2. Changes in Fedora for Desktop Users

2.1. Desktop Changes

2.1.1. Major package changes

2.1.1.1. man to man-db package exchange

The package man is substituted by package man-db which provides similar functionality:

man description: The man package includes three tools for finding information and/or documentation about your Linux system: man, apropos, and whatis. The man application formats and displays on-line manual pages about commands or functions on your system. apropos searches the whatis database (containing short descriptions of system commands) for a string. The whatis searches its own database for a complete word.

man-db description : The man-db package includes five tools for browsing man pages: man, whatis, apropos, manpath and lexgrog. man preformats and displays manual pages. whatis searches the manual page names. apropos searches the manual page names and descriptions. manpath determines search path for manual pages. lexgrog directly reads header information in manual pages.

2.1.1.2. Pino

Due to changes in Twitter's authentication mechanisms Pino is no longer able to utilize this service. Due to this degraded functionality, Pino has been removed as the default program for social networking services such as identi.ca and Twitter. Other programs, such as gwibber, are available from the Fedora repositories that can utilized as a replacement for Pino. To install gwibber or another such package, use the System → Administration → Add/Remove Software tool from the main menu.

2.1.2. KDE 4.5

Fedora 14 includes the updated KDE SC ("Software Compilation") version 4.5. The KDE developers worked on usability and stability for version 4.5. The result is a faster, easier, and more stable desktop experience. Many bugs are fixed and subtle but important improvements made to hidden components, so KDE now works the way you want.

2.1.2.1. KDE Background Components

Some of the enhancements to background components include:

Phonon, the sound server for KDE applications, can now directly use the PulseAudio sound server.
An enhanced memory-cache feature that helps to speed up different applications using the same resources (like icons).
The WebKit web page rendering engine, as used in other popular web browsers like Safari and Chrome, is now available in Konqueror and other KDE applications. Konqueror also features improvements that enable it to load web pages faster.

2.1.2.2. KDE Plasma Workspaces

Some of the enhancements to the "Plasma" desktop and netbook workspaces include:

An improved notification area and system tray. Application icons are now monochromatic, making them easier to see. Visual progress bars have been added to the widgets for long-running operations like file transfers and downloads.
The KWin window manager features many improvements:
- You can add or remove virtual desktops in the "Desktop Grid" view.
- You can lay out your windows without overlap by using the window-tiling feature.
- You can move windows by dragging any empty area in the window, rather than just the title bar.
You can save and restore "activities," which are a set of plasma widgets. Use this feature to gather all of your social networking widgets in one activity, and all of your hardware monitor widgets in one activity, for example.

2.1.2.3. KDE Applications

Some of the enhancements to background components include:

A new game, Kajongg, is a four-player version of mahjongg. This is the first KDE game to take advantage of the KDE programming language extensions for Python, which allow programmers to write software more easily and with fewer bugs.
The Marble desktop globe application has support for planning trips, based on OpenStreetmap and OpenRouteService. You can also load this information before you start on a trip, meaning that you can access map and route information even when you cannot access the internet.
The Gwenview document viewer now runs smoothly even while using processor-intensive visual effects. It is also more configurable and stable in all conditions. You can even share your pictures online more easily with the integrated Flickr upload feature.
The Dolphin file manager, and other KDE components, offer better integration with semantic meta-data provided by the Nepomuk Semantic Desktop.

2.1.3. LXDE

Lightweight X Desktop Environment, or LXDE, is available in Fedora 14.

Changes to LXDE include:

lxappearance has been updated to version 0.5. The "Look and Feel" configuration was completely rewritten and now supports many more features including setting mouse cursor themes, custom colors, icon sizes in menus and buttons, turning icons in menus and buttons on and off, and enabling event sounds.
The display manager lxdm has been updated to version 0.3.0. It now has a user list and a timeout, so we can select the language and the keyboard setting on the login window. This is very handy for the livecd.
lxterminal has been updated to version 0.1.9 and now has new features like true transparency for composite window managers.

2.1.4. MeeGo™

Fedora 14 contains a selection of software from the MeeGo™ project.

MeeGo™ is an operating environment and development kit for next-generation mobile and device platforms, formed from the merger of Intel's Moblin project and Nokia's Maemo project, and backed by the Linux Foundation. It includes a rich set of software and libraries that support multiple architectures and multiple app stores, and are well aligned with a variety of upstream free and open source software projects. Fedora 14 offers an integrated subset of software from the MeeGo project. Users can try the software on any personal computer, including netbooks or other small systems, and interested developers can contribute to the development of this exciting new platform. Note that a small portion of software from MeeGo is not included to improve integration with other Fedora applications, and therefore this subset is not expected to achieve 100% MeeGo compliance.

2.1.5. Sugar

Fedora 14 includes the latest Sugar Learning Environment (0.90), including an enhanced activity set to provide a stable demo environment for Sugar as well as an environment for developers.

This version provides major usability improvements for the first login screen and the control panel, as well as new features such as support for 3G networks.

2.2. Networking

2.2.1. awstats

Version 7 of awstats beta is now available. This version allows detection of Windows 7 clients, can format numbers according to localization, and many other new features. These are detailed in the awstats-changelog.

