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Fedora Core 2 test1 Released

GerritHoll writes "A test release of Fedora Core 2 is now available from Red Hat and at distinguished mirror sites near you, and is also available in the torrent. Fedora Core has expanded in this release to four binary ISO images and four source ISO images. This test release is specifically designed for testing the 2.6 kernel, GNOME 2.5, and KDE 3.2. Please file bugs via Bugzilla, Product Fedora Core, Version test1, Architecture i386 so that they are noticed and appropriately classified. Discuss this test release on fedora-test-list."

56 of 369 comments (clear)

  1. I know Fedora is supposed to be bleeding edge by Kick+the+Donkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I know Fedora is supposed to be bleeding edge, but isn't including GNOME 2.5 (a development version) a little, un-savery? I would imagine they'd want to wait for the first release of 2.6, and go with 2.4 till then.

    --
    /. is a bunch of nerds at a million typewriters. It's not a political conspiracy determined to undermine your beliefs.
    1. Re:I know Fedora is supposed to be bleeding edge by arendjr · · Score: 5, Informative

      Probably GNOME 2.6 is expected to be out by the time the release their final version of Core 2. Then they'll be the first to have it.

    2. Re:I know Fedora is supposed to be bleeding edge by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 3, Informative

      This is just the first test release so you can assume that the next test release will likely merge with production GNOME, and the release of Core 2 certainly will.

    3. Re:I know Fedora is supposed to be bleeding edge by MSG · · Score: 4, Insightful

      GNOME 2.6 is expected to be available before FC2's release. Including 2.5 now means they get more testing on the beta desktop before the final release, and as a result get a better final release.

    4. Re:I know Fedora is supposed to be bleeding edge by justsomebody · · Score: 5, Informative

      Release date of Gnome 2.6: march 8
      Release date of FC2: april 6

      so yes, Gnome will be 2.6, and I don't see a problem with test release of Linux using test release of Gnome, because in the end both will be final for release.

      --
      Signature Pro version 1.13.2-3 release 83.5 beta3try7 after-breakfast edition
    5. Re:I know Fedora is supposed to be bleeding edge by Stonent1 · · Score: 4, Funny

      but isn't including GNOME 2.5 (a development version) a little, un-savery?

      Actually Gnomes with a little butter, rosemary and garlic can be quite savory.

    6. Re:I know Fedora is supposed to be bleeding edge by nsxfreddy · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'll wager Gentoo will have it first ;)

      Yeah, but by the time you're done building it, FC2 will be released.

  2. Huge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fedora Core has expanded in this release to four binary ISO images...

    Ugh. Looks like my modem will be getting a workout again soon. Wouldn't it be easier to skimp on some of the apps, and provide separate links to them so we can reduce download times? Four ISO discs is hella big.

    1. Re:Huge by theIG · · Score: 5, Informative

      you don't need to download all of the isos to install fedora. Probably the first two at the most. Just do a minimal install, and then use aptforrpm or yum to install all of the software you need from the internet. -kyle

    2. Re:Huge by rodgster · · Score: 5, Informative

      I installed it last night via ftp and the boot.iso

      Nautilus crashes on logoff, and I seem to have some acpi issues on my laptop, but it looks really cool. A lot of New stuff and much better GUIs.

      Just my 2 cents.

      --
      Who will guard the guards?
    3. Re:Huge by pyros · · Score: 4, Informative

      Really? I just did a Personal Desktop install the other day and it only required discs 1 and 2, perhaps minimal isn't so minimal.

    4. Re:Huge by GerritHoll · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If you fetch almost everything from the internet, what's the point of downloading an iso at all? If your uplink is fast enough to do 'yum install ', I don't see why it isn't fast enough to perform 'minimal install' through FTP.

    5. Re:Huge by Alan+Cox · · Score: 3, Informative

      Fedora 1 minimal install needs Disc 1, most other stuff disc 1 and 2. I've not played with FC2 test1 enough yet to check.

