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Fedora 21 Alpha (Gnome version) impressions after a week of testing



Reviewing an alpha or beta version of Operating Systems is like sticking your finger in a cake batter and writing about how the cake would turn out. So, this is not a review rather a week long test drive. All the bugs, problems , annoyances i may point out in this post might be corrected in the final release, so don't let this post put you off from the final release in the future.

Fedora 21 doesn't have a release name like previous Fedora versions and other Linux OS versions. Fedora 21 will come in 3 different versions : Cloud, Server and Workstation (Desktop).

For the purpose of this post I tested a Gnome Version of Fedora 21 Alpha Workstation. There's also a KDE Desktop version you can try out. Fedora 21 alpha had Gnome version 3.13.91 with it's added bundled apps.

This is the default Gnome desktop in Fedora 21. I loved the wallpaper and the desktop looks clean and minimalistic.



Clicking any of the three icons on the left brings up this dialog containing controls for adjusting volume, brightness, battery information, wifi networks, shutdown and lock controls.



Here's the desktop showing the calendar information.



Here are the list of Apps which come pre-installed in Gnome version of Fedora 21.



Details about the system.


The file manager looks great. I like the minimalistic icons on the sidebar.


This virtual box app is a nice addition for quickly trying out other operating systems without messing up the system.


Brasero is a software for ripping CDs and DVDs.


Clocks app looks great and also shows the day/night condition according to the time.



Fedora 21 also includes DevAssistant tool for developers. It helps developers to setup environments for projects easily so that they can concentrate on coding.



This is the Gnome Maps. It works just ok.


Gnome Docs


Empathy is a chat client which can handle multiple accounts.


 Firefox comes pre-installed. I prefer Google Chrome but Firefox also gets the job done.



Notes app is great to have to quickly jot down notes, reminders, etc.

Rhythmbox looks great here but i had problems playing music. Infact it didn't play any type of audio files in my testing. This will be fixed in the final release.



This is the settings menu.



Shotwell is a great photo viewer and manager.


Sound recorder looks great.


Weather is another app that impressed me. But it wont be used too often to matter much.


The system monitor app also looks beautiful. It shows the CPU and Network History in a slick graph. Cool aint it?



Coming from Elementary OS, I had difficulties in switching workspaces and getting to the App Drawer. Video player couldnot download the necessary codecs so I couldnot play any videos. Music player is also broken. Switching to other open applications was also a pain in the ass. The overall system was slow and laggy. Software center also doesnot perform well. One thing i loved was the Automatic Bug Reporting Tool. DevAssistant is a great tool which will help developers going forward. For the people who love Gnome Fedora 21 will be a great option when the final version is released. The people new to Gnome will fall in love with its looks and the useful pre-installed apps.

The first beta version is planned for October 28 and the Final release is  slated for the end of December. Gnome 3.14 was released few weeks ago so a lot of new features like multi-touch gestures for zooming, switching workspaces, etc will be added in the final release of Fedora 21. So. there's a lot to expect from Fedora.

If you are interested in trying out the Fedora 21 Alpha visit the link below

http://fedoraproject.org/get-prerelease



Stay High on Linux. Peace!
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