 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 392, 14 February 2011 |
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Welcome to this year's 7th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! Perhaps the biggest -- and the most underreported -- Linux story of the week was the release of Oracle Linux 6. This is the first (and currently the only) free "clone" of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 which was officially published in November last year and which has yet to be "cloned" by the specialists on the market - the CentOS project, or any other distributions with similar goals. Read the news section below for more information about Oracle's latest attack on Red Hat's market share. In other news, scepticism about MeeGo's future rages on while the project publishes a development roadmap, PCLinuxOS hits a new low following major repository problems, and Mageia developers hint at the first official release of the distribution in June this year. The feature story of this week's issue is a first-look review of Sabayon Linux 5.5, while the Questions and Answers section deals with improving performance by compiling applications from source code. Finally, don't miss your chance to comment on the website's switch to the Ubuntu font. Happy reading!
Content:
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (38MB) and MP3 (34MB) formats
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
A look at Sabayon Linux 5.5
 Sabayon Linux is a distribution based on the popular source-based Gentoo project. Sabayon takes source packages from Gentoo's repositories, builds them into binary packages and puts them together in various editions, such as KDE, GNOME & Gaming. The Sabayon distro is a rolling release, meaning that the available software is always updating, always staying on the bleeding edge and, ideally, the user won't have to hop from one stable release to the next. One of the first things I noticed while on the Sabayon website is that it's dark, an observation quickly followed by noting the site has quite a mixture of large and small fonts of various colours. Parts of the site remind me of a house decorated in Christmas lights at night. A third observation is that Sabayon has a lot of tag lines, "open your source open your mind" being a nice one. Another is, "the cutest, free Operating System" and a third, "as easy as an abacus, as fast as a segway". These, along with some other statements on the site, led me to believe the writer isn't a fluent English speaker, or perhaps isn't familiar with segways.
At any rate, I grabbed the KDE edition of Sabayon 5.5, an ISO which weighs in at 2 GB, and got to work. Right away it is apparent that Sabayon embraces the Choice aspect of free & open source software. The live DVD offers several boot options, including a KDE 4.5 environment, a media center and a KDE desktop for netbook machines. There is also a media center for netbooks and both graphical and text-based installer options. It's a full boot menu.
The KDE environment is fairly standard. We get a dark blue background, the usual KDE menu and some icons for accessing help, launching the installer and sending donations to the Sabayon project. Nothing jumped out at me as being different from any other KDE live disc. The netbook version of KDE (as presented at the boot menu) is the same with a slightly different screen resolution suited for a netbook's dimensions. The media center option I found interesting. As the name implies, we get an appliance-style layout instead of a general-purpose desktop. The media center gives us an intuitive and simple way to play music & videos and view pictures. There is also a weather station page in the media center where we can monitor the weather in several locations. The layout is nice and the graphics are appealing. Running from the live disc I found the media center to be sluggish. I suspect this is partly due to my relatively low-end video card and partly because the center is running from a live disc. One of the options on the DVD's boot menu is labelled "Start Sabayon w/o boot music". I wasn't sure why this would be a desired feature until I logged into the default graphical environment. While KDE is loading the system plays a song, not a short tune, but a full-length song to let us know the sound system is working.
Sabayon Linux 5.5 - the installer and desktop widgets
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The Sabayon installer is Anaconda, the same installer used by the Fedora project, so I won't spend much time on it here. It's a solid and, I've found, capable installer and I encountered no problems setting up the system. One difference I noticed while installing Sabayon, compared to installing Fedora, is the installer asked me to create a user account before it started copying files to the hard drive, rather than during the operating system's first boot. In fact, Sabayon doesn't go through any configuration during the first boot, everything of that nature is handled at install time.
Given the size of Sabayon's installation disc, it's no surprise the distribution plops 4.5 GB of data down on the hard drive. This gives us a good collection of software, including Firefox 3.6.13, some instant messaging clients, OpenOffice, KOrganizer, a document viewer and image viewer. Additionally we get the VLC multimedia player, the Clementine music player, a CD player, and a disc burner. In an unusual move, Sabayon supplies us with graphical PPP clients (in both GNOME and KDE flavours) and a copy of Firewall Builder. There's a group of small KDE games to pass the time and the usual desktop configuration tools. In the background we find Java, the GNU Compiler Collection, a Flash plugin and codecs for playing most popular multimedia formats. For people who need to make use of applications written for Windows, Sabayon provides WINE in the default install.
Adding, removing or updating software on Sabayon is a bit of a mixed experience. For starters, the system refers to its graphical package manager by different names, depending on where you are. For example, clicking on the system tray update notification icon gives us the option to launch the generic-sounding "Package Manager". However, the desktop icon is called Sulfer and the package manager, once launched, calls itself "Entropy Store". All links lead us to the same place, a small window with a bar of buttons across the top, a large text box in the middle and some buttons along the bottom. The buttons at the top of the page give us the ability to refresh our package list from the Sabayon mirrors, see pending actions and search for items by name. In the text area we see a list of available packages with an action icon (such as install/remove) next to each item. We're given the name of each package, a description, and a rating. There is also a number provided for each package, but I'm not certain of what the number represents. Perhaps it tracks how many downloads or votes each package has?
At the bottom of the page is a Commit button to kick off pending actions. Sulfer (or the Entropy Store) is functional, but I have two complaints. The first is that the GUI is slow to respond. The time between clicking on a button and the visible reaction from the GUI was typically three or four seconds on my machines. This makes searching for items, scrolling or selecting several items for an action terribly slow. A quick check showed the package manager was using around 50% of my CPU while sitting idle. Similarly, the update notification app would generally use around 15% of my CPU at login time and run for several minutes. My other complaint was with the appearance. The package manager uses the same multicoloured, small-font approach as the project's website and it feels like the developers are trying to squeeze too much into the kaleidoscoped space. The GUI did have points in its favour. During downloads the user is shown plenty of progress information, including over-all progress, download speeds, and which package is being fetched. An addition I liked was a button to skip to the next available mirror in case our default server is slow or stalled.
Sabayon Linux 5.5 - the package manager
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I started my experiment with Sabayon on my desktop machine (2.5 Ghz CPU, 2 GB of RAM, NVIDIA video card). The distro properly set up my screen resolution and most basic functionality was there post-install. Unfortunately sound didn't work out of the box and took some tweaking to get up and running. Performance was generally sluggish, even with desktop effects turned off. There always seemed to be a small delay between mouse & keyboard input and a corresponding response from the system. Moving over to my HP laptop (dual-core 2 GHz CPU, 3 GB of RAM, Intel video card) performance was much better. With or without desktop effects turned on the system was immediately responsive. My screen resolution was handled well and audio worked from the start. By default the touchpad worked, but did not handle taps as clicks -- this behaviour can be easily activated in the KDE System Settings panel. On the laptop my Intel wireless card was not recognized. I tried running Sabayon in a VirtualBox virtual machine using my laptop as the host and Sabayon worked there fairly well, but, as with my desktop machine, interface responsiveness suffered. While the distro will boot and login with 512 MB of RAM, I wouldn't recommend trying to run Sabayon with less than 1 GB of memory available.
No system is without problems and while running Sabayon I encountered a few. Performance, as I've mentioned above, was a problem on its own. A bug I stumbled into early on came from, apparently, logging out. At one point I had logged in, disabled desktop effects and logged out, planning to log back in again to make sure the "desktop effects temporarily disabled" pop-up wouldn't reappear. Instead, upon logging out, the system crashed. Not just X, but the underlying system became unresponsive. After I powered off the machine I found Sabayon would no longer boot. The system would crash immediately after the boot loader screen and the recovery console didn't do any better. I grabbed the Sabayon DVD, re-installed and went through the same steps, but was unable to recreate the crash. Another glitch I ran into a few times was at some logins a KDE folder view widget would appear on the desktop, showing me the icons in my desktop folder. This transparent folder view would usually appear directly over my desktop icons, making a mess of the desktop. The folder view wasn't consistent and would appear on every second or third login.
Sabayon Linux 5.5 - building a firewall
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After using Sabayon for the past five days I'm not quite sure of what to make of the distribution. There are some aspects of the project I very much enjoy. For instance, I like the many options provided on the DVD at boot time, making the live disc very flexible. There is a good compilation of software provided out of the box. I like that Fluxbox is offered as a possible session on the login screen for people who want a lighter environment and, though I don't use them myself, I like seeing the PPP clients available in the application menu. Items I wanted were easy to find, there's a handy update notification app next to the clock to help keep users secure and I didn't find unwanted network services running.
On a completely subjective note, I appreciated Sabayon's slightly dark theme. Many designers seem to want to paint everything white or shiny and I find the darker shades easier to look at for long periods of time. On the flip side I ran into a handful of issues. Hardware being an important one, with audio not working properly on my desktop machine and wireless not working on my laptop. Performance on the desktop machine was poor and, on both computers, using the package manager was tedious. The crash I experienced on my first install and the way the folder view widget kept reappearing every few logins makes me think Sabayon 5.5 could have benefited from more testing before being released. There are a lot of options and editions available from the Sabayon project and I think the price is some overlooked bugs. If you have a modern machine, want a lot of options and don't mind a rolling release that stays on the cutting edge, Sabayon might very well be for you.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
Oracle releases free RHEL 6 clone, MeeGo's future in doubt, PCLinuxOS has a bad day at office, Mageia interview
 Ah, the cheeky Linux devs at Oracle! While the world eagerly awaits the release of CentOS 6 and Scientific Linux 6, the two most popular free Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) clones, Oracle Corporation quietly releases Oracle Linux 6! This came late on Friday night California time, so there is no mention of the release (at the time of writing) in the company's usual press release channels and the only places this has been announced is the Oracle Linux blog (see the above link) and this mailing list post. Also, it is no longer called "Oracle Enterprise Linux", just "Oracle Linux". Meanwhile, the above blog post also claims that "Oracle Linux 6 is free to download, install and use," which effectively makes the distribution a free RHEL clone, with the shortest release delay from the upstream vendor. Naturally, given the traditional Linux users' distrust of large corporations in general and Oracle in particular, a large-scale migration from CentOS to Oracle is unlikely. Nevertheless, this is an interesting move and if you read the Oracle Linux blog, you will certainly notice that the company employs some highly-skilled and passionate Linux developers who seem to operate fairly independently of Oracle's corporate structures. So, if you are tired of waiting for CentOS 6, do give Oracle Linux 6 a try - chances are that you will be pleased with the product.
Oracle Linux 6 - another free Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone?
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 One Linux distribution that did get into the headlines last week was MeeGo, an Intel/Nokia project that promises to bring Linux to all sorts of mobile devices, including netbooks. But the news headlines were conflicting. While some called the readers' attention to the project's updated roadmap (with MeeGo 1.2 scheduled for April and MeeGo 1.3 for October 2011), others, like this article by ITWriting, claim that MeeGo is a "NoGo": "A sad post yesterday from MeeGo contributor Andrew Wafaa suggests that MeeGo on netbooks may no longer happen: 'Basically by all accounts MeeGo is stopping all work on the Netbook UX. Yup, all our hard work is now almost for nothing :-(.'" The H Open Source also covers the story, quoting a leaked memo from Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop: "'We thought MeeGo would be a platform for winning high-end smartphones. However, at this rate, by the end of 2011, we might have only one MeeGo product in the market.'" The story continues: "Earlier reports had noted the temporary closure of the MeeGo themed branch of Qt. If development on the Notebook and Handset UX's has been halted, it would leave only the IVI (in-vehicle infotainment) and Connected TV UX in active development."