      In FC1 however you can end up needing disc3 if you select some other language support as disc3 has locale specific bits on it

  3. Would it not be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    more prudent if slashdot made some kind of ticker on the website of software releases?

  4. What about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Mandrake 10.0 beta 2 is out also! Why no posting about that, hrmmm?

    1. Re:What about by Mateito · · Score: 3, Funny

      > Mandrake 10.0 beta 2 is out also! Why no posting
      > about that, hrmmm?

      Because Mandrake, like BSD and Apple, is dying, and will continue to do so for the next 20 years. :)

  5. Re:apt-get and yum? by maelstrom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'd imagine so, considering I just upgraded to Fedora Core 1 through apt from Redhat 7.3. I was pretty impressed it didn't break anything. Rebooted into the new kernel and everything.

    --
    The more you know, the less you understand.
  6. Use a mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Come on editors. Why did you link directly to the full isos?!?!?! Use a mirror.

    1. Re:Use a mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative
    2. Re:Use a mirror by ticklemeozmo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why did you link directly to the full isos?!?!?!

      Duh, so the part-timers who just happened to load the page before me can get the slow-ass version while the appropriately "hidden" mirror sites remain speedy and fast for me. :)

      --
      When modding "Informative", please make sure it both has a source and IS actually informative.
  7. bittorrenting now by stephenb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Please join me:

    btdownloadcurses.py --max_upload_rate 350 \
    --url http://torrent.dulug.duke.edu/FC2-test1-binary-i38 6.torrent

    Thank you, and goodnight! :)

  8. fedora.org by Hallow · · Score: 5, Funny

    And since there was no link to the fedora website, I went to fedora.org. Whoops. Guess I'm gonna get fired (it's not a work friendly image, not nearly in goatse's league though). Apparently they forgot to register the names before they announced the project name.

    1. Re:fedora.org by InsaneCreator · · Score: 4, Funny

      So, I can download THAT? It might take some time on dial-up, but what the heck...

  9. Already using it by ZuperDee · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been following its development by using Rawhide on my system. Yeah, call me crazy and stupid, but the reason I'm doing it is that I *MUST* use the kernel 2.6 now, since 2.4 does not support the onboard SATA controller on my VIA 8237 southbridge. (It'd be kind of a nuisance not being able to use my hard drive under Linux, you know.)

    To me, the 2.6 kernel is really almost the ONLY reason to use FC2. Yeah, GNOME 2.5 might have some nice refinements over 2.4, but they're mere incremental improvements that for the most part, I don't even notice.

    The 2.6 kernel also finally has ALSA support built-in, which is another good reason to go with FC2. I find it has *MUCH* better sound support as a result. (I could never get the stock OSS drivers working satisfactorily.)

    Just my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

  10. Re:i386 by chez69 · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you read the mailing lists, you'll realize that the parts that benefit (kernel, glibc, openssl) are compiled for i686.

    anthing else is a exercise in gentoo masterbation.

    --
    PHP is the solution of choice for relaying mysql errors to web users.
  11. DAMMIT... by JoeBaldwin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just after I switched to Knoppix.

    And to be honest, I don't really want to switch back.

    I had a load of fun and games trying to get Fedora to share my internet connection (coming in through one ethernet card) to the Windows XP computer in the other room used by my family (on the other one). Despite following a nice tutorial I found through Google, I couldn't get it to work.

    Knoppix, on the other hand, stormed in and kicked the fuck out of Fedora, and with a few mouse clicks internet connection sharing was set up. A bit of wrangling with apt-get and one command in Konstruct and I had a full KDE 3.2 desktop set up and running. I'm using it now (very slick). It's the power of Debian with the simplicity of XP, and I wouldn't think twice about setting one of these up for a friend. It's just a perfect system.

    Fedora seemed bent on making everything I need to do hard as hell and putting things out of the way. Most irritating was GDM, which decided that if I pressed Ctrl-Alt-Backspace I really didn't want to kill X so I could install the NVIDIA drivers, I just wanted X to restart. It shipped with a broken kudzu meaning that hardware detection didn't work properly...gah.

