New Features in Fedora 12 - II

PackageKit Software Management improvements
Starting in Fedora 9, PackageKit became the default GUI package for managing software updates and adding software packages. It is a community-developed software management system that has replaced the Red Hat�developed Package Updater and Package Manager applications.

With PackageKit, an icon in the top panel alerts you when software updates are available. Or you can use the PackageKit Package Manager for GNOME to search for and install additional packages.

NOTE: One of the more controversial new features of PackageKit in the latest release of Fedora involves allowing a regular user to install signed packages with PackageKit without entering the root password. After Fedora 12 was released, that feature was reversed. So, once you get the first round of updates for Fedora, you will again be required to provide the root password to install packages.


NetworkManager improvements
In Fedora 12, NetworkManager is the default method of connecting to and managing wired and wireless networks interfaces. New features for NetworkManager in Fedora 12 include extended support for mobile broadband cards. Those improvements include the ability to display signal strength and scanning for available cellular networks. Full IPv6 support was added to NetworkManager for the current release as well.


SystemTap improvements
You can use the SystemTap facility to gather information about your running Linux system. SystemTap includes command-line tools and a scripting language for interacting with live kernels. In the current release of Fedora, the SystemTap project has improved its examples, tools, and documentation in a variety of areas.


KVM virtualization improvements
Many KVM improvements have been added for Fedora 12. Access rights have been adjusted to allow unprivileged users to use KVM. The gpxe feature is added to improve the ability to PXE boot virtual guests. Improvements to storage capabilities include the ability of VM hosts to discover new SAN storage.


RPMfusion.org third-party software repository
Although not specifically a Fedora or RHEL feature, several of the most popular third-party software repositories for these two distributions have banded together into a single RPM Fusion (rpmfusion.org) repository. By most accounts, this has cut down on a lot of the conflicts that existed between those repositories and provided a single access point for grabbing many software packages that are not in Fedora or RHEL due to challenges such as license restrictions.

Source of Information :  Wiley - Adobe Fedora Bible 2010 Edition Featuring Fedora Linux