Red Hat Releases RHEL 5.4
Announced at the Red Hat Summit in Chicago, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 5 update intends to set the groundwork for future virtualization products and cloud computing.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 concentrates foremost on virtualization and cloud computing. The new version should become the basis for the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization product still planned for release this year. According to the company's announcement, with RHEL 5.4 it is the first provider to support Intel's VT-d virtualization technology and PCI-SIG's Single-Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) specification. However, Red Hat assures customers still using Xen virtualization that they can continue with it through the full lifecycle of RHEL 5 releases.
RHEL 5.4 is still only an update to the major release with the minimum of changes. The Kernel version continues to be 2.6.18, albeit with a series of backported patches such as for the WLAN stack, ext4, XFS and virtualization support. Red Hat provides details on the changes in their Kernel technical notes for RHEL 5.4. The release also includes the newest GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) version 4.4.
On the desktop, Red Hat improved audio and video card support and fixed the rebooting on undocking/docking problem. Some of the version numbers are rather archaic: KDE users will get 3.5.4 and GNOME is in version 2.16.
Customers with active RHEL 5 subscription will get the new version as an automatic update. New buyers for server products can expect to pay from $349 for a basic subscription; the desktop version starts at $80.
Issue 241/2020
Buy this issue as a PDF
News
-
Ubuntu 20.10 now supports Raspberry Pi
Ubuntu 20.10 is the first release from Canonical to support the Raspberry Pi single board computer.
-
A New Linux Distribution has been Released
Emperor-OS is a new Linux distribution focused on programming, developing, and data science.
-
Ubuntu Groovy Gorilla Beta Available
The beta version for Ubuntu’s latest release is now available for testing.
-
Microsoft is Finally Set to Release Edge Browser for Linux
Chromium-based MS Edge browser will soon be available for testing on Linux.
-
Lenovo Now Offering Ubuntu 20.04 as an Option
Lenovo is making good on its promise to support Linux as a pre-install option.
-
Linux Deepin 20 Released
One of the most beautiful Linux distributions on the market has been refreshed.
-
A New Version of Zorin OS is Now Available
Fan-favorite, Zorin OS 15.3 is officially available.
-
Lenovo Now Offering Fedora Linux as an Option
Lenovo is making good on their Linux promise by adding Fedora into the mix.
-
System76 Launches New High-End Laptop
System76 has unleashed a beast of a mobile workstation.
-
Mozilla Lays Off Staff, Receives More Cash
In a restructuring move, Mozilla lays off 250 employees, but then inks large deal with Google.