Fedora Workstation Live

This is in fact the Fedora GNOME Live distribution, but because GNOME is the default desktop environment of the Fedora Linux operating system, it is simply called Fedora Live CD. It is also the only Live CD edition of Fedora to feature a custom welcome screen that lets users to choose between the live mode or the install mode.

Availability, boot options, supported platforms

Just like any other Fedora Live CD flavor, this edition is distributed as Live DVD ISO images engineered to support both 64-bit (x86_64) and 32-bit (x86) instruction set architectures. They can be burned onto DVD discs or written on USB thumb drives of 1GB or higher capacity.

From the boot prompt, users can start the live environment with default settings or in safe graphics mode, boot an existing operating system from the first disk drive, run system memory test, or check the disc for defects (only if using a DVD media).

Pure GNOME experience with a default set of apps

The graphical session of this Fedora Live CD is powered by the modern GNOME desktop environment, which includes most of the standard GNOME apps. The desktop features a single top panel from where users can open apps, interact with running programs, as well as to switch between virtual workspaces.

Default applications include the LibreOffice office suite, Mozilla Firefox web browser, Cheese webcam viewer, Empathy instant messenger, Evolution email and calendar client, Gedit text editor, Shotwell image viewer and organizer, Totem video player, as well as Rhythmbox music player.

As mentioned, some of the default GNOME apps are also included in this Fedora edition, such as Clocks, Documents, Contacts, Files, Software, Terminal, Font Viewer, Screenshot, Calculator, Character Map, Disks, Disk Usage Analyzer, Document Viewer, System Monitor, Remote Desktop Client, and Orca.

Bottom line

Summing up, Fedora Live CD is a freely distributed and open source operating system that allows users to test the latest features of the Fedora Linux distribution without installing anything on their computers.

What is new in this release:

• Fedora 20 features GNOME 3.10. This latest version of the GNOME desktop will have a number of new applications and features:
• Fine grained scrolling when dragging the scroll bar handle, or scrolling while holding the shift key.
• Support for login and authentication with Smart Cards.
• Header bars merge title bars and toolbars into a single element, giving more screen space to window content and improving presentation of application controls.
• Improved Magnifier with caret tracking, press F7 to activate caret.
• Lock screen background customization.
• A new geolocation framework allows features like automatic timezone updates when traveling and location detection in Maps.
• GNOME Documents support for OwnCloud
• Drag and drop files between your computer and a Boxes guest. Windows guests will need http://spice-space.org/download/windows/spice-guest-tools/ installed, and Linux guests will need an updated version of spice-vdagent.
• Boxes gains support for importing filesystem images.
• Improved user interface for Contacts
• Improved automatic scaling for high pixel density displays.
• Improved application selection in the shell Overview.
• Flikr integration with GNOME Online Accounts allows access to Flikr content in GNOME Photos.
• Improved, integrated system status menu.
• Redesigned gnome-tweak-tool, with improved design, extension integration, and expanded functionality.
• A new application, GNOME Maps, brings a simple map application to the GNOME Desktop.
• GNOME Music, a streamlined application for playing and sharing music.
• GNOME in Fedora will offer a new, visually appealing application for browsing and installing applications. GNOME Software shows information relevant to users, such as descriptions, screenshots, reviews and more.
• Applications describe themselves to Software and other supporting tools using the AppData Specification. In support of this functionality, Fedora contributors have combined their efforts to offer assistance and patches for AppData support to upstream projects.
• The older package management GUI, gpk-application, is still available.

