First look at Fedora Core 3 Test 2

[rkl]

Well, I finally got around to installing FC3T2 and here's my first impressions.

Good stuff:

* Initial kernel is now at 2.6.8 (though FC2 with updates has that as well).
* Default SELinux settings seem to be behaving themselves a lot more (at least "su -" doesn't prompt me for 5 obscure things :) ).
* Firefox is finally shipped with Fedora Core!
* Open Office (second most important app after Mozilla/Firefox) now at 1.1.2.
* New /media tree with the devfs goodies - handily makes the distinction between CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs and CDRW/DVDRW's for the first time.
* pdksh actually seems to get installed without having to dig it out of the CD or DVD install disks (though I did click on most radio buttons - almost everything except "Minimal" and "Everything"...).

Bad stuff:

* "Release Notes" button never worked for me in the Anaconda installer.
* Still won't let you initially install a desktop above 800x600 resolution (Win XP is like that and it sucks) - you have to tweak it afterwards, even if it properly detected your card and monitor during the "firstboot" setup.
* "htmlview" wrapper fails to mention /usr/bin/firefox anywhere, so the default Web browser icon on the task bar still doesn't run it.
* No Thunderbird (not even the 0.6 release that's in Fedora Extras)...
* Still starting way too many non-desktop or "useless" services for a desktop/workstation user - when on earth are the FC developers going to trim down these services?
* Some "permission denied" warnings during boot related to trying to rename a disk label from what I can tell (I used the default "SELinux: enabled" setting).
* Having trouble getting the Nvidia 1.0-6111 3D driver to work - currently back on the 2D "nv" driver. May update this posting if I get some success.
* Default background image too dark (I just changed to a lighter solid blue close to what the FC splash dialogue uses when you log in).
* Oi, mate, where's the 50% of the 3D-card-using games gone ("chromium" has been ditched, leaving Tux Racer as the one and only such game - we need more 3D games shipped with FC, not less!)?
* GNOME 2.8 didn't make the cut - this appears to be 2.7.92 - I guess FC3T3 will have 2.8.

Overall, though, the casual user won't see much difference between FC2 (patched with Firefox added) and FC3T2 - arguably the smoothing out of SELinux issues (too rocky to use in FC2, IMHO) and the introduction of devfs are probably the two biggest advances of FC3. Personally, I think FC2 will remain my default desktop at home and work and I'll wait and see what FC4 will offer. I just hope they manage to get Thunderbird into FC3 final, because it'll be an obvious omission if they can't.

[superbnerd]

good overview of the pros and cons of fc3.
you should inform the developers in the bugzilla about your bad list, especially the release notes thing and the resolution limitation. it woud be great if we could get this bug ironed out before fc3t3 and especially fc3.
thanks for testing fedora!

[imdeemvp]

there is a slideshow here: http://www.linuxbeta.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=110&slide=1
this will provide a better inside iin what to expect.

[rkl]

I couldn't reproduce this, but when I'd finished the Disk Druid part of FC3T2's Anaconda installer, I was prompted for the languages to be installed on the system. This defaults to US English, but for some reason I clicked on that option (yes, stupid, I know, it was already selected) and - bam - Anaconda brought up some error dialogue about a crash and when I clicked to dismiss it, X was killed and the machine was rebooted (in fact, I had to CTRL-ALT-Delete to force the reboot because it was more like a halt-without-poweroff).

I went through the installer again, selecting all the same options and doing the same click on the US English option and, nope, I couldn't reproduce it :( Hence, the reason I didn't mention it in my original review.

[superbnerd]

it not a stupid thing to do. anybody might have click on the english languade even though it is already highlighted.
but thats a strane reason for X to crash :confused:

[Ug]

Hey its a test! But Bugzilla it anyway - this type of stuff is essential.

[cybrjackle]

Gnome-2.8.0 is in Rawhide as of the 21st. FC3-test2 was in freeze when 2.8 was released, but they have it now! :p

[superbnerd]

does gnome 2.8 still have spacial nautilus as its default?

[Shadow Skill]

Selinux did some really freaky stuff to my system (I just did an update because I was just too lazy to go ahead and redo everything. Besides everything was almost perfect with my setup) printing out all sorts of wierd code during boot up. [It was literally code blocks braces and all..a bad sign if there ever was one.] Once I turned it off things behaved as they should, most of my original settings were intact and I was in bussiness. I did have some really horrid problems with windows exploding in its classic fashion when dual booting. After about five hours of warfare with my machine I finally got the dammned thing to obey the master. I also noticed that The installer did not work well when you chose update if you had already installed fc3 and wanted to have it fix your boot loader, it kind of laughed at me saying that the configuration would not be updated because no packages were installed. (I need to remid myself to file a report about that. It was really infuriating on a 24 hour stretch of being awake....) Other than that my FC3 experience has been a good one although I NEED my ntfs but I don't know how to compile a kernel.. :(

Where can I find a key for up2date so I dont have to keep clicking yes for every single package? Also have they fixed that dependency issue Superbnerd and Imdeemvp pointed out I can't do a system wide update because of it with either yum or up2date.

[Ug]

does gnome 2.8 still have spacial nautilus as its default?
Yes it will, all Gnome editions from 2.6 onwards will.