Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that showcases the latest in free and open source software. Fedora is always free for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. It is built by people across the globe who work together as a community: the Fedora Project. The Fedora Project is open and anyone is welcome to join.

The Fedora Project is out front for you, leading the advancement of free, open software and content.

1.1. Fedora 13 Overview

As always, Fedora continues to develop (http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Red_Hat_contributions) and integrate the latest free and open source software (http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features). The following sections provide a brief overview of major changes from the last release of Fedora. For more details about other features that are included in Fedora 13 refer to their individual wiki pages that detail feature goals and progress:

http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/13/FeatureList

Throughout the release cycle, there are interviews with the developers behind key features giving out the inside story:

http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Interviews

The following are major features for Fedora 13:

  Automatic print driver installation — refer to Section 4.3, “Printing”
  Automatic language pack installation — refer to Section 4.4, “Internationalization”
  Redesigned user account tool — refer to Section 4.1, “Fedora Desktop”
  Color management to calibrate monitors and scanners — refer to Section 4.1, “Fedora Desktop”
  Experimental 3D support for NVIDIA video cards — refer to Section 4.1, “Fedora Desktop”

Some other features in this release include:

  A new way to install Fedora over the Internet — refer to Section 2, “Installation Notes”
  SSSD authentication for users — refer to Section 2, “Installation Notes”
  Updates to NFS — refer to Section 5.9, “File Systems”
  Zarafa Open Source edition, a new open-source groupware suite — refer to Section 5.4, “Mail Servers”
  System rollback for the Btrfs file system — refer to Section 5.9, “File Systems”
  Better SystemTap probes — refer to Section 6.2, “Tools”
  A Python 3 stack that can be installed parallel to an existing Python stack — refer to Section 6.2, “Tools”
  Support for the entire Java EE 6 spec in Netbeans 6.8 — refer to Section 6.4, “Java”

Features for Fedora 13 tracked on the feature list page:

http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/13/FeatureList

A discussion putting these features in context may be found at:

http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_13_Talking_Points

1.2. Hardware Requirements

1.2.1. Processor and memory requirements for x86 Architectures

The following CPU specifications are stated in terms of Intel processors. Other processors, such as those from AMD, Cyrix, and VIA that are compatible with and equivalent to the following Intel processors, may also be used with Fedora. Fedora 13 requires an Intel Pentium Pro or better processor, and is optimized for i686 and later processors.

  Recommended for text-mode: 200 MHz Pentium Pro or better
  Recommended for graphical: 400 MHz Pentium Pro or better
  Minimum RAM for text-mode: 256 MiB
  Minimum RAM for graphical: 384 MiB
  Recommended RAM for graphical: 512 MiB

1.2.2. Processor and memory requirements for x86_64 architectures

  Minimum RAM for text-mode: 256 MiB
  Minimum RAM for graphical: 384 MiB
  Recommended RAM for graphical: 512 MiB

1.2.3. Hard disk space requirements for all architectures

The complete packages can occupy over 9 GB of disk space. Final size is entirely determined by the installing spin and the packages selected during installation. Additional disk space is required during installation to support the installation environment. This additional disk space corresponds to the size of /Fedora/base/stage2.img (on Installation Disc 1) plus the size of the files in /var/lib/rpm on the installed system.

In practical terms, additional space requirements may range from as little as 90 MiB for a minimal installation to as much as an additional 175 MiB for a larger installation.

Additional space is also required for any user data, and at least 5% free space should be maintained for proper system operation.

1.3. Welcome to Fedora

Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that showcases the latest in free and open source software. Fedora is always free for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. It is built by people across the globe who work together as a community: the Fedora Project. The Fedora Project is open and anyone is welcome to join. The Fedora Project is out front for you, leading the advancement of free, open software and content.

You can help the Fedora Project community continue to improve Fedora if you file bug reports and enhancement requests. Refer to http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Bugs_and_feature_requests for more information about bug and feature reporting. Thank you for your participation.

To find out more general information about Fedora, refer to the following Web pages:

  Fedora Overview (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Overview
  Fedora FAQ (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FAQ)
  Help and Discussions (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate)
  Participate in the Fedora Project (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Join)

1.4. Common bugs

Most complex software contains bugs. One of the features of free and open source software is the ability to report bugs, helping to fix or improve the software you use.

A list of common bugs is maintained for each release by the Fedora Project as a good place to start when you are having a problem that might be a bug in the software: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F13_bugs

1.5. Feedback

Thank you for taking the time to provide your comments, suggestions, and bug reports to the Fedora community; this helps improve the state of Fedora, Linux, and free software worldwide. A list of commonly reported bugs and known issues for this release is available from http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F13_bugs.

1.5.1. We Need Feedback!

If you find a typographical error in this manual, or if you have thought of a way to make this manual better, we would love to hear from you! Please submit a report in Bugzilla: http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/against the product Fedora Documentation.
When submitting a bug report, be sure to mention the manual's identifier: release-notes If you have a suggestion for improving the documentation, try to be as specific as possible when describing it. If you have found an error, please include the section number and some of the surrounding text so we can find it easily.

1.5.2. Other Ways to Leave Feedback

You can learn more about the Bugzilla process at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Bugs_and_feature_requests. However, if you are not comfortable leaving feedback through Bugzilla, you could also:

  If you have a Fedora account, edit content directly at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Documentation_Beats.
  Email relnotes@fedoraproject.org.

2. Installation Notes

Anaconda is the name of the Fedora installer. This section outlines issues related to anaconda and installing Fedora 13.

2.1. boot.fedoraproject.org

Fedora 13 introduces a new method of installing or upgrading Fedora over the Internet, using boot images available from http://boot.fedoraproject.org/. Images are available for a variety of media, including USB, CD and DVD, and floppy disk. You can use this image to start the boot process on a system, which then contacts a remote server to complete the boot process and launch the installer. The process is similar to booting on a network with a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) server available.

The installation or upgrade process itself is the same as if you were performing the process with local media, such as a DVD.

There is nothing in the boot image that is specific to this version of Fedora; in future, you can use the same boot image to install or upgrade to subsequent versions of Fedora.