What is new in version 19:

• Make new things:
• Would you like to play? Whether you're a developer, maker, or just starting to learn about open source development, we have what you need to bring your ideas to reality. Here's a peek at some of our new tools:
• Developer's Assistant is a tool for new developers that helps you to get started on a code project by offering templates, samples, and toolchains for a variety of languages. And when you're finished, you can publish directly to GitHub!
• 3D modelling and printing are supported with OpenSCAD, Skeinforge, SFACT, Printrun, RepetierHost, and other tool options. Get printing without having to download binary blobs or run Python code from git.
• OpenShift Origin makes it easy for you to build your own Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) infrastructure, allowing you to enable others to easily develop and deploy software.
• node.js is a popular Javascript-based platform for those building scalable network applications or real-time apps across distributed devices.
• Ruby 2.0.0, moves into Fedora but keeps source-level backwards compatibility with your Ruby 1.9.3 software. We're also giving you a custom Ruby loader to use to easily switch interpreters.
• MariaDB offers a truly open MySQL implementation and is now the default MySQL option in Fedora.
• Deploy, Monitor, and Manage:
• You don't have to work so hard when your machines are doing it for you. Regardless of how many you have, Fedora 19 helps you boot-manage your systems and gives you the tools you need for diagnosis, monitoring, and logging.
• systemd Resource Control is one of many systemd enhancements in this release. It lets you modify your service settings without a reboot by dynamically querying and modifying resource control parameters at runtime.
• Kerberos administrators no longer need their clients to sync their clocks or to have reverse DNS records carefully setup for services. Fedora 19 also includes Kerberos-enabled, LDAP replicated, two-factor authentication for FreeIPA.
• Checkpoint & Restore lets you checkpoint and restore a process. It is useful for issues like process failure or moving a process to another machine for maintenance or load balancing.
• OpenLMI' is a common infrastructure for the management of Linux systems that makes remote management of machines much simpler.
• Desktop Environments and Spins:
• GNOME 3.8:
• GNOME 3.8 brings new applications such as clock and improvements to the desktop including privacy and sharing settings, ordered search, frequent applications overview, and additionally provides the ability to enable GNOME Classic ("classic mode") for a user experience similar to GNOME 2 built out of a collection of GNOME Shell extensions. Refer to https://help.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.8/ for more details.
• KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.10:
• A modern, stable desktop environment, KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.10 includes new features for printing and screenlocking, better indexing of files, and improved accessibility features. Refer to http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.10/ for more details.
• MATE Desktop 1.6:
• The MATE 1.6 Desktop introduces a large number of improvements to this traditional, GNOME 2-like desktop interface. Refer to http://mate-desktop.org/2013/04/02/mate-1-6-released/ for more details.
• Spins;
• Spins are alternate versions of Fedora. In addition to various desktop environments for Fedora, spins are also available as tailored environments for various types of users via hand-picked application sets or customizations.
• Interest-specific Spins include the Design Suite Spin, the Robotics Spin, and the Security Spin, among others. Other available desktop environments, in addition to the GNOME 3.8 desktop which is shipped in the default version of Fedora 19, as well as those highlighted above, include Xfce, Sugar on a Stick, and LXDE.

What is new in version 18:

