ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Fedora Everything is a modern callback to the early days of Linux.
- Select only the software you want and nothing more.
- The installation does take a bit of extra time, but it’s worth it.
Back in my early days of Linux (circa ’97), the Linux installation was a totally different beast. Instead of user-friendly, point-and-click GUIs, we had ncurses interfaces for installing the OS. It wasn’t as hard as it sounds, but it certainly wasn’t as easy as what we have today.
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During the installation of nearly every Linux OS, you had to select which packages (think “software”) would be installed on the machine. This could be a bit daunting: If you neglected to install a particular package (say, the X server), things could go a bit sideways. During my first attempts at installing Linux, I forgot to install important packages and had to run through the installation more than once.
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Although there were some safeguards, it wasn’t exactly a failsafe. The beauty of that system, however, was that you would wind up with the exact collection of software that you wanted and/or needed. It was totally à la carte, which I always enjoyed. The idea of piecing together an OS for a very specific purpose, without having to download a different ISO, was more than convenient – it was the de facto standard.
Modern-day Linux is quite a bit different. Many distros shoot for smaller sizes – not everyone wants to have to download a 5+ GB ISO file – all the while cramming in as much as possible. On top of that, installing software on Linux is incredibly easy now. After installing a base OS, you can open the distro’s GUI package manager and easily add all of the software you need.
But what if you didn’t have to? What if you could select only the software you wanted during the installation of the operating system?
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Well, the Fedora Project had the brilliant idea of doing just that and began to promote the Fedora netinstaller (which was created in 2007) as Fedora Everything. This Fedora spin has, for the most part, existed under the radar, but is finally starting to gain a bit of momentum, with good reason.
What is Fedora Everything?
As you’ve probably guessed, Fedora Everything begins with a Fedora base. But to understand what Fedora Everything is, you have to first understand the difference between an offline (netinstaller) and an online installation. The former does not require a network connection because everything necessary is included with the ISO. The latter does require a network connection because the ISO only contains the bare minimum, and to install a full OS, the installer must download extra packages.
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Fedora Everything uses an online installation, so the machine you’re installing it on must be connected to a network. By using an online installer, the ISO image is smaller (1.2 GB), and allows you to choose which packages are added at installation time.
How the installer works
Essentially, the Fedora Everything installation looks and feels just like the regular Fedora installer, but because it’s an online installation, the Software Selection section allows you to choose from a much larger array of applications.
Jack Wallen/ZDNETI fired up the Fedora Everything installation (as a virtual machine) and walked through the usual first steps (creating a standard user, selecting the installation destination, etc.), and then clicked Software Selection.
On the Software Selection page, it’s fairly straightforward: you can select a collection of packages (such as COSMIC Desktop) from the left pane and then add extra packages you’d like from the right pane. Or, you can skip immediately to the right pane and add whatever you want (even multiple desktop environments).
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For my installation, I added packages such as network submodules, standard utilities, admin tools, audio production tools, authoring and publishing software, dev tools and libraries, Compiz, container management, LibreOffice, etc. In other words, I pretty much created the exact desktop installation I would need, such that I wouldn’t have to immediately open the app store and install the usual collection of software I require.
Of course, that’s the idea. In reality, I’d still have to install a few bits of software that weren’t curated for Fedora Everything (such as Spotify, Firefox Nightly, Trillium Notes, Geary, Ollama, Moose, and more). But the point is, I could add only what I needed and nothing more.
If I wanted to, I could create a bare-minimum installation of Fedora that included a desktop environment and not much else. The beauty of this system is that it’s totally up to you.
And the end result is…
After the installation completed, I rebooted and logged in to find COSMIC Desktop ready and waiting. The first thing I did was to open the app menu to see if everything I requested was installed.
Jack Wallen/ZDNETIndeed, it was.
There were even some apps I hadn’t expected that were included in several of the curated packages, such as Entangled (tethered camera controller), Scribus (desktop publishing), TigerVNC, and more audio production software than you can imagine. The curated collections will sometimes include more software than you bargained for, so if you don’t want any extra additions, don’t include a particular collection. For example, the audio production software curated packages come from Fedora Jam, which is for audio enthusiasts and musicians who want to create, edit, and produce audio and music on Linux. If you find a collection of packages in Fedora Everything that catches your interest, make sure to look it up to see what it includes.
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Fedora Everything is like an amalgam of new and old-school Linux, with the best of both worlds wrapped in a fancy, modern package. And, thanks to COSMIC Desktop, I was able to have a gorgeous UI in minutes.
Would I recommend Fedora Everything?
This comes down to one thing: If you prefer the Fedora distribution, I would highly recommend Fedora Everything because it allows you to install just the software you want to create a custom experience specific to your needs.
The one caveat I will mention is that, because this is an online installation, it does take a bit longer to complete. Fedora Everything has to download the extra packages that you select during installation, so you’ll need to have a bit more patience than you’re used to.
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When I say patience, I mean maybe 5 extra minutes. You’ll still find yourself at the login screen within 10 minutes of launching the installer (unless you have a really slow network connection).
Fedora Everything took me back to those early days of Linux, but with a contemporary twist. I very much enjoyed the time I spent with this distro and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to create a unique, customized Fedora experience.
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