Despite all the negativity surrounding the project, Linux.com has put out an excellent article entitled "Getting Started with MeeGo": "The MeeGo project is about to celebrate its first birthday, but there may still be Linux and open source developers who aren't quite sure how it relates to other Linux-based distributions for tablets, netbooks, or phones - like Android, Chrome OS, or the netbook remixes of popular desktop distros. MeeGo takes a different approach, aiming to be a vendor-neutral Linux platform for a variety of devices. If you're a developer, that is a key distinction, because it means it is easier to get started writing or porting apps to MeeGo, even digging in to the platform itself. At its essence, MeeGo is a collaboratively-developed Linux OS designed for use on non-PC consumer computing devices. That means MeeGo is not intended to run on typical desktop systems or servers, which are already well-served by existing distros. But it is meant to replace the roll-your-own approach taken by most consumer electronics OEMs that want to build a product around Linux."
MeeGo 1.1 - the current stable release with a user-centric interface and support for many netbooks
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 Maintaining a Linux distribution may bring some glory to the creator, but it is inevitable that, at some point, the fatigue, infrastructure problems, or one or two nasty remarks on a public forum, may lead to wanting to abandon the project. This was the case of PCLinuxOS' Bill Reynolds who showed such negative thinking last week. Susan Linton reports in "Is PCLinuxOS on the Ropes?": "A labor of love is how lead developer Bill 'Texstar' Reynolds once described his work on PCLinuxOS. But a recent exclamation by Reynolds could lead one to speculate that PCLinuxOS may be on the ropes. In response to repository hosting issues of the last two weeks, Reynolds said this morning, 'This distro is becoming a major pain in the ass.' This latest problem that arose week before last started when the primary PCLinuxOS repository host, ibiblio.org, decided to move. Until the move was completed, there would be no new updates. Notices were posted, but users were impatient and many didn't see the notice, so emails flooded the developers' inboxes. Uploads finally became possible, but rsyncing to other mirrors wasn't working. After a few emails back and forth, the ibiblio.org issue was resolved and mirrors began catching up with the updates. Everything was looking good when out of nowhere came the email saying that the host for the PASS repository is restructuring and Reynolds should find a new home for it."
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 Finally, a quick link to an interview with Mageia developer Romain d'Alverny as published by Muktware (including a hint about the possible date of the first official release): "Confidence is already here and Mageia grows out of it today. From the 17 people that triggered the fork, about 600 people volunteered to contribute, about 50+ of them are very active to this day, more than 150 people and several companies support us upfront with their money and hardware/hosting resources. All this happened upfront so the project benefits from huge positive expectations from both committed people, potential users and involved people. The project will justify this confidence if the collaboration within the project is fruitful (day-to-day life of the project) and if it delivers a strong, good product (next milestone is on June 1st for the first stable release of the distribution). History tells us that forecasts are rarely more than a wish. Of course, we expect Mageia to grow; we'll do our best so that it does and we welcome people that want to help us in this goal."
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
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Improving performance with custom-compiled source packages
Feeling-the-need-for-speed asks: Can custom-compiled source packages really improve performance compared to pre-compiled binary packages? If yes, by how much?
DistroWatch answers: Yes, software that is compiled specifically for your system will often provide a performance boost compared to binary packages provided by distributions. The packages in distro repositories are designed to work across a wide variety of machines and so will leave out optimizations. When we compile software to work specifically for our processor we can throw away the backward compatibility restrictions and gain more efficient programs. Linux Magazine featured an article a while back by Christopher Smart comparing standard Ubuntu packages with custom-made Gentoo software. Some of the tests resulted in similar results for both custom and pre-built software, but in some cases there's a dramatic difference.
There is a downside. Compiling your own software to get these performance boosts takes time. So, before you start compiling replacements for all your applications, take a look at what you stand to gain and what it's going to cost. For example, it might take you several hours to compile LibreOffice and the result will be a slightly lighter, slightly faster office suite. But do you really need LibreOffice to be faster? Usually the bottleneck with such programs is how fast you can type. In that case you're looking at a big investment in compile time verses very little benefit. On the other hand, if you're running a web server that gets millions of hits a day and you need to process requests as quickly as possible, a 5% boost in your server's performance can be a significant improvement.
Optimization is generally best suited to repetitive tasks such as compiling, number crunching and encoding multimedia. When you're dealing with a program which is already suitably fast or spends most of its time waiting for user input, you (the user) won't notice much difference. For instance, as a test, I took a small program and built it with the default compiler options. Then I built the same program using some standard optimizations. The optimized program was almost exactly twice as fast and 25% smaller. However, the unoptimized program was quick enough and my machine fast enough I couldn't tell the difference between the two without using the time command.
I have a feeling some hard-core Gentoo users are going to be kicking down the door to my inbox, pointing out smaller, more efficient applications are an art form and how not optimizing is needless wasteful. Some might even pull the environmental card and point out optimization can save on the electric bill. All fair points. For people who like to push the limits and enjoy efficiency for efficiency’s sake, then compiling your own software will give you that smaller, faster binary. Optimized applications can result in your computer using less electricity, though compiling said applications might use even more electricity. As with most things, it's a balancing act.
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| Released Last Week |
ArtistX 1.0
Marco Ghirlanda has announced the release of ArtistX 1.0, an Ubuntu-based live DVD containing some of the best free multimedia and graphics software available today: "After many years of continuous development and nine versions, the ArtistX 1.0 multimedia studio on a DVD is finally here. It's an Ubuntu-based live DVD that turns a common computer into a full multimedia production studio. ArtistX 1.0 is created with the Remastersys software for live DVDs and includes the 2.6.32 Linux kernel, GNOME 2.30 and KDE 4.5, Compiz Fusion and about 2,500 free multimedia software packages, nearly everything that exists for the GNU/Linux operating system organized in the GNOME menu. Main features: based on Ubuntu 10.04 'Lucid Lynx' with all updates (from April 2010), Compiz for 3D desktop effects; most of GNU/Linux multimedia packages and the very easy Ubiquity installer." Visit the project's brand-new home page to read the release announcement.
ArtistX 1.0 - a minor bug-fix update
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Sabayon Linux 5.5 "SpinBase", "CoreCDX"
Fabio Erculiani has announced the release of Sabayon Linux 5.5 "SpinBase" (a minimalist system designed to create Sabayon spins) and "CoreCDX" (a minimalist system with X.Org and Fluxbox) editions. Some of the new features in these releases include: "Bootable image suitable for a CD or USB thumb drive; shipped with desktop-optimized Linux kernel 2.6.37 (group scheduling patch, TuxOnIce, Aufs 2.1) and glibc 2.11; ext4 file system as the default, Btrfs (experimental), encrypted file system support; installable in less than 5 minutes; completely customizable system after install, thanks to Entropy package sets it's possible to install GNOME, KDE or X.Org in no time; Entropy and Portage ready...." Here is the full release announcement.
CrunchBang Linux 10 R20110207
Philip Newborough has announced the release of CrunchBang Linux 10 R20110207, a lightweight Debian-based distribution for the desktop: "CrunchBang 10 'Statler' has been in development since early last year. The first alpha release came out in March 2010 and several development builds have followed whilst Debian 'Squeeze' remained in testing. Now that 'Squeeze' has migrated from testing to stable, CrunchBang 'Statler' will also adopt the stable moniker. The new CrunchBang 10 'Statler' R20110207 images were built on Monday, 7th February 2011 using the stable Debian 'Squeeze' and CrunchBang 'Statler' repositories. Changes from the previous builds have been kept to a minimum. The changes that have been made include: Chromium browser (version 9) replaces Google Chrome stable; Debian Installer (GUI & text) replaces the previous Live Installer; other minor changes and bug fixes." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details.
CrunchBang Linux 10 R20110207 - a stable release based on Debian GNU/Linux 6.0
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Toorox 01.2011
Jörn Lindau has released Toorox 01.2011, a Gentoo-based live DVD with GNOME: "A new version of the Toorox 'GNOME' edition is finished and you can get it from the download area as a 32-bit or a 64-bit system. The Linux kernel is 2.6.37-gentoo which is patched with the famous '200 lines patch' from Mike Galbraith. It gives you a significant performance boost if you start several processes at the same time. The GNOME desktop environment was updated to version 2.32.1 and X.Org Server to version 1.9.2. This one now makes use of udev only. GRUB 2 is now the default bootloader, but GRUB legacy is there too. The Toorox installer can now identify operating systems, which are already installed on your hard disk and make a menu entry for them. If you want to keep your installed GRUB, the installer can modify your boot menu (GRUB 2 + GRUB legacy). Now there's a direct link on the desktop to the Toorox IRC chat channel." The release announcement.
Toorox 01.2011 - a Gentoo-based live CD with support for English and German languages
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Oracle Linux 6
Oracle Corporation has announced the release of Oracle Linux 6, a distribution based on the recently released Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6: "Oracle is pleased to announce the general availability of Oracle Linux 6 for x86 (32-bit) and x86_64 (64-bit) architectures. Oracle Linux 6 includes many new features, including: ext4 file system installed by default; XFS as an optional file system; ftrace - a tracing framework for analyzing performance and latency in the kernel; Performance Counters for Linux (PCL) and perf - a subsystem that keeps track of hardware and software events without affecting performance; powertop - a new user space tool that helps you reduce server power usage by identifying power hungry processes; latencytop - a Linux tool aimed at identifying where system latency occurs; yum-only access to Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN)...." See the release announcement and release notes for a detailed list of features and changes compared to the upstream release.
Untangle Gateway 8.1
Dirk Morris has announced the release of Untangle Gateway 8.1, a specialist distribution for firewalls, gateways and routers, based on Debian GNU/Linux 5.0: "We are pleased to announce general availability of Untangle 8.1. Our latest version includes a new application for caching web content as well as a host of enhanced features and improvements. Web Cache stores copies of online files passing through it; subsequent requests for the same files may be satisfied from the cache if certain conditions are met, rather than being re-downloaded each time. Web caching can help organizations increase responsiveness of web applications and save bandwidth costs. Key features include: stores frequently requested items locally; serves content from local cache; decreases bandwidth usage; decreases response time; supports the caching of web content and software updates." More details can be found in the release notes.
Pinguy OS 10.04.2
Antoni Norman has announced the release of Pinguy OS 10.04.2, a minor update of the Ubuntu-based distribution for the desktop with long-term support: "Released Pinguy OS 10.04.2 'Revisted'. As 10.04 is long-team support I didn't want it to fall behind. This is an updated version, it's a bit bigger then what it was before (by 300 MB) because I didn't build this from scratch, I just updated the existing 10.04.1.2 image. As of Thursday, 10th February, this was fully updated. I have added TeamViewer 6 to the install. After talking to a few people it seems many people that use Pinguy OS have installed it on a friend's or family's PC. Having TeamViewer 6 pre-installed will help them to give support and maintain their installs." The new release has many more new features, so see the release announcement if you wish to learn more.
