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1 • Opensolaris (Nexenta, etc.) (by Bob on 2008-06-16 09:13:09 GMT from Austria)
Amazing software!
My Sony Vaio was unable to boot after tying Opensolaris/Nexenta live CD. Must be a combination of Sony BIOS plus Opensolaris features which can render a notebook like mine unusable.
Remedy: remove the battery for a few seconds and boot into a more mature OS.
No further comments.
2 • Microsoft and ULPC's (by Dorin on 2008-06-16 09:17:41 GMT from Romania)
I think MS has made a step into helping Linux's image - Linux rus way better on low-end HW than Windows XP (and that's not only my experience). But this also comes to show that if Linux doesn't do a little marketing in the future it will disappear because people are (the vast majority) either ignorant or just simple users (that use what's given to them and don't know or care of the better alternative)
3 • Great issue (by Gene Venable on 2008-06-16 09:47:49 GMT from United States)
This was an even meatier issue than usual, with lots to think about. I hope that we see more reviews by Seth Corven, who made an impressive debut, and PC/OS may make its way to one of my partitions soon. I have been embarked on a new search for my best distro, since my old friends Suse and Mint have deserted my main desktop for the moment, with graphics problems. My new 8-gig usb drive is inhabited by Sidux, and it is likely to stay there, though I encountered some problems with inconsistent persistence recently, meaning, for example, that Firefox add-ins such as Foxmarks wouldn't persist. Puppy Linux has earned a permanent spot in a 2-gig usb drive. Sidux also holds down one partition on my desktop piece of junk and runs Window Maker splendidly. But there is at least one partition, currently owned by Geubuntu or whatever its name is, which is about to be vacated and replaced by .... Maybe PC/OS.
4 • Microsoft and ULPC's (by PedCol on 2008-06-16 09:55:47 GMT from United States)
M$ was asked if they would help to support the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Project. M$ criticized and belittled OLPC's attempt; yet when they saw it was going to be successful, they whined about not being included and force their way in and infected the project with windows xp. Who's the "CANCER" now?
5 • Vista (by jollyx on 2008-06-16 10:05:44 GMT from Spain)
Amazing software!
My brother´s Presario was unable to turn on after switching it off the previous night. And removing the battery did not help. The advises from HP support department neither. Now is anywhere in HP´s workshops.
No further comments.
6 • Microsoft and Linux (by John Cockroft on 2008-06-16 10:07:09 GMT from United Kingdom)
Microsoft has made a serious miscalculation by staking its future on Vista and Windows-7 (which is derived from Vista) just when people are starting to think about low power consumption and ultra-portable PCs.
Linux can run rings around Vista as the kernel works just as well on a 50MHz ARM CPU (or MIPS or Atmel AVR32 etc) as it does on a high end mainframe running multiple virtual Linux images on IBM PowerPC CPUs or multi-core 64 bit AMD64 based office servers (or even desktops!). It also works well on older 32 bit PCs (such as a Pentium II 400MHz PC with 256Mb RAM that I use as an email/wordprocessing box).
Modern distributions such as Ubuntu 8.04, Fedora, openSUSE or PCLinuxOS are fantastic, responsive, modern desktop systems that can easily keep up with Vista. Take away some eye-candy and they can also run on ultra-portables with ease. If a new processor comes out then it is not that difficult to port the entire operating system and packages over to run on it (a good example is the Sony PS3 with the Cell CPU or the ultra-portable Razorbook 400 using the MIPS-like Ingenic CPU).
What is Microsoft's response? Keep Windows XP alive in a vain hope to stave off the future!
Windows cannot compete with technology changes like this since Windows is based on having binary compatibility whereas Linux (and other open source operating systems such as FreeBSD) are based on open source code and hence just need a recompilation to port the application. This is why open source is so important and is the future of the software industry.
Microsoft is still the strongest player (at the moment) but things are starting to change.
7 • There is something to worry about if LINUX can not compete with a 10yr old MS OS (by XP is OLD -- ANCIENT on 2008-06-16 10:10:58 GMT from Australia)
Why is this the case?
Less CRYING AND MORE ACTION is what is needed, IMHO!
8 • Parsix 1.5 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2008-06-16 10:33:56 GMT from Italy)
Isn't Parsix 1.5 a bit late already?
Anyway, what really matters is that all bugs are ironed out before release.
9 • Yes, Linux HAS TO WORRY if linux.com and "Zonker" are so CONFUSED about (by DW PHR on 2008-06-16 10:38:27 GMT from Australia)
What's more, the community seems to be getting its message out -- as Brockmeier points out, openSUSE 11.0 was in top position on Distrowatch's list of most downloaded distributions for seven days. As of the time of writing, it remains in second spot.
[....]
Bruce Byfield is a computer journalist who writes regularly for Linux.com.
http://www.linux.com/feature/137883
What a joke the above statement is to regular readers of DWW Comments section!
:-)
10 • Desktop BSD's (by NeverMyself on 2008-06-16 10:40:44 GMT from United Kingdom)
Yeah, not much to say on this weeks Distrowatch weekly, but I do have a question; can anybody here recommend a good BSD based distro mainly aimed at Desktop use? There is the obvious choice of DesktopBSD, but I am really looking for personal opinions and experiences.
Thanks in advance
11 • Linux competing against MS (by NK on 2008-06-16 10:59:01 GMT from United States)
I think that it's important to make the distinction that Linux is not competing against ten year old XP, but a large installed base of applications based on Win32 api. That's it, and nothing more. And we have wine on the horizon to handle that. Even the least of the Linux distros have more to offer than XP does on other counts.
12 • Firefox (by CombatWombat on 2008-06-16 11:09:11 GMT from New Zealand)
I know it is not Linux, but arguably the most important tool in winning users over to open source has been Firefox. The new version 3 comes out tomorrow, and Mozilla are aiming for a world record of downloads. So spread the word. :-)
13 • I checked out the link to MS (Ubuntu God-King) interview provided in this week's (by DWW Edition on 2008-06-16 11:33:06 GMT from Australia)
Here is an Excerpt:
Interview with Linux-Magazine Italia
[...]
21) Finally, do you think that GNU/Linux is “really” ready for the desktop users? In which way could be improved?
Yes, I believe it is ready for SOME desktop users. If you really want a desktop that is web-oriented, then Linux is an excellent choice, with either Gnome or KDE (I’m really impressed with the work going on as part of KDE4, by the way). We know that there are millions of people using Linux today. And we are focused on solving the problems that prevent more and more people from adopting it.
Free software is intrinsically a better way to build software, I believe. But we should not plan to be judged on our morals, we should expect to be judged on our software. We have to deliver something that LOOKS and FEELS better, then we can expect people to embrace it fully. And once people realise they can have something that is better AND sustainable AND comes with many freedoms, the world will be a fundamentally different place. That is our goal.
22) Our interview seems to be completed. Do you have something to add for our readers? Thank you for your time and keep up the excellent work!
Please participate! There are lots of ways to get involved with upstream projects or with Ubuntu. Help spread the word, or fix a bug, or translate something from the desktop into Italian!
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/148
14 • MS (by Omari on 2008-06-16 11:35:05 GMT from United States)
I was one who expressed negative sentiments about last week's column regarding Microsoft and the eeepc. I still think all the anti-MS talk misses the point, and this week's follow-up still demonstrates this. Of course MS is going to do all it can to squash a competing operating system. "All it can" is, of course, not all that much. Microsoft goes to sleep and lets its products rot and only wakes up when someone catches up. Look at what happened with Internet Explorer and Firefox. Now the same is happening with Vista and Linux: MS has to resurrect a years-old operating system to compete.
However, my larger point is that there are POSITIVE reasons to use Linux. I like Linux because it gives me a huge variety of free tools that I can use to tinker with my system and build my own applications. Things which cost hundreds of dollars for Windows are FREE on Linux, and the free alternatives have superior quality. Compare GCC to MSVC, or Konqueror to Windows Explorer, or zsh to cmd.exe, or Amarok to Windows Media Player. Sure, I can get some of these apps on Windows too, but with Linux I get gobs of excellent free software, integrated into a stable coherent system.
There are other POSITIVE reasons to use Linux, as the eeepc demonstrates: Linux is frugal with resources and runs on inexpensive, tiny hardware. I snicker when I read that Vista runs slowly on 1GB of RAM, when my system chugs along well with 512MB.
As you can see I often compare Linux to the alternatives and point out superiorities where they exist. I think that's good. On the other hand I think it's silly to sit around and moan about MS. "Oh, MS is so mean. Oh, MS is trying to kill Linux. Oh, ASUS is betraying the community. Oh, MS is unfair." I use Linux because I LIKE Linux, not because I hate Microsoft--I don't even hate Microsoft! Why would I waste my energy hating Microsoft?
If the objective is to get new Linux users (which is not even my objective, but I understand those who do want to get new users) most will be attracted to Linux because they LIKE Linux and because it meets their needs, NOT because they hate Microsoft (which they probably don't!) Sitting around moaning about how terrible Microsoft is will not attract new users to Linux. I hope those who sit around and moan about MS find it cathartic, or fun, because it is not accomplishing much else.
15 • Microsoft's Strategy (by Alex Yang-Nikodym on 2008-06-16 11:40:01 GMT from Canada)
Why do they feel it necessary to constantly undermine everything? The Eee PC used to be so good, but now, with XP, it's slow, dull, and everything you don't want from an ultra-portable laptop.
Why Microsoft? Why?
16 • MS (by PedCol on 2008-06-16 11:50:47 GMT from United States)
You're right Omari. We have to cool our heels and relax, but the first emotional response is to counter the attack without thinking. When I was younger, I went to the zoo and a monkey in a cage threw some excrement at me; my initial reaction was to pick the excrement up and throw it back at him without thinking.
As for LINUX, I do not see any negatives.
17 • Re: 14 (by Leo on 2008-06-16 11:53:51 GMT from United States)
Omari, I think very few people make the argument that other people should switch to linux because MS is to be hated. On the other hand, people should be aware that MS is, and has been, and abusive monopolist. This new push to remove low cost notebooks from the market because they don't fit MS agenda is perverse. For one things, these units may help avoid a steep digital divide in the world. Besides, MS hijacked the OLPC project, because, ahem, they want to help the world. And here they go again. We just need to be aware of who they are, and how to protect ourselves from them. Nothing wrong with that. Cheers!
