Fedora 14 beta

Download Fedora from fedoraproject.org.

License restriction

One reason for choosing Linux over Windows is to get rid of license restrictions. Fedora is created in America and subject to some annoying and, ultimately, unenforceable restrictions as shown in the following paragraphs. All the components of Fedora are available from sites outside USA, making the restriction useless. The American government can jump on you for breaking the agreement but they do not supply the lists of people who are not supposed to receive the software, making it impossible for you to know who you are allowed to give the software to. Stupidity heaped on stupidity. Another reason to choose Ubuntu or some other distribution of Linux.

By clicking on and downloading Fedora, you agree to comply with the following terms and conditions:

Fedora software and technical information is subject to the U.S. Export Administration Regulations and other U.S. and foreign law, and may not be exported or re-exported to certain countries (currently Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria) or to persons or entities prohibited from receiving U.S. exports (including those (a) on the Bureau of Industry and Security Denied Parties List or Entity List, (b) on the Office of Foreign Assets Control list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, and (c) involved with missile technology or nuclear, chemical or biological weapons). You may not download Fedora software or technical information if you are located in one of these countries, or otherwise affected by these restrictions. You may not provide Fedora software or technical information to individuals or entities located in one of these countries or otherwise affected by these restrictions. You are also responsible for compliance with foreign law requirements applicable to the import and use of Fedora software and technical information.

Problem summary

Fedora 14-beta decided my mouse does not have a left button and reacts to the right hand button the way it should react to the left button. Weird. I occasionally find some versions of Linux that do not detect a mouse but never one that knows the mouse is there and ignores just one of the buttons.

Install

There is a draft version of the Fedora 14 installation giude at docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/14/html-single/Installation_Guide/index.html.

Welcome to Fedora 14-Beta!

Install a new system or upgrade an existing system [Enter]

Disk found

Test the media or skip to the next step.
[Skip]

F14 glossy page

You reach a stupid page with a logo and a [Next] button. The mouse does not work. You have to press [Enter] to continue. One click wasted.

What language would you like to use during the installation?

English [Enter]

Select the appropriate keyboard for the system

U.S. English [Enter]

Warning! This is pre-release software!

[Install anyway]

What type of devices will your installation involve?

Basic Storage Devices [Enter]

Cannot upgrade

Ubuntu is installed on my test machine and can be deleted.

[Continue]

Please name this computer

There is an option to configure the network and I will skip that to see how well Fedora works with the default.
Hostname: R2 [Enter]

Please select the nearest city in your time zone

Sydney [Enter]

Root password

Enter a password then press [Enter].

Weak password

This is a test system. [Use anyway]

Which type of installation would you like?

Some of the automatic creation options give you a change to review your choices. Being a RedHat based distribution of Linux, it will try to create everything using LVM. In theory with LVM, you can modify your choice after you complete the installation but LVM never works for any of the changes I tried to make. You have to make the changes and one of the common changes is to remove LVM.

Here are some of your choices:

• Use All Space This removes all existing partitions.
• Replace Existing Linux System(s) This is the default. I tested it first.

Replace Existing Linux System(s)

This option displays the list of disks and asks you to identify them as system or data, plus identify the boot disk. I identified them all as system disks because the Fedora message said Fedora would not use disks identified as data disks. I hope there is some intelligent documentation somewhere to explain how to create your configuration from all the options.

Select the software

You get the option to customise the software selection now or later. Fedora 14-beta would not let me customise now. I will have to complete the installation to see what is installed.