Fedora 9 DVD

Fedora 9 is an evolutionary enhancement to a distribution that continues to improve with each release. The Fedora project combines the benefits of Red Hat engineering with the freedom and flexibility of a community-based distribution. Red Hat uses Fedora as a test bed for technologies that might one day appear in the premium, enterprise-grade Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We are proud to bring you Fedora 9 as this month's Linux Pro Magazine DVD.

What's New?

This DVD comes with a re-spin version of Fedora 9 that includes bug fixes, security updates, and other improvements added since the official Fedora release.

New features in Fedora 9 include PackageKit, a single, easy-to-use package manager that supports a variety of package systems, as well as the FreeIPA security management application, and an improved version of the NetworkManger configuration utility.

Fedora's USB Creator tool lets you turn a USB stick into a bootable device and still keep the data that was already on the drive – Fedora calls this a "persistent, nondestructive" Live USB implementation.

The latest Fedora also comes with virtualization improvements and experimental Ext4 filesystem support.

Desktop

The KDE 4 and Gnome 2.22 desktops shipped with Fedora 9 usher in an assortment of additional improvements. Gnome 2.22 comes with a new webcam photo and creation utility called Cheese, as well as a new Remote Desktop utility, Google Calendar enhancements, and better support for digital TV.

KDE 4 offers the new Dolphin file manager, a new control center interface, and the new Plasma desktop shell.

Easy Install

Fedora's Anaconda installer provides a helpful interface for setting up your system.

Improvements to Anaconda include options for resizing ext2, ext3, and NTFS partitions, as well as support for creating encrypted filesystems. Anaconda comes with both graphic and text-based installation options, and if you are an administrator who needs to roll out a whole network, you can even automate installation with a Kickstart file.

Security Matters

Fedora's advanced security features are evidence of its Red Hat parentage. You'll find support for the SELinux mandatory access control system, as well as execution control features such as No eXecute and Position Independent Executables (PIE). Also inside Fedora 9 is support for ELF data hardening, buffer overflow detection, and restricted kernel memory access. The firewall management tool bundled with Fedora 9 offers easy and convenient firewall configuration from the desktop.

Try It!

Fedora 9 provides a rich feature base, simplified administration, and advanced security for the server room or desktop. The operating system is solid, robust, and compatible with almost any desktop environment.

We hope you enjoy this month's Fedora 9 DVD.

Figure 1: Fedora's easy installer lets you select either a graphic or text-based installation.

Figure 2: Manage your software configuration with the multi-distro PackageKit package manager.

Figure 3: The Firewall Configuration utility lets you manage firewall security from the desktop.

Figure 4: Configure SELinux policies from the SELinux Management menu option.