Frugalware Linux 1.4
Miklós Vajna has announced the release of Frugalware Linux 1.4, an independent community distribution with a large software repository and Arch's Pacman package management tool: "The Frugalware developer team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Frugalware 1.4, our fourteenth stable release. The only added feature since 1.4rc2 is LibreOffice; additionally, 109 changes have been made to fix minor bugs. If you didn't follow the changes during the development releases, here are the most important changes since 1.3: updated packages - Linux kernel 2.6.37, X.Org Server 1.9, GNOME 2.32, KDE SC 4.5, Drupal 7, Python 2.7 to name a few major components; missing KOffice localization packages are back; new LCD font rendering available in GNOME; OSS 4 has been added; systemd is now available as an alternative to sysvinit...." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details.
Frugalware Linux 1.4 - with the latest Linux kernel and LibreOffice
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PureOS 3.0
Marc Poirette has announced the release of PureOS 3.0, a Debian-based distribution with GNOME, but with the latest Linux kernel, LibreOffice and other software from Debian's experimental repository: "PureOS 3.0 is available. This is an update of the GNOME edition (based on Debian's testing branch), with some packages from the experimental repository. Main features: Linux kernel 2.6.37 with Squashfs 4.0 and LZMA compression; GNOME 2.30 with Docky; LibreOffice 3.3.0 with Base, Calc, Draw, Impress, Math and Writer (experimental repository); Iceweasel 3.6.13 (experimental repository); Icedove 3.0.11 with Lightning; NetworkManager, Transmission and FileZilla; multimedia - Songbird 1.8.0, VLC and Brasero; graphics - GIMP, Evince, Simple Scan and Eye of GNOME; system -GParted, smxi/sgfxi scripts, scripts and Nautilus actions for modules management...." Read the full release announcement which includes a complete listed of pre-installed packages.
PureOS 3.0 - a Debian-based desktop distro with some experimental packages
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
New font on DistroWatch.com
 As many of you have noticed, DistroWatch now uses the free Ubuntu font which was made available as part of Ubuntu 10.04 and which became the default font on the distribution's desktop. The thinking goes that the Ubuntu font is released under a free license, it has generally received positive reviews, and it is a "Linux" font, specially developed by one of the main Linux players on the market. So why keep using the old Microsoft fonts on a website dedicated to free operating systems? However, since this is a highly intrusive change that some people might not appreciate, here is a chance to voice your opinion. Do you like/dislike the new font? Would you prefer the option to revert back to the old style sheets (which had Arial as the default font)? Please comment below or send an email to distro at distrowatch dot com. (For those running a website and wanting to switch to the Ubuntu font, you can find instructions in this blog post, in French).
Update: Based on feedback, it's clear that the Ubuntu font is not the most readable when it comes to long paragraphs and other large blocks of text. So as a matter of compromise, the Ubuntu font will only be used for headlines while general text will switch to Red Hat's Liberation Sans font as the default font. Arial remains the fall-back font for those readers who don't have Liberation Sans installed.
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New distributions added to database
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New distributions added to waiting list
- iGolaware Linux. iGolaware Linux is a fully-packed Ubuntu 10.10 derivative. It includes OpenOffice.org 3.2 (for word processing, presentation and spreadsheet documents), Mozilla Firefox 3.6.13 and Google Chromium 8.0 (web browsers), Evolution mail (for e-mail), Gwibber (social client), aMSN (MSN Messenger), XBMC 10.0 (media center), GIMP and Inkscape (for graphics manipulation), Shotwell (photo manager), Kdenlive NLE (for semi-professional video editing), PlayOnLinux (for many programs designed for Windows, including many games), Nanny (parental control), Deja Dup (easy backup). This is not to mention all the codecs that are built in and the great theme chosen for this release.
- Nisix Linux. Nisix Linux is an Italian distribution based on Linux Mint. The project's website is in Italian.
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 21 February 2011.
Jesse Smith and Ladislav Bodnar
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Ubuntu font (by jaycee on 2011-02-14 08:33:24 GMT from Australia)
The Ubuntu font is fine by me! Here's to keeping it on Distrowatch!
2 • Font Switch and Bodhi Linux (by Subhashish on 2011-02-14 08:33:27 GMT from India)
"...it (Ubuntu font) is a "Linux" font, specially developed by one of the main Linux players on the market."
I fully appreciate the switch to Ubuntu font on Distrowatch, moreover it gives the website a stylish look!
Bodhi Linux has a long way to go but still it is very stable enough for daily use, considering the beta enlightenment environment.A nice effort by its developers.
3 • Ubuntu font (by Stuart on 2011-02-14 08:41:44 GMT from United Kingdom)
I can't see the Ubuntu font - from the stylesheet it looks like it's only applied if the user has it installed already (i.e. using Ubuntu).
Why not link to the font file in the CSS using @font-face since it's an open-source font?
4 • RE: 3 Ubuntu font (by ladislav on 2011-02-14 08:49:34 GMT from Taiwan)
The HTML code does link to the font file. In any case, it works for me (in Firefox, Opera, Chromium) even though I don't have the Ubuntu font installed either. Maybe you just need to delete your browser's cache to force it to load the new CSS files.
5 • Sabayon (by Onyx on 2011-02-14 08:50:20 GMT from New Zealand)
I recently removed Archlinux from my main laptop (Core duo 1.6/1.5gb/60gb), and installed 5.4 Sabayon, then updated to 5.5 when that arrived the following week. It has been more stable than Arch on this machine, and faster (surprisingly). There are instructions in their blog for replacing the Entropy Store(Sulfur) with Kpackagekit, which is a LOT faster.
One thing I really love is the included XBMC...an amazing piece of software to turn your pc/laptop into a multimedia device. Strangely VLC refuses to play audio on most movies I throw at it, but XBMC works really beautifully.
KDE 4.6.0 on this distro works well for me in general, although others have had major headaches apparently. I cannot use desktop effects without KDE restarting itself regularly, but that was the same on Arch, and is due to the pathetic Radeon 200M onboard.
The community is small, but the help is knowledgeable, and you can even find developers on IRC.
6 • Oracle Linux (by allthosewhispers on 2011-02-14 09:34:57 GMT from United States)
A quick perusal of the release announcement looks like Oracle Linux is free to download and use, but you must pay to have access to their repos, which are tightly locked down in yum for subscribers. So the news is a bit misleading.
One might install it and then theoretically change to the CentOS servers when it's released (if that's possible), but then one could just play it safe and wait for CentOS anyway.
Just an observation. Happily Arching here :)
7 • the new font (by MK on 2011-02-14 09:36:37 GMT from Israel)
Love the new font, looks excellent!
8 • compiling (by ukwarrior on 2011-02-14 09:37:10 GMT from United Kingdom)
Cant see how using self compiled programs would save electricity- after 10 hours of compiling before the system is even usable... :-S
9 • Iluminante Linux (by koroshiya.itchy on 2011-02-14 10:05:39 GMT from Belgium)
I have found this interesting distro:
http://monolitux.tumblr.com/post/3035951301/iluminante-linux-para-reintegrantes
Iluminante Linux. It is Debian Squeeze 64-bit with Enlightenment (e17) and an antique look. The blog is in Galician-Portuguese.
10 • Ubuntu Font (by Balasubramanian N on 2011-02-14 10:06:39 GMT from India)
Ubuntu font is both pleasing and easy on the eyes! I love it!
11 • Ubuntu font (by Edoardo on 2011-02-14 10:19:45 GMT from United Kingdom)
cool, keep it
12 • Meego - the missing info (by meanpt on 2011-02-14 10:23:25 GMT from Portugal)
... according to nokia's CEO Meego is late and Nokia and MS made a public announcement on the shipping of Nokia's high end phones with windows phone 7 instead of Meego. So far only intel didn't have a public word on the subject which is awkward. This is a sad story.
13 • Bodhi (by meanpt on 2011-02-14 10:32:19 GMT from Portugal)
I've been patiently following this distribution and must congratulate the developers for their resiliency in adopting this enlightenment desktop on a ubuntu 10.04 whose updates aren't exactly the most friendly things on earth with the enlightenment desktop. Well done, bodhi people.
14 • Sabayon (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 10:42:09 GMT from Italy)
"No system is without problems and while running Sabayon I encountered a few"
I have always found Sabayon buggy.
It was *very buggy* during the first years. It wouldn't boot or it wouldn't install at all. It is now slightly better, but far from perfect, as Jesse Smith found out. Not for me, thank you.
15 • Bodhi (by forlin on 2011-02-14 10:53:25 GMT from Portugal)
I second meanpt (last week) to congratulate all parts about Bodhi in the DW's data base.
When I first knew about it, it was only a remix of another distro. I asked here in the DWW's comments some information about, and it was RollMeAway who really "enlightened" me (thank you sir :) ) about the heavy development work going on at the EFL after the arrival of its last sponsor. From that moment on, my interest about both E17 and Bodhi was established.
Then I commented here when I tried one of the firsts Bodhi's alfa. It was a one man experimental project, but I understood there was passion ambition and commitment about it. That was less than 3 months ago.
Today a knew that the Bodhi's Admin develop team is in the double digit. A very senior E17 developer is part of it and they're committed to create a 100% original Bodhi Disc .
So, like any other distro, it's targeted to a specific kind of users, namely those who like Enlightenment. Well worth a try for them.
16 • Questions and Answers (by raidensub on 2011-02-14 10:55:16 GMT from Greece)
I think i am missing something but how i can post a question for the Questions and Answers sector? Thanks.
17 • Linux on Ancient Lappy? (by Sol on 2011-02-14 10:59:54 GMT from United States)
I have 2 old laptops that have AMD K6-II CPUs. They are considered i586 architecture, but whenever I try to install linux (many tries with many "x86" distros), they give me the "need to use a kernel for your cpu" message. They used to run old SuSE 8.0 just fine, but nothing new runs. Well, okay, Puppy Lupu 5 live runs on it, but gives me a "out of space" message after awhile. I want something up-to-date installed, that has a lot of package choices. I even went back to Debian 5 and it gives me the same kernel message. My beef is that so many Distros claim to run as far back as i386 architecture, but don't work on the AMD K6-II. That should be changed as they don't live up to the x86 claim. Not to dis linux at all, it's all I run on my computers, mostly Debian and *buntu derivatives due to the ease of .deb. Oh, and the old DSL didn't work either. Anyone have suggestions? Thanks.
18 • Ubuntu font, PCLInuxOS (by champted on 2011-02-14 11:06:43 GMT from United States)
The font change is a good move. I think it makes the site somewhat easier to read. I especially like the fact that it means you are now using a Linux-specific font instead of a Microsoft-supplied one in the style sheets.
Sorry to hear about PCLinuxOS's troubles. v.0.93a was the third distro I tried (after Lindows and Xandros), but it was the first distro I was able to use effectively. The supporting documentation was the best I had found at the time. I'm not using PCLOS any more, for various reasons, but it was great for the three years I used it.
19 • Do we Need all the software on the install? (by Orc-Lee on 2011-02-14 11:39:09 GMT from United States)
Someone in a linux chat brought up an interesting idea:
Why do we have tons of software on the Debian and
*buntu derivative distro disks making them HUGE when
most of us have a decent enough connection to allow
the installer to download only what the user wanted.
There could be a second disk with any software the user
might want to install for anyone without a live
connection.
20 • Ubuntu Fonts (by CA G Rajesh on 2011-02-14 11:53:25 GMT from India)
Excellent move. Very pleasant to read too.
21 • Meego (by mik on 2011-02-14 11:53:59 GMT from Italy)
If Nokia is directed form an ex MS man,you really have expactation about meego?
Money rules....