18 • Vista (by Tony on 2008-06-16 12:03:40 GMT from United States)
Last week my wife went to an educational software developers seminar. The developers are having to rewrite their software to be Vista compatible while at the same time remain XP compliant. Even the new software they are developing specifically for Vista are problematic at best.
The main question that was asked several times was "Are any school systems running Vista?" Every school system in attendance at that seminar replied "We are still using XP." The software developers said to keep XP as long as you can because Vista is not functional.
My wife knows very little about Linux, but she made the comment that it looks like she will be learning Linux real soon...
19 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2008-06-16 12:17:07 GMT from United Kingdom)
"LINUX can not compete with a 10yr old MS OS (by XP is OLD -- ANCIENT"
what? xp came out in like 2001 and Sp2 in 2004 was essentially a whole new OS
that makes xp 7 or 4 years old - not 10? - windows 98 is 10 years old nearly...
20 • M$ blinked (by wildpossum on 2008-06-16 12:38:46 GMT from Australia)
Folks, look at it this way: it would have unthinkable years ago that M$ would have to fend off a surge in interest in Linux. It was inevitable that M$ would defend their territory. We are doing something right, so let's go do more of it. M$ gambled that people would continue to be desktop-centric and they bet on the wrong horse. Today's world is quite different. People want to be connected and to do whatever they do anywhere anytime. A new generation of apps makes traditional document workflow prehistoric. Linux and other FLOSS are right in the thick of the new developments. In this arena, ancient XP has no first mover advantage.
21 • @10 - About Desktop BSD use (by Manolis on 2008-06-16 12:45:04 GMT from Greece)
Hi, you can use either DesktopBSD or PC-BSD. Both are very good "distributions" and for all intents and purposes they are FreeBSD. PC-BSD introduces a PBI system that makes installations a lot more Windows-like (self contained setup files, much like setup.exe in Windows), while DesktopBSD provides a set of GUI tools that interfaces with the traditional FreeBSD packages/ports system. While ports/packages can be used in PC-BSD too, it is generally inadvisable to mix them with the PBI system.
A thing to note: both systems use KDE by default. It is possible to install other DE/WMs, but you may not want to start "heavy". In this case I would suggest starting with a basic FreeBSD install and then install xorg and the desktop of your choice. Granted, it will take a lot more time and reading on your part but satisfaction will be immense.
Cheers, Manolis
22 • Firefox 3 tomorrow! (by wildpossum on 2008-06-16 12:52:32 GMT from Australia)
Don't forget, go download Firefox 3 tomorrow and help set a Guinness Book Record for the software most downloaded within 24 hours. Firefox is multiplatform so help free your unfortunate acquaintances from IE7 or worse still IE6.
23 • Windows popularity on new PCs (by tom on 2008-06-16 13:16:15 GMT from United States)
Even though Linux is easier and more fun to use than ever, I disagree that it is poised to make a run as a more popular desktop OS. Regardless of MS mistakes and nasty (illegal?) practices.
Since the Windows user has more choice with regard to peripherals (printers, scanners, etc), it's understandable that ULPCs would offer Windows. One can understand that most purchasers would be inclined to stick with a familiar OS that offers the maximum choice of hardware.
If it's important for Linux to be a major player on the PC desktop, then
- manufacturers and vendors need to be confident that drivers will work effortlessly on most Linux PCs
- it must be easy to train support staff to deal with questions posed by customers running any major Linux distro
- Linux releases should typically be updated for 3 or 4 years without fear that updates would break things
It may be more constructive to concentrate upon making Linux more competitive rather than upon criticizing MS, regardless of how deserving MS is of criticism.
24 • openSUSE (by whocares on 2008-06-16 13:34:44 GMT from Finland)
Yeaaaaaaaaaaah! soon its available im waiting so eagerly. Ubuntu was disappointing(feisty was ok in a time). Fedora and xorg 3d nvidia....well Mandriva was close. But it seems openSUSE really goes GOLD! I think on friday it will be number1 also in distrowatch ranking list. Well actually im also waiting what comes from Texstar hopefully in nearfuture. Will PCLinuxOS beat the BIGBOYS in the market? ...by the way PCLinuxOS is usually seen also as PCLOS so i really thought this "new"? PC/OS was the same distro. Distro makers please use your imagination thanx!
25 • No OpenSUSE Release Candidate? (by earlycj5 on 2008-06-16 13:38:44 GMT from United States)
Seeing the new OpenSUSE was going to be released this week on Thursday I was curious to try out the release candidate only to find that it was removed from the mirrors, that's disappointing. Guess I wait until Thursday.
26 • FF 64bit (by 64BIT on 2008-06-16 14:11:15 GMT from United States)
FF would get more downloads if they release a 64-bit version instead of us getting it from our distro repo. I don't understand why since most PC are now 64bit capable.
Opera 9.5 has 64-bit, and it's fast.
27 • @14,15,16 Lack of Ethics in this world (by Alan B. Cohen on 2008-06-16 14:19:23 GMT from United States)
Gentlemen,
If Linux, in all its variety, was left to compete on its capabilities and power against MicroSoft, I wouldn't mind and would be very happy. But MS has a major tendency to ignore laws, ethics and morality in competing with other products, especially when they are technically superior. The underhanded techniques of manufacturer arm twisting, 'DOS isn't done until WordPerfect doesn't run', and the strangulation of DRDOS are still with us. I fully realize that if the eeepc and other UMPC's don't come with Linux, I can install it (I've done that on many desktop machines). But, the advantages of a manufacturer-supported Linux install, and the associated user community support is significant to those of us who are slightly less technical and still want Linux's advantages.
MS is working on modifying its apps so as not to work on wine, as well as other non-competitive technical and non-technical strong-arming. I choose to avoid MS because of their lack of ethics.
28 • Oooh pretty desktops (by Sam on 2008-06-16 14:27:48 GMT from United States)
Yay for Linux actually having some pretty desktops that aren't overly-aping Vista. Yay for Distrowatch for noticing and featuring some pics of them :)
29 • xp+antivirus+antimalware=slow (by mark on 2008-06-16 14:40:40 GMT from United States)
they will never overcome this in a lite laptop
but we still have to deliver better hardware support
my .02 cents
30 • BSD desktop (by kenneth hatteland on 2008-06-16 14:42:07 GMT from Norway)
In full support to Manolis comment :By all means try out both FreeBSD desktop adaptions. They are both as easy to install as any linux distro I`ve come across. Nevertheless I will recommend as Manolis to get down to a plain FreeBSD install with xorg and desktop system of your choice. I have desktops and laptops runnig KDE, XFCE and Fluxbox after specs and I am not a kernel guru. I started out using articles on how to install freebsd 6.2 and setting up servers and desktops written by sharaz on openaddict.com. Still use this method though I`ve modified things a bit after reading many books and testing things out.
http://forums.openaddict.com/viewtopic.php?t=260&sid=cd713c524eb6b81447cb24c816d758ec
FreeBSD isn`t perfect, but the
ports is the best system imho. Shame I`ve never managed to install Gentoo....but there you go.
31 • There's an error on an image comment. (by Fabzter on 2008-06-16 14:48:36 GMT from Mexico)
You are showing a screenshot of Red Star Linux, but the comment is the same as in the MilaX's one.
:)
32 • Microsoft - nothing new here! (by davemc on 2008-06-16 14:54:05 GMT from United States)
This is really a text book style operation for Microsoft. Its what they do and it obviously works quite well. In truth, the FSF and pretty much all the Consumer groups give them a free pass for these kinds of activities instead of taking them to task for every infraction. The end result of this kind of "bury our heads in the sand and hope Microsoft changes their ways" falicy is that it opens the door to these kinds of nefarious tactics, and is in fact a silent form of approval. So I think that it is NOT Microsofts fault for doing what they always do, rather, it is the Linux Communities fault for letting them get away with it!
33 • Re. 24 (by Anonymous on 2008-06-16 14:54:32 GMT from Canada)
What's so excited about being number 1 in distrowatch ranking list? This is a very very very very small circle. This is like the sky you see when you are sitting at the bottom of a well.
34 • another pronunciation query (by just john on 2008-06-16 15:01:09 GMT from United States)
"MilaX" -- what's the correct way to pronounce it?
(Right now, I've got a Frankie Goes To Hollywood song going through my head, and that CAN'T be right .... I hope.)
35 • Prosecute MS (by Davey on 2008-06-16 15:12:17 GMT from United States)
You don't have to be a lawyer to know that MS's tactics blatantly violate antitrust laws and probably a bunch of others, assuming the memo in the article is authentic. Several posters here want to just ignore MS's tactics and win by making Linux better. That's kind of like saying "I'll just be a really good boxer and not worry that my opponent is trying to shoot me".
The issue is not that MS is competing by making a better system -- it isn't. MS is trying to kill off the competition by a form of extortion. It should be prosecuted. If you really want to make computing better and freer, forget the happy talk and help get the PC World article spread as widely as possible, including government prosecutors and attorneys general.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/145719/microsoft_to_limit_capabilities_of_cheap_laptops.html
36 • M$ and Linux (by voislav on 2008-06-16 15:12:53 GMT from Canada)
I think that Microsoft is going to have trouble fighting this one. They are used to having a target to take punches at like with Netscape, like with Java, etc. With Linux there is no defined target, do you fight Linux OS on portables, do you fight Firefox on Windows platforms, do you fight in the desktop market. I think that this is turning into the game of whack-a-mole for Microsoft, because as soon as they think they won one battle, another one flares up somewhere else. Interesting times ahead indeed.
37 • Red Star typo (by Anonymous on 2008-06-16 15:20:53 GMT from United States)
Hi Ladislav, It appears there is a typo in the Red Star blurb. The disto is based on Debian, but the caption for the screen shot says it's based on OpenSolaris. Otherwise another great DWW!
38 • M$ & Buntos (by Mil on 2008-06-16 15:44:01 GMT from Italy)
My computers are M$ and Buntos free!
Sidux rocks!
39 • re: 38 - M$ and Buntos (by ray carter at 2008-06-16 16:23:32 GMT from United States)
I'm familiar with the corruption of M$ for MS (don't really understand it, but accept it); but I'm totally unfamiliar with Buntos - could you give me a reference?
