The third and final beta for the upcoming Fedora Core 6 has been made available. Although typically reserved for more experienced testers, the test releases lately have been become more widely used. Improving the quality of the distribution.

The notable features in FC6-Test3 are:

• Support for installation from multiple repositories at install-time, including access to Fedora Extras for network installs
• GNOME 2.16.0 Final Release
• KDE 3.5.3
• An improved look and feel for various non-English languages thanks to a new default font
• New desktop eye candy provided by the Compiz window manager using AIGLX
• Notification of available software updates via notification bubbles
• Improved startup performance of applications due to support for the DT_GNU_HASH linker option
• Improved speed of various package management utilities
• Further improvements in the Xen virtualization technology as well as the inclusion of a graphical application for creating and managing domains (virt-manager)
• Increased usability of SELinux thanks to the integration of setroubleshoot which lets the user know when security denials occur
• Integrated smart card capabilities
• Improved X autoconfiguration to work better with LCDs and laptops
• An improved version of system-config-printer to provide for easier and more powerful printer configuration
• New artwork to provide a fresh new feel.

Looking over the test release new features, there are not many significant changes. Due to the massive problems encountered with FC6-Test2 I found the system incredibly unusable. Many of the problems involved powermanagement, the X-server and general instability. However the the improvements to the X autoconfiguration should hopefully resolve this. Additionally the Compiz window manager using AIGLX are currently not supported for Nvidia users. The driver changes to support this should be coming out soon (hopefully before FC6 Final).

Given the recent problems I’ve been encountering with FC5 and the test release, I’m really hoping the FC6 final will ship problem free. I won’t hold my breath.

Posted in: Distributions, FC6, Fedora,

A fellow developer created a driver for the keys on the Fujitsu Stylistic webpad. The driver is available under the GPL at sourceforge: Stylistic ST4000 Key Driver.

I do hope that people find this useful. And for any of the other developers who make come across this, all contributions are appreciated.

Posted in: Devices, Hardware, SuSE,

The second beta for Fedora Core 6 (FC6-Test2) is available for testers and users alike. While FC6-Test1 was made available last June, there was not a significant set of improvements over the FC5 release.

The notable issues in FC6-Test2 are:

• All packages recompiled (minus Thunderbird)
• Introduction of DT_GU_HASH, a far more efficient symbol lookup table for dynamic linking. ** Improves dynamic linking performance by up to 50%**
• Packages built with new build system based on Mock.
• Ability to install from additional yum repositories during anaconda installations and kickstarts.
• Functional Java applet plugin for Firefox due to gcjwebplugin. - Many Java applets should work out of the box.
• A new default font, DejaVu, replaces Vera.
• KDE 3.5.3 Desktop
• Latest release of Eclipse IDE and framework.
• Xen 3.0 Virtualization

While there does not seem to be a many significant changes, I am eager to see the changes in the installer (Anaconda) as well as the Java changes and system wide improvements. The rather slow state of FC5 has left me very dissatisfied.

More information regarding the official release time frame can be found on the Fedora Core schedule.

Posted in: Distributions, FC6, Fedora,

I do not know how many people require PHP4 on Fedora Core 5. However since I find that I use it, I am providing PHP4 binary RPMs.

Since I made the files available I did receive some complaints. Primarily a compile failure on x86_64 architecture and a compile failure on PPC architecture. I have no means to test PPC, however I have tested with x86_64 and had success.

For x86_64 architecture, I have tested the src.rpm against the default FC5 rpm’s and the latest updated rpm’s (as of 08 July 2006), both work without problem.

PHP4 on Fedora Core

Posted in: FC5, Fedora, Hosting, PHP, Server, Setup, Software,

AMD released their first X86 based 64 bit processor over 3 years ago. While the original processors, Opterons, were for servers, the desktop variants, Athlon 64, soon followed. Due to the open nature of the Linux kernel, distributions of Linux supporting the 64 bit architecture were readily (and freely) available before Windows.

In the past year, the Athlon 64 has made its way into laptops and more users are finding 64 bit versions of their favorite Linux distributions satisfactory for their needs. Hence I finally upgraded to 64 bit hardware. My delay in upgrading was primarily due to the common problems faced by early adopters. Often Linux users are hurt much worse than Windows users in this arena.

In any event, the original hardware for the Athlon 64 included features such as AGP 8X Video, Serial ATA (SATA) and Gigabit Ethernet. All of which are no longer considered “new”. The advent of Dual Core Processors, PCI Express and DDR2 Memory has further lowered the cost of older hardware.

I swapped out my previous motherboard (Asus A7V8X-X) with a Asus A8V. And the previous Athlon XP 2500+ CPU (1.8GHz) was replaced with a Athlon 64 3800+ CPU (2.4GHz). This decision allowed me to reuse the 1 gigabyte of Dual Channel DDR 400Mhz RAM and a Nvidia GeforceFX AGP Video Card.

Linux booted up perfectly fine on the first try - all drivers properly detected and there was absolutely no manual changes in configuration required. However for Fedora Core I may need to revisit the required running services. (Windows on the other hand required multiple reboots with uninstalls and re-installs of driver packages.)

I plan to revisit most of my guides and instructions in the next few weeks to address any differences between 32 bit and 64 bit Linux.

Posted in: Desktop, Devices, Hardware, Kernel, Linux, Server,