| Articles, Reviews, Interviews, Opinions |
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| 2005-10-16 |
The Ubuntu Juggernaut |
| Ubuntu has stormed the Linux distribution scene like no other project before. Although barely a year old, it has already succeeded in attracting thousands of satisfied users ranging from absolute Linux beginners to seasoned UNIX administrators. What are the secrets of this tremendous success? A quality product combined with friendly community resources and clearly stated objectives. Robert Storey, no longer able to resist the forces of humanity, set out to investigate this new king of Linux distributions.
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| 2004-10-28 |
KANOTIX - Putting the Pizzazz on Debian |
| As Knoppix-based derivatives go, none of them has succeeded to outclass what truly is the absolute monarch among the Linux live CDs. With its ease-of-use, superior hardware detection, and a wealth of applications available within a few minutes after booting a computer, there are very few reasons to believe that anything can ever surpass Knoppix in terms of popularity and features. Or are they? Our resident reviewer Robert Storey thinks otherwise, especially after discovering KANOTIX, one of the many Knoppix-based live CDs. Developed by Joerg Schirottke, KANOTIX is a surprisingly powerful distribution that has managed to improve on its famous parent by including new features and adding several interesting tricks.
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| 2004-07-07 |
OpenBSD - For Your Eyes Only |
| Not a week goes by without a new computer security bulletin being issued. Most of the big publicity is given to Windows viruses, worms and Trojans, but take a peek under the sheets and you'll find that open source software is not immune to security compromises. The problem is particularly acute on servers, and diligent system administrators face an endless (and often thankless) task watching for security alerts and downloading the relevant patches as soon as these become available. Not surprisingly, a lot of sysadmins would kill for an operating system in which the code was carefully audited in advance so that vulnerabilities were squashed before they could be exploited. In the following article, we explore OpenBSD, an operating system built from the ground up with security in mind. Though not suitable for every taste, OpenBSD will no doubt save many system administrators gray hairs. Even for those not running a server, this is a very stable and powerful OS and you don't necessarily need to be paranoid (though it helps) to enjoy using it.
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| 2004-04-27 |
FreeBSD - The Power to Serve |
| Following the recent inclusion of BSD distributions on DistroWatch, we are pleased to bring you our first BSD article - a review of the latest release of FreeBSD 5. In the first part of the story we will look at the history of BSD, compare BSD with Linux from a technical perspective, and talk about licensing considerations. The second part will bring you practical information about installing FreeBSD and its applications, followed by a handful of useful tweaks, and configuration examples of various aspects of the operating system, such as the boot loader, PPP, PPPoE, firewall and printing. FreeBSD is a superb product. Even if you decide in the end that Linux serves your needs better, there is no reason not to enhance your experience with another open source UNIX and learn about many distinct qualities of the most popular BSD operating system in the process. Article by Robert Storey.
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| 2004-01-18 |
Can a Geek Love Xandros? |
| With its many superb, user-friendly enhancements, Xandros Desktop has justly become known as one of the top products for Windows-to-Linux migration, suitable for any non-technical user. But how about the rest of us? Some of the more experienced among the readers can surely configure CUPS with Samba by editing configuration files with closed eyes. This kind of exercise is useful and fun the first few times, but it can quickly become a mundane task if it has to be repeated often. Wouldn't it be nice if we had a distribution that could do it near-automatically? In other words, wouldn't it be nice if we just used Xandros? And despite our natural resistance to use GUI for any kind of configuration, could we still love Xandros? Robert Storey investigates.
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| 2004-01-04 |
Knoppix - Instant Gratification |
| It is safe to say that the Debian-based Knoppix live CD has raised the bar of Linux distribution standards to a new level, especially with its automatic hardware detection and on-the-fly decompression. Knoppix is commonly used as an emergency rescue disk, as a Linux demo CD, as a tool to test a new computer before purchase or as a utility to read password-protected Microsoft Word documents on a Windows partition. It can even be used as a full-blown Linux distribution for every-day tasks. Robert Storey explains the reason why Knoppix has been given a permanent home on his computer's hard drive and why he never leaves home without it.
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| 2003-12-12 |
Slackware Linux - Back to Basics |
| Slackware Linux is not your ordinary Linux distribution. For starters, it rarely figures in news headlines, preferring to keep a low profile instead. Its developers have stubbornly resisted any attempts to make their users' lives easier: the distribution provides no graphical configuration utilities, its package management does not resolve dependencies and its simple, text-mode installer has undergone very few changes in years. Yet, Slackware Linux remains one of the top 5 Linux distributions in use today. What is the reason for its tight hold on many users? Surely, in the absence of the convenient features found in other modern distributions, the only explanation is that Slackware holds supernatural powers - try it once and you will never be able to leave it again for any other distribution. Or is it something else? Robert Storey has set out to investigate.
