The folks over at CentOS released v5.2 on Tuesday June 24, 2008. I’ve been running six different HP Proliant DL360s over the past 24 months acting as a public WiFi Hotspot portal servers. The solution has been met all my expectations and almost manages itself entirely (I still need to apply patches and security updates).  CentOS 5.2 adds the same functionality that RHEL 5.2 adds including the latest virtualization support. If you’re looking for a Linux distribution for that brand new server hardware and you don’t have the budget to afford RedHat then CentOS is for you. CentOS is essentially a clone of RedHat Enterprise Linux compiled from the RHEL source files provided under GPL licensing terms. If you’re looking for a Linux distribution to run on that brand new laptop/desktop then I don’t think CentOS if for you. I would probably suggest Ubuntu as a solution for any laptop/desktop.

Just visit the current Mirrors list to start downloading today.

Note: Just be warned that if your running CentOS v5.0 or v5.1 you will be upgraded to CentOS v5.2 if you issue a “yum update“. I believe the release notes indicate you need to issue a “yum upgrade” in order to upgrade but that wasn’t my experience.

Cheers!