Fedora 24 - Workstation

Fedora 24

Fedora 24 was released on 21st June 2016.
There are no major changes or amazing new features just a host of usability improvements as well as the usual software upgrades.

GNOME has been updated to the latest upstream release (3.20),
the GNU C Library is now at version 2.23, the System compiler has been updated to GCC 6 and Python has moved from 3.4 to Python 3.5.

There are also updates to NetworkManager (version 1.2) and glibc
has been upgraded to 2.23.

A most noticeable change is the default font which has now moved to Cantarell.
This is a really nice looking clear font which I personally thinks looks much better.

Fedora 24 has continued improving the X replacement, Wayland.
Although this is still not the default it is available as an option for users to try out.

From Fedora 24 on wards users can now perform major version upgrades via the GUI rather than the command line. The updates can be run from the Software app upgrade system which will have a clearly marked "Install" button.

This is another solid release from the Fedora team.
The user interface continues to look sleek and professional and there are a plethora of tools to help you get the job done.

Download Fedora 24

Fedora 23 Workstation

Fedora 23 Work Station Review

I recently upgraded from Fedora 22 to 23. 

Here is a quick review of the latest version.

Fedora Workstation is a reliable, user-friendly, and powerful operating system aimed at home users, hobbyists, students, and software developers

At first glance there does not appear to be any major changes between this and the previous version. It features the latest version of GNOME (3.18) and also includes updates to the file manager, a new Calendar and Todo application. The release includes Firefox 40, Thunderbird 38 & LibreOffice 5 which is is the latest version of the productivity suite which has a variety of new features and improvements.

There is also improved dynamic backlight support for devices with brightness sensors. This means that on computers with integrated light sensors, GNOME can now automatically adjust screen brightness.

The file manager (Nautilus) now gives more detailed feedback when you are copying or moving large files. If you have a Google drive account set up you can now see your drive contents in the files window.

The Linux Vendor Firmware Service is now integrated into the Software application. The Software app will notify you if there are firmware updates available for your hardware, such as BIOS updates. You can then install them directly from the Software window.

The version of Perl in Fedora 23 is now updated to 5.2.2.

There is also Unicode 8.0 support, DNF System Upgrades and refreshed support for Google APIs to provide access to user data through GNOME apps.

Fedora now hardens as many packages as possible with position-independent code (ASLR) and FULL RELRO to reduce the impact of potential security vulnerabilities.

The Software app will now notify you if there are firmware updates available for your hardware, such as BIOS updates. You can then install them directly from Software.

This release continues the march towards Python 3 as the default python interpreter. Python 2.7 is currently in maintenance mode only, which means upstream only accepts bug fixes and security fixes, The python executable (/usr/bin/python) will not be installed by default on many Fedora 23 systems.
As such you need to either use the python3 exe (/usr/bin/python3) instead or install python2.

The Eclipse IDE has also had been updated to the Mars (4.5) release

There is additional Wayland support included in this release (which is to be expected as Wayland will probably be the default display server in Fedora 24).

There are other spins of Fedora 23 available featuring desktops such as: Mate, Cinnamon and KDE.

Overall this is a really stable, secure distro which would be ideal for those people who have never tried Linux before and are suitably curious.
This distro should have everything you need and would expect from a modern operating system.

Why not give it a try? You can download it from - get Fedora.

Fedora Magazine - Fedora 23 released