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Getting a Copy of Fedora

Fig 16. A mounted ISO image and a network moun...
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No matter how much we learn, there is always more we can learn. We hate to be regurgitating comments to our own blog posts, but we continue to admit it when we’ve learned something new. But another comment from the head of the Fedora Project prompted us to write this post, on how to get a copy of Fedora if we’ve sold you on the idea of trying it out.

If you aren’t certain whether you want to install Fedora to a computer, you can try a Live CD. Fedora comes in two basic flavors(until the next version, where there will be a change in architectures). A 32-bit and a 64-bit version. We use the 64-bit version, as our processors can handle it. You may need to check. 64-bit only comes into play if you have more than 3.5GB of RAM, but if your processor can handle it, why not use the version that matches your computer?

In addition to the OS installation DVDs, you can get a Live CD which will launch a fully operational version of Fedora off a CD, or install that image to a USB drive so your settings will be saved in between boots. The basic version is a standard desktop which can be used to install the base operating system, after which the remaining packages you want will be installed and downloaded. This is also the design Ubuntu offers.

The nice thing about Live CDs is that you can test drive the OS without committing to it. The standard Live CD,called the Desktop Edition uses Gnome as its default desktop. Fedora offers an alternate KDE Live CD. It also offers some custom spins, which is defined as “a community release that has been created using one of the Fedora remixing tools, preferably either Pungi (regular images) or livecd-creator (Live CD/DVD’s). Custom spins should be strict subset’s of packages available in the official Fedora repositories.” Which means no official spins which add MP3 or DVD codecs can be hosted by Fedora. Current official Spins include:

  • XFCE – A version of the Fedora Desktop Live CD that uses XFCE as the desktop instead of Gnome or KDE
  • BROFFICE – Fedora will have for the first time the BrOffice.org brand for the office suite. This spin is intended to be a Brazilian Portuguese localized spin that provides the legal brand for OpenOffice.org in Brazil.
  • FEL – Fedora Electronic Lab, a high-end hardware design and simulation platform. This platform provides different hardware design flows based on the semiconductor industry’s current trend. FEL maps in new design, simulation and verification methodologies with opensource EDA software.
  • DEVELOPER – Live DVD jam-packed with various development applications, such as Eclipse, Anjuta, git, cvs, lynx, emacs, and a hex editor; and build tools like GCC, Inkscape, Koji, createrepo, mock, rpmdevtools, rpmlint and much more.
  • AOS – A JeOS spin for building pre-installed, pre-configured, system images. The Spin consists of a small set of packages upon which the appliance building tools can be used. The spin is part of the Appliance Tools feature. This feature consists of a tools and meta-data that make it easier for anyone (ISVs, developers, OEMS, etc) to create and deploy virtual appliances.
  • EDU-MATH – Educational spin tailored toward mathematics and scientific applications
  • GAMES – A LiveCD with a showcase of games from Fedora. Here’s a list of included games.

Fedora offers direct download of ISOs, torrents, and Jigdo. We mentioned Jigdo in a previous post. It is a JIGsaw DOwnloader. It takes RPM package files and assembles them into an install image. We had wondered why the custom spins and Live CDs are not offered this way, and had sent several emails asking, with no response, till the Head of the Fedora Project(maybe we should name him a Gadget Wisdom correspondent) came back with this answer.

Jeroen van Meeuwen from our Spins SIG was kind enough to send me this information on Jigdo:

“The jigdo method of distribution basically works as follows: for every file in a .iso that you tell jigdo is available from somewhere else, it strips the file (or slice, or piece of the .iso jigsaw) from the .iso leaving you with a relatively small .iso.template (only the parts of the .iso that are not available from somewhere else) and a list of files you can get from somewhere else.

“Now, with installation media, this means there’s a small part of the .iso you need to download in the form of a .iso.template, while the rest (install.img, and all RPMs) is available from any mirror (and you are going to use the closest and fastest one).

“With Live media however, the contents of the .iso is just a few files. Some of them are really small (vmlinuz0, initrd0.img), while others are very large and make up 99% of the size of the .iso (osmin.img and squashfs.img). Splitting those slices from the .iso isn’t very useful, because you would end up downloading a small .iso.template, several very small files, and then one single beast of a file (squashfs.img).”

