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DistributionsLooking at Fedora 14 and Ubuntu 10.10Watching Ubuntu and Fedora development is something like watching episodes of Iron Chef: Given roughly the same ingredients and the same amount of time, the two projects produce vastly different dishes. The Fedora 14 and Ubuntu 10.10 release cycle is particularly pronounced in this regard, with Ubuntu's focus largely on refining improvements from 10.04 and Fedora introducing major changes to the infrastructure. The two distributions follow largely the same development cycle, six months between releases with new major releases each Spring and Fall. Ubuntu's next release is scheduled for October 10th, while Fedora 14 was scheduled for October 26th, but slipped by a week and is now scheduled for November 2nd. Even though the two distributions ship roughly the same software, the difference in features that have been emphasized by each is significant in the upcoming releases. It almost goes without saying that F14 and Ubuntu 10.10 include the normal array of package updates for the usual suspects like Firefox, the Linux kernel, etc. Fedora's feature list largely consists of infrastructure improvements and developer-oriented updates. For example, some of the features scoped for F14 include providing a GNUstep development environment, updating to Perl 5.12, updating to Python 2.7, and adding Rakudo Star — the first production release of the Perl 6 implementation for the Parrot virtual machine. In contrast, Ubuntu 10.10 ("Maverick Meerkat") has more conservative developer tools, with Python 2.6.6 and Perl 5.10 still the defaults in the beta release. Rakudo doesn't seem to be available at all. Fedora has also adopted a new version of the libjpeg library, libjpeg-turbo, which is still awaiting packaging in Ubuntu. In short, Fedora is sticking to its philosophy of shipping free software first. Fedora is also being adventurous with its init system. The project is in the process of switching to systemd, an alternative to the venerable System V Not surprisingly, many of F14's features are likely to be important to Red Hat for future Red Hat Enterprise Linux releases. Assuming all goes according to plan, F14 will also be the first release to include support for Spice. The Spice project is designed to provide high-quality remote access to virtual desktops, allowing users to run several Linux or Windows clients via QEMU on a single server and display the clients on remote machines. It's not something that will appeal to many home users, but the ability to run many client OSes on a single server and display on remote clients via Virtual Device Interfaces (VDIs) will appeal to large organizations. Fedora 14 is also road testing features for Multipath install, which is to say Storage Area Network (SAN) devices. Again, not something that will really appeal to the consumer desktop market, but important to larger organizations. Compared to the Ubuntu 10.04 release, Maverick seems like a fairly modest update. Many of the new features in 10.10 focus on Ubuntu-specific features like the Ubuntu One services offered by Canonical and supported by software shipped with Ubuntu. In particular, the release includes a number of improvements to the Ubuntu Software Center, with a focus on the "For Purchase" section. Presumably the idea is to offer proprietary packages within Ubuntu following the 10.10 release. So far, the only package to show up is the Fluendo DVD player, which is priced at $24.95. The Software Center has received a number of usability enhancements and is very polished now. For instance, it now shows where an application has been installed — something that may have confused some users. For programs like Firefox, the Software Center can also show add-ons or extensions, so users will be able to easily find plugins or extensions packaged for the software. The history of packages installed, updated, or removed by the Software Center is also displayed by date and action. When comparing the Software Center and the PackageKit front-end for Fedora side by side, PackageKit is much less polished and user friendly. Ubuntu has also worked on refining the Ubiquity installer for 10.10. Whereas the Fedora Project is trying to tackle more complex storage and so on, Ubuntu is working on hiding the complexity of partitioning disks and dealing with storage as much as possible. Ubuntu now presents a dialog at the beginning of the install suggesting that "for best results" the machine be plugged in, and that the system should be connected to a network. Ubuntu also offers to install things like Flash and MP3 support, though they're not shipped on the disc. Unfortunately, while it suggests being connected to a network is a Good Thing, it doesn't offer a way to actually configure wireless networking at install time if the system is not connected via Ethernet. The partitioner has also been simplified, and has a positively Mac-like feel. Fedora and Ubuntu are also diverging significantly with the netbook experience. Fedora is scheduled to include the MeeGo 1.0 UX experience for F14, though it doesn't seem to be packaged for the alpha release. Ubuntu, on the other hand, is pursuing its own netbook experience called Unity (which is somewhat ironic, since Ubuntu is going it alone) that is not based on MeeGo (or Moblin which was the earlier basis for Ubuntu's netbook distribution). One thing that won't be appearing in Ubuntu 10.10 is the much talked about Ubuntu Font Family that's being designed outside the community. The Ubuntu font is currently available to Ubuntu Members through a Private Package Archive (PPA), but doesn't appear to be ready for release with 10.10. Ubuntu has also included more refinements of its indicator applets in GNOME and improved the sound controls so that if the user is listening to Rhythmbox, some simple playback controls (play/pause, forward, backward) are included in the drop-down control. The next release for Ubuntu is the release candidate, scheduled for September 30th. The Fedora 14 beta, taking into account the slip, is now scheduled on September 28th. Both releases seem to be shaping up well, if very differently — as befitting the focus of the distributions and projects. Ubuntu 10.10 is a polished consumer OS that is well-suited for users who are new to Linux, or just prefer a desktop system that's easy to use. Fedora's developer-centric approach makes for an OS that is easy enough to use, but better suited for developers or experienced users who want to tinker with technologies before they make an official appearance in RHEL and other distributions. Ubuntu, on the other hand, is the end result of development rather than the beginning. Many of the changes in 10.10, e.g. the Ubuntu One improvements and the application indicators, are unlikely to show up in other distributions (excepting, perhaps, Linux Mint).