2.2.2. chatzilla

Fedora 14 now includes chatzilla, an IRC client. chatzilla may be installed alone, or with chatzilla-gnome, allowing irc: addresses to be handled in GNOME.

2.2.3. clamz

clamz is new to Fedora. It is an open source replacement for Amazon's MP3 downloader. clamz may be used to download individual songs or complete albums that you have purchased from Amazon's Music Store.

For more informations, refer to clamz website.

2.2.4. claws-mail

claws-mail 3.7.6 includes new filtering features, a number of user interface enhancements, and several new translations. Refer to the summary news for of all the new features.

2.2.5. ekiga

ekiga has been updated to 3.2.7. This release includes a large number of fixes, including a number of user-visible changes, mostly in the area of more sensible defaults. For complete details refer to the official ekiga release notes.

2.2.6. emacs-w3m

The emacs-w3m pager is now available, which has WWW capability. It is said to be faster than the old W3 browser, making it a preferable alternative.

For more informations, refer to emacs-w3m website.

2.2.7. eurephia

eurephia is new to Fedora 14. eurephia is an authentication plug-in for OpenVPN. You may learn more, on eurephia's web-site.

2.2.8. gnome-applet-netspeed

gnome-applet-netspeed is just a little GNOME-applet that shows how much traffic occurs on a specified network device. gnome-applet-netspeed is new to Fedora 14. You can learn more, on gnome.org-netspeed web-site.

2.2.9. gnome-applet-remmina

Also new to Fedora 14 is gnome-applet-remmina. This is a remote desktop client supporting RDP, VNC, NX, XDMCP and SSH. Find out all about it at remmina.sourceforge.net.

2.2.10. gnome-gmail

gnome-gmail adds Gmail support to the GNOME desktop. Also new to Fedora 14, view here for the details.

2.2.11. maildirproc

maildirproc is a mail processing agent, with similar functionality to procmail, but unlike procmail, maildirproc operates on already delivered mail. For more information visit upstream site.

2.2.12. openconnect

openconnect has been upgraded from version 2.22 to 2.24. In addition to bugfixes, there are a number of security enhancements. The full details may be reviewed at openconnect website.

2.3. Internationalization

2.3.1. On-screen input

Input-pad is a tool to input symbols and other characters hard to type with a keyboard.

eekboard is new virtual keyboard, which supports X keyboard layout switching.

The new ibus-handwrite package supports on-screen input of Chinese hanzi and Japanese kanji characters.

2.3.2. Input methods

Users of input-methods upgrading from earlier versions of Fedora may need to install GTK3 versions of their GTK immodules, like ibus-gtk3, in order for input-methods to continue working normally on their desktop.

im-chooser (via imsettings) now allows to fully disable input-methods for users that do not need XIM for X locale compose support: so Unicode input with Control+Shift+u works again in GTK applications by default when not using input-methods like ibus.

2.3.3. Fonts

2.3.3.1. Chinese

For Simplified Chinese, the default desktop font is WenQuanYi ZenHei; for Traditional Chinese, the default desktop font is UMing.

For WenQuanYi ZenHei, a simple tool zenheiset has been introduced, which allows changing its rendering between the default anti-aliased outline and bitmap rendering.

2.4. Multimedia

2.4.1. amarok

The amarok music player has been updated to 2.3.1 with new features like an automated playlist generator, a context view and an upcoming events view. The amarok.kde.org website may be reviewed for additional details.

2.4.2. audacity

audacity has been upgraded to 1.3.12. Included are user interface improvements, the ability to import file lists, and more. The complete details may be found in the official audacity features-1.3, on the website.

2.4.3. calibre

The calibre bookreader 0.7.10 includes more customization options, saving of column layouts and more.

Refer to the full details for all the changes since 0.6.42.

2.4.4. clementine

New to Fedora 14, clementine is a full featured music player and library organizer. clementine is a port of an old favorite version of amarok, with additional features.

For more informations, refer to clementine website.

2.4.5. gst123

gst123 is a command line player intended to be simple and small. It understands all formats supported by gstreamer.

For more informations, refer to gst123 website.

2.4.6. radiotray

radiotray, also new to Fedora 14, is a simple radio streaming player. Details may be found at radiotray.sourceforge.net

2.4.7. xnoise

xnoise is yet another media player, this time with a different view on managing audio tracks. More information on this player may be found at xnoise-media-player.com.

2.5. Entertainment

2.5.1. bsp

bsp, the most popular node builder for Doom, is now available in Fedora. Information on bsp's capabilities, as well as instructions, may be found at games.moria.org.uk:bsp.

2.5.2. flaw

The Fantastic League of Almighty Wizards is now available in Fedora. Refer to flaw.sourceforge.net for complete details.

2.5.3. hedgewars-server

hedgewars-server version 0.9.12 is now available in Fedora. Learn about hedgewars, and review the official trailer, at hedgewars.org website

2.5.4. pmars

Also new to Fedora is pmars. For more informations refer to koth.org:pmars website.

2.5.5. VoR

vor (Variations on Rockdodger) is new to Fedora 14. This is a fast-paced, simple game reminiscent of Asteriods. Find more informations on the website.