Hopefully this helps clarify our jigdo availability. Thanks for the question!

So, our assumption that this would be helpful was incorrect, and we learned something new. We look forward to sharing other things we don’t know as we share and enhance our Fedora knowledge.

And for the Fedora Project…give it a shot. You certainly have a lot of ways to experience it, from full immersion to merely dipping your toes in. Hmm…maybe we should become a Fedora Ambassador, although we have yet to get someone to switch to Fedora for good. We came rather close with one person, but he fell off the wagon and went back to Microsoft.

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Published on March 5, 2009
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Fedora 11, Updates and Migration

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We continue to want to write about Fedora, especially in light of our recent inspiration. We were reading this post on a blog about the fact that Fedora 11 will have roughly 60 new features, some of which we previously summarized. The last few releases have had less than half that. Today is the feature freeze for Fedora 11.

The author predicts these features will have other distributions rushing to catch up.  The beta freeze of F11 is in a week, with the Beta release on the 24th. The final release is set for the end of May.

Every time there is a new release of Fedora coming, we wipe and reinstall every system from scratch. Our preparations begin a month in advance, when we start mirroring the complete Fedora repository and the update repository for the release, as well as our favorite 3rd-party repositories. Every night, a cron job updates any changes made.

Jigdo allows us to use those files to assemble an install image. And we maintain the repository and keep it updated to keep our systems updated. As we mentioned previously, the new DeltaRPM system will save download bandwidth.

Creating a local repository is easy. You start with your installation DVD, if you have one, and copy the packages to a directory. Then, run the createrepo command on the directory(you may have to install it). The directory should be accessible on a local web server…we use lighttpd over apache for memory reasons(but more on that another time). Then, you can edit your yum configuration files in one of two ways…adding a local only repository file, or editing the existing files to redirect to the local server instead of one of the Fedora mirrors.

To sync a remote update use a command like this…

rsync -avrt rsync://mirrorsite/fedora/linux/releases/10/updates/x86_64/ /var/www/html/yum/updates/10/x86_64

Go to the Fedora Mirror List to find mirrors that work for you.

As a final step, the Fedora Unity project releases re-spins of the Fedora releases with updated packages, as well as the Fedora Everything spin, which is a multiple DVD release of the entire Fedora repository.

With hard drive space so cheap lately, and metered internet coming into vogue, this is a decent solution. Once one has the latest distribution, one has to figure out how to distribute it to multiple systems. We start by loading it onto one system, and breaking it in before distributing it elsewhere.

More to come…

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Published on March 3, 2009
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New Eees Worth Looking At

Eee Keyboard We wrote on the Eee Keyboard in January. Engadget checked out one of these at CeBIT. Asus included a 16GB SSD, 1GB of RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB ports, and HDMI/VGA outputs. And it includes a 5-inch 800×480 touchpad.The whole thing is powered by an Atom N270, the same processor many netbooks use.

We’d consider buying one of these. It would be great as a hookup to the TV as an HTPC or similiar.

The Eee Top is now available for pre-order on Amazon. It is a 15.6 inch touchscreen PC with built-in media apps. It would make a decent kitchen or second-bedroom PC, with its form factor. Asus is really leveraging innovation at using the small form factors it pioneered with the Eee Netbook and PC

Update: The EEE Top has now been discontinued. Please see future articles on this site for successors.

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Published on March 3, 2009
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Roku Video Player Preview – Amazon on Demand

Amazon VOD on Roku
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Roku upgraded Engadget’s Roku Netflix Player to the new offering for Amazon Video on Demand. The Netflix Player, to reflect this, will now be known as the Video Player. Amazon Video on Demand is the second service to be offered on the player. Roku is opening the platform to third-party channels, so eventually the $99 box will be able to stream from all kinds of sources.

Check out their thoughts, as well as a video of their testing here.

In the meantime, we’ll continue to wait for things like streaming from a home computer, Hulu, etc.

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Published on March 3, 2009
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MyMediaPlayer2 for Hulu Released

Techcrunch reported that developer Paul Yanez, who developed Adobe Air application My Media Player, which we posted about in November, has released a second version of his application. It features 400 TV shows and 208 movies from Hulu, and there is a full-screen mode that apparently works with a remote, as well as Twitter integration. The unfortunate problem is the application becomes disabled every time Hulu makes a major change to its service. Yanez suggests we email them to complain.

