If you don't mind living on the bleeding edge, the latest Fedora Core beta is definitely worth a look. As a long-time Slackware user, I have a bias toward fewer gewgaws and less bloat than exists in the mainstream Linux distributions. Nonetheless, I readily recommend Fedora Core to new and curious Linux users.

Fedora Core 1.92 Test 3 is a polished product. Although it is the testbed for future official Red Hat releases, Fedora happily lacks the raw, unstable character I expected when Red Hat first announced their plans for Fedora. Package selection is reasonable, small but useful improvements in the installation have been implemented, and the resulting system is visually appealing, easy to use, and doesn't dramatically depart from trends established when Red Hat still provided a desktop Linux distribution.

Aside from the limited selection of filesystems available during partitioning, I really have nothing worth complaining about. I give Fedora Core 1.92 Test 3 an overall rating of four stars. It might have gone to five stars were this not a beta product.

Kurt Wall is an all-around Linux geek. He has written all or parts of eight books about Linux and UNIX programming and system administration and is the technical editor for over a dozen other Linux- and UNIX-related titles. Currently, Kurt works for TimeSys Corporation in Pittsburgh and lives in South Park, Pennsylvania. He receives entirely too much email at kwall@kurtwerks.com.

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