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Due to all the attention that is put on Ubuntu releases, it is often easy to miss what is going on in another distribution, such as Fedora. Fedora, too, though has some interesting features coming in Fedora 11, which should be out in May.
20 Second Boot Times It seems that everyone is suddenly realizing that their boot times are too slow. Windows, OS X, Ubuntu, Fedora, and, undoubtedly, countless other Linux distros are also at work reducing start times. Fedora is targeting 20 seconds, but that will, obviously, be very hardware-dependent.
EXT4 As Default File System Despite the EXT4 filesystem, which brings improvements in speed and reliability, only being released a little while ago, Fedora plans to make it the default filesystem for new Fedora installs.
Improved, Graphical Fingerprint Reader Support Fedora 11 will be featuring an easy-to-use GUI for configuring fingerprint scanners, unlike previous fingerprint software, which usually required that you run it from the terminal, which is not exactly the most user-friendly way for new users.
Windows Cross-Development With the help of Wine, Fedora is hoping to help eliminate the need to run a Windows machine just to write software for it. Pretty soon, you should be able to write and test a single set of code from a single computer and release versions for all operating systems.
What To Look For In Fedora 10
Previously, I covered some features that might be included in Fedora 10. Today, here are some interesting features that have already been approved.
Fedora 10 will feature two new desktop environments: Sugar and LXDE. Sugar is the desktop environment used on the OLPC XO laptop, making it a very interesting choice for Fedora. Perhaps more US schools will adopt it? It will definitely be interesting to see where it goes.
LXDE is a lightweight (and modular) desktop designed for everyday use. Although I have not used it myself, it seems to be a fairly promising desktop for older and lower-end computers, making it a good choice for inclusion in Fedora or any Linux distro.
Another interesting “feature” of Fedora 10 is going to be better support for HDTVs and remotes. Improving support for these pieces of hardware is a very good move, in my opinion. Linux has a lot of potential on HTPCs due to all the incredible software out there for HTPCs, so making all the hardware work out of the box would be great.
Finally, there is First Aid Kit. The plan for this feature is to create an easy way of using common recovery methods to rescue a messed up system. There is really almost nothing you can do to prevent people from accidentally messing up their systems, so the best approach is to create tools, like this, that can fix these problems.
Between this and the artwork, I think Fedora 10 will be a good release.
Top 4 New Feature Proposed for Fedora 10
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.
- 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 - 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 - 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.
Wiki Page - 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.
A Smart Feature of Ubuntu You May Not Have Noticed
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.
Ubuntu 8.04: Now With A Better Feature List
One issue that has been discussed a lot in the past few months is the need for better release notes or feature lists for distributions. With the recently released Hardy Heron (8.04), Ubuntu has taken a giant step in the right direction.
When you first go to Ubuntu.com, there is a large space dedicated to promoting Hardy Heron with three buttons to the right of it. Those buttons are “Download,” “Upgrade,” and “Find Out More.” None of this is really new, but what is behind the “Find Out More” link is.
After clicking “Find Out More” you are taken to this page. The page looks very professional and gives a nice description of some of the features of Ubuntu as well as screenshots. Additionally, to the right, is a navigation bar with links to more specifics about certain features. If you have not already seen this, you should really check it out. It looks great.
Although this is a huge step in the right direction, it could still be improved upon. My main, and really only, complaint has to do with the content. It has come a long way in becoming less technical, but it still largely focuses on the ordinary tasks that Ubuntu can do. This has to be a major part of the feature list, but more emphasis should be put on the cool or useful things that Ubuntu can do that other OSs cannot. One notable example of this is the lack on significant Compiz Fusion information. While there are some screenshots, Compiz Fusion is such a cool part of Linux that it should be heavily advertised.
Easy to understand features and advertising are very important towards promoting Linux and Ubuntu, so, although there is room for improvement, I am very happy to see Ubuntu taking a huge step towards creating a better feature list.