22 • ubuntu font (by JG on 2011-02-14 11:55:09 GMT from Belgium)
I really like the new font, did it already in Ubuntu 10.10. So please keep it on distrowatch.com because it gives the site a nice distinct flavour.
23 • Font (by NK on 2011-02-14 12:05:37 GMT from United States)
I'm not a big fan of the new font, but perhaps it's because I'm not used to it. Maybe because it looks to me like a retro font from the late 70's early 80's.
24 • Oracle Linux 6 and @19 (by Don Sanderson on 2011-02-14 12:21:32 GMT from United States)
Oracle requires a paid subscription to the ULN if you want access to the repos for updates. RHEL 6 can be downloaded and used for free also (free trial) but uses the same subscription model.
Not sure about Oracle but RHEL has Yum pretty well 'locked down' and I've not managed to switch to CENT repos. I imagine Oracle is similar.
@19, Debian has a 'net-install' CD with just the base system, you can customise all you want from there.
Ubuntu has an 'alternate CD' and a 'server' install CD, both allow customisation pretty much down to package level.
You can also install Debian from just the first DVD and have all you need except for language packs.
25 • Ubuntu font (by Bitter on 2011-02-14 12:44:56 GMT from Germany)
Greate change.
26 • Font (by BD on 2011-02-14 13:28:53 GMT from United States)
I don't like the new font. When I first saw it a day or so ago, I thought something was wrong with the fonts on my system and tried to adjust them without success. I then found it was only this way on Distrowatch.
I don't know how it is supposed to appear, but on my systems it is a heavy boldface. I don't think the font is ugly but it causes me eye strain trying to read it.
I would definitely like to have the option to change it back.
27 • @17 (by Sol); AMD K6 (by cba on 2011-02-14 13:30:42 GMT from Germany)
Debian Lenny works on my AMD K6-III computer (with 384MB RAM).
You need these kernels:
http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/linux-image-2.6-486 (for Squeeze)
or
http://packages.debian.org/lenny/linux-image-2.6-486 (for Lenny)
CentOS4 works too (installed from CentOS 4.3 a long time ago).
If you install a 686(PPro/PII)-Lenny-Kernel on a AMD K6 machine you get the "cmov"-error:
"this kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU: cmov"
That's all.
I assume that the main problem of your laptop with regard to linux could be its low amount of RAM.
See
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch03s04.html.en
http://www.debian.org/releases/oldstable/i386/ch03s04.html.en
for minimum and recommended hardware requirements.
28 • Keep the ubuntu font (by Alejandro on 2011-02-14 13:42:39 GMT from Japan)
Keep the ubuntu font, it looks good.
29 • Thank you TexStar (by GreenWolf70 on 2011-02-14 13:45:27 GMT from United States)
When Vista came out I was desperate to get off MicroSoft train. PCLinuxOS was the Linux distro that helped me make the transition and I still use PCLOS on all of the PCs in my home network. Its the distro that I set up for my wife, who is very PC illerate and its the distro that I taught to my children to use. PCLOS is the distro I use to demonstrate Linux to my friends who are still stuck on using Windows and/or Mac and the first distro I recommend to anyone wanting to try Linux because it is always such a positive experience.
IMO, PCLOS is the easiest to use with best hardware detection of any Linux distro. Thank you TexStar for helping me break out of the MicroSoft trap and saving me from Vista. Over the years I've tried literally hundreds of distros but I've always come back to PCLOS because I have complete faith that it will work and work right without forcing me into the command line.
I hope PCLOS continues into the future because IMO it is the best desktop distro heading in the best direction to unseat MicroSoft.
30 • Oracle (by Scott on 2011-02-14 13:46:16 GMT from United States)
Oracle also has public repos which can be used.
http://public-yum.oracle.com/
31 • DWW topics (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 13:46:42 GMT from Canada)
While Sabayon is not to my tastes - (kitchen-sinK AND plumbing ?)
The review of Sabayon 5.5 illustrates how any impressions based on less than months of
daily use will be superficial at best
I.E. Re package managment - no mention was made of the distinctions between
utilities supplied or possible
http://wiki.sabayon.org/index.php?title=HOWTO:_Safely_mix_Entropy_and_Portage
Sabayon was derived from Gentoo, shares many basic principals
One is - a user may incorporate most any overlay of profiles or application installing/handling
they desire - even RPM tarballs
Default repositories accessed then depends on individual desires - e-builds of which
parent - use of binaries vs sources
There is far more to this than above - it is suggested a few hours spent researching
package Mgt. front-ends , Portato, Entropy, Paludis, Pkgcore etal
as well as "specific profiles" will lead to better understand the underlying
principals & differences inherent to sources based variants
That leads naturally to another topic "touched" upon by Jesse
He seems to share a basic misunderstanding of "why" compile your own
The speed factor is given predominence - while any may -or not, result;
the values gained have little to do with resultant size or "triming of fat"
of optional dependencies
Compiling own is to ensure all works as desired with users OWN hardware, methods of computer useaqe
Based on Jesse's views - he seemingly is far less esperienced in sources based OR use-specific variants
than the plethora of remixes, of desktop targeted distributions most discussed here
Further, a cursory test using "time" is no basis for accuraate bench-marking
Phoronix has a recent example of standards applied to Calculate Linux
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=calculate_gentoo_benchmarks&num=1
Now - it would be of interest to compare E.G. a BASIC pre-built binary offering such as Calculate CLS
vs Sabayon Core CDX
OTOH _ DWW is but one of many resources to pre-choose any
A distributions' home page often reveals which may appear to be best suited
FONT - oddly, Seamonkey doesn't look diferent but Konqueror, Chrome do
In those, the ubuntu font is highly disruptive to view
Too bold - Esp in relation to size
Example. italic is "pretty" but not practical for news feeds
What was wrong with Arial - Change just for change-sake is questionable justification
A font should be chosen that scales as desired, displays well on most if not all platforms
32 • Look at #27 (by Eduardo Z on 2011-02-14 13:51:13 GMT from United States)
Wow, the @ symbol is particularly ugly!
33 • Ubuntu Fonts - thumbs up. (by user on 2011-02-14 13:57:20 GMT from United States)
The new fonts look good on my systems. They do not look too bold here. I say keep them.
34 • font (by caffeineborg on 2011-02-14 13:58:01 GMT from United States)
Why not the Droid font?
35 • Oracle Public Repo (by Don Sanderson on 2011-02-14 14:01:27 GMT from United States)
@30:
http://public-yum.oracle.com/ offers only those things that are on the install media already.
Everything else (security fixes, etc) requires a subscription.
The FAQ found at the URL above explains it.
36 • Sabayon (by Sondar on 2011-02-14 14:02:36 GMT from United Kingdom)
Load Sabayon, think F.I.A.T. ! In the USA , they have a special interpretation for F.I.A.T. which fits Sabayon perfectly. If I disclose it however, Ladislav will ban me...
On that theme, Ladislav, how obtuse might one be without attracting your ire?! I ask because I used to like early versions of Vector. None of their recent releases will load on my bog std. kit, which has absolutely no trouble with any other distro. Draw your own conclusions.
37 • Old laptop #17 (by koroshiya.itchy on 2011-02-14 14:05:38 GMT from Belgium)
Correct me if I am wrong, but if you use Debian's netinstall image (you need a reasonably good internet connection) it should suggest you the best kernel for your laptop and then it will download that one.
38 • @17 (by Gustavo on 2011-02-14 14:05:40 GMT from Brazil)
@17
Did U try Zenwalk?
39 • artistx (by adrian on 2011-02-14 14:12:22 GMT from United States)
from the Artistx.org website...
"Based on Ubuntu Jaunty (10.04)"
that's interesting. I tried to register on their forum to notify the devs of this error, but the registration process is broken (invalid token or something).
This does not instill alot of confidence in the distro.
http://www.artistx.org/
40 • Old laptop #17 II (by koroshiya.itchy on 2011-02-14 14:16:08 GMT from Belgium)
With Debian netinstall you can also choose a light desktop such as XFCE or LXDE.
41 • Re. No.38 & Zenwalk (by Sondar, again on 2011-02-14 14:18:36 GMT from United Kingdom)
Ah yes, I used to like Zenwalk, but recent releases misbehave on some of my bog std. kit ...
Then there's Frugalware wading in at 4.2Gb .iso ! Should we complain to the Trading Standards Office under the Trade Descriptions Act?
42 • Oracle Linux 6 overreported (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 14:20:42 GMT from Finland)
The Oracle Linux 6 is overreported here ;)
It is of no use to users who wish to update the system without cost.
43 • Font (by pedro on 2011-02-14 14:26:07 GMT from United States)
...on a subjective note, i quite dislike the new font. already did so when i had seen it in ubuntu. on the one hand i totally agree on moving to an open source font, however, i would rethink which font to use.
44 • Meego, Nokia, MS, Intel (by Leo on 2011-02-14 14:33:41 GMT from United States)
Ok, you can follow the full saga here, in the COMMENTS section:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTA5Ng
In a nutshell (see the comments to the article, again)
* Nokia's CEO Elop, ex Microsoft exec, decided to side-track development of both Qt and Meego, and go full steam with Win7 in their smartphones
* The decision casts shadows on the future of Nokia, but it certainly brings somemarket share to a failing win7 mobile platform.
* Elop is the tenth biggest shareholder for MS, which makes his decision really questionable.
* NOKIA's stock collapsed the day of the announcement.
* Meego in netbooks seems dead
* Meego in other platforms will live on, strongly supported by Intel. Intel is disappointed at Nokia, but they are moving on.
* Qt might be forked if needed, but it doesn't seem to be happening overnight
45 • PCLinuxOS (by jmirles on 2011-02-14 14:36:25 GMT from United States)
It really saddens me that Susan Linton would write such an article about any distro without first checking her facts. I guess no one has never had a problem with their kids and thought, Damn they are a real PAIN!
Texstar was having a "real pain" moment and vented. Had Ms. Linton just done some homework, she would have found that out.
At least at the PCLinuxOS Forums they are showing a lot of restraint. They were actually laughing about it.
In spite of a terrible blog posting, work continues on the various versions of PCLinuxOS.
Ms. Linton, I hope that article is not an example of what to expect from you in the future. I have always enjoyed reading your posting here and elsewhere. Normally, your work is researched and validated.
Maybe you were having a "real pain" day yourself, eh?
Someone get Caitlyn Martin. It has been too quiet here!!
46 • PCLOS tempest in a tea cup (by One_Beerhunter on 2011-02-14 14:45:38 GMT from United States)
Sometimes it helps to consider the context of any given remark....
"Crap - the isp hosting PASS says they are restructuring and we will need to find a new home. This distro is becoming a major pain in the a$$".
http://twitter.com/iluvpclinuxos
Getting ready to push KDE 4.6.0 to the repos. I have a few more packages to rebuild against kde 4.6.0 but getting close. about 20 hours ago via web
KDE 4.6.0, seriously does this appear to be a dying distro?????
47 • #17 (by anticapitalista on 2011-02-14 14:53:20 GMT from Greece)
antiX-full, base or core. Just choose the iso ending in 486.
48 • Ubuntu Font (by Alex on 2011-02-14 14:54:35 GMT from United States)
Personally I don't like the Ubuntu font as the letter design (especially curves) is strange and the spacing sometimes make letters too close together, and thus harder to read. t's and f's especially do poorly since their crosses do not extend to the left-hand side. There's plenty of free fonts out there that achieve the same goal without the forced trying-to-be-different feel of Ubuntu's font.
