 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 95, 11 April 2005 |
Welcome to this year's 15th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! This week, Ladislav Bodnar - Distrowatch's creator and workaholic maintainer - was called away to Slovakia due to a family emergency. With no more than a few hours to pack and catch his flight, Ladislav dug up me, Robert Storey, to substitute for him during his absence (Gosh, he must have been desperate). In further news, Ladislav says he plans to be away for 10 days, so it looks like you'll be stuck with me next week too! However, I promise to do my best, and so without further ado, here is the news.
"You know, we've won awards for this crap."
-- David Letterman, TV talk show host
Content:
BitKeeper - No More Free Beer
It's probably safe to assume that the majority of Linux users have never installed BitKeeper. There are several reasons for this, the first being that your friendly local mirror isn't going to have a RPM or DEB file free for the downloading. That's because BitKeeper is a closed-source commercial product.
Even if it was open source, not everyone would want it since it's only of use to programmers (and not every programmer really needs it). BitKeeper is a revision control system (RCS). It allows a group of programmers in far-flung geographical locations to work on a single project and then merge their code. Thanks to BitKeeper, Linus Torvalds (currently residing in Portland, Oregon, USA) is able to work with literally hundreds of kernel hackers in Europe, Australia and other disparate locations.
One might ask why Linux kernel hackers would even consider using a closed-source product. The simple answer is that BitKeeper happens to be the best in its class. A good RCS can speed up development considerably - Linus reckons that BitKeeper has doubled productivity. However, using closed source tools to develop open source software makes many developers uncomfortable. Linus was persuaded to make the move to BitKeeper three years ago largely thanks to Larry McVoy of BitMover, who offered Linux kernel developers free use of the software.
Despite the enhanced productivity, many denounced the move to BitKeeper at the time, warning that it was always possible for BitMover to revoke the "free beer" any time they chose to do so. And now it seems that this has happened. The ostensible reason for BitMover's decision was that OSDL (the Open Source Development Lab) was paying a developer who was also working on reverse engineering BitKeeper.
Thus, it was with a heavy heart that Linus announced that he would phase out use of BitKeeper. The big question now is, what will replace it? In the pre-BitKeeper era, the revision control system used by almost every open source hacker was CVS Concurrent Versions System (read more about it on the CVS home page). Although CVS has a long and proud history, it's not without its shortcomings, and there have been several open source projects to come up with a more modern alternative.
Among the better-known candidates are Subversion (which Linus has rejected as inadequate) and Monotone. A list of other possibilities can be found here. It's entirely likely that the open source community will rise to the challenge and develop a totally new, wonderful RCS that will blow everything else away.
A lengthy (but very interesting) discussion on the whole BitKeeper controversy can be found on KernelTrap. We'd also be interested to hear your views. Considering the enhanced productivity, did Linus make the right decision to adopt BitKeeper in the first place? And what would be the best alternative now? Please comment below.
* * * * *
Ubuntu Reviews - The Flood Begins
 Ubuntu Linux 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog) was just released a few days ago and already the first reviews are trickling in. Expect the trickle to become a flood soon. A short but excellent review is posted on Forever Geek. One of the best tips is the author's suggestion to head over to the Ubuntu Guide web site. The review has some helpful reader's comments, and we'd also be interested to hear from our own readers about what they think of this new blockbuster release.
Spring time is traditionally when a large number of hot new releases hit the download mirrors. April is already shaping up to be an auspicious month for Linux/*BSD fans, and May promises to be even more interesting. Will this at long last be the year when Linux can match that "other operating system" on the desktop (and when the *BSDs finally bury commercial embedded systems?). Exciting times lie just ahead.
* * * * *
CUPS - Get the FAQs
The name "O'Reilly" is practically synonymous with good documentation for open source software, and one of the classic O'Reilly tomes is the Linux Cookbook by Carla Schroder. In recent years, O'Reilly has been releasing sample chapters from their books as PDF files, and some of these have become classic FAQs that users cherish. In this spirit, O'Reilly has released a CUPS PDF file. Go to this page and scroll down about 1/3 to find the link to the file.
CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) burst upon the Linux scene about five years ago and has greatly simplified printer configuration. It's a major advance over the old LPR system, largely thanks to the all the sophisticated CUPS printer drivers. Aside from offering basic point-and-click setup for a single user, with a little bit of intelligent tweaking you can make CUPS work as a printer server for an entire office. Grab the PDF and learn how it's done.
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| Released Last Week |
KANOTIX 2005-02
KANOTIX 2005-02 (32 Bit Edition) is out now: "This is a Linux Live CD based on KNOPPIX technology using mostly pure Debian/sid... This time the complete distro is based on Debian/sid (even XFree) - optimal for HD Install! Many WLAN drivers added including NdisWrapper. New Kernel 2.6.11.7 with some patches." More details including download links for FTP/BitTorrent/rsync are available here (in English) or here (in German). Download: KANOTIX-2005-02.iso (702MB).
SLAX 5.0.1
A bugfix release of the SLAX live CD is now available. From the changelog: "X fonts are configured properly now, international characters should work OK; initrd contains codepage cp437, a module for access to vfat filesystems; udev is started even with nohotplug boot argument; MySLAX creator upgraded to 1.7 and finaly works OK; fluxbox command replaced by flux one; gui* scripts start xwindow in vesa mode, use xconf for hw autodetection; fixed slax-install, heavily tested; SLAX doesn't boot from USB when installed as a LiveCD. It will be fixed soon!" Download: slax-5.0.1.iso (190MB). BitTorrent access is also provided.
DragonFly BSD 1.2.0
The second major release of DragonFly BSD is out: "This release represents a significant milestone in our efforts to improve the kernel infrastructure. DragonFly is still running under the Big Giant Lock, but this will probably be the last release where that is the case. The greatest progress has been made in the network subsystem. The TCP stack is now almost fully threaded... It goes without saying that this release is far more stable than our 1.0A release. A huge number of bug fixes, performance improvements, and design changes have been made since the 1.0A release." Find the release sites and the full release notes on dragonflybsd.org. Download: dfly-1.2.0_REL.iso.gz (81.5MB).
KNOPPIX 3.8.1
KNOPPER.NET is announcing KNOPPIX 3.8.1: "In a few days, KNOPPIX Version 3.8.1 will be available on the mirrors. It's an update for the 3.8 Cebit 2005 Edition, featuring: kernel 2.6.11 as default; write support for all virtual directories (i.e. live-installation of software without writable media is possible) in a running live system, made possible through UNIONFS; native support for ipw2200 (Centrino2) WLAN chipsets; permanent homedirectory on harddisk (even on NTFS); KDE 3.3.2, Gimp 2.2.4, OpenOffice 1.1.4 and many updates; wallpaper and bootscreen graphics design by newthinking communications." Download from one of the mirrors: KNOPPIX_V3.8.1-2005-04-08-EN.iso (686MB) or KNOPPIX_V3.8.1-2005-04-08-DE.iso (686MB). A BitTorrent tracker is also provided here.
Ubuntu Linux 5.04
Ubuntu Linux 5.04, code name "Hoary Hedgehog", is now available. It offers the following new features: Simple and fast installation, live CD's for Intel x86, AMD64 and PPC, GNOME 2.10.1, Firefox 1.0.2, first class productivity software, and X.org 6.8.2. Read the announcement and the complete release notes. Quick download links for the i386 architecture: ubuntu-5.04-install-i386.iso (587MB) and ubuntu-5.04-live-i386.iso (625MB). Install CD and live CD images for AMD64 and PowerPC computers are also available.
Kubuntu 5.04
Kubuntu 5.04 has been released: "Kubuntu is the result of several months' effort to get KDE 3.4 into Ubuntu's main repository and create the first major derived Ubuntu distribution. It is not a fork of Ubuntu but an official project of it, sharing the same package archive and infrastructure. It is possible to convert an Ubuntu system to Kubuntu or vice versa. Features of Kubuntu 5.04: KDE 3.4, HAL support for removable devices, Ubuntu-powered out of the box hardware configuration, OpenOffice.org office suite, Gwenview image viewer, amaroK music player, K3b CD and DVD burner, Konversation IRC chat, Kaffeine video player," and it is available as a live CD. Read more in the release announcement, and please download by BitTorrent if possible: kubuntu-5.04-install-i386.iso (572MB), kubuntu-5.04-live-i386.iso (619MB). CD images for AMD64 and PowerPC computers are also available.
YES Linux 2.2.2
YES Linux Release Team would like to announce the immediate availability of YES Linux 2.2 Build 2, which features many updates: "The two most exciting new features are User Management and Autonomous Backup Applications. User Management allows the management of Users and Groups for access to YES Administration and Websites. YES Backup allows for efficient backups of all critical system data and is XML configurable." Read more in the official release announcement. A list of installed applications will be available from the support site. Download from here: yes-2.2.2.iso (458MB), or get it via BitTorrent.
