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Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • cheeky question (by Tom on 2011-01-10 14:27:23 GMT from United Kingdom)
Hi :) Does anyone knew of any Linux distros already including LO in their repositories? Or any firm plans to do so from their next release? Apols for cheeky question and regards from Tom :)
2 • PCLINUXOS (by 333 on 2011-01-10 14:33:45 GMT from United States)
Is there any chance that This distro would move to .Deb and drop RPM?
3 • Peppermint OS (by meanpt on 2011-01-10 14:37:32 GMT from Portugal)
They did it again: improved it. On a VirtualBox with 450 MB or ram allowed, one gets faster booting (they made a 10.04 booting as fast or even faster than a 10.10), faster applications running, better sound, better video playing, and it scores as the faster 10.04 LXDE around. Oh ... sorry, mint what? ... Oh, yes, mint pepper ...
4 • @1 (by Tom on 2011-01-10 14:40:53 GMT from United States)
Hey, Tom, I know that Archlinux has libreoffice in its main repositories.
5 • @2 (by 6r00k14n on 2011-01-10 14:48:33 GMT from United States)
If PCLOS stops cloning Mandriva and starts cloning a Debian based system, then they will make the switch. In the meantime, have you tried alien?
6 • cheeky question (by Randy on 2011-01-10 15:02:51 GMT from United States)
Several distros carry it now: Zorin, Pinguy, Mint, Ubuntu. Look for more distros to carry it within a short period.
7 • intranet searches (by marktwain on 2011-01-10 15:54:27 GMT from United States)
seems like htdig would be less expensive than 36000 USD
8 • Start tracking of Fedora spin Fuduntu? (by LarryG on 2011-01-10 16:13:21 GMT from United States)
Any way we could start tracking the Fuduntu distribution? This is a Fedora 14 remix set to have ease of use of Ubuntu. Loaded it on my Asus eee pc 1000 and works wonderfully. The web site for it is http://www.fuduntu.org.
9 • @8 (by Supernatendo on 2011-01-10 16:28:39 GMT from United States)
Sounds like FUD to me =p ( I'm just kidding for those of you that don't have your sarcasm detectors on!)
Weird to see a distro combine the names of two very different distros one being based on red hat and the other being based on debian... Then again I've never really though of Fedora as being all that difficult to use either.
10 • re: cheeky question (by WaltH on 2011-01-10 16:31:58 GMT from United States)
Not to be cheeky, but how does Libre Office differ from Open Office (I'm not where I can do a good deal of research at the moment)>
11 • Re 8: Fuduntu (by Anonymous on 2011-01-10 16:56:36 GMT from United States)
As long as it doesn't bork my Lubuntu and Debian dual boots I'm all for trying. I'm so sick of cleaning up after Fedora's boot loader.
12 • Puppy 5.2 (by Anonymous on 2011-01-10 16:59:54 GMT from United States)
Kudos to Puppy on the 5.2 versionl, it is the only painless installable distro for i586 machines with 128mb-256mb of memory that won't leave you wanting for more. If you have less than 128mb, Quirky 1.4 isn't too bad either.
13 • @#2 & 5 (by Anonymous on 2011-01-10 17:40:48 GMT from United States)
PCLOS will likely never move to being a Deb file based system. If you know about the distro's history then you know that it's founder started the distro as an RPM based system because that's what he was good with. Oh and #5 PCLOS actually pulls parts of it's system from many different distros and is not just Mandriva based anymore. I know that there are some marginal performance gains to be had with .Deb over RPM, but I doubt that that disparity will last forever given how strong Red Hat is as a company, so why would a distro switch? Deb may be more popular, but there is no deficit of RPM packages from what I can tell.
If you really want an easy to use rolling release system like PCLOS but based on .Deb why not try Linux Mint Debian Edition? I'm going to give it a try after I hear some positive feedback about the system after Debian 6.0 comes out. After the Mint team irons out the kinks in working with Debian's rolling branch, or perhaps after Debian creates a stable version of their rolling branch, then I think Mint DE will be hard to beat as a rolling distro.
14 • Ease of use (by Micah on 2011-01-10 17:50:15 GMT from United States)
We live in a sad world if the readers of Distrowatch see a vast difference between Ubuntu and Fedora in terms of ease of use.
15 • Debian and isohybrid... (by Vukota on 2011-01-10 17:56:56 GMT from United States)
Good one for Debian to do "isohybrid". I was banging my head against a wall recently ;-) to get all different distros I wanted to try on my htpc/netbooks without DVD/CD drive. Finally I gave up and purchased external DVD.
Next time around, I am not considering distro w/o "isohybrid'" and it would be nice if Distrowatch can categorize them by it. :-)
Unrelated, what ex OpenSUSE users are jumping ship for (before MS pulls the plug)? I thought Fedora is most logical choice, but it seems to rocky road there.
16 • Debian stuff (by Tidux on 2011-01-10 18:14:05 GMT from United States)
I'd say Debian 6.0 is getting close - they have "beta 2" install media.
@13: Linux Mint Debian Edition is never going to be based on 6.0. It's rolling release because it follows the "testing" repository, not one tagged with a particular release name. After Squeeze releases, LMDE will get a major upgrade as the Debian Testing repositories shift to Wheezy. LMDE is great now, and I'm running it on my main system as the primary OS. I'd wait until the next release to try 32-bit, though - it's been known to crash on livecd startup for x86 this time. The amd64 version, which I use, does not have that bug.
The performance difference between Deb and RPM is due to innate features of the package formats. Red Hat can't do anything about that without breaking compatibility, which as a large company they really don't want.
17 • Fedora related answers (by Scott Dowdle on 2011-01-10 18:27:49 GMT from United States)
If you know where to look you can find daily builds of Fedora even though we are a lot ways away from the alpha release of Fedora 15. Current builds do have LibreOffice.
Regrading respin / remixing tools in Fedora... livecd-creator (part of the livecd-tools package and what I use) is pretty easy to get started with since they have a package that contains all of the kickstart (.ks) files for all of the spins they release (fedora-kickstarts and spin-kickstarts). You can take an existing spin kickstart file, add some packages, remove some packages and then build your own respin. There is a GUI tool name Revisor on top of that but I haven't used it in a while because it wasn't as flexible as manually editing the .ks files and using livecd-creator.
So far as learning to build a distro from scratch goes... going through the Linux From Scratch build once or twice would teach one alot.
Regarding the question about if PCLinuxOS will ever switch to .deb files. Why are you asking? Do you have .deb package files you want to use or are you wanting to using apt-get (etc) rather than urpmi? Or are you wanting to use the Debian/Ubuntu repos? If it is just a few .deb files, then yes... alien is what you want... assuming you can't talk the distro developers into create native packages (or creating them yourself and contributing) for the apps you want that they don't currently have.
18 • @ #16 (by #13 on 2011-01-10 18:37:29 GMT from United States)
I was actually thinking of the shift in post Debian 6 packages and the changes in how the Mint team will have to handle system stability when I said I'd wait till after Debian 6 was released. System stability and the possibility for problems in LMDE after Debian testing moves of the frozen 6.0 branch may be different from what it is now, and that's part of why I wait. Thanks for the info about RPMs and LMDE amd64 though, that's good to know.