49 • MeeGo (by mechanic on 2011-02-14 14:58:22 GMT from United Kingdom)
More information please! Are we wasting time with MeeGo on netbooks or not?
Maybe some journalist should interview the appropriate execs.
50 • @30; Oracle Linux (by cba on 2011-02-14 15:05:49 GMT from Germany)
It is rather useless for the majority of users (i.e. non-paying "customers"), without access to security updates:
"Where are the security updates and other errata?
A: This yum server only offers the packages already provided on the Oracle Linux and Oracle installation media. To access security updates and other patches or enhancements, you should use Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN). Access to ULN requires a valid Oracle Linux or Oracle VM support contract and Customer Support Identifier (CSI). To obtain a support contract, please contact your sales representative or make your purchase via the Unbreakable Linux Store".
http://public-yum.oracle.com/#a1
51 • font (by gumb on 2011-02-14 15:15:36 GMT from France)
I don't dislike the new font per se, and I appreciate a move to an open, non-MS font, but when reading blocks of more than a couple of lines I find myself having to concentrate more and it's not so easy on the eye. However, the copyright text and small print at the bottom of this page reads a little more clearly, so maybe it's the default size or even background colour of the main text that isn't so optimal.
It almost resembles a sort of left-to-right Hebrew.
52 • Ubuntu Font (by Ekin Akoglu on 2011-02-14 15:25:11 GMT from Turkey)
Old font is much better. Ubuntu font looks very shallow.
53 • Re: Sabayon KDE4.5 (by silent on 2011-02-14 15:26:07 GMT from France)
KDE 4.6 is simply much better than KDE4.5, so the mentioned crashes and desktop effect problems with KDE 4.5 were similar with any distribution, depending on the hardware. An upgrade to KDE 4.6 may not be easy though, cache and sometimes even configuration should be deleted.
54 • Font (by John on 2011-02-14 15:40:45 GMT from Canada)
I agree with #48 - find it hard to read
55 • Oracle Linux 6 (by Donnie on 2011-02-14 15:42:33 GMT from United States)
One slight clarification about Oracle Linux--Yes, it is free to download and use, as stated in the article. However, if you want to install any updates or install any new packages from the Oracle repositories, you have to pay a minimum of $119 US per year for the privilege. Until you pay, a "yum upgrade" or "yum install" will just return the message that you're not registered with the "ULN", or "Unbreakable Linux Network".
56 • Sabayon review from Jesse (by Rick on 2011-02-14 15:48:35 GMT from United States)
Jesse I'll take your "review" and disect it for you. Yes you are correct that
the writer of the site is not English. It's an Italian distro. One simple search
of distro watch would have clued you in on that. I'll give you the package
manager thing it can be a bit confusing to new users. However you complain about
the speed of Sulfur taking 3 to 4 seconds to react. I mean come on is three or
four seconds taking that much out of your life? If you want fast just drop to
the command line and be done with it. On your desktop 2.5Ghz with 2 GB of RAM
you complain of sluggishness. You have way more RAM than I do on my laptop which
is running Sabayon with full desktop effects and mine is zippy, not sure what
your configuration isses are. Also I wouldn't reccomend anyone trying to run a
full blown KDE based distro on 512 MB of RAM. Not sure what your issues are with
crashing but I have been running Sabayon updated since 5.4 on this laptop and only have had a
KDE app bomb once so it might have been a wonky install for you. I too have
Intel wireless and it works out of the box so again not sure what your issues
are there. By chance did you confirm the MD5SUM of the ISO? The one thing I can
say for you is that you at least stayed with the install for 5 days. That's more
than most reviewers do.
57 • Bodhi Linux (by Dan on 2011-02-14 15:55:21 GMT from United States)
I've been testing Bodhi for a week. It's a really cool distro. It's VERY minimal on the iso install. I had to install a few programs to make it truly useful for me (Abiword, GIMP, Gnome Games). But it's also really cool, since I don't have tons of programs I don't use (OpenOffice) clogging up my computer. If your computer works well with Ubuntu 10.04, it will work great with Bodhi. I will be dropping it, though, as my sound card is not supported (my computer was built right before 10.04 came out, and 10.04 also did not support sound, while 10.10 does).
58 • Free opf Charge vs Paid for Linux (by Eric Yeoh on 2011-02-14 16:00:28 GMT from Malaysia)
For those who use Linux to power their businesses, a support subscription will provide a peace of mind. I believe that software should be made free but free as in freedom not as in cost. If folks at Novell, RH or Oracle wants to charge for updates/support for their Enterprise distros, I think it is fair, seeing the efforts in QA/QC/packaging and supporting is just mind boggling.
59 • #36 FIAT-USA (by zygmunt on 2011-02-14 16:00:44 GMT from United Kingdom)
Interesting! I like the German rendering!
60 • Very Nice Font (by Eddie on 2011-02-14 16:02:06 GMT from United States)
I like the new font. It has a professional look and style about it. A nice improvement.
61 • Is frugalware Slackware derived? (by raymundo dionicio on 2011-02-14 16:02:27 GMT from Mexico)
On searching for Slackware based distros
Frugalware is not listed.
??
62 • the new font (by raymundo dionicio on 2011-02-14 16:15:16 GMT from Mexico)
It is a nice Arial font.
But arial fonts tend to be "very vertical"
offering few categorizing visual clues.
Not a problem for young eyes.
Maybe a problem for the babyboomers pack.
63 • Sabayon/ @56 (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 16:33:51 GMT from United Kingdom)
Sabayon is an Italian distro and had become loved by lot of users in the world, not only in the US or Canada. An Italian can make a mistake in English and he is allowed to do so. It is not the but the distro -Sabayon!
Sabayon is made out of Gentoo and proves that there are guys in the world, who can make a very decent distro! The music was there in the earlier Sabayons too, and it is not there just to prove that sound works, but it comes with nice music while waiting! And why not?
About Jesse's machines, he uses for testing are sort of break-prone stuff, and would better for all of us, if he buys some good machines, or repair his laptop. Most of us use laptops these days, so cranky review of a distro would not help at all!
'Adding, removing or updating software on Sabayon is a bit of a mixed experience.' This is not exactly true as Sulfur and Entropy work very well in all Sabayon distros up to date!
'While the distro will boot and login with 512 MB of RAM, I wouldn't recommend trying to run Sabayon with less than 1 GB of memory available.'
On what grounds Jesse is telling us that? On his breaking -down machines? Come on, give us a break!
Actually, I find the reviews in DWW are bit lame, sorry to say!
64 • Oracle Linux (by Landor on 2011-02-14 16:33:56 GMT from Canada)
The biggest point I see is the fact that Oracle Linux beat the other Red Hat rebuilds out of the starting gate. Although I will admit that Scientific Linux is a different build entirely, in my opinion at least.
I'm curious now to know if we'll see this trend continue in other products, as in features/releases of OpenOffice.org . I for one will be watching closely to see if a "Corporate Restrictive" project beats out a solely community driven one.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
65 • Ubuntu font (by Randall on 2011-02-14 16:56:33 GMT from United States)
While I appreciate the synergy between the biggest Linux news site using a font from the biggest Linux distro, I don't really like the way the site looks now. Aren't the Bitstream Vera/DejaVu and Liberation font families available under an open license? I prefer both of those.
66 • sabayon (by ukwarrior on 2011-02-14 16:56:44 GMT from United Kingdom)
Ive tried sabayon since it was called "RR something or other" back when dragons still roamed the earth- its always promised lots, included far too much by default- and is very buggy. Being used to debian sid- its much less stable than that. And as for rolling updates- doesnt take long before they no longer work... ive wasted too much time on sabayon in the past i feel no need to try the new version...
67 • Ubuntu font: great! (by Leo on 2011-02-14 17:02:45 GMT from United States)
Love it!
68 • Enterprise Linux use for free? (by Scott Dowdle on 2011-02-14 17:06:54 GMT from United States)
As has been pointed in several other comments, while Oracle Linux is free to download and install... it does require a paid subscription for access to the updates. The same is true for RHEL, although as also pointed out in a previous comment, it is referred to as a free trial. Novell also has a free download and use policy for SLES and yes, it too requires a paid support subscription to get the updates. For those who want updates... for any of those without paying... I guess you could install one release and then wait about 6 months or so for the update release, download the media for that, and upgrade.
There is nothing really new here. I believe Oracle Linux (although the name has changed with this release) always offered free download and use but required paid subscription to updates... although I don't care enough about it to do the research and provide links proving it.
So, for all of those complaining about CentOS taking so long to come out with CentOS 6, look how long it to Oracle.
69 • PureOS Live CD only? (by Shawn on 2011-02-14 17:09:28 GMT from United States)
I was messing with PureOS and I thought it odd it didn't have a live installer, especially being based on Debian Squeeze. I went through the menu structure and didn't find any "Live Install" icon anyhwere, so I did a Google search and saw it was only meant as a Live CD? Is there any way to install this distro? I definitely like it and with Ubuntu migrating towards Unity, I was thinking of switching to something different. PureOS looks good, but if push comes to shove, I might be moving on to Mint, Fedora or sticking full time with Arch.
I was just curious if there was a way to install this distro.. I was thinking of apt-get installing the livecd-installer, but wasn't sure if that'd be recommended.. not sure why it wouldn't seeing as how PureOS is based off of Squeeze. Just odd to find a Live CD-only distro out there when adding the install-live-cd option would take up what, less than 5 MB of disk space?
70 • New font (by Kevin on 2011-02-14 17:10:19 GMT from United States)
The new font is fine with me! I noticed it right away. It's a little different look since so many websites use the microsoft fonts, but it's refreshing and I appreciate the openness.
71 • frugalware (by abhifx on 2011-02-14 17:29:58 GMT from India)
i would love to see a review of frugalware on distrowatch
72 • PCLOS & Fonts (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 17:33:47 GMT from United States)
I certainly noticed that there didn't seem to be any updates rolling into my favorite distro for a while, but my patience was rewarded recently with some updates for KDE and various programs. I didn't check the forums or bug anyone, I just stuck with the programs that were already much newer than anything in Ubuntu and checked back every so often through my package manager. I don't know why people got so jumpy or are freaking out over some off handed comments, but I'm sticking with that independently developed little distro and have been more happy with it than any other Linux I've tried. Mint was nice for a while, but rolling with PCLOS just feels right to me.
As for the fonts in DWW, I didn't even notice until you mentioned it so it seems fine to me.
73 • Distros in the Linux world! (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 17:42:13 GMT from United States)
When the distro gets in the DWW list and the developers keep on sending new releases with slight changes, they keep the readers of DWW reminded of their distro, just like an ad in the TV. Some developers take quite a time to send in new releases lose TV-advert like remembrance, and the position of the DWW list falls.
Strangely, there is a distro named Moblin still hanging on the 98th position, while that distro is not there even in Moblin’s own website! It had been merged into MeeGo and now Meego is looking to release 1.2 version. MeeGo is in the 37th position. How come a non-active distro is still hanging in at any position of the DWW list?
Are we getting a real look of the Linux distro world by looking at the DWW list is the question?
1st in the list has 2104 hits, while the 5th has only 1154 hits, meaning practically 50% less!
The 10th in the list has only 661 hits, which means only ~31% from the 1st one.
The 50th in the list has only 173 hits, which is just 8,2%!
