ABOUT Exton|Defender Build 251029
Exton|Defender, based on Fedora Rawhide (upcoming Fedora 44), 64 bit, is an extra version built mainly because I finally found a way to install Calamares Installer in Fedora and make it work. This build is not really a “Defender SRS” system. You can, however, install all the rescue tools you may need also when running this version live. (I.e. from a USB stick or a DVD). GNOME 49 is used as DE. Fedora 43 was released in a stable version on October 28, 2025 (yesterday). So Exton|Defender fc44 (being based on upcoming Fedora 44) should be very “unstable”. I have, however, not noticed anything special. I.e. programs won’t crash or anything like that. One “bug” though: You can’t change wallpaper the “normal” way. I.e. by clicking on the Desktop. You can, however, open your desired image with gThumb and set your image as wallpaper.
REFRACTA SNAPSHOT
You can create your own Fedora Rawhide system using Refracta Snapshot, which is pre-installed. I.e. change everything to your liking and then create a new ISO. That can be done after a hard drive installation. If you have plenty of RAM it is also possible to create a new ISO while running Exton|Defender fc44 live. NOTE: For Refracta Snapshot to work you will need to run “my” kernel 6.17.4-amd64-exton. It won’t work with Fedora’s original kernel. Actually you can run another kernel when starting Refracta Snapshot, but you must keep the links /vmlinuz and /initrd.img pointing to my kernel.
NOTE: When you start up Refracta Snapshot you will get a message saying that your ISO won’t boot on UEFI computers. Don’t worry. I’ve arranged so that it will.
Study all installed packages in Exton|Defender Build 251029…
Runs from RAM
Exton|Defender can run live from RAM. Running any Linux system in RAM means that it runs very fast.
KERNELS
While running live “my” kernel 6.17.4-amd64-exton will be used. After a hard drive installation you can use Fedora’s original kernel, which right now is 6.18.0.rc3.30.fc44.x86_64.
CALAMARES INSTALLER
Calamares is very simple to use. Just start it from the menu and follow the instructions. If you are installing Exton|Defender on a UEFI computer you should read my general install instructions in advance. If you want to make your own Fedora distribution (with Refracta Snapshot) you should install Exton|Defender on a partition of about 40 GB and use a SWAP space of about 2 GB. Do not create special home or boot partitions. When Calamares runs in VirtualBox it can look like this. If you want to use Calamares in your own distribution you’ll have to reinstall it. That is done with the command sudo dnf install calamares.
LOGIN
Log in to the GNOME 49 Desktop as the normal user liveuser with password live or as Super User (root) with password root.
DNF – Fedora Package Management
DNF is a software package manager that installs, updates, and removes packages on RPM-based Linux distributions. Used by Fedora. Basically you’ll only need two commands: dnf upgrade and dnf install MyGreatProgram. Read more about DNF. You can also use the Package Manager DnfDragora, which isn’t pre-installed. It can be compared with Debian’s Synaptic. However, right now DnfDragora doesn’t work so well in Fedora Rawhide (and also in Fedora 43). I have therefore excluded DnfDragora. You can later on install it with sudo dnf install dnfdragora.
THE IMPORTANCE OF Exton|Defender Build 251029 being based on UPCOMING fc44
Programs won’t “crash” or anything like that. And I haven’t noticed any important “bugs”. That said you should of course be a bit careful. Version 251029 of Exton|Defender is for people who like to use “cutting-edge” software and the latest kernels etc. You will always have the latest Linux/Fedora software installed if you regularly run the command sudo dnf upgrade.
IMPORTANT NOTE
After a hard drive installation you should boot up Exton|Defender using my kernel 6.17.4-amd64-exton. After a full upgrade of the system (sudo dnf upgrade) you can switch to Fedora’s kernel 6.18.0-rc3.30.fc44.x86_64.
SCREENSHOTS
1. Calamares is running
2. Calamares is ready
3. The liveuser Desktop
4. Showing a Samba connection
5. First screen after boot logged in as root
Exton|Defender can be downloaded from SourceForge.net – Fast, secure and free downloads from the largest Open Source applications and software directory
md5sum for exton-defender-fc44-gnome-calamares-refractasnapshot-3080mb-251029.iso
Read about my Android-x86 Systems – 11, 10, Pie, Oreo, Nougat, Marshmallow, Lollipop and KitKat at andex.exton.net – latest is AndEX 11 (with GAPPS), AndEX 10 (with GAPPS) and AndEX Pie 9.0 (also with GAPPS)!
and
about my Android 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, Pie, Oreo, Nougat, Marshmallow and Lollipop versions for Raspberry Pi 5, Pi 4 and Pi 3/2 at raspex.exton.se – latest is RaspAnd 16 (with GAPPS), RaspAnd 15 (also with GAPPS), RaspAnd 14 (also with GAPPS), 13 and 12 (without GAPPS), RaspAnd 11 (with GAPPS) and RaspAnd Oreo 8.1 (also with GAPPS)! 