Plamo Linux 4.02
Plamo Linux is a Japanese distribution based on Slackware Linux. New features in the recently released version 4.02 include the following: kernel 2.4.29 with unicon patch; glibc has been upgraded to 2.3.3 and KDE to 3.4.0; improvements in FS fonts, the default font in Plamo Linux; updated /etc/rc.d/rc startup scripts; easier X and user setup with xplamoconfig; the murasaki hot plug utility has been upgraded to version 0.8.10; reorganisation of the content of Plamo CD images; various bug fixes. See the release announcement (in Japanese) for more details. Download: plamo-4.0-050401_01.iso (629MB) and plamo-4.0-050401_02.iso (669MB).
Overclockix 3.8
Overclockix 3.8 has been released: "All new Overclockix 3.8 with Unionfs, 2.6.11 kernel, prelinking, KDE 3.4, and many new tools. Version 3.8 is the first build ever with boinc DC project, now also with apt-build and the beginnings of optimizing select packages for i686. Unionfs allows transparent overlay of a ramdisk filesystem over the CD filesystem, so you can edit anything or install/remove applications while booted live. Based on KNOPPIX 3.8 CeBIT release. Too other many new features to list here, so try it today." Read the full release announcement on the distribution's home page. The latest release of Overclockix can be downloaded via BitTorrent: Overclockix_3.8.iso.torrent (687MB).
Linuxo Live! 0.3
Linuxo Live! is a Serbian distribution and live CD based on PCLinuxOS. Version 0.3, released yesterday, comes with the following changes and features: KDE has been upgraded to 3.4.0, Linux kernel to 2.6.10 (an optional kernel 2.6.11 is also available) with much improved hardware support, including SATA drives. As for office suites, OpenOffice.org has been upgraded to version 1.1.4, while KOffice, with complete localisation into Serbian, is now also included. Many other software packages have been translated into Serbian. Other applications updated to newer versions to Linuxo 0.3 include the amaroK audio player, GQview image viewing application and K3B CD/DVD burning program. Find more details in the release announcement (in Serbian). Download: linuxo-0.3-CD.iso (695MB).
tinysofa classic server 2.0
A new version of tinysofa classic server has been released: "tinysofa classic server 2.0 (Ceara) is now generally available. This is a major release which culminates many months of development and testing, and incorporates the latest in open source technology. 'Ceara' features: the Linux 2.6.11 kernel, grsecurity support, APT for advanced package management, the next generation PHP 5 environment (5.0.3), high availability features such as DRBD (0.7.10) and UCARP (1.1), the latest development tools and languages (GCC 3.4.3, Python 2.4), and much more." Visit the project's home page to read the release announcement and to learn more about the new product. Download: Ceara.i586.iso (350MB). The ISO image is also available via BitTorrent.
Kalango Linux 3.1
Kalango Linux is a Brazilian distribution/live CD based on Kurumin Linux. The new version 3.1 is a refinement of Kalango 3.0, with the main new features being improved hardware auto-detection and boot speed-ups, as well as the inclusion of Floppy/CD/DVD drive supermount as a standard feature. Several new applications have been added to the system - Amarok, Evince, Gparted are the most interesting among them. Read the full release announcement on the distribution's home page (in Portuguese) and visit the screenshots page for some eye candy. Download from here: kalango_3.1.iso (507MB); also available via BitTorrent.
Gibraltar Firewall 2.2
Gibraltar Firewall has been updated to version 2.2. From the changelog: "This is the 'speed' release, improving the speed of the web interface significantly and also solving a previous issue with license checks on high-volume systems. Updated kernel to 2.4.30-rc4 (which has been released as 2.4.30 with no changes) with the usual patches. New features: arptables, tcp-window-tracking, tproxy, GeoIP and Unionfs modules (now for testing, they might get used in a future release). This release also adds the ndiswrapper and rt2400 modules. Replaced FreeS/WAN by Openswan. This also needs the ipsec-tools package...." Download: gibraltar-2.2.iso.bz2 (175MB).
BIG Linux 2.0
BIG Linux 2.0 has been released. This has to be one of the most interesting and fun distribution releases for a long time - mainly due to its 3D capabilities. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so head for the project's announcement page (in Portuguese) to view the newly introduced way of 3-dimensional manipulation of application windows. Both GNOME and KDE are supported. For the best 3D effect you should use the CD on a computer with a powerful processor and a 3D accelerated graphics card. By default, the BIG Linux live CD boots into a non-3D KDE desktop, so you will have to select a KDE 3D or GNOME 3D option from the initial GRUB boot menu. Warning: the distribution only supports Portuguese. Download: BIG_LINUX-2.0.iso (663MB).
Development and unannounced releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Mandrakelinux becomes Mandriva Linux
Though some thought it was a belated April Fool's joke, the news turned out to be true: Mandrakesoft will be changing the name of the company and its products. The company will now be known as Mandriva and its Linux distribution as Mandriva Linux: "After spending weeks balancing pros and cons, Mandrakesoft has decided to change its name! The name change will apply worldwide to both the company and its products. ... Why Mandriva? This new name, simple and efficient, is the synthesis of Mandrakesoft and Conectiva. This will further a smooth transition and will build on our existing brand recognition in the IT world. Mandriva is the new name for the company. Mandriva Linux is the new name covering products. Additional derivations follow directly: Mandriva Club, Mandriva Store, Mandriva Expert and so on." Read the full press release for details.
* * * * *
Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Mini-Review: FreeBSD 5.4-RC1 |
Sneak Preview
Here at Distrowatch we've gone gaga over FreeBSD. Well maybe not gaga, but we're happily running it on our server, dishing out web pages like this one for all of you to enjoy. Previously we were running Debian Woody, and our reason for switching to FreeBSD 5.3 was simply because we desired up-to-date goodies and didn't want to wait for Debian Sarge. It could all change tomorrow - in the fast moving world of open source software, yesterday's "unstable" could become today's rock-solid must-have server distro. But for now, Distrowatch is powered by FreeBSD.
Thus, we are more than a little interested that FreeBSD 5.4 is almost ready to roll. It might seem inappropriate to review an operating system release candidate (RC) rather than waiting for the final version to come out. However, there is nothing wrong with taking a sneak peak. The final version is anticipated for release at the end of this month - the impatient may want to peruse the release schedule and then head straight for the download mirrors. Just remember to resist the temptation to run a release candidate on a mission critical system.
I reviewed FreeBSD on Distrowatch almost one year ago here. Since then, there have been a number of significant improvements. Unfortunately, the OS has not shed all its bugs, and even has gained a few new ones.
Installation
Installation from CD (as opposed to a network install) has changed significantly in one important respect - it now requires two CDs if you want a full working system with KDE, Gnome and all the trimmings. While some may bemoan this fact, I consider it a positive move. Quite simply, you can't squeeze 3GB of software onto a 700MB CD, even with data compression. Of course, if all you want is a minimalist install, then all you need is CD No. 1, but most users will not likely be satisfied with that.
Unfortunately, the two-CD approach still has some rough edges. During the installation, I encountered messages like the following:
This is disc #1. Package apache-2.0.53_1 is on
disc #2. Would you like to switch discs now?
I dutifully replied "yes" and switched disks, only to soon be greeted with this message:
This is disc #2. Package taglib-1.3.1 is on
disc #1. Would you like to switch discs now?
I lost count how many times I had to shuffle the two CDs before I could get all the packages installed. I'll guess and say it was a dozen, but it felt like more. Needless to say, this is rather tedious, and at times I felt like throwing something at the monitor. It was fortunate that the pizza guy didn't arrive until after the installation was finished - scraping Mozzarella cheese and pepperoni off the LCD screen is probably even less fun than it sounds.
Other than this one glitch, the other problem I encountered with my desktop installation was the notorious "geometry bug". This bug, which has been mentioned many times in the annals of FreeBSD folklore, has existed since The Ark and sadly is still with us. The problem stems from the fact that FreeBSD doesn't like to share a hard disk with another OS. If you can devote the entire drive to FreeBSD, this will be a non-issue, but many people including yours truly prefer to have a dual-boot machine. Although you can force FreeBSD to install on the same drive alongside Linux or Windows, there is a risk of messing up the drive's geometry, which could possibly result in data loss. I've solved the problem by installing two drives in my desktop machine, but that wouldn't be an option on a laptop.
The geometry bug, still alive and well
Speaking of laptops, there's more bad news, or at least there was for me. I have two notebook machines: an ancient IBM ThinkPad iSeries 1200, and a ThinkPad X31 of recent vintage. The iSeries 1200 happily ran FreeBSD 5.3, but it refused to boot the 5.4-RC1 CD, and instead regurgitated the following error message:
Read Error: 0xbb
Could not find Primary Volume Descriptor
It's my understanding that others have reported similar problems, so it's possible that this issue will be resolved before the final release.