40 • No subject (by RC at 2008-06-16 16:34:54 GMT from United States)
"Buntus" refers to Ubuntu and its myriad derivatvies.
41 • PC/OS 2008 (by datman on 2008-06-16 16:52:55 GMT from United States)
Glad to see the inclusion of the PC/OS review and second the reviewer's comments. The developer (one man, spare time, very helpful) has taken a good distro (ubuntu), customized it, and made it better. IMHO, it's better than Xubuntu, different and more up-to-date than Mint Xfce, and could be a serious competitor to PCLinuxOS for the "it just works" crown. One more good way to show Windows users that Linux is a viable alternative for all users.
42 • Firefox (by Wally on 2008-06-16 17:00:18 GMT from United States)
There is a whole lot said about the new Firefox, but the new Opera 9.5 is fantastic for Linux
43 • So, what's new? (Eee) (by dialup on 2008-06-16 17:02:09 GMT from United States)
It was well publicized (in April) that MS had OKed the extension of XP's life for sale with (defined) limited capability computers in "emerging" markets. What has changed is that on June 3, MS announced that the offer is now "worldwide".
See their press release at: http://tinyurl.com/3zykag
I don't recall that anyone posted a response last week saying that "all is fair and square" ... whatever that means. Nor is it clear that Asus has somehow betrayed the Linux community.
44 • number1 (by whocares on 2008-06-16 17:11:31 GMT from Finland)
At least PCLinuxOS get some seeability in news and magazines when being rated number1 in here.
45 • @42 (by Landon on 2008-06-16 17:31:40 GMT from United States)
1 small (large in my opinion) issue withe Opera that keeps it on my "browsers that suck" list is it's inability to work with some major websites. First, Yahoo! Mail and my bank. If it can not handle these sites, to me it's absolutely worthless. I know...blame Yahoo! and if you look at all of the forum posts on opera forums, that's the overall answer. Problem is, IE, Firefox, Epiphany and others all work fine with Yahoo! Mail.
46 • PC-BSD, DesktopBSD and FreeBSD (by Brian Masinick on 2008-06-16 17:35:11 GMT from United States)
To comment on reader comment numbers ten (10) and thirty (30), I will note that any source code based BSD system is capable of running any number of really solid desktop environments. In the links provided in (30), it is clear that it is possible to set up a really nice FreeBSD desktop using whatever environment you like. However, the vast majority of people are not interested in spending 22 hours compiling KDE or 2 hours compiling X.org, typical source code build times quoted in the article. If you are, then that is definitely the way to go.
Assuming that you do not fall into that category, I would argue that PC-BSD has the absolute easiest approach - though not the most standard approach. The PBI (Push Button Installer or PC-BSD Installer) installs self contained applications, so there is redundancy. Purists may not like that, but convenience advocates will love it. With PC-BSD, you can use either this PBI technology or you can use the classic BSD Ports collection and BSD sources - your choice.
DesktopBSD stays somewhat more pure to the standard FreeBSD approach, but also emphasizes the desktop. If you prefer something closer to the classic BSD approach with desktop configuration tools, this may be a better compromise for you.
The easiest is PC-BSD, the closest to FreeBSD is DesktopBSD, and of course, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD can also be built into desktop systems. NetBSD and OpenBSD will allow you to do what you want, but provide less "help", or perhaps I should say fewer automated scripts to help you create and configure a desktop system.
In the end, all of them are capable of doing a good job. The questions become "What are the selection criteria?" "Are standard packaging methods critical or is ease of installation and configuration the guiding factor?"
Based on the answers to questions like these and the comments in this note and in the links provided in response 30, you will have a better idea which way to go. My personal preference for a desktop is just to get it done quickly and easily. For that kind of usage, PC-BSD is just right. It rivals any system of any type for ease of installation and use.
47 • My opinions (by MacLone on 2008-06-16 17:48:11 GMT from Mexico)
Regarding Parsix Linux: it is a really good distro and the forums are small but helpful. The main problem is the installer, they shoul grab it from another distro and adapt it to their needs. It is what keeps me off this distro.
Microspot? again? what a surprise...Aren't they afraid allready of Linux growth?
This confirms me off we can count the time remaining for the windows monopoly. Sooner or later more and more people will be aware there is a good choice besides windows.
If you are going to make an ubuntu based distro at least make it better, not by changing the wallpaper and icons but by developing and sqashing bugs the original never did.
Linux Mint does it...who else?
48 • comments (by Alan on 2008-06-16 18:16:27 GMT from United Kingdom)
@45 I'm using Opera 9.27 on Ubuntu. I don't have any probs regarding Yahoo mail or the 2-3 other sites I use to pay my bills.
I had probs with Firefox not displaying Distrowatch correctly. The text
overlapped the ads on the right.
@46 PC-BSD- I tried this on my old AMD Duron 800 MHZ pc. Was probably the fastest install of any OS I've tried, and simple too.
This pc is now running Pardus, which was one of the longest and slowest installs ever! However, it's been worth the effort as I really rate Pardus.
@16 Monkey excrement on Distrowatch-this must be something of a first! :-p
49 • For what? - Ref 35 • Prosecute MS (by dialup on 2008-06-16 18:22:29 GMT from United States)
Which U.S. law do you claim MS is violating? MS did not require that Asus discontinue sales of Lunux preloaded Eees in order to sell XP preloaded Eees. (Ironically, some Linux supporters would have Asus do the converse and make the Eee an Linux-only device.)
50 • RE@49 Read before you write. (by Anonymous on 2008-06-16 18:59:29 GMT from United States)
Did you read the last article in this weeks DistroWatch. Did you read that MS wants to limit the hardware on systems so there can be no other viable os system? Think Again!
51 • @ 9, + about Red Star (by Joe M. Ama on 2008-06-16 19:03:07 GMT from United States)
Linux.com's brand of journalism is the joke, not any statement that Mr. Byfield has made. Also Red Star GNU/Linux 1.6 - a minimalist OpenSolaris-based distribution
Red Star GNU/Linux is opensolaris based? How is it possible to have GNU/Linux based on Solaris? Do you mean GNU/Solaris? Linux with Sun Microsystem's tools? GNU compiled with Sun's non-free compiler? Or is it just that you mistranslated the Red Star home page?
From Google's translation of the provided link: Red Star Linux comes in response to [the] technical-political monopoly of Microsoft (and their backdoors) and the degeneration of the original spirit of GNU with perversions [that] are purely commercial [such as] Xandros, SuSe, Linspire, OpenSolaris, Linux XP, etc..[...]
It's basically a Bolivarian response to Ubuntu Christian Edition/Muslim Edition/Wiccan Edition/Dianetics Edition/Pointlessly Silly Edition that appears to be based on Debian Testing.
52 • Re: @49 (by BhaKi on 2008-06-16 19:37:48 GMT from India)
I don't necessarily want linux-only hardware. I just want open hardware. I want hardware that has open programming documentation. Clearly, there is no such documentation for the EEE PC.
People should be careful not to confuse "Hardware with Linux pre-installed" with "Hardware with open documentation". The Openmoko/Neo mobile phones are a step in the right direction.
This is the case with 99% of the hardware sold in the world. So I was not surprised very much by the EEE PC's lack of Official Exhaustive Programming Documentation. However, I had been somewhat happy that a major manufacturer got the courage to ship a computer with Linux.
Even that little joy was killed when ASUS officially advertised that the EEE PC is "better with windows". It should be counted as a windows-only hardware because ASUS is acknowledging that the laptop was made with Windows in mind.
People, stop wasting your resources fighting for/against the so-called "open source revolution". The only way fair competition can be restored is through open standards, open formats, open specifications, open interfaces and open protocols. These are the needs of the hour, not open source.
53 • Browsers (by JAG on 2008-06-16 20:03:40 GMT from United States)
Here's something interesting...check it out guys!
http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/software/internet/soa/Browser-faceoff-IE-vs-Firefox-vs-Opera-vs-Safari/0,139023437,339289417-1,00.htm
What are your thoughts...??
54 • @ #14 Omari (by Eyes-Only on 2008-06-16 22:07:23 GMT from United States)
Bravo Mr. Omari! Thank you for your delightfully positive statements which outlined my thoughts precisely---better than if I had written them myself! You really helped to make my day a much brighter one. In fact... I think I'll copy down what you wrote so next time someone asks me "Why Linux?" I can slide them that piece of paper.
Thank you again!
Eyes-Only
"L'Peau-Rouge"
55 • 45 re Opera and Yahoo mail (by wildpossum on 2008-06-16 22:16:35 GMT from Australia)
45, Opera does work with Yahoo mail, but after a large login delay. Probably some funky Javascript probing by Yahoo. Hopefully somebody at Opera can fix it. I use both Firefox and Opera and there are some good things both..
56 • Read my post #43 - Ref. #50 • RE@49 Read before you write. (by dialup on 2008-06-16 22:18:01 GMT from United States)
The limits MS has placed on netbooks eligible for XP licenses are:
CPU: >= 1.0 GHz single core, 1.0-1.6 GHz C7, or <= 1.6 GHz Atom
Menory: 1G
Hard Drive: 80G
Screen: 10.2", no touch screen
What about these specs "limit[s] the hardware on systems so there can be no other viable os system [than XP]".?
57 • Correction to #56 (by dialup on 2008-06-16 23:00:25 GMT from United States)
That's <= 1.0 GHz single core
58 • It does not matter (by GreenWolf70 on 2008-06-16 23:15:42 GMT from United States)
First, MS support of WinXP is scheduled to end next month. Second, the crippled WinXP version of the Eee PC is less capable than the linux version from a hardware point of view. So it is only a stop gap measure without a future. Predictably, as demand increases there will be better, faster, more efficient versions available to the public.
Anyone want to buy an EeePC with WinXP that has less storage than the linux version and is without software support?
59 • @ 45 and 55 - browsers that suck! (by DeniZen on 2008-06-17 00:04:11 GMT from United Kingdom)
My main 'Home' rig is a Mac these days (it runs Debian fine too, no worries ;) ) and on OS X Safari doesnt work with LiveMail, nor Yahoo mail well.
I dont have to worry about that, but visitors to my house like to check their mail sometimes - embarrassing when the 'oooh so shiny' Mac cant manage basic webmail .. Safari doesnt handle ebaY or Paypal well either...
