Red Hat’s sponsored Fedora 9 has just been released. This solid Linux distro is out with some pretty interesting features:

• you can run Fedora 9 from a USB pen drive or external disk;
• unlike Ubuntu, KD4 is integrated;
• for Gnome distribution, version 2.22 was used;
• there is an option for you to run it with ext4 for better performance;
• and as always loaded with programs including OpenOffice 2.4 and Firefox 3 beta.

This is the first of a sequence of posts where we’ll take a look at a few of the main Linux distros to find out which are the most welcoming to Linux newbies.

We’ll do this test with the live (Gnome) CD to analyze: parts of the hardware that are recognized, software package installed, general usability (setup adjustments, software installation). Computer tested specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600, 2GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 6100.