More seriously, my X31 appears to be unhappy with FreeBSD's ACPI power management - in order to turn off the machine, I have to remove the laptop's battery and unplug the AC power line. This problem existed with 5.3 as well, and 5.2 was even more disastrous (it would lock up half way through the install). Interestingly, FreeBSD 4.11 installs and runs on this laptop without a hiccup - go figure.
Post-install, I had one minor configuration issue - my mouse trackwheel wasn't automatically supported. After a little bit of Googling, I found that the solution was to add a ZAxisMapping line to the InputDevice section of file /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xorg.conf, so that it looked like this:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "Auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/sysmouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
So What's New?
As you might expect, the most noticeable new feature of 5.4-RC1 is the updated package collection. KDE 3.4, without a doubt, is a stunning achievement. Although I don't run KDE as my desktop, I do make heavy use of KDE tools such Konqueror and Kthesaurus. The new KPDF 3.4 is a vast improvement over its predecessors, eliminating any need I felt for Adobe Acroread (which is no longer included with 5.4). I was also pleased to see that Xemacs now resides on the installation CDs, eliminating the need to compile it from ports. Xemacs occupies a special place in my heart, as I use it to do just about everything (including writing this).
Speaking of ports, I was much relieved to find that 5.4-RC1 fixed the many broken ports of 5.3 (notably KDE). However, I did encounter one broken port, /usr/ports/www/mod_geoip, which we use here on Distrowatch to detect which country a web surfer is connecting from. However, everything else worked just fine.
IPFW - FreeBSD's packet-filtering firewall system - is still there, but clearly it is being pushed into retirement by PF (which was also present in 5.3). PF was originally incorporated into OpenBSD, but it has taken the rest of the *BSD world by storm and has attracted envious looks from Linux users as well.
Many of the other numerous improvements in 5.4-RC1 are below the surface, but no less significant. A lot of effort is going into removing the giant lock and replacing it with "fine-grained locking", though this is being done in bits and pieces and is not yet complete. Another work-in-progress is the ULE scheduler, which will improve performance. CARP (Common Address Redundancy Protocol) support is now included (CARP allows multiple hosts on the same local network to share a set of IP addresses). As you might guess, the above-mentioned improvements are geared towards making FreeBSD a more powerful server.
The Power to Serve
I may get flamed to ashes for saying this (it wouldn't be the first time), but FreeBSD has always felt to me more like a server OS than a desktop system. Sure, you can run it on the desktop - indeed, I'm doing so right now - but it requires more effort than the average Linux distro. With 5.4-RC1, that has not changed, but there is no doubt that FreeBSD remains a formidable competitor to Linux in the server space. And competition is, for the most part, a good thing. But both my notebook computers continue to run on Debian (actually Kanotix), and probably will continue to do so for quite some time.
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| Tips, Tricks and Hints |
Copying a VCD
Thanks to DVDs and the upcoming Blu-Ray and/or HD-DVD disk formats, many people are convinced that video CDs (VCDs) are dead. That may eventually turn out to be the case, but it's a little premature for the funeral, especially since video enthusiasts continue to churn out their own home-grown VCDs. And in some countries at least, VCDs can still be bought, even if only in the street market and enclosed in a plain brown wrapper.
The question of how to copy a VCD in Linux gets asked periodically on the mailing lists, and is often left unanswered. In most cases, copying with nice user-friendly GUI tools like K3b and XCDRoast will fail. The usual resulting error message alludes to a problem with copying multi-session CDs.
I'm currently living in a tropical climate and I recently had the need to copy an ancient (but cherished) VCD which was turning moldy. You didn't know that mold could grow on a CD? Where I live, mold can grow on a door knob. Anyway, I needed approximately two hours of Googling to find the solution to my VCD copy problem. Actually, the info that I found applied to OpenBSD rather than Linux, but with just a little bit of tweaking and I was able to get it working on my beloved Debian desktop too. And so now I will share this recently acquired knowledge with the rest of the world.
The solution was to turn to the command line. And once I knew the proper syntax, it was quite easy to create a simple Bash script. On my Debian machine, the CDROM drive is /dev/cdrom and the CDR drive is /dev/cdrom1. Assuming that your computer is set up the same way, the following script should work for you (note: you may have to run it as root):
cdrdao read-cd --device /dev/cdrom toctoc
cdrdao write --device /dev/cdrom1 toctoc
rm toctoc
eject /dev/cdrom
eject /dev/cdrom1
Not only did the above work, but it copied the VCD much faster than Nero Burning Rom (the Windows program that came with the CD burner). Not that I have Windows installed on my computer (but my "significant other" does).
Since I do have OpenBSD, I decided to repeat the experiment, this time using OpenBSD's slightly more convoluted syntax. The following script worked for me:
cdrdao read-cd --device /dev/rcd0c --datafile disc.bin toc
cdrdao write --device /dev/rcd1c --datafile disc.bin toc
rm toc
eject /dev/cd0a
eject /dev/cd1a
All that's left to do is fire up Mplayer and enjoy.
* * * * *
And that's the news for today. See you all next week!
Robert Storey
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| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Ubuntu is the best I have tested so far (by Meccano on 2005-04-11 10:18:33 GMT from Switzerland)
Just my very, very, very own opinion.
For facility, cleaningless, management, professionality
In my preference order:
Ubuntu
Slackware
Debian
PClinuxOS
Fedora
Mandrake
I used to change distro like a mad every few months (weeks?)
With Ubuntu this is over..
Bye!
2 • FreeBSD performance (by Manu on 2005-04-11 10:19:03 GMT from India)
It has been widely said that FreeBSD trumps Linux when it comes to network performance.What has been the experience at Distrowatch?
3 • Very nice DistroWatch Weekly (by Schumaher on 2005-04-11 10:23:43 GMT from Slovenia)
I tried Kubuntu Live but I found out it doesn't auto mount NTFS partitions. So is there a QUICK way to remaster Live CD to support auto mounting of NTFS? I really need it.
A bit of topic, i tried Evolution and it's really nice, however I found my self amazed at first button (i think it's either write mail/ or get mail). Did anyone notice down arrow extension beside the button? i mean do you see how big is it? it's huge. But i guess it's GTK problem.
Nice DWW really,
Cheers
4 • Good style (by andrea on 2005-04-11 10:32:52 GMT from Italy)
Good style guy, nice issue.
5 • Ubuntu 5.04 and ubuntuguide.org (by mrbass on 2005-04-11 10:44:22 GMT from United States)
I just spent 12 hours putting together this script for those who install ubuntu 5.04 then go to http://ubuntuguide.org to install flash, java, w32codecs, fonts, etc. I did it once (or was it twice) and swore I'd never copy and paste so many commandlines again. Anyway hope it makes it easier for those new to Ubuntu (like me). You can download the script here http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=25889
6 • Download Libranet Free (by Anonymous on 2005-04-11 11:01:13 GMT from Australia)
Download Libranet 2.8.1 for an unlimited FREE trial
“Libranet is a lot more than just an easier to install Debian derivative. Libranet is a well crafted system, carefully integrated to contain the best of GNU/Linux and is a pleasure to use.”
http://www.tuxmagazine.com/node/1000019
7 • News From DPL 2005 (by Pr1musr3x on 2005-04-11 11:03:14 GMT from Japan)
Brendan Robinson wins DPL Elections 2005. After successive failed runs the past 4 years. Overfiend finally wins the fifth time around. Congratulations Branden! Send your best wishes to Brendan on #debian-devel now. He missed the announcement on #debian-devel earlier in the evening because he accompanied his wife to hospital
http://master.debian.org/~srivasta/leader2005_results.txt
http://master.debian.org/~srivasta/leader2005_results.png
http://master.debian.org/~srivasta/leader2005.html
http://master.debian.org/~srivasta/leader2005_tally.txt
Foloowing page not updated yet but contains detailed description of electoral proceedure/process.
http://www.debian.org/vote/2005/vote_001
As expected Jonathan Walther has the dubious honor of finishing last and below NOTA.
-:- Topic (#debian-devel): changed by shaya: Overfiend wins! (He was at hospital with his wife),
don't bother asuffield by congratulating him(but bother asuffield is fun!))
http://master.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/leader2005.html &
http://vote.debian.org/2005/vote_001 | Latest release update: http://xrl.us/fos5 |
Vancouver: http://xrl.us/ffg4 | alioth full | sshc(cache): http://xrl.us/fosx
Interesting bits from Overfiend on discovering the frightening news that he has won at last:
shit load of msgs
uh
* Overfiend/#debian-devel stares for a moment.
holy blap
you will forgive me if I'm having difficulty making the necessary context switch
I actually did not expect to win.
and part of me suspects this is a late April Fools' prank
Overfiend/#debian-devel opens the window
* Overfiend/#debian-devel reads Manoj's graph
I was planning to crack open a bottle of Glenfiddich so I could feel sorry for myself about losing the election again, and about my wife still being in the hospital.
