 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 147, 17 April 2006 |
Welcome to this year's 16th issue of DistroWatch Weekly and happy Easter Monday to all our readers who observe the popular Christian holiday. As usual, we'll start with re-visiting some of the interesting news events of the past week, including the release of SUSE Linux 10.1 RC1, the election of Anthony Towns as the new Debian Project Leader, and the announcement about a new 64-bit edition of Arch Linux. This is followed by links to a handful of interesting articles: an interview with Bruce Perens about reviving UserLinux, a new review of the latest alpha release of Ubuntu, and a useful tutorial about keeping a FreeBSD server farm up-to-date. Finally, a special report from Japan analyses the current state of Linux adoption in the country. Happy reading!
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
Content:
Miscellaneous news: SUSE 10.1 RC1, interviews with Anthony Towns and Bruce Perens, Ubuntu, Arch Linux, FreeBSD, Yoper, Haansoft Linux, Multi Distro 2.5
 Many Linux users greeted with enthusiasm the news about the first release candidate of SUSE Linux 10.1, made available last week. The project now promises a quick second candidate before the distribution's newest version is finalised and announced on April 25th. Interestingly, if you take a thorough look at the current development process and compare it to openSUSE's first release, version 10.0, you'll notice several major differences. With 10.0, many SUSE packages were updated very late in the development cycle, as the then freshly released GNOME 2.12 packages were quickly pushed into the final release. This time, however, things are different. GNOME 2.14, released more than a month ago, has still not found its place in SUSE's "Factory" branch, so it looks like SUSE Linux 10.1 will be the second release in a row that will ship with GNOME 2.12. Unless things change dramatically within the next few days, it's now clear that Novell will base its upcoming enterprise products on SUSE 10.1 and GNOME 2.12 / KDE 3.5.1 - a rather conservative (some would say wise) approach after the last-minute update rush that characterised the SUSE 10.0 development process.
* * * * *
 Anthony Towns, the new Debian Project Leader (DPL) has spoken to NewsForge about his plans as the leader of the largest Linux distribution and challenges on the road towards the next stable release - Debian "etch". From the interview:
NewsForge: "How 'relevant' do you think Debian is these days? A number of people have expressed the opinion, for example, that Ubuntu might be making Debian obsolete -- I'm going to assume you don't share that opinion, but how important do you think Debian is now?"
Anthony Towns: "You can't say how 'relevant' Debian is without knowing who you're talking about. Someone who uses Ubuntu every day and loves it might think Debian has no relevance whatsoever, but most of the people who actually make Ubuntu are passionate about Debian as well -- e.g., Mark Shuttleworth thinks Debian is relevant enough to have reactivated his account and voted in this election. Rather than making Debian obsolete, I personally think Ubuntu has done an excellent job of bringing Debian's technologies and principles to more people, and while the relationship between the two projects is... complicated, I think it's still a healthy one and will only become more so."
* * * * *
 While on the subject of Debian, another interesting interview appeared in the latest issue of Linux Format - with Bruce Perens. In it, the former Debian Project Leader touches on the subject of UserLinux Linux, a Debian-based, enterprise-level distribution he started in 2004, but which became largely inactive after a few enthusiastic months. But perhaps there is still some life left in the project that has been overshadowed by the success of Ubuntu in the last two years. From the interview:
"The problem for me with UserLinux was that when I started it I was an independent entrepreneur; I had a one-person consulting company. So I had to go and make enough sales so that I made a living every month, I had to be an open source leader, and I had to run a number of projects. There simply wasn't room for all of that, and at some point... no one was paying me to work on UserLinux, and supporting my family came first. Now I have an enterprise that's paying me to work on whatever I want for open source with half of my time, so I am able to do this sort of work more."
* * * * *
 Mad Penguin has published a comprehensive review of the latest alpha release of Ubuntu 6.06. The conclusion? "All in all, Ubuntu 6.06 is gearing up to be quite an impressive release. Granted, I saw some bugs during my stay on the distribution, but can I really complain? It's not a full release, so it deserves some breathing room. Considering some of the horribly authored software I've looked at over the years, I feel that Ubuntu in pre-release form is more stable than other distros when they reach final release status. It's not quite in the league of Slackware and Red Hat/Fedora in that respect yet, but it's surely getting there in a hurry." On a related note, Ubuntu's Corey Burger has emailed us to say that the project's official name is now "Ubuntu", not "Ubuntu Linux", and its official web site is at ubuntu.com, rather than ubuntulinux.org (the latter remains operational by redirecting visitors to ubuntu.com). Therefore, from now on we'll refer to the distribution simply as "Ubuntu".
* * * * *
 Good news for the fans of Arch Linux who would like to run their favourite distribution ported to 64-bit architectures. As announced on the project's news page and on Arch64.org, official installation CDs for the AMD64 and Intel's EM64T processors were released last week: "The Arch64 project has been working for over a year getting Arch Linux to work on the x86_64 platform. Now they've released their first official install CD. Go to their project page and give it a try!" Installation instructions, FAQs and documentation are available on the distribution's Wiki pages, while technical support and a discussion forum can be sought on the project's dedicated IRC channel at irc.freenode.net #archlinux64.
* * * * *
 Imagine that you are running a farm of 20 FreeBSD servers that you'd like to keep up-to-date - with as little effort as possible. A task perfectly adequate for a seasoned system administrator, but perhaps more than just a little scary for the rest of us. Luckily, Bjorn Nelson has written an excellent article explaining the finer details of the process at ONLamp.com: "Unfortunately, keeping FreeBSD current is a very time-consuming job. I started seeing how daunting this is while watching our 20-plus FreeBSD servers age and fall into legacy mode. I noticed that Red Hat took very little time to stay up-to-date, and I thought there had to be a way to do something similar on FreeBSD. I set out on a search for what was available." This 3-page article is a gem worth printing out and keeping for future reference.
* * * * *
 A sick joke or an attempt to back stab the Yoper project by its own founder? Only Andreas Girardet will know for sure - that's after the visitors of the Yoper FTP server were recently greeted with the following message: "Hello Linux enthusiasts! Good Bye Yoper! If you need a distro, then go to my favourite open source project called openSUSE and a project called SLICK, a light-weight KDE desktop with apt integration and Con Kolivas patched kernel. ISOs for SLICK are currently only on BitTorrent as this FTP server is down for maintenance. Andreas Girardet." Girardet, a talented developer and Linux advocate from New Zealand, is the original founder and developer of Yoper Linux, but he has since left the project as he accepted employment from IBM and Novell. Yoper Linux is currently being maintained as a community distribution by a small group of volunteer coders. On a related note, Girardet's opinions on Linux were recently exposed in Australia's ITWire site.
* * * * *
 The Zenwalk Project has published an article analysing the Page Hit Ranking (PHR) statistics on DistroWatch. Although we have always maintained that the PHR numbers are just a light-hearted way of measuring the popularity of Linux and BSD distributions and should not be taken seriously, the ranking does give an indication about what the DistroWatch readers are interested in most during specified time periods. As for actual usage, however, there is no evidence of any correlation between the PHR statistics and actual deployment; in fact, the Awstats output of our own traffic gives a very different picture of what our visitors are using. Of the 30% of DistroWatch readers who browse these pages with Linux the majority use Debian (18.5%), followed by Ubuntu (15.9%), Fedora (7.1%), SUSE (6.2%), Mandriva (2%), Red Hat (0.3%) and CentOS (0.3%). Other statistics, such as Netcraft's survey of web servers provides completely different results, indicating that Red Hat, Debian and Fedora are by far the most popular web hosting platforms on the Internet.
* * * * *
 It seems that we have missed the release of Haansoft Linux 2006 late last month. There wasn't any formal announcement on the distribution's web site, but the project's community section links to a download page (in Korean) for direct links to the ISO images for both the i386 and x86_64 architectures. Unlike Haansoft's previous release, the new version is also available as a live CD, which makes Haansoft Linux the first distribution that boots into a full Korean desktop with pre-configured Korean language utilities and input method (SCIM). The default desktop is the latest KDE 3.5.2, but most other packages are also highly up-to-date. Worth taking a look if you need a distribution with a solid support for this important East Asian language.
Haansoft Linux 2006 - an up-to-date distribution and live CD with complete support for Korean.
(full image size: 1,970kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
* * * * *
Finally, an update on Multi Distro, a Linux live CD that combines a number of mini distributions into one 700 MB CD. Version 2.5, released last week, contains the following distributions:
- Recovery Is Possible 15.2
- Damn Small Linux 2.3
- GeeXboX 0.98.7
- INSERT 1.3.6
- SLAX 5.1.0
- Olive 0.2
- Mini-Pentoo 2006.0
- Grafpup Linux 1.0.2
- LiMP (Linux Multimedia Player) 2.2
For more information and download links please visit the Multi Distro project page at The Linux Mirror Project web site.
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| Special report: A tale of two distributions |
A tale of two Japanese distributions
 Visiting Tokyo in early April is a fascinating experience. With the famed Sakura trees in full bloom, the city transforms itself from dull post-winter colours, duly matched by grey suites of the commuting "salary men" and "office ladies", to a lovely white, pink and red colour combination, making Tokyo's numerous parks an attractive place to enjoy one's "obento" (lunch box). This is a city full of surprises behind every corner - from outrageous teen fashion in Harajuku to futuristic modern buildings in Odaiba, Tokyo never disappoints a Westerner sampling the bits of this huge Asian megalopolis.
But my visit to Japan wasn't all leisure and fun. Besides enjoying the cuisine and admiring the energy that drives the world's second largest economy, I took the time to meet with representatives of two major Japanese distributions - Turbolinux and Vine Linux. Those who have been around this web site for a while won't need an introduction to either of them, but if you've only joined the Linux revolution recently, an explanation is in order. Turbolinux, established in 1992, was one of the first distributions and a popular choice during the late nineties when the company moved its headquarters to the United States. Unfortunately, the post-dotcom bust left the distribution maker in deep financial trouble; it was forced to return to Japan where it changed hands several times before ending up under the umbrella of the Livedoor group. There it has been focusing on the domestic enterprise market, for both servers and workstations, which is where the company's current strong position and profitability were built on.
