When monies spent on server hardware are allocated carefully, a productive and efficient multiuser system can be built for much less than the cost of comparable commercial soft ware. Combine these benefits with support for laptops, PDAs, and remote access, and you will find that Fedora supports the creation and use of an inexpensive yet efficient work environment.
Fedora in Your Home
Fedora's basic install option copies a special set of preselected software packages onto your hard drive; these are suitable for small office/home office (SOHO) users. This option provides a wealth of productivity tools for document management, printing, communication, and personal productivity.
The basic installation option requires nearly 2GB of hard drive space but should easily fit onto smaller hard drives in older Pentium-class PCs. The install also contains administrative tools, additional authoring and publishing clients, a variety of editors, a Gnome- based desktop, support for sound, graphics editing programs, and graphical and text-based Internet tools. You can customize the selection to include or sidestep installation of unwanted software.
Connecting to the Internet is a snap, and Fedora supports modem dialup and other broadband connections, such as cable modems or Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). When you do connect, you can do so in relative confidence because the in-built firewall offers you protection from outside attacks and malicious intruders.
If you have a digital camera, run F-Spot client to download, organize, and manage your digital images. You can then fine-tune your pictures by editing them with one of the finest digital image editors in the world: the GIMP.
Fedora can be used for a variety of purposes, and every user has different needs. Fortunately Fedora and Linux offer many different programs to assist you in what you are attempting to do. I personally use Fedora mainly as a server to hold an extensive collection of OGG music files, as well as a growing collection of digital images. They are all available to my local network, and I can also upload files from wherever I am in the world by using the FTP server, or retrieve photos when I am visiting family and friends abroad.
64-Bit Fedora
Advances in computing saw the introduction of 64-bit, x86-compatible CPUs from AMD in the spring of 2003. The only platform at launch to support the new technology was Linux. Intel's EM64T extensions for x86, which largely mirror the advances made by AMD, have further increased the availability of commodity x86-64 hardware.
As a direct response to the growing 64-bit user base, Fedora released a 64-bit version, allowing the use of Fedora on AMD64 and Intel hardware. If you have a 64-bit CPU, you are strongly encouraged to get involved and give it a try — just bear in mind that, because the architecture is still quite new, there might not be a 64-bit version of all the software you require.
However, because the Intel Itanium platform uses a radically different set of instructions that are not compatible with the x86 instruction set, the 64-bit version of Fedora does not support Itanium or Itanium2. There are members of the community who are working toward making the Itanium a supported platform, but the niche nature of the platform means that this is unlikely.
Fedora on the PPC Platform
In recognition of the wide availability of the Power architecture, The Fedora Project decided to simultaneously release a PPC version of Fedora starting with Fedora 4. Fedora 8 continues in this vein, and you are able to run Fedora natively on Apple power-based hardware such as PowerMacs, iMacs, and the Mac mini, not to mention the very tasty PowerBooks.
Of course, now that Apple has moved across to Intel processors, it will leave a large gap in the market. Vendors such as IBM and Genesis will still produce and in IBM's case, develop the PowerPC platform beyond the current crop of G4- and G5-based machines.
You maybe didn't realize it, but your PlayStation 3 can run Fedora, because the Cell processor is part of the PPC family. Check out the release notes for more information on using your PS3 console.
Fedora on Multicore Machines
The second half of 2005 brought significant availability of dual-core processors from Intel, AMD, and Power. As always, Linux was at the forefront of support for new computing platforms, and dual-core processors were no different. Fedora natively supports multi-core, and significant speed enhancements can be had from using such machines. Dual-core processors are prevalent today, but four-way processors are starting to appear in mainstream PCs, most notably in the dual quad-core Mac Pro (a total of eight cores), which is supported by Fedora.
APPENDIX B
Installation Resources
installing a new operating system is always a major event, especially if you have never had to install an OS before. This is especially true if you are used to running Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista that has been preinstalled for you on your computer. In many cases, "recovery" discs are supplied that contain a mirror image of how your system was the day it rolled off the production line; so in reality you are not actually installing Windows, just copying some files. With Fedora you get a lot of options that you can choose from, making it easy to tailor make your installation to suit your end goals. This appendix is all about helping you prepare for installing Fedora, taking you through some of the considerations that you perhaps do not realize are important to think about.
Linux has a formidable reputation as being difficult to install. You had to know every conceivable fact and specification about all the components of your computer to ensure that the installation went smoothly. Thankfully, for the most part that reputation is in the past, and now Fedora does most of the hard work for you, having much improved hardware detection and autoconfiguration. This is definitely a good thing, and vastly reduces the time needed to install Fedora. Another good thing is the advent of Live CDs for Fedora, which give you a fully functional operating system on a CD. If you have ever been concerned about whether your system is compatible with Linux, take one of these Live CDs for a spin to help you make your decision.
This appendix is intended to prepare you for installing Fedora on your computer. We start off with a look at some of the things you should take in to account when considering moving to Linux, including what your aims and objectives are for using Fedora. We also take a look at the hardware requirements of Fedora, along with information on how to check whether your hardware is compatible with Fedora. By the end of this appendix, you should recognize just how flexible Fedora really is, both in the software it provides and also in the many ways in which you can install it.
Planning Your Fedora Deployment
The first thing you need to decide is why you are installing Fedora. By working out the "end-use scenario" for the proposed installation, you then can begin to make choices and decisions about hardware specifications and software options. Before planning the specific steps of an installation, you need to make decisions about the type of deployment you want to undertake. For example, if you were going to use Fedora for 3D graphics work, you would need to factor in the amount of space needed to store the sometimes intricate 3D models and graphics, as well as the graphics card needed for rendering, not to mention the amount of system memory and processor speed. On the flip side, if all you are doing is providing an elderly relative with a quick and easy way to access the Internet, RAM, hard drive storage, and processor speed are less likely to be important rather than a decent monitor, keyboard, and mouse. You learn more about these issues in the sections that follow. These sections also include a table you can use as a predeployment planning checklist and some final advice for planning the installation.