But one of those reasons is now gone.
okay, so my "DPL crown" gets to be a dunce cap, same as I've worn for the past 7 years anyway
Branden Robinson's Platform:
http://www.debian.org/vote/2005/platforms/branden
Thought some here may be interested in the news.
8 • remaster ubuntu (by Anonymous on 2005-04-11 11:05:23 GMT from United States)
is there any way to remaster ubuntu? i need to install few programs on it. any 'how to' can help.
9 • Other release (by Shabani on 2005-04-11 11:13:14 GMT from Canada)
In the unannounced releases section, Ladislav forgot NetBSD 2.0.2. Though it's mainly a security update, the isos are available on some mirrors. I've just finished downloading some of them.
10 • I tried Kubuntu livd cd (by JimK on 2005-04-11 11:23:37 GMT from United States)
I tried Kubuntu livd cd release candidate, but after a few minutes my system stopped responding. First the wo
rds in the K menu disappeared, then when I closed a window it left a ghost image of it. Then it stoppedl open
ing anything and the keyboard commands didn't do anything. All I could do was move the cursor around the scre
en. I had the same problem with Xandros. It behaved as if it was out of memory but it should have had plenty
. I have 512MB and I never have that happen with most other distros including live cds.
Guess I'll wa
it for the next version.
11 • My Laptop loves Ubuntu/Kubuntu (by pp on 2005-04-11 11:28:56 GMT from Norway)
I was sceptical but I have to admit that Ubuntu really has put Linux on my Laptop (Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro
2000) permanently.
Tried Suse 9.2 and Mandrake 10.1, but both had quirks. Neither fully supported syna
ptics touchpad special features. Mandrake booted with Numpad on, which is pretty annoying, and ACPI didn't wo
rk out of the Box.
Now, Tried Kubuntu, and ACPI and touchpad have full functionality. That was a great
start.
Then I just followed www.ubuntuguide.org, added all possible plugins, multimedia features, p2
p's and the rest of the bells and whistles.
The sudo business annoyed a bit in the start but I'm used
to it now (after 2 days!)
Thanks Ubuntu team, great work. And also thanks to ubuntuguide for a super
compact and clear guide. And thanks to Mark Shuttleworth, the man who put his money on this.
12 • Summary of expected upcoming releases (by Anonymous on 2005-04-11 11:38:17 GMT from Germany)
"2005-04-XX: KNOPPIX 3.8.1" - someone didn't read his own "Release Last Week" section. :-)
13 • What's his name? (by MadScientist at 2005-04-11 12:00:53 GMT from Netherlands
)
I think the guys name is Linus. It must be great to have your name confused with everyones favorite OS. ;)
14 • No subject (by Rem on 2005-04-11 12:03:27 GMT from Philippines)
I like Ubuntu, but its kernel 2.6 doesn't support my conexant winmodem. I couldn't buy either the linux drive
r or a real modem..... :(
15 • Thank you (by William Roddy on 2005-04-11 12:43:19
GMT from United States)
Thank you for working on DistroWatch while Ladislav is absent. It's good of you. I hope that his emergency is
not dire nor saddening, and I hope that he is safe in his travels.
Meanwhile, we will enjoy your humo
r and your knowledge. I learned a great deal from your BSD article.
I'd like to add that I appreciate
Ubunutu and the fact that it is contributing fixes back to Debain. It's a win/win situation. Both Ubuntu and
Kubuntu work flawlessly for me.
I am also pleased with and excited about my experiences with Scientifi
c Linux. I'm presently using their 4x pre-release and, since it it's purpose is to serve some of the best min
ds in science, it is solid, stable, and secure, a pleasure to use and more adequate than its parent, Red Hat
EL4. Since it is completely, non-proprietary and open source, one must, as with any pure Linux, add multimedi
a rpms, easily done. I also added OpenOffice.org2 Beta with no problem.
Thank you again for your gener
ous spirit.
William Roddy
16 • Ubuntu (by BlaBla on 2005-04-11 12:54:05 GMT from Australia)
Ubuntu is perfect, I just think it is a bit slow though
17 • ..and of course Kanotix (by Steve on 2005-04-11 13:07:33 GMT from United Kingdom)
Have just installed from LiveCD Kanotix 2005-02.
I've been using Kano's work for about 8 months now.
2005-02 is an excellent distro and well worth inclusion in any list of the great and good.
With
Kanotix the feeling I get is that of very thorough and comprehensive testing. It is smooth, has very few _got
cachas_ to trip you up and does exactly what it says on the side of the box.
Kanotix is way ahead (IMH
O) in being a solid, well-rounded and capable distro.
18 • Ubuntu/Debian (by Robert Pogson on 2005-04-11 13:50:34 G
MT from Canada)
There is some controversy around Ubuntu. Ubuntu has a policy of releasing on schedule and Debian, the fine di
stro on which Ubuntu is based, does not release until 11 architectures are ready. Some Debianists believe Deb
ian could release sooner if the talent at Ubuntu had not been diverted and the Ubuntists feel that the good t
hings in Debian are better released now. I love Debian because there is such a huge universe of packages and
the packagers really care. I love Ubuntu because I do not mind living closer to the edge than "stable". There
likely would be no controversy if it had not been two years since the last stable release of Debian or if th
e rate of development in the Linux world were not so hectic. Sarge is usable now and the bugcount is down bel
ow 100 so it should not be long. Ubuntu has a 64 bit release which I am anxious to try, and Debian has one to
be released after sarge. We live in interesting times.
19 • what the... (by crawancon on 2005-04-11 13:57:16 GMT fr
om United States)
Greetings. Nice write up Robert.
one thing to adjust is on main page, after the DW Weekly, there is a
new preview for Puppy Linux. Next to Puppy it says "Putty" and links to something that is no longer active.
just a heads up.
Thanks for getting Ladislav's back.
-Craig
20 • Ubuntu DVD (by Johan Adler on 2005-04-11 14:04:40 GMT from Sweden)
According to the release notes DVD images should be available, with all packages. There is no link to the dow
nload, and when I found the page (http://cdimage.ubuntu
linux.org/dvd/current/) there were indeed iso images for download, but today there are only bittorrents f
or the DVD ISO. I can not use bittorrent at work, due to the firewall, and at home I am stuck with modem conn
ection, so the full installation of Ubuntu is not available to me or others in my situation. This feels a bit
sad.
21 • Ubuntu/Kubuntu 5.04 Screenshots (by Anonymous on 2005-04-11 14:09:58 GMT from C
anada)
Ubuntu - http://shots.osdir.com
/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=305&slide=1
Kubuntu - http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=306&slide=1
22 • Ubuntu, above average but not great (by Matt W. on 2005-04-11 14:17:12 GMT from United States)
Pluses: very current packages, nice installer, well-chosen packages on a single CD-ROM, nice desktop setup (
well, some don't like the color, but the menu setup is great),
Minuses: very scattered / disorganized
documentation, APT basically broken by default, newbies will be lost trying to administer and customize. Eve
n experienced GNU/Linux users who never used Debian will need to learn Debian, as there are no Sys Admin tool
s, its not reay to tinker with this distro, it will be time-consuming.
23 bull; Chinese support for distros (by Eric Yeoh on 2005-04-11 14:23:53 GMT from Malay
sia)
Hi, anyone can recommend a non-RPM distro that can support Chinese file/directory names?
SuSE, Fedora
are great but bloated. I like Debian-based distros but I found it tough to have the distro running with Engli
sh but with support for Chinese on the filesystem.
Cheers.
24 • Kubuntu (by Mark on 2005-04-11 14:29:27 GMT from United States)
Installed Kubuntu but didnt have my dsl connected to my test machine
With other distros this wasnt a problem but with kubuntu I havent been
able to get around the no root approach. Been in the control pannel but
after I enter the root pass to gain control it remains grey. No havent been
to their help forum yet. Run centos4 and for the most part very happy
but wanted to try a few new programs and though I would give it a try.
Fav OS Centos,Mephispro,Fedora,Ubuntu. Just my 2 cents
Dont know up from down on bitkeeper but would like to see a fresh
opensource project that made use of the whole community.
25 • Chinese support is available in Gnome, I think (by Eduardo on 2005-04-11 14:31:25 GMT from Portugal)
I believe most recent versions of Gnome support Chinese , and Kde might as well. Myself, I'm using Ubuntu which I've found can display asian caracters (although I can't tell you if they are japanese, chinese, or other).
26 • Mandriva (by Robbage on 2005-04-11 14:54:57 GMT from Australia)
Thats the best name they can come up with?
27 • Ubuntu!!! para seguir con Debian (by Qchacho on 2005-04-11 15:35:29 GMT from Colombia)
No domino el inglés, pero estoy probando Ubuntu. Excelente y mas aùn, sin dejar Debian.
