Users of Fedora who wanted an easier way to use the popular and free community-supported Linux operating system on portable USB drives have had their wishes granted.

The improved USB drive capabilities mean that Fedora 9 Live images can be added to a USB key under a Linux or Windows application with no loss of data loss, and without the need for repartitioning or reformatting, which increases flexibility for users, Red Hat said.

Fedora 9 delivers a cutting edge desktop stack with the latest software and version 2.6.25 of the Linux kernel.

Other Fedora (Sulphur) 9 new features:

- The latest KDE 4 graphical user interface, with its new desktop design.
- An integrated desktop search tool to make it easier for users to find their files.
- The integration of OpenJDK6, the open-source implementation of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java SDK Standard Edition.
- Improvements to NetworkManager, including wider support for mobile broadband, multiple connections and connection editing and sharing.
- GNOME 2.22, which has a world time clock, better file system performance, security improvements, power management at log-in, dynamic display configuration capabilities and improved Bluetooth integration and podcast support.

Other changes include support for the new ext4 filesystem, the ability to resize Linux and Windows partitions at install time, built-in support for encrypted filesystems, and improvements to how Fedora handles Xen virtual machines -- not to mention the usual host of bugfixes.

Free downloads of Fedora 9 are available at the Fedora Project Web site.