Fedora Core 2 Test 2 Released

Kalak writes "Fedora Core 2 Test 2, part of the project's goal to 'work with the Linux community to build a complete, general purpose operating system exclusively from open source software', has just been released - this test release 'is specifically designed for SELinux testing, as well as testing the 2.6 kernel, GNOME 2.5, and KDE 3.2.1.' Get a copy from one of the mirrors or grab a copy via BitTorrent. You probably want the binary only Torrent."

Comments

Yipee

[altaic]

Now we can use the lk 2.6 without having to add homebrew packages (yeah, I know there's some guy who provides a yum-able package tree). Anyway, this release should be an excellent updgrade. I'd be very interested to hear of the pre-release stability. Anyone care to comment?

Re:Yipee

[div_2n]

I've been using FC2 T1 since it came out. Here are some points on the past test. Haven't checked out the latest:

-Sound hasn't worked ever. It used to not even detect my soundcard but now does (still no sound).

-X refused to start on kernel upgrades until I modified some settings to configuration files. That was just plain rediculous to have to do that.

-Double-clicking on PDF's has never worked. I have discovered that Gnome PDF Viewer doesn't work period. XPDF works great though.

-Occasionally Update has just plain refused to work. Could be issues with mirror sites.

-Occasionally GToaster locks the system up.

-Mozilla (1.6) occasionally flakes out for no apparent reason.

-By default, there are lots of CLI commands that just aren't there (such as ip). This is beyond annoying.

-My scroll weel on my PS/2 mouse does very strange and inexplicable things.

-Weather Report applet (2.5.6) no longer retrieves weather forecasts

-The clock occasionally reverts back to military time even though it is set not to

-To date, Linux has never correctly configured my HP PSC 750xi scanner (the printer part works great though by default). Installing HP's driver makes it work

-NTP time syncing has never worked

-CD drives behave strange in inexplicable ways occasionally

Overall? Usable but lots of issues. Not for faint of heart. Test 2 may be better. YMMV based on your hadware/software configuration.

Bueno

[WTFmonkey]

I'd heard great things, but then I wasted one hard drive trying to make kernel 2.6 work with Fedora 1. I mean, it worked, but only by stretching definitions.

I'm not horribly ign'nt, but I'm obviously no genious either. Somewhere along the line /dev got all dicked up and stuff stopped working. So to stop the bitching, it's great to see a faster-than-average turnaround by the Fedora guys. Will be installing this (and checking config files to see where I went wrong-- LEARN from your mistakes, people) tonight.

ACPI and kernel

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope their gonna switch to 2.6.4 cuz last time I checked, they were using 2.6.1 and acpi for that is still broken. For some reason, the acpi people don't even support 2.6.3 any more...

Re:Not the first project to do this?

[Coneasfast]

Pardon me, but isn't that what UnitedLinux was supposed to do?

look at the united linux page. looks very 'commercial' to me, you can't even find a download link easily, or can you even download it?

while the fedora page has a nice and simple download link.

Re:Not the first project to do this?

[Anonymous Coward]

yup. from their faq:

What is UnitedLinux?

UnitedLinux is a standards-based, worldwide Linux solution targeted at the business user and developed by Conectiva, The SCO Group, SuSE, and Turbolinux.

and since Suse was bought by Novell, and United Linux was really 99% Suse...can we say "poof" UL is no more.

MP3 support?

[IO ERROR]

Is Fedora Core 2 going to re-enable MP3 support now that it's no longer a "commercial" product?

YMMV

[captain_craptacular]

I got 2.6 working with Fedora 1 in about 45 minutes a couple weeks after it (lk 2.6) came out. I had no problems whatsoever, so I'm not sure what your problem was... I ran it that way for about 3 weeks with no hiccups and then switched back to the regular 2.4.x kernel so I could get hassle free updates...

Re:YMMV

[IceAgeComing]

Maybe this step from the previous reply's link is important: ...(after several rpm -ivh statements) ...

"Now you have installed the kernel, you have to remove /etc/sysconfig/hwconf so kudzu will configure modprobe.conf next boot."