28 • Awesome issue (by EEDOK on 2005-04-11 15:55:48 GMT from Canada)
Just like to add another thumbs up for a great issue, more content than usual this week :D
Now I must go out and poke fun at Mandriva users
29 • Kanotix-Ladislav (by Robzilla-L.A. on 2005-04-11 16:04:08 GMT from United States)
First off love the Letterman line!
I am sorry to hear of distressing news for Ladislav. My thoughts go out to him and his family. I hope things turn out for the best! His work and effort will be missed even for a short time.
I think he has found a great fill in, good job!
Now to Kanotix. I have used Kanotix and downloaded the newest version but I can't install it to my hard disk. When you boot up there is an option to install via a boot option"tohd:/dev/hda1" I try the option but never get anywhere?? When I go into Kanotix after booting in there is no install feature and when I go to the forum and search install there is no topics on how to install at least not in English! Does anyone have a clue on how to install to the HD? I know it can be done but I am missing something. Instalation guide, steps for install, anything??
Thanks,
Robzilla
30 • Nice Issue (by R on 2005-04-11 16:28:49 GMT from United States)
Just wanted to say good job. I also like the "Tips, Tricks, and Hints" insert. Maybe Ladislav could put that in more often.
31 • Installing Kanotix (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-04-11 16:30:52 GMT from Italy)
From Konsole:
# sudo kanotix-installer
or
# sudo knoppix-installer
Every further step is self explanatory.
32 • Thunderbird In Vector Linux? Wireless (by Robzilla-L.A. on 2005-04-11 17:27:18 GMT from United States)
Always trying new distros,
This week I am trying to install Kanotix and I have installed Mepis 3.3 which I am using now but for the life of me can't get wireless to work. I have help from a fellow distrowatch reader but so far no luck.
So I like Vector Linux and have used it before but again I can't get wireless to work and can't get Thunderbird e-mail client from the repositories-slapt-get or vlapt. I have tryed to install from the thunderbird site and download and follow instructions from mozilla on how to install but can't install it?? Any body have an idea??
Thanks for the tip on Kanotix! I will give it a try!! This site and the people here are great!
Can't get it right but I keep on tryin!
"Why, Titanosoauras Why?"Terror of Mechagodzilla
Robzilla
33 • No subject (by Robzilla-L.A. on 2005-04-11 17:51:30 GMT from United States)
My Review of Ubuntu and Kubuntu,
Well the install is pretty straight forward. You can partition the drive manually or auto-install on the whole disk. There is a few steps where you have to be there but basically it installs very easily and extremely fast. Once the base is installed it sets up and installs more packages. On a new machine maybe 20-30 minutes or less for a complete install and for an older maybe 40-50 minutes or less. From start to first boot up screen.
You set up user name and password. You have to set the root password once you get in the system. The look of Kubuntu is fabulous. As a person who prefers KDE I think the default Kubuntu desktop is nice. A lot better than Ubuntu but as far as function both Ubuntu and Kubuntu boot up fast and work witout a hitch. Change the background of Ubuntu and the look and feel of Gnome is pretty nice. I am impressed with Gnome, still a KDE diehard but impressed. All of my hardware was detected no problem. My etho worked with no intervention. My wireless did not work but seems to be a trend with Linux for my specific computer?? Go figure. All fo the programs are well thought out and the default set up is quite impressive. No thunderbird for e-mail but apt-get or synaptic and problem solved!
My big complaint with Ubuntu/Kubuntu is the repositories. Since it is a free disto I guess because of legal issues they have to cripple the repositories and restrict them so you have to manually change the synaptic and apt-get repositories. For Linux pros this is an easy task I imagine for me it was not. I was able to get the multiverse after a lot of work but could not get the repositories that let me get certain play back features I like so much to work and some how I crippled the repository by entering the wrong info. I then could not use synaptic or apt-get and could not figure out a remedy. Due to my impatience I did not go and research how to fix it I simply re-installed my previous system where everything works! I am weary to install again because of this fact. I think the wiki is well written but there are some steps missing or that did not work on my system and would like an easier guide. Well I would realy like the repositories to just be there and then I can hunt down which codecs to install. Why does it have to be so hard?
Now if you don't need the features you can get from a wider repository base then the Ubuntu and Kubuntu are great. The default system is fast, it boots fast and seems very stable. I am overall very impressed with the feel, look(Kubuntu) and general stability and speed of the system. Both sides of Ubuntu are great my only negative is the crippling of the repositories. My unprofessional opinion-I give it an 7 out of 10. Fix the repositories and an 8-9! Fix the wireless and a 10! But the wireless again seems to be my computer and not specific to the distro! It is worth checking out for sure.
Robster
34 • Gentoo is the best (by Daniel Mery on 2005-04-11 18:09:27 GMT from Venezuela)
Hello Linux world,
I am now using Gentoo, is a very good distro. I was in the past using SuSe, Fedora and Debian and for me Gentoo first and Debian in the second place are better than other Distros.
I think that Gentoo is a great "revolution" in the linux world, but all distros are good.
Regards,
Daniel Mery
35 • Distrowatch linked correctly? (by Geoff Brennan on 2005-04-11 18:42:06 GMT from United States)
Hi Robert,
When's the next distro review? Of course, was a huge fan of the last one, Kanotix is impressive... Everyone involved with Distrowatch does a great job.
Question, the below url (the link below homepage...)
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=current
Is still linking to last weeks Distrowatch (I made it here via Distrowatch's homepage...), shouldn't it be linking to this weeks...
36 • Ubuntu review (by Miro on 2005-04-11 18:59:45 GMT from Croatia)
I couldn't resist to post link to another Ubuntu review at: http://mpt.net.nz/
This one is pretty realistic, and shows standard bugs inherent in most mainstream Linux distros today.
37 • Best wishes (by Jared on 2005-04-11 19:12:48 GMT from United States)
Ladislav, We hope all is well with your family.
Robert, nice job. I too enjoy the tips. The David Lettermen quote is a nice touch made me laugh.
38 • Linux Torvalds (by "Linux Torvalds" on 2005-04-11 20:35:22 GMT from United States)
"Thanks to BitKeeper, Linux Torvalds (currently residing in Portland, Oregon, USA) is able to work with literally hundreds of kernel hackers in Europe, Australia and other disparate locations."
Who is "Linux Torvalds"?
39 • Expected upcoming release: Frugalware (by less_is_more on 2005-04-11 20:39:14 GMT from Germany)
The next Frugalware release 0.2 (Aurora) is soon coming, so everybody hold on to your hats!
http://frugalware.org/roadmap.php
Frugalware is a new Hungarian distro built on Slackware, with the package manager from Arch Linux.
And Frugalware has all the latest packages. Frugalware is going to be BIG, just mark my words.
40 • Frugalware (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-04-11 21:45:19 GMT from Italy)
Well, it sounds very promising. I am certainly going to try it.
41 • Kanotix, the best kept secret (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-04-11 21:53:52 GMT from Italy)
Kanotix is not overhyped and its users are not overzealous, but I find with much pleasure people who love it everywhere, including our Robert Storey :)
42 • comments messed-up? (by K on 2005-04-11 22:37:43 GMT from United Kingdom)
Am I the only one seeing comments made between 10:44:22 GMT (mrbass) and 14:23:53 GMT (Eric Yeoh) as a big mess?
Eric - depending on the coding (GB2312/GBK/Big5/utf8), you need only to make appropriate modification in /etc/fstab and to have the relevent locale (and possibly the appropriate i18n of the DE). You might want to try B2D if you haven't already done so.
43 • comments messed-up! (by Renald Loignon on 2005-04-11 23:18:41 GMT from Canada)
Indeed, a bunch of consecutive comments appear to be messed up in more than one way:
- no proper separation (new line) between the end of a comment and the title line of the next one;
- some (but not all) of those messed-up comments appear to be entered multiple times (2 or 3 consecutive copies that appear identical at first glance).
If I can find an Email address for Robert, our interim editor, I will send him a copy of this note...
44 • Mini-Review: FreeBSD 5.4-RC1 (by Kanwar on 2005-04-12 00:22:46 GMT from Australia)
I don't use FreeBSD (plain ignorance actually) but I noticed the comments about disk change in the article. Well, closer home, RHEL does it too. I was trying to install MozillaFirefox from RHEL4 CDs and it made me switch CDs at least 7 times before I got Firefox and its dependencies installed! Talk about RPM dependency hell of another kind!!
45 • Kubuntu installs (by Kanwar on 2005-04-12 00:27:37 GMT from Australia)
I installed Kubuntu both on my x86 AMD as well as AMD 64. Installation is breezy and clean.
Now, to wipe it off the AMD64 and install it as "server" instead of plain desktop. Does anyone know the difference in the default (desktop) install and the server one?
