WHAT IS FEDORA

WHAT IS FEDORA

First and foremost, Fedora is a Linux-based operating system created back in 2003 as a community distribution called the Fedora Project. It was released along with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which was to be the next official Linux distribution after Red Hat Linux was discontinued.

 Its main purpose was to serve as a source of software innovations for the Hat Enterprise Linux releases. This connection between the two Linux distributions explains the origin of the Fedora name – 'fedora' refers to the characteristic fedora hat used in Red Hat's "Shadowman" logo.

The design focus of Fedora is security and innovation. It has a reputation for integrating the newest changes to operating system technologies as early as possible. Fedora is also noted for implementing SELinux (Security-Enhanced Linux), which enforces mandatory access controls on all files.

Fedora releases-

The first set of Fedora releases, known as Fedora Core 1-4, was launched within the period 2003-2005, followed by the Fedora Core 5-6 set in 2006 and Fedora 7 in 2007. Those versions, however, are no longer supported by the Fedora Project. The following Fedora versions – Fedora 8 (introduced in 2007), Fedora 9 (released in the spring of 2008) and Fedora 10 (launched at the end of 2008), are all officially supported by the Fedora project. The latest of them – Fedora 10, code named 'Cambridge', features a whole new set of innovative characteristics such as a new 'Solar' artwork, faster startup with Plymouth, web-based packages installer, ext4 filesystem support, Sugar Desktop Environment and many others.

What is Fedora Good For?

Fedora is good for nearly anything that you'd want to do on your computer, but it's intended mostly for desktops. Fedora uses the GNOME desktop environment which provides an extremely smooth and well integrated experience. Because it includes the latest software, you'll always have new and exiting features on your desktop by using Fedora.

 you gain access to the latest graphics drivers as well as a plethora of multimedia and gaming related software like Kodi and Steam.

Fedora really shines for work, though. It ships new development and system administration tools straight from Red Hat, making it an excellent choice for a developer workstation or a system admin's control center.

Fedora doesn't just excel at technical work. The distribution makes the latest versions of LibreOffice, Calibre, GIMP, Krita, and plenty of other programs used by creative and business professionals as well.

Who Uses It?

Anyone can use Fedora. You can go right now and install it on your computer, if you choose. In fact, there aren't a whole lof of reasons not to choose Fedora as your Linux distribution. It's easily one of the best desktop offerings and has been for quite some time. The Fedora installer, Anaconda, is amazing. It's simple, intuitive, and provides enough flexibility and control to make your system your own.

That said, Fedora is fairly underused. It doesn't have the same popularity and widespread use as Ubuntu. It also doesn't have the same far-reaching press coverage. There are two major groups that use Fedora as their operating system of choice, system admins and developers.

Fedora is packed with tools for both sysadmins and developers, so it's no surprise that they gravitate toward it. The distro's release cycle also plays a major factor here too. The bleeding edge software allows developers access to new tools as soon as they're launched. For system admins, Fedora gives them access to new management programs and acts as a preview of features coming to later releases of more server oriented distributions.

Who Makes Fedora?

Red Hat, the largest Linux company and one of the biggest open source developers in the world, makes Fedora. Well, sort of. There is some confusing gray area here. Fedora is owned by Red Hat, and they provide professional developers and resources to the project. The multi-billion dollar giant also controls the direction of the distribution. On the other end, Fedora is mostly run and developed by volunteers. It's not entirely a corporate distribution and it's not entirely a community. It's a hybrid.

Fedora and open source software

The Fedora project is famous for being backed up by an ever-increasing community of both advanced and technically inexperienced supporters from around the world who keep creating innovative free open-source software for Fedora users. Moreover, all new features released by the Fedora community can be easily incorporated into any other Linux distribution. This high productivity makes Fedora a 'factory' for free open-source software innovations where everyone could make a contribution as a volunteer worker.

The flexible capabilities of Fedora also make it easy for everyone to create their own Linux-based distribution. This can be done by means of Fedora's set of spinning tools, allowing individuals to quickly select the desired packages and create live images for CD/DVD or USB, or installation discs. This has helped many of the official Fedora versions such as Fedora Electronic Lab and Fedora Xfce Spin evolve.

Fedora and security

Just as all Linux distributions, Fedora is focused on security. Unlike Ubuntu, which is another very popular Linux distribution based on Debian, in Fedora a firewall is present right from the start and can be easily configured both using the terminal or via the graphical interface. Fedora also is one of the main promoters for SELinux, which stands for Security-Enhanced Linux, a feature which implements several security policies, which are missing in most of the Linux-based distributions. Additionally, Fedora comes with several custom security enhancements, which derive from its connection with Red Hat's Enterprise Linux. This makes Fedora a very popular choice for web servers. Fedora is also the OS of choice for Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, and is used as the operating system for several NASA systems and supercomputers, such as the Roadrunner.