The 75th on the list has only 118 hits, which gives 5.6%!
The 100th has only 100 hits, which is 4.7% from the 1st!
Now, there is a question; is this DWW distro list is correct and show how the Linux world look like, or quite wrong?
What say you, readers?
74 • RE: 69 (by Landor on 2011-02-14 18:01:05 GMT from Canada)
It's beyond the scope of the comments section here, but what you want to do is uncompress the ISO image onto it's own partition then configure it to boot, change some other config files like networking (possibly) and such. If memory serves, you could chroot into the partition and install grub, etc.
As I said, it's possible, but beyond the scope here. I hope I've given you an idea, or ideas on what to look for to get it done.
Also, if you have the technical understanding, you might want to look at the Mepis installer to either us it, or to see how it's done. It basically does this if I'm not mistaken. Anti could clarify if I'm right or wrong on that one though.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
75 • RE: 69 & 74 (by Landor on 2011-02-14 18:08:05 GMT from Canada)
One thing I forgot and for me it's just common knowledge, Linux is Linux. If you have an ISO image and can uncompress it you can do anything with it that you can do with any other distribution. It's all files, it's all configurable. If you remember that you'll always be able to do everything in Linux.
Good Luck if you do try it.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
76 • New Font (by fjgaude on 2011-02-14 18:10:07 GMT from United States)
As a typeface and graphic designer I find the new font pleasing. Keep using it!
77 • Ubuntu Font (by Stanley M on 2011-02-14 18:26:07 GMT from Canada)
While I appreciate the use of an "open" font, the Ubuntu font does not work on large amount of text, it is good for captions though. A better replacement of Arial is Liberation Sans, not sure if it can be used freely as the Ubuntu font. Just my 2c.
78 • Thanks Landor ;) (by Shawn on 2011-02-14 18:33:55 GMT from United States)
Yeah, I'm fairly knowledgeable with Linux, I've built some LFS systems before, but like I said, I just found it odd that in 2011 there are Live CD-only options out there. Pretty uncommon. I'll figure it out ;) Thanks for the heads-up!
79 • PCLinuxOS, Bill Reynolds and one-man shows (by dave on 2011-02-14 18:58:46 GMT from United States)
This is mainly a rant and a hope for more collaboration on several GREAT projects as opposed to the current scenario, however you see it. My opinion of the current scenario, though "open" and free for choice is that there is an unbelievable amount of wasted effort. Distros come and go. People bitch about how many new ubuntu based distros there are. New developers make a distro, it isn't that great so they quit because of the flack they get for their efforts. Is there some way to give these guys something to work on that will further the Linux/BSD community over the long haul - obviously they are willing to roll up their sleeves and work. There are still no decent finance applications for Linux. Video and picture editing could improve a lot too.
As for Bill Reynold of PCLOS and similar projects... what do you expect ? I have liked PCLOS and Mepis on and off for years now. I have always wondered why these one-man shows (or nearly so) exist. Burnout will happen. We don't need and do not benefit from so many project off of other projects etc... though they are appreciated... don't get me wrong on that. But why not improve Mandriva and debian respectively rather than come up with a distro that will ultimately cause you to lose your mind, hair, stomach lining from the stress ? I am not singling them out... this is how Linux development seems to go as a matter of course.
simply put: Why don't the debian based distros contribute to debian more? RPM package maintainers - why don't you come up with an rpm package compatible with all RPM distros? - fedora, mandriva (PCLOS) and whoever else uses RPMs. Perhaps some collaboration on package managers would be good as well. I tried fedora and Opensuse and was appalled at how lame managing packages was compared to PCLOS and Mepis. YUM and Suse's package management is horrid in comparison, actually so is Mandriva's for that matter even though they have access to the SMART package manager developers. I always went back to one of those 2 distros (PCLOS, Mepis) until maintainer-guru fatigue set in. As much as I appreciate the efforts of the PCLOS and Mepis folks. Would any steady user honestly contend with my opinion that neither are as good as they used to be ?
I switched to the juggernaut Ubuntu, and lately the Mint debian.
Maybe someone could start a project to decide on the best package upgrade system/package manager. This is not like arguing for the best beer. If it is faster, makes fewer errors, breaks less often and is easy to use, IT IS BETTER, not an opinion but a fact. Yum and Suse and Mandriva have crappy package management, yet they all use RPM and none of the packages are compatible across distros. Does anyone else see this as being idiotic ? Not that hard contribute to the current best or design a new package manager and... and implement it across more distros. I remember the first distro that I ever got to work and enjoy - PCLOS .93 - having that synaptic interface was incredible coming from windows and killing myself trying to get previous distros I had tried to be more friendly that a coiled rattlesnake. Synaptic is awesome. I read somewhere that SMART can make fewer errors. I don't know.
80 • Gratis, paid and pop. (by forlin on 2011-02-14 19:01:39 GMT from Portugal)
58 • Free opf Charge vs Paid
I think that primarily, the DWW readers are home pc users. For enterprises it makes sense the paid subscription. Software is a tool that corporates need to use to make their profits. For home users, paid support isn't choking too, while by tradition most Linux OS offer is gratis. It's only a few distros listed in the DW database that are truly enterprise focused. Otherwise it would be better to keep them at a separate section, out of the DW site front page.
73 • Distros in the Linux world!
By observation the number of hits vary a lot with each release that is announced in the first page. The reason is because many users download the iso's when they know from DW they're available. In a less scale the hits also vary due to the visits at each of its database, where all the relevant data is stored. It's not and doesn't pretend to be an absolute tool to measure the distro's popularity, but as far as I know, its the only attempt . Its specially useful to show relative trends.
81 • RE: 73 (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 19:11:23 GMT from United States)
@73: Actually, yes, this is exactly what we would expect to see when it comes to distro popularity. It's called a power law distribution (sometimes called a Zipf or Pareto distribution), and it happens all the time (Web site popularity, word usage, page/document "reads"... the list is huge).
More info available at:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/zipf.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_law
82 • Interesting thoughts found elsewhere.. (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 19:11:32 GMT from United States)
" ...have come to believe that the tail has been wagging the dog for too long. We upgrade our corporate systems because we have budgets we have to use, we upgrade our personal systems because… well, to be frank, we feel left out if we don’t.
“In car terms, it’s time to get rid of that expensive Jaguar or Mercedes and buy a Mini Metro/2 CV/Honda instead.”
And you know what, if we all do that, I think that we’ll find it is cheaper to run, will go wrong less often, be easier to fix when it does go wrong and more fun (and easier) to use, as well."
Have look at the Oracle download site, and you'd be surprised at the size of the iso files - 3GB upwards. Have a look at the Debian download page, the size of the files is astonishing!
How come such tiny distros like Lupu 5.2, Austrumi do the same work with so much less hassle?
These tiny tots have everything in them, DE/WM, word processors, paint, Gimp, etc and
also few games. But the large ones don't have even them!
83 • @ Forlin form Portugal (by Fern on 2011-02-14 19:24:11 GMT from United Kingdom)
think # 73 is correct in his observation about the validity of DWW distro lists.
I think the DWW distro list just sucks!
84 • New font (by Jozsef on 2011-02-14 19:27:51 GMT from United Arab Emirates)
I like the new Ubuntu font better than Arial or any other default (Microsoft) font. By the way there are a lots of other free fonts available for usage on websites: http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fontface
Best,
Jozsef
85 • Refer to post # 79 (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 19:50:31 GMT from Canada)
History is convoluted, facts get confused, mis-represented
Much the same opinion has been voiced here ^ elsewhere for years
But that is lacking insights from the *sources themselves -
~ The *originators
Driving forces vary - many started life as an individuals hobby,
unsatisfied with staus quo - or as a learning experience
Bio-diversity is natural & desireable
Whatever the facts - as mere users or onlookers, we can only make often unsubstantiated often wild guesses
The whole point - it is a freely licensed source, to use as desired
If you read recent DW topics -there IS an effort underway for all distributions to address repositories in a unified manner
There already IS a "system" > FOSS - who would want any mandated set of limitations
86 • fonts (by gustavo on 2011-02-14 19:50:37 GMT from Brazil)
"While I appreciate the use of an "open" font, the Ubuntu font does not work on large amount of text, it is good for captions though."
I agree. Reading all comments causes a little stress on eyes.
87 • @ 64 (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 20:05:31 GMT from United States)
The biggest point I see is the fact that Oracle Linux beat the other Red Hat rebuilds out of the starting gate. Although I will admit that Scientific Linux is a different build entirely, in my opinion at least.
Scientific is currently in Beta 3 with RC 1 due either this week or next. No one knows when CentOS 6 or even 5.6 will come out due to no communication.
At $119/year/system, Oracle Linux is a steal compared to RHEL (per CPU, not system).
88 • New font (by pfcuttle on 2011-02-14 20:13:03 GMT from Canada)
The font change is refreshing, but I disagree with the current choice.
As previously mentioned, the Ubuntu Font is great for captions, but strainful for full-length paragraphs. My largest concern comes from the "m" and "n" shapes.
May I suggest another sans-serif font, maybe something with more weight and better readability.
89 • Sabayon and stuff... (by davemc on 2011-02-14 20:17:41 GMT from United States)
Sabayon was the distro I started out with, and I think it was a great way to go for that. Its constant instability and breakages forced me to learn linux in ways I never would with Ubuntu, even though that Distro is unstable, it is far far more stable than Sabayon was back then, and I am sure still is. Back then, I had been constantly finding incorrectly set USE flags all over the place which lead to most of the problems. Ultimately I just installed Gentoo and created my own (properly coded) overlay which matched Sabayon's in almost every way. I never had any stability issues after that. However, using pure Gentoo was a hassle and VERY time consuming. That is where Sabayon comes in, IMO. Where it takes hours and sometimes tens of hours to compile a Gentoo install and setup your overlay, Sabayon takes 20 minutes and your up and running. Their package manager allows an either/or approach and makes it easy, so if you want to stick with compiling everything, you can, and if your sick of that then you can go strait binary. Sabayon is definitely in need of a more conservative release policy though, perhaps one closer to the Debian style where you only release when ready and when all RC bugs have been fixed. The issues surrounding both Distro's eventually lead me to seek greener pastures.
Linux critics and Distro reviewers.. The review done this week on Sabayon was a decent read, as they usually always are on DWW. You take them with a grain of salt and every now and then you learn something. Too many people try to poke holes in even the good reviews like this weeks, unjustifiably IMO. It was an honest review of his experiences and I think it was well done. He did not say anywhere that he was writing a definitive authoritative article on everything there is to know about Sabayon. He did not say that his experiences were even normal or typical of an average Sabayon install. He just reiterated what happened to him. Hey, nothing wrong with that and I thought it was nice to see how Sabayon has progressed since I last used it.
PCLos - I seriously doubt Tex is going anywhere. He was just venting his frustrations. In any event, PCLos and MEPIS will never die, they will just fork. We see this happening quite a bit these days with the Oracle fiasco and soon OpenSUSE if the takeover gets nasty, as I suspect it will.
90 • The Ubuntu Font (by uz64 on 2011-02-14 20:31:09 GMT from United States)
IMO it's crap, but I can't argue with trying to go all "free".
91 • Regarding fonts (by Scott Dowdle on 2011-02-14 20:43:02 GMT from United States)
The impression given is that there are only two things to pick from... Microsoft fonts and the Ubuntu font. That certainly is not the case. Red Hat licensed and released the Liberation fonts several years ago and the idea there was to provide free replacements for the Microsoft fonts. Most all distros have added the Libertation fonts to their distros.