46 • No subject (by Next on The Inevitability Show on 2005-04-12 00:58:07 GMT from United States)
Watch this week's exciting episode of The Inevitability Show!, a new kind of reality television, with these suspenseful stories:
- Watch while we pour water into a sloped trough! Will it go downhill, or will it puddle at the top?
- We'll drop a bowling ball off a building. Will it fall, or will it float?
- We touch an unlit match to a red-hot burner. Feel the suspense as we ask, Will it remain unlit, or burst into flame?
- A few years back, the author of the world's most famous piece of "software libre" arranged to use proprietary revision control software from a profit-seeking corporation. How will their relationship turn out?
See these and more stories, later this week, on The Inevitability Show! Check your local listings.
47 • About Mandrake become Mandriva (by ThePonja on 2005-04-12 01:21:30 GMT from Argentina)
Mandriva sounds awful in spanish. Is like mandril + drive + a. They don't have any spanish markrting assesors ? It's a very bad name.
Yes, I know, I know the important thing is the quality of distribution. But I can't imagine to me trying to speak to my boss about a operating system called "Mandriva".
Regards
ThePonja
48 • Apt and Synaptic (by William Roddy on 2005-04-12 02:01:42 GMT from United States)
I have read that a few are unable to receive the full benefits they would like from Ubuntu or Kubuntu, so I would like to share what appears to be the best-kept secret, hidden in plain sight.
Apt-get is a powerful command-line tool, as anyone who has used any Debian or Debian-based derivative will tell you. Now, even rpm-based distributions are offering it, although sometimes indirectly, for their distributions.
Meanwhile, the user interface for apt, SYNAPTIC, has grown up to be a tremendously sophisticated and useful tool.
With your only mouse, not the command line, you can:
Navigate to Settings>Preferences>Expert and you can chose the level of upgrade you prefer.
Navigate to Settings>Preferences>Repositories and not only can you turn off or on repositories you prefer (turning on some repositories is a "must," to enjoy the full benefits of Ubuntu or Kubuntu). You can also add repositories easily. And you can delete them (better to just turn them off).
You do not have to touch the command line once, to have a full, well-rounded, pleasurable experience with most distributions these days, because of the Apt/Synaptic connection.
Then you can use Synaptic to update your repository lists' contents. And you can then use it to upgrade your distribution.
Or you can safely remove or purge programs you no longer want or need.
You can also use Synaptic to see everything available to you; everything installed; everything not installed; broken links (which you can fix with the click of a mouse); categories of programs; and search for specific programs with only parts of their name. You can even lock programs at a specific development level (and unlock them later, if you like).
You can quickly see which programs are giving you problems and make decisions based on more than command-line searches and guess-work.
Synaptic has become a really powerful tool and it has made many of the "problems" with Linux moot. Synaptic is One-Stop-Shopping, for free, for all your program additions and deletions.
I hope this is of value to those of my who might not yet experimented with Synaptic.
Oh, yes, Kano does a magnificent job with KANOTIX. Devotion about and beyond the call of duty.
Thank you.
William Roddy
49 • Repositories for Ubuntu (by William Roddy on 2005-04-12 02:08:26 GMT from United States)
ALL of the repositories (with the exception of marillat) are already in the Ubuntu or Kubuntu repository lists you install. All you need to do is turn them on. This can be done easily -- I want to emphasize: EASILY -- with SYNAPTIC.
50 • Knoppix 3.8.1, Kanotix 3.8 and Overclockix 3.7 (by Ed Borasky on 2005-04-12 02:13:19 GMT from United States)
By one of those twists of fate, the latest Knoppix and two of its derivatives hit the Bittorrent mirrors this weekend, and of course I grabbed all of them, burned them and booted them. I really didn't spend much time with any one of them, or attempt to differentiate them. As far as I can tell, all three use UnionFS, which I have not attempted to play with at all, all three have a 2.6 kernel and all three come up in KDE 3.4. So the choice really comes down to the other packages, at least on machines where all three recognize the hardware. :)
On a related note, is there such a thing as a "CVS" version of Knoppix? That is, some place where one can download the latest "bleeding edge" Knoppix source and build his or her own LiveCD from scratch, rather than waiting for a regular release from Knoppix and re-mastering?
And what ever happened to Morphix?
51 • Kanotix 2005-02 (by Richtoo on 2005-04-12 02:48:26 GMT from United States)
This is a great distro (using it now). Hard disk install very easy to configure and doesn't want to break anything. It has a great support community on forums and irc. It is easy to find and install additional applications. First try it live, then install to disk!
52 • RE: About Mandrake become Mandriva (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-04-12 02:48:38 GMT from Italy)
It sounds pretty bad in Italian too: the first thing which comes into my mind is "mandrillo", which in Italian isn't only a monkey, but also a very horny man.
But a Russian user said that he can't even utter that word in Russian: it is a dirty, extremely embarassing word.
53 • RE: Knoppix 3.8.1, Kanotix 3.8 and Overclockix 3.7 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-04-12 03:02:33 GMT from Italy)
If you dig a bit deeper you'll find that there are considerable differences between the 3, especially between Knoppix and Kanotix: Klaus Knopper is now taking a much more conservative approach.
I find better in Kanotix the installer, the hardware detection, the selection of goodies...
By comparison Knoppix feels very vanilla to me, and not really optimized for install. I didn't believe in installing Debian with a LiveCD, until I tried Kanotix 2005-01, which was a major improvement over previous versions.
54 • Synaptic//Madriva (by Robzilla on 2005-04-12 03:28:56 GMT from United States)
William,
Thanks for the info on synaptic. I tryed to configure the repositories a few ways and thought the synaptic method was too easy?? Guess sometimes the answers are right in front of you!!
To the other Distro readers, I think Last Week I wrote a little snipit about Madriva. I said it sounded like a disease I needed to get rid of not something I want to tell my friends to install on my computer! I get the whole Madrake/Connectiva connection but would it not be better to come up with a completely new name and say from the creators of MAndrake and Conectiva? That way they will still get their old name and name recognition but start fresh? I think and I said this before that the whole process of naming distrobutions really needs to refined. I saw something called Kate Linux? Whats next Chuck Linux. I know some distros are just for the community but Mandrake is a serious distro that I think would like to compete with M$ and Apple but they should try to come up with something simple, catchy, timeless and unique to what the distro offers. I have no suggestions but if it was my job or if I was creating a distro I would really focus on a few things and the name although unimportant as far as how it works sets the whole feel for the system before anyone even gives it a try.
Now I have to decide Kanotix or Kubuntu??
If it aint broke then I got fix it!
Robzilla
55 • RE: Robzilla (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-04-12 04:34:38 GMT from Italy)
"Now I have to decide Kanotix or Kubuntu?? "
Well, try them both and see which one you like better. Personally I have no doubts.
56 • No subject (by sauvagelin on 2005-04-12 06:04:32 GMT from United States)
Is Libranet 2.8.1 still a good choice? It's been in beta "testing" since December 2004. I got tired of waiting and tried Kanotix and Mepis. I have been using Kanotix for 4 months now. Great distro!
57 • Ubuntu and extra packages (by gnubee at 2005-04-12 06:06:32 GMT from United States)
I just found out how easy it is to add other packages (e.g. vsftpd, postgresql, apache, bind9, dhcp3-server) to the existing Ubuntu-5.04 ISO. Just mount the ISO, copy the files to a temporary directory, create another directory for the additional packages inside that dir and put the packages in, create an apt-get repo using dpkg-scanpackages, then rebuild the ISO using mkisofs.
During installation, the Ubuntu installer is smart enough to scan your new CD for additional packages and add it to your /etc/apt/sources.list. You may now install those packages direct from the CD using Synaptic after installation. Very easy.
Man, I love this distro.
58 • No subject (by sauvagelin on 2005-04-12 06:12:32 GMT from United States)
Is Libranet 2.8.1 still a good choice? It's been in beta "testing" since December 2004. I got tired of waiting and tried Kanotix and Mepis. I have been using Kanotix for 4 months now. Great distro!
59 • Kate (by DGL on 2005-04-12 06:19:56 GMT from United Kingdom)
Very strongly suggest both you and 'Kate' remove all reference to Zyklon with extreme alacrity. This was the name the Nazis gave to their brand of cyanide gas. Use of the name in some countries may be a criminal offence? but if you want to avoid a knock on the door at 5am by your friendly CIA agent you'd be smart to heed my warning pronto. No! I am not Jewish and I don't approve of their behaviour in Palestine, but there's an issue of good taste and respect.
DGL.
60 • Kate Linux from Poland (by mindmybusiness on 2005-04-12 06:50:03 GMT from United States)
Ironically, this release is from Poland.