 I met with Linda Arai, the company's Vice President for Global Business and Corporate Marketing at the Turbolinux headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo. Entering the attractive offices in a large office block, I received an enthusiastic welcome, accompanied by an announcement that Turbolinux had just acquired Zend Japan. The company, Arai continued, was doing a brisk business in Japan where many small and medium-size companies had started seeing value in Linux and where Turbolinux was perceived as a distribution that understood the domestic market better than other established names, such as Red Hat or Novell. Besides, the Turbolinux model is different than that of its main competitors - its products are not just bundles of open source software, they also include a range of proprietary add-ons, such as the ATOK Japanese input method, a commercial anti-virus solution and even a licensed media player for viewing file formats restricted by patents or requiring royalty payments. All these have turned Turbolinux into a successful and profitable company in the last couple of years.
Turbolinux occupies two floors in the office building. The impressive "suits-and-tie" lower floor is where the offices of the company's President Koichi Yano and other top executives are located, while the large and "geeky" upper floor is split into cubicles for the distribution's 20 something developers. A separate section of this floor is dedicated to a 4-man technical support team. Besides the headquarters, Turbolinux also has a 60-person development office in Beijing, China and a small sales office in San Francisco, USA.
 In sharp contrast with the commercial nature of Turbolinux, Vine Linux is a free, community distribution developed by half a dozen hackers over the Internet. Hence the reason for meeting its two representatives -- Daisuke Suzuki (on the right), the project's President, and Kohji Matsubayashi, the Vice President -- in a pub. Besides developing a distribution, the project also has a commercial arm which provides consultations, custom solutions and technical support for Vine Linux. Incidentally, Suzuki is also the President of Japan Linux Association, a body aiming to promote and spread the use of Linux in Japan.
Although those readers not familiar with the Japanese Linux scene have probably not heard of the above names, the fact is that Daisuke Suzuki is one of the most famous Linux personalities in Japan. He started with porting Linux to Japanese computers in 1992 before developing software for Japanese input under Project Japanese Extension (PJE). Later he briefly worked for Red Hat Japan. In 1998 he started developing Vine Linux, a Red Hat-based distribution with Japanese language support. The project continues its development and a new major update -- version 4.0 -- is scheduled for release in September 2006.
But the news conveyed over a few pints of Kirin by the two project leaders was not all good. The state of Linux in Japan is disappointing, they claimed, with the corporate and individual membership in the Japan Linux Association dropping year after year and the annual Linux World conferences in Tokyo becoming smaller and smaller with each event. The Linux boom that many Japanese computer users experienced at the turn of the century was quickly followed by doom and gloom - troubles with Japanese input under Linux, combined with lack of easy-to-use applications, have reduced Linux into a marginal operating system. Worse, many developers who had been previously motivated to make Japanese Linux a reality by developing user-friendly input methods, fonts and other related applications were driven away by threats of lawsuits by companies that had patented algorithms for intelligent input methods and other computing conveniences for the complex Japanese language.
 So how healthy is Linux adoption in Japan? This is not easy to conclude after just two brief meetings, but it was interesting to note two points. The first one was the sharp contrast between the two entities; while Turbolinux, the business-oriented one, seemed to be doing well and the atmosphere in their offices gleamed with excitement and high hopes for a prosperous future, the representatives of the geek-oriented entity (Vine Linux) appeared to believe that Linux adoption in Japan was far too slow, even non-existent. The second point of note is the fact that most Japanese businesses and individuals don't appear to see much value in Free Software, perhaps even misunderstand the concept. That's disappointing, especially because Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world.
Could some of the leading advocates of Free Software, such as Richard Stallman, focus their advocacy on countries like Japan instead of frequently preaching to the converted in Spain or Latin America? For that to work, however, Stallman would have to shave, have a haircut, and put on a tie and suit before boarding an air plane to Tokyo - admittedly, a hard-to-imagine scenario. But if GNU/Linux and Free Software were to achieve world domination, what's a little personal sacrifice? ;-)
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| Released Last Week |
SLAMPPLite 2.0
SLAMPPLite is a "lite" edition of SLAMPP, an instant home server running from a live CD. Version 2.0 has been released: "I'm happy to announce you all the new release of SLAMPPLite. Here are some changes that have been made with this release: updated and upgraded existing applications included in previous SLAMPPLite live CD; powered by XAMPP 1.5.1 and now it exists as module; based on Slackware current; used Linux kernel 2.6.16; compiled with Linux Live scripts 5.4.1; added NASLite file server applications of Server Elements for SMB, FTP and NFS; added AbiWord 2.4.1...." Read the full release announcement for additional information.
CentOS 3.7
CentOS 3.7 has been released: "The CentOS development team is pleased to announce the availability of CentOS 3.7. Major changes in this version of CentOS include: Added Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) functionality to CentOS-3. IPMI is a standard for controlling intelligent devices that monitor a system. It provides for dynamic discovery of sensors in the system and the ability to monitor the sensors and be informed when the sensor's values change or go outside certain boundaries. To use IPMI, you need an interface to an IPMI controller in your system (called a Baseboard Management Controller, or BMC) and the IPMI software." More details can be found in the release announcement.
Plamo Linux 4.2
A new version of Plamo Linux, a Slackware-based community distribution developed in Japan, was released last week. Version 4.2 is the first Plamo release that comes with the 2.6 kernel series (version 2.6.15.7) and includes the UNICON patch for Asian language support on the console. Other major changes include upgrade to glibc 2.3.6, switch to X.Org 6.8.2, addition of udev, and update to KDE 3.5.1 and GNOME 2.12.2. For more details please read the release announcement (in Japanese).
Asterisk@Home 2.8
Asterisk@Home is a CentOS-based distribution that provides an easy way for the home user to set up a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Asterisk PBX (Private Branch Exchange). Version 2.8 is the latest version. Features: "based on CentOS 4.3; Asterisk 1.2.7.1; Flash operator panel 0.25; Festival speech engine version 1.96; weather cgi scripts; wake-up calls; integrated WebMeetMe graphical user interface; AMP 1.10.010; SugarCRM with Cisco XML services interface + click to dial; native music on hold; fax support (spanDSP); xPL support; Digium card auto-configuration; Open A2Billing." Find more details, including installation requirements and known issues, in the release notes.
Aurora SPARC Linux 2.0
Aurora SPARC Linux, one of the very few remaining community projects developing a Linux distribution for the SPARC architecture, has released a new stable version 2.0: "The Aurora SPARC Linux Project is proud to announce the release of Aurora SPARC Linux Build 2.0. The Aurora SPARC Project is an effort to support SPARC (32 and 64 bit) hardware on Linux. Specifically, we rebuild Fedora Core for SPARC. This release is a full tree of SPARC packages that match up pretty closely to Fedora Core 3. You can install it via CD/DVD or via network. This release is our first 'stable' release based on a 2.6 kernel." See the release announcement for full details and known issues.
Foresight Linux 0.9.4 MR4
A new maintenance release of Foresight Linux 0.9.4, a cutting edge, desktop-oriented distribution based on rPath Linux, is available: "This is the fourth in a series of maintenance releases for Foresight Linux 0.9.4. These maintenance releases help you stay current and also ensure that new downloads include the latest stuff. To update to MR4, 'sudo conary updateall', it's that simple. There are new ISOs (both DVD and CD) and Virtual Machine images as well. Changes in MR4: GNOME 2.14.1, a lot of new versions, bug fixes." Please refer to the release announcement for further information.
GParted LiveCD 0.2.4-2
GParted LiveCD is a specialist distribution designed for the purpose of partitioning one's hard disk in an intuitive, graphical environment. Version 0.2.4-2 has been released with the following changes: "Fixed /bin/vidcard to show more info for the video card selections; fixed boot error message 'Cannot mount /dev/hdc on /mnt'. Device or resource busy'; the live CD now uses kernel modules; rebuilt X.Org 6.8.2 to be modular; rebuilt libusb 0.1.12; rebuilt ncurses 5.4 to save space; updated to Leafpad 0.8.9, udev 089, Fluxbox 0.9.15.1, Linux kernel 2.6.16.4, GTK+ 2.8.17; added module-init-tools 3.2.2, Synaptics 0.14.4; added support for Synaptics touchpads."
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Development and unannounced releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
Linux Format Issue 79
 The May 2006 issue of Linux Format is out. As you can see from its cover, the latest issue is dedicated to SimplyMEPIS, a popular easy-to-use distribution based on Debian and Ubuntu. The 7-page story includes an interview with Warren Woodford, the founder and lead developer of the distribution, as well as an installation walk-through and a visual guide to the MEPIS desktop. A good story for all those who are just starting out with Linux. Of course, the latest version of SimplyMEPIS is included on the magazine's triple-boot cover DVD (with the other two distributions being Gentoo Linux 2006.0 and BeleniX).
The DistroWatch section comes on pages 30 and 31 and includes an editorial on Ubuntu's Mark Shuttleworth, a feature story summarising the current development state of the main distributions, and a brief article about the recent new releases of Gentoo Linux and the Gentoo-based Kororaa Xgl live CD. The pages conclude with information about the new rPath 1.0 and the rPath-based, desktop-oriented Foresight Linux. The section also ranks the main distributions in terms of number of messages on their respective mailing lists during a one-month period - an interesting indicator of the levels of communication between each project's developers and users.
Elsewhere in the magazine, one can find a review of Fedora Core 5, a quick look at GNOME 2.14 and a round-up of vector graphics editors. The "What on Earth is..." section investigates Solid, the new KDE hardware library, while the interview pages bring us a session with one of the most famous Linux personalities - Bruce Perens. Next, an explanation of the many software licences and a 4-page guide to OpenSolaris and the excellent OpenSolaris-based live CD called BeleniX. A 6-page feature explains how to build a Linux kiosk, while the tutorials section carries hands-on articles on audio editing, Inkscape effects, DCOP, Bash, and PHP 6.
Whatever you do, don't miss the latest edition of the best Linux magazine on the market!
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New distributions added to the DistroWatch database
- GParted LiveCD. GParted LiveCD is a business card-size live CD distribution with a single purpose - to provide tools for partitioning hard disks in an intuitive, graphical environment. The distribution uses X.Org, the light-weight Fluxbox window manager, and the latest 2.6 Linux kernel. GParted LiveCD runs on most x86 machines with a Pentium II or better.
- Kwort Linux. Kwort is a Slackware-based Linux distribution that uses the GTK+ toolkit and XFce desktop. Its most prominent feature is a package manager, called kpkg, for retrieving packages from download mirrors.
* * * * *
New distributions added to the waiting list
- ToBiX. ToBiX is a Morphix-based Linux live CD containing a range of specialist applications for bioinformatics.
- RocXshop. RocXshop is a PCLinuxOS-based distribution with the goal to serve as a powerful and portable digital audio workstation.