Yanez has released his framework and thoughts on building a media player. He wants it integrate with all web video, be easy to use, have a television style feel and be fully integrated with mobile devices.

If you don’t want to try Adobe Air, you can try the application out in a Browser window, by clicking here. Of course, it wasn’t working for us. Maybe we should complain to Hulu. It kept saying Video Unavailable.

We think Hulu should be developing an app like this themselves…or encouraging/hiring Yanez to do so for them. We’ve long complained about a lack of TV-like functionality on Hulu and other sites. And now, under pressure from content providers, these sites are limiting third party development of such software.

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Published on March 3, 2009
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More on Fedora

Linux distribution
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After our post yesterday on Fedora, we received a comment from Paul W. Frields, who is the Fedora Project Leader and chairman of the Fedora Project Board. He wrote:

I think the idea that we’re “regaining” users implies that we lost them somewhere along the way, which isn’t what our statistics show. Rather, as the total size of the Linux-user pie has become larger, we’ve continued to grow consistently. There will always be distro-hoppers looking for that elusive perfect Linux distribution — and more often than not, failing in that quest — but in general the strength of our development model, rapid release cycle, and putting the freshest software in front of users in a stable, easy to manage platform have retained users’ hearts for a long time. It’s true that we may not have the marketing push of Ubuntu; it’s a fine distribution and community, but given the choice between marketing features and creating them, we definitely choose the latter. We’re very happy that many of the features we create are adopted by other distributions, because that shows, first, the strength of the free software development model; and second, that our policy of working directly with the upstream, as opposed to creating a crazy quilt of technically questionable patches in our own distribution alone, is the winning strategy for long-term sustainability.

And he is right, we were inaccurate with the title. Fedora is improving its share of the overall Linux market, which continues to grow. There has been a lot of growth on the Ubuntu front, because of their aggressive marketing push. We’ve noticed developers seem to be releasing Ubuntu packaging and not is offering up-to-date Fedora packing.

Three pieces of software we’ve referenced on this blog come to mind. Dropbox, Boxee, and XBMC. Dropbox is a file sync application which offers a current Ubuntu package, but only a Fedora 9 rpm(which fortunately works with Fedora 10). XBMC and Boxee are both supported under Ubuntu, and maintained there, but require a series of source code hacks to work under Fedora.

Now, this is hardly a reflection on Fedora. XBMC and Boxee contain multimedia packages that Fedora cannot include for legal reasons…nor can Ubuntu for that matter. It is a reflection on our original point…essentially that Fedora(which we use) is gaining popularity. As Paul reminded us, one of the best parts of Fedora is that they work directly with upstream maintainers…those who write the packages Fedora is assembled from, such as the Gnome Desktop, which is a major part of multiple distributions, so that the alterations are done at a level above the individual distribution. Thus Fedora enhances the overall Linux experiences for all users, by being involved.

Reading a draft of this article on Fedora, it states that “the Fedora project has four basic foundations, the 4 Fs, its corner stones. Freedom, Friends, Features and First are the core values that govern us.”

“Freedom” represents the dedication to free software. It lays emphasis on the creation, usage and promotion of free, open source alternatives to proprietary or closed source solutions. Our aim is to provide software that is reliable as well as a hundred percent legally redistributable to everyone.

“Friends” signifies the strength of the community. The project consists of people from different parts of the world with different ideas and views with belief in Fedora’ s core values as their binding force. Everyone who wants to help is welcome at the community. Our decisions and steps are taken after a consensus is reached, as between friends!

“Features” represents our commitment to excellence. Fedora is responsible for the creation and constant improvement of software that takes the Linux world forward. It is for the benefit of all users of free software regardless of their distribution of choice.

Lastly, “first” represents our commitment to innovation. It signifies that every major step in the project is taken with a view of the future. Fedora is described as a bleeding edge distribution that always provides the latest available for Linux.

