The New Fedora 7 Linux (Moonshine)
Written: Aug 21 '07 (Updated Aug 22 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: OK Packages, excellent hardware compatibility, extremely fast, stable and secure. Live update online. FREE!!!
Cons: could be better with support of multimedia software
The Bottom Line: An excellent Linux operating system, supported by the prominent Linux vendor in the world. Much easier to install and use.
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| paulphoto's Full Review: Fedora Project Linux |
Fedora 7 Linux
It's no big secret that Linux is the new kid on the block which has become stronger and more powerful (secure) but at the same time very friendly (hardware compatibility) and gentle (stable).
I am not here to provoke any hot debate on which operating system (Windows or Linux) is better, inasmuch as there is already enough debate within the Linux community about which distribution is better. I am here merely to lay down the facts about how powerful and productive Fedora 7 Linux can provide as an open source operating system that is free to obtain, use, modify or redistribute.
Red Hat, the most prominent Linux vendor in the world, has put together a very powerful testing ground—Fedora Project—for their development of the Enterprise Linux system. Any successes that spring out of the Fedora edition, Red Hat use them in their Enterprise version. For that, Fedora Linux makes an excellent operating system.
As an open source system software, where Linux source code and information are shared and collaborated world-wide, new development of Linux grows at a rapid pace. In May 2007, Fedora 7 was introduced to the Linux community. In this new release the word “Core” has been dropped and Red Hat's experimental Linux is no longer Fedora Core 7, but simply “Fedora 7.”
Fedora 7 is a Linux operating system available in 32-bit x86 or 64-bit x86 system.
Obtain Fedora 7 Linux (Download or Media Copy)
There are two ways to obtain Fedora 7. The first method is to download Fedora 7 ISO image from one of the following web sites.
Red Hat:
https://www.redhat.com/apps/download/
Download mirrors:
http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/7/
The second is via ordering a DVD media from online vendors. There are many vendors that sell Fedora 7 as well as other Linux distributions. The list below is just a few of them.
Online Vendors selling Fedora and related Linux:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/OnlineVendors
LinuxCentral:
http://linuxcentral.com/catalog/?s_prod_name=Fedora&set_join=and&cat=search
If you are new to Linux, the second method is the best approach, since the DVD already has Fedora 7 that can be booted directly from the disc. The first method requires a couple of more steps of preparation before Fedora 7 can be used to install on a machine.
The new release is only available as a DVD format. With ISO image size of almost 3GB, it is not a simple click-and-download. I use cable connection to download Fedora 7 and it took me roughly 3 hours. If you have dial-up connection, downloading Fedora 7 is virtually impossible, which could take days and you are running the risk of getting corrupted files.
Preparing Fedora 7 ISO image
Windows OS
Fedora 7 ISO image can be downloaded on Windows platform. Once download is complete its ISO image can be packaged and burnt on a DVD disc so that Fedora 7 can be booted and install on a machine. To do that requires a program that can burn ISO image on a DVD disc. The link below is a program called infrarecorder that can do that:
http://infrarecorder.sourceforge.net/
Linux OS
If you use other Linux distribution and already have some familiarity with Linux, Fedora 7 can be burnt on a DVD disc via K3b CD/DVD burning program which is available almost on all Linux distributions.
INSTALLATION
Installing Fedora 7 in most cases is quite straightforward, especially for a simple system; because many of the steps can be automated. The question is how you want to install Fedora 7: single boot or dual-boot with Windows.
Fedora community is quite generous in terms of support. Even though, Fedora 7 has no technical support on the operating system, that doesn't mean that you are on your own. At Fedora web sites, there are forums and other links of documents to show new users how to prepare the system. The link below provides a complete documentation of how to install Fedora Linux, manage it, and much more.
http://docs.fedoraproject.org/install-guide/f7/en_US/
If that is not enough, there are tons of books on Fedora Linux. As much as there are books on Windows operating system, there are almost an equal number of books on Red Hat Fedora Linux. You might want to check out a few of these:
A Practical Guide to Red Hat Linux: Fedora Core and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Mark Sobell
Fedora Linux: A Complete Guide to Red Hat's Community Distribution, Chris Tyler
Fedora 7 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux bible, Christopher Negus
etc.
The nicest thing about getting a book on Fedora Linux is that it comes with a DVD media. Thus, you not only get a book to learn about Fedora but also an operating system.
While I personally have not used any of the above books, I have read books previously written by these authors; and I particularly recommend the one by Mark Sobell, which I have spent several hours at Barnes and Noble skimming through it and found it most valuable.