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DistroWatch database summary
That's all for today. The next issue of DistroWatch Weekly will be published on Monday, 24 April 2006. See you then :-)
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • great issue. quick question (by AC on 2006-04-17 08:59:08 GMT from , United States)
Only 30% of Distrowatch visitor's are using GNU/Linux? Dare I hope that most of the remainder use a BSD?
2 • No subject (by Aziere on 2006-04-17 09:11:43 GMT from Hjo, Sweden)
Like me, I guess many have Linux as just a hobby. I use Windows for pretty much everything, because it does what I need better. Until Linux catches up, or by some other reasons makes it viable to switch, I will stay with Windows.
3 • Slow take-up of Linux in Japan (by Andy on 2006-04-17 09:33:43 GMT from Wellington, New Zealand)
Another great "DW Weekly" - keep up the great work :-)
I was surprised to hear of the slow adoption of Linux in Japan (I'm from New Zealand, btw). Hmmm ... it wasn't good to hear of the devs in Japan having hassles with threatened lawsuits over "input methods in Kanji" . (Sigh .... what some people will do to make a buck .... ).
Those not using Linux (or one of the BSDs for that matter) are missing out big-time! Sheesh - the number of BSODs that I used to have with WinXP. You never knew if it would boot or not, whereas Linux and the BSDs that I've tried just fire up and tick over nicely - every time, all the time.
Oh - and I have a real liking for Haiku too - the devs there are doing **great** work, and I wish them the best of luck!
- Andy
4 • SUSE 10.1 (by Graham on 2006-04-17 10:08:53 GMT from , Australia)
SUSE 10.1 will definitely ship with KDE 3.5.1, not 3.5.2. I emailed Andreas to ask, and he replied within 24 hours, informing me that although KDE 3.5.1 will be included, it will include the important patches from 3.5.2. Not sure why they can't just include 3.5.2 if they're including patches from it! :)
5 • Only 30% Linux-Users (Reply to AC) (by Tobias on 2006-04-17 10:10:51 GMT from Mnchengladbach, Germany)
The Statistics tell, that 60% of all Distrowatch-Readers use some kind of MS Windows (50% Windows XP). One possible reason for that probably is that many are reading the Distrowatch-News at work, where they mostly do not have the option to use something else than Windows. So many people are forced to use Windows at work (so am I, at least part-time) while gathering information about their operating systems of choice.
At least a possible explanation for the low Linux/Win-ratio.
6 • Debian v. Ubuntu (by Steffen on 2006-04-17 10:16:36 GMT from Ballynatray Commons, Ireland)
Interesting to see that by Distrowatch's logfile ranking, Debian is still more popular than Ubuntu. And since Ubuntu is still based on Debian, it simply goes to show the *huge* relevance of Debian as a project for desktop Linux. Keep it up Anthony!
7 • Linux and Japan - the hippy movement and revolution (by Bill Savoie on 2006-04-17 10:25:32 GMT from Mulga, United States)
I just can't see Richard Stallman in a tie. As an old Hippy myself, I know about what happened in America, We did not like the rows of white picket fenses and square box houses. Pete Segar songs tried to free our thinking. We learned to 'think outside the box'. Bob Dylan poked holes in the 'old way'. We Hippies were the creative class in America. Many of us now use linux and study Buddhism. We don't mind being different. Freedom is not for everyone, you must be willing to be a leader to yourself. Buddha said "Be an island unto yourself"
Don't worry about where the crowds are, follow your heart. Your efforts will help others. The real truth of life is all about love and getting over the little ego. Anyone can see that Bill Gates has enough money. Lets fix the broken system and stop the blaim game! We are all interconnected, so love is the answer. May peace and love lead you to freedom brother. (Bill just got back from the Mt. Baldy Zen center in Southern California, where he got high on love and surrender.)
8 • hippies (by Anonymous on 2006-04-17 10:36:16 GMT from , United States)
The so-called "silent generation" created the music that hippies claim as theirs and they went to the south and risked getting murdered to help African Americans exercise their right to vote. What did hippies do? Stop bathing, do drugs, and generally make asses of themselves. RMS is one of the few members of his generation I respect. Keep on truckin.
9 • software patents in Japan (by ozonehole on 2006-04-17 10:52:13 GMT from Hsingya, Taiwan)
Worse, many developers who had been previously motivated to make Japanese Linux a reality by developing user-friendly input methods, fonts and other related applications were driven away by threats of lawsuits by companies that had patented algorithms for intelligent input methods and other computing conveniences for the complex.
If I'm not mistaken, Japan was the second country in the world to adopt software patents. In fact, they were arm-twisted into it by US trade negotiators. Australia has recently joined the club (again, thanks to a "free-trade agreement" with the USA). There's a lot of pressure on Europe, too.
How can anyone not see that software patents are evil? They exist strictly to stifle competition, not to protect so-called "intellectual property".
10 • Windows v. GNU/Linux/BSD (by Benjamin Hackl on 2006-04-17 10:54:44 GMT from Linz, Austria)
I can highly agree to Tobias statement that a lot of people are forced to do use Windows at work (including me). That's one thing that makes me sad, because the IT-staff always complains about how difficult it is for them to get new workstations approved by the government of justice here in Austria, they said somethig about licensing costs... Hell, damn it, why are always the stupid ones in the position to make decisions?
To Aziere from Sweden:
I think it's completely different. Windows has nothing it's worth booting and even installing it for. It's slow and you need plenty of time to do the simplest things. Since I don't play games on my PC I haven't installed Windows. Even if i would play games I'd buy a PS or a X-BOX. I wouldn't let such a system touch my hardware ;-)
11 • Windows vs Linux stats (by Joe P on 2006-04-17 11:30:34 GMT from Johnstown, United States)
Another reason for the Windows use stats may be that some Linux users spoof browser headers. I have encountered sites that give error messages or refuse to load properly but work fine in Konqueror when sending an IE user agent.
12 • 60% Windows users (by Chris Norton on 2006-04-17 11:47:45 GMT from Melbourne, Australia)
Well, I'll admit that I'm another Windows viewer of distrowatch. This is mostly because I only browse the net from my laptop - which runs XP Home. I haven't put Linux on it because I use it for creating web sites, all of which I need to test in IE on Windows as it is still the most common platform for web viewers.
What the statistics can't reflect is that I use Slackware on my personal server, with Ubuntu on my sister's desktop and a custom distro on my desktop, neither of which have net access.
I guess the old quote "There's lies, damned lies, and statistics." is appropriate here. :)
13 • High Windows Stats (by Vladyslav on 2006-04-17 12:04:57 GMT from Moscow, Russian Federation)
I'd say the high percentage of Windows usage by the visitors from this site is that there are a lot of lurker who use Windows as their main desktop, but keep in touch with the Linux distro news.
I'd love to switch to Linux, but so far I haven't been able to find a distro suitable for myself.
14 • SUSE 10.1 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-04-17 12:31:06 GMT from Sestri Levante, Italy)
Well I don't mind if they are taking a rather conservative approach: after all it is very likely that they'll release updates to KDE and maybe Gnome later.
What matters is that this time 10.1 is a stable, bugs-free release.
I couldn't use 10.0 because of the many issues.
15 • Linux in Japan (by graham at 2006-04-17 12:55:23 GMT from Chiba, Japan)
Though I'm no expert on Japan or Linux (been here since 1999, and using Linux simply for about as long), I'm not sure what the overall Linux uptake has been. There quite a few groups, such as the Tokyo Linux User Group (http://www.tlug.jp/) which seem popular.
As to why it's not catching on (or is, depending who you talk to) may be a reflection upon Japan's rather conservative business practices, the obsession about dealing with known companies and so forth. I know it's very trendy to say Japan is a high tech country, but that's to say it's very open and adventurous, some are, but they're stifled.
You quote a Livedoor subsiduary there, but no mention on the fact it's virtually dead in it's avante garde form since Uber Boss Horie was arrested, a year after upsetting the apple cart over trying to use 'western' business techniques. Anyway, I digress, Japan can benefit from FSM/OSS, but it needs a cheerleader who can explain it to old men in dull suits...not an easy task.
16 • statistics schmatistics. (by crawancon on 2006-04-17 13:15:36 GMT from Clearwater, United States)
Could it be that all the statistical windows users are simply running ANONYM.OS? (OpenBSD 3.8 system disguised as a helpless Windows SP1 system)
probably not.
the statistics are what they are, i don't know who comes here demanding numbers anyway, they usually come here to learn about the different flavors of *nix. And yes, Ladislav, you do a fine job.
3 Things the linux community needs:
1. VOLUNTEERS
2. CURIOSITY
3. PATIENCE
17 • No subject (by Andrew on 2006-04-17 13:36:53 GMT from Cambridge, Canada)
I don't use linux, but enjoy reading linux news in the hope that I convert over sometime. Only problem is proprietary software that will only work on windows xp and is required and no linux alternatives are available. I guess that is what dualboot computers are for :P
18 • @chris norton in melbourne (by henry on 2006-04-17 13:38:29 GMT from Rochdale, United Kingdom)
http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/
try this.
Wine emulation of ie in linux. It works ok - a little unstable, but usable for testing.
19 • RE: #17 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-04-17 14:26:33 GMT from Sabbioncello, Italy)
I have also 2 or 3 apps which don't work in linux. However Wine+Crossover are getting better and the number of Windows apps which work is increasing all the time. At the end of the day I am in linux 80% of the time.
20 • converting to Linux (by PastorEd on 2006-04-17 15:02:10 GMT from Seattle, United States)
Happy Easter for all of you who celebrated it, by the way.
I had a very interesting Easter. Spent time with my extended family, where I converted my sister's WinXP box to Kanotix. Linux was able to solve some problems that XP just couldn't do. With literally about 15 minutes of "training", my sister was pretty much doing her work without thinking about the fact that she'd just changed operating systems.
I now have two Baby Boomer sisters who have asked me to convert their systems to Linux. If *they* can do it, Linux is certainly ready for others.
21 • Looking at the linux AWSTATS (by william johnson on 2006-04-17 15:16:48 GMT from Wilmington, United States)
Making the assumption that the linux visitors are doing so from their private,non-work desktops, a few weird conclusions
must be drawn.
Firstly, the two EASIEST to use linux distributions,namely
PCLinuxOS and Mepis , are used by LESS THAN .3% of
your visitors. I find that mind boggling.
Secondly, 18% of your visitors are UBER-GEEK enough
to go through the hell of installing Debian on their desktops.