It just worked...

[Anonymous Coward]

I just installed it on a Compaq Armada M700 laptop..it just worked(tm) fine (typing on it now) with the exception of configuring sound and the ltmodem, which I have to do myself...

Re:Not the first project to do this?

[bigirondawg]

Seeing as Suse hasn't ceased to exist since Novell bought them, I don't think you can say UL doesn't exist.

TurboLinux is one of the most popular distros in Asia, and Suse is the most popular distro in Europe, in addition to being the #1 Linux distro on the mainframe platform.

I think if Red Hat really had the best interests of the Linux community in mind, they would have joined the UL project at the beginning, anyway, instead of trying to "go it alone" with their own marketing and distro environment. Then they start the Fedora project as yet another offshoot in a community that has lots of them already... when is it too much?

I mean, nerds like us /. readers can keep all these distros separate, but the business users out there (which really keep Linux alive) like to be able to see a strategy... some sign that your company is willing to work with other companies for the good of your customers.

I tried fedora, had a terrible time with it

[Anonymous Coward]

as far as i can tell, its just like redhat, except that it CANNOT use RH binaries, which completely defeats the purpose of using RH in the first place.

so, its a distro of redhat that is not compatible with... redhat

whats the point in that?!? im not trolling here, im genuinely curious.

Re:Anyone have any experience with Gnome in Fedora

[Wesley Felter]

How exactly is it crippled?

I hope its better than Test 1

[MajorDick]

I was horribly disapointed with test 1, WOW , I mean I install it on release day and there are already like 500 megs of updates ?!?! , Not to mention all the menu issues and other buggies, I know its a "test" but wow RH betas were never in such disarray in my experience. On the other hand I was Thrilled with FC1 for my laptop, everything just Worked like it was supposed to I hope FC2 release is as good.

How to get my favorite package in Fedora?

[ajiva]

How do I get my favorite package to be in the Fedora install? Personally I'd love to see better wireless support, maybe WLAN or HostAP.

re: NTFS

[bani]

and what exactly is preventing redhat from distributing NTFS like everyone else, commercial or not?

i've asked redhat repeatedly to explain, and they have refused to give a straight answer. first they claimed it was "stability issues", claiming NTFS would "corrupt memory", but wouldnt give any examples and clammed up when i asked for clarifications. then they suddenly changed their story to "legal issues", but again clammed up when asked to explain. patents? copyrights? trade secrets? no answer.

it ain't legal issues -- unless you can point to NTFS patents. and it ain't copyright issues either -- because the code was written from scratch. the codebase for NTFS was developed much the same way as the codebase for SAMBA -- from publically available documentation and reverse engineering. if redhat has a legal problem with NTFS then they shouldnt be distributing SAMBA either.

it also strikes me very odd that they would include FAT filesystems which DO have patent issues, but exclude NTFS which does NOT.

Re:How about giving Fedora its own topic/icon ?

[dwave]

Well, there's no real icon for Fedora (yet). And in fc1's Gnome (haven't checked KDE) there's still that peculiar little red hat visible on the panel. It's an fedora[1] hat in fact.

[1] Taken from a glossary about hats:

FEDORA ( fe doe ra ) Men's soft felt hat with brim and lengthwise crease in crown , adopted by women. The name Fedora was after the heroine of Victorian Sardou's drama presented in Paris in 1882. Also TYROLEAN HAT, ALPINE HAT, HOMBURG.

So as long as there isn't a new logo within the distro, the red hat fedora icon should be ok.

Re:Just finished installing on my desktop

[samrichards]

don't worry about it - i installed the test 2 of fedora core 1 and it didn't even come close to being functional. pretty much everything i did resulted in my machine going slightly crazy. i was quite alarmed that fedora was gonna suck and never be much good, but by the time the final release of fedora core 1 came out, it installed perfectly and ran wonderfully on my laptop. so, hey, submit your bugs (or, if you're a better person than myself, fixes) and then wait for the final to come out and blow you away! :o)