Since I have been writing about Ubuntu a lot recently, I thought I would look at some proposed features for Fedora 10. No features have been officially approved yet, so these are just proposals.

1. Web-Based Software Portal - Somewhat similar to CNR or Linux Mint, it looks like Fedora might have a website users could visit and search for software on. To install the software, they would presumably download a small file that tells a special program how to install the program.
   Wiki Page
2. Live CD Without the CD - Instead of creating a program like Wubi to let you do a special partitioning-free installation from Windows, the plan here is to make a Windows program that essentially lets you run the live CD straight from the ISO image on your hard drive.
   Wiki Page
3. Improved Support for Fingerprint Readers - This means not only supporting the hardware, but also making it easy to use a recognized fingerprint reader as a primary (instead of a password) or secondary (in addition to a password) form of authentication.W
   Wiki Page
4. Fedora Lite - Similar to how Ubuntu has Xubuntu, a variant designed for older computers, Fedora could create “Fedora Lite,” a version of Fedora for older/less powerful computers.
   Wiki Page

Obviously, there is no guarantee that these features will be part of Fedora 10, but if they are, it looks like it could be an incredible release, particularly for new users.

With Intrepid Ibex Alpha 1 out the door, I decided to take an early look at some of the cool new proposed artwork for Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex. Obviously, the artwork out now is likely to change a lot, but it is still interesting.

“Clear”

This theme very much maintains the current brown-orange theme, even making it a little darker, but manages to make it look really smooth with the gradients. Paired with a new background, this could be a real candidate for a final theme. My only concern is that it could be too dark and, therefore, unappealing to some people.

Wiki Page

“Sunny Ibex”

Going for a much lighter feel and nicely incorporating the Ibex, this background could appeal to those who dislike brown. In fact, this might be a great choice as a color base, because of its lighter feel.

Wiki Page (scroll down some)

“Kith Intrepid”

Another theme that looks like a potential candidate for the final release, although this theme goes for a lighter, more orange look, which could be a plus or a minus, depending on your tastes.

Wiki Page

“MadsRH”

This is certainly an interesting and new idea for the boot up process. I do not know how difficult this would be to implement, but it would be cool.

Wiki Page (scroll down some)

“Everything Moves”

This last idea has no images to show off, but it still attracted my attention. To quote from the description:

“the ultimate aim being that whenever a user passes a mouse over any icon or a window bar or clicks or minimizes or maximizes a window or opens a menu there is a number of different rapid responses, colorful little glows everywhere whenever something is done, nice little sparkles or ripples when an icon is added to a desktop”

This sort of eyecandy would not be too intrusive or annoying, but would be incredibly cool.

Wiki Page

I hope this quick preview of some of the possible artwork for Intrepid Ibex has been interesting. Hopefully the final artwork will be even cooler!

This weekend I discovered a feature of Ubuntu that I think is so interesting is has to be posted here. I am sure most of you are familiar with the orange spiky blob that appears to tell you there are updates available. Over this weekend, a different icon appeared in place of the blob - a bright red down-arrow with an exclamation point in the middle. This icon indicates important updates, mostly security-related.

So why is this such a great idea? After all, it is just an icon. What is big deal?

Ubuntu, and most Linux distributions, don’t try and force you to let your computer automatically install updates. This makes sense, because, generally speaking, Linux users want more choice and are tech-savvy enough to remember to do the updates on their own, with a little reminding from an orange spiky blob of course. This means, however, that when a less tech-savvy user starts running Ubuntu on their desktop, they might miss important updates. At least they might if the red icon did not exist.

The orange blob blends into the interface well and is so often up there that it is easy to ignore if you don’t look for it. The red exclamation icon is far less easy to ignore for three reasons. First, it does not blend into the interface as well as orange does, making it easier to spot. Second, it rarely appears, making its appearance even more noticable. And third, people link the color red with danger. For these three reasons, even someone who misses the normal updates will at least see the most important updates, keeping them at least fairly safe.

With the gPC, the Shuttle PC, and now the new Mirus PC (Linspire/Freespire PC,) the market for $200 Linux desktops seems to be getting filled up with a lot of something-PCs that all seem about the same at first glance. When you look carefully at the specs and the marketing behind each PC, though, you can see the niche it is targeting. Lets start by looking at the basic specifications for each product:

Mirus PC
Processor: Intel Celeron D 420 1.6Ghz
RAM: 1GB
Hard Drive: 80GB
Optical Drive: CD-RW
Accessories: Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers

gPC
Processor: VIA C7-D 1.5Ghz
RAM: 512 MB
Hard Drive: 80GB
Optical Drive: CD-RW
Accessories: Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers

Shuttle PC
Processor: Intel Celeron Something
RAM: 512GB
Hard Drive: 60GB (Shuttle told News.com 60GB or 80GB which I suspect means that 80GB will be an option that costs more.)
Optical Drive: None
Accessories: None

So what is each one the best for? The Shuttle is great for someone who cares about the appearance of their computers. It is a very small form factor PC and it looks very simple, clean, and generally well polished. Unfortunately, the specs are not so great. The lack of an optical drive in particular could be a big problem the next time you want to, well, do anything with a CD. In terms on raw power, the Mirus PC wins with its 1GB of RAM. The gPC is in the middle in terms of the specifications, but it advertises itself as the “green PC,” showing off the VIA processor and other unusual hardware. As a summary:

The Shuttle looks the best, but lacks in hardware, the gPC advertises itself to the eco-conscious, and the Mirus wins in the performance category.

As we near the end of the year, The DistRogue has already posted their summary of the major news this year for each of the major distros, but the post does not cover the big overall Linux news stories. So I thought I would cover a few of the big things that have happened for Linux as a whole.

Perhaps the most interesting things to happen this year has been the amazing number of low-cost, and very successful, Linux PCs. I already wrote a lot about it here, but basically it seems like the trend is for consumers to want PCs where for some reason fancy hardware is not possible, making Linux the only good choice due to Vista’s high requirements.

Another related story, although much older, is Dell beginning to sell computers with Ubuntu. In addition, Dell has continued to show support for open-source software by beginning to sell Ubuntu and other Linux OSs in other countries.

Although this is not strictly Linux news, and for that reason I have not covered it here before, Vista, which was released earlier this year, received mediocre reviews, and caused many people to consider alternative OSs to Vista.

I am sure I missed some important news stories, so post whatever you think the most important stories have been in the comments.