Fedora 12 tweaks virtualisation, video

Fedora 12 logo

Red Hat has unveiled Fedora 12, the latest version of the open source operating system it sponsors.

Just six months after Fedora 11 arrived, this latest iteration of the Linux-based system includes Ogg Theora video, the IM client Empathy, tweaks to virtualisation, and an upgrade to NetworkManager.

"Fedora always looks to include the latest cutting-edge features in its distribution and we believe that Fedora 12 stays true to this pattern, packing a lot of punch across its feature set," said Paul Frields, Fedora Project Leader at Red Hat, in statement.

The new version of Network Manager makes it easier to use mobile broadband or configure servers, Red Hat claimed, and Bluetooth is now supported.

Virtualisation has seen some attention, with better disk performance, cuts to memory consumption, and a new network booting system.

Fedora 12 also includes plugins for browsers, improved file compression, and SystemTap 1.0 to help debugging. More details on the new features are available here.

Fedora 12 screenshot

Frields claimed the project is continuing to grow. "Our community of global contributors continues to expand, with about 25 per cent growth in Fedora Accounts since the release of Fedora 11," he said. "We've also seen more than 2.3 million installations of Fedora 11 thus far, which is a 20 per cent increase over the previous release."

Fedora 12, nicknamed Constantine, can be downloaded here.