61 • Sauvagelin - Libranet is Awesome (by Anonymous on 2005-04-12 07:10:07 GMT from Australia)
It is the most stable polished OS out there. I have tried nearly all the others , Slackware , Fedora , Suse , Arch etc and I always come back to Libranet. The Adminmenu makes system administration, and hardware setup so easy. It is so easy to upgrade. The libranet forum is one of the most helpful I've ever come across - http://forum.libranet.com/
Version 2.8.1 is Free - http://libranet.com/
Have a look at these reviews - http://www.tuxmagazine.com/node/1000019
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=6073
http://guilinux.com/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=7
62 • Zyklon B (by William Roddy on 2005-04-12 09:16:57 GMT from United States)
Do you remember? Zyklon B. The word "gift" translated as "poison." The "showers." The lies to cover it all up. The discovery, the trials, the Nazi documents that confirm, in detail, the deaths, "the final solution."
It is no small matter for me to witness the adoption of anything related to any massive death of any people, to be used as a contemporary symbol.
The overt references to Zyklon seem to have been taken down from the distribution's Web site, but one or more screen shots persist in the so-called Kate. The makers were more than lax with their information gathering, which means they will be insufficient in other areas, pertaining to Linux. I want nothing to do with their distribution. Makers of Kate, you really screwed up. Even this reference it was about a rock band, you should have known better, so don't hide behind the stupidity of the band.
We will never stop genecide unless we start remembering. There are times to wax philosophical but now is not one of them.
63 • Zyklon (by Curious Man on 2005-04-12 11:26:36 GMT from New Zealand)
Was it a reference to Throbbing Gristle?
64 • Ubuntu Web Browsing Slow ? (by John Coombes on 2005-04-12 12:52:01 GMT from Australia)
I noticed others mentition that Ubuntu was slow (prob. also Kubuntu) I have solved the problem for myself having already encountered it last year with Mandrake 10.0 + 10.1 - It seems it is to do with various hardware not being enabled to use the IVP6 protocol and things seem slow because you are waiting for the software to fall back to IVP4 (Some examples of hardware = Network cards - or - DSL and Cable Modems - NB: usually older hardware)
For those interested I have already posted "my solution" to the Ubuntulinux Wiki - have a look here:- http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/WebBrowsingSlowIVP6IVP4
Happy days
65 • To Curious Man (by William Roddy on 2005-04-12 17:17:48 GMT from United States)
Sir:
Find the reference at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zyklon
William Roddy
66 • I am really confused (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-04-12 23:22:00 GMT from Italy)
Is it just me or I am seeing a lot fewer comments than there should be?
Where did mine go? And the majority of the ones left are about Ubuntu.
Has Distrowatch been hacked?
67 • Mandrake -> Kubuntu opinions ? (by Leo on 2005-04-12 23:43:07 GMT from United States)
Folks,
I'd love to hear opinions of current or ex Mandr(ake)iva users who tried and/or switched to Ubuntu
All the recent changes in Mandrake are making me consider a switch. Kubuntu seems the route to go. But how does it compare to Mandrake ? Especially in terms of:
* Distro tools (like the drake control center)
* Software availability (almost any possible piece of software is available in mandrake if you add the repositories for PFL and contributed packages)
Thanks and cheers!
68 • Zyklon (by doddering old fart on 2005-04-13 00:02:35 GMT from United Kingdom)
My best friend is a German.
Yet the truth is sad.
Europe-zone nations suffered total fatalities c. 102 million (+/- 5 million people) between 1914 and1954 as a result of the German wars. In this I include all World War 1 losses, all World War II (Europe) losses plus all losses in Communist lands as "CCCP" was an intended & planned outcome (Communism being a virus shot deliberately into the nations of Russia by Germany during WW-I to destabilise these).
I lived through the very last tail end of these sorry times & boy these guys made an utter mess. More, they would came to you - hiding was not good enough.
But that's all the past; it happened.
Get over it.
Zyklon is, as always, an insecticide. It destroys bugs. Only maniacs would to use it otherwise.
Where is balance? In hiding the past?
This is all good :) truly so. For it remembers history
-those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.
-it is impossible to reason with those having Conviction - because Conviction "knows"
Alas Germany was a civilised and lovely nation in such times; these awful outcomes only happened because... the leaders had the inner conviction that they must right the wrongs done them, plus they wanted revenge, plus they had military dominance... so they went ahead and did it. It was planned to be quick and easy :) as always, it was never so.
"Humanity must never loose it's sense of smell"
- some Roman, under torture, still criticising the tyranny of Caligula. Rome c. 25 AD
Beware all absolutist philosophies.
So, what of the Kate / Zyklon Polish distro ? No more then free peoples exercising their right - now that they are indeed free.
But let them want another name.
69 • Ubuntu 5.04 (by Chris on 2005-04-13 06:37:10 GMT from Australia)
I am going to recoment Ubuntu to everyone.
Would have to be the easiest install out.
Very fast.
Good support via the Ubuntulinux.org site.
The Guide is the best and easiest to understand of all I have tried.
9 out of 10... Very good
70 • Ubuntu (by jackketch on 2005-04-13 07:02:19 GMT from United Kingdom)
i would like to try ubuntu but it every time i've tried to install it ,i've had problems. (fedora,vetor,suse etc all install fine on my machines btw).
and Ubuntu's hardware detection is a joke (for example it can't detect my NIC although redhat 5 could ).
the 10 free CD's they sent me do however make great beer mats :P
71 • Kate & Zyklon (by Ariszló on 2005-04-13 09:12:17 GMT from Hungary)
I have just read their website, which says that Zyklon simply means cyclone. That's true. The primary meaning of Zyklon is cyclone in German. Nevertheless, I think they'd better change a name that reminds an international audiance of a poisonous gas.
72 • Re: comments messed-up? (by Ariszló on 2005-04-13 18:22:18 GMT from Hungary)
All fine in Konqueror but messed up in Mozilla, where "Ubuntu, above average but not great (by Matt W. on 2005-04-11 14:17:12 GMT" is immediately followed by "Brisbase, Dallas, Kiev, Melbourne, Praha..."
73 • Ubuntu DVD (by Anonymous on 2005-04-14 00:55:56 GMT from Germany)
@ John Adler from Sweden
I just looked at the link you provided. Thank you for the hint;-)
You might want to look at it again. The .iso files are there and can be downloaded, i.e. you're not stuck because you use bittorrent.
74 • Ubuntu review describing bugs and UI problems (by foo on 2005-04-14 03:13:04 GMT from United States)
Hey nice job Robert, keep up the good work.
BTW, I just got done reading that weblog/review/buglist thing posted about Ubuntu today. I couldn't believe the revelation at the end of the piece. Excellent!!
foo
75 • ponja (by henry on 2005-04-14 08:45:47 GMT from United Kingdom)
usted tiene toda la razon. la verdad no me gusta para nada lo que ha pasado con conectiva. era lo mas grande que tenia latinoamerica en cuanto a linux, y ahora que tienen? "mandriva"?
76 • RE: Mandrake -> Kubuntu opinions (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-04-15 01:58:21 GMT from Italy)
Well, by any means try Ubuntu/Kubuntu.
You'll find however that Ubuntu, when compared to Mandrake, has little or no tools.
As to software availability they are similar, if you enable universe/multiverse in Ubuntu. However universe/multiverse are totally unsupported. The supported ones are not a lot.
Mandrake PLF=Marillat Free in Debian.
Personally I believe that if you are looking for a smooth transition from Mandrake, you should seriously consider SUSE.
Download the free 9.2 DVD iso, learn how to use APT for SUSE, and there you go. Don't go for 9.3 yet. A SUSE version works better a couple of months after release.
77 • Debian Project Leader (by Rob Morehouse on 2005-04-15 03:30:02 GMT from United States)
Why no mention of the newly elected project leader for debian?, Usually even the Debian Weekly News is mentioned.
78 • Kanotix 2005-02 info is not updated yet (by Anonymous on 2005-04-15 08:37:21 GMT from Singapore)
I see that the Kanotix 2005-02 is released and appeared in the Distrowatch. But the Kanotix 2005-02 is not update in its page
79 • Enough Reveiws Of Linspire!! (by Robzilla-L.A. on 2005-04-15 16:29:04 GMT from United States)
Linspire or Lindows.
What is all of the hype. Seems as though everyone and his mother is reviewing it. I just saw the cover of distrowatch and another reveiw on how to disable click n run and use the debian repositoies. I appreciate that someone is showing how to get away from Linspires outrageously expensive package manager. It still does not address the flaws within the Linspire system. Maybe there is a way to tweak them too but you may as well just get another Debian based distro that is free that is newbie friendly and there are several!!