Hardware Requirement
In the old days Linux takes pride in bragging about its compatibility on hardware system – that is, it can run on the oldest or slowest x86 system ever existed. The reason is Linux is not a resource hog, unlike Windows XP or Vista. But can it yield productive work or provide ease of use? The answer depends on your required application. While Linux can run on any old system, for graphics applications and lightning-speed operation, the faster the hardware system is the more powerful Linux becomes. In terms of specifications, I would recommend the following hardware system:
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.0GHz or higher, AMD Athlon series 1.8GHz or higher
RAM: 512MB (Recommend 1024MB)
Hard Drive: 5-8 GB available space, recommend 20GB
Video: AGP/PCI-E 64MB or 128MB (256MB even better), with higher resolution
CD/DVD: DVD-ROM/DVD-RW burners
Needless to mention, the above listing is not the official hardware requirement from Fedora community, but based on my observation and benchmarking.
I still run Linux on my ten-year old x86 system: Intel Pentium III 350MHz, 192MB RAM PC100, 4.5GB hard drive, 8MB 4x AGP graphics card. Fedora 7 runs great on this slow machine; but in graphics mode, it is hopelessly slow.
By contrast, I run Fedora 7 on my dual-CPU machine with AMD Opteron 280 (dual-core) 2.4GHz each, 2GB of PC3200 RAM, 512MB graphics card, SCSI hard drives; and Fedora 7 is lightning fast!
Installation Method
Installing Fedora 7 from a boot disc is not the only method but is the most straightforward and easiest, especially for new users. There are other methods to install Fedora 7: FTP, NFS, ISO on HDD. I find installing Linux from a hard drive much more practical and faster on a single machine. But this requires having a Linux system already, where Fedora 7 ISO image can be stored on a partition prepared using Linux filesystem (or even Windows FAT32, known as vfat in Linux). I can boot from Fedora rescue CD or DVD and direct Fedora to install from a hard drive. For FTP, installation requires Internet connection. For NFS, it requires two machines one as a host file server and the other the install machine.
Single Boot or Dual-Boot?
Installing Fedora 7 as a single-boot system is quite straightforward. On a fresh hard drive, it can manage the disk space much more cleverly than before. It creates and uses a disk volume with three partitions and is able to expand its root partition when needed in case the system requires more space in the future.
As a dual-boot, Fedora 7 can coexist with Windows, and it can manage the configuration very well. This can be done with Windows already occupying the entire disk or with a partition already created for Fedora. If Windows OS uses the entire disk, Fedora can help resize the NTFS partition to make space available for the installation.
Fedora uses a boot loader called GRUB to help manage a boot menu. At boot-up, it presents a boot option: Linux or Windows. By default, it is configured to boot into Linux, but during installation it can be configured to default a boot into Windows if so desired.
The most important thing and greatest advantage in using a dual-boot is that files can be shared between the two operating systems. A separate partition created using FAT32 can be used to share files between Windows and Linux. This has always been my practice for using Windows and Linux as a dual-boot machine.
Installation Stages
During the first stage of installation, after selecting language, keyboard, creating partitions (mount points) for Fedora, choosing a host name and root password, the system prompts for option on package installation. For a default installation, Fedora will install packages suitable for a desktop/workstation with multimedia and office applications. For custom install, the user can select different packages. I prefer to fine tune the system by using various available programs, and therefore select the custom package, but limit the selection to speed up installation process, since many of them can be added later.
The second stage of installation (or Post Installation) finalizes sound card component. A SELinux security feature and special Firewall can be configured. This is where regular user accounts can be created (I only create one regular account, since they can be added any time), setting time/calendar. If Fedora detects that the system has Internet connection, a hardware profile from the current machine which is valuable to the development of future Fedora could be sent to Fedora community. A user has an option to send or not.
Packages: To Install or Not To Install
Like most any Linux distribution, Fedora 7 is not only an operating system, but a complete set of application programs for multimedia, Internet, office, school, gaming, server, software development, and much more.
Desktop Environment
With Linux, there is an option on desktop environment. By default, Fedora uses GNOME. If so desired, a KDE (K Desktop Environment) can be installed. I can also add another desktop environment called XFCE that uses much less system resources. My default desktop environment is GNOME, but I often switch to XFCE at log-in session to try something new.
Web Browser
Fedora uses the most secure and powerful FireFox version 2.0.0.3 as its default web browser under GNOME desktop environment. For KDE, it uses Konqueror. But each browser can still run on any desktop environment.