Fedora has some great features/goals for Fedora 11. They include, to name a few:

  • 20 Second Startup – Part of their continual goal to speed this up
  • Automatic Font and Mime Installer – Allowing programs on the desktop to automatically install fonts, codecs, and clipart
  • CrashCatcher – to help users with bug reporting
  • Ext4 – Replace the default ext3 partitioning scheme with ext4, its successor.
  • Updating the following included programs: Firefox to version 3.1, gcc to 4.4, Gnome to 2.26, NetBeans to 6.5, Python to 2.6, Thunderbird to 3, Xfce to 4.6, Xserver to 1.6.
  • Improved Fingerprint Reader support
  • Multiseat support – making it easy to  a single computer to operate with independent keyboard, mouse, and monitor for multiple users
  • Improve Power Management
  • Presto – Presto supports upgrades using DeltaRPMS. A DeltaRPM is a file that only has the differences between the last version of the software and the new one, allowing it to be much smaller. The DeltaRPM can be used to generate the updated package. This will reduce overall load on servers by not requiring users to download pieces of a file they already have.
  • Volume Control improvements – There have been problems with volume control since Fedora added Pulseaudio
  • Windows Cross-Compiler – Allows users to compile Windows programs without Windows

And many more…We look forward to enjoying them.

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Published on March 2, 2009
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NBC Direct offering HD Downloads of Shows

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For Windows only, NBC is offering an application that runs in the background and can download and watch shows offline. It works with Firefox or Internet Explorer, and contains both ads and restricted use, ensuring you can’t copy the files or transfer them to your mobile device.

Now, DRM annoys us, but ultimately, we understand it on any service offered free. We hate it on services we pay for. The software also has some downsides. By installing it, you agree to be added to the NBC P2P(Peer-to-Peer) network. So other NBC Direct users will be downloading files from your computer as you download from theirs…essentially the same system BitTorrent uses.

We object to this, as from what we’ve read, it gives NBC too much control over your connection speed. We like the idea of being able to download a file and play it, eliminating the buffer issues that plague so many of these sites. But in an ideal universe, we’d prefer digital rights management implemented in the following manner.

You download a video file. If it is to be done by P2P, a P2P client can be used. Or direct download can be offered. The DRM is in the player. The file is impossible to decode without a locked player that requires an internet connection to work to get a decryption key. And the key can be cached along with the ads to work for a certain number of hours without an internet connection. We haven’t thought out the details of how this might work, but this is similar to some schemes used before. It would also allow copying to any computer that had the player installed. We’ll leave it up to the content providers to consider this. Furthermore, if they build this player on a platform offered on Flash or Silverlight, both of which have or will soon have Linux support and already have Mac support, they can ensure the same piece of software will work on any system.

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Published on March 1, 2009
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Fedora Regains Users

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We’re Fedora users. Sure, Ubuntu is more popular, and openSuse and other distribution are gaining popularity, but we started with Red Hat 6 many years ago, and have had an installation of each of the Fedora distributions since. They are up to Fedora 10, and we are talking about distributions of Linux, for those of you not familiar with them.

Two years ago, Eric S. Raymond, a Linux evangelist, commented:

“Over the last five years, I’ve watched Red Hat/Fedora throw away what a near-unassailable lead was at one time in technical prowess, market share and community prestige. The blunders have been legion on both technical and political levels.”

Now, we can agree that Fedora has had some problems finding its voice. But now, Paul Frields, the Fedora Project leader, declared that since the release of Fedora 10, they’ve counted about 1 million new installations and approximately 2 million unique visitors to fedoraproject.org each month. Checking out the Ranking of various distributions on Distrowatch for the last 12 months, Fedora is #4, beaten by, in order, Ubuntu, openSuse, and Mint. The site is not a fully accurate indicator of usage, but it does provide a baseline to consider.

openSuse, is a project sponsored by Novell. Mint is a distribution based on Ubuntu whose goal is to provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including browser plugins, media codecs, support for DVD playback, Java and other components. Fedora doesn’t include these things in the default distribution for legal reasons.

Fedora 10 included many significant changes, including a new graphical boot system called Plymouth, and boot-time improvements. Speeding up the boot process is a major push for all Linux distributions right now, and developers are looking at unnecessary delays they can remove, such as probing for obsolete hardware, and how they can present the startup screen while loading certain things in the background, so the user can start working while programs are continuing to load. Fedora continues to push the envelope with new technologies, and while there are still some issues even we admit it has.