Amazing.
I now have a totally different view point on this website.
22 • Linux Use (by Michael Dotson on 2006-04-17 15:29:07 GMT from Carbondale, United States)
Here is an interesting take on Linux use. I am sitting at my electronics laboratory workstation typing this on Puppy Linux(loaded it just for fun). In my office I run Mepis on my main machine with Gnome 2.12(also loaded with XFCE, Icewin, fluxbox and KDE)and use it as the environment to remaster KNOPPIX into a recruiting tool for our campus. At home I run PCLinuxOS .92 revamped to look like windows for the wife(she goes buggy if she does not see a windows screen) and XP on the daughters machine for games. I can say I use windows XP the majority of my time, but only because it is on the majority of machines here. My preference is definately Linux. Speaking of KNOPPIX, what is going on with the 5.0 CD release?
23 • #21 (by Anonymous on 2006-04-17 16:19:04 GMT from Braslia, Brazil)
"Secondly, 18% of your visitors are UBER-GEEK enough
to go through the hell of installing Debian on their desktops."
I am not a "Über geek".
And I run Debian 3.1 on my box.
It is a simple and easy instalation.
After You have instaled synaptic, You only need to do is click-click the same ms-win way...
Nothing could be more easy/simple...
24 • It's quite simple (by AQ on 2006-04-17 16:24:36 GMT from Twinsburg, United States)
Distrowatch is one of the first stops people who are interested in trying Linux land on since it is heavily linked throughout the web. There are many windows users in the world so we can take solace in the fact that they are at least considering Linux.
What I mean by that is that the geek crowd which might frequent here daily is not the majority viewership of this site. That distinction belongs to a massive stream of windows users considering alternatives.
25 • Windows vs. Linux (by dostrak on 2006-04-17 16:40:10 GMT from Troy, United States)
I have a question about how Linux handles hardware compared to Windows. I have been running nothing but Linux on this computer for over 6 years, and I never had any piece of hardware go bad. However some of my friends and family use Windows and they have hardware go bad all the time, usually hard drives. Has anyone else noticed this or did I just get good hardware.
26 • Free at Last! Free at Last! (by darkman on 2006-04-17 18:10:36 GMT from Paducah, United States)
I have been dual booting for several years now between Windows and Linux. At the first of April I finally found a scanner that works 100% with Linux. My last reason for the dual booting. My transition has been gradual. The last year or two, my Windows side has collected dust, only going there to use my scanner. But I have now become fully rooted in Linux for all my work and play. It would be very hard for me to ever want to go back. I have SuSE 9.2 on my main desktop and Libranet 2.8.1, for the moment, on my laptop. I have been using SuSE on my main desktop all these years. Love it. When I find someone interested in Linux, I usually refer them to this site. I am not "UBER-GEEK." I am just an average user.
27 • 25 (by AC on 2006-04-17 18:46:38 GMT from , United States)
It's all that drfragging Windows users have to do!
But seriously, it's far more likely that you just got good hardware. Some hard drives go for years and some die without warning a young and ignominious death. I suspect that there are too many variables at work here to make any firm claims, unless the difference were dramatic, i.e. lots and lots of Windows users drives dying and very few Linux users.
Still, I thought I'd share some links that answer and perennial newbie question. "How do I defragment my Linux hard drive?" or "Why don't I need to drfrag the hard drive of my Linux system?"
http://cbbrowne.com/info/defrag.html
http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html#Of%20chests%20of%20drawers
28 • Yoper FTP site (by Anonymous on 2006-04-17 19:04:38 GMT from Hamden, United States)
So, does Suse endorse sabotaging other distros ftp sites? Pretty sad. Yoper is a nice disto too, even though development has slowed down quite a bit.
29 • would like to know (by hm on 2006-04-17 19:05:44 GMT from Tartu, Estonia)
so what scanner is it?
30 • Linux scanner! (by darkman on 2006-04-17 19:13:33 GMT from Paducah, United States)
Canon CanoScan LIDE 20. Picked it right up and configured. Works great.
31 • page-hit-ranking article: simply perfect! (by zuhans on 2006-04-17 19:13:34 GMT from Salzburg, Austria)
have you (all?) read this perfect article about the distrowatch-page-hit-ranking?
if not: have a look above (find "zenwalk", click the appropriate link).
and: around the midth of this article there is a question about vulnerability of this page-hit-ranking! very important to check: this is the way, how new linux-interesting-people can be misled!
i hope, this statistics will change one day into a more real-informative overview.
greetings
hans
32 • Linux use vs. Windows (by TwoDogS on 2006-04-17 19:47:41 GMT from Orange City, United States)
I have dual booted for awhile and I just recently said 'wtf' and fully installed Linux (Ubuntu). I like Linux because it works, it looks good, it's very customizable, and my brain is actually working while I'm having fun.
I like 'Distrowatch' because I get to sample everything. I think linux rocks no matter which distribution you decide on. Keep up the good work, DW!
#22... What do you mean " Speaking of KNOPPIX, what is going on with the 5.0 CD release? " I downloaded 5.0 about two weeks ago and it kicks butt!
Thanks for listening, Dave
33 • Differing Needs (by Linux Enthusiast on 2006-04-17 20:20:38 GMT from San Francisco, United States)
Aziere: I use Windows for pretty much everything, because it does what I need better.
Vladyslav: so far I haven't been able to find a distro suitable for myself.
Andrew: no linux alternatives are available
william johnson: the two EASIEST to use linux distributions,namely PCLinuxOS and Mepis , are used by LESS THAN .3% of your visitors. I find that mind boggling.
My opinion is that some users use Windows because Windows does what they need to do and the versions of Linux that they have tried do not. The users above cite capability; ease of use may be an issue, but capability is at least part of the problem.
Sometimes people have certain absolute requirements that some easy-to-use distros don't meet.
For example, PCLOS, an excellent distro mentioned above, is an outstanding distro but does not save spreadsheets in Excel format. Even if it did, office power-users would consider the spreadsheet a toy because it doesn't record macros. Distros that feature Koffice are great for many home users, but aren't a good way to show off Linux spreadsheets in the workplace.
This is only an example. It is useful because PCLOS is very popular in the Linux community and worthy of respect (even in the face of constant cheerleading). Koffice is a fine application. Just don't hand it out at the office. (Unfortunately, office power-users are exactly the ones who could be instrumental in the acceptance of Linux as a viable desktop alternative.)
When we push Linux software, we have to remember that our preferences may not be a good fit for others. It isn't good to give someone something that won't do what they need it to do.
34 • re. increasing newbies to Linux (by Joh on 2006-04-17 20:25:26 GMT from Milton Keynes, United Kingdom)
Been with PCLinuxOS now for about a month. Compared to when I last experimented with Linux (about 5 years ago) it is certainly a lot easier to use than it was then. I still have windas cos I have my TV guide on there. But for retro free gaming you can't beat linux! So don't tell me that Linux is rubbish for gaming - unless you spend your entire life glued to a screen!
As for everything else. The new stable Ubuntu will be interesting as I first tried going back to Linux with Ubuntu and had such problems (those so called help pages from outer space! Say no more) that I ended with PCLinuxOS.
But what of the future? I think in Europe at least, the powers that be will always waste money on Microsoft regardless. That's more about politics than anything else. For the rest of the world? I have no idea.
As someone previously said in here - until one of the major pc manufacturers installs Linux on all their new branded home systems it will never take off. Alas that's what I think it needs because the info and things are out there, just as much as their there for Microsoft. But the public perception needs to change and unfortunately that's going to
require a PC Big Wig to take risks.
35 • Stats & reasons (by Soloact on 2006-04-17 20:28:50 GMT from Redding, United States)
I, too, still access using my WinXP box. Only reason is that I also use the Actiontec Internet Phone Wizard to hook up my phones to Skype. If this device was supported by linux, then my switch would be near completion.
Also, with this particular company's cable connection, I'm trying some online advise in getting the linux boxen connected. Still working on it.
I know, write your own drivers, some of you might say, but I'm an end user, not a programmer. In the meanwhile, I will still be looking for a way.
Cheers everyone!
36 • Linux World domination (by Lucho on 2006-04-17 20:45:15 GMT from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil)
"Could some of the leading advocates of Free Software, such as Richard Stallman, focus their advocacy on countries like Japan instead of frequently preaching to the converted in Spain or Latin America?"
Given Distrowatch's tendency to ignore developments in Latin America
and Brazil, statements like this could easily be misinterpreted.
37 • Yoper ftp server: http vs. ftp (by Ariszló on 2006-04-17 20:47:36 GMT from Budapest, Hungary)
See it yourself:
http://ftp.yoper.com/ :(
ftp://ftp.yoper.com/pub/yoper/ :)
38 • Knoppix release, defrag (by Alfredo on 2006-04-17 20:51:39 GMT from , Canada)
It seems Klaus Knopper now has a different development plan. "Ordered, paid versions" can expect a relatively timely release. The "public download version" is "ready when it's ready". And that's fine to me.
It seems Klaus is now getting more involved in Knoppix work, even with other developers, it seems, and all of this will benefit the public download version.
See: http://knopper.net/faq/knoppix-release-en.html
CBit Version 5 DVD seems to be available via bittorent:
http://www.google.com/search?...spell=1
= http://minilien.com/?RY1NN0LbGT
The 5.0.1 version is about 2 weeks late if you consider the EARLIEST POSSIBLE date of release that was announced. Such announcements shouldn't be made... Rest assured that when Knoppix will be released, it will be clean. And that's all that counts.
As for the defragmentation tool here:
defrag-0.70.tar.gz 17-Aug-1997 10:58 63k GZIP compressed docume>
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/system/filesystems/
beware. It's a development version dating back to 1997 and certainly doesn't handle ext3. Defragmenting is no use, unless you handle very large files and there is next to no space left on your HD.
39 • Old Habbits Die hard (by Eric on 2006-04-17 21:02:24 GMT from Willowdale, Canada)
This is my 1st post on the DW newsletter, but have read it for around 2 years, your rock Ladislav. Windoz these days is becoming all propaganda, I use Windoze 2000 server on sole reason of old hardware, and DSL/Puppy not playing nice with some of the hw I have in this box. I'm a big BSD fan aswell as with GNU/Linux for playing nicer with the family. Most family members these days just start out on windoze, and make every task and activity a routine or "ritual" (outlook addicts). And they always compare their acquired routine with more optionable and customizable software like firefox/opera/thunderbird, etc., and that if it has more choice, there is alot more room of messing it up. Whenever I do a service call, and must use a LiveCD or 2 for antivirus/firewall fun, I acquaint them with a nice PCLinuxOS or SLAX bootup and desktop, and they are mostly quite impressed. Im not sure about most of you, but hooking up a virgin M$ machine to the web is VERY SCARY, and I got nabbed a few times with a trojan or 4:), lol, boy was that a funny explination. And with a beautiful working, virtually malware free open source alternative, thats suits every need on moderately up-to-date hardware, is a nice and comforting fact to consider.