19 • @ 7 (by Anonymous on 2011-01-10 18:40:41 GMT from United States)
When the average price for the hardware of your workstations is around $60,000(US), the average price for the security subscription for those workstations $7,000(US) per seat, the average price of the software you are using on those workstations is $15,000(US), $36,000(US) for a supported search feature on your NAS isn't a bad price.
Free is only free if your time is worth-less.
20 • LibreOffice (by Tom on 2011-01-10 19:30:21 GMT from United Kingdom)
Hi :) Thanks for all the help there from Randy and Tom ( a great name :) ).
I don't think there are many differences between OpenOffice and LibreOffice right now but it seems that OpenOffice newly under Oracle's ownership is likely to move away from being OpenSource. The community (including some fairly large companies) involved with LibreOffice aim to keep their project OpenSource. LibreOffice is the continuation of OpenOffice which was previously called Star Office. Oracle have kept the name and logo but appear to be following a different path.
Regards from Tom :)
21 • Pardus 2011 (by Scott on 2011-01-10 19:40:34 GMT from United States)
Biggest surprise to me is the release candidate of Pardus 2011. It's like all the best of Sabayon and PCLinuxOS rolled together. It's the best KDE desktop I've ever used.
22 • Linux Genealogy Desktop CD - WHY? (by uz64 on 2011-01-10 20:25:36 GMT from United States)
Alright, I'm not normally one of the people bitching about yet another Ubuntu variant. But out of curiosity, because there was so little information and no screen shots on this 'Linux Genealogy Desktop CD', I decided to download it and try it in VirtualBox anyway. It is practically *identical* to Ubuntu 10.10. Grub screen, system boot screen, login screen, desktop... it's *all* identical. Seriously people, if you run Ubuntu or Debian already, just use synaptic or "apt-get install gramps" to install this distro's one and only claim to fame. Run a non-Debian-based distro? Use your distro's standard package management system and you'll probably come across this "gramps" package to install. I honestly see no reason why this this thing is in existence as a separate "distro"; it's Ubuntu 10.10 with the only modification made being the installation-by-default of a genealogy program and its dependencies.
23 • Re: building your own distro (by Luke on 2011-01-10 20:28:12 GMT from United States)
If you want to share your distro but don't want to pony up for the extra bandwidth, then only offer a torrent. It's ubiquitous enough these days, and in fact that's the first thing I look for when I want to download a full distro. My first choice is a "net install" image, though.
Also, if you want to learn Linux through a small project with an active community, look no further than Arch Linux. I posted a rather technical question on the forum and got a developer response within 30 minutes. They have a relatively small number of official packages, but in my opinion their user repository (AUR) surpasses even Ubuntu's PPA system in terms of both ease of use and number of packages. Admittedly, I am one of those people whose first action upon booting is opening a terminal. But still, I actually manually compiled more software in Ubuntu than I do now with Arch.
24 • @21 Pardus (by Pera on 2011-01-10 20:34:12 GMT from Serbia)
I tried out it because I have had read a lot of nice things about it,but it can't start x on my laptop.Pity
25 • #1 LO (by sudonym on 2011-01-10 20:39:56 GMT from United Kingdom)
Pardus 2011 rc.
26 • @13 @16 RPM/DEB performance difference? (by anonymou on 2011-01-10 21:47:04 GMT from Australia)
Where are you noticing a performance difference between DEB and RPM?
27 • PelicanHPC (by Anonymous on 2011-01-11 00:23:30 GMT from Australia)
Comment deleted (off-topic). For corrections please email me directly.
28 • @13, 16, 18 LMDE (by Jack on 2011-01-11 00:49:06 GMT from Canada)
I noticed that after Lenny was released, and Squeeze started development, the testing repository initially went through some pretty wild stability swings that gradually decreased over time. And now testing is very stable of course as everything becomes more and more frozen in anticipation of a stable release. That's how the Debian testing branch works and why it's not a true rolling release. LMDE users should expect a rough ride initially, unless the LMDE admins can hold back those types of changes until they become more stable. But that may mean holding them back for several months and it's a tough task because they really can't anticipate some of the effects that testing updates will have.
Many people (esp. fanboys) in different forums will often say that Debian Testing is so/more stable than most other distro's stable releases. That is just not true. I've been running Debian testing exclusively since the start of Squeeze development cycle, with daily updates, knowing that I might have to tough it out at times, as major features were introduced. And that's exactly what happened. No sound for a month, flaky power management for a couple of months, some KMS issues as it was introduced, still having CPU frequency issues due to the introduction of parallel init scripts, and others. Of course all those issues were/will be fixed by the time squeeze is released.
But it's got me to thinking that I might just stick with the Stable branch once Squeeze is out. Something to be said about not having to wonder what today's update will bring!
29 • @ 26 (by #13/18 on 2011-01-11 01:21:48 GMT from United States)
I could be completely off base there, but I could have sworn I saw some set of comparison benchmarks on Phoronix.com or some such place that gave a general edge to DEB based systems for some given series of tasks over RPM. I've tried to find it again but can't seem to. At any rate I still used good old RPM based PCLOS and don't have any RPM issues that I'm aware of so which ever is still good by me.
30 • DWW and RE: 20/Last Week (by Landor on 2011-01-11 02:06:58 GMT from Canada)
DWW:
Jesse,
There's a with the Question and Answer section. You spoke of there being a few things one could do to create their own distribution. I'd take that as three or more, at least more than two. In the first paragraph that explains the process you speak of the easiest one to do. Then in the second paragraph you discuss web hosting, administration, skill level, all the requirements needed. Then in the third and final paragraph you open with "In case the second approach isn't challenging enough, you can attempt your own distribution from scratch." I didn't see a second approach/option there anywhere.
Ladislav,
In the news item about the Mandriva fork, it ends with "According to the same article, the team is on target for the initial alpha release later this months." It should be month as you know. :)
#20/Last Week
Hey Tom,
I don't see any problems with Oracle continuing, nor any indicators that the project is going to disappear. A lot of people in our community have talked about Open Office disappearing because of the fork. I don't believe that could be in anyway true. A big indicator is this: you have to remember our market share. Open Office isn't just used by Linux users and I'd put money on the fact that there's more people using, or have used Open Office for Windows than all of the people using Linux combined. In my opinion it tells me that it's not really going to matter to those people that some Linux based companies are now backing a fork called Libre Office. Also, I believe the name alone will probably cause more than a few people to stay away from the project. I could be wrong, but I don't see Open Office going anywhere, and I see effort duplicated on a massive scale (considering the size and scope of an office suite), which is truly a shame in my opinion.
Sys was the only one out of that link last week that I had to stop and really think about to remember. To SliTaz, I've been messing around with it for an ongoing side project of mine. It's really a decent project.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
31 • RE: 30 (by Landor on 2011-01-11 02:08:00 GMT from Canada)
oops, first sentence to Jesse should open with "There's a problem with the Question and Answer Section".
