Fedora 12 is released

Linux users party-time.

The latest version of Fedora Linux is out.

Red Hat's Fedora Project claims the sequel to Fedora 11, imaginatively titled Fedora 12, goes like the clappers compared to previous versions.

All software packages on the 32-bit (x86_32) architecture have been compiled for i686 systems, with optimisations for the Intel Atom processors used in many netbooks. However they remain compatible with the overwhelming majority of CPUs.

There are improvements to the way that updates are added thanks to some code called yum-presto that reduces update size by transmitting only the changes in the updated packages. Also, packages now use XZ rather than gzip for compression, providing smaller package sizes and more efficient handling. This allows more software to be stuffed into each Fedora image and uses less space on distribution mirrors.

There are some NetworkManager broadband enhancements. NetworkManager is the de facto network configuration tool used in many Linux distributions. The improvements make setting up network and mobile broadband connections easier. There is now Bluetooth support using a click-through process to access the Internet through your mobile phone. IPv6 networking support has also been improved.

PolicyKit integration has been added so configuration and security management can be done via a central policy where needed.

Fedora 12 has also adopted the next-generation Ogg Theora video 1.1, which has a better quality than earlier versions.

In addition it introduces experimental 3D support for AMD Radeon HD 2400 and later graphics cards. Systems with NVIDIA graphics chips also gain initial support for suspend and resume functionality.

There are also upgrades to the Gnome and KDE desktops as well as some virtualisation improvements.

A lot more detailed information about Fedora 12 and download links can be found at the announcement.

Want to check out the first Australian review of Final Fantasy XIII? We got in this month's Atomic!

Plus HD projectors, Napoleon: Total War, Intel's new six-core processor, PC upgrading guide, and a whole lot more.

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9 Comments

Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.

thesorehead Nov 20, 2009 11:06 AM	... but can I play Supreme Commander?
wlayton27 Nov 20, 2009 12:51 PM	"sudo yum --exclude=kdebase-workspace install PolicyKit-kde" "sudo yum update rpm yum" "sudo yum install preupgrade" Loaded plugins: dellsysidplugin2, presto, protectbase, refresh-packagekit 2 packages excluded due to repository protections Setting up Install Process Package preupgrade-1.1.2-1.fc11.noarch already installed and latest version Nothing to do ----------- What am I doing wrong here? I don't know what's going on! Those "2 packages" mentioned in the stderr output refer to (I'm assuming) "totem-gstreamer" and "PolicyKit-kde" ... so what do I do about it?
Midnighter Nov 20, 2009 10:38 PM	walayton27, try reading here man, http://www.my-guides.net/en/content/view/174/26/ and this part might be of particular help. http://www.my-guides.net/en/content/view/174/26/2/3/#yum_repos Installed Fedora 12 last night, liking it plenty. :)
SceptreCore Nov 20, 2009 11:04 PM	Seriously, why can't linux be point and click... I don't want to have to learn wall of text linux jargon just to install programs on it.
Midnighter Nov 20, 2009 11:27 PM	Sceptrecore: there is a gui (point and click) way of doing it, the copy and paste of text is just much quicker. And not all GNU/Linux systems are the same. Some try to be more"user-friendly", and and some don't fucking care. Pick the one that works for you. There are a number of easy to use ones. Fedora doesn't promise this.It is quite simple tho after a bit of learning and being willing to do "different" to what you are used to. Is quite nifty really. Don't expect it to be what you want/expect. Linux never offered to be a free "replacement" for windows. Once i got my head around a few things, it's been much more fun and more usable than windows ever was for me. :)
wlayton27 Nov 21, 2009 8:16 AM	"sudo preupgrade" ...failed to download installer metadata ------------ So how's it happens is ... I just sit and wait for the big alert box to pop up saying "Fedora Core 12 update is stable and ready for installation. Click OK to upgrade." That's how it worked when I went from 10 to 11 ... FC12 is listed on my preupgrade, but it only appears when I select "show unstable releases" ... and even then, it won't download from here. Probably my crappy ISP ... they're Windows Nazis. :) Nothing against Windows ... Win 7 sounds alright, but I'm too cheap to try it out.
NobodyIsHere Nov 22, 2009 12:25 PM	""In addition it introduces experimental 3D support for AMD Radeon HD 2400 and later graphics cards."" about time!. never have been able to get any linux distribution to work nicely with my radeon cards. hopefully my HD2900XT and my 4890 cards play nicely! cant wait to test it out.
Metasynaptic Nov 23, 2009 1:26 PM	Erm. Ubuntu seems to work just fine with my 4850s.
NobodyIsHere Nov 23, 2009 5:47 PM	ive been testing fedora since v6, same with a few other linux distro's, they work with the basic video driver, but getting the closed source ATi drivers to work for me over the years has been nothing but failure, my 9800XT never worked under linux at all, my x300/600/800XL and 2900XT also worked with the basic video driver, but ATi closed source drivers never worked, have yet to try my new 4890 under linux, im hopeful that it works fully on fedora 12 and the new ubuntu as KDE4 looks sweet, just wish it wasnt so hard to get custom themes working =(

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Atomic Magazine

Issue: 111 | April, 2010

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