Oh yea, solved your Eastern problem of linux adaptation, anyone think of the power of PS3(cell processors)+GNU/Linux or BSD!!?? Linux would like BLOW UP, havin people usin their PS3 for almost everything that massively powerful arch could handle.:) (that was an unbiased idea by the way)
Well it was nice finally sharing a bit of thoughts with the Distrowatch audience, have a great week everybody until issue #148.
40 • SUSE vs. Yoper??? (by michael on 2006-04-17 21:16:34 GMT from Hamburg, Germany)
Can this be true? How can the founder of Yoper be that uncollegial to the few guys who took over the job of buildingYoper, a distro A.Girardet left head over heels last year? That guy did a really bad move! IMHO he should apologize openly. One thing is for sure. I will never use SUSE, if that is how the company thinks it can trat other distros. I am very disappointed.
41 • At #40 (by Kensai on 2006-04-17 22:30:00 GMT from San Juan, Puerto Rico)
I am a former Yoper Team member, Andreas Girardet has always been know to love Suse, he always was taking features from suse and making yoper a 2nd suse. I'm not surprised of his choice of distro. Another thing you need to consider is that A. Girardet was tired of Yoper and he was saying he would leave the project even before he got a job at Novell. So verify your facts before you speak. Novell has no fault at all A. Girardet has the fault.
42 • I'm not an Ueber-Geek (by Peter Besenbruch on 2006-04-17 22:30:35 GMT from Honolulu, United States)
I am one of those "Debian" users. Actually, the current machine had the defunct Libranet distro installed on it, a much easier install than the Debian of that time. It updates just fine from Debian, and basically IS Debian. Other computers in the house run Kanotix, mostly with the Kanotix repository disabled. Hence, they are basically Debian systems, as well.
I understand the Debian Sarge installer is quite usable, and not at all difficult. I like to run Etch, however, with a number of items from Sid. Hence, I save a lot of time using a distro like Kanotix to install Debian.
43 • 42 Debian install (by tom on 2006-04-17 23:13:00 GMT from Helena, United States)
Corporate America is forcing Windows on me.............
Windows ate my hard drive............
Explorer.exe is the most prevalent and dangerous virus.......
I have a confession. I am a closet Linux user and identify myself as Internet explorer. Is there any help for me??????
Debian is not difficult to install, in fact it is almost identical to Ubuntu.
Debian Sid is just as easy, start on the Debian site
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/weekly-builds/
Also, from the Debian site:
Unofficial CD/DVD images of the "testing" and "unstable" releases
These images are not built and offered by Debian, but by fsn://HU:
* fsn://HU images for the "testing" distribution on CD (amd64 and i386, regenerated weekly), mirrors
* fsn://HU images for the "testing" distribution on DVD (amd64 and i386, regenerated weekly), mirrors
* fsn://HU images for the "unstable" distribution on CD (amd64 and i386, regenerated weekly), mirrors
* fsn://HU images for the "unstable" distribution on DVD (amd64 and i386, regenerated weekly), mirrors
44 • Windows Vs Linux (by mcdazz on 2006-04-17 23:49:23 GMT from Brisbane, Australia)
Personally, I don't believe that the stats truly reflect Windows Vs Linux usage.
At work, I have two PC's on my desk - one running XP and the other running Zenwalk. I only ever read Distrowatch from the XP desktop, purely because the Zenwalk PC handles all of my server needs and doesn't have a monitor attached.
At home, I have 3 PC's - one running XP (although it dual boots with Zenwalk) and the other two PC's are running Slackware 10.2.
I mainly use the XP/Zenwalk PC for desktop stuff, but the other two PC's are heavily utilised remotely and once in a while at the keyboard. One of these PC's also acts as a Media Centre.
In short, out of the 5 PC's I use on a daily basis, only two run XP (and one of those is a dual boot with Linux) while the other three run Linux exclusively.
I suspect there are many others similar situations. :-)
45 • Dual boot (by Caraibes on 2006-04-18 00:41:17 GMT from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)
yeah, dual boot, that´s it for me...
2 pc´s with Via C3 Processor, dualbooting winxp and Zenwalk, and my main pc (duron 800m) dualbooting PCLinuxOS and winxp...
When it´s just me using the pc´s, I am booting Linux, because it´s my choice...
But my wife does a lot of University work for other students, so she has to stick to MS Word... I "forced" her to use OpenOffice for a year, but we got tired of the students that were bitching about the small difference in the docs, like fonts or layout... So I went back to office 2003...
Then, there´s the TV card issue... I can watch it with PCLinuxOS, but the generic driver provides such an ugly quality, that I usually reboot in winxp just to watch TV !
And customers who come to surf the web were unconfortable when I used to only provide Kanotix boxes for websurfing... Since it´s back to winxp, I don´t have any more customers complain...
I like trying various distros, I think I tested most distros around... But I am only an end-user, focused on older hardware. So Zenwalk and Puppy are my fav´s right now...
I wait for the new Ubuntu to try it on my main PC...
46 • 44 • Windows Vs Linux (by multi-boot on 2006-04-18 01:32:56 GMT from , Australia)
I agree with mcdazz
I have two machines a desktop and a laptop - both are multi-boot
Older P2 desktop = PCLinuxOS + Win98se
Newer P4 laptop = PCLinuxOS + WinXPsp2
And I do much the same as Caraibes says in 45 above
"When it´s just me using the pc´s, I am booting Linux, because it´s my choice."
Why keep Windows at all some will say ? Well rather than alianate my friends and family on the occasions they use my machines (or take laptop to their houseI find it better to multi-boot
I would imagen that many more people are doing it than you would expext ?
AFTER ALL - there is hardly any GNU/Linux Distro that can not do it for a Newbie during a installation PLUS it is the obvious solution for the majority of people (only 'nix puriatans or some in the third world do other wise)
47 • Bruce Perens launches opensourceparking.com, Why? see your self. (by spill on 2006-04-18 02:04:54 GMT from Singapore, Singapore)
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/...service.html
I think distrowatch can provide a link to OpersourceParking.com on its page.
48 • "puriatans" (by AC on 2006-04-18 02:19:11 GMT from , United States)
I'm sure you're right that a lot of people dual boot Windows. But there are quite a few who either stopped doing it as they found they booted into Windows less and less or who don't do it because they see no need. They just browse the web, read e-mail, and a few other tasks and find GNU/Linux does just fine while being free (as in beer) and not getting viruses. So, there certainly are people outside the developing world who are particularly loyal to Unix who don't dual boot.
Still, I admit I am a "puriatan"... for Free Software, not Unix, perse. I use FreeDOS when I need to flash a BIOS or run a hard drive utility or run an old DOS app.
49 • What Linux misses (by Dan MacDonald on 2006-04-18 02:22:39 GMT from Chiswick, United Kingdom)
1. DRIVERS - EVERY piece of hardware needs to come with a Linux driver. Solaris' long time stable driver ABI would seem to be a major win over Linux
2. Fully-featured yet fast and light desktop with a sensible set of defaults. GNOME 2.14 or KDE 3.x won't do- they need too much memory and seem sluggish alongside XP or the lightweight Linux desktops like EDE and Rox. Saying that I still prefer the Linux desktop since HAL came along. I'm eagerly awaiting both KDE 4 and Equinox Desktop 2.0- will KDE 4.0 be the XP/Vista killer its hyped up to be i.e faster, easier, more powerful yet less resource hungry ?
3. All the major Adobe Apps or fully featured, easy to use free equivalents. People keep requesting Photoshop but krita is getting very good very fast now. Many people would switch to Linux in a heartbeat if they could run Audition and Premiere under Linux. The big software companies aren't bothered because they are aware of Linux's lagging hardware support
4. Full support from the major game publishers. Again, this can't happen until problem #1 is addressed.
5. OOo is the worlds greatest example of bloatware. Neither GNOME office or Koffice are quite there yet as a full-blown Office replacement suite. KDE 4's new print system will hopefully go some way to solving a major sore spot in koffice.
I think a lot balances on KDE4. Vista isn't looking so promising (How much DRM do you want?) so Linux or Solaris could really steal Vista's thunder if the KDE team do a good job.
I just love showing Windows users how I can do a full install of Kanotix on a AMD-64 in under 10m and browse the web and watch videos off my /home partition whilst I install :D
50 • Not using linux? Nonsense. (by Morgan on 2006-04-18 02:28:32 GMT from Anderson, United States)
I'm using linux right now. I access the internet through my homeade gateway/router, listen to my music through my ubuntu-based streaming audio server, and keep all of my backups on the same ubuntu machine. I use linux all the time, I just don't always browse the web on it.
51 • 49 (by AC on 2006-04-18 02:47:11 GMT from , United States)
1. Catch-22 unfortunately. Hardware vendors won't bother until GNU/Linux has greater marketshare. Which it won't get until (among other things) it supports more hardware. Solaris has a more consistent ABI but the hardware support for Solaris is downright pathetic, so I'm not sure why you mentioned that.
2. Agreed. I also am impressed with development in Xfce4. Especially the thought going into Thunar http://thunar.xfce.org/index.html
3. If 1 has to be addressed first, we're in trouble.
4. Ditto, I guess. I don't know. I prefer Nintendo or Frozen Bubble. Or 3D Chess.
5. I couldn't agree more about the bloat of OOo. It's a shame really. But then I use GNU Emacs and Lyx.
52 • User Stats (by benplaut on 2006-04-18 03:02:06 GMT from Burlingame, United States)
Yes, i'm biased. I have an opinion.
The user stats seem pretty decent to me. Out of the somewhat low 30% linux, the numbers seemed pretty good. Ubuntu and Debian almost even (considering that debian probably included several derivs, as well), but the low Fedora was a shocker.
The netcraft link didn't even look specific to distrowatch...
53 • Linux in Japan (by Dan MacDonald on 2006-04-18 03:07:57 GMT from Chiswick, United Kingdom)
Very interesting article- I've often wondered about the true state of Linux in Japan and wasn't aware of the problems with patents and character entry.