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
32 • rpms and debs (by Jesse on 2011-01-11 02:22:30 GMT from Canada)
@Landor: The first two parts were discussing two different possibilities, one where the person is just re-spinning a system for their private use. The second covers a public distribution, which requires a pile of extra tools, resources and work. That's why I broke them into two parts. There's the re-spin for private user, re-spin for public use and then the third option is a completely new distro.
Re: the rpm vs deb debate. The package formats themselves aren't going to cause much of a performance difference, they're just simple archives, really. When people talk about performance they're generally comparing the higher level tools used to manipulate the rpm and deb packages. The speed of apt-get vs yum or Synaptic vs Package Kit.
33 • Time to grow up ... EVERYONE ... (by DigitalLight on 2011-01-11 04:41:02 GMT from United States)
Fuduntu? I hate to point out the obvious, but what is the point of mixing a distribution admittedly targeted at new Linux users and one that is targeted at experienced developers? (ubuntu & fedora) ... Keep them separate please, they both have their place. The *buntu derivatives are starting to get a little ridiculous. I know this was pointed out YEARS AGO (in this comments section actually), but it still continues. And why was everyone surprised by the Ubuntu default interface change? Shuttleworth has stated openly in the past the he thinks "OSX is the pinnacle of the computer user interface." Why is this shocking people? Geez, get to know your own community?
As for Landor and Jesse, the .rpm v .deb debate ended a while ago. Neither has any significant advantage over the other. That goes for speed, features, scalability, and everything else. This isn't '99 anymore.
/* Begin Rant */ My advice to EVERYBODY (even myself at times), look past the distribution. I know this is DISTROwatch.com and the distro-level is where all the drama is located, but they rise and fall. Dig a little deeper, learn the hard (and sometimes boring) stuff, and you be glad you did. And for the love of god, please stop pumping out ridiculous, just for fun, spin-off distributions. It was already easy enough, and in the past several years it has (clearly) become idiot proof. If you are new to all this, please ignore my previous comments. Knock yourself out and have fun. But if you been around F/LOSS for at least a couple of years, you get the point. /* End Rant */
34 • 24 • @21 Pardus (by Anonymous on 2011-01-11 05:36:42 GMT from United States)
What kind of laptop and what is the video card in it?
35 • @23 & a ? (by win2linconvert on 2011-01-11 06:52:30 GMT from United States)
@23 First I just have to say... Luke... I am your father. Sorry! I really am.
Now that that is out of my system. Last week I pointed out that the submit a comment section od DWW doesn't appear in Opera 11, and got this reply.
47 • @20 & @37 (by megadriver on 2011-01-04 12:48:07 GMT from Spain) @20 As far as I know, Arch doesn't "advertise" itself in the browser's user agent by default, like many other distros do. @37 Just have Opera identify itself as Firefox and it will show up. This was posted from Opera 11.
I appreciate the help but I'm not sure how. Thanks for any further assistance you or anyone else may be able/willing to offer.
As always I enjoyed this weeks addition of DWW. Keep up the good work. Thanks.
PS. Sorry for being off topic, I realize this isn't a user forum and not the proper place for these types of questions. Oh and sorry again Luke. I just couldn't resist.
win2linconvert
36 • @35 (by Kailash on 2011-01-11 08:22:29 GMT from India)
Press F12 and click on "Edit Site Preferences" OR Menu -> Settings -> Quick Preferences -> Edit Site Preferences
Go to Network tab and choose from couple of options in "Browser Identification"
Hope that helps
37 • @34 (by Pera on 2011-01-11 09:02:13 GMT from Serbia)
HP Compaq 6715b and ATI X1200
38 • @28, stability of Debian (by TobiSGD on 2011-01-11 09:12:02 GMT from Germany)
Of course there will be a wild swing after Squeeze is released. But it will not be so wild as after the release of Lenny, because this time there were not so significant chnges after the freeze. I also every time wonder why they have build LMDE on Testing, and not on Unstable, seems to be more logical if you want to have rolling release. By the way, if you want to know what the next update brings I would recommend to use apt-listchanges and apt-listbugs. The tools are there, you just have to use them.
39 • When 2+2 is -2 (by meanpt on 2011-01-11 10:33:37 GMT from Portugal)
I've checked some news from the CES 2011 where tablets are the hype and Android Honeycomb did the job for FOSS ... or a sort of ..... in the meanwhile the meego no go stuck somewhere and fortunately Ubuntu had the sight to develop Unity which in turn is being scrapped by the community ...
40 • @33 (by Fewt on 2011-01-11 14:16:29 GMT from United States)
"Fuduntu? I hate to point out the obvious, but what is the point of mixing a distribution admittedly targeted at new Linux users and one that is targeted at experienced developers? (ubuntu & fedora) ... Keep them separate please, they both have their place."
I don't see how the Fuduntu distribution is impacting your ability to use Fedora or Ubuntu.
One of the points of Fuduntu is to provide a version of Fedora that is more user friendly. Even some of us experienced users prefer to just be computer users rather than computer administrators some times too. ;)
41 • RE:33 No Problem Exist (by Eddie on 2011-01-11 14:24:31 GMT from United States)
I understand where you are coming from but you seem to miss one of the biggest drawing points of using OSS and that is the freedom in doing whatever your heart desires with the code. If a person wants to use a free and open distro as a base to build upon then they should be encouraged to do so. You mention digging deep into a distro to learn how it works and that is one good way to do it. Are all of these spin offs needed? Of course not. Are they beneficial? Yes they are. Maybe not to you or not to me but to the person who made it they are beneficial and it is very proper for a person to do just that. There are no good reasons to discourage anyone from doing so. None what so ever. Suggestions have been made that instead of a person making another distro they should help with other projects or even other distros and that is just fine if a person wants to do that and it's fine if they don't. If you have been around the open source world and working with Linux or BSD for a few years then you know there is no confusion in the community with all these spin-offs being made. We know what is happening. New ones trying out the waters will usually stay with one of the big name distros until they learn more and then they will want to try to make their own. We all do that to an extent. Who has a right to tell people that they can't make their own distro (os) using existing code? MS, Apple, or any of the other proprietary companies has that right. It's best to leave the constrictive thinking in the proprietary world where it belongs.
42 • Libre Office (by Flip on 2011-01-11 15:13:01 GMT from United States)
I think The ? about a lot of things we have always know as free wont be for much longer we have been lucky for years as not many ppl payed attention to Linux but now that we have embedded devices phones using it we are going to see this change as there is gold in them thar hills. We as a free community are in a fight for our very lives look at MS trying to buy up patents that nobody owns just like suse they claim to be an independent but its nothing but RedHat always was always has been the only thing I see they own is that awful yast thing or whatever the heck its called money if we dont stop them now we wont ever. it is all about money Linux is the backbone of the internet but none payed attention because not much money could be made but now they see big money to be made hence MS trying to get involved I wont to warn them tho you cant buy what no-one owns!!!!
