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You can find a tour filled with pictures and videos of this exciting new release at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Tours/Fedora7.
This release includes significant new versions of many key components and technologies. The following sections provide a brief overview of major changes from the last release of Fedora.
For the first time, Fedora includes several different
spins, which are variations of Fedora
built from a specific set of software packages. Each spin has a
combination of software to meet the requirements of a specific
kind of end user. In addition to a very small
boot.iso image for network installation,
users have the following spin choices:
GNOME and KDE desktop environment based bootable Live images that can be installed to a hard disk. These spins are meant for desktop users who prefer a single disk installation and for sharing Fedora with friends, family, and event attendees.
A regular image for desktops, workstations, and server users. This spin provides a good upgrade path and similar environment for users of previous releases of Fedora.
A set of DVD images that includes all software available in the Fedora repository. This spin is intended for distribution to users who do not have broadband Internet access and prefer to have software available on disc.
This release features GNOME 2.18 and KDE 3.5.6.
Fast user switching is well integrated in this release. Developers have enabled this feature through extensive development work on ConsoleKit and full integration throughout the distribution.
Display devices can be hot plugged and work automatically, thanks to the inclusion of Xorg Server 1.3.
This release provides a number of firmware packages for enhanced wireless networking. NetworkManager presents a graphical interface that allows user to quickly switch between wireless and wired networks for increased mobility. NetworkManager is installed by default in both GNOME and KDE Live CDs.
Fedora 7 includes a refreshing new "Flying High" theme, which is part of a continuous team effort from the community and the Fedora Artwork Project:
Firefox 2 includes a host of new features including an inline spell checker, built-in phishing protection, and the ability to resume browsing sessions.
I18N support is much improved by the presence of SCIM input methods, which now work automatically after installation without any configuration. SCIM can handle nearly every alphabet/set of characters in use. Fedora is now more accessible to a wider audience by the default inclusion of a number of language packages and input methods in the GNOME based Live CD.
A new comprehensive graphical administration tool for SELinux, system-config-selinux is available by default in this release. SELinux boolean settings have been removed from the system-config-securitylevel tool and added to this new administration tool instead.
The SELinux troubleshooting tool
setroubleshootis enabled by default in this release. This tool provides notifications and detailed information to desktop users about any access denials by SELinux policy, along with suggestions on handling them.This release features integration of a new FireWire stack in the kernel for more robust device handling.
Fedora now includes improved power management through implementation of dynamic ticks in the kernel.
This release partially consolidates dictionaries used by desktop applications, which provides a consistent desktop experience while saving resources.
Fedora now integrates the experimental nouveau driver within Xorg and the kernel. The nouveau driver aims to provide free and open source 3D drivers for nVidia cards. End users are asked to provide feedback on this feature to the project developers, to further the goal of having fully functional 3D drivers by default.
In this release, the performance of
yum, Pirut, and Pup have been significantly improved.
This release integrates Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) technology with Fedora's graphical virt-manager and command-line
virshtools. KVM provides a hardware accelerated virtualization solution, and users have a choice between KVM and Xen, along with Qemu, in this release.In this release, all hard disk partitions follow a
/dev/sd*naming convention due to a new libata driver interface in the kernel. The Anaconda installer eases the transition for release upgrades.The
mac80211(formerly called Devicescape) wireless stack has been integrated with the kernel.Smolt, an opt-in tool that sends anonymous hardware profile information to the Fedora Project, is integrated with firstboot in the installer. All data is available on the Smolt homepage. This profile information is used to leverage cooperation from vendors in improving end user hardware experience, and to priortize development and quality assurance on commonly used hardware.
The Fedora Directory Server base is now part of the Fedora software repository. The graphical console and administration servers are available on the website and are planned to be included in the repository after a review process.
Python 2.5 is included in this release, and all of the Python software available in the repository uses it.
The proposed plans for the next release of Fedora are available at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/RoadMap.