Media Software Packages
There are virtually hundreds of application programs, most are practical and powerful, some are still in development stage. I will list just those that I found very useful, those that I use everyday.
-- K3b version 1.0.1 (2007): a very powerful CD/DVD burning program
-- XMMS Audio Player (ver. 1.2.10): Audio player program, similar to WinAmp, that plays mp3, Wave, ogg, etc.
-- Sound Juicer (ver. 2.16.4): A CD extractor program
-- Rythmbox Music Player (ver. 0.10.0): Internet radio program as well as audio file player
-- Kaffeine-Xine: Video/mpeg player program
-- DVGrap: A video DV capture program
Office Applications
-- OpenOffice.org2.2: Word processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Database. Microsoft Office Suite compatible.
-- Kile (ver. 1.9): LaTeX typesetting program with front-end full-feature
-- GNU Texmaker: LaTeX text editor/processor program (alternative to Kile)
-- Evince (ver. 0.8.0): Document viewer, e.g., PDF.
-- KGhostView: Another document viewer for (.ps, .eps, .pdf).
-- Acrobat PDF: Another document viewer program, similar to above two
Graphics
-- GIMP (ver. 2.2): Extremely powerful image editor similar to Adobe Photoshop CS
-- F-Spot Photo Manager: Photo manager provides full-feature as viewer, editor, photo printer application, slideshow, etc.
-- gThumb (ver. 2.10.2): Image viewer for GNOME
-- GQViewer: Another image viewer/manager program
Host / Server Applications
I use Fedora 7 not as much as a server, but I do install a few programs to allow it to join a domain, to provide print service and networking. A few of them are: Clustering, DNS, FTP, MySQL or even Web Server itself.
Virtualization
Appeared in the previous Fedora Core 4 version, virtualization is an excellent technology that allows multiple operating systems to run on the same hardware as a virtual machine. The potential application of virtualization is not confined only in a server environment, but also in a workstation environment for better use of system hardware and its resources, multiple services and applications that can be executed separately and independently on a separate virtual machine. I am still learning this technology.
Software Development
Fedora 7 also includes software development such as C++ programming system, Perl, Python, FORTRAN, Java, etc. There are editors for these, such as emacs, xemacs, vi, etc. On my standard system using Red Hat Enterprise Linux, I install C++ programming system and its library, as well as FORTRAN, Perl, Python and Java, but I don't install them on Fedora 7.
My Installation Process
I am currently running Fedora 7 on two machines at home:
First machine:
CPU: AMD Opteron 280 (dual-core) 2.4GHz each, dual-processor configuration
RAM: 4x512MB PC3200 Reg. ECC Buffered RAM DDR400
Hard Drives: Fujitsu, Hitachi and Seagate SCSI hard drives
Video: ATI Radeon X1600 Pro 512MB
Second machine:
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.93GHz (FSB 533MHz)
RAM: 512MB PC3200 DDR400
Hard Drive: Fujitsu SCSI drive 73.5GB
Video: Integrated video on Asus PTGD1-LA motherboard (uses 32-64MB of memory)
For machine number 2, I install Fedora 7 along side Windows XP. I did not use Fedora 7 NTFS partition resizer. Instead, I used Linux fdisk utility to create separate partitions. I use the first and second as Fedora 7's boot and swap partitions. I use the third partition for Windows XP. Then I create extended partition with a few more logical partitions for Fedora 7's root, usr and home. I create the last partition as FAT32 to allow Fedora 7 to share files with Windows. I installed Windows XP first. Fedora 7 detected all the internal hardware components, including sound card, video graphics, Ethernet port, USB, and all the rest. Installation went smoothly without a single problem.
For system #1, I only install Fedora 7 as a test machine. So I use a small single hard drive Seagate ST336754LC (36GB), 15K RPM, to install Fedora and let it utilize disk volume setup feature. Installation also went very smoothly without a single problem. It detected all the internal hardware components: Audio, Ethernet, etc., as well as PCI add-on cards.
For software packages, I only install a few of them. Then, after installation, I went online to add those I listed above.
Filesystem
Fedora 7 Linux uses ext3 as its default filesystem. Other filesystems such as reiserFS or xfs can be used. On a dual-boot machine, Windows cannot access these filesystems. In other words, Windows does not recognize Linux partitions. That is why I need to prepare a partition formatted in FAT32 so that both operating systems can access it, read/write, and share files.