• For desktop users:
• Gnome 3.6 The newest version of the Gnome desktop provides an enhanced Messaging Tray, support for Microsoft Exchange and Skydrive, and many more new features. For more information visit the Gnome release notes. http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.6
• KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.9 KDE Plasma Workspaces has been updated with many new features and improved stability and performance, including updates to the Dolphin File Manager, Konsole, and KWin Window manager.
• MATE Desktop The MATE desktop provides users with a classic GNOME 2.x style user interface. This desktop is perfect for users that have been running Gnome Classic, or other window managers like XFCE.
• Cinnamon Fedora users now have the option of using Cinnamon, an advanced desktop environment based on GNOME3. Cinnamon takes advantage of advanced features provided by the GNOME backend while providing users with a more traditional desktop experience.
• Improved storage management SSM (System Storage Manager) is an easy to use command-line interface tool that presents a unified view of storage management tools. Devices, storage pools, volumes, and snapshots can now be managed with one tool, with the same syntax for managing all of your storage. (It's great for systems administrators, too!)
• For developers:
• Fresh versions of programming languages Using Perl, Rails, or Python? All three of these languages are updated in Fedora 18 -- with Rails 3.2, Python 3.3, and Perl 5.16 now on deck.
• Clojure Clojure gets more love with the addition of tooling packages, including the Leinengen build tool, as well as Clojure libraries and frameworks, including Korma and Noir.
• DragonEgg optimizes GCC DragonEgg is a plugin for the GCC compilers to allow use of the LLVM optimization and code generation framework. DragonEgg provides software developers with more optimization and code generation options for use with the GCC compilers. DragonEgg also allows GCC to be used for cross-compilation to target architectures supported by LLVM without requiring any special cross-compilation compiler packages.
• For system administrators:
• Offline System Updates Systems can now be upgraded offline, allowing for a more stable upgrade of critical system components.
• Storage enhancements StorageManagement is a collection of tools and libraries for managing storage area networks (SAN) and network attached storage (NAS).
• Samba 4 This popular suite of tools has long provided file and print sharing services in heterogeneous operating system environments. The long-awaited Samba 4 introduces the first free and open source implementation of Active Directory protocols, and includes a new scripting interface, allowing Python programs to interface to Samba's internals.
• Riak A fault-tolerant key-value store, Riak provides easy operations, and predictable scaling as a NoSQL database.
• For clouds and virtualization:
• Eucalyptus Eucalyptus makes its first appearance in Fedora, with their 3.2 release included in F18. This platform for on-premise (private) Infrastructure as a Service clouds uses existing infrastructure to create scalable and secure AWS-compatible cloud resources for compute, network and storage.
• OpenStack With the Folsom release in Fedora 18, OpenStack continues to have the newest releases in Fedora. This open source cloud computing platform enables users to deploy their own cloud infrastructure, for private or public cloud deployments. Heat, an incubated OpenStack project, is also available in F18, providing an API that enables the orchestration of cloud applications using file or web based templates.
• oVirt Engine The management application for the oVirt virtualization platform, oVirt Engine, is updated to the newest version, 3.1. This release includes extensive new features, including support for live snapshots, cloning virtual machines from snapshots, quotas, and more.
• Suspend and resume support for virt guests Virtual machines get love with this feature, enabling the ability to suspend and resume guests, with the close of a laptop lid or menu option - or via the command line.

What is new in version 11:

• 20-second boot time - from the moment you turn on the computer to the login screen; shutdown times were also reduced;
• Default EXT4 install - the Fedora team took quite a bold step as the installation now defaults to this powerful new filesystem; experimental Btrfs support is also available;
• New artwork - beautifully designed from boot to the desktop: birds, wavy ribbons and dark blues are part of the new theme;
• KDE 4.2 - the latest and greatest K Desktop Environment with all its eye-candy included
• GNOME 2.26.1 - though there are no major changes, users will notice Brasero as the default CD/DVD burning tool, some minor interface tweaks, improved filesharing, better Microsoft Outlook support in Evolution and more;
• Xfce 4.6 - many new features make the lightweight desktop environment much more efficient and production-ready;
• Automatic Fonts & Mime Installer - enabling third-party programs automatically install required fonts, codecs or clipart;
• Fingerprint reading - devices that provide this feature are supported in Fedora 11 out of the box and configuring them can be easily done through the Authentication Configuration utility;
• ABRT - the Automatic Bug Reporting Tool is a very easy way to report bugs;
• Nouveau - the open source Nvidia driver is now enabled by default;
• Presto - updating the system will be much quicker as this yum plugin brings support for deltarpms, ensuring that only changed components are dowloaded, not the whole packages;
• Mozilla Firefox 3.5 Beta - a plethora of enhancements to the most popular open source browser makes this a great choice;
• Thunderbird 3 Beta - a great email client with improved performance and better IMAP support;
• Xserver 1.6 - bringing improved performance and stability;
• MiniGW - Windows cross-compiling has never been easier;
• TigerVNC - now the default VNC client;
• GCC 4.4, NetBeans 6.5, Python 2.6 and Git 1.6.2 are sure to increase developing productivity;
• OpenChange - out of the box Microsoft Exchange access;
• Improved Volume Control, now more user-friendly with per-application control and better handling of multiple speaker sets;
• DeviceKit system service, providing better ways to monitor disks through the Palimpsest utility;