    Just my two pence (for Brits) :)

    1. Re:DAMMIT... by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 5, Informative
      Most irritating was GDM, which decided that if I pressed Ctrl-Alt-Backspace I really didn't want to kill X so I could install the NVIDIA drivers, I just wanted X to restart.

      Um this is the correct behaviour in almost every circumstance. If you want to install the binary drivers you're supposed to drop to runlevel 3, this is even documented.

      The alternative is that if the X server crashes, you get thrown to a blank text screen - I'd much rather be put back at the login screen. GDM is designed this way for good reasons, you know - in fact I think most display managers do this.

  12. There is a reason. by ZuperDee · · Score: 3, Informative

    The important parts of Fedora for which CPU-specific optimizations do make a difference are already offered in i686 versions. The most prominent examples are the kernel and the glibc libraries.

    For the rest, I believe it was found that compiling general user-space applications for i686 makes only a miniscule difference, if any.

  13. Some misconceptions by Rascasse · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Fedora/RH compiles their distributions so that they only use i386 instructions. However, if I'm not mistaken the binaries are optimized for i686 class CPUs. In other words, the instructions are scheduled optimally for an i686 class CPU, but they only use i386 instructions. In fact, in some performance critical components, the binaries are both scheduled for i686 and use i686 instructions. One example of such a binary is glibc.

  14. Re:apt-get and yum? by IpsissimusMarr · · Score: 5, Informative

    Its discussed how to automatically update your fedora core through rpm on the fedora-test-list here. Hope that helps.

    --
    "Engineers do the work of man, Physicists do the work of God"
  15. Re:i386 by zoloto · · Score: 4, Informative

    the performance gain you get is almost nill.
    I know because I've tried both.

  16. Check the EULA carefully by ahodgkinson · · Score: 5, Funny
    And by the way, there's been a small change to the EULA, which means you have to register to download one copy for every single CPU that you plan to install it on! Don't worry, it's still free, you just have to (re-)regester each time. This is so that RedHat can keep it's statistics up to date. They claim that since it's a GNU license the download registration information will be placed in the public domain.

    Also, download soon. Because the all the script kiddies planning to run Fedora based password crackers on their Beawolf clusters will be clogging the mirrors. :)

    Did you read this far? Are you smiling at the joke? No? Sorry.. ah.. nevermind.. I guess I better get back to work before my boss catches me on /. again.

    --
    ---- It won't be as bad as you fear or as good as you hope, but it will take twice as long as you plan.
    1. Re:Check the EULA carefully by mahdi13 · · Score: 3, Funny
      CodeWeavers had a simular joke in their EULA for the CrossOver Plugin
      YOU REALLY WANT TO READ THIS, ESPECIALLY THE PART ABOUT
      YOUR FIRST BORN CHILD...

      If you don't like this EULA:
      a) Let us know, we'd appreciate the feedback.
      b) Stop right now, and ask for a refund. We'll cheerfully do so.

      Then at the very end
      OKAY, WE WERE JUST KIDDING. THERE'S NOTHING IN HERE ABOUT
      YOUR FIRST BORN CHILD. BUT YOU REALLY SHOULD READ THESE
      THINGS, YOU KNOW.

      Full EULA can be found here
      --
      "Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
  17. Re:Net install? by CMonk · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sure does. RH has had it as long as I can remember. If you install via floppy you'll need the second net.img (or something like that) as well. If you want to install via CD image they have boot.iso which is about 4MB, if I remember right, which has everything you need for a net or PCCard install.

  18. Re:i386 by ctr2sprt · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I suspect the cause of your confusion is that many people insist on referring to Intel's 32-bit instruction set architecture by the name of the first processor to support it. The proper term is "IA32" (for "Intel Architecture, 32-bit").

    My campaign for IA32 Awareness continues. If only I could persuade some actual developers to use the right term.

