DonsDeals Blog: Fedora 16 Linux, Spins

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Thursday, April 26, 2012

Fedora 16 Linux, Spins

Explore Fedora 16's possibilities

Fedora is my favorite Linux Distro. But, I have stayed with Fedora 14 until now (the end of life support and updates). Because of the growing Hardware Resource Requirements (I'm still running a 1.8GHz Core 2 with 2.5Gig of ram and a P4 with 1gig of Ram. Well, one 512mb memory stick is going bad now, so I'm down to 512mb at the moment. Fedora 14 will run on 512mb of Ram, but much slower, than with 1gig for sure!:o But, I can't afford a new machine now and these Systems run great on Fedora 14 (with enough memory, that is). Also, I can't stand Gnome 3 and I love Gnome 2. I have been using Gnome Desktop for 7 years now in all of my Linux Distros. I do not want my Desktop to have a Mobile Phone or a Tablet like interface! I own neither and can't read such small screens, anyway. So, I don't plan on switching. I had to wait until last Christmas to finally get a 23 inch Wide Screen Monitor. And now the whole darn Internet is going to a format (set page width) that is about right for a 10 inch Tablet. But, that's another thing story... Anyway... I've known about the Fedora Spins, all along and tried out a few. But always found it just as easy to start with the base Fedora - Gnome 2 System and then install all of the apps I like, with my Apps Install Scripts that I have made to use with Yum. Today I'm downloading Fedora 16 Security Lab with LXDE Desktop Environment and Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop Edition. I'm hoping that one of these will work well on at least my 1.8GHz system and keep me updated with all of the newest Security and Package Updates for Fedora and all of my Apps. I like KDE Apps and I always install KDE Desktop, just to support the Apps and for a Backup Desktop, in case I break my Gnome. But, I have seldom used KDE, since I preferred the layout and look of Gnome 2. I'm going to try out Fedora Security Lab with LXDE first, since I like learning about Security Testing and have tried several other similar Security Testing OS's, based on other Linux Distros, like BackTrack and such. I have tried out LXDE on several other Distros and it is nice looking and fast. I'm just wondering if all of the Apps that I like will be available for LXDE. But, "The Times, They are a Changin"... So, I guess that I will have to Adapt...

I booted Fedora 16 Security Lab with LXDE Desktop up in VirtualBox, with 512mb of Ram and 64mb of Video memory, in my Real Hardware 1.8ghz System. Fedora 16 Security Lab with LXDE Desktop runs just fine in VBox and only uses 149mb of Ram when first Booted. I opened up Firefox, since it usually uses about the most memory of any app on a System and can be a good indicator to me of how well an OS will work for me. The memory consumptions went up to 195mb - 200mb as I opened up different sites in a second Tab. This is without Flash installed though. flash would change things tremendously, since it is a CPU and memory Hog! But, I saw enough to like Fedora 16 Security Lab with LXDE Desktop. I think that I will go ahead and install it on a Hard Drive and see how all of my favorite Apps work in LXDE. As for the Security Apps. Some of them look interesting to me. But most are Command Line Only Apps and I don't like to mess with them. I'm not really very knowledgeable with Security Testing Apps. I just like to use them to test my Web Site and my Home Network. There are some Security Apps that I have never tried in there, so I think this will be a quick way to try them out, by just installing Fedora 16 Security Lab with LXDE Desktop and giving it a try. Maybe I will have found the New Fedora that I can live with and like again (as opposed to Fedora 15 with Gnome 3)...

I also Booted Fedora 16 with KDE Desktop in VirtualBox. It has a nice array of Apps. But, I just don't like the way things are laid out in KDE (never really have). I don't see anything wrong with KDE. And graphics look allot better than the Child like Kindergarten look, that KDE use to have. I really like the new look and the Default Desktop Background (which is used in both Spins). But, KDE is just not intuitive to me. It's awkward to get around in and reminds me of Win7...:( It is allot slower in my VBox Setup too. It takes several minutes, just to Boot up in Vbox with 512mb of Ram and 64mb of Video Memory. The only Web Browser I cold find though was Konqueror. Which is a fine File Browser, but I have never found it of much use for Surfing the Web. It's been a few years, I admit. But, I could never even get Flash or Java to install and work well in Konqueror. So, I really never use it. I use Krusader for all of my File Browsing - Management. I'm stuck on 2 Panel File Managers since my Windows days, using Total Commander (Windows Commander since Windows 3.1). Konqueror, used up 100% of the VBox CPU and 250mb of memory (see the ScreenShots above). But, I would definitely prefer KDE Plasma over Gnome 3, any day!:) But, it would only work on a newer system with 1gig plus of memory. I can see that right off. I like to test Distros on a minimal VBox Setup, to see just how light or heavy of a Resource User it is.

Hope, this helps those who haven't tried out any of the Fedora 16 Spins yet...

Don

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Spins are alternate versions of Fedora for specific uses. If you'd just like to download Fedora itself, you should visit the main fedoraproject.org website.

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Top Spins This Release

#1	KDE	7573 downloads
#2	XFCE	2792 downloads
#3	LXDE	2709 downloads
#4	Security	1351 downloads
#5	Games	722 downloads

Open Source Scientific Computing.

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Meet our spins.

What is a spin? Fedora spins are alternate version of Fedora, tailored for various types of users via hand-picked application set or customizations.

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#1	KDE 7573 downloads	A complete, modern desktop built using the KDE Plasma Desktop.
#2	XFCE 2792 downloads	A complete, well-integrated Xfce desktop.
#3	LXDE 2709 downloads	A light, fast, less-resource hungry desktop environment.
#4	Security 1351 downloads	Security analysis tools.
#5	Games 722 downloads	A perfect show-case of the best games available in Fedora.
#6	Design-suite 568 downloads	Open Creativity.
#7	Scientific-KDE 503 downloads	Open Source Scientific Computing.
#8	SoaS 307 downloads	Discover. Reflect. Share. Learn.
#9	Robotics 257 downloads	Dive into Robotics.
#10	Electronic-Lab 213 downloads	Fedora's high-end hardware design and simulation platform.