Fedora Core 3URL: http://fedora.redhat.comPrice: Free
If the name doesn't sound familiar yet, don't worry -- it soon will. When Red Hat decided to move away from the home desktop market and concentrate on severs and enterprise desktops, they joined forces with a community of developers to produce Fedora Core 1. Now in its third release, this Red Hat-sponsored and community-driven distribution has to be the best way to dive head-first in to the world of Linux.Unlike distributions designed specifically for new users, Fedora doesn't pretend to be Windows, and it doesn't limit what you can achieve, making it great for new and experienced users.
Installation
Fedora uses a graphical installer that's simple to use, with good hardware auto-detection and automated partitioning options. There's a lot of software included, and if you wish you can browse through each one and select whether or not to install it, but there's a few pre-defined configurations that should be a great starting point for most users.
Hardware support
Fedora showed impressive support for the hardware in the test systems, accurately detecting all the hardware in the Athlon 64 machine. It failed to properly detect the SiS video chip in the older test system, using slower generic VESA support instead, but it was able to switch drivers using the display settings editor once the install was complete.
Desktop and applications
With 3 CDs full of applications, there's a lot to choose from in Fedora. The GNOME and KDE desktops are both included, along with a wide selection of applications for each. There's also a huge number of packages that go beyond the desktop, with various web, database, mail, and file servers included among others.
While both major desktops are shipped, Fedora definitely leans towards GNOME, with the "Personal Desktop" install option leaving KDE out entirely. The "Bluecurve" theme used by Fedora provides both desktops with a unified look and feel, from the basic GUI elements (buttons, menus, etc.) through to window borders and icons. The desktops themselves still look quite different, but the unified look works wonders when running an application designed for one desktop on another.All of the applications you'd expect to find are there, including Mozilla Firefox, Evolution, and OpenOffice.org, and if you don't like those, there are various alternatives available. The default package selections are good, but if you find yourself needing an extra application (such as K3b, the excellent KDE-based CD burner) you can install it using the very friendly Add/Remove Applications tool.
Administration
Fedora has a great set of GUI configuration tools that make tasks like setting up your network or spanning your desktop on to a second video card relatively easy. Package updates are also handled very nicely through the Red Hat Network notification tool. When the icon for pending updates appears on your panel, you can click on it to launch the update installer.Installing third-party packages can sometimes be tricky, but Fedora includes a tool called yum that, much like Debian's apt-get, lets you install packages from network-based repositories with a single command. Though configuring and using yum at the command-line can be confusing at first, there are some great unofficial repositories available.
Contenders
These three distributions try very hard to make Linux as easy as possible to use, with customised KDE-based interfaces, a good range of applications, and easy configuration add management. However, they offer only a limited taste of what Linux is truly about, and the pricing may be prohibitive for new users.
Another good choice for new users, with a solid configuration tools and a good selection of software. The software selection isn't quite a broad as Fedora's though.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012