  19. Re:apt-get and yum? by tarm · · Score: 5, Informative

    See this post for why it might not be that easy. Basically, if you upgrade to the test1 release now, you might not be able to then upgrade to -final later. See the whole thread for more information.

    That said you probably can do it anyway.

  20. Re:Hurry Up... by 0x0d0a · · Score: 5, Informative

    You do realize that Fedora is *exactly* the same system that the regular Red Hat releases have been, ever since RHEL came out, and that the RH marketing people are simply trying to play off image ("Oh, you can use this *enterprise*-class Linux distro, or some thing that only techies that like trying out new stuff use"). If you can handle Red Hat 9, you can definitely deal with Fedora Core.

    On the other hand unlike the final release of Fedora Core 2, this is a test release, and *is* intended for beta testing. If you don't want to beta test, don't install it. :-)

  21. Re:apt-get and yum? by reaper20 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    [development]
    name=Fedora Core $releasever - Development Tree
    baseurl=http://mirror.dulug.duke.edu/pub/fed ora/li nux/core/development

    in /etc/yum.conf and then yum update. That worked for me. Look for "development" instead of "rawhide" on whichever mirror you use.

    As always, there's no guarantee that any of that will work with test releases, although for FC1 I went from test1,2,3, and then to final using yum and had no issues.

  22. A total of 8 CDs? by k98sven · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ok.. can someone tell me why it's named "Core"?
    To me, that seems to imply that it'd be a bare-bones system, like the kernel+GNU utilities..

    This is obviously not the case.. but, seriously, why the name?

    1. Re:A total of 8 CDs? by Jokkey · · Score: 3, Informative

      "Fedora Core" distinguishes the current, core distribution from various add-ons and alternatives (Fedora Extras and Fedora Alternatives) and from software packages for older distributions (Fedora Legacy). See here.

      (There don't seem to be any packages released yet under Fedora Extras and Fedora Alternatives, but there's no harm in planning ahead, I guess. Fedora Legacy is alive and active and has already released several updates for Red Hat 7.2/7.3/8.0.)

  23. Informative? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Come on moderators, stay awake. Fedora doesn't even have a EULA.

  24. Re:i386 by 0x0d0a · · Score: 4, Informative

    Oh, the Red Hat engineers aren't stupid.

    The Pentium ran stuff compiled for the 386 rather slowly, and you could get significant performance improvements by using stuff targetting the 586.

    The Pentium II did a much, much better job of running 386 code quickly, which is why folks mostly stopped worrying about doing processor-specific builds.

    There are certain packages for which the processor type makes a significant difference. Red Hat builds multiple versions of those few -- the kernel, glibc, etc.

    Furthermore, as others have pointed out, Red Hat already aligns the code for i686 by default. This is where most of the improvements come from.

    If you're really curious, I have tried rebuilding most of Red Hat for a couple versions for the i686, just for the hell of it. One gets no noticeable improvements. It's really a waste of time to spend time building differently. There are a couple programs that use arch-specific assembly (SDL, for instance), but in general, very few software packages are faster when built specifically for a given processor.

  25. Re:Restraining order on RedHat by sabat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is funny enough, but what's important is that it rings true. We're moving away from RedHat, too, probably for the same reasons.

    Why would I want to pay for Advanced Server (or whatever they're calling it this week)? Well, if I was running a complex app like Oracle or something, sure; it makes sense to get a highly stable, supported OS that's recommended by the app vendor.

    But why would I want it for a DNS server, a webserver, an SMTP server, etc.? Other distributions (ahem, Debian, ahem, cough cough) are at least as stable, much more modular, and don't cost a cent because they're community-maintained.

    "Core" my ass.

    --
    I, for one, welcome our new Antichrist overlord.
  26. Re:i386 by y0bhgu0d · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...or you can install a pre-compiled OS and use those 3 days to actually be productive.

