I've been using Fedora for a week now, and it's really enlightened me as to what apps I use
and what I don't.
Since I'm having find replacements for my Windows apps, I've
learned that 90% of my app usage can be condensed to (1) Web browser,
(2) email client, (3) RSS aggregator, (4) text editor, (5) FTP client
(which, thanks to KDE, is built into the text editor), and (6) command
prompt (which isn't really an app).
I found rdesktop which
enables terminal services from Linux. Thanks to that, I can open a
window back to my Windows machine (oh, the irony — using a
window to help you run something other than Windows...) if I need to
get anything I forgot, and that helps with Windows server admin as
well.
Using smb-client, I mounted a folder on my Fedora desktop that
opens to the C drive on my old Windows machine. If I hadn't named the
folder "Windows C Drive" you'd never even know you were accessing a
different machine. Reading and writing files between my Fedora
machine and Windows shares is undramatic. It just works.
Mozilla Mail connects to my Exchange server via IMAP. Not perfect,
but it does the job. It doesn't open all the folders — just
Inbox, Sent Items, and Deleted Items. Those are the important ones
anyway — if I need anything else, I have Outlook Web Access.
The UI options in KDE are dizzying. I've never had this much
control over my environment. Like I told Joe the other day, I now own
the interface that Hugh
Jackman used to write his worm in Swordfish. It looks like the
interfaces in every cheesy hacker movie you've ever seen. If you
upgrade to Linux, schedule two hours just to play with all the
options.
Multiple desktop support is great. I have four desktops, all
running different stuff. A little toolbar plugin shows me thumbnails
of what's on each desktop. They each have different wallpaper (the
default wallpapers provided are gorgeous) so I know which one I'm on
at any given time.
Video rendering is amazing. If you've ever used a high-end Mac
running OS X on a high-end monitor and drooled over the quality of the
display, then Fedora is your OS. My Windows machine display is
horrible by comparison, and that's even running a better video
card.
Font and window rendering is so smooth and...luscious, as to make
you want to dive into the monitor like it was a swimming pool on a hot
summer day. Fedora and Mozilla together make me want to drizzle Web
pages over ice cream and eat them.
I do a lot of client scripting in PHP. I have the file extenstion set to run
them against the PHP executable when I double click, and pop a
terminal window with the results. Makes a lot of chores so much
easier. They chug away on another desktop while I go do something
else.
As good as all this is, I still have the nagging question: am I any
better off? Besides the display quality, UI options, and integated
FTP, I think everything I've done with Fedora could be done with
Windows and little elbow grease. So, the question remains, am I
better off than Windows? I don't know.
I do know, however, (1) that I'm certainly no worse off and (2)
Fedora is free. That's a compelling argument in and of
itself.
An autism institute apparently is interested in using Half-Life 2's
facial animation capabilities to help teach autistic children how to
recognize expressions, according to PC Gamer magazine.
LifeBio.com’s “Road of Life Adventure” Seeks Ordinary People with Extraordinary Life Stories
LifeBio.com’s “Road of Life Adventure” Seeks Ordinary People with Extraordinary Life Stories07/23/2004 09:58 AM LifeBio, Inc., the leading online personal history company, believes
that everyone has a story to tell and they need to tell it. From
August 2 to August 7, the company will conduct free audio interviews,
present workshops on why and how to tell life stories, and give away
old-fashioned wooden YoYos, traveling through the Midwest. People they
meet will pick LifeBio questions from a traveling treasure chest and
share memories through audio and written recordings. [PRWEB Jul 22,
2004]
Fedora Project 111/05/2003 03:35 PM A community distribution based on Red Hat Linux.
Fedora Project 2
Fedora Project 205/18/2004 06:10 PM A community distribution based on Red Hat Linux.
Fedora at a Glance
Fedora at a Glance11/12/2003 01:25 PM A look at what's available in the Fedora Core 1 release.
Red Hat goes live with Fedora
Red Hat goes live with Fedora11/06/2003 06:10 PM Red Hat created the Fedora project so open-source developers could
experiment with software that is more cutting-edge.
Fedora Core 2
Fedora Core 212/17/2003 02:45 AM Fedora Core
2 is coming; maybe the community will have some influence on this
one.
Fedora Core 1
Fedora Core 111/05/2003 10:35 PM Red Hat released Fedora Core 1
(previously known as Red Hat Linux 10). Now the hard part of really
integrating the community into the development process begins.
Red Hat lifts all ships with Fedora11/10/2003 10:58 PM Jeremy Hogan of Red Hat has observed that Linux distributions can be
looked at as little ships on a vast ocean of open source code. As open
source projects grow and mature they raise the level of the ocean. Red
Hat raised the level of the ocean with Fedora. Fedora is a step in the
right direction, and not a reason to feel abandoned.
Linux.com: Forums - What is Fedora
Linux.com: Forums - What is Fedora02/17/2004 07:59 PM http://forums.linux.com/comments.pl?sid=33821
Cool overview of what Fedora is and is not....
Review: Fedora Core 2
Review: Fedora Core 205/28/2004 09:26 AM As I sit before my new installation of Fedora Core 2 (FC2) I'm
reminded of the first time I had to put down a beloved dog. FC2
suffers from some fatal flaws. For most people, it will be best to put
this malformed whelp out of its misery and wait for the Fedora
Project's next litter of pups, which promises some awesome powers.
My Workstation OS: Fedora Core 3
My Workstation OS: Fedora Core 304/08/2005 05:14 AM I have been using Linux since Red Hat 7.x back in 2000. I have tried
Lycoris, Debian, Knoppix, Ubuntu, Mandrake, SUSE, and other
distributions, but I've always found myself coming back to Red Hat.
When Red Hat stopped development of its free operating system, I was
disappointed, but I ended up liking the Fedora Core series, including
the latest FC3, even better. Why do I like it so much?
Fedora Core 1 Released11/05/2003 04:45 PM EvilAlien writes "The Fedora Project has released Fedora Core 1, aka
Yarrow. The release was expected on November 3rd, but was briefly
delayed. The release ...
Red Hat launches Fedora Foundation06/06/2005 12:12 AM Looking to encourage community participation in its two-year-old
Fedora Core Linux project, Red Hat on Friday announced plans to move
development and copyright control of Fedora's software into a new
entity, called the Fedora Foundation.
Red Hat frees Fedora project
Red Hat frees Fedora project06/05/2005 11:36 PM Mark Webbink, deputy general counsel for Red Hat, announced in his
keynote address this morning at the Red Hat Summit that Red Hat is
freeing the Fedora project from its direct control. Red Hat has
created the Fedora Foundation -- to be run by an independent board of
directors -- which will direct and control the project from now on.
Webbink said Red Hat made this move because it listened to the Fedora
community when it said it would be more comfortable about the project
if it were not directly owned by a commercial firm.
Fedora Core 2 Schedule Up12/18/2003 07:24 PM An anonymous reader writes "The Fedora website has posted a schedule
for their second release. " Now that the 2.6 Kernel is out, I imagine
all the major ...
Fedora Core 2 Also Runs On PPC05/24/2004 09:25 AM While getting a giddy installing Fedora Core 2 on a Sunday afternoon I
found this little gem... Fedora 2 can run on your Macintosh. By Colin
Charles, O'Reilly Network (via MyAppleMenu) Grok Description matches for Life With Fedora GrokA matches for Life With Fedora
Life With Fedora
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