USING Fedora 7 Linux
My son's machine consists of a dual-boot as mentioned above. Fedora's boot loader GRUB uses a hide feature to hide its boot list during boot-up and flashes for 3 seconds before it boots Linux. A key must be pressed before the elapsed time to display the boot menu to select Windows. For a dual-boot, this is an inconvenient setup. So I edited the GRUB menu to comment out the hide feature during boot-up and set the elapse time to 25 seconds. The next time around during boot-up, GRUB menu is displayed on screen with Fedora 7 and Windows and a user can select boot option.
My son uses his machine to go online for his video games as well as watching youtube.com videos, and for educational games and other kids programmings. I often manage his system, mostly for system updates, removing and adding new programs, etc. Due to a shared memory on a 512MB physical RAM and onboard graphics, the system did not respond that well; but it never freezes or crashes.
To view online videos, FireFox has to have an Adobe flash and media player plug-in programs installed. Rythmbox Music Player has a lot of preinstalled online radio web sites, but many of the URL links of my online radio are incompatible. Instead, I use XMMS audio player program to listen to my online radio, such as www.977music.com. But to play mp3 format, I need to download XMMS-mp3 plug-in program and installed as a plug-in.
K3b burning program is excellent! With it I can burn CDs or DVDs. K3b is like NERO on Windows system. For CD/DVD media applications, it is perhaps the greatest program on Linux, with practical capabilities and features. For graphics, the GIMP image/photo editor is phenomenal, very powerful! Educational games are very useful, some teach kids fraction skills, algebra, solar system, periodic tables, and much more.
Due to CSS copyright format, Kaffeine cannot play commercial DVD movie, but it can play backup DVDs or homemade videos. One problem with Fedora 7 is that Red Hat tries to play it safe by excluding all programs that can be viewed as copyright violation. So Fedora 7 only has all free programs. However, there are a lot of programs available for download that can be added to make watching DVDs possible.
The nicest thing about Fedora 7 is that if any program does not respond, the system can force quit it, or it just let the program crash and ask root to clean it up later. In spite of some unstable application programs, Fedora 7 is impervious to any problems; it remains stable.
Hot-plug devices such as USB flash drives are now easier to use than ever. As long as the device is FAT16 or FAT32, Fedora 7 will mount that device on the desktop instantly for file access. Unmounting the device is also straightforward but must be done properly, that is, by telling Fedora 7 to unmount it.
My two printers, HP 7150 and HP1020 laser, are a mere plug-and-use devices. Of course, to install them requires a root password. For printing photo images, F-Spot Photo Manger program can do virtually anything.
My default desktop is GNOME. It has a very simple interface for managing files and folders as well as launching application programs. Its simplistic style could intimidate new users at times that it would seem impossible to get around or get things done. GNOME is often compared to KDE with interface far more richer almost better than Windows Explorer. GNOME or KDE each has its own way of getting things done, and a user can adopt either one to suit his/her taste. For someone coming from Windows, KDE would suite them well. The third desktop environment is XFCE. I occasionally use XFCE just to try something new; and it's a really nice desktop with interface of its own. With options on desktop environments, a user does not have to put up with a single desktop environment like Windows.
On my Windows system, I only have Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing postscript or pdf files. On Fedora 7, I have many options on these programs: KGhostView, KPDF, PDF View, Acrobat, Evince, etc. They all are excellent; but my favorite is KPDF since its the default viewer for Kile, which I regularly use to write scientific articles and various papers.
For Office work, OpenOffice.org2.2 (OOo) has all the applications with features similar to Microsoft Office suite, if you will. I am writing this review using OOo word processor. OOo has its own ways of getting things done very effectively, such as exporting files in PDF or HTML format. I use both MS Office and OOo, and in terms of compatibility, OOo can read MS Office files but not the other way around, unless OOo files are saved with MS format, and they can be done up to MS Office 2003. I often work on Word and Excel and read/edit them on OOo and save them back in MS Office 2003 format. But I'm not going to try to argue or convince you that OOo is excellent because it is compatible with MS Office files.
Security
Fedora 7 is extremely secure. On my Windows XP, I often observed that after I made online payment via Internet Explorer 6.0 using Paypal to pay for my eBay items, I immediately received an unidentified e-mail disguising as Paypal notifying me that there has been an unauthorized activity in my account and requires my immediate response by logging onto Paypal to verify my status; click on that e-mail will take me to a phishing web site by crooks who tried to fool me to give away my Paypal account/password, bank account information, my identity, etc. Bad news for them is that I have a safety net that Paypal is not allowed to contact me via this e-mail address. But, inexperienced or unaware users may fall into victim of these kinds of tricks. The whole point here is that someone was able to intercept my online activity through Microsoft Internet Explorer.