  27. Re:So, what you are saying is... by pyros · · Score: 4, Informative

    The aggresive release schedule is one of the project goals to keep it current with OSS projects. Debian Unstable is updated rather frequently too, as is Mandrake Cooker, and Ark Dockyard, not sure if Suse has anything similar. The difference is that Fedora is actually a released distro, with official ISO images and everything. If you want a slower schedule and more tested software, you need to go to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. If you want a something that's updating daily, and don't care about and actual releases (ala Debian Unstable and friends) use Rawhide.

  28. Fedora, public sentiment, and actual impression by poopie · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I like many people here, felt that Redhat made a giant PR mistake (for the opensource commmunity which got Redhat where they are today) when it turned redhat into fedora. The perception was, "Redhat needs to make money, so we're only supporting the enterprise versions. You'll need to pay for our software. You'll need to pay for binary patches, and you'll need to pay for support. No more free lunch. See ya' later."

    Okay, so... I got over that (sort of...) and tried a whole bunch of different distributions, including Fedora core 1.

    What I found was that I really like the fedora model, and can see that with just a little more momentum, it could become something far better that the original free redhat releases ever were.

    If you are like I was, and have sworn off redhat for hacking/non-work purposes for whatever ideological reasons, I urge you to read the unofficial Fedora FAQ and actually give it a try.

    I have been quite impressed with Fedora and with yum for updates. Make sure to get a new yum.conf file from the unofficial faq site before you try to update your system -- redhat's patch sites are almost always flooded. Then try adding in some of the development channels and do "yum install $package1 $package2 $package3".Add yum to run from cron/as a daemon to update your system.

    I just wish now that *someone* would release a version of fedora core that includes support for mp3 and various popular video formats so that it would make a usable desktop for most people out of the box. What's to stop someone from releasing ISOs of feature-overloaded-fedora that would include most of the stuff that the repositories are currently building to "fix" fedora?

    But back on the topic -- Before you swear off Fedora, give it a try with an open mind.

  29. Re:Restraining order on RedHat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Then you take things too personally and feel that people owe you somthing they don't

    I am very happy with fedora and am more happy then I was with RHL before Fedora. I get the same updates I used to get, only this time its less of a black box and more of a community thing (and though its still not perfect its getting better)
    and its free.

    I dont have to install software (like the new GNOME) from scratch or wait a year for them to release a new version.

    The whole process is somthing that anyone can join, or see what is going on inside. If a certian package is removed, or if I want to add a package, it is much easier now.

    Yes, Fedora is a distribution for the USERS of RHL, and most of the serious ones that dont think Redhat owed us anything, are actally very happy!

  30. Re:i386 by pimpinmonk · · Score: 5, Funny
    anthing else is a exercise in gentoo masterbation.
    Dude my forearms are sooo optimized, -03 -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe -ffast-math -fexpensive-optimisations -fget-me-a-towel
  31. Re:SDL_mixer by Chuck+Bucket · · Score: 5, Informative

    sorry to be a Gentoo fanboy, but if you had Gentoo, the command 'emerge sdl-mixer' would get and install it for you.

    regards,
    CB

    bash-2.05b# emerge -s sdl-mixer
    Searching...
    [ Results for search key : sdl-mixer ]
    [ Applications found : 1 ]

    * media-libs/sdl-mixer
    Latest version available: 1.2.5-r1
    Latest version installed: 1.2.5-r1
    Size of downloaded files: 914 kB
    Homepage: http://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_mixer/index.htm l
    Description: Simple Direct Media Layer Mixer Library
    License: GPL-2

  32. Not sure... by justMichael · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I just finished testing Fedora Core 1, RedHat EL WS 3 and Gentoo 1.4 as I am about to build a new server and am curious where I should go now that "RedHat" is defunct for the free stuff.

    My results show that there was no significant difference between the 3 of them (No, I didn't do a stage 1, I did stage 3 and even that took longer than I wanted).

    The interesting thing was that RHEL WS burned through the RAM and started swapping a LOT sooner than Fedora or Gentoo, I was able to apply 4 times the load before Fedora and Gentoo started swapping.

    RHEL was slightly faster 1-1.5 transactions/sec. But as we know once your web server starts using the swap you might as well pull the plug.

