Mauriat Miranda     mjmwired

Fedora 7 Released

Time for some “Moonshine”!

Even before the official announcement, Max Spevack, leader of the Fedora Project, issued several words with his enthusiasm for all the work put into this release.

If you did not notice the release is called Fedora 7 and not Fedora Core 7 and this represents the most significant change. The previous devision of software in Fedora’s 2 main repositories: Core and Extras has been merged. While this may not be seen directly to the end user it has been a massive amount of work behind the scenes. Many steps have been taken to push Fedora to be a completely free distribution with all the necessary tools for any person or group to create their own custom distribution of Fedora.

With that in mind the changes and new features in Fedora 7 may seem less than has been seen in previous releases.

Fedora now supports multiple different “Spins”:

  • LiveCD spins are available in both Gnome (default) and KDE. LiveCD’s, while providing less software, are fully installable.
  • The regular DVD install will provide a standard installation method that is similar to previous Fedora releases.
  • A set of DVD images will provide a snapshot of all the software in the repositories helpful for people without broadband access.
  • Standard CD install images have been discontinued. Users who wish to install by CD unfortunately can only do so by LiveCD. (Unless someone creates their own custom CD ISO’s).

Desktop Updates

  • Gnome 2.18 and KDE 3.5.6
  • Fast User Switching - Allows for multiple users on the same machine without having to logging out.
  • Xorg Server 1.3 - Allows for hot plugged display adapters. Additionally included is the experimental Nouveau driver for free open source driver for Nvidia cards.
  • Improvements in wireless performance and enhancements to NetworkManager.
  • New “Flying High” theme
  • Firefox 2

System Changes

  • SELinux enhancements - Included is the setroubleshoot service and applet which provides easier to understand information on denials and issues with SELinux.
  • Disk device name changes. Previous /dev/hdX names are now /dev/sdX.
  • Out of the box support for the Sony Playstation 3.
  • Smolt, an tool that sends anonymous hardware profile information to the Fedora Project, is included. While completely optional it can provide the needed information for improving end user hardware experience, and to prioritize development and quality assurance on commonly used hardware.
  • Significant yum improvements.

While these changes seem minimal they represent a great deal of work. The development process went through 4 Test releases, 1 RC release and plenty of discussion.

You can download Fedora 7 using the standard mirrors or using the Torrent (recommended). Remember the differences between the “Spins” when deciding which image to download!

Please user the Fedora-List mailing list or any of the forums for help. There are some basic tips provided in my Personal Fedora 7 Installation Guide which should be updated within the week with the installation.

Happy downloading and installing!

Posted in: Distributions, F7, Fedora,