(note: basic essentials eh .. Mr. Jobs ..?)
Thank Goodness we have Multi-Platform Firefox.
As someone posted above - its played a big part towards making the Linux Desktop a truly viable alternative.
(Opera, it seems is perhaps just somehow a bit too 'leftfield' for many users?)
60 • @20 (by lsteegrep on 2008-06-17 01:08:13 GMT from United States)
wildpossum wrote:
Folks, look at it this way: it would have unthinkable years ago that M$ would have to fend off a surge in interest in Linux.
---------------------------------------------
I agree, and I'm reminded of something Mahatma Gandhi said during the early years of his struggle to win freedom for India: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Looks like the Linux vs Microsoft struggle is now at Gandhi's stage 3. We've been through the stage of MS ignoring Linux, then the stage of MS mocking Linux. For the past few years MS has been fighting Linux as hard as it can, using every dirty trick they can drum up, from SCO to secret agreements with the hardware manufacturers.
That leaves only stage 4. We should get there in a few more years. :)
-lsteegrep
61 • artistx +network.. (by esalatin on 2008-06-17 03:30:55 GMT from Mexico)
I can't get the network to work on this... anyone having the same problem??? It all works fine with anything else... just not ArtistX
62 • @61 (by JustKeepSwimming on 2008-06-17 04:19:05 GMT from Australia)
Seems like someone in the Artistix forum has raised the same issue. Just visit their forum... BUT the silly thing about the forum is that you have to register even to view! How stupid.
Anyway, best of luck
63 • PC/OS name (by Whitespiral on 2008-06-17 04:31:03 GMT from Mexico)
PC/OS reads too much like PCLOS. That name must be changed. It's outrageous. If it was called Uluntu, Ubuntu users would be at its throat, biting hard.
First it was the distro, then the repositories, then Tex himself , then the forums and its mods. Now they go after the distro name. Sometimes a conspiracy just makes sense.
64 • PC/OS (by capricornus on 2008-06-17 06:38:44 GMT from Netherlands)
Is there really an added value offered with this OS? I could not discover the advantage(s) over eg. Mint5. And soon found out (minor) disadvantages, like not wanting to log out from the menu. Thus unfinished. CD put aside. Perhaps one more effort on another pc, to see if it offers eventually more than Mepis7, Mint5 or Granular1, you know, my actual fav's.
65 • PC/OS (by ezsit on 2008-06-17 07:05:28 GMT from United States)
I have tried version 7.10.1 and 7.10.2 and think that this developer is onto something. Just iron out the Ubuntu bugs and here is a winner. Sure, other distros are doing similar things and offering codecs and Java pre-installed, but PC/OS is doing it just as well as the other guys with a different look and long term focus using the LTS releases as the base for the main releases. This gives users something the other guys don't give us, stability.
As for the name proximity to PCLOS, I'd say that PCLinuxOS is the propper name and PC/OS's similarity to the acronymn for PCLinuxOS is nothing to be concerned about.
I for one will stick with Kubuntu since it fits my needs just perfectly.
66 • Red Hat + Novell have publicly stated ---> NOT CHASING CONSUMER DESKTOP (by Who is left in CHASE? on 2008-06-17 07:15:42 GMT from Australia)
Is Debian are Candidate?
Debian Stable lacks latest (up-to-date) applications and is geared towards server use.
Excerpt from Debian FAQ:
3.1.2 Will there be different different versions of packages in different distributions?
Yes. Unstable has the most recent (latest) versions. But the packages in unstable are not well tested and might have bugs.
On the other hand, stable contains old versions of packages. But this package is well tested and is less likely to have any bugs.
The packages in testing fall between these two extremes.
3.1.3 The stable distributions really contains outdated packages. Just look at Kde, Gnome, Xorg or even the kernel. They are very old. Why is it so?
Well, you might be correct. The age of the packages at stable depends on when the last release was made. Since there is typically over 1 year between releases you might find that stable contains old versions of packages. However, they have been tested in and out. One can confidently say that the packages do not have any known severe bugs, security holes etc., in them. The packages in stable integrate seamlessly with other stable packages. These characteristics are very important for production servers which have to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
On the other hand, packages in testing or unstable can have hidden bugs, security holes etc., Moreover, some packages in testing and unstable might not be working as intended. Usually people working on a single desktop prefer having the latest and most modern set of packages. Unstable is the solution for this group of people.
As you can see, stability and novelty are two opposing ends of the spectrum. If stability is required: install stable distribution. If you want to work with the latest packages, then install unstable.
http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-choosing.en.html
Debian Testing has SECURITY ISSUES:
Please note that security updates for testing distribution are not managed by the security team. Hence, testing does not get security updates in a timely manner.
http://www.debian.org/devel/testing
It would seem that Mandriva and Ubuntu are the MAIN CONTENDERS in the "chase" for the CONSUMER DESKTOP, IMHO. And reading into what Mark Shuttleworth is saying in his recent interviews, it would appear that he considers Linux and Ubuntu to be suitable only for "SOME" desktop users (web-surfers).
:-)
67 • @ 66 "NOT CHASING CONSUMER DESKTOP" (by DeniZen on 2008-06-17 07:58:11 GMT from United Kingdom)
quote: "Red Hat + Novell have publicly stated ---> NOT CHASING CONSUMER DESKTOP"
No, they are both geared towards the Enterprise market - but their 'community ' offerings surely are chasing the Consumer Desktop i.e. - Fedora and OpenSuse
68 • @ 66 (by dude on 2008-06-17 09:42:16 GMT from United States)
Debian Testing DOES NOT have security issues. Security updates for Testing are not managed by the security team because the Testing branch has its own "Testing security team" who are working to keep Debian's Testing branch in good shape with respect to security..
http://secure-testing-master.debian.net/
Security support for Testing has improved a lot since the Etch release and not all the documentation at Debian's website is up to date in this respect. However, the Debian security FAQ describes the current situation quite accurately:
Q: How is security handled for testing?
A: If you want to have a secure (and stable) server you are strongly encouraged to stay with stable. However, there is some limited security support for testing: The Debian testing security team handles unembargoed issues for testing. They will make sure that the fixed packages enter testing in the usual way by migration from unstable (with reduced quarantine time), or, if that still takes too long, make them available via the the normal http://security.debian.org infrastructure. To use it, make sure the following line is in /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://security.debian.org testing/updates main
and run apt-get update && apt-get upgrade as usual.
Note that the this doesn't guarantee that all known security bugs are fixed in testing! Some updated packages might be waiting for transition to testing, and some bugs might not be publically known, so the Testing security team doesn't know about them.
http://www.debian.org/security/faq#testing
You can compare those limitations to the limitations of security support in Ubuntu (and its derivative distros). Ubuntu's web page says that the "universe" component comes with no guarantee of security fixes and support and the "multiverse" component is not supported and usually cannot be fixed or updated, and that you should only use it at your own risk.
www.ubuntu.com/community/ubuntustory/components
69 • PC/OS (by nero on 2008-06-17 09:47:46 GMT from United States)
'Been using PC/OS on an old Dell portable for the past month or so, using the pre release ISO. Nary a problem. Far better than Xubuntu and fast enough to view youtube videos on a 366M processor. Quite an accomplishment. 'Can't wait to see this distro grow. It's already in the Mint/PCLOS category.
70 • @67....surely are chasing the Consumer Desktop i.e. - Fedora and OpenSuse (by Fedora Lifecycle IS TOO SHORT! on 2008-06-17 09:51:11 GMT from Australia)
No, they are both geared towards the Enterprise market - but their 'community ' offerings surely are chasing the Consumer Desktop i.e. - Fedora and OpenSuse
....and too "cutting" edge for general consumer use, IMHO! OpenSUSE has 2yr lifecycle (that is much better than Fedora's) but is still a little too "cutting" edge for mainstream consumer acceptance (imo).
There is another (Red) HAT in the ring I forgot to mention - CentoOS 5.2.
It seems that RH is keeping the back door open on the consumer segment after all!
71 • @70 (by drizake on 2008-06-17 12:52:24 GMT from United States)
As far as I recall, Red Hat is not behind CentOS. It's a group of volunteers who recompile the Red Hat Enterprise source without the badging. It's main target is users who want the enterprise software without the cost (and without the support).
72 • MS and ULPC's (by trumpcouptimmy on 2008-06-17 14:55:16 GMT from United States)
Microsoft might want to limit the screen size so you the user can't actually read what it says on the blue screen.
73 • PC/OS - the BeOS of the Linux world (by sanjay on 2008-06-17 15:18:20 GMT from India)
Its look great and i thing its is suitable for all novice Linux user . So please publish some screen shots and installation guide for novice.
74 • Pioneer Linux (by Earl on 2008-06-17 15:32:54 GMT from United States)
Man, what an ordeal.. this thing is strange. It looks like Ubuntu in many ways, and is based on that distro, but the functionality has been trashed pretty badly in the "basic" version I just downloaded and installed on my notebook (Dell).
Synaptics will not start. Nor will their "Adept Manager" package manager; just a bouncy cursor for a minute or so, then it vanishes and nothing. ?
Getting a true root password has been futile, even after attempting to use the user manager in administrator mode. So, no su or sudo in terminal because "authentication failed" is there for me every time. Never had this happen on a distro before. ?
So, no apt-get either.
The user forum is a ghost town! LOL..
Just a word to the wise. YMMV. ;^)
75 • @ 70 "surely are chasing the Consumer Desktop i.e. - Fedora and OpenSuse" (by DeniZen on 2008-06-17 17:18:53 GMT from United Kingdom)
Fair comment.
lack of any 'consumer expected' codecs in Fedora probably would convince most 'consumers' that it was not 'consumer orientated'.
To some extent the same with OpenSuse.
I know I'm deviating from the definition a bit there, but ..
76 • Buyer Beware 70+75 (by Landor on 2008-06-17 18:33:43 GMT from Canada)
If we had a truly decent measure of distributions trying to reach the end "consumer" we might be able to figure out some sort of gauge to benchmark Linux's "financial" merits in that area. Sure some smaller projects are building for some financial gain. The only "real" project I consider in this category is Mandriva and their PowerPack edition.
SUSE Enterprise doesn't really fit this category in my opinion, but it can be argued that it does as well. A couple other projects that come to mind are Elive and Vector that both have some form of Payment for their "better" release.