Linspire is amazingly slow to boot up. Two and a half minutes on my system from pushing the on button to the main screen!! I have a pentium 4 with 3 gigs and 512mb ram, it must take 5 minutes on an older machine!! You have to pay 49.99 a year just to get updates and some packages then pay more for packages that will enable your dvd player, etc. and that is not to mention the cost of the system which you can buy bundled with click n run for one year at $89.99. To my knowledge Linspire is the only Linux distro that disables one of the main security features of Linux by having root privilages and password and a user password. You are logged in as the admin or root on Linspire. Not a good idea, no wonder they sell an antivirus program which costs $30.00 on top of click n run and the distro fee. Wow I'm up to $130!!
Maybe it is me but I am feeling deja-vu. A feeling I have had before from M$and Apple. I have to pay for every little thing!! Thought this was why I was trying Linux. Amongst a spectrum of other reasons.
I love the whole open source movement and Linux. I am tired of hearing about Linspire. There are a lot of great distro's with a lot of potential that are easy to use and install. There is great support from the Linux community tied in with each distro.
Marketing is a problem for Linux and this is where Linspire has an advantage being tied in with Wallmart and having machines set up with Linspire. I think it is great that Linux is getting a shot in the mainstream and I applaud Linspire for doing what they have. I just wish there were more Distro's doing the same thing or trying, at least the marketing side of it. I just feel that Linspire is charging its customers for their marketing and the direction of how they have set up the fees associated with Linspire run counter to the whole Linux movement!
Linux is FREE and should always be free!! If you want to charge a small fee from say $10-$40 for your system then O.K. but that should be the end of the charges. Who set up this idea that $89.99 is a good price(Suse, Xandros, etc). I think that Linux developers should get paid and well but you got to get your foot in the door first and then you don't want to repeat the mistakes of the compitition and rip everyone off! Market Linux, make a one time fee affordable and fair. Then the next new version repeat the process and have a yearly or bi-yearly release cycle.
Linux is ready to be the next big thing but lets not shoot ourselves in the foot before we even get things running!
"Why Titanosorous, Why?" Terror of Mechagodzilla
"Where-ever you go, there you are" Buckaroo Bonzai
Robzilla
80 • Linspire (by Robzilla-L.A. on 2005-04-15 16:31:52 GMT from United States)
I meant to say that the root password feature is Linspire is disabled.
81 • RE: Mandrake -> Kubuntu opinions (by Leo on 2005-04-15 18:11:22 GMT from United States)
Anonymous Penguin
Thanks a lot for the answer. Yes, I did try Kubuntu Live, I really liked
the desktop (the look, how current and polished it is). But I found it
missing in tools
SuSE could be an option, you are right, though it doesn't have a
strong community aroun (like Mandrake does)
I'll install Mandriva 10.2 and wait and see how this whole merger goes.
Hopefully, in six months either Kubuntu will have matured enough
(with nice distro tools, graphical installer and stuff). It already has
a very strong community around, and add the Debian folks
to the mix and there you have a winner.
Or, Mandriva will keep up the good work mandrake has been
doing, though some of the recent announcements are a bit scary (the 1 year release cycle, updates for club members only)
Well see.
Thanks again!
82 • RE: RE: Mandrake -> Kubuntu opinions (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-04-15 18:47:51 GMT from Italy)
Hi Leo
I believe yours is a good choice. I tried 10.2 RC2 and it felt to me like one of the best releases in years.
Have you tried smart package manager yet? It is available from contrib. and it works really well in Mandriva.
83 • RE: Using Linux for nuclear weapons simulations (by ROBERT HUNTER on 2005-04-16 02:53:46 GMT from Australia)
I don't like to make Linux a political issue, but aren't people disgusted that the French government are using Linux clusters to simulate nuclear weapon testing. See www.bull.com, and go to the link for the French CEA Military Applications. I can't see how this is not a breach of what the ethics of Open Source is all about. I find it very unlikely that any Linux/GNU software developed by these morons would be released as Open Source under the GPL!!! [ "National Security Issues!"]
This is probably not the first use of Linux by military organisations, but to me, the most disgusting so far. Yeh, I can imagine Linux users everywhere really enjoying the radioactive dust blowing in their window while they play with their favourite distro! Isn't it wonderful to know that Linux is being used to perfect the technique of turning us all into radioactive dust.
84 • IMPORTANT, urpmi and Mandriva 10.2 (RE: Mandrake -> Kubuntu opinions) (by Leo on 2005-04-16 03:53:07 GMT from United States)
Guys,
I just broke my Mandrake 10.1
It turns out that in the mirrors, the "official" tree for 10.2 is broken. However, the devel is not, and it is current. WTF ! I mean, WTF !!!!
I started installing 10.2 (from 10.1, pointing to official) , using urpmi --auto --auto-select. The thing broke very bad, perl broke, urpmi broke, rpm kept working. One hour later I fixed urpmi, and partially perl, I pointed urpmi to the devel tree and restarted the upgrade, now it seems to be working.
Even if the mirrors are broken, the system should not brake, this is the first time I have an issue like this with mandrake (which had been outstanding wrt package managment and software installation so far)
Anonymous Penguin, I'll try this smart package manager, thanks !
(update, while typing this, 114/869 packages installed ok and they keep going fine - this includes PLF, contrib and main :-) )
85 • GNUclear weapons (by Gnobian_Ken00bie on 2005-04-16 04:15:53 GMT from United States)
Actually, like it or not, a central tenet of Free Software philosophy is that it be available for use by anyone for any reason. And it is perfectly consistent with the GPL, LGPL, and both versions of the BSD license that a government use the software an incorporate improvements that they wish to keep secret. The GPL only has a problem if the REDISTRIBUTE that software while keeping the source code to their modifications secret. But a company or institution or government is well within its rights to do "in house" improvements" and not share them at all.
It's certainly not the first use of GNU/Linux or Linux proper by military organizations, no. And I'm actually not particularly disgusted. Far better than they use clusters to do simulations given existing data sets if that can serve as a way to extrapolate in place of doing quite so many actual nuclear weapons tests. And if people are more informed about precisely the consequences of either "limited" or global nuclear weapons deployment, surely that's a good thing as well.
In any case, consider this: one can easily imagine a slippery slope. for example, those who disapprove of certain genetic research not wanting their software used in such projects. Perhaps others don't want their software used by people advocating certain political views. It isn't too hard to imagine "pro-choice" and "pro-life" software, etc. And software as a whole would suffer.
86 • LiveCD of GNOME 2.10 (by SUPERMAN on 2005-04-17 04:11:49 GMT from United States)
From A user like you, notice gnome 2.10 out and bootable ,also notice that distrowatch has not posted anything about it, maybe from a friend like you .hehe not making fun of superman or anything like that , have fun download if you look at DistroWatch Weekly
LiveCD
For GNOME 2.10, we have a special treat for you: A LiveCD to try the very latest release of GNOME on your computer, without building from sources or waiting for your distributor! Try it out today!
* Bittorrent tracker
http://torrent.linux.duke.edu/gnome-livecd-2.10.torrent
* rpmfind, Seattle
http://speakeasy.rpmfind.net/linux/GnomeLiveCD/
* rpmfind, France
http://fr2.rpmfind.net/linux/GnomeLiveCD/
* ACC, Sweden
http://ftp.acc.umu.se/mirror/temp/gnome-livecd-2.10/
87 • GNuclear weapons (by robert hunter on 2005-04-18 04:15:38 GMT from Australia)
Thanks Gnobian_KenOObie for your comments. Re-reading the GPL, I realise of course, that you are perfectly correct that the French govt IS NOT breaching the GPL.
On some of you other comments, I am not so sure. I am a very pro-science sort of bloke. Science itself, is meant to be practiced amorally. That is, scientific inquiry can only be concerned with the evaluation of facts. The scientific method can only lead to valuable results if we approach the data with an open mind.
However, people do have a right, and society should be able to decide that any APPLICATION of scientific knowledge to be subject to ethical review. Although I support the concept that scientists should be able to study whatever they wish to further human knowledge, it is nevertheless a practical risk that such academic inquiries can give others an opportunity to develop a technology, and use a technology for a harmful purpose.
I think there are people in the world who would be encouraged to use nukes as a result of what they learn in computer simulations, especially if such simulations rely mainly on studying the destructive efficiency of nuke bombs, rather than the effects on humans and the environment.
I am certainly not a luddite, as you apparently think I may be. I just think that the cultural dynamics of scientific research are a little more complex than you think. I suppose the real question is how we can promote freedom in scientific endevour without creating deadly threats to our existence from the fruits of our enquiries. Nuclear physics and genetic engineering have contributed in great measure to the welfare of man and economic development. The history of science has shown that wonderful new discoveries have been abused by people for reasons of greed, ultra-nationalism, etc to the great detriment of people. I really think that some folks will use these simulations to prove that a nuke war is "winnable". Otherwise, why would they bother? So, yes, i still think that your "GNuclear weapons" is a really bad idea.
Anyway, thanks for the debate.
Bob H.
Number of Comments: 87
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| More Tips & Tricks and Questions & Answers |
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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