Tag: Linux distribution

Calling on Linux

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The results of Lifehacker‘s Hive Five for Best Linux Distributions came out this week. Taking the lead are Debian-based distributions Debian, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint. Mint is a version of Ubuntu which is a version of Debian. Behind them was Fedora, our distribution of choice, then Gentoo. Fedora, is, of course, the distribution used by Linus Torvalds, the Father of Linux. We’ve stated and continue to state our thought about Linux on many occasions.

Coming in, interestingly enough, on the heels of the announcement was the release of Presto Beta. Presto is a $20 paid(or will be when it moves out of beta on April 13th) distribution of Linux based on Xandros, and is billed as a fast-loading Linux desktop you install from Windows. It was built for boot-up speed, and intends to give laptop users an alternative system to jump into when they really just want to do something quick without having to wait for a full OS to boot up. Manufacturers have been offering an alternate instant-on Linux-based system called Splashtop, which they have embedded into chips on many motherboards.

We are looking forward to the next version of Fedora, where they are trying to achieve a goal of a 20-second to login-screen startup. They may not reach it, but we’re sure they’ll get the time down as much as they can. We also, despite our interest in out-of-the-box bundles, can suggest a variety of tweaks for many Linux distributions to scale them down.

For example, Fedora and Ubuntu defaultly use Gnome as its desktop manager. Gnome can be replaced, for example, with XFCE or LXDE, both more lightweight. LXDE is recommended for netbooks for that reason. Openbox is a lightweight Window manager that will work under Gnome and offers many memory improvements and simplifications over alternatives. XFCE is another lightweight desktop manager, offered as the primary desktop on a special custom spin of Fedora.

With a few simple tweaks, one can get good results out of any Linux distribution on one’s hard drive. And the distributions, not just Fedora, are working on the issue as well, looking for places the default configuration can be altered to remove unnecessary or redundant commands that slow it, or for places to optimize.

For those of you with netbooks, check out this review of several custom spins of various Linux distributions optimized for netbooks. We have yet to see a community supported distribution of Fedora for netbooks, but we are sure someone will jump on that. Until then, we also wonder if there is a way to configure the boot loader to offer booting up into a stripped down desktop/window manager and configuration or a full Gnome launch, allowing you to switch between the two on the same OS from startup. If there isn’t, might be worth setting up.

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More on Fedora

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Linux distribution
Image via Wikipedia

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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Fedora Unity Does a Release

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Image representing Fedora as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase

We’re devotees of Fedora Linux, despite alternatives, and the incredible popularity of Ubuntu, which we have spent some time with. But we started with Red Hat 7, and with Fedora as its successor, we know more of the ins and outs of this distribution.

Tonight, we’re using to Jigdo to assemble new DVD images, as the Fedora Unity project has released a Fedora 10 re-spin. For those of you not familiar with these things, some background.

Jigdo is a wonderful thing, and has been used by various Linux distributions for some time, and only recently as a method for Fedora distribution. The idea is this…a CD or DVD for a Linux OS is merely a compilation of various software packages and configuration files. Instead of downloading an entire image, Jigdo assembles it from its components. This has several advantages…for one it doesn’t tax any one site. Jigdo, given a mirror list, can download files from multiple sites to assemble its image.

The Fedora Unity Re-Spin is a Jigdo image of the standard Fedora installation media, using any updates that have been released since the original release. Thus, if you install Fedora 10 on a new system, you don’t then have to download a few hundred megabytes of updated files to each system. We maintain a local mirror we use to update multiple systems at one time, and using it and Jigdo, can assemble a new installation DVD in less than 5 minutes.

The glaring gap in the Fedora Jigdo release is that specialty Fedora spins are not released as Jigdo templates. Fedora offers LiveCDs and custom distributions of various types, and these are distributed only as ISOs.

Either way, the Re-Spin system is a good one, and Fedora Unity provides a service. For those of you still on Windows, check out this Lifehacker article on their equivalent, known as slipstreaming.

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