43 • @30 Open Office and Libre Office (by Patrick on 2011-01-11 16:13:33 GMT from United States)
It doesn't happen too often, but I've been giving this some thought and I agree for 100% with Landor's comments on the split between Open Office and Libre Office. ;) I really don't see anything good coming from this fork.
I know Oracle has a bad reputation in the open source world after what happened with OpenSolaris, and maybe they can't be trusted. But have there been any signs that what happened with OpenSolaris is going to happen with Open Office? I haven't seen any, and would be interested in links that would prove otherwise. The OpenSolaris developers waited a long time before they decided to fork the project. In the end they had no choice because Oracle had pulled the plug. It seems in the case of Open Office, it was completely different: the community pulled away, while there was no sign whatsoever that Open Office was going to suffer the same fate as OpenSolaris. Seems like an unwarranted knee-jerk reaction to me. Wouldn't it have made much more sense to keep working with Open Office, and only fork after it became obvious there was no other choice (which might never have happened)? What is gained by forking prematurely instead of only forking when it becomes necessary? Again, I might not have complete information, but that's my current opinion on the situation. I'd be happy to see information that proves me wrong and shows that Oracle made this fork necessary. It is much easier to hate Oracle than to have to blame the rest of the community for this mess.
As Landor brought out, the momentum is likely going to stay with Open Office due to its presence on Windows and I think Libre Office is going to have a hard time keeping up in terms of features and quality. Again, I hope to be proven wrong about this, but I'm afraid.
Also, at the moment they are pretty much the same thing, but they will likely diverge as time goes by. So now that Open Office finally has gained some mind share in the Windows world as a capable replacement for MS Office, Linux seems to be pulling away on its own island again. It used to be easy to convince someone using Firefox, Thunderbird, GIMP and Open Office on Windows to give Linux a try, since they could keep using the same applications they were already used to. It was much harder to convince someone using MS Office that they could switch to Open Office. Now we'll have to convince both MS Office and Open Office users that this other thing called Libre Office they'd be running on Linux is just as good (and who knows if it will be). I know it is available for Windows and other platforms too, but it will take a long time for it to gain the mind share of Open Office. So in a sense, the fork creates confusion, divides mind share from one strong contender to two weaker ones, and puts us back at square one when it comes to brand recognition.
And then there's the Libre Office name. In my opinion, it really stinks. Unfortunately, things like that do matter to the opinion people will have of a project. It is easy enough to read the name, but I find it horrible to pronounce. Could be just me (English is not my native language), but sticking together a French and English word like that to create a product name--it doesn't flow, it just doesn't have a nice ring to it.
I just really wish all this stuff had never happened. Since it did, I really hope the involved parties will come to their senses and at least collaborate. The best thing would be if they would settle their difference and get back together. Some things CAN be undone, if there is the willingness to do so.
44 • LibreOffice & OpenOffice.org (by Johannes on 2011-01-11 16:46:11 GMT from Germany)
@ Landor and Patrick:
LibreOffice has much more supporters that only Linux Distros: http://www.documentfoundation.org/supporters/
Since the beginning of OOo, creating a foundation to sustain it was the plan: http://www.openoffice.org/white_papers/OOo_project/openofficefoundation.html
Not to mention than almost all the community made the switch to LibO. LibreOffice is the continuation of OOo, not really a fork.
45 • @44 (by Patrick on 2011-01-11 17:08:41 GMT from United States)
Sure, they have supporters. That doesn't prove OOo doesn't have any. It is still splitting the project resources, diluting the name and reputation of OOo and causing duplication of development effort. I liked RMS's comment in that list of supporters:
"I hope that the LibreOffice developers and the Oracle-employed developers of OpenOffice.org will be able to cooperate on development of the body of the code."
46 • RE: 44 (by Landor on 2011-01-11 17:27:02 GMT from Canada)
Here's a simple question, what does supporters mean in this regard? Financial? Development? We believe in you?
Support is a very broad term and I didn't see how they intend to support it, only that they do.
Even stating X or Y has ten thousand supporters doesn't mean much unless you can validate the advantages of the ten thousand supporters and what they are bringing with their support.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
47 • OpenOffice (by Jesse on 2011-01-11 17:45:55 GMT from Canada)
I think the concern with LibreOffice is a bit premature. OpenOffice has been forked a few times in the past decade without any serious problems. Take a look at Neo Office and Go-oo as examples. In fact, LibreOffice is more a combination of Go-oo and OOo than it is a new fork of OpenOffice. So really LibreOffice isn't spreading resources any thinner than they were before. More of the opposite, really, bringing more various developers into one official project.
Keeping that in mind, I also think it's important to point out there have been complaints for years about the way the OpenOffice development was handled. (Hence the previous forks, like Go-oo.) A move away from OpenOffice to another branch has been on people's minds for a while. Oracle's ill-intent toward OpenSolaris and Google have probably been a catalyst more than a cause.
Support in this case seems to mostly be in the form of developers. The packages and devs of the various distros are now focusing on LibreOffice as opposed to OpenOffice.
48 • @Jesse: Questions and Answers - Missing Idea (by Muhammad Fahd Waseem on 2011-01-11 18:01:55 GMT from Pakistan)
There is another great and easy way to build your own custom distro: the SUSE Studio. While it does not offer uber-many customization options, I used it to build a distro for my university and I was able to do a pretty good job. http://susestudio.com/
P.S. I think DistroWatch ate my last comment. Does it not accept tags? I wanted to include a link to the SUSE Studio...
49 • @47 (by Patrick on 2011-01-11 19:17:03 GMT from United States)
Thanks for the information, Jesse. I should read up on stuff I know nothing about, before I get too worried about it. :) I wasn't aware of the previous forks. Hopefully with the added support, LibreOffice will do a better job of getting the word out than the previous forks, including outside of the Linux world. If the support really consists of developers more than just lip service, things should turn out OK. Still wondering if anyone else has an issue with the name or if it's just me. :)
50 • LibreOffice (by meanpt on 2011-01-11 19:20:36 GMT from Portugal)
According to the hard paper and electronic writings, Oracle's driven OpenOffice only counts with Oracles own developers, while the rest of the community's developers opted to support LibreOffice, Currently the LO team is importing and improving the OO code, and may or not fork from the original code later. At first It may seam Oracle is having a hard time to cope with an open community concept and to integrate it in a successful corporate business model, but I would bet Oracle doesn't want at all to incorporate it as it doesn't fit in its strategy and is a by-product of the acquisition. I'll stick with LibreOffice.
51 • @50 Patrick - LibreOffice's name (by meanpt on 2011-01-11 19:26:59 GMT from Portugal)
I love it as it sounds Freedom, and Libre almost mimics my born language word for free.
52 • LO (by Jack on 2011-01-11 22:42:29 GMT from Canada)
LibreOffice name is a thumbs down for me, sounds terrible in English IMO. I wonder if a nickname can be thought of...LOffice, LibO...LOL. I'll put the suggestion in to OfficeWatch.com
I have a few non-technical friends who use Open Office on Windows and it took quite awhile to convince them that Open Office is just as good or better as MS Office for their needs. I am not going to go through that rigamarole again with LO. I can just see the blank stares as I try to explain what forking a project means and that LO is just the same as OO. It's all fine and dandy for us technical types, but for many others, the ideals behind a project don't amount to a hill of beans.
