Each Linux distribution has a unique flavour and identity. Ubuntu, with its penchant for brown, 'Linux for human beings' motto and willingness to compromise on non-open-source drivers and software, currently leads in the popularity stakes. But there's more to Linux than Jaunty Jackalope.
Fedora is the old pretender of the Free Software movement – a distribution many would consider the archetype of Linux distributions everywhere. It takes an uncompromising approach on excluding packages that aren't certifiably open source, and makes few concessions to those unfamiliar with the way Linux works.
It may seem austere and frugal compared to its more consumer-friendly rival, but there's plenty of interesting content there for those prepared to look.
The release of Fedora 11 comes hot on the heels of Ubuntu's latest offering. Both products are wedded to a six monthly release cycle that follows the biannual release of the Gnome desktop, and they both package the same version – 2.26. They also bundle the same versions of Xfce (4.6), the X server (1.6) and KDE (4.2).
FEDORA: If you want your software to be bang up to date, Fedora 11 has the edge over Jaunty
But Fedora's delay has given it a serious edge over Ubuntu when it comes to scraping off the cream of open-source software. OpenOffice.org is now 3.1, rather than 3.0. The kernel is 2.6.29 rather than 2.6.28. Firefox is up to 3.5 (formally known as 3.1), and Thunderbird is at 3.0 rather than 2.0.
Each new version marks a significant update on the older packages, and despite the regulated nature of a distribution release, there's unlikely to be such a favourable alignment of major releases for another several years. If you want to wait for Ubuntu's official packages of these applications, you'll be preparing for Halloween before you can use them on your PC.
The race for life
There's another major difference between Ubuntu and Fedora, and that's Fedora's contentious choice of defaulting to the ext4 filesystem. Ext4 is a major update of the Linux filesystem and promises a 25 per cent performance boost along with a glut of other features – but there have also been reports of data loss if there's a sudden power outage.
Its inclusion in Fedora is significant: while Jaunty includes ext4 as an option, Fedora's official blessing means ext4 has made it to the mainstream. The second battlefront is boot speed. Both distros try their hardest to reduce the time from power-on to desktop, and Fedora developers set a target of 20 seconds in the race to the log-in screen.
There's no doubt there's been a huge improvement, but in our tests Ubuntu just beat Fedora with a time of 35 seconds. However, there are plenty of reports that the new Fedora can take you to the log-in screen in 20 seconds if your hardware is up to it.
The main reason why Fedora has a healthy following is that it doesn't help to redistribute closed-source and locked-down components. That means that you lose the convenience of proprietary video drivers and multimedia codecs, but if you're a fan of pure open source you do gain some of the moral high-ground – and both Fedora and Red Hat are influential enough to force changes in attitude, given enough users and enough time.
The direct link to the commercial enterprise of Red Hat also means that Fedora is incredibly secure and stable: its RPM package management is an industry standard. Fedora gains a lot of credibility from its community driven sibling, with the only downside being a relatively short life cycle for support on each release.
Fedora users only enjoy 13 months of support while Ubuntu users receive 18 months as standard, with three and five years for desktop and server LTS editions.
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First published in PC Plus Issue 285
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Your comments (8) Click to add a new comment
evilbob
August 26th
8. @aksel
Oh and "millions of ubuntu users" I find that highly unlikely.
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evilbob
August 26th
7. @aksel
I never called anyone a moron, I simply stated "if you are happy running Ubuntu or have no idea what the commandline is or what a man page is, DO NOT switch to Fedora" that is all. I see people daily that were seemingly happy with Ubuntu and are unhappy that Fedora is not geared to them. Just had an example minutes ago that refused to read any of 4 links they were directed to. Is that elitist on our part or lazy on their part?
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aksel
August 25th
6. @evilbob,
Way to go. With one stroke you have called the millions of ubuntu users morons, and painted the millions of fedora users elitists.
Some people use their computers to get on with their jobs and lives, and have no time or the inclination to plot through esoteric command lines and cryptic man pages.
Ignorance is not a reason to exclude someone from a distro, but arrogance definitely is. Elitists like you should not be welcome in any distro.
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ftaurino
August 25th
5. I've been usign redhat (even centos, scientific linux and debian) for years on servers. and fedora on desktops and notebooks. but ubuntu on the client side is simpler to use... the graphical package manager is better designed and give more feddback to users; proprietary drivers and codecs can be installed with fewer clicks and with no terminal commands... if you follow the "perfect desktop guide" for fedora or ubuntu you have the same final results: a stable and perfectly usable linux desktop! but with fedora there are always some more steps... on server side redhat (or clean debian) are better choices (imho).
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apexwm
August 25th
4. Whether you go with Ubuntu or Fedora, I can vouch that Fedora is packed full of features. It's geared at everything from the home user to the enterprise. I've been using Red Hat / Fedora Linux for over 12 years, and I'm never disappointed. It's an awesome distro and is used by many in the market.
Hopefully more Windows users will realize the power of Linux and migrate away from the licensing and cost of Windows.
<a href="http://members.apex-internet.com/sa/windowslinux">http://members.apex-internet.com/sa/windowslinux</a>
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adamw
August 25th
3. "Ext4 is a major update of the Linux filesystem and promises a 25 per cent performance boost along with a glut of other features – but there have also been reports of data loss if there's a sudden power outage."
Fedora 11 was released with the kernel patches to address this issue included. The ext4 in Fedora 11 is exactly as reliable as the ext3 in previous releases, when it comes to the chances of data loss resulting from unclean shutdowns.
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