On Linux, when I make online payments using FireFox, I don't receive those unidentified emails anymore. The reason is because Linux and its web browser are very secure. This is only one real-world example of security.
Stability
Fedora 7 is extremely stable. Linux core operating system is separate from its GUI system. Its GUI is one that provides interface for the user. If any application program suddenly becomes unstable and crashes, it cannot take the whole Linux down with it. Fedora 7 simply “force quit” the program and keeps running. When that happens it gives a glass-break sound to prompt the user that the application program has crashed. I noticed that for a fast system this action takes place much quicker than a slow one. I use the term “gentle” because Linux is stable and does not give me any frustrations.
Hardware Compatibility
Fedora 7 is quite compatible with any hardware system available up to 2007. This means the current hardware. I installed Fedora 7 on a system I recently built using the most current hardware components (Biostar TF570 SLI motherboard with sophisticated onboard sound, dual Ethernet, etc); Fedora 7 detected and configured all internal components without a single problem.
In contrast, I have just learnt that my Windows Vista (32-bit) Business Edition could not configure my 6-year old NC100 (Fast Ethernet 10/100 Network Card). It came to me as a shock rather than a disappointment! Then I found out that other people had the same problem with this NIC card on Vista. (http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wired_Adapters&message.id=386)
Adding / Removing Packages
Fedora 7 has a simple add/remove feature to easily remove, update or add new programs. To perform this task, I need to provide a root password to Fedora. With my system connected to the Internet, new updates and new applications are immediately available at my disposal.
To avoid copyright issues, Red Hat has left out a lot of application programs which could have made Fedora 7 extremely powerful (or as many Windows users might say “useful”). But such programs are freely available for download and install on Fedora 7 to do all sort of applications. I regularly visit the two links below to download any programs to make Linux system highly capable. The greatest thing is that these two sites provide the most current programs available for Red Hat distribution.
http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages.php
http://rpmforge.net/user/packages/
There are a couple of ways to remove or add a program. For new users, the add/remove program in the application pull-down menu is the easiest. But to install programs that are not available at the update URL web site, this add/remove feature does not work. When I download a program, such as XMMs-mp3 plug-in, I have to install it manually. In most cases, if a program has already been packaged as rpm (RedHat Package Manager), I can just double-click the icon, provide the root password to the system when prompted, and the package installs instantly. It is available for use immediately without having to reboot.
Another way to install an rpm program is to use a text command “rpm -ivh packagename” at the root terminal. A regular terminal can be turned into root by typing “su” at the $ prompt and providing the root password. To uninstall a package, I need only issue the “rpm -uvh packagename” text command. I prefer to use the text command because it is simple and fast. In these text commands, “-i” means install; “v” is used to switch the system to display its actions, where “h” is for human understanding, in case, if there are any conflicts, I can understand them. Similarly, “-u” that follows the rpm command stands for uninstall.
An excellent book such as the one I listed above by Mark Sobell teaches a user to use text commands more often than the GUI (Graphics User Interface). Text commands should become second nature to Linux users because they are extremely powerful.
When looking for a program to add on Fedora 7, it is easier to find those that are already in rpm format. But any source file can be packaged into rpm format, it just requires extra work. The two links I provided above have all the rpm programs for Fedora. Even though many of them are for previous Fedora edition, I have installed a few that were packaged for Fedora 3 and they work fine on Fedora 7. The reason is because Fedora 3 and 7 still use the same kernel version 2.6.
Linux and Windows on the Use of System Resources
For a highly capable and fast hardware system, Linux makes use of hardware resources very effectively. To test this, I run Fedora 7 and Windows Vista (32-bit) Business on my system #1 with hardware components listed previously. I load a few large programs to run on each system and monitor how each uses its hardware resources. Below is a report for each platform.
Linux
My Fedora 7 was configured with 1900MB for virtual RAM (swap). I ran a couple of large programs (GIMP, Kile, OpenOffice, K3b, Kaffeine, Sound Juicer, and a few web browsers). The System Monitor reported as follows:
Load: Large programs running
Physical RAM: 325.5MB (out of 2GB)
Virtual RAM (swap): 0/1.9GB (0 indicates effective use of resources)
Idle: No load, Linux sits idling
Physical RAM: 269.2MB (out of 2GB)
Virtual RAM (swap): 0/1.9GB
I loaded up a few large photo images onto the GIMP, performed a few manipulations. The CPUs percentage indication fluctuated rapidly, the physical RAM changed slightly, but the virtual RAM always remained 0. In other words, if there is enough physical RAM, Linux does not touch its virtual memory. This means a very effective use of system resources.
