death.)
  41. Open Source Licenses Software, Not Freeloaders by reallocate · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How many of you whiners who have the temerity to bitch about something other people are making and giving away actually bought a shrinkwrapped copy of Red Hat?

    Unless you're a stockholder, RedHat owes you squat. If you are a stockholder, RedHat has a moral responsibility to make a profit and pay you dividends.

    --
    -- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
  42. Re:um.. by bogie · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Is there a more lofty goal here I'm missing?"

    Yes. Having an OS that comes with modern Stable software that is easy for anyone to install and use. Fedora fills that role where as Debian doesn't for most people.

    --
    If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
  43. The real reason behind rh / fedora... by fo0bar · · Score: 3, Funny
    RHL was at version 9, and now they're switching to Fedora Linux 1.0. There's only one logical reason for this. Apple has patented the use of "10" (or "X") in versions. Think about it... how many software projects have gotten to version 10 without chaning their version number system (to "2006", "GP", "Supa-Dupa")? Very few, and those that chose to use version 10 are licensing the technology from Apple.

    I know this is true. I heard it from a guy on the internet.