    Dsiclaimer: I should have tested Gentoo using a Stage 1 install and I may do that before I make a final decision.

    The test consisted of a production environment as I would normally use, the load was applied using siege.

    And to avoid the flames, if someone has tuning ideas for either Fedora or Gentoo for a general purpose (apache/php/db) box I'll be more than happy to listen.

  33. Does ACPI power management work? by cheezus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The only reason I'm running xp on this laptop is so i can put it to sleep.

    --
    /bin/fortune | slashdotsig.sh
  34. Re:Silly question by teh*fink · · Score: 3, Informative

    try yellowdog linux; it may not be entirely up to date but it's mostly there. i regularly rebuild fedora source rpms to use on my ppc linux box and they also have a 64-bit version for the g5 ready.

    --
    "I DARE you to make less sense!"
  35. Fedore UML Server/Minimal Images Available by william_lorenz · · Score: 3, Informative

    Somewhat unrelated but nonetheless on-topic with the Fedora release, Fedore Core 1 server/minimal UML images are available at http://myturl.com/000pz/ (Linux Users Group site) for public consumption. I'm going to try to wait until the official Fedora Core 2 (not a test Core 2 release as this is but rather the real thing) is available before making UML images for that, as well. But using this UML image provides a good way to test and play with Fedora without reinstalling your system, just so you can see how much you like it. More info on UML in general can be found a the User-Mode Linux website on SourceForge, of course.

  36. Oh Christ Shut up already! by bogie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am so sick of these Trollish "Dear Red Hat" letters that get modded up. Red Hat owes you NOTHING. The whole sense of entitlement among users that Red Hat HAS to provide a Free distro that's updated for years for Free is bullshit.

    Red Hat still does make a quality Free distro that's updated for Free, its called Fedora. Don't like the fact that its only supported for like 9-12 months which is shorter than it used to be? Too freaking bad.

    Enjoy your Debian but realize is no magic bullet either. Unless you hop on stable the day it comes out you face the same problem of having to upgrade you whole OS in a short timeframe. If you installed Woody today your going to be dropped or "burned" as you put it because the next Stable will be out soon and then the clock ticks till Woody isn't supported anymore.

    Get over you angst against Red Hat. Want a good Free as in beer and Free as in GPl distro from Red Hat? Use Fedora. Want something else? Pay for it or build it yourself.

    --
    If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
  37. AMD64 Fedora by kisak · · Score: 3, Informative
    Anyone knows if the AMD64 version of Fedora will contain most of the same programs as these i386 iso's when it is released? (AMD64 Fedora is still beta it seems) or are there still significant amount of programs not ready for AMD64?

    Thinking seriously about buying an opteron machine...

    --

    --- guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people ---

  38. Re:Restraining order on RedHat by ajs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, let me get this right... you were running some production systems on a consumer OS that you thought you could get away with paying $50 support for (when the vendor clearly said that you should move to their enterprise product for such support) and... when they said "look, this is really unsupported, 'cause that $50 barely pays for the coffee around here" you get upset? Red Hat provides amazingly good support for Fedora: paid developers; release engineers; security updates; download servers; etc. The only thing they don't provide is a guarantee of support.

    I laugh when I hear people talking about switching to Debian. It's not like they provide better support than RHEL. Red Hat provided an excellent upgrade path from Red Hat Linux 1 all the way to the most recent releases of RHEL WS, AS, etc.

    Where was the problem? If it was too much money, fine, you can't afford it, I understand. But, don't blame Red Hat for that. We all knew a long time ago that supporting hundreds of diverse projects loosely gathered together into an OS distribution was a mountain of work. No one is shocked here.

    If anything, RH took the best road. They provide the business suit set with something they can pay for and they provide a high-quality free version that the community gets input on! I use Fedora every day, and it's a great system. The apt integration is perfect, the compatibility with Red Hat Linux is seemless and the software selection is unrivaled (though it tends to be slightly more conservative than Debian unstable and slightly less so than Debian stable (which always lags unstable by a year or more).