53 • RE: 47 - 49 (by Landor on 2011-01-12 01:34:58 GMT from Canada)
#47 The issue really isn't a fork, in a way. But first, I wouldn't really consider NeoOffice a fork. It is more of a port, with added functionality/Integration for OS/X. Go-oo, for all intents and purposes was a bit of a flop. It was never really accepted, and general belief was that it was inferior in ways to OpenOffice.org. Now we have LibreOffice combining code from both.
The real issue right now is sustainability, duplicated efforts, and opposing forces (in whatever form). When, and if LibraOffice becomes a working project that brings more to the table than OpenOffice, that's when everyone should be jumping on it.
You made a couple statements about support, developers and packaging/focusing on the inclusion of LibreOffice instead of OpenOffice. What developers have been committed to the project that you know of? Do you have a link for it? I don't mind inclusion of LibreOffice in any distribution, but I will immediately admonish, and stop using any distribution that removes OpenOffice from their repositories, limiting my choices. That's what Freedom (Libre) is about, choice. It's why I don't knock anyone using flash, mp3, proprietary. It's why I can use Debian or any other distribution that I'm easily able to make Libre myself, other than their documentation, choice. As an individual I'm able to choose what I will, or will not do. This may not fit with the FSF's views, but in my opinion they fit with using only Free Software, choosing to only use what is free regardless of what is available, or documented about. When groups start summarily making those choices for you, then it's time to look elsewhere to groups that don't. But to finish the point, OpenOffice doesn't fit the FSF's guidelines because of non-free plugins being made available. That has nothing to do with me, because as an individual I can choose not to use non-free and thus be perfectly happy with the fact that I'm using only free software as is my want. So, LibreOffice isn't really libre in my view, and has nothing to offer me over OpenOffice. Though as I stated, it can easily has the opposite effect, to take something away, my choice through the exclusion of OpenOffice in whatever distribution's repositories that I choose to use.
I consider 2010 to be the year of the herd mentality and disloyalty in Linux. There was a fervor of people willing to jump ship and so many they knew following them en-masse. I believe that was the true catalyst and I for one found it extremely unprofessional. I also believe it put the whole of our community in a bad light.
#49
I don't like the name at all, of course. I also found an article at Phoronix where the author mentions the same thing in comparison to KOffice's change to Calligra. It's at the bottom of the article.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODg4NQ
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
54 • Libre (by Jesse on 2011-01-12 01:12:05 GMT from Canada)
Re: 52
If you think your non-technical friends and family won\'t understand project forking and FOSS politics, then why bother telling them? It\'s much easier just to say they changed the name. Lots of products do that. Heck, if millions of people can follow a singer going from Prince to The Artist Formally Known as Prince and back again, I think folks will be able to swallow LibreOffice.
55 • LibreOffice (by Jesse on 2011-01-12 02:50:06 GMT from Canada)
Landor, a quick Google search would provide the support information you're looking for. This article, for example, about 33 developers moving to LibreOffice from OpenOffice: http://digitizor.com/2010/11/01/and-so-the-exodus-begins-33-developers-leave-openoffice-org/
You can also get a list of contributors here: http://www.libreoffice.org/about-us/credits/
It should be pretty easy to cross-check those to see who they work for.
Please keep in mind a lot of the people who will be working on LibreOffice are people who wanted to contribute to OpenOffice, but who couldn't get their work accepted. They were forced to submit patches to Go-oo or Neo Office instead. That's why those projects sprung up. Now that there is a more open community around the office suite, we should see more improvements. This isn't a duplication of effort so much as opening the gates to allow effort under one roof.
Earlier someone complained about how they wouldn't be able to show people their software on Windows was the same as the software on Linux, because we'd have OpenOffice on Windows and LibreOffice on Linux. I'm not sure where they came from, because LibreOffice has packages for both Windows and Mac. People will still be able to use the same office suite, regardless of their platform.
56 • PCBSD download (by sprint on 2011-01-12 11:07:08 GMT from Belgium)
What is wrong with that server from PCBSD ??? everytime it reaches around 2.6 Gb it just stops....
no more for me thanks
57 • English (by Tom on 2011-01-12 11:35:36 GMT from United Kingdom)
Allegedly in eskimo ther are many words for snow&ice because they have a lot of it and are affected by small differences that most of us wouldn't notice.
In England we don't even have different words for "free" as in "free lunch" and "Free" as in "Freedom from oppression". We like being oppressed by our aristocracy, parliament and monarch. We annually burn an effigy of a man that took part in a revolution against the King. There was no "Vive la revolucion" here! Libre is an alien concept.
Windows users are using LibreOffice, as are Mac users. LibreOffice was the same code as OpenOffice.
Oracle refused to communicate with their community and refused to allow bug-squad and developers to develop the product. The back-log of work-done reached epic proportions and so in the first week of LibreOffice hundreds of thoroughly tested updates finally made it into the code, into the first few beta releases of LibreOffice. I think some of those have now made it into OpenOffice at last too although they would probably have never made it without facing competition from LibreOffice. Copy&paste is a great way to duplicate work. I am sure clever developers have a more sophisticated equivalent!
If you want to continue using OpenOffice then start using LibreOffice. If you want to start using something a bit different then stay with the product that kept the branded name and the smaller development team.
Regards from Tom :)
58 • LibreOffice again (by Tom on 2011-01-12 11:49:11 GMT from United Kingdom)
There do seem to be a number of misconceptions.
Distros are unlikely to drop OpenOffice unless forced to by Oracle. However, it seems likely that Oracle will start splitting their product into free and non-free versions and will probably start charging for the non-free version. If Oracle do go that route then they will be forcing distros to drop their non-free one.
The question is whether distros, in their newest release, should use by default the name&branding that is likely to become non-free or should they switch to the one whose future has been secured. This is particularly relevant to RedHat and Debian that only release once every few years.
Regards from Tom :)
59 • Naming of LibreOffice (by sudonym on 2011-01-12 14:26:19 GMT from United Kingdom)
I think LibreOffice is a bit of an awkward name.
60 • Things are heading faster (by meanpt on 2011-01-12 14:34:48 GMT from Portugal)
Ubuntu will include LO in 11.04 and Salix already includes it in the alfa of the 13.2 XFCE release ... (hope this comment will not be deleted without a justification)
61 • A day at the office (by Barnabyh on 2011-01-12 16:45:14 GMT from Germany)
Seems to me only native English speakers are complaining about the name. I quite like the name as it makes intentions clear, like Libre-kernel.
Several distros have already moved to switch to LO, see last weeks comments. It is also in Slackware-current, hence in Salix alpha.
62 • Office (by zygmunt on 2011-01-12 20:08:18 GMT from United Kingdom)
Copying can be considered to be the highest form of flattery. With MS(TM) Office it seems to be so in the nomination of [Open/Star/Libre..] Office suites. Of course MS can also be considered guilty in this respect. But until such time as a paradigm shift occurs IMHO Office remains, at least in English, the perfect encapsulation for the product, be it MS, Open or Libre. A spade is a spade until it becomes a shovel.
