HIR Issue 9: More OS Stuffs: Red Hat 6.0
by: Axon
While I didn't get ahold of Red Hat's 6.0 in time for my OS comparison, I got it on the 10th of May (The day it was released in stores). There are a LOT of good things, and a lot of bad things about Red Hat's latest crack at the "User Friendly" distribution. If you believe in leaving your linux box with stock interfaces, I really hope that you've got a fast machine.
6.0 comes stock with both KDE and Gnome. While the majority of the setup process is still an ncurses based text pseudo-GUI, once you've completed the X-Window System configuration, you're given the option to "Boot in GUI mode", instead of having to manually change it over. If you installed KDE or Gnome, Red Hat 6.0 will replace xdm (X Display Manager) with either Gnome's gdm (gnome display manager) or kdm (K Display Manager, part of the K Desktop Environment package).
Both gdm and kdm offer more than xdm. Gdm has an options menu that allows the user to select a different interface before they login. It also allows the user to select different language sets. Some of the language sets work better than others, and none of them are carried outside the window manager and it's applets. Kdm only has a drop-down menu for the user to select what window manager they want to use. Both gdm and kdm have a "shut down or restart" button of some sort on the login screen. This can be disabled or controlled with the root password. Gnome alone is just kind of a Window Manager Extension. A "Gnome" Session is really Gnome running on top of the Enlightenment window manager (although it's easy to make it run on top of WindowMaker, if you installed it. This is (to me) a much more appealing combo, but still a CPU Hog).
Both KDE and Gnome/Enlightenment, while they make the end-user sigh in relief, take up massive amounts of memory and CPU when compared to most other window managers such as WindowMaker, fvwm, or icewm. They look very pretty, and they're a snap to get used to, though.
It's my guess that Red Hat 6.0 will become one of the first widely-accepted "Desktop Linux Distributions" for corporations or universities, because it's really easy to get up and running, and easy to use, as well. It's already being used a lot for these applications, but I'm still willing to be that Red Hat 6.0 will increase the widespread use of Linux as a "Normal" Desktop OS.
As far as installation changes are concerned, there is an "Authentication" screen in the installation process, where you're given options to use NIS authentication, shadowed passwords, and MD5 passwords. The printer setup screen allows you to select a NetWare printer if you've installed NetWare Connectivity in the packages. Previously, no matter if you installed netware connectivity or not, you had to add netware printers after the system was fully installed. "Select Individual Packages" now breaks the packages down into an "expanded package tree" view, which is kind of annoying to those of us who were used to the older method.
Red Hat 6.0 (when bought from the store) also ships with 2 books that are very well-written, an "Official Red Hat 6.0 Installation Guide" and an "Official Red Hat 6.0 Getting Started Guide". The manuals, as in past versions of Red Hat, are also included on the CD, but only in HTML format, not in PostScript. They are in /usr/doc/rhmanual (install manual) and /usr/doc/rhgsg (getting started guide).
When you buy Red Hat 6.0, it comes with 30 days of free phone installation support. Between the getting started guide and phone support, there is no reason that almost anyone wouldn't be able to use Red Hat 6.0. It's THAT user-friendly. Also, when you buy it from the store, you get a CD full of mostly RPM-packaged whole applications that basically work right out of the box. This is full of commercial software (I think) and it can't be downloaded from official Red Hat sites.
So, is it a waste of $65-$70 at your computer store, or a whole day (or 3) of downloading and burning to CD? I don't think so. It's easy to customize, and not horribly insecure out of the box. It needs some work to be a secure server, but for the desktop user, it's great. You could probably convince your other family members to use it after getting them an account and forcing them to play with it for a few minutes (show 'em The GIMP!)
I'm not sure I would run out to buy the package from the store (I didn't). because I didn't really give a rat's ass about installation support or manuals (especially when I've used so many different OS's that I don't need installation support and the manuals are on the CD). My advice is to find a friend that has it and burn a copy (or go to cheapbytes and get it from them for $1.99. This one includes only the first CD, not the source code CD, and it doesn't include any paper manuals, just the electronic on-Disc ones).
It's too soon to tell if there are any new security vulnerabilities floating around within the bowels of Red Hat's Latest release. Keep your eyes on BugTraq!
--Axon