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| 2003-09-23 |
Bonzai Linux - Debian on a Diet |
| Bonzai Linux is a free slimmed-down version of Debian Woody, designed to fit on a miniature 180MB CD. With subtle improvements such as a newer kernel, a more up-to-date KDE, plus a few other tweaks, Bonzai is in fact an improved version of Debian's netinst CD. This is a minimalist approach, designed to get Debian quickly up and running on your network. Once you have a basic Debian install, you can then grab thousands of packages which are available from Debian mirrors on the Internet.
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| 2003-09-18 |
Review: Source Mage and Onebase Linux |
| The concept of source-based distributions, where all software is compiled from source code locally for maximum control and performance, took off with the introduction of Gentoo Linux and its wonderful package management called Portage. But Gentoo, popular as it may be, is not the only source-based distributions; in fact it is not even the oldest. ROCK Linux existed long before Gentoo and there are other independently developed projects. Andrew Fries has taken to the task of investigating the often overlooked source-based distributions - Sorcerer, Source Mage GNU/Linux, Lunar Linux and Onebase Linux. His conclusion: try Source Mage and be prepared to be pleasantly surprised.
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| 2003-09-10 |
Debian GNU/Linux - Not Just Another Pretty Face |
| Debian is not quite like any other distro out there. If bigger is better, then Debian wins hands down. Aside from having the largest collection of free software packages, Debian also runs on 11 platforms. But there is more to Debian than just size. Almost uniquely among distros, Debian is a non-commercial development project run by volunteers spread around the globe. That the efforts of all these people manage to come together to produce a well-tuned distro (rather than breaking down into sheer chaos) is in itself quite an accomplishment. Travel writer and recent Debian convert Robert Storey tackles the whole installation procedure head on and gives his report.
Part I...
Part II...
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| 2003-08-19 |
Damn Small Linux: Damn Fine Distro |
| Damn Small Linux (or DSL for short) is a Linux distribution with a difference. Although it is based on the Knoppix live CD, its size has been reduced drastically to fit on a 50MB business-card shape CD. Damn Small Linux is a general purpose distribution to carry around in one's wallet; it comes with XFree86 and the Fluxbox window manager, while other light-weight applications for email, web browsing, word processing, instant messaging and playing music are also included. James Zaldivar has been highly impressed with this light-weight distribution and, after sharing his experiences in a brief review, he went on to interview the author of Damn Small Linux - John Andrews.
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| 2003-08-03 |
Interview with Judd Vinet of Arch Linux |
| Arch Linux is one of those quiet and little-known distributions, rarely figuring in the headlines of major Linux news publications. Fortunately, the recent release of Arch Linux 0.5 and a continuously evolving changelog present enough proof that its developers and package maintainers are hard at work. We have spoken to Judd Vinet, the creator and lead developer of Arch Linux and its "pacman" software management utility about the origins of Arch Linux, its special features, plans and other topics related to the development of this fine distribution.
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| 2003-05-06 |
Distribution Review: Libranet 2.8 - Debian That Just Works |
| Canada's leading distro, Libranet is not yet one of the "big guns" in the Linux world, but it has all the potential to compete with the best. A commercial distribution based on Debian, Libranet attempts to improve on Debian's fine features by adding excellent hardware detection, easy system administration, and an up-to-date default configuration of software packages. Unlike two other commercial Debian distros, Lindows and Xandros, Libranet goes light on graphics - it is built for speed. Furthermore, it offers a great deal of installation and configuration options, and a generous supply of included apps. Those who want to take Libranet further can use Debian's much-praised apt-get system of package management to produce a bleeding edge system. Those who like Debian should love Libranet, the only "gotcha" being that Libranet isn't free (as Debian is). Nevertheless, Libranet is considered good value by its growing fan club, so let us take a look and see just what this increasingly popular distro has to offer.
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| 2003-03-30 |
Review of Mandrake Linux 9.1 - A Distribution in the Making |
| Mandrake Linux 9.1, a GNU/Linux distribution in the making, is currently under intensive development. This 7-part series of reviews follows the progress made by Mandrake developers, reports on bugs, offers suggestions and provides a number of interesting screenshots. While the series concentrates on the Mandrake for Intel platform, the author also offers his experiences with the PPC flavour of the product in part 5. Enjoy!
Review: Mandrake Linux 9.1 Final
Review: Mandrake Linux 9.1 Beta, Part 6
Review: Mandrake Linux 9.1 Beta, Part 5 (PPC edition)
Review: Mandrake Linux 9.1 Beta, Part 4
Review: Mandrake Linux 9.1 Beta, Part 3
Review: Mandrake Linux 9.1 Beta, Part 2
Review: Mandrake Linux 9.1 Beta, Part 1
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| 2003-02-19 |
User Review of Debian GNU/Linux 3.0r1 |
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| Mention the word "Debian" in a group of Linux users and emotions are immediately stirred up. One of the largest volunteer cooperative projects in software history continues to attract attention of media, selfless effort of some of the world's best software developers and endless end users debates. No matter what your Debian feelings and experiences are like, there is no doubt that the Debian project has made an enormous impact on the history of modern software development. Alexander Antoniades looks at the Debian's latest stable version 3.0r1 and describes his own observations in this user review for DistroWatch.