63 • re # 56 - pcbsd d/l (by gnomic on 2011-01-12 22:32:01 GMT from New Zealand)
Don't know about the state of the servers for pcbsd, but if the last release is anything to go by, it may not be worth completing the d/l. Running as a live DVD at least, I found this had a well nigh miraculous ability to crash, freeze, terminate abnormally, and so on. I certainly wasn't having a lot of fun.
64 • LO (by forlin on 2011-01-13 03:44:57 GMT from Portugal)
Brazilian portuguese use the word liberar in the sense of rescue. Spanish often use liberar as in jailbreak (mobiles) Its only my own speculation, but maybe the LibreOffice name, was coined as a symbolic way to translate a "rescue", following its uncertain future under the Oracle rule.
65 • re:61 (by Anonymous on 2011-01-13 08:13:53 GMT from India)
Quite agree with you regarding the connotations of Libre. But I am surprised that English speakers have a problem with it. The same word from which the cherished word Liberty has taken shape, now makes people uncomfortable?
What's next- a petition to change the name of statue of liberty?
66 • LibreOffice (by sudonym on 2011-01-13 11:44:08 GMT from United Kingdom)
@65
It's not the meaning, it's (for some) saying LibreOffice that's awkward. As was pointed out, the two words (forget the meaning) do not gel. I thought that was clear.
How does that translate to being uncomfortable with the meaning of the word? And the petition thing was stretching it just a bit.
67 • Nothing wrong here with the name (by mythus on 2011-01-13 13:29:36 GMT from United States)
Being a native english speaker (with english being my only spoken language), I have no trouble saying LibreOffice. Sounds ine to me. OpenOffice of course sounds better,but I always thought saying it's full name, OpenOffice.org sounded horible. At least LibreOffice doesn't have that .org at the end of it.
In the end though I simply say what I am ussing, whether it be Writer, Calc, Impress.... it doen't matter to me what the name is on the front of it. Instead what matters is that it works and works well.
68 • Office in Slackware (by Barnabyh on 2011-01-13 16:16:12 GMT from Germany)
Apologies, never mind my comment 61. Slackware still comes with KOffice included as office suite of choice. Must have confused it with Salix. Talking out of my a... LO 3.3.0 is on SlackBuilds though for 13.1.
69 • Libre Office (by Neal on 2011-01-13 16:56:24 GMT from United States)
I speak english and Libre Office sounds good to me....
If you wanna give Libre Office a try in Ubuntu or an Ubuntu variant, give these commands a whirl...
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libreoffice
I like it and it will be a nice addition to any distro you use.
70 • libre office (by Anonymous on 2011-01-13 18:41:12 GMT from Canada)
from google
# Canadian English generally follows British spelling, but often the American ... centre. centre. center. cheque (noun, money). cheque. check. chequered ... www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/BritishCanadianAmerican.htm - Cached - Similar ► so read libre office as liber office
71 • Problems installing LibreOffice in Mint 9 LTS (by Mark Pace on 2011-01-13 20:29:49 GMT from United States)
------------------------------------------------
For whatever it's worth, installing LibreOffice (LO) in Mint 9 LTS caused a lot of headaches. After loading the LO repository the install seemed to go fine, but when I tried to run LO's word processor it failed to start. Not only that but installing LO completely borked my OpenOffice (OO) installation, which is obviously something I should have been aware of beforehand. So I ended up without either LO or OO available.
Had to do some serious reconfiguration and mucking out, but I finally got OO reinstalled and running correctly again. Bottom line for me was that installing LO before it's pronounced ready and made officially available in Mint's repositories was just asking for trouble. Hope others have more luck with it that I did. For the time being I'll stick with OO and wait for Clem and the Mint team to make LO officially available.
72 • LO in Lucid (by Caraibes on 2011-01-13 21:29:16 GMT from Dominican Republic)
I successfully installed LO in Lucid. Once you have the LO ppa, it borks OOo indeed, but then you go to Synaptic, remove OOo totally, and install from Synaptic LO... Works just fine !!!
73 • re#71,#72 (by hab on 2011-01-13 23:21:12 GMT from Canada)
In any event can one not install for the user only (even a new temporary. test install account) and not do a system wide install. Trivially fixed if it borks something locally!
I have used this method much for installing and testing various software.
cheers
74 • LibreOffice (by Anonymous on 2011-01-14 02:12:24 GMT from United States)
Interesting FAQ @: http://www.documentfoundation.org/faq/ As stated: Q: Why are you building a new web infrastructure?
A: Since Oracle's takeover of Sun Microsystems, the Community has been under "notice to quit" from our previous Collabnet infrastructure. With today's announcement of a Foundation, we now have an entity which can own our emerging new infrastructure.
What does this mean?
75 • LO (by forlin on 2011-01-14 03:03:22 GMT from Portugal)
@ 70 - so read libre office as liber office. So right. liber office sounds sweet and easy to spell indeed.
@ 74 - What does this mean? It means a true rescue.
Does someone believe that Oracle will sometime handle the OpenOffice.org trademark to the "The Document Foundation" ?
I'd like them to. But I doubt.
76 • #74 (by Anonymous on 2011-01-14 03:34:24 GMT from United States)
"notice to quit" Who's telling who to quit what?
77 • Libre Office on Knoppix CD (by gnomic on 2011-01-14 04:29:25 GMT from New Zealand)
Not quite the question asked by Tom above, but I see Knoppix live CD now includes Libre Office v3.3. Knoppix 6.4.3 at a mirror near you.
78 • On the LIbreOffice at LlinuxMint 9 LTS.... (by alexis on 2011-01-14 10:42:08 GMT from Ukraine)
#71 I have downloaded the deb packages from their official site and installed them with "dpkg -i ./*.deb". It got it installed into the /opt, without disturbing the 'native' OOo installed.
It works smoothly.... :)
http://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/testing/3.3.0-rc3/deb/x86/ "untar" it into a directory, "cd" into that certain dir, and go: "dpkg -i ./*.deb"....
Then go to the /opt/libreoffice/program and run ./swriter # cd /opt/libreoffice/program # ./swriter &
79 • Re: 78 installing LO smoothly by alexis (by DShelbyD on 2011-01-14 12:33:28 GMT from United States)
I also have obtained the LO packages from the documentfoundation site and installed LO in both .deb and .rpm distros.
Since the installation process puts the LO files in /opt, OOo has not been distrubed by the installation. The package contains a readme located in the extracted, top-level folder with installation instructions. Complete installation is a 2-step process, and the second step, using the same command as before but this time from within the desktop-integration folder, places LO items on the "Office" menu alongside those of OOo. Both OOo and LO work.
80 • LibreOffice (by Fewt on 2011-01-14 13:43:16 GMT from United States)
I dislike the name. Think about it, if you are a geek; the name probably sounds fantastic.