Without such companies actually trying to break ground in the market share I truly believe Linux will always lag behind other more "commercial" OS', especially in regard to hardware manufacturers of components and their views on Linux, or major manufacturers of complete systems.
Although I am far from fond of Ubuntu, and most Debian based distros, I find it sad that Canonical didn't take more of a route that Mandriva has in some form of a product line. Where a bit of the startup money was spent making a competitive OS' to other popular mainstream OS', with long term support and commonly expected functionality that most consumers have grown accustomed to.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
77 • RE: Pioneer Linux (by ezsit on 2008-06-17 19:09:29 GMT from United States)
I am not surprised at the comments about Pioneer Linux. I tried it several times over the past year or two and have found it to be just a remastered Kubuntu with alot of bugs ADDED. Each release has quirks that the regular Kubuntu lacks. I just fail to see the point. I refuse to download another Pioneer release and waste the bandwidth.
78 • K-DEMar GNU/Linux new live DVD left off (by elcaset on 2008-06-17 22:37:48 GMT from United States)
The new K-DEMar GNU/Linux live DVD came out last week, but was not mentioned on DWW. It's a great user-friendly live DVD based on Debian. I don't even know the Catalan language, but I still love K-DEMar GNU/Linux!
79 • Companies, Developers Contributing To The X Server (by Info on 2008-06-17 22:57:02 GMT from Australia)
Companies, Developers Contributing To The X Server
".....Checking out the code from the xorg/xserver git tree, we had looked at the git log going back to November of 1999. Since that time there have been 5,846 commits to the X server (from XFree86 to the X.Org fork). We wrote a script to analyze each of these commits in order to look at the number of contributions made by each individual and in turn made by each of the different companies.
The raw results are shared on the following pages, and the breakdown of commits had even surprised us a bit. When it comes to companies with their primary focus being hardware, there were seven companies tracked and those were ATI/AMD, HP, IBM, Intel, Nokia, NVIDIA, and Sun. Combined these seven companies had made up just over 33% of the commits to the X server since November of 1999. Of the mentioned companies, Intel was by far the biggest contributor with over 13% of the commits.
There were eight major software vendors that turned up from our analysis and that included Apple, Debian, FreeBSD/NetBSD/OpenBSD, Gentoo, Mandriva, Novell, Red Hat, and Tungsten Graphics. The biggest software company contributing to the X server has been....."
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=x_server_contributors&num=1
80 • Opensuse 11.0 (by Victor Harer on 2008-06-17 23:38:58 GMT from United States)
I recently purchased an H/P dv6636nr. Of course it was purchased with M/S Vista, What a joke. Nothing comes easy I guess. Will Opensuse be a great candidate for this laptop. Just trying to make a good machine something great, will it work well.
81 • re 80....don't know if it will work....but it is easy to find out! (by Try Live CD on 2008-06-18 01:38:48 GMT from Australia)
....and find out! Try a few different distros, just to make sure!
Cheers
82 • Re 80....something for your perusal (by Anonymous on 2008-06-18 02:34:03 GMT from Australia)
Installing GNU/Linux Fedora 8 x86_64 on a HP Pavilion dv6636nr Laptop (2008-04-16)
http://www.ci.ulsa.mx/~elinos/tools/dv6636nr_fedora8.html
Ubuntu on DV6636NR (October 14th, 2007)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=575750
http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/Laptops/HP
Running Linux on HP Laptop and Notebook Computers
http://www.linux-laptop.net/hp.html
83 • Pioneer Linux (by Earl on 2008-06-18 11:13:24 GMT from United States)
My remarks in that earlier post sound too much like a slam on Pioneer Linux. It is all really more of a lament, if you know what I mean.
I install Linux distros on many boxes and notebook computers, and every time I do that it is with excitement and high hopes. A high percentage of the time those hopes play out well, especially as I configure and tweak the system over time (which is one great thing about Linux!).
Sometimes a distro is installed and it just does not work at all, so the first thing I do is go back and look closer at the md5 sum, then, if that's a match, I re-install on the same machine. I did that with Pioneer, then took the cd to a newer box that my roomy has; we put in a new hard drive and tried to install Pioneer to no avail. Pretty junky version of Ubuntu, was our impression.
The forum at http://www.tapioneer.org/forums/ is basically unused. I do not know why. I am certain it is not because Pioneer is so good that all Pioneer users have no need to post issues there. ;^)
84 • @70 and 71 (by Johnny Hughes on 2008-06-18 12:14:46 GMT from United States)
CentOS is a rebuild of sources provided publicly by Red Hat, however Red Hat is not affiliated in any way with the CentOS Project.
Unlike the Fedora Project, who do receive hardware and support from Red Hat, the CentOS Project receives no support from Red Hat. In fact, we once received a cease and desist letter from them. We worked out the issues in their letter regarding their trademarks and Red Hat has been tolerant of us (and in fact, even nice to us {us == the CentOS Project}) since then.
BUT, I do want to stress that CentOS is not affiliated, supported by or sponsored by Red Hat, Inc in any way. In fact our relationship is similar to the Ubuntu to Debian relationship.
85 • ArtistX (by DrunkenFool on 2008-06-18 12:27:42 GMT from Australia)
What a load of craptx she is!
Less than half of the apps worked that I "tested"...
2.5G down the drain.
86 • RE: 83 Pioneer Linux (by drizake on 2008-06-18 13:46:30 GMT from United States)
I checked out the first couple of news items about Pioneer I saw on DW. I ignore any distros that don't offer a free download of their OS (or all versions of the OS). Looks like I'm not missing anything. :)
87 • DSL trouble ? (by RichardE on 2008-06-18 15:48:19 GMT from Switzerland)
http://www.murga-projects.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=324
I wonder what "all the options" are ?
88 • @ 80 (by Anonymous on 2008-06-18 15:52:56 GMT from Canada)
Answer: NO
89 • @ 76 (by Anonymous on 2008-06-18 16:04:29 GMT from Canada)
Mandriva Powerpack (paid) is in no way better than the free edition. The only things you get when you buy Powerpack and you can't have in the free edition are Cedega and Fluendo. These two are not free. You pay a lot of money to get them anyways. So why not buy Powerpack and get them included in the package?
Installing proprietary stuff in Mandriva Free is a breeze.
90 • the true about Pioneer and Dianne Ursini (by scorp on 2008-06-18 16:08:15 GMT from United States)
the true about Pioneer and Dianne Ursini:
http://www.linux.com/articles/51549
she bought Automatix and made it only for pioneer
now she is trying to get wine-doors and rename it as its own.
nice distro ;)
91 • A couple of thoughts (by Claus Futtrup on 2008-06-18 20:22:01 GMT from Denmark)
Hi Ladislav, thanks for the nice DW.
That PC/OS sounds like a nice distro - it's almost like reading about Zenwalk, although this one is Ubuntu based (debian core, not Slackware) so there must of course be quite some differences.
... Same target, though, can't get around that. AFAIK Zenwalk was the first distro to smell the coffee and use Xfce as the default desktop environment.
Best regards,
Claus
Zenwalker
P.S. I am startled by the information on Microsoft attempting to limit ULPC's and attempting to keep Linux at 2 feet distance from ULPC market ... I really don't wonder why this is important... Obviously MS would like to prevent a 3rd world situation FILLED with Linux users (that could become the majority of the users in the world and as such push MS to a no. 2 on the world mariket). MS prefers it this way - even if it means cutting the price of Windows to a bare minimum.
92 • 80: RE: dv6636nr (by Victor Harer on 2008-06-18 22:51:38 GMT from United States)
Thank you. I will be checking these pages closely.
93 • The Buck Stops Here #89 (by Landor on 2008-06-19 01:53:10 GMT from Canada)
I was using Mandriva PowerPack Editionas an example of a "retail" consumer product. One which could easily compete with other "retail" OS'.
I think you may have missed that. No offense.
But to your one comment. Mandriva One or Free both differ greatly from PowerPack. If they didn't there wouldn't be one. Also, one of the key differences is the "consumer". A lot of people I have noticed in our community consider the consumer and someone who uses Linux one in the same. That's not the case. I may be way off base here (but I'm not) when I say, I'm pretty sure an extremely high percentage of people who own computers never tried Linux, let alone even heard of it. So a retail Edition that offers better functionality to, to compete with said functionality in another retail OS, for those that have no clue about Linux is a very big difference indeed.
If anyone wants to see the day Linux will hit widespread mainstream use, well, they should start a company that produces a fully functional retail version with all the bells and whistles to help bring that day closer. As has Mandriva.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
94 • MSI Wind...Linux version...coming soon! (by JAG on 2008-06-19 02:37:42 GMT from United States)
http://www.msimobile.com/nblist.aspx?series=u
95 • Re 84....CentOS ---->100% binary compatible (to RHEL) but Ubuntu Not (by Binary Compatible to Debian on 2008-06-19 06:53:37 GMT from Australia)
CentOS Overview
CentOS is an Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor. CentOS conforms fully with the upstream vendors redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. (CentOS mainly changes packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork.) CentOS is free.
http://www.centos.org/
BUT, I do want to stress that CentOS is not affiliated, supported by or sponsored by Red Hat, Inc in any way. In fact our relationship is similar to the Ubuntu to Debian relationship.
Whilst CentOS may not be affiliated or sponsored by RH, its ability to compete with Ubuntu and Co has been enhanced (I would think purposely) by the latest version's inclusion of very current and up-to-date desktop apps (Firefox, OOffice, etc).
Laptop and Desktop Enhancements
On the Desktop the biggest change is a wholesale refresh of the primary Desktop applications:
* Evolution 2.12.3
* Firefox 3
* OpenOffice 2.3.0
* Thunderbird 2.0
We also significantly improved laptop support, with Suspend/Hibernate/Resume enhancements that allow us to certify more laptop systems.