To map our improvements…wireless support has been vastly improved over the last few versions, and has worked out of the box for us with few disconnects. Some elements of any distribution are upgraded versions of software included…such as the latest version of OpenOffice. For these, any problems cannot be blamed on Fedora itself, except in how the various pieces fit together. So far, no complaint on that front. Multimedia support under Fedora is a bit tricky, because Fedora, for legal reasons, cannot include proprietary codecs, including ones for MP3 or DVD. But there are a variety of start guides that take you through adding 3rd-party support.

For video DVDs, which are encrypted, there is no software you can license to play them. There is only a decryption program which is open-source, and thus disapproved of by the DVD industry, despite the fact they’ve offered no alternative. So, it can be done, but it can’t be included in any distribution to avoid lawsuits.

We’re glad that Fedora is regaining users. We’re hoping it means more projects, Boxee, for example, release their software in Fedora-compatible packaging. We’ve thought about migrating one or more systems over to Ubuntu, but we know the ins and outs of Fedora design, and sometimes you stick with what you know.

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Published on March 1, 2009
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More About the Kindle 2

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We continue to admire the Kindle, as we emphatically state it is too expensive a toy for us to consider seriously. For those of you wishing to see shots of the Kindle and drool, Engadget has some great closeups.

More interesting is Crunchgear’s 10 Reasons To and Not to Buy a Kindle. Here’s our version of it:

Reasons to Buy a Kindle

  1. It’s great for travel.
  2. You can email DOC, TXT, and PDF files to your Kindle email address for conversion…but it costs 10 cents.
  3. It looks and feels great. It is only grayscale…with 16 shades on the new Kindle 2, but it offers a clear reading surface. We’ve heard color is in the future. Amazon designed a solid piece of hardware overall.
  4. Almost any book is available at any time. As more and more publishers offer their content in Ebook form, the amount of books you can’t get is limited to the rare. Even an out-of-print book can be resurrected and offered.
  5. It can work in a variety of situations that paperbook books would be cumbersome in.
  6. The bookmarking and highlighting systems have been improved for the Kindle 2, but overall they add the ability to mark up your E-book and return to sections the way you might in a real book.
  7. The dictionary is now integrated. Also…having a dictionary at all built in to look up terms you don’t know.
  8. It is the future. Reading is going in this direction. We doubt paper books will die. But E-books are going to be a major part of the market.

Why NOT to buy a Kindle

  1. The Kindle is not conducive to research or reference. Page changing and book style searching are not at the speed/rate you could browse through a book. You can’t flip through and find what you are looking for.
  2. It isn’t ready for students…a market that could really use a Kindle. Not only are there price issues, and textbook availability issues and the one mentioned above.
  3. The Kindle is thin, and not exactly rugged. Of course, that is what a good case is for.
  4. The net connection isn’t available internationally.
  5. No expansion slot. The Kindle 2 has no SD slot, or any provision for add-on memory.
  6. It is battery operated and most be charged periodically. Books never run out of batteries. The battery also makes it bottom heavy.
  7. There is still a value to the printed book.

What are your thoughts? Coming up…more of where to get and use e-books less a Kindle.

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Published on February 26, 2009
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Streaming News

Diagram of Unicast Streaming
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A few choice tidbits for those of you following our continual coverage of streaming video.

  • Netflix will offer Streaming-Only Plans. The company still remains focused on providing a bundled offering, but expects that some viewers will find a stand-alone streaming service to be compelling, particularly as more compatible devices become prevalent. Netflix streaming is already a feature of the Roku Netflix player, the Xbox, and some LG Electronics products. No word as of now on price.
  • Cable provider Comcast is in talks with its content providers and with other cable and satellite companies to discuss putting their programming online. The service would allow subscribers to watch shows online for free as soon as possibly this summer. It is seen as a preemptive strike against the possible loss of customers who opt to watch content online. One major issue in agreeing to an online service is the low level of revenues generated by Internet advertising compared to TV revenue. Comcast’s goal is to authenticate subscribers who go to certain sites, creating a “wall” behind which content providers may feel more comfortable releasing their materials.
  • On a related post, a commenter pointed out that with internet metering and bandwidth caps coming into fashion, these companies might induce usage of their services over others by not counting streaming from them against the meter.

Either way, interesting developments seem to be on the way. Keep posted…

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Published on February 25, 2009
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