The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Linux: Fedora Core 3 - for the bookshelf Major Keary |
Red Hat is a household name amongst computer users; the company was founded in 1995 to address Linux ease-of-use issues in respect of system administration. In recent times Red Hat has changed its focus to commercial releases of Linux for enterprise servers, and has ceased to support the desktop version that is now known as Fedora; its development is in the hands of the Fedora Core Project, which is an open source project.
The latest release is Fedora Core 3 and, for those who want to learn how to install and use the most popular Linux distro, an excellent guide is available: Red Hat Fedora Linux 3 for Dummies. It comes with a companion DVD that contains the full 9-CD Fedora Core 3 distribution: the works, including programming languages.
This title is not a complete reference. lfyou are interested in Linux and want to install Fedora, this is the place to start. If you intend to be serious and get into the hair-shirt command-line stuff, then this Dummies title will provide a sound foundation. It is an excellent guide for getting started, connecting to the Internet, using OpenOffice, using multimedia features and burning CDs, and buildingbasic network services (including your own Apache server and how to build a streaming audio server).
It contains the best description I have seen of using WINE, which enables some Windows applications to be run under Linux (there is a web site that lists the ones that have been tested). Also described are CrossOver (a commercial implementation of WINE) and VMware (also a commercial product).
There is a good account of RPM (the Red Hat Packet Manager), which is used in a number of distros; RPM makes it easier to install applications without the hassles of compiling. A related product, YUM (Yellowdog Updater, Modifier), is also described; it makes things even easier — it "connects to the Fedora Core Project's download server and installs any packages you want" and can be used to automatically update software.
Also covered is SELinux, the Security Enhanced version that is an open source project run by NSA. SELinux is built into Fedora because it is NSA's chosen 'vehicle' for the project. For anyone who wants to explore SELinux, Fedora is the platform of choice. The coverage of security issues is very good; there is a detailed discussion of building an effective firewall with the tools provided in Fedora.
I am surprised by just how much information has been packed into this book without cutting the text down to terse notes. Good value.
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Jon Hall and Paul Sery: Red Hat Fedora Linux 3 for Dummies ISBN 0-7645-7940-1 Published by Wiley, 378 pp. + DVD, RRP $49.95 incl. GST |
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Reprinted from the November 2005 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