If you aren't a geek though the immediate response is "WTF", or "what the hell is LibreOffice"? In real life, I received this response more than once on this topic. It is just another instance of a bad name for what could be a good product that will unfortunately keep it from mass acceptance.
What would a consumer use?
OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Microsoft Office
I can promise you that randomly chosen people will pick #1 or #3, #2 being chosen only if that random person is a geek. I expect LibreOffice to only accel on geek desktops.
When I ran a survey for defaults in Fuduntu (No, non-geeks do not care that the name contains "fud", only geeks do), out of the hundreds of responses only 5 were pro LibreOffice.
Non geeks do not care that Oracle shut down an unrelated product, nor do they care about any of the related politics leading to the LibreOffice fork.
We'll never have any marketshare if we continue to think like geeks in designing the products that we are building to compete with those other guys.
All that said, I still hope that the project is successful and is useful for whomever chooses to use it.
81 • @ 80 LO (by forlin on 2011-01-14 16:01:57 GMT from Portugal)
"I can promise you that randomly chosen people will pick #1" - (OO) -
That is because it's been more than 10 years since OO is known. Apart from news and comments surrounding the fork there was not many talks after the happening (excluding its adoption announcement from a few distros). I didn't even noticed the existence of the "The Document Foundation" (thanks to the commenter who shared the link), but the current talk here about LO seems to be leading readers to an immediate install.
82 • @81 (by Fewt on 2011-01-14 16:11:39 GMT from United States)
You missed my point entirely. How many people log onto distrowatch for the latest news before leaving for their jobs as Doctors, Accountants, Construction workers, or Taxi Drivers?
Not very many. My point is that LibreOffice isn't a name that would be used outside of geek circles such as this, and arguably "consumer" or "non-geek" users won't go near it.
83 • Market Share (by Tom on 2011-01-14 16:42:00 GMT from United Kingdom)
Hmm, market share suggests that most non-geeks go for MicroSquish Office.
MicroSquish products cost more and therefore 'must' be better, right? Also, almost everyone uses MicroSquish so it 'must' be better, right?
'OpenOffice' sounds like all confidential files are going to end up being broadcast to anyone that wants to look. Have any non-geeks heard of LibreOffice yet?
'Obviously' people would only give something away for free if they couldn't sell it because it was so awful. If something is half-decent then 'they' would charge for it. So, if it costs less than MicroSquish then it must be that much more rubbish than MicroSquish, right?
Corporate users are sometimes more interested in TCO and tech-support costs rather than initial costs. The "cherished word Liberty" is NOT cherished by corporations; quite the opposite.
Regards from Tom :)
84 • TDF (by Tom on 2011-01-14 17:05:00 GMT from United Kingdom)
The Document Foundation say that LibreOffice is NOT a fork. It is just a renaming as happens with products from time to time. The product started with the name "Star Office" and has now been renamed twice in 2 decades.
A completely unrelated company that has not been involved with OpenOffice's development at all in the last couple of decades bought the name "OpenOffice" along with a small handful of developer's employment contracts.
Almost everyone that HAS been involved with the product's development have apparently been told to stop working on OpenOffice and close the websites and stop using the name.
Companies get bought and sold. Names and logos get bought and sold. Products get re-branded or re-named. How difficult is that for geeks or non-geeks to understand? Regards from Tom :)
85 • OOo or LO etc. (by Jon Thomsen on 2011-01-14 17:32:45 GMT from United States)
I think the point is that the vast majority of people who use computers HAVE NEVER HEARD of Open Office or Libre Office or any office suite other than MS Office.
86 • LO at Fewt 82 (by forlin on 2011-01-14 17:48:22 GMT from Portugal)
"You missed my point entirely"
You're wrong !!! "randomly chosen" is like proposing a ballot. See my comment on that sense.
87 • gNewOffice or gnuOffice (by Marti on 2011-01-14 17:55:32 GMT from United States)
Giving the OpenOffice fork to Richard Stallman or the folks at gNewSense might be the only way to keep it free (as in freedom, not as in beer). I, too, am dreading what Oracle is going to do with OO.
Maybe just call it myOffice? theOffice? ourOffice?
Oh, yeah, this comment has just copylefted my suggestions. :)
Wish me luck in trying to install gNewSense.....
88 • Lo (by forlin on 2011-01-14 19:00:17 GMT from Portugal)
New Office org ... copyleft too :)
89 • LO brainstorming (by meanpt on 2011-01-14 19:23:34 GMT from Portugal)
Candy Office?
90 • Lulz (by Fewt on 2011-01-14 19:42:35 GMT from United States)
@86, Use more exclamation points, they obviously make you more right and me more wrong.
@85, The only exception to this would be the advertisement for OpenOffice when you install Java on the Windows platform, but otherwise you are correct.
91 • Fresh start (by Jesse on 2011-01-14 19:54:34 GMT from Canada)
In my experience most people (non-geeks) have not heard of OpenOffice. However, the handful that have do not like it. Those who have tried it generally report it to be slow, missing features and confusing with regard to document formats. They have no interest in trying it again.
A name change may be helpful in that regard as people who didn't like OpenOffice may be willing to true this new LibreOffice, not realizing it's a continuation of the same project.
92 • @91 (by Fewt on 2011-01-14 20:01:53 GMT from United States)
I agree, with the exception that I think it needs a flashier more memorable name. Something like "Turbo Office" for example. I mentioned LibreOffice to someone again not too long ago, and received a "WTF". Maybe it works outside of America, but here, it doesn't.
Does anyone think that the biggest search engine on the planet would have made it if their name was LibreSearch? I don't think so.
93 • LO (by fernbap on 2011-01-14 20:36:46 GMT from Portugal)
i think what matters is marketing. Libre Office should be released in several different builds, each with a suitable name.
For macs: iOffice. Just do it!
For windows: NewOffice Home Edition, without any database component NewOffice Professional Edition, bundled with 15 free trial versions of Firefox, Gimp, Pidgin, etc NewOffice Gamers Edition, including one year subscription to Battlenet.
For Linux: Normal users: LibreOffice hardcore Linux users: I Hate Ubuntu Office hardcore hardcore Linux users: Libre Office console version
94 • 92 • @91 LibreOffice (by Victor on 2011-01-14 21:30:55 GMT from United States)
92 • @91 (by Fewt on 2011-01-14 20:01:53 GMT from United States) "Maybe it works outside of America, but here, it doesn't."
Except Ubuntu! Who would have ever thought that would work? Even my spell check hates it!
And Firefox, what the ??
The grand winner ffmpeg - great software.
Still, LibreOffice name stinks, I admit.
95 • LO (by forlin on 2011-01-14 21:56:14 GMT from Portugal)
@90 - Fewt, my "wrong" was related to your "You missed my point entirely". Though I admit we may both be talking about slightly different issues.
@93 - good laugh, fernbap, good laugh.
