OsReview : Red Hat Linux 7.0

Note: Due to the fact that I didn't get a chance to test out the improved USB support (no devices!) and I haven't really been using this version for all that long either -- hope you'll enjoy it all the same though.

I have been waiting for quite some time to get my hands on Red Hat 7.0 - ever since I heard that the OS would be providing a whole load of nifty little tweaks including improved support for USB, XFree86 4.0, and the host of other goodies. The fact that version 7.0 comes on 2 CDs (one for the main installation and the other for extra software and RPMs) speaks volumes in itself about that "goodies factor".

I think I should say though, that I'm not a true USB fan in all senses of the word. The main reason being I would normally not be able to make full use of the device since I run Linux on my box almost 24/7. All the same though, the prospect of actually getting some good USB lovin powered by the Penguin was inticing to say the least.

Prior to installation, my box was running Red Hat Linux 6.2 - stable and rock solid for quite some time too. Since I was feeling lazy and couldn't be bothered with tarring up my directories and making backups, I chose to just pop the installation CD in and do an Upgrade of the current installation. Figuring that since this was version 7.0, the upgrade would be pretty seamless and all around, a rather sweet experience. Well I was certainly in for quite a surprise. Sure the installation went along smoothly, and all the hardware was detected without a hitch (thanks in part to the fact that most of my devices aren't very new, so they're quite well supported under any Linux flavour). The problems began once the install was complete and I rebooted the machine. I managed to get to the console, after looking at about 1000 different services get started up for no aparent reason (I chose the Default options during the installation phase). However, I could not get X to start. The screen would go blank momentarily, then drop back to the shell complaining about all sorts of things ranging from socket errors to mouse probe problems. This was truly strange to say the least, especially when I had X (version 4.0 as well) running fine on 6.2 -- at a resolution of 1280x1024 no less.

Eitherways, I went about attempting to find the source of the problem but to no avail. The XFree website had a little help with regards to getting XFree86 4.0 up and running however none of the problems listed seemed to match the one I was having. I erased the sym-links to the conf files, and rebuilt them first with xf86setup (or was it XConfigurator?) but that didn't seem to fix the problem either. Manually vi-ing the file to see if perhaps something was amiss with the comments of the options proved to be a dead end. In the end, after all of 4 hours of tweaking, I decided to just hose the drive and install from scratch. This was certainly proving to be more than a "simple upgrade". I went about backing up all my stuff and rebooted the box to do a fresh installation.

This time around, I removed the partitions that I had in place, and redefined them once again. Since I wasn't about to make the same mistake of choosing the "Defaults" I went about selecting the packages I needed... in retrospect, perhaps I should have hand picked each package (more on this later). The installation ended, I rebooted, and without a single problem or complaint, X started up on the first try. No errors - nothing. It even managed to probe the graphics card to the point that I only had to reconfigure the resolution to a higher setting (1024x768 just doesn't look good on a 17-incher - the fonts are too big for my liking).

Back to the part about hand picking the packages. In the true tradition that we've all come to expect from Red Hat, the installer threw on a slew of services I knew I wouldn't be using. The /etc/rc.d/init.d directory was a mess, and a basic nmap scan showed no less than 20 different services running. It was however, nice to note that SSH was installed in there as well, making for one less little configuration step on my part.

In the past, I would normally start securing down my box by commenting out the services I don't want to run in /etc/inetd.conf -- I went about to do just this, and found that the file in itself wasn't there! Surprise surprise, but with version 7.0 of Red Hat, inetd services are now in the /etc/xinetd/ directory. This does make some sense, since you just dump whatever services you want xinetd to handle into that directory and it takes care of the rest -- I moved the contents of the directory to /root/services and sent the hang up signal to xinetd. Almost instantly, there were about half the services running as compared to the previous nmap scan. The next part was going about removing services from /etc/rc.d/init.d -- at least this was still where I expected it to be. About 5 minutes later, and my box was running the way I wanted it to - with only SSH open. I went about adding in the ipchain rules for my TCP connections and I was pretty much done.

One other tiny little problem I ran into was with the system not being able to detect the amount of RAM I have installed correctly. It read it as 64MB when in actuality I've got 256MB. This certainly isn't a big deal, as you've got the option of either manually passing parameters in LILO to specify the RAM size, or using linuxconf or vi to edit the /etc/lilo.conf file and putting in the boot parameter yourself.

The Gnome desktop that ships with 7.0 is sweet - it sports a new splash screen, better handling of the X session as well as window manager. All in all, the system feels a whole lot smoother (this could be a psychological effect of performing an upgrade though)and looks pretty sweet as well.

On the whole, I'd have to say that 7.0 is pretty good, but as most of us are already aware, the x.2 versions of RH distributions tend to be the most stable - as such, I wouldn't be so quick to jump onto the 7.0 bandwagon, unless you simply must upgrade from your current version. If you're out to get the improved USB support (something which I've yet to test out due to lack of USB devices) and Red Hat is your cup of tea - then by all means go ahead. I however would advise to stick around and wait for 7.2 - or at least 7.1

Peace - L33tdawg.

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2.) The State of the Hack Awards #1 - MadSaxon

3.) Slackware vs OpenBSD (part 1) - Liquid Sphear

4.) Why Cryptography is Harder Than it Looks - Bruce Schneier

5.) Physics Utilizing Computer Technology or Computer Techology Utilizing Physics? (part 1) - Josette

6.) OsReview : Red Hat Linux 7.0 - L33tdawg
SSH.