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| 2002-12-19 |
User Review of Slackware Linux 8.1 |
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| Slackware Linux is the oldest surviving Linux distribution; its beginning precedes even the Linux Kernel 1.0. With the advent of newer, flashier and more commericalised distributions, all vying for media attention, it is easy to forget why Slackware is here and why it has been around for such a long time. Let us revisit the simple principles which make up the Slackware distribution and take a look at how ten years of development have changed it.
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| 2002-12-13 |
Distribution Review: Libranet 2.7 - Debian Made Easy |
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| Libranet GNU/Linux, a commercial Linux distribution based on Debian, has been given increasingly positive coverage in Linux media. Its recipe for success is simple - it attempts to remedy the often cited shortcomings of Debian proper, by providing a simple installer, user-friendly system configuration tools and up-to-date software selection. Combine that with a friendly user community and you have a winner. Let us investigate what Libranet is about and why you should give it a serious thought when choosing your Linux distribution.
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| 2002-12-12 |
Review of Xandros Desktop 1.0 |
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| Xandros Desktop Linux has emerged. From the brightness of many minds of talented developers, through the darkness of processor cycles, the millions of lines of code have been transformed into an elegant-looking CD containing a complete operating system for your computer. The goals have been clearly defined by Xandros: this product is for all of us. It's no longer necessary to be a computer enthusiast or a geek in order to run Linux; Xandros has designed it so that anyone can install it and be immediately productive. That was the vision. Let's set out and discover how far Xandros has gone in making the Linux desktop a reality.
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| 2002-11-18 |
Interview with Klaus Knopper, Creator of Knoppix |
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| Knoppix has taken the world by storm. Barely known outside its borders only a few months ago, it has suddenly become the focus of Linux media as a great way of introducing anyone to Linux. Unlike other distributions, Knoppix does not need to be installed on a computer's hard disk - it runs directly from the CD. All you need to do is to place it into your CD-ROM drive and restart the computer. A few minutes later you will have a fully working Linux workstation with all major desktop environments, server software, multimedia, office and productivity applications you can think of. This amazing product is a brainchild of Klaus Knopper. Klaus was kind enough to take time off his schedule and agreed to answer a few questions for the benefit of DistroWatch readers.
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| 2002-07-07 |
Distribution Review: SuSE Linux 8.0 |
| Before we start, here is the link: boot.iso. Click on it, then save it to your hard disk. By the time you finish reading this review the ISO image will have downloaded. It will only take a couple of minutes to burn the 16MB image onto a bootable CD, which upon boot, provides easy, logical and well-structured instructions. Several hours later, you will be greeted with a beautiful screen running on top of one of the most popular Linux distributions - SuSE 8.0.
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| 2002-06-16 |
Is RPM Doomed? |
| You have just found this great software on the Internet and off you go to download and install it. It's all free and GPL and, as luck would have it, the author provides binary packages in RPM format. It doesn't take long to download it, then you run the customary rpm -Uvh package-name.rpm command. OOPS!
The installation fails, reporting a missing dependent package without which it will not install or function correctly. Off you go again to search the Internet for the missing library. Unfortunately, installing that missing library fails because of three other missing libraries and two other libraries that come in incorrect versions...
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| 2002-01-18 |
Distribution Review: Sorcerer GNU Linux |
| Would you like a Linux distribution which is 100% optimised for your hardware? Would you like one which includes the very latest software packages as they are released by their respective maintainers? How would you feel if we told you about a Linux distribution where the entire download-compile-install process of any software (including the Linux Kernel, glibc, GCC, KDE) is done by one simple command? Intrigued? Then read on. Welcome to the magic world of Sorcerer GNU Linux!
Read more... Also available in
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| 2001-11-09 |
The Linux Distribution Game |
| A friend of mine accepted the challenge: "Boot into your Linux partition and stay there for one month. Do everything you normally do with your computer and report back on your experience. You are not allowed to boot into Windows during that month."
The friend called me 10 days later: "My Windows partition is gone!" I frowned, expecting a round of troubleshooting over the telephone. "No, don't worry, I deleted it voluntarily..." He continued, his voice full of excitement: "I don't need Windows any more.
I can do all my office work with StarOffice and Gnumeric. The Galeon browser is such a gem - I can hardly believe all the features it has. I didn't think I could play encrypted DVDs in Linux until I tried Ogle - even menus work perfectly! I can burn CDs and listen to Internet broadcast.
And as for my web site, it was hard at first without Dreamweaver, but once you get used to Quanta Plus, you can do things just as fast!" His final words on the subject were: "It is all in the way you work. Changing your routine is not easy at first, but after a month, I have adjusted completely. I no longer have a need for Windows!"
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