Fedora 17 vs Ubuntu 12.04

This article is a comparison between Ubuntu 12.04 and Fedora 17 and has been divided into six sections.

Installation
Installation process in ubuntu 12.04 is a breeze with ease and Fedora's Anaconda installer is also very easy.

Desktop Environment
Ubuntu 12.04 features Unity as default interface which looks absolutely cool and the lightdm login manager is also very nice. On the other hand Fedora 17 has Gnome 3.4 which gives macish look and feel. Both Ubuntu and fedora also have KDE, XFCE and LXDE although in ubuntu KDE distribution is known as Kbuntu, XFCE distro as Xubuntu and LXDE as Lubuntu.

Usability
Ubuntu has a number of usability enhancements and is fairly easy to use the new HUD enables us to search through nested menus, files etc. the dash contains lenses which easily lets us to search through music, video and other content both locally and online. On the other hand fedora has vanilla gnome 3.4 and doesn't give attention to usability and therefore bit hard to use for newbies.

Software
Ubuntu contains decently updated software and the famous Ubuntu software centre and 'apt' . Ubuntu one is included which gives you 5gb of online space. You can choose to install and mp3 and other codecs at the time of installation. Ubuntu 12.04 is very stable. While on fedora the software is more updated than ubuntu but there is no software centre you have just plain add remove software the software can also be installed through 'yum'. There are a number of enterprise level tools such as jboss, openstack, boxes etc are included. Fedora 16 & 17 is rock solid stable. Fedora don't contains any mono packages and propietary softwares.

Support
Though both ubuntu and fedora are community distro but are backed by Cannonical and Red Hat respectively. Ubuntu nonLTS version such as 11.10, 11.04, 12.10 are supported for 18 months while LTS edition such as 12.04 will be supported for 5 years. Fedora is supported for 13 months and the community support is also good.

Conclusion
Ubuntu and fedora are both nice distribution and worth trying . Ubuntu is best for new users and those who want a system for a long go . While Fedora is best for who have intermediate knowledge of linux and those who live bleeding edge and try out new tools.

Gimp 2.8 overview

GNU image manupulation program or GIMP is the open source and free spftware for editing, free-form drawing and liitle animation. It has relased its new version recently 2.8. I am not going in depth of feature it can be found here.
  Gimp 2.8 has come out after three years of hard work and its really worth waiting. Fotoshop which is another major propietary software has released the cs6 for all operting system except GNU/Linux. thanks to gimp 2.8 we no futher need to run fotoshop via wine.
  So, If you are using illeagal copy of fotoshop its right time to switch to GIMP and it will be great if you use gimp on a GNU/Linux distribution.

FREE SOFTWARE and WHY USE IT?

Those software which complies with the four laws are known as free software, they are as follows:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

 

Using Free Software has many benifits they are as follows:

• Free Software respects your freedom and privacy:  Free Software doesn't contain any spyware, trojans, viruses or adwares because anyone can see and edit the code therfore no single company or person has monopoly in it and hence cannot add anything wrong to it.
• Free Software is free of costs or costs very little:  Free software is available free of charge to anyone or available for liitle charge but making a software and hosting on internet costs, so always try donating some bucks.

Visit www.gnu.org for more information

SolusOS quick overview

SolusOS is a recently released linux distribution based on debian. Since it is debian based I thought it may be old enough but I was wrong inside the SolusOS it contains the newer linux kernel 3.3.6. The User Inerface or Desktop Environment is the old faithful Gnome one of my favourite and the menu is also nice and all the other gnome stuff is Ok. One thing I noticed is applications are also absolutely new and this is possible because of debian backports repos. All in all this is nice distro with mix of old and new. try out now.

BOSS LINUX

BOSS stands for Bharat operating system solution . It is an Indian linux distribution sponsered by government of India. It is made by Indians for the Indians. BOSS is based on debian stable. It is meant to lessen the digital divide of India.

Latest version of BOSS is 4.0 codenamed ''Savir'' it is made on top of Debian 6 squeeze. Therefore it features Gnome 2.30.2, KDE 4.4.5 and Linux Kernel 2.6.32. The office suite is Bharteeyaoo which is Indian version of OpenOffice and natively supports Indian languages. Apart from main edition there are also Educational, server edition, netbook edition are also available.

All in all BOSS is a nice distribution for Indian. It is meant to be used in Govt. Office and education institutions but they still use old xp.

Linux DEEPIN quick review

                                
Linux deepin is a chinese distribution based on ubuntu. Previously it was known as hiweed.
It features Gnome 3 but the customizing is quite eye catching with transparent panel. It has all usual gnome stuff the music player is dead beef. The software center is best in linux world .
Deepin linux is a nice operating system if you know chinese then you must try if you don't still you should give it a try.

Knoppix 7 quick review

KNOPPIX is a linux distribution based on debian. It is made to run through live CD/DVD but it can also be installed on hard drive. The latest version 7.0.1 features LXDE. There are nearly 1000 application in cd and 2600 in dvd, the applications are present as compressed mode which is loaded in ram. All in all Knoppix is a nice distribution.

Fedora 17

Fedora is an open source linux distribution sponsered by Red Hat enterprise. Fedora is the test bed for Red Hat enterprise Linux. Fedora is great distribution but with introduction with gnome 3 many have left it. The latest release is !7 codenamed '' Beefy Miracle" . Lets move around it and see how it behaves this time.

The installation process is like breeze with ease with anaconda installer. The default desktop wallpaper is blue bankground with fireworks. The gnome 3.4 is absolutely silky smooth to use and is absolutely rock solid. Although fedora has now become geeky with addition of JBoss 7, D-progamming language, open stack cloud, GCC 4.7 etc etc. One of the most important change that fedora brings with this release is getting rid of the separation of /bin and /usr/bin, as well as /sbin and /usr/sbin, /lib and /usr/lib, and /lib64 and /usr/lib64. All files from the directories in / will be merged into their respective counterparts in /usr, and symlinks for the old directories will be created instead.'' although solaris has done this 15 years back and most people will not even recognise it.

Hence recommended audience for fedora are those who wants to live bleeding edge and try new technologies. Fedora download