TechieMoe.com

Introduction:

Let me say that after my 4k stacks debacle on Fedora Core 2, I had high hopes for this distribution. There were tons of new features over FC2, including a move to the udev device management system, a new kernel, a new version of Gnome, and a laundry list of other "improvements". After battling with this distro for a week, I can see that my hopes were very badly misplaced.

Install:

I performed both an upgrade (from FC2) and a clean install of this distro hoping that the problems I had with the first would not carry over to the second. I was wrong. The install process is identical to that of FC1 and FC2, with only one new feature: the inclusion of SELinux for all of you that are paranoid about crackers finding buffer overflows in your kernel and taking over your box.

For the rest of us, it's just a frivolous add-in that causes more confusion than good. Upon rebooting after installing, I was greeted by a non-graphical login, and when I tried to run 'startx', I got a rather interesting new error message: "Display permissions are too strict." Welcome to the wave of the future: the udev device manager! More on that later.

Package Selection:

The usual Redhat-esque bloat of around 2-5GB depending on your choices. Gnome 2.8 is the Desktop Environment of choice, and although you can install KDE, it's definitely not as polished as Gnome for this distro. Some notable features in Gnome 2.8 include a menu option to turn off spatial browsing (a major point of annoyance for me in 2.6). Also, completely free of charge, Gnome 2.8 comes with an automount bug that may or may not allow you to eject a disc from your CDROM drive without rebooting.

Most Annoying Feature:

This one is easy: the new udev device management system. It's supposed to replace the existing /dev/ system that Linuxes use and make it easier to deal with dynamic file systems like USB storage and such. Basically all it does at the moment is screw up your Nvidia drivers so badly you have to reinstall them every boot.

There have been numerous fixes for this, none of which worked for either of my systems. In the end, after battling, updating, cursing, and battling this distribution over and over to try and get ANY sort of X Windows environment, I gave up. FC3 is a mature enough distribution that I shouldn't have to go to this much trouble to get the OS running properly. This entire DISTRO is an annoying feature.

Who's it best for?

Yes, here it comes ladies and gents: NO ONE. I'd like to add to that by saying that Fedora Core 3 is a glorified coaster and full-fledged accident waiting to happen for anyone who owns an Nvidia-based display card (about 50% of the computers in the USA alone). The developers for Fedora really dropped the ball on this release, and I won't be even remotely considering it again until the next 6-month release cycle spits out Fedora Core 4.