The computer I most associate with Linux is definately the Zaurus. Apart from the Netwinder I can't think of another platform where Linux was the original and primary OS. I'm lead to believe they are pretty popular in Japan- I'd like to see some figures on that (PPC or Palm vs. Zaurii sales in Japan). I really wish the cxx00 Zaurii were available in Europe as they are fantastic machines.
Now we are all eagerly expecting the PS3 which could potentially be THE event/platform to finally bring Linux to the masses- again another Japanese machine. What will Sony do about the input then? What are the chances they are going to improve whatever existing free kanji input solution is out there and contribute back all there changes? Apparently this input problem holding back Japanese Zaurus users from switching to the superior OpenZaurus rom.
54 • Linux will beat windows...eventually...hopefully sooner rather than later... (by JAG on 2006-04-18 04:38:40 GMT from Linden, United States)
Linux at home...
Windows at work...presently...
55 • 26 • Free at Last! Free at Last + 48 • "puriatans" (by multi-boot on 2006-04-18 05:34:08 GMT from , Australia)
First for today I will be "multi-boot"
Now 26
You say (imply) that now you have all your hardware sorted you will have no need for Windows any more. Well let me tell you about a problem I have got. AND NOTE: this sort of thing has happened to me in the past with various distros (since 1996)
On my (old) P2 desktop I was triple booting Win98se - MDK 10.1 - PCLinuxOS - finally I decided to dump MDK 10.1 and just have Win89se/PCLinuxOS - because of the way my two physical hard drives were partitioned the easyest thing was to just remove all Linux/swap partions and just create new ones and reinstall PCLinuxOS
It did it no problem and every thing seemed to be fine. I did the latest on line update of PCLinuxOS (over 500Mb worth of packages) and as I still every thing seemed to be fine (and working). That is until a few days later I tried to use K3b - err no CD-burner found
Now FYI - I have two IDE hdds, a IDE Iomega drive and a IDE combo CD/DVD (read only) AND there is an old 4 speed SCSI CDrom burner (Matshita CD-R CW-7502). Every thing is fine except the CD-burner
BTW - The installation had found my SCSI card _ BUT _ not the SCSI CD-burner - and I could not even identify it from Linux - The worst thing was that I had forgotten what the SCSI CD-burner was exactly. So I could have opened up the box and read it off the label
_ BUT_ it was far easier to just boot back into Win98se to find out
NOW I SAY AGAIN - not exactly this but things like this have happed to me before (sound cards are often a problem) - the daft thing is that with all the distros I have used in the past they have never had problems finding and setting up my (old) SCSI CD-burner
Now wether it was left out of the Kernel this time round I do not know - I can not even seem to find a specific module for it (using ATP-Synaptic) - and yes I am sure that I will be able to fix it eventually with the help of those in the PCLinuxOS forums - it is just a damn nuisance - for now I am just copying anything I want burnt over to my Laptop (via my local network - which works fine)
Things would be a major problem for me " IF "
(1) I did not still have multi-boot with a Win and I only had GNU/Linux
(2) I did not have another Local Networked machine to burn CD's on
NOW PLEASE - do not just claim this is a problem of just this Distro !
as I say I have had similar hardware problems with many Distros and it is usually when you install a new version from scratch _ OR _ do a major on line update of an existing Distro - it does not often happen - but it has happend enough times to me for it not to be a suprise to me
NOW 48
I think the above gives you a good enough reason why not to dump a multi-boot system if you have one.
Also NOTE: this P2 desktop is usually running GNU/Linux 99.9999% of the time and just for the above reason I am pleased that I still have it. As I said I can transfer things to my Laptop to burn to CD if I want _ BUT _ as Win98se is FAT32 - I could just copy that ISO that I d/l in Linux to a FAT32 partition then re-boot back to Win and burn it - because the SCSI CD-burner is still working in Win
OK - so although I freely admit that on my P2 desktop I very rearly use Win98se - AND - on my P4 laptop I only go to WinXPsp2 for friend + family plus occasionally for my self - So effectively I am using a GNU/Linux Distro say 97% of the time - I am sure please that I still have those (already payed for) Windows installations
FINALLY
This is just my experience (s) - just my 2 cents worth (lernt from school of hard knocks)
YOUR EXPERIENCE MAY DIFFER just be aware it may happen to you
56 • 55 (by AC on 2006-04-18 06:34:52 GMT from , United States)
I wasn't denying that there could be advantages to keeping Windows available, only that only people in developing countries or puritans (which I am guessing is some sort of pious commitment to Free Software and or the superiority of Unix) would do otherwise. For many, the advantages in having that seldom accessed partition become negligible. While I agree the problems you encountered are always possible there are other ways around them - a "nuisance" I grant, but for some no moreso than the nuisance of wasted hard drive space. Also, you hadn't previously been talking specifically just about people who already have Windows and chose to keep it. People who build their own or purchased a used machine and so lack a valid license even if the software is installed are hardly puritanical install only GNU/Linux.
57 • more on puritans 46 & 55 (by AC on 2006-04-18 07:56:13 GMT from , United States)
Keeping Windows around so not to alienate your family and friends? I think there's such a thing as bending over backwards too far. I'd tell them use my preferred OS or don't use my computer at all as I am sure they would tell someone who preferred another OS. Or they can always bring a Windows live CD for such occasions... oh wait.
I'd no sooner keep Windows around to appease visitors than allow smokers to stink up my (non-smoking) house. Puritanical? Perhaps, but there's nothing wrong with that.
58 • 52 Fedora users visiting (by AC on 2006-04-18 08:01:29 GMT from , United States)
Low numbers of Fedora users didn't surprise me at all. In my experience users of Red Hat products tend to view "Red Hat" and "Linux" as synonymous. (Something Red Hat has encouraged) Like the guy who boasted of having every version of "Linux" ever released... when he just meant every release of Red Hat and Fedora Core. So Fedora users taking less interest in other distros than users of Debian, et al is actually to be expected.
(To avoid the flames: I know some Fedora users do know all about other distros, have used other distros, etc. I've just encountered many whose view was more narrow.)
59 • The most important distro news today (by AC on 2006-04-18 08:10:11 GMT from , United States)
Rumors on Wall Street have it that Larry Ellison is considering buying Red Hat or Novell. Or building his own GNU/Linux distro. This could potentially change the whole enterprise Linux landscape. For those who don't know: Ellison runs Oracle and Oracle makes (expensive) database software that runs on Linux. One of the biggest obstacles to getting distros like Debian accepted in large organizations is that Oracle will not certify or support their software on anything but Red Hat and SUSE.
Now, if Oracle either buys one and refuses to support the other or refuses to support either, focusing instead exclusively on its own offerring, this could radically alter the whole Linux business. Of course, the support contracts will undoubtedly allow companies to continue running Oracle on existing systems for awhile, but future plans for deployment will be dramatically affected.
This could eventually make Oracle the biggest Linux vendor - a vendor primarily funded by the sale of proprietary software.
60 • No subject (by AC on 2006-04-18 08:12:34 GMT from , United States)
http://today.reuters.com/...nN17283106
61 • Re: 40 • SUSE vs. Yoper??? (by Ariszló on 2006-04-18 08:50:38 GMT from Budapest, Hungary)
michael wrote: One thing is for sure. I will never use SUSE, if that is how the company thinks it can treat other distros.
It's not the company. It's only one of its employees.
62 • Keeping Windows around so not to alienate your family and friends? (by Caraibes on 2006-04-18 09:29:50 GMT from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)
For me it is a question of business, since I run a small internet café... And yes, whenever I find a "virgin" customer who has never seen a PC, and wants to surf the web, I boot him into Linux (Zenwalk, nowadays...)
As of my wife using windows, it is needed for compatibility reasons... She would be ready to use Linux (as a matter of fact, Linux is better for us, because it is multilingual : my user account is in french, and hers in spanish !!!)
I am starting to enjoy Xfce more and more, but especially the way Zenwalk tweaked it : I installed Slackware 10.2 with Xfce as default, and it wasn't as nice...
So lightweight distros are the key to me. I won't be fooled by Vista anytime soon ! (however, since I fix windows pc's for a living, I'll have to learn the ropes...)
63 • Upcoming Releases and Announcements (by Anonymous on 2006-04-18 09:32:26 GMT from Csng, Hungary)
Don't forget about the top tierce Linux distro Frugalware.
Theirs Roadmap at : http://frugalware.org/roadmap.php shows they will release a new stable this year (after the Mar 30, 2006 release).
Another great issue!
Thanks from Hungary.
64 • 62 Windows for family and friends (by AC on 2006-04-18 09:37:27 GMT from , United States)
Oh, I completely understand keeping Windows around for customers when running a business. And one's spouse of course shares the home - and the computer - so that's understandable as well. the poster in 46 seemed to be talking more about visiting friends and family, not those who share our residence or those who are paying customers.
I completely agree about Xfce. And I hope you caught my link to the file manager planned for the next major release, if you haven't seen it yet. It looks nice and a lot of thought is going into usability and performance on older hardware. (Not crazy about the name though)
http://thunar.xfce.org/index.html
65 • Hey 55 (by darkman on 2006-04-18 10:07:42 GMT from Paducah, United States)
I have been using SuSE now for the last 4 years and I have never experienced any of the problems that you have mentioned. I do know every piece of my hardware because I built my rig myself. I really have no reason at this point to have a dual boot system. I really have two laptops running LINUX and no dual boot on either of them. I have only had a dual boot on my desktop system. Linux meets all of my needs.
66 • Windows (by Darin on 2006-04-18 13:24:47 GMT from Calgary, Canada)
Have you seen the Xandros Distrobution?
It has the look and feel of Windows, for those that need the familiarity, but the robustness of Linux. In the paid versions you also get crossover office and they have recently signed a deal with Nomachine.
I have been using Version 3 for some time.
67 • dual boot (by ray carter at 2006-04-18 14:44:28 GMT from Meridian, United States)
I'm surprised that so many people dual boot MS and Linux. We have five computers at home (to be honest one of them is seldom used any more having been replaced late last year - but I've not yet found the time to pull off all the data I need to save). There is one with MS on it. That is only because it came that way and I thought it might be nice to keep around 'just in case'. We've not booted MS for any real productivity in over two years. I can sympathize with the gentleman who indicated that they gave up on OO in 2003 - BUT 00-2 has come a LONG way. A year or two ago I usually used AbiWord since it did a better job of rendering complex formatting from MSWord, but recently they both seem to do a proper job. I think if I had been in that situation I'd have required everyone to use OO - it is available for MS systems, and still free.