96 • LO (by forlin on 2011-01-14 22:07:12 GMT from Portugal)
How bad, I cannot edit, but just an addition. For Red Hat = Red Office
97 • "Squeeze" Deep Freeze (by Anonymous on 2011-01-15 00:08:24 GMT from United States)
http://www.debian.org/News/project/2011/01/
98 • slax-remix - new name and new home (by gnomic on 2011-01-15 00:28:31 GMT from New Zealand)
Those who have looked at the slax-remix formerly to be found on the Slax forums may be interested to know that the project now has a new name and its own website.
See http://www.porteus.org/
99 • Debian sq-di-rc1 (by Anonymous on 2011-01-15 02:07:09 GMT from Italy)
Does anybody know what "Debian sq-di-rc1" means? I mean, obviously rc1 means release candidate 1.. And sq-di, what does that mean?
100 • Debian sq-di-rc1 (by Ralph on 2011-01-15 04:10:39 GMT from Canada)
@99--I guessing sq-di would stand for squeeze-debianinstaller...
101 • Thanks (by Anonymous on 2011-01-15 06:41:15 GMT from Italy)
Thanks Ralph :)
102 • What a palaver ... (by jake on 2011-01-15 06:55:22 GMT from United States)
I still use vi & sc for most of my business needs ... Same text & numbers, after all. It's all scriptable ("macroable"? ::shudder::), and there is no unnecessary GUI cruft slowing down the system. Same result, fewer resources, usable over dial-up ... and a hell of a lot faster for the guy at the keyboard. "Pretty, slow and resource-hungry" doesn't run a horse ranch ...
Yes, I'll pretty up a contract occasionally using GUI tools, when it's warranted, which is rare. More often, I'll send a print job to a tractor-feed daisywheel printer. Gets the same point across, with fewer resources. It's all 7-bit ASCII[1], after all :-)
[1] English being the lingua franca of the Internet & all that.
103 • Ubuntu's natty narwhal (by Chris H. on 2011-01-15 07:49:45 GMT from United States)
As usual, my comment is not part of the current thread, but helpful to some, I hope.
A lot of upgraded packages have been put in the repositories tonight. My nVidia natty installs that were driving me up the wall now run very well, thank you.
Chris H.
104 • FLOSS (by zygmunt on 2011-01-15 08:01:17 GMT from United Kingdom)
Seriously: Why not FLOSSOffice: Free, Libre, Open, Star, Soft Office. Lots of Spoonerisms there. just joking.
105 • Office (by Tom on 2011-01-15 12:56:19 GMT from United Kingdom)
@ 104 & 93 I like FlossOffice :) The "bundled with 15 free trial versions of Firefox, Gimp, Pidgin, etc" was brilliant, spot on. I take it that Battlenet is free too?
@ 103 Omg a useful post about a distro! That really interrupted the threads flow!
Lol, thanks all :) Regards from Tom :)
106 • Floffice (by PatrikJA on 2011-01-15 16:47:46 GMT from Sweden)
@ 104 FLOSSOffice seems a bit long... Maybe shorten it to Floffice..?
107 • @105 (by fernbap on 2011-01-15 16:51:42 GMT from Portugal)
Battle.net is free, but useless unless you buy a game from Blizzard
108 • @106 LibreOffice (by bwd on 2011-01-15 17:29:05 GMT from United States)
I'm fine with whatever it's gonna be called, and agree that it doesn't 'flow' well in English (though that doesn't really concern me).
I like this train of thought with FlossOffice, and will offer:
"Flosso"
Enjoy.
109 • ?Office (by Victor on 2011-01-15 17:31:55 GMT from United States)
Suddenly I realized that its the second half of the name 'LibreOffice' that could use a nice upgrade. Since I retired I haven't been near an office. Office, what a narrow minded description of such great capable flexible software.
Yep, Office, there's the bogey. How many out there work out of a bedroom, living room, closet, pantry, coffee shop, internet cafes? How could anyone call those an office by and stretch of the imagination?
Let's get with the show - how about FlexPack.
Have a good day all - Victor
110 • PelicanHPC 2.3 (by michael.setti@inbox.com on 2011-01-15 18:34:04 GMT from United States)
I have tried the release of PelicanHPC 2.3 and was very impressed with it. I was wondering if there is a distro out there that does what pelican does (boot from a master node and have the subsequent nodes boot off of it) and also has general office apps (suite) included so that the nodes can get to work right away in a make shift office anywhere without disturbing the HDs of the machines if so chosen. I think PelicanHPC can be customized but if this work has already been done, why re-invent the wheel. Thanks. Distrowatch is outstanding. Keep up the good work.
111 • nodes? (by Tom on 2011-01-16 16:33:41 GMT from United Kingdom)
Hi :) Errr, what is a node? Am i going to regret asking??
112 • RE: 110 (by Landor on 2011-01-16 17:24:41 GMT from Canada)
I don't know of any distributions that are HPC/Cluster/Parallel, but if you're not aware, I just read that PelicanHPC is built from a script: make_pelican http://pareto.uab.es/mcreel/PelicanHPC/Tutorial/PelicanTutorial.html#make_pelican .
I don't know if there's more information out there than the above link. Although quite terse, some steps from what I read look very straightforward.
Hope that helps somehow.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
113 • what is a node? (by Anonymous on 2011-01-16 18:50:17 GMT from United States)
Look at distributed computing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Node_(networking)
114 • @111 - Tom: about node... and .... (by Anonymous on 2011-01-16 21:09:11 GMT from Portugal)
About node and a "New Lustre Distro" "Gorda explained that in a typical Lustre installation, a client runs in the compute cluster and mounts the Lustre file system over a high speed Infiniband or 10GbE network"
http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/technology/article.php/3920826/Whamcloud-Building-New-Lustre-Distro.htm
115 • Nodes in networking. (by jake on 2011-01-17 01:23:39 GMT from United States)
The concept of nodes in networking grew from the idea of nodes in transportation. In a nutshell, a "node" is a place where discrete packets of information are not being transported. Said packets may or may not be being processed at any given node.
Take a look at the output of `tracetoute distrowatch.com` ... Each of the machines listed between yourself & distrowatch are the nodes between you and distrowatch. Your machine & ladislav's are known as the "end nodes", for obvious reasons. Please note that the owners of those machines can monitor the traffic running across them ... which is why I always say "If you wouldn't shout it from the roof-tops, encrypt it!".
One of my mentors back in the day (might have been Cerf), said "it's a node if it is capable of modifying network traffic" ... Perhaps simplistic, but a fairly good way of looking at it.
116 • new to linux (by adam on 2011-01-17 05:11:43 GMT from United States)
guys im looking for a distro that has all the stuff already included like latest gimp and inkscape , firefox ...im currently running ubuntu nut im looking for something else something new.....i like to work with graphivs and vector graphics and i also need something good like open office but i need everything to be the latest versions though out of the box included in the distro? any suggestions?
117 • Re: 116 (by jake on 2011-01-17 05:53:15 GMT from United States)
What, exactly, are you planning to do with your new distro?
Are you a professional photographer or WWW designer looking to move out of the commercial software world, and into the FOSS world? Or are you a teenager looking for porn? Or something in between? The answer will vary, according to context.
Context, when it comes to "personal living space", is everything ...
Number of Comments: 117
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