So far as what font you use on distrowatch.com, I really do not have a preference. Watch the documentary entitled Helvetica. You can actually stream it on Netflix (PITA Silverlight required). A comment made in the movie is that slightly harder to read fonts affect the brain in such a way that oen remembers better when one has to do more work... and that easier to read fonts make the material less memorable. I don't know if I buy their somewhat unscientific claim or not.
92 • The Ubuntu Font (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 20:47:24 GMT from United States)
the Ubuntu font is really hard to read in large text blocks as commented earlier. I would prefer to see a serif font, it's easier for the eyes to track. So perhaps the Droid Serif font?
I like the thought of a non MS font for the Linux based weekly news.
93 • Freedom To Choose (by mtttmslpnn on 2011-02-14 20:51:32 GMT from Finland)
"Would you prefer the option to revert back to the old style sheets (which had Arial as the default font)?"
Yes.
94 • RE post # 89 - more "stuff" ? (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 20:53:26 GMT from Canada)
Though much of the points raised have merit - we part company on:
" Too many people try to poke holes in even the good reviews like this weeks, unjustifiably IMO"
" It was an honest review of his experiences and I think it was well done"
As a representative of DWW - any review is sought for many reasons
Obstensively, to inform a potential user of inner workings
Less that would just be an advisory of release
Why do Dww readers critique any- IMO they want more information before delving further
What then is the value of any comments section - if not to evaluate usefullness
If only opinions were wanted, why bother to read the topics or comments sections
An example of motives - subjective evalutations posted, noting assertions that were
not clarified:
" even though that Distro is unstable, it is far far more stable than Sabayon was back then,"
" and I am sure still is.
"Back then, I had been constantly finding incorrectly set USE flags all over the place"
See the corrollary -
95 • SabaYAWN & Keep the new fonts (by Johnson&Johnson on 2011-02-14 20:57:24 GMT from United States)
I've tried Sabayon several times in the past and found it quite slow , sluggish, and a huge install to boot.
KEEP THE NEW FONTS! They look great.
96 • Fonts (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 21:09:51 GMT from Finland)
Do all of you actually let someone else decide your browser font?
97 • 69 • PureOS Live CD only (by Flip on 2011-02-14 21:32:34 GMT from United States)
you have to be logged in as root in order to see the installer should be at the bottom of your menu the live cd will run as quest so you have to logout and back in as root this is the way it used to be I dont know maybe they changed it but it is worth a try.
98 • Post # 96 (by Anonymous on 2011-02-14 21:37:39 GMT from Canada)
Best comment of week -
Ladislav - before coming to any conclusion Re font use:
The true test of any tool, does it get the job done - In an unobtrusive manner
If attention gets diverted to the tool -
In communications, the message is often lost
How many can recall objections to any font used previously
Any who dislike can (as above noted) change this behavior, BUT
the "tool" then has distracted
Consider it Ergonomics of I.T. effectiveness
99 • sabyon (by pera on 2011-02-14 21:52:43 GMT from Serbia)
It seems sabayon is still buggy. I tried out it several times,and always something went wrong .
100 • PureOS Live CD (Root Access to Install) (by Shawn on 2011-02-14 22:02:56 GMT from United States)
Thanks for the tip, Flip! That was exactly what I was looking for. I must be getting old and/or lazy, I didn't even think to check by logging in and out of the root account to see what was in the root menu structure.. but there it is, right underneat the "Other" category. :)
Now I'm at a tossup between Mint Debian Edition and PureOS. Guess it's all Debian underneath, so it won't really matter. :)
101 • Nokia's fiasco, Font (by Patrick on 2011-02-14 22:17:32 GMT from United States)
@Nokia going to bed with Microsoft:
What a dumb move! The latest in many. I have a strong opinion on the whole matter because I have been involved in Maemo/MeeGo for quite a while and it all seems to be going to waste. :( What a shame.
Since my complete opinion on the matter would have been way to long to clutter up the comments section here, I wrote it up in a blog post that can be found here:
http://achanceofbrainshowers.com/2011/2/14/nokia_microsoft/
@Fonts:
I have to agree with the people who say it isn't great for large amounts of text. I think the font looks really cool in small amounts. I like it as the system font on my Ubuntu system. But I do think it makes reading the site harder, which is too bad. I hope you'll consider trying another free font. Maybe try a different one every week and see how many people complain each time. :)
102 • Re. #79 and the thought about contributing to parent distributions more (by Brian Masinick on 2011-02-14 22:24:28 GMT from United States)
In response #79, Dave asks "simply put: Why don't the debian based distros contribute to debian more? RPM package maintainers - why don't you come up with an rpm package compatible with all RPM distros?"
Dave, the answers are really complicated, but to put it simply, there are many different opinions about "the right way" or the best way" to do things. In traditional commercial software, some approach always wins out. Usually it is the cheapest or fastest approach, the one that brings the product to market and can start earning revenue the fastest. But in "Free Software", freely available software, there is the freedom of choice, whether it makes the most sense, whether it is the fastest, slowest, coolest, most compatible, or simply that it scratches one person's itch, what difference does it make? It is the freedom to be able to make that creation - and to either choose to share it - or even not to share it - that make it unique - and valuable - even if only to a small audience.
At times, there may be benefits to attempting to reach some synergy, collaboration and cooperation between efforts that are similar, effectively performing the exact same task, just in a different way. When the parties involved, of their own choice, choose to share their ideas, their development talents, and their code, that's fine. For the most part, the code is open and available. It can be readily copied, in most cases, as long as the original author is properly cited and recognized. Most of the time, such copying is ENCOURAGED; that is the whole point of FREE software - the idea of sharing source code. The original authors want to be properly cited and recognized for their algorithms. As long as they are recognized, sharing and reusing code is fine.
Try to TELL somebody how to do something, however, and 99% or more of the time you will be met with incredible resistance, more likely to start a war than to foster increased collaboration. OFFERING to share an idea or an algorithm, and then allowing others to choose whether or not to use any part of it, that seems to be the model more likely to work in the free software landscape. That's the part I'd be inclined to use. Try to tell me or force me into anything, and my natural inclination will be to resist it. Offer to share it with me, and I may be quite open to the suggestions.
Think about that approach. But remember Vi versus Emacs, GNOME versus KDE, Linux versus BSD, and numerous other "wars" back and forth. Level minds will use ideas from ALL of them, but to this day, we see these wars persist because each of them, in their own minds, have THE BEST ideas, and "how dare" anyone suggest otherwise! :wink:
103 • Ubuntu font - thumbs up! (by Luke on 2011-02-14 22:29:50 GMT from United States)
Another up vote for the usage of the Ubuntu font. I actually installed it on Arch several months ago and use it many places, including writing my NaNoWriMo novel in FocusWriter. I actually didn't notice it here right away because I'm used to reading it. Certain aspects of it are unexpected, but I find it very pleasant. I'm interested to see how the monospace Ubuntu font turns out, as a possible replacement for my terminal and vim fonts.
But, if too many people don't like it, there is always Bitstream Vera/DejaVu, or Liberation as another poster suggested.
104 • Font (by nonoitall on 2011-02-14 22:52:36 GMT from United States)
Like many others, I appreciate the attempt at using a free font, but it really is a strain for me to read large blocks of text with it. Perhaps there could be a selection of fonts like Ubuntu and some of the Liberation fonts (as well as the original Arial) that users could choose from?
105 • Centos 6 (by Dan on 2011-02-15 00:34:52 GMT from United States)
I'm guessing it will release in October 2011. :)
Anyways, I'd love to try it once it is finally done. I'm not paying Red Hat hundreds for a Linux distro, so I'm in wait mode. I'd try Centos 5, but I'm 99% sure it won't be compatible with my laptop.
106 • Fonts (by MHHP on 2011-02-15 00:48:01 GMT from Sweden)
Did not notice the font change at first, since I've set my browser to not allow sites to use their own fonts. When trying the new DWW choice of the ubuntu font out, I got a headache - way to condensed, boldish, for larger blocks of text, as already reported above. Back to DejaVu for me :). /Cheers
107 • fonts (by sparkythewondersquid on 2011-02-15 01:15:15 GMT from United States)
I think its a great move to the Ubuntu font me like
108 • re # 17 antiX on a K6 II Toshiba laptop (by gnomic on 2011-02-15 01:35:10 GMT from New Zealand)
Have had a live CD session of antiX 8.5 486 base running on a Toshiba 2100 laptop with iirc a 400MHz K6 II CPU and 192MB RAM for 150+ days (Er, don't ask why, I guess at this stage it's just because I can :-) It all began when I was trying out a few distros to see what would run - antiX won overall. Obviously a machine of this vintage is no speed demon and will be marginal for today's web, but still usable for some computing tasks. Have been able to connect to a network via a Xircom ethernet card in the PCMCIA slot, and via wireless with an ath5k SMC wireless card.
109 • PcLinuxOS is awesome! (by Anonymous on 2011-02-15 01:37:28 GMT from United States)
I love Pclinuxos! It's the only distribution that I can actually stick with. I am presently running the E17 edition and loving it, although I get a kernel panic when I boot now. I'm going to reinstall in a moment.
110 • PCLinuxOS: Oh how I love you! (Valentines day special) (by Doug on 2011-02-15 02:25:06 GMT from Australia)
Hi,
I have used PCLinuxOS for many years. It has had its ups & downs (as have many other Linux Projects). Currently it is experiencing a blip, but that will be overcome. I emailed my ISP, but as yet they haven´t updated their mirror correctly. In the meantime, I have selected another from the recommended list (The Speed test performs this function admirably, pointing out the fast current repositories).
The reason I have stayed with PCL is that there is a fantastic support community, a monthly Magazine (which I have done some proofreading on: great way to learn, & assist at the same time), and the old adage that ´everything just works´. I have tried other distros, & found that I did not meld well with them, whereas PCL seems to have everything I need.
Keep up the good work please Bill Reynolds.
To add something about Financial Packages, I have used Gnucash for many years. It too has its holes, & blips in the development, but it has never let me down. I wish there was a module to handle Australian GST (a local value added tax), but as Australia is a dot on the world stage, I will need to wait for that. (in the meantime, GST is handled manually, but managed in Gnucash)
regards Doug (clinging to the bottom of the world, but we are still here!: Of course it depends on perspective: maybe you people are on the bottom?)
111 • Frugalware (by robg on 2011-02-15 03:12:59 GMT from United States)
I would really like to see some articles on frugalware as well. There's not much hype about this release and I'm very curious about it personally. sounds like a cross between slackware and arch so I'm extremely interested.
Also the ubuntu fonts look fantastic!
112 • Wow (by Anonymous on 2011-02-15 03:45:52 GMT from United States)
Squeeze is released last week- DWW Headline is SalineOS. How insulting to the Debian project.
Cut DW a break, I'm thinking. It's just been released.
This week, Headline News Saboyan 5.5!
Amazing.
Blowin' it, DW.
113 • RE: 112 Wow (by ladislav on 2011-02-15 04:07:21 GMT from Taiwan)
Debian 6.0 comes on 8 DVDs - that's over 31 gigabytes of data. If you prefer a light, superficial review that touches on the installer and takes a quick look at the GNOME desktop, we can do that for you. However, if you prefer a thorough, comprehensive and high-standard article on the latest release of the world's largest Linux distro, you'll have to show a bit more patience.