At any rate, the only things I see missing (and I realize that other folks have additional needs) from Linux is tax prep software and greeting card software (for printing cards, not making e-cards). Other than that we're quite happy with Linux all round.
Last year in January I installed Mandrake Linux on the public access internet computers at the local library. I took some time, and did a good install with the browser plugins I know folks would want. I set up OO and AbiWord/Gnumeric and set up the local network printer. To date there have been NO complaints. The director is ecstatic - before Linux she was called to the floor at least three times per day to help patrons with internet problems - since Linux she has not been called. I stop by every couple of weeks for a half hour or so to do updates, but that's it. A customer satisfaction survey a few months ago showed universal acceptance and a few folks who showed by their comments that they thought they were running some new version of MS. We've in the process of adding a four head turnkey system from 'userful' in Canada which will integrate with the patron database.
68 • Andreas Girardet wrote some enhancements for open suse aka super suse (by RTFM on 2006-04-18 17:24:06 GMT from Berlin, Germany)
Run what you want. The original super suse was enhanced by someone who also worked on Yoper. They needed someone with more Kernel knowledge.
I tried both Yoper and super Suse , and liked both.
I am currently using trying FreeBSD, PCLinuxOS,.Kanotix Cebit. I like em all..
69 • sad day (by AC on 2006-04-18 22:12:15 GMT from , United States)
Our present administration, bought and paid for by Bill Gates, has Chinese leaders meeting in Redmond today for a shakedown and US media are spewing Business Software Alliance propoganda, calling Microsoft a "victim", tossing around rhetoric about "intellectual property" and "piracy", characterizing the issue as a demand that Chinese computer makers bundle "legitimate" software with their hardware, and citing statistics that pretty much assume that any machine without a Windows license must be a machine with "pirated" Windows, menaing that for each one the Chinese have "stolen" the full retail price of Windows.
I'm embarassed to be an American today.
70 • Frugalware and Xfce... (by Caraibes on 2006-04-18 23:19:19 GMT from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)
Hey guys,
Reading your comments made me realise I never tried Frugalware (!!!)
So this is now on my "to do" list ! It seems good for my "slightly older" hardware...
And yes, thanks to the link from poster 64, I read about Thunar Xfce... It makes sense...
See you around for some feedback...
71 • Windows Vs Linux (by LinuxHungry on 2006-04-19 06:12:06 GMT from Leslie, United States)
I run windows most of the time myself because my wifi works with no difficult setup and my geforce video card works without having to compile a driver or jump through a bunch of hoops to get it to work. Configuring my linux distro the way I like can be very time consuming and often times buggy after I do get it the way I like for example I compiled a very small asci screen saver from source about 60k when completed...works great for awhile but leaves artifacts on the screen now you can say that If I had used a precompiled package I wouldn't have had that problem...ok fair enough but I also wouldn't have had the application I wanted, that's just one example another is that I like using opera as my internet brouser and it just does not work as well in linux. Now don't get me wrong *I Love Linux* nothing feels as good as when you finaly solve a problem(well almost nothing) but I have to admit I am a linux newbie! As buggy as windows is I have managed to crash linux many more times than XP even without compiling software BUT I still love linux and come here for the latest news and distros so don't begrudge me for for brousing here in windows because someday I will learn to get linux to do all that I want....However it's not today.
72 • 71 (by AC on 2006-04-19 08:27:48 GMT from , United States)
First, let me say I support you completely and encourage you to keep at it. You may want to consider getting a cheap ~500 PII off of ebay instead of dual booting, so you don't have to keep rebooting. I find that helps a lot of people with the transition, because they can have Windows instantly available without having to spend most of the time using it.
You know, it may be a good thing that Distrowatch gets so much Windows traffic. If posters like you are an indication, it's likely a sign of growth, that a lot of newer users are taking an active interest.
73 • Yoper and SUSE (by Fabian at 2006-04-19 08:30:16 GMT from Barmstedt, Germany)
It was an uploading mistake. Andreas has contacted us, apologized and moved the "placeholder" to the location where it should have been uploaded by default. He never wanted to shed some bad light on Yoper or SUSE. Both coexist nicely. :)
We all make some errors now and then. ;)
74 • 49/55 - What Linux misses (by Anonymous on 2006-04-19 16:20:25 GMT from Rancho Palos Verdes, United States)
Hardware- Vendors and etailers not listing if their product works with linux. Some used to link to linux drivers but for some reason they stopped.
Installs - triple boots that don't share user/swap/data sub-partions and won't work with shared seperate partions due to 4 partion limits on drives, the <8gb partion start, requiring different types of partions (ext2, ext3, riserFS) and not reading NTFS partions for data. Distros that try and take over the drive as the only install or linux install and won't detect & update a MBR.
Software - itunes/quicktime, WMA/WMV and flash. Until this software is not bundled on just about every multimedia device and there is nothing in Linux available, I can't rid myself of winxp. But, the legions are growing with win95,98,ME people who have had a crash and had to reinstall and are not left with much due to web drivers and updates gone from the net since the CD was burned by MS (service packs, security updates). Talk about being naked and scary. They either have to spend $200 for windowsXP (if they can run it), buy a new subsidized bundled machine and have to buy it again next year when vista is out or (thank goodness) run Linux.
75 • 74 (by tom on 2006-04-19 16:27:19 GMT from Helena, United States)
You can have more then 4 partions on a drive. One of you 4 primary partitions can be converted into an Extended/Logical partition. This may contain a large number of paritions (? up to 8, I think it may depend on BIOS), one of which would be SWAP. Linux can be installed into these logical partitions. Windows and BSD insist on a primary partition.
76 • 74 and 75 (by AC on 2006-04-19 21:33:41 GMT from , United States)
And IDE drive can have a total of 64 partitions with one primary partition used as an extended partition containing up to 60 logical partitions. Normally, additional inodes have to be created at a certain point, e.g. Debian will have inodes for up to 20 partitions but you'll need to create additional ones.
SCSI and SATA are limited to 15 partitions at present.
77 • ps (by AC on 2006-04-19 21:40:26 GMT from , United States)
USB and Firewire drives are also limited to 15 partitions.
78 • 74 (by AC on 2006-04-19 21:44:38 GMT from , United States)
Most Linux distributions can now read from NTFS though writing is flakier. Newer machines can be booted from past 8 gb if GRUB is one the MBR.
WMA is playable with Beep media Player. WMV with Mplayer. And there is Flash for Linux.
79 • 78 (by AC on 2006-04-19 21:59:53 GMT from , United States)
That should read "even an older machine can be biited from past 8gb with GRUB on the MBR". But an older machine can't boot from GRUB on the boot partition's boot sector if that partition is past 8 gb. (And even earlier if its an even older machine)
80 • 79 (by Anonymous on 2006-04-19 22:00:40 GMT from , United States)
sed s/ii/oo
81 • Linux From Scratch (by Woody Ochs on 2006-04-20 00:25:51 GMT from Duluth, United States)
I've been getting tons of spam-scams from or through LSF's mail site, "faq@linuxfromscratch.org", for quite some time now. I contacted them once with a request for some clarification of their documentation, but instead of an answer I got this unending flood of pfishing hoaxes and multi-billion dollar investment opportunities. I certainly don't want to contact them again over the Internet, and I fear that postal or telephone attempts would only initiate similar floods of junk mail and telemarketing. To be kind we might assume that they have been victimized by some sort of trojan horse, but even if that is so they must surely have learned about it long ago: Why then does it still persist? And if their email is so infected, what might be feared of the software they have written?
82 • Re: Linux From Scratch (by Ariszló on 2006-04-20 09:50:48 GMT from Szeged, Hungary)
I don't think LFS is spamming you. Spammers like to use fake sender addresses.
83 • 81 & 82 (by AC on 2006-04-20 09:58:11 GMT from , United States)
Ariszlo may be right. Definitely check the headers.
84 • GCN Magazine Reviews Six Distros (by Anonymous on 2006-04-20 15:44:22 GMT from Hamden, United States)
http://www.gcn.com/print/25_7/40263-1.html
Although I don't use Ubuntu, GCN unfairly blames them for GCN's inability to burn an ISO. That would be like blaming a commercial distro because you couldn't get a parking space at the mall where you wanted to purchase it.
85 • Re: 82 and 83 (by Woody Ochs on 2006-04-20 18:32:42 GMT from Dallas, United States)
The headers are obviously phoney, claiming to be various banks, ebay, Western Union, etc., but they have all been routed through "faq@linuxfromscratch.org". Ergo my concern that LSF has some infected servers which they must know about and which they haven't fixed. I don't believe that my machine is relaying such trash, but if I were to learn that it was then I would fix that matter immediately, wouldn't you?
86 • No subject (by MEHMET ÇAKIR on 2006-04-20 19:25:59 GMT from Trk, Turkey)
hello,
My name is Mehmet Çakır.I am a student in Cyprus International University.My deparment is computer engineering.In my university uses microsoft windows. I want to learn everything about Linux. I know Linux is the most reliable and more useful.Aim of my is learn Linux and introduce to every students.
Now I am striving for learn feodora.But I haven't got too much information about this.
İf you help me ,I
87 • learning about Linux (by MEHMET ÇAKIR on 2006-04-20 19:35:41 GMT from Trk, Turkey)
hello,
My name is Mehmet Çakır.I am a student in Cyprus International University.My deparment is computer engineering.In my university uses microsoft windows. I want to learn everything about Linux. I know Linux is the most reliable and more useful.Aim of my is learn Linux and introduce to every students.
Now I am striving for learn feodora.But I haven't got too much information about this.
İf you help me,I learn quickly and I give information to other students and my teachers with a presentation.
so if you send me powerpoint files or CDs,I will give a lecture.
I am waiting answer for you.
Yours respectfully,
88 • For Mehmet (by Caraibes on 2006-04-20 20:46:13 GMT from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)
Hi Mehmet,
Good thing you want to learn about Linux. There is plenty of material online, just google something like "learn linux", and you might find some great stuff...
If I remember well, the Slackbook is a good way to learn too, I am sure you can find it somewhere in www.slackware.com
If you can't install Linux on University PC's try a live cd, like SimplyMEPIS, PCLinuxOS, Puppy Linux, or Knoppix...
If you want to install on your hard drive, to really learn, you can try Slackware, it's the real stuff !
