Chapter 1: An Overview of Fedora

In This Chapter

  • Introducing Fedora Linux
  • What is Linux?
  • Linux’s roots in Unix
  • Common Linux features
  • Primary advantages of Linux
  • What is Fedora?
  • Why choose Fedora?
  • New features in Fedora 13 and 14
  • Getting Fedora software and spins
  • The culture of free software

Linux was a phenomenon waiting to happen. The computer industry was suffering from a rift. In the 1980s and 1990s, people had to choose between inexpensive, market-driven PC operating systems from Microsoft and expensive, technology-driven operating systems such as Unix. Free software was being created all over the world, but it lacked a common platform to rally around. Linux has become that common platform.

For several years, Red Hat Linux was the most popular commercial distribution of Linux. In 2003, Red Hat, Inc., changed the name of its distribution from Red Hat Linux to Fedora Core (later changing the name to simply Fedora) and moved its commercial efforts toward its Red Hat Enterprise Linux products. It then set up Fedora to be the following:

  • Sponsored by Red Hat
  • Supported by the Linux community
  • Inclusive of high-quality, cutting-edge open-source technology
  • A proving ground for software slated for commercial Red Hat deployment and support

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, conversely, has become the basis for Red Hat’s fully supported product line, geared toward big companies with the need to set up and manage many Linux systems. After taking its software through a year or two of Fedora releases, ...

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