Fedora (Previously called "Fedora Core") is the free distribution sponsored by Red Hat, based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Essentially Fedora 7 is the continuation of the free Red Hat Linux distribution but under a different name while the name "Red Hat" is now reserved for their commercial product.

Fedora 7 has come a long way since I first reviewed Red Linux. But I still managed to run in to a number of minor glitches and annoyances while using it.

Once you are booted up and logged in, this is the default appearance of Fedora 7. It uses the GNOME desktop and surprisingly (or perhaps not that surprisingly) the default configuration is quite similar to that of Solaris 9 which I just finished reviewing.

There is the GNOME menu at the top, a panel where you can place custom icons, clock and volume control. At the bottom is a button to hide open windows, a task bar that shows running programs, a workspace switcher, and a second "trash" icon.

Again, the GNOME desktop is made up of separate pieces: the desktop itself, the Nautilus file manager, and the GNOME Panels.

The first thing the system does when you log in is check for updates. That is a lot of updates and this number seems to go up every day!

In Fedora 7 the Nautilus file manager, by default, has a minimal appearance for each window. Double clicking an icon opens a new window. In this mode it does not try to act like a web browser and simply presents files in either an icon or detailed list view. Each window just has a menu bar for file operations. I like it!

The desktop itself does not have a file menu (so the icons on the desktop must be double-clicked or right clicked, there is no File-Open) but Microsoft's Windows 95 and later have had the same limit and have managed somehow.

Most impressive, network browsing seems to work quite well. I can see the Windows machine on my network. There must be some way to add SFTP client icons for other machines, and the manual stats it can also browse Unix NFS directory shares.

Unfortunately, shared printers do not show up here. They can, however be added using the print manager.

Nautilus can also run in "File browser" mode. You can launch this from the application menu or by right clicking on a folder icon. In this mode you get all the toolbars and a location bar that presents the folder and subfolders you are in as a series of buttons. A side bar displays your drives and folder locations.

The applications menu is where you run the installed applications from.

You can't just drag things in or out of the menu (this is a good thing, don't want it to be too easy to mess up) but it is fully customizable.

Speaking of customizable, you can add all the panels you want, and they have dozens of built-in utilities and tools that you can add.

Everybody just has to have their little weather thing that shows what temperature it is outside, even if they never leave the house.

Apparently you can use Scalable Vector Graphics for a background. I think that is a great idea, with an SVG graphic it should be sizable larger without any pixilation. Yet this system seems to convert the SVG graphics to small bitmap images instead.

And of course you can select from a number of different themes that control the way widgets and window decorations look.