If you want it real easy, take either PCLinuxOS or SimplyMEPIS...
Good all around, Zenwalk and Ubuntu...
89 • 87 Mehmet (by tom on 2006-04-20 21:10:40 GMT from Helena, United States)
Try a web search or some links below:
http://www.fedorafaq.org/
http://oreilly.com/catalog/debian/chapter/book/
http://www.togaware.com/linux/survivor/
http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/
http://www.debianadmin.com/network.htm
90 • 84 (by tom on 2006-04-20 21:13:26 GMT from Helena, United States)
I thought the reviews were fair. What was unfair is compairing a pre-release of Fedora to an old version of Ubuntu. Need to compair apples to oranges so to speak.
91 • 88 (by AC on 2006-04-20 21:20:39 GMT from , United States)
To REALLY learn, go through Linux From Scratch.
(Not certain what "the real stuff" means.)
The rest of the recommendations I agree with more or less. Though I'd suggest giving Debian a look.
92 • Girardet's comments on Microsoft (by David on 2006-04-20 23:33:26 GMT from Grand Prairie, United States)
In the linked article Yoper's founder Andreas Girardet, he stated, "That’s why I’m logically convinced that it’s just a matter of time for Microsoft and it stands no chance."
That would be nice but not too realistic considering the "millions" of developers for Liux have not made user friendly and intutive gui's for most apps. Why not now rather than a "matter of time" is anybody's guess. After this much time you would think there would be something. Is it intentional, seems like it would have to be. You would probably have to be very knowldgable computer geek to know the answer to that one.
A perfect example is music apps made for the computer geek, not for the musician, screenwriting software that was made by someone who has never used or is at all familiar with the Windows aps and their features that are the industry standard. I won't even mention Cinnerella, I'm sure they are very proud of their product, i just have to wonder what were they thinking.
Does the score editor have multi-staff capability? It's hard to tell when if nothing in the menus mention that, also hard to tell if it does not run? Why not take everything for music production and put it one program like Mac does?
Not everyone merely listens to music, some people make it and not everyone just watches movies, some people make them, and until the developers of linux realize that those and many more have practicioners who are not highly skilled at geekdom, nor would they want to be, Microsoft will the go to even for people that would prefer to use Linux.
93 • adendum (by David on 2006-04-20 23:44:17 GMT from Grand Prairie, United States)
I apologize for the spelling, my tutor is on vacation in the Alps.
94 • 92 (by AC on 2006-04-21 00:45:57 GMT from , United States)
And yet strangely, many Hollywood studios are using GNU/Linux.
95 • Reviews and Articles (by Gene Ainsworth on 2006-04-21 00:53:29 GMT from , United States)
Thank you for providing a great site for linux etc. information.
Your obviously nice people, so I hate to be critical, but...
I was looking for reviews on linux distros, but all of your reviews are very dated. I was actually surprised about this.
If you have the resources, please update the Reviews and Article section for some more timely information, especially about comparing distros.
Please don't feel bad though, all the other linux reviews on other websites I looked at were just as behind.
96 • Dragon (by tom on 2006-04-21 13:25:38 GMT from Helena, United States)
Thank you all for all your previous advice.
I installed Debian Unstable and tested Dragon (voice recognition) with WINE. No go, although better then 6 months ago.
AC- How do I fix all the broken pipes when upgrading Debian (unstable)? Synaptic fails and holds back several packages. Apt-get/aptitude similar results, although I can install held packages with the command line. I just never seem to have had problems of this magnitude with other distros an do not know how to fix (the majority of my time was spent installing/configuring WINE and then Dragon rather than fiddling with Debian).
It seems Linux needs to support more end user, business/professional software on the desktop before it can compete with Windows (on the desktop). It seems the general process would be:
1. Agreement to “Linux standard” for configuration (of system files).
2. Either the WINE project needs to come to fruition or software vendors need to make software compatible with Linux (which is difficult without standardization). I try not to deal with vendors who will not support Linux, but with end user business/professional software there is often no choice (no open source or commercial options at all outside of Windows). For example, many hardware distributors only interface with Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Otherwise Linux will remain a "second fiddle" for desktop use (servers are another issue). Of course Linux is good for daily tasks (word processing, web surfing, etc) but a desktop computer, esp in the business/professional community needs to do much more. The only viable choice is Windows.
I know it is not fair, and it is a “chicken-and-the-egg” scenario, but still the bottom line is Linux still has some growing to do and we should advocate some standardization (of Linux) and support the WINE project (if we want to see Linux mature in the desktop "market").
97 • 96 (by AC on 2006-04-21 15:12:30 GMT from , United States)
When you selected "Mark Upgrades" did you then select "Smart Upgrade" or "Default Upgrade"? Usually selecting the former will do the trick. (commandline equivalent: "aptitude dist-upgrade") But the thing I've been telling people - often getting disagreement - is that you don't run unstable if you don't want to have to fiddle around.
BTW, I actually prefer using regular upgrade and upgrading packages manually and use the programs apt-listbugs and apt-listchanges so I can avoid installing programs with major bugs that are already known. It takes more time but can avoid problems in the long run.
98 • 97 (by tom on 2006-04-21 16:23:52 GMT from Helena, United States)
Thanks AC. I believe I was using "smart upgrade". Command line use was both aptitude upgrade and aptitude dist-upgrade.
Using Debian unstable at advice of WINE (for Dragon install).
99 • No subject (by AC on 2006-04-21 21:00:19 GMT from , United States)
WINE is one of the few binaries I get from upstream. Their debs are policy compliant and work well. You can use them with stable, Ubuntu, whatevah.
http://www.winehq.com/site/download-deb
100 • PS (by AC on 2006-04-21 21:10:19 GMT from , United States)
Sorry I hadn't followed the discussion that closely or I could have warned you. As much as generally I don't mind "outdated" software, WINE is something that genuinely and unambiguously improves with each release, i.e. programs work that didn't work with it previously. So, get the latest version from upstream. They have binaries for most distributions
http://www.winehq.com/site/download
Actually, you know it's been awhile since I've used WINE. It may not work with stable. Still, I hope this helps.
101 • InitNG - donation proposal (by Mihai Vlaicu on 2006-04-23 01:29:18 GMT from Bucuresti, Romania)
I would like to sugest the next donation to be awarded to the
InitNG project. From the project homepage:
http://www.initng.org/
"Initng is a full replacement of the old and in many ways deprecated sysvinit tool created by Jimmy Wennlund. It is designed to significantly increase the speed of booting a unix-compatible system by starting processes asynchronously."
102 • Windows Use Vs Linux (by Misty on 2006-04-23 18:30:30 GMT from Little Rock, United States)
There are several reasons to love Linux but use Windows online, but the most important is what has happened to me on my secondary computer: no driver for my ethernet card. I've looked and looked but I haven't found a driver for it. So, yeah, when I want to go online on that computer I have to boot into Windows. Kinda sucks, but I've gotten used it.
Another simple reason for me is why I'm using Windows right now: I'm testing the computer I'm fixing to make sure it's ethernet works right. If you can read this, I guess it does. :)
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| • Issue 1176 (2026-06-08): Redcore Linux 2601, the problem with minimal system requirements, Red Hat account linked to compromised npm repositories, COSMIC to get frosted glass effect, openSUSE shows off system extension manager, Origami merges with RakuOS |
| • Issue 1175 (2026-06-01): PineTab2 with various distros, less common words of wisdom, Canonical shutting down Ubuntu's Pastebin, Murena nears 100k users, DistroWatch turns 25 |
| • Issue 1174 (2026-05-25): Solus 4.9, Linux tablets, Haiku boots on Apple M1 machines, Fedora drops Deepin packages, Mint improves Nemo performance |
| • Issue 1173 (2026-05-18): Sylve on FreeBSD, the benefit of BleachBit, Debian commits to reproducible builds, Debian publishes updated install media, Haiku introduces SMP support on ARM64 processors, Rocky Linux creates opt-in security repository, Fedora reconsiders AI tools, KDE receives generous donation |
| • Issue 1172 (2026-05-11): Fedora 44, dealing with extra fonts, Fedora plans to provide AI tools, problems with Ubuntu's new coreutils, TrueNAS extends its development cycle, postmarktetOS improves the boot splash screen, Redox ports tmux |
| • Issue 1171 (2026-05-04): Xubuntu 26.04, extending memory with VRAM, Ubuntu plans AI features, Devuan developer forks GTK2, Mint introduces hardware enablement builds, Linux running on a PlayStation 5, local kernel exploit found in Linux |
| • Issue 1170 (2026-04-27): ENux 5.2.1, picking a second distro, AlmaLinux expands CPU support, FreeBSD publishes Status Report, Ubuntu MATE skips 26.04 release |
| • Issue 1169 (2026-04-20): Lakka 6.1, free software and source-based distributions, FreeBSD Foundation publishes compatible laptop list, Debian holds Project Leader election, Haiku progresses ARM64 port, Mint to extend development cycle, Linux 7.0 released |
| • Issue 1168 (2026-04-13): pearOS 2026.03, EndeavourOS 2026.03.06, which distros are adopting age verification, Arch adjusts its firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its release cycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves its scheduler |
| • Issue 1167 (2026-04-06): Origami Linux 2026.03, answering questions for Linux newcomers, Ubuntu MATE seeking new contributors, Ubuntu software centre is expanding Deb support, FreeBSD fixes forum exploit, openSUSE 15 Leap nears its end of life |
| • Issue 1166 (2026-03-30): NetBSD jails, publishing software for Linux, Ubuntu joins Rust Foundation, Canonical plans to trim GRUB features, Peppermint works on new utilities, PINE64 shows off open hardware capabilities |
| • Issue 1165 (2026-03-23): Argent Linux 1.5.3, disk space required by Linux, Manjaro team goes on strike, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA driver support and builds RISC-V packages, systemd introduces age tracking |
| • Issue 1164 (2026-03-16): d77void, age verification laws and Linux, SUSE may be for sale, TrueNAS takes its build system private, Debian publishes updated Trixie media, MidnightBSD and System76 respond to age verification laws |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Greenie Linux
Greenie Linux was a Slovak desktop distribution based on Ubuntu and optimised for users in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Created as an operating system designed for every-day use and focusing on the needs of book readers and writers, Greenie Linux combines a set of applications for home use, out-of-the-box functionality and Ubuntu repositories. It also includes a set of tools for reading, writing and modifying books and documents. The goal of the distribution was to create a user-friendly desktop system and a useful live CD.
Status: Discontinued
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