fedora11Fedora 11 has been released for the Beta testers on 31st March 2009 a week later than the scheduled date. This is the first and only Beta version of the Fedora 11 project codenamed “Leonidas“.

Fedora 11 final release, which is scheduled on 26th May, will include several new features and noteworthy improvements, such as RPM 4.7, which will reduce the memory consumption of complex package activity, tighter integration of PackageKit, faster boot time with a target goal of 20 seconds, and reduced power consumption thanks to a major tuning effort.

This version of Fedora will ship with the latest version of many popular open source software programs, including GNOME 2.26, KDE 4.2, and Xfce 4.6. This will also be the first Fedora release—and possibly the first mainstream distro release—to use the new Ext4 filesystem by default.

Other features in this release are:

  • Automatic Fonts & Mime Installer – Allows programs on the desktop to automatically install applications, fonts, multimedia capabilities, and clipart.
  • Fingerprint Readers – Better experience for systems with fingerprint readers, including support through the graphical Authentication Configuration tool and gnome-about-me.
  • Intel, ATI, and Nvidia kernel modesetting – Fedora 10 provide the first steps by a major distribution in using the kernel modesetting (KMS) feature to speed up graphical boot. Fedora 11 has increased the video card coverage of the KMS feature, with more to come.
  • Virt Console – Fedora 11 provides more accurate mouse pointer positioning and higher screen resolutions for virtual machine consoles, along with other improvements such as simpler use of USB devices.
  • MinGW Cross-compiler – Build and test full-featured Microsoft Windows programs, from the comfort of a Fedora system, without needing to use that “other OS.”
  • Volume Control – The multimedia experience of Fedora users is improved by an easily understandable and much more flexible volume control.

This is not over yet, there are some goodies for the developers also :

  • Python 2.6 - This new version in Fedora is a precursor to Python 3000 (3.0), including many compatibility measures to help developers get their code prepared for the next generation of Python.
  • NetBeans 6.5 - NetBeans IDE 6.5 is a significant update of NetBeans IDE 6.1 that includes improved JavaScript, AJAX, Ruby, and database support.
  • gcc 4.4 - The gcc compiler suite has been updated to the latest version, featuring better error detection for the latest in safety and execution.
  • Eclipse profiling tools – Add the power of various native profiling tools into the Eclipse IDE and integrate with the rest of the development environment.

The list of features of Fedora 11 is very long. I have listed just the few important features. For more details about the features of Fedora 11, check out the official list. Installation media for the Beta testers is available from the Fedora website.