Also, many graphics drivers where updated, including a backport of the “intel” graphics driver commonly used in Desktop and Laptops.
http://www.press.redhat.com/2008/05/21/red-hat-enterprise-linux-52/
96 • Myah OS 3.0 Box (by arno)
ive just been visiting the Myah OS homepage and wiki to find out, what Desktop or Windowmanager it uses. and right now im totally confused. Here on Distrowatch it reads:
... built around the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment (LXDE)
in their Wiki it reads:
Myah OS comes with the XFCE desktop by default.
and right below the screenshot of Myah OS here on DW again:
Myah OS 3.0 \"Box\" - a desktop distribution featuring the Openbox window manager.
i wonder if I should download it just to see whats in it. usually this kind of bandwith misusage is the least the People from Myah want. Server traffic is expensive. Can anybody who already tried it tell me, what Myah OS 3.0 Box uses as WM/Desktop?
thx in advance
b.r.
arno911
97 • OpenSUSE 11.0 (by Vukota on 2008-06-19 15:36:35 GMT from United States)
No comments on the release yet?
It seems that their servers are down. Some pages are inaccessible and some are returning weird errors/results.
98 • First impression of OpenSUSE 11 (by Nanlee on 2008-06-19 16:53:41 GMT from Canada)
Just downloaded the KDE4 live CD of OpenSUSE, and did a trial run as live CD. The machine is a P4 2.8 with 1G Ram. There are two CD ROM on the machine. Booting from the USB attached ext. CD ROM, it can not complete the process. The system stopped at the second green screen. I tried the "falesafe" option, same result.
When boot from the int. CD ROM, it stated properly. The desktop was clean, all the programs I tried seem to be working. Network connection was fine, internet was working. Sound and video both working, except that it still play the flash music on the speaker while my earphone was plugged in.
The bad side was that it was very slow compare to Mandriva One 2008.1 and Mint 5. So as a live CD, it was not a choice for this machine. Will try a HD installation and see if it will run better.
99 • MS (by Anonymous on 2008-06-19 18:06:36 GMT from United States)
Thank goodness for Firefox. IE quit connecting to the internet last week, the limited connectablity bs. Installed firefox downloaded from my linux pc and all is well in the house again. It may be because I use a third party firewall that blocks them and I won't agree to the so called critical update to change my licence agreement.
I have to keep MS for my scanner and printer that came with this dell computer. I do dual boot to PSLOS 08' on this machine for most tasks but the sound (soundpro) and NTFS shares (started corrupting on write) stopped working when I upgraded from PCLOS 07'. Yes I installed the work arounds.
100 • #96 (by dooooo on 2008-06-20 00:59:23 GMT from Jordan)
LXDE DE uses OpenBox WM by default .
XFCE DE uses XFWM WM by default .
I don't know what Myah OS 3.0 Box uses as WM/Desktop but the screenshot in DWW shows LXDE/OpenBOX .
BTW I'm using LXDE full-time under Debian Sid . LXDE is better than XFCE IMHO . It's *actually* light-weight and yet easy to use . It's also being actively developed compared to the stalled XFCE development .
The project also offers a good variety of light-weight apps including :
sakura --- a lightweight vte-based terminal emulator .
gpicview --- a lightweight image viewer .
lxtask --- a lightweight task manager .
101 • Opera (by Verndog on 2008-06-20 01:05:46 GMT from United States)
The newest Oper 9.5 fools Hotmail into thinking I'm using IE. It shows up as full version. firefox 3 doesn't.
102 • I have converted openSUSE 11Rc1 (factory) to 11.0 GM via the repos (by about 4 or 5 days ago on 2008-06-20 03:15:22 GMT from Australia)
No issues BUT download was about 600mb of updates (via the 11.0 oss and non-oss repos, in the main) and there were a few packages that needed to be downgraded. I have only Gnome and Kde3 installed, so I can not say how much downloads one would need for a kde4 setup.
All I did was to disable the factory repos and point to the openSUSE 11.0 repos (oss, non-oss and updates), refresh and updated packages in selections.
Console commands (as root) -
zypper dup or zypper dist-upgrade
- could do the whole job at once, too.
103 • You should wait for BSDS for desktops (by dbrion on 2008-06-20 09:23:19 GMT from France)
"recommend a good BSD based distro mainly aimed at Desktop use? "
PCBSD is very easy to install and very stable, but you should wait, because they are making progresses in HW recognition : in September 2007, they could not recognize a #160 G external USB drive (dmesg found it too big), now, with an alpha version, it is recognised....
But, as it is an alpha version (which almost satisfies me).. you should really wait .... perhaps in looking in HW compatibility databases, if they exist and are updated(that would be very useful, anyways : exists for GNUlinux and OSolaris).
PS : DesktopBDS was utterly messy for me .
104 • Misc (cor 103 and professional wall paintings) (by dbrion on 2008-06-20 09:33:47 GMT from France)
* 103 was answer to @10
* Why are ubu"reviews based on colorimetry?
This week's "review" could convince (on a lengthy way) PCOS has many wallpaints, and professional ones....What a profesionalism !!!(I never see official wallpapers, but holidays photos on PC at work).
And , while the "authors" writes about the professionaly looking nice wall papers, he forgets to write about his *two* laptops power consumption (three years ago, it was a great concern with GNUlinux, now it is slightly superior to Windows, and pple buy laptops for working in the train, say, without being power cut, not for the professional-looking wall paint)
0
105 • RE: 99 and 101 (by drizake on 2008-06-20 13:17:39 GMT from United States)
"I have to keep MS for my scanner and printer that came with this dell computer. I do dual boot to PSLOS 08' on this machine for most tasks but the sound (soundpro) and NTFS shares (started corrupting on write) stopped working when I upgraded from PCLOS 07'. Yes I installed the work arounds."
What models of scanner and printer do you have? I've found there's almost always a work around. Have you tried Linux Mint instead of PCLOS? Mint 5.0 finds my new scanner. My old scanner requires some packages not found in the repos, but I managed to get it to work eventually. I'm not sure about soundpro and Mint, but it's worth a try with the live CD. If you solve these two problems, you won't need an NTFS partition and you'll be all set. :)
"The newest Oper 9.5 fools Hotmail into thinking I'm using IE. It shows up as full version. firefox 3 doesn't."
If FF3 doesn't support the full version of MS online crapware, isn't that a feature and not a shortcoming? It supports the full version of Gmail...
106 • @ 100 thx for your comment (by arno911)
as im actually running debian sid, too (sidux in this case) i will try it with installing LXDE and the lightweight tools you mentioned.
thx and have a nice one
b.r.
arno911
107 • Pardus and PC/OS items. (by chris on 2008-06-20 16:02:05 GMT from United States)
Pardus has fixed my complaint about 'scary partitioning':
There is now, in RC2, a summary screen
after the partition selection screen
which, among other things,
states specifically the install partition,
like sda8,
that will be formatted.
PC/OS:
I have not yet had a successful install,
except from an iso in the 'archive' directory,
a version based on ubuntu 710.
The author of the distro
states in his blog that
he is looking for a new host for his iso's.
I hope that he will find one.
chris
108 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2008-06-20 19:53:25 GMT from Canada)
More asus + microsoft bullshit here:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/06/19/eee_box_uk_date/
109 • Worst of 2008? (by mika480 on 2008-06-20 23:29:02 GMT from Italy)
1 Asus
2 Ubuntu
3 Firefox 3
110 • Excessive CPU usage by Gnome System Monitor Bug still unresolved (by Heading in the right direction on 2008-06-21 05:27:08 GMT from Australia)
Bug #93847, first reported on 2007-03-19 by Jonathan M.
Excessive CPU usage by Gnome System Monitor
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-system-monitor/+bug/93847
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=gnome+system+monitor++excessive+cpu+usage
-----------------
Now, to my verification, this ANCIENT UNRESOLVED BUG is currently on Ubuntu 8.04, Fedora 9 and openSUSE 11.0 (and probably on a few other distros)! This is a sure way to beat MS, is it not?
:-)
111 • Linux Brainstorm (by Knock, Knock.... on 2008-06-21 05:41:20 GMT from Australia)
Idea #7795: Make System Monitor graphing more efficient!
Written by Ansible the 28 Apr 08 at 19:54. Category: System. Status: New
Description
The System Monitor application is great - except that the Resources tab is a real pig. It uses a lot of CPU to do its thing - I have a quad xeon system and it uses up to 40% of one of the cores just for graphing!
[...]
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/7795/
112 • Sentiment algebra and Microsoft success (by dbrion on 2008-06-21 08:18:14 GMT from France)
« Finally, something for those who have expressed negative sentiment towards last week's feature story (see…) that criticised Microsoft's attempt to hijack the successful ASUS Eee PC for its own anti-Linux propaganda. »
Perhaps it was some realism, not sentimental algebra…
« According to an article entitled(), the software giant is trying to stifle the growth of low-cost Linux laptops by not only offering deep discounts on Windows XP, but also by forcing the manufacturers to reduce Linux compatibility on their hardware: «
According to the mere quote, Microsoft makes some discounts on lower Hardware, according to the contents of the pockets of their audience…
For higher performance HW, nothing is said :
It can be either NO M$ support (therefore, a GNUlinux monopoly –the underdog- "notion" drawn from DWW no253- )
Or Vista, as XP is ready to be no more supported -(it is expensive for M$ to support it) and without discounts, as the audience would be richer…
"Microsoft plans to offer PC makers steep discounts on Windows XP Home Edition to encourage them to use that OS instead of Linux on ultra low-cost PCs (ULPCs). To be eligible, however, the PC vendors that make ULPCs must limit screen sizes to 10.2 inches and hard drives to 80 GB, and they cannot offer touch-screen PCs." These requirements were part of a confidential document that Microsoft had recently sent out to hardware manufacturers:
Where, in this execrpt, can one see any proof of M$ conspiracy.
BTW, I was very surprised, last week, in DWW, by M$ carrying « big wallets » Are there cartoonish photos ? Even in very poor and corrupted countries, in the last century, this was considered as an obsolete way of bribing.....
In a small French province town, when I bought an eeeeeeeeeeeeePC (their keyboard is not such stuck),the seller told me many people were sad there was not XP => there seems to be a vibrant (as one ritually writes) consumer base for the upperdog …….
THE
Battle of
THE
Destop (is such a notion exist) is not likely to be won by oversimplified « reviews »…
Another detail : when someones wife leaves him, the poor(?) guy seldom cries without any decency : that makes him utterly ridiculous....
113 • @109 'worst of ..' (by DeniZen on 2008-06-21 08:59:51 GMT from United Kingdom)
"1 Asus" <~ Can understand that one, whether fully agree or otherwise
"2 Ubuntu" <~ "worst" ? - how ? - do you mean 8.04 being a bit 'bland'? - well it is its an LTS after all.
