In a previous post I dismissed Fedora as a candidate for my my base operating system on my new computer. I did this because of problems with my monitor using Fedora “test spins.”  I received an email from a Fedora developer criticising me for making a judgement based on development software.  And so, I patiently waited as Fedora went through two delays until it was finally released on June 9.

I downloaded the image and burned it to a CD. This was not without problems but that is off-topic and perhaps the subject of a future post. In any case, I installed Fedora into a VMware virtual machine. The performance of this distro is very good. I can’t find anything to complain about and it sports some new features that Ubuntu lacks. The ext4 file system is enabled by default and Firefox 3.5 (Beta) is the included browser. Go to the project page (link above) for more information.

I used to have a “signature” in my emails that said “Ubuntu – It Just Works.” Well, Fedora also “just works” too, so a new signature is needed. The Linux entry line is now quite blurred for newbies. For the last two years I would not hesitate to recommend  Ubuntu. Now, I am uncertain. The “wubi” install feature in Ubuntu is a very big PLUS for Windows migrants, but the experienced Windows user will know how to run livecd’s end virtual machines.

Summary: Fedora 11 is a stable and polished Linux distro suitable for use by anyone. In either the GNOME or KDE version it delivers all the capability a user could possibly want. While I am not about to “distro hop” from Ubuntu, I will start carrying a Fedora livecd alongside an Ubuntu livecd  for distribution to my friends.