Windows OS
The following is a report done under Window Vista Business (32-bit) on the same hardware. Paged file or virtual RAM was configured by Windows Vista to be 2473MB.
Load: Adobe Photoshop CS and InterVideo WinDVD
Physical RAM: 543MB (out of 2GB)
Kernel Memory:
Page (swap): 73MB
Nonpaged: 40MB
System
Paged File (swap): 788MB/4319MB
Total Physical RAM used: 30%
Idle: Only Windows Vista running (idling)
Physical RAM: 468MB (out of 2GB)
Kernel Memory:
Page (swap): 73MB
Nonpaged: 40MB
System
Paged File (swap): 640MB/4319MB
Total Physical RAM used: 22%
Windows uses the word “page” as a swap file, virtual memory. The above report indicated that no matter what situation Windows is in, it always makes use of a swap file (virtual RAM on hard disk), regardless of how much memory it has. This translates to an ineffective use of system resources.
During idling, Windows Vista Business uses 1.57 times the resource that Fedora 7 uses. In other words, Fedora uses 14% of system physical memory while Vista uses 22%.
Fedora 7 Linux is Not Perfect
Fedora 7 Linux is not perfect by any stretch of imagination. For a complicated internal hardware, Fedora 7 has problem configuring it correctly. Here is my Intel system:
CPU: Intel Xeon 2.4GHz (FSB 533MHz), dual processor, 32-bit, hyper-thread
Motherboard: Asus PR-DLS533 dual-Xeon 604-pin dual-socket
RAM: 2x1024MB and 4x256MB PC2100 Reg. ECC Buffered RAM DDR266, total 3GB
Hard Drives: Fujitsu, Maxtor SCSI hard drives, three total
Video: onboard ATI Rage 8MB graphics card.
Onboard graphics is so bad that I decide to use a better graphics card (ATI Radeon 9250 PCI 256MB). Asus PR-DLS533 does not have AGP or PCI-Express ports. Thus, a PCI graphics card is the only option. The BIOS does not have option to disable its onboard video in favor of PCI. Fedora 7 could not configure the ATI Radeon 9250 PCI graphics card. Since the onboard graphics also uses the PCI bus, Fedora 7 sees two identical graphics; and it has a conflict. However, Fedora 7 installs and configures the system fine with the onboard graphics. Only when I use the ATI Radeon 9250 PCI 256MB device that throws Fedora 7 off balance. Windows XP cannot configure this PCI card either. There is nothing wrong with the PCI card; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and Windows Vista (Business) can configure the card fine. I originally planned to use this system for Windows XP and Fedora and was disappointed to find that neither of them work. Now, I have to use this system for Windows Vista and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.
To be fair I think the problem is more of a conflict between hardware than the software.
Lack of Software on DVD
Fedora 7 lacks a number of programs that could make it highly powerful and capable. The DVD media does not even have enough programs to make it really useful. For example, during a disc installation, K3b, XMMS, and other multimedia programs are not available. Though, these can be added later via Internet connection. But for those who only need to use DVD media and do not have fast Internet connection are really out of luck.
Conclusion
Despite a few shortcomings mentioned above, Fedora 7 is excellent. Its new “Flying High” desktop background is simply awesome! Security and stability are among the key elements that prompt my high regards for Linux. Fedora 7 cannot do everything; but Windows cannot do everything either.
With Linux, I don't have to worry about viruses. I don't have to waste money buying those anti-anything programs, or worry about someone snooping into my system and stealing my confidential information. Linux always keeps hard drive clean. Unlike Windows, Linux does not leave fragmented files scattered throughout the disk for a user to clean them up. Thus, if the system is fast, it always remains fast, whereas on a Windows system, if a user does not regularly perform disk defragmentation and clean the hard drive, the system once used to be lightning fast will come to a crawl.
As a multi-user system, Linux is supremely flexible; it manages the use of system resources very effectively. Since most of my computer work is UNIX related, I find Linux system much more practical. If you are into gaming and multimedia, perhaps Windows still has a lot to offer. For everything else, Fedora 7 is an excellent alternative.
Recommended:
Yes
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