Red Hat Linux Fedora Core

Red Hat Linux Fedora Core provides several new features, along with improved aspects of Red Hat 8 and 9. Though it does not include the new 2.6 kernel, it does use the latest 2.4 kernel, 2.4.22. Several new features include Bluetooth and ACPI support:

• Enhanced Bluetooth support includes firmware loader, protocol analyzer, and personal network support.

• The Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is supported with the adpid daemon.

• CUPS is now the only print server included. LPRng has been dropped entirely.

• Support is included for DVD+R/RW writers, the dvd+rw tools

• It includes version 3.2.3 of GCC compiler, gcc32.

• Internet Security Protocol (IPSEC) tools are now available.

• The kernel now supports the Exec shield, which makes segments of the kernel nonexecutable, providing greater security.

• The kernel can now prevent certain kernel modules from being loaded, ensuring more centralized control over the kernel configuration.

• The kernel also supports a laptop mode that schedules task to accommodate laptop power-saving features.

• Two older mail clients have been dropped, exmh and pine.

• With the kernel now including the sound support, the sndconfig tool has been dropped.

• As implemented with Red Hat 9, the Fedora Core continues support for the Native POSIX Thread Library (nptl). The thread library allows applications to be organized into separate threads, letting the processor run them more efficiently. With threading, parts of code in different threads can be run at the same time.

• Red Hat is continuing its migration from LILO to GRUB and will soon drop LILO altogether.

• The tripwire intrusion detection software has been dropped due to development constraints.

• Red Hat continues its migration to UTF-8, the Unicode encoding for a Universal Character Set (UCS). UTF-8 is compatible with standard ASCII character files and provides a standardized method for encoding and implementing all languages. UTF-8 is now the default.

• The vsftp FPT server is the only FTP server now included. The older Washington University FTP server has been dropped entirely (wu-ftpd).

• As initiated with Red Hat 8, the Fedora Core continues to refine the Bluecurve interface, providing a seamless graphical GUI for both GNOME and KDE.

With the Fedora Core, Red Hat now has a complete range of Red Hat administration tools, all of which include a GNOME interface (see Table 1-2).

Table 1-2: Red Hat Administration Tools

Administration Tool	Operation
redhat-config-bind	A Red Hat DNS configuration tool
redhat-config-date	A graphical interface for modifying the system date and time
redhat-config-httpd	Apache configuration tool
redhat-config-keyboard	A graphical interface for modifying the keyboard
redhat-config-kickstart	A graphical interface for making kickstart files
redhat-config-language	A graphical interface for modifying the system language
redhat-config-mouse	A graphical interface for configuring mice
redhat-config-network	The network administration tool for Red Hat Linux
redhat-config-nfs	The NFS server configuration tool
redhat-config-packages	The package manager for Linux RPM software
redhat-config-printer	A printer configuration back end/front end combination
redhat-config-printer-gui	A GUI front end for printconf
redhat-config-proc	A configuration tool for operating system tunable parameters
redhat-config-rootpassword	A graphical interface for modifying the root password
redhat-config-samba	Samba server configuration tool
redhat-config-securitylevel	A graphical interface for modifying the system security level
redhat-config-services	An initscript and xinetd configuration utility
redhat-config-soundcard	A graphical interface for detecting and configuring sound cards
redhat-config-users	A graphical interface for administering users and groups
redhat-config-xfree86	A graphical interface for configuring XFree86
redhat-logviewer	A graphical interface for viewing log files