"3 Firefox 3" <~ "worst" ? - how do you mean?
If 2 + 3 are about dissapointment over expectation - I'd throw the rather dull, and 'rather poor out of the box' Fedora 9 in there way before Ubuntu 8.04.
114 • Worst .... (by mika480 on 2008-06-21 10:24:01 GMT from Italy)
Yeah...BIG disappointment over expectations....
of course I mean Ubuntu 8.04....7.04 the last usable...
115 • .. but whats is it .. 4? (by DeniZen on 2008-06-21 12:08:16 GMT from United Kingdom)
One of the young blades at work has installed OpenSUSE 11 (KDE4 flavour) on one of the 'fun' machines.
I cant comment on OpenSuse itself yet, as i only had a little play out of curiosity, but as for KDE4 - what does it 'do' that KDE 3.x did not already?
It looks like KDE Devs/Leads went for the eye-candy followers, and forgot to build in any usability / feature evolution.
I dont even like the candy! - what the heck is that fat stodgy Panel about?!
'Widgets'?! - who really wants/needs 'em? .. 'CrApplets' more like.
I know its early days for KDE4, but where is the beef?
No offence to SUSE - it looks like a darn impressive release from what little I saw and have read (I'm curious enough to see the Gnome version that I might pop it on my test rig soon).
It looks like SUSE tried to at least make something usable out of the KDE4 desktop.
Genuinely sad to see KDE now looking such a .. mess.
116 • KDE4 may be messy to day, but none has cristal balls..... (by dbrion on 2008-06-21 14:26:59 GMT from France)
"what does it 'do' that KDE 3.x did not already"
Nothing , but:
* it is based on QT4 (and will qt3 be always supported).
* some efforts are made to make kde less RAM greedy, by code refactorising (and these efforts can take time: for my colleagues, it is half their programming time -and I insist they should do it- , and results evolve from a
..... mess .... -as you state *today*-
to something easier to maintain, and with as many functions than the the former version).
Sorry for my miss peelings.
Hourrah, cornes au cul
Vive le Père UBU (Jarry, la Chanson du Décervelage, 1895)
117 • Suse 11 (by Earl on 2008-06-21 15:13:33 GMT from United States)
We tried OpenSuse 11 on three machines: toshiba notebook with intel 965 chipset/realtek wireless/2G ram, Dell notebook and old Gateway PC with nVidia FX5600.
Failure on all three in graphics (xorg.conf tweaks with vi did not work) and on the Toshiba with wifi (madwifi and ndiswrapper attemtps to no avail).
The moving target of hardware drivers, etc, seems to be the bane of many many distros, even the "biggies" like Suse. :^(
118 • SuSE 11 and Linux in general (by George on 2008-06-21 15:40:06 GMT from United States)
So, here we have another major distribution that is buggy, awkward and in need of work. And we are constantly told that Linux is the best thing since sliced bread - probably only Obama is better. I can only imagine the howls of outrage if Windows didn't work with as major video card out of the box, or if recompiling the kernel was needed to MAKE it work. Linux is fine as far as it goes, being free and all, but no farther - so, just let's leave it at that.
119 • "Linux in general" (post 118) (by Earl on 2008-06-21 18:00:34 GMT from United States)
Notebooks computers are very, very difficult to build a distro for I've found. The companies that make notebook computers have a habit of putting out many many models and configurations, sometimes the models have the same number but different hardware.
Windows OSs are huge, and a lot of that is because they want to try to include drivers for *everything,* succeeding often but not always (just look in the various Windows forums).
I do think Linux is on a downturn of sorts; we have been very unsuccessful at replacing Vista on two notebooks and XP on a PC.
Mac beckons. :^)
120 • @109, 115, 118 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2008-06-21 18:34:39 GMT from Italy)
1)No opinion, you can expect things like that to happen.
2)I agree, absolutely. I always try every Ubuntu release with an open mind and t is the major distro which works worse for me.
3)Agree, again, I went back to Firefox 2 in openSUSE 11.0.
If anybody wants to know how I did it, please ask.
@115. I agree. I'll keep using 3.5 for as long as possible. If 3.5 becomes unavailable and a future KDE4 release still doesn't convince me, I might move to Gnome or XFCE4
@118
"I can only imagine the howls of outrage if Windows didn't work with as major video card out of the box"
Since when Windows had NVIDIA or ATI drives previous to Vista?
And even with the proper NVIDIA driver I can't get the resolution I want (1280x800) on 2 computers (Windows XP)
Of course Windows drivers are better: they come with your hardware!!!
121 • in post 120 (by Earl on 2008-06-21 19:25:23 GMT from United States)
"Of course Windows drivers are better: they come with your hardware!!!"
That highlights the relationship between Microsoft and various computer and hardware manufacturers. A very clever arrangement. One that has caused Linux developers to have to make heroic efforts to make their operating systems work at all on the many hardware configurations out there; just look at the anxieties expressed in Linux forums with regard to networking, graphics and screen resolution just to name a few problem areas.
Now we are seeing more and more of the "throwing my hands into the air" attitude: "how do I use the Windows drivers (ndiswrapper, etc)?"
122 • re 65 (by masher23 on 2008-06-21 20:59:38 GMT from Australia)
how can you call any buntu distro stable they are all based off debian unstable and will eventually break
123 • RE: # 122 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2008-06-21 21:49:29 GMT from Italy)
Exactly! That is what almost everybody seems to forget.
With Ubuntu you have the disadvantages of Sid (buggy), but not the pros (always bleeding edge). Than wh not use Sidux instead?
124 • PC/OS item (by chris on 2008-06-21 22:46:47 GMT from United States)
I've just found this on the PC/OS forum
quote
Site Admin
Joined: 04 Mar 2008
Posts: 50
PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 7:29 pm Post subject: Re: Download errors Reply with quote
The problem was with Ibiblios site. There were successes and failures. A PC/OS user was kind enough to lend me hosting until the ibiblio issue gets resolved. You can download the Lite and the Full versions from here.
http://www.joaolecour.net/rdohnert/
end quote
chris
125 • PC/OS item (by chris on 2008-06-22 00:59:15 GMT from United States)
I've got PC/OS installed on a computer.
It's a little rough around the edges,
but it gives me something to play with.
The distro's author seems to have more time in
with the Mac than with Ubuntu:
The splash screen shows a Mac.
CTRL-W closes a window.
CTRL-Q closes an app
The Update Manager was not installed by default.
Automatic Updates was not enabled by default.
The good news is that I downloaded the iso
and that the media check showed no errors.
The install was problem free.
chris
126 • no true quality anymore (by Anonymous on 2008-06-22 01:59:28 GMT from United States)
linux really is struggling, much more than in past years.
127 • Ref#122, 123 No way (by Mike Cowgar on 2008-06-22 03:08:08 GMT from United States)
I've used ubuntu 8.04 for a few months now, and it is ROCK SOLID.
Just because you can't get it to work don't blame ubuntu!
128 • I can't see clearly now RE: 121 (by Landor on 2008-06-22 03:54:32 GMT from Canada)
I know some guys get upset about their resolution. Truly. I can understand it too. Most people I know who have used windows have changed their resolution, maybe a bit easier than some Linux, but still have.
But when I used Linux back in the day when most of the time you downloaded it, tried to install it, and it failed quite a bit, and were lucky when it did install, but the majority of your hardware was not detected, sometimes more than 50%.
Complaining about screen resolution is a far cry from then, and shows just how far Linux has come if that's one of the biggest complaints people see.
People seem to want a lot, but how many devices did any Windows Version setup without intervention of user installing the necessary drivers.
Linux users have it easy now, and in my opinion, more than Windows users for "actual" hardware preconfigured.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
129 • Re 127 (by masher23 on 2008-06-22 05:39:56 GMT from Australia)
i have never had a problem with installing and getting ubuntu to work it is just why bother with it when you can just use debian unstable it has less bugs than ubuntu
130 • @120.... Italian Penguin (by FF3 can wait on 2008-06-22 06:47:55 GMT from Australia)
3).... I went back to Firefox 2 in openSUSE 11.0.
If anybody wants to know how I did it, please ask.
I want to know, so please tell! :-)
Cheers
131 • RE: # 130 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2008-06-22 09:13:51 GMT from Italy)
OK, here is how I did it:
Download firefox2-2.0.0.14-3.2.i586.rpm from here:
http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat/4/idpl/7786924/com/firefox2-2.0.0.14-3.2.i586.rpm.html
Now download firefox2-translations-2.0.0.14-3.2.i586.rpm from here:
http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat/4/idpl/7786956/com/firefox2-translations-2.0.0.14-3.2.i586.rpm.html
Open a terminal: # zypper remove firefox
Put the 2 rpms you downloaded in a new folder, imagine you name it "firefox"
Open a terminal:
# cd firefox
# rpm -Uvh *rpm
Done!
Please notice that # means that you need to work as root.
132 • Ubuntu 8.04 (by Anon on 2008-06-22 09:36:09 GMT from United Kingdom)
Can't see why people hate it so much, works well for me out of the box.
(BTW, I'm no Ubuntu fanboy, Fedora is my distro of choice.
133 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2008-06-22 10:28:38 GMT from Italy)
"Exactly! That is what almost everybody seems to forget.
With Ubuntu you have the disadvantages of Sid (buggy), but not the pros (always bleeding edge). Than wh not use Sidux instead?"
I do!!!
E con gran soddisfazione!
;)
134 • Ubuntu 8.04 - "unstable" or 'unusable"? (by DeniZen on 2008-06-22 11:04:29 GMT from United Kingdom)
Jeez . .what are you guys doing to it/expecting of it? - thats what i wonder ..
Ubuntu (clearly) works well for the majority - from first install.
It's not still the most popular because it is "unusable" - now is it?
I suspect half the comments are due to something stoopid like some theme not working well or something, or having messed about and borked something, or the latest videocard or bleeding edge SATA controller not behaving.
Reality check remains optional I guess...
OK - so 8.04 is a LTS release, and ought to be very stable, but i still wonder what people expect, given so many, diverse and sometimes exotic hardware rigs 8.04 is supposed to take in its stride.
If Windows was so 'user configerable' (borkable) people ..would bork it to smithereens within minutes..