New Releases Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 updatedThe Debian project has announced the sixth update of its stable distribution Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 ("lenny"). "This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the stable release, along with a few adjustment to serious problems. Please note that this update does not constitute a new version of Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 but only updates some of the packages included. There is no need to throw away 5.0 CDs or DVDs but only to update via an up-to-date Debian mirror after an installation, to cause any out of date packages to be updated."
Linux Mint Debian (201009) releasedLinux Mint has announced the first release of the Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). "Today is very important for Linux Mint. It's one day to remember in the history of our project as we're about to maintain a new distribution, a rolling one, which promises to be faster, more responsive and on which we're less reliant on upstream components. Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) comes with a Debian base, which we transformed into a live media and on top of which we added a new installer. It's rougher and in some aspects not as user-friendly as our other editions, it's very young but it will improve continuously and rapidly, and it brings us one step closer to a situation where we're fully in control of the system without being impacted by upstream decisions."
openSUSE 11.4 Milestone 1 releasedThe openSUSE project has announced the release of openSUSE 11.4 Milestone 1."M1 starts off openSUSE 11.4 development at a cracking pace with performance improvements in the package management network layer and version updates to major components."
Ubuntu 10.10 Beta (Maverick Meerkat) ReleasedUbuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) beta is available for testing. The Ubuntu 10.10 family of Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu, have also reached beta status. Maverick Meerkat is scheduled for a final release on October 10, 2010.
Distribution News Distribution quote of the week
I'm kind of sympathetic towards the point of view that that's a perfectly sound goal for an operating system, but it may not necessarily be the best goal for the Fedora operating system to pick. Just because that's the target of Windows and OS X doesn't mean it has to be ours.
-- Adam Williamson
For a start, there's already plenty of Linux distributions besides Fedora with those goals. To put it bluntly, there's Ubuntu, and Ubuntu's doing a fairly decent job of being Ubuntu. I've argued before that it's somewhat dangerous for the overall ecosystem for Ubuntu to drive out all competitors, and to an extent I stand by that, but OTOH, I'm not entirely sure that being Ubuntu's token competition is the best thing Fedora can be.
Debian GNU/Linux Release Update: freeze guidelines, transitions, BSP, rc bug fixesThe latest Debian release update looks at the freeze status, bug squashing parties and RC bugs. Also, the next development version of Debian will be called "wheezy".
Fedora Fedora Board Meeting Recap 2010-09-03Click below for a recap of the September 3, 2010 meeting of the Fedora board. Topics include F14 beta, outstanding community domain requests, and more.
Other distributions GNU/Linux powers state-of-the-art hearing aid research64 Studio Ltd. has created a Linux distribution for HörTech gGmbH to aid in research on hearing impairment and augmentation technology. "64 Studio was commissioned by HörTech to create a GNU/Linux real-time audio distribution, code-named Mahalia, optimized for the Lenovo Thinkpad X200 notebook. Giso Grimm of the Carl von Ossietzky-Universität Oldenburg explained: "We prefer to use ready-to-use Linux audio distributions over patching the kernel ourselves, since our expertise is in signal processing, not kernel development. When we were faced with the fact that our then favourite audio distribution failed to deliver stable real-time kernels for several releases, we asked 64 Studio to tailor us a customized distribution with a working real-time kernel that matched our specific needs and ran stable on the selected hardware.""
Newsletters and articles of interest Distribution newsletters
Mint 9: Minty fresh Linux (ComputerWorld)ComputerWorld has a review of Mint 9. "Mint also has a variety of other small default programs of its own to make using it a pleasure. The most important of these is the new Backup Tool. This comes with an easy-to-user interface and features incremental backups, compression, and integrity checks. You can also tag your installed software, save this as a list, and then restore the selection on a different computer or on a new version of Linux Mint. This is a rather handy trick if, like me, you find yourself often moving from one PC to another and don't want to jump through the hoops required by imaging software."
Spotlight on Linux: Zenwalk Linux 6.4 "Live" (Linux Journal)Linux Journal has a short review of the latest Zenwalk Live release. "It is quite an ambitious project as it offers and maintains five different editions. The Standard Edition is the flagship version for the project. It's a complete system for desktops, laptops, and servers. The Core Edition is a basic version of Linux with no X server, no graphical environment, and no applications. It's for those who like to build their own system their own way. The Live Edition is the installable Live CD that will boot any of 12 common languages. And finally, there are the alternative graphical environment editions: the GNOME Edition and the Openbox Edition."
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol |
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