(OK it sometimes does a fine job by itself...)
If you want a stable Debian based distro (Etch & custom Mepis repos) - and you dont mind a KDE 3 desktop - why not give Mepis a re-visit.
ive got a Debian/Mepis hybrid running here - and its darned stable, pretty much 'current' - very, very fast.
But its not abso-lut-ly bleeding edge.
People now want screaming edge - AND - rock solid stability.
No harm in wanting it - a bit crazy to just expect it.
In many cases, i suspect a bit of restraint from the 'fiddling' would maintain stability
Yes 'fiddling' is what makes Linux great, but most of us have broken system, after system, after system in order to understand what elements are best to .. just leave well alone ;)
135 • Suse 11 (by mikxi on 2008-06-22 11:22:37 GMT from United Kingdom)
I am very impressed with suse 11 with, so far, one reservation.
I like the way suspend and resume work, first time ever with this lappy. The broadcom wifi was a problem until Larry Finger pointed me in the right direction (no pun intended!) and I had it working in 2 minutes. The reservation which makes it almost unusable is that the display is rendering very badly. The display is crystal clear BUT if you move a window or scroll anything, the whole lot breaks up and is unreadable until you refresh it by say, minimising/maximising the window. This will be a show stopper unless someone can point me towards a fix.
136 • PS! - a sobering (and costly) comparison .. (by DeniZen on 2008-06-22 11:23:56 GMT from United Kingdom)
Forgot to add ..
My 'Lounge PC' is a Mac.
I paid good money for the OS (Leopard)
It has been phenomenally problematic- and frankly very 'buggy'
Well over half a Gig of updates/bugfixes have been released in 6 months.
Its fine .. now.
Again - I paid for that OS. i had high expectations, and rightly so.
But - remember - my hardware was 100% known to the developers - its a Mac.
Luckily I could 'bootcamp' i and run Debian while Apple got things sorted ;)
If Ubuntu doesnt happen to work well for you, on your rig - use another distro that does. They are (mostly) all 'free' to try ..
' 'buntu Corp' will get the message...
137 • to post 135 of mikxi about Suse (by Earl on 2008-06-22 12:28:13 GMT from United States)
I have had that problem from time to time on various distros and what solved it were a couple of steps: 1. setting fonts a bit larger, experimenting to see the best working without causing horizontal scrolling, and 2. I often had to go into /etc/X11/xorg.conf and edit the display settings, usually to set the video RAM (VideoRam 256000 or whatever) and to be certain that my maximum resolution was in fact the default, 24 at 1280x800 or whatever.
Hope this helps. Just keep in mind that the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file has the capability of making or breaking your gui settings. And many distros do their best to detect hardware, but the default settings it settles on during installation may need to be tweaked. Sometimes vesa turns out to be better than nv, etc.
138 • @135--->Try the openSUSE support forums (by Never give up too quickly! on 2008-06-22 12:34:17 GMT from Australia)
My suggestion would be to turn off all special desktop effects (if any are turned on) and get your system working normal/basic display mode first.
Check out the related documentation:
http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org
http://en.opensuse.org/Documentation
http://www.novell.com/documentation/opensuse110/
http://www.suse.com/relnotes/i386/openSUSE/11.0/RELEASE-NOTES.en.html
http://www.novell.com/documentation/opensuse110/opensuse110_reference/data/opensuse110_reference.html
Web Support:
http://forums.opensuse.org/
NTTP support (News Server): forums.novell.com
Newsgroups from server: opensuse.org.community.general, opensuse.org.help.install-boot-login, opensuse.org.help.hardware.laptop, opensuse.org.help.network-internet.wireless, opensuse.org.help.howto, opensuse.org.help.applications.multimedia, etc
Cheers
139 • RE 93,89 Powerpack such beginners friendly and Vienna Asuseeee (by dbrion on 2008-06-22 13:33:08 GMT from France)
"Sure some smaller projects are building for some financial gain. The only "real" project I consider in this category is Mandriva and their PowerPack edition."
Thanks Landor for reminding it is still Spring... and Mandriva Spring Editions are still new and fresh (and tested in some extend, which makes them more usable ).
However, I do not think the Mandriva Powerpack will appeal anyone : I "gave" a friend of mine a CD with a binary install of OpenOffice (under Windows: they gained great fame as supporting any version of M$Word : I do not know wheteher there is one GNUlinux which, to day, is able to support any version of itself.....). ... and I asked her how long did her daughter take to installed it : it took three hours, with the help of 2 friends (I thought of 2 minutes, as usual). As the PowerPack is slightly more difficult than OOffice, it might take days to have it installed for very slow audience.... and they would be sooo exhausted they could not enjoy it....
The only solution is to have GNUlinuxen preinstalled, despite the Dell-UBU failure (though it is always reminded UBU linux is an Upper Dog) and like the Xandros (an underdog, in bad difficulties) eeeeeeeeeePC success, which obliged Microsoft to (try to) cut his prices ...on XP, for the benefit of every customer, whatever his tastes.....
About the eeeeeeePC : I advised one of my friends to buy it for his wife, as she wo not spill anything in the keyboard -which is not water/orage-juice/tea proof,unlike the OLPC one-and, if she found the OS a little strange, to tell her it is a prototype of Windows Vienna...
140 • Cor 139 (by Anonymous on 2008-06-22 14:16:32 GMT from France)
s/anyone/every one/....
141 • #134. ubuntu 8.04 stability (by jack on 2008-06-22 14:41:19 GMT from Canada)
qote:
Ubuntu (clearly) works well for the majority - from first install.
end quote
There seems to be no reliable way of evaluating this.
Consider the following post that is on the Ubuntu forum:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=768200&page=60
Hardy is BY FAR the worst Ubuntu version yet. LOCKUP WARNING!!!
There are over 60 pages on this topic. At a guess about half are pro Ubuntu and half con.
one poster pointed out that every version of Ubuntu has had similar topics.
In reply poster "Gatemaze" pointed out that the maximum number of pages for any of the previous versions was only 13; and that the previous ones had various concerns whereas the majority of concerns with 8.04 are Lockups.
Is it fair to come to the conclusion that the 60 odd pages indicates a severity that is unprecedented?
If it is not fair, how can one make a decision? ( N.B I have not seen a review that mentions the extent of this problem. Perhaps someone can refer me to one (or more if possible) that has.
142 • openSUSE 11.0 rocks! (by zak on 2008-06-22 20:38:59 GMT from United States)
I am growing more and more impressed with openSUSE. The 11.0 release is the best distro I've used. All my hardware is properly configured on installation, and it looks great! Yast's new Zypper remix is the fastest package manager I've used (beats apt-get flat!). My dad picked up a wireless usb card at Walmart (without checking for compatability with linux). I plugged it in, rebooted, gave it my eesid and wep key, and bingo! Wireless! KDE4 is excellent (and anything but buggy). The only problem I've noticed is that it is unstable when repeatedly deleting and adding widgets (not that there is any good reason to do that!).
openSUSE is one great distro. Too bad people can't get over the dumb Novell/MS deal. Come on, grow up guys! Novell is a business. They are kind enough to sponsor a great community distro in exchange for use of it to develop a proprietery distribution. Novell's business deals have nothing to do with openSUSE's status! As a business, Novell wants to be the next MS. That's what competition is all about! openSUSE is completely disconnected from Novell's business morals, and there is nothing openSUSE can do (or should do) to "stop" Novell.
But let the ranters rant. I'll feel sorry for them, but that's life.
143 • re 142 (by Anonymous on 2008-06-22 20:52:51 GMT from Canada)
Microsoft won't sue Suse users over patents. If you feel safer knowing that Microsoft is your friend then I'm happy for you. There are better distros out there and they are not dirty.
It's really about choice. Enjoy your OS.
I choose not to be protected by a Microsoft patent deal.
144 • "142 • openSUSE 11.0 rocks!" LOL!! (by Earl on 2008-06-22 21:56:00 GMT from United States)
What "rocks" is your hardware, zak.
Many of us have hardware that "rocks" with few distros, and most certainly not Suse.
145 • RE: # 143 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2008-06-22 22:01:37 GMT from Italy)
"There are better distros out there and they are not dirty."
Of course both sentences are debatable.
Better distros, better for whom? The distro you use is the best for you. it is a well known fact that I like Debian as well. But I feel that overall openSUSE has a slight edge.
Dirty? That is really a big word and I feel that it is totally unsubstantiated, as user zak of post #142 explained.
At the end of the day the vast majority of users won't care. If they see a good distro, they'll use it regardless. It is still free and open source after all.
146 • REF# 141 Not the Facts JAck (by John Groves on 2008-06-23 04:33:56 GMT from United States)
Your taking a topic that is DESIGN for people to post how bad Ubuntu is, and your trying to make a case out of it.
Sad, actually. IF you use some common sense, then you would come to the conclusion that 99% of the posters on ubuntu forums come from a ready-made Windows environment with little or no Linux background.
I have seen some of the most horrendous setups imaginable , and its not just ubuntu they are complaining about. Some, on their own , try to make a go of it and in the process blow away there Vista partition. They might have installed Mandriva, SUSE, and then ubuntu and failed to ready the INSTRUCTIONS on the install. Then they blame ubuntu for screwing up the computer!
147 • Position Statement on Linux Kernel Modules June 2008 (by Some Info on 2008-06-23 06:08:58 GMT from Australia)
Position Statement on Linux Kernel Modules June 2008
We, the undersigned Linux kernel developers, consider any closed-source Linux kernel module or driver to be harmful and undesirable. We have repeatedly found them to be detrimental to Linux users, businesses, and the greater Linux ecosystem. Such modules negate the openness, stability, flexibility, and maintainability of the Linux development model and shut their users off from the expertise of the Linux community. Vendors that provide closed-source kernel modules force their customers to give up key Linux advantages or choose new vendors. Therefore, in order to take full advantage of the cost savings and shared support benefits open source has to offer, we urge vendors to adopt a policy of supporting their customers on Linux with open-source kernel code.
We speak only for ourselves, and not for any company we might work for today, have in the past, or will in the future.
[...]
http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/lkm_position_statement.html
Number of Comments: 147
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
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| • 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 |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
LinEspa
LinEspa was a Spanish Linux distribution based on Knoppix and optimised for Spanish and Latin American users.
Status: Discontinued
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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