114 • Reference: #17 Old lappy with K6-II Re: #27, #37, #38, #40, #47, #108 (by Sol on 2011-02-15 04:18:47 GMT from United States)
Regarding my post #17, about the old laptop with an AMD K6-II 450MHz CPU and finding a Distro that works.
#27 cba, That is the error, thank you for the info. I'll keep it handy.
#37 & #40 koroshiya.itchy, I downloaded the net install to try.
#38 Gustavo, Haven't tried that yet.
#47 anticapitalista & #108 gnomic, Tried AntiX 8.5 for 486 first, due to Mepis' good reputation. It worked live, then installed, and works. I'm wary about updates though, so am only updating things outside the kernel and Xorg.
Thank you much to everyone who helped! I hope I didn't forget anyone.
115 • PCLinuxOS Full Monty (by Anonymous on 2011-02-15 04:26:44 GMT from Mexico)
PCLOS is my distro of choice too, I'm just curious how Linton's article made his way to Distrowatch and the release of PCLinuxOS Full Monty didn't deserve a line? maybe is not for every taste but I installed it for some friends and they are really happy with it.
Or maybe it was featured and I missed it? I don't come here too often
116 • Thank You from Bodhi Team (by Jeff Hoogland on 2011-02-15 04:32:27 GMT from United States)
On behalf of the Bodhi team I'd just like to say thank you for adding us to the listings.
For all those that want to help - give the disc a spin and let us know what can be improved!
Regards,
~Jeff Hoogland
117 • The Fonts and RE:116 (by Landor on 2011-02-15 04:45:49 GMT from Canada)
I figure this is the best way to measure how well the fonts are received are not. It's similar to comment-reviews of products, the majority will be biased by some poor experience. The people who have no problems with whatever it is are rare to comment. So I'd calculate how many people said they didn't like it, what about 20 roughly? A bit more? Then Subtract that from the number of unique visitors today (in the tens of thousands) and come up with your answer on how well the font has been received (obvious answer there in my opinion). Another way to further calculate it from your stats is if the numbers drop off heavily while the font is being used. If not, it's a non-issue.
I believe it's a non-issue anyway since it's your site. Tell the vocal minority to kya. :)
#116
"For all those that want to help - give the disc a spin and let us know what can be improved!"
We have a saying here, don't know if it's the same in the USA, or anywhere else in the world for that matter: "Cough, cough, bull$%#^"
I know that from firsthand experience.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
118 • I couldn't resist... (by Landor on 2011-02-15 04:52:12 GMT from Canada)
"although I get a kernel panic when I boot now. I'm going to reinstall in a moment."
hahahaha!!!!
This really is an MS attitude. One reason I consider specific distributions 'kiddy distributions'.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
119 • What font change? (by RollMeAway on 2011-02-15 05:50:41 GMT from United States)
Like #106 and a couple of other hinted at, choose your own fonts!
In firefox choose Edit->Preferences->Content->Advanced
Uncheck the box:
"Allow pages to choose their own fonts ....."
and select the fonts that please you, on your system.
Without doing this, half the pages across the web are almost unreadable.
120 • @17 Low resource laptop k6-II (by RollMeAway on 2011-02-15 05:56:15 GMT from United States)
Give slitaz a try?
http://www.slitaz.org/en/doc/releases/3.0/relnotes.en.html
Start by reading the "Supported Hardware" section.
121 • Package manager (by djohnston on 2011-02-15 06:40:43 GMT from United States)
@ #79,
If you'd like to try a Mandriva-based distro which uses SMART package manager, look no further than Unity Linux.
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=unity
Personally, I'll stick with PCLinuxOS's apt4rpm.
122 • Sorry ladislav (by Anonymous on 2011-02-15 07:35:16 GMT from United States)
Seems like all the reviews are relatively light and superficial since you stopped writing them. Why give Debian any special treatment?
(Tongue firmly in cheek.)
123 • Sabayon review (by mikkh on 2011-02-15 09:18:44 GMT from United Kingdom)
I tried it myself yesterday and I'm still running it now
I went for the Gnome version though because I find KDE 4 less than perfect in any distro and basically don't want to know about it any more.
Nice easy install as mentioned in the review, with lots of options for the bootloader.
After tweaking the interface more to my liking (can't stand both top and bottom tasbars) and removing silly items like a battery meter for a desktop! I set about investigating what software I had.
I've used Sabayon before and it's always been a bit over the top in included software, but that's not necessarily a bad thing and does save time in the long run.
As for the media center, can't comment on that as I have no use for such a 'feature' A computer is a computer as far as I'm concerned and watching TV or playing DVD's is best on the proper equipment.
The FSF will no doubt be wringing their hands in despair at Sabayon's inclusion of both Adobe Flash and Sun Java or even Firefox, which seems to be persona non grata in a lot of distros nowadays, being replaced by 'ice weasel' or 'ice cat'
All good so far for me, I want a usable OS where everything works and I had no problems with sound or anything else in Sabayon either
Having suffered compile from source misery in another Gentoo variant recently (Toorox) Sabayon seemed lightning fast by comparison because it uses binary packages.
Maybe you should re-review it using the Gnome version
124 • re:98, Not the case this time out. (by Eddie on 2011-02-15 13:11:32 GMT from United States)
"The true test of any tool, does it get the job done - In an unobtrusive manner
If attention gets diverted to the tool -
In communications, the message is often lost
How many can recall objections to any font used previously
Any who dislike can (as above noted) change this behavior, BUT
the "tool" then has distracted"
Usually this is the case but this does not apply to this weeks DWW. Attention was brought to the change of the font and an opinion and discussion was asked for. You are correct in your assessment otherwise but this time the distraction was asked for and thus does not apply.
125 • Bodhi Linux (by Ifpal on 2011-02-15 13:40:29 GMT from United Kingdom)
Jeff, your Bodhi Linux is good, very good! So, notwithstanding negative reviews from reviewers, who really can't make a distro, keep on doing what you like to do and make Bodhi Linux one of the mainstream, have to have distro. Good luck!
126 • Font (by Patrick on 2011-02-15 14:58:22 GMT from United States)
Hey, the font is back to "normal". Whatever it is, I find it much easier to read! :)
127 • Re: 117 (by Dan on 2011-02-15 15:40:36 GMT from United States)
Landor,
You've used Bodhi and been turned away? Just curious. I've gotten lots of help from their guys. I also got my sound to work after posting about it here. I post on LinuxQuestions a lot and have gotten great responses that have helped me out.
128 • Wireless card (by Jesse on 2011-02-15 15:51:00 GMT from Canada)
Over the past few weeks I've had a few people ask if my Intel wireless card works at all and, if so, on which distros. A commenter above suggested I should go purchase new test hardware rather than do reviews on broken equipment.
My laptop's wireless card works just fine when the distribution is up to the task. Typically Ubuntu supports my wireless card without any hassle, as does Mint. The Knoppix live disc also has no trouble detecting and using the card. Fedora has been hit or miss over the past few releases.
The card is fine, the problem lies with the distributions which, for one reason or another, do not properly support it. I'm not going to switch to different test hardware to match the distribution I'm testing. That would completely defeat the purpose of the test. When you crash test cars you don't make the wall softer so the car can get a better safety rating.
If a distro works for you and you're happy with it then that's great. I'm not telling you what you should or should not use, I'm relating my experiences and impressions on my equipment.
129 • RE: 127 (by Landor on 2011-02-15 16:11:30 GMT from Canada)
I read a lot of hype/interest here about it. I honestly don't believe it's that great of a project. I also don't believe that the lead of the project doesn't know that much about Linux or he would have fixed some of the problems that have been part of it for months.
Anyway, I did a review of it and let him know. I received ignorance in response. Not the congenial, mild-mannered kindness he's trying to profess here. Here's his response to me.
"All I have to say though is that 90% of your complaints/issues are about Enlightenment features themselves. To each their own, if you don’t like Enlightenment – then don’t use an Enlightenment based distro."
Now you might not find that as offensive. First off, I actually do like Enlightenment. I don't know how long he's been around now, his blogs and stuff came under my radar a year or two ago. But I've liked (and worked with off and on) E-17 for about 5 or so years now. Also, almost every issue I spoke of that he said were E-17 features he fixed. Does that sound like E-17 features? lmao! That one really made him look like a tool. He didn't like my response and told me not to use E-17 distributions. As well, as I've said, some of the problems were still present a week or two ago when I checked. One glaringly so right off the hop.
So yes, he wants feedback, as long as it's planted with a firm wet kiss on his A$$.
----
For the person who commented about someone who can't build a distribution. I hope you're not referring to me. Bodhi is only a remaster and numerous times I've built my own distribution for personal projects/needs that were either a remaster, or a build from the ground up. I'm far from impressed by someone just because they can remaster something. Anyone in the community can do it now. See how many remasters are made of Ubuntu as a reference. That alone makes your comment a joke and shows you know little about the ease of doing so. Which in turn shows you know little about Unix-like operating systems in general.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
130 • Bodhi, font, and Frugalware.... (by Neal on 2011-02-15 16:36:14 GMT from United States)
First of all, Congrats Bodhi team....very nice distro. I tried it out on my IBM A20P old...old laptop and it all went well other than no sound. It was fun tinkering with it.
I have the new "Ubuntu" font on my Linux boxes at home on DW but at work, its the same font as it used to be on W/Vista....weird.
As for Frugalware, I've been asking for a quick look at this one for a year or more......its very interesting to say the least and not for noobies.
Also, DWW....thanks for looking at Sabayon 5.5.
131 • Re 129 (by Jeff Hoogland on 2011-02-15 18:25:37 GMT from United States)
Sorry about that comment Landor, we all have bad days - that was one of my own.
As for the comment about the remaster... Beyond that we are doing a fair amount of package compiling and improving E17 itself with a couple of developers on our team. Say what you will though.
Thanks for all the kind mentions from everyone else - keep a look out for our RC2 release this coming weekend.
Cheers,
~Jeff Hoogland
132 • Have a good day! (by Bye, Bye! on 2011-02-15 19:53:05 GMT from United States)
Hello Jesse,
Now you can delete last 4 entries and this one! Have a good day!
133 • Sabayon & Bodhi (by Kory Ip on 2011-02-15 21:26:40 GMT from Canada)
First time posting here ...
1. I've been using Sabayon on and off since late 3.x / early 4.0 ... this distro is slow and sluggish but "interesting" so I don't mind to waste a few DVDs to check them out every now and then, although personally I won't use it on my production desktops at of this writing.
Also a word for those Sabayon lovers - sure I can always upgrade my PC/laptop to a bigger, faster, better one, but why do I want to run a sluggish distro when I can put those new found CPU cycles in good use ?
---
2. Bodhi RULES !!!!!! I've been using this distro on an HP thin client laptop for a week now and am loving it !!!!! Great job Bodhi team.
Since the laptop pre-loaded with XP-Embedded, I am running Bodhi on a 2GB Live-USB with persistent enabled. Loaded up with a few other apps that I needed to administer my systems and now I have a beautiful but light-weight USB live distro that I can count on. Not sure what kind of bugs other people were talking about because so far I still haven't seen any.
Oh, Bodhi is able to detect and use both Broadcom Ethernet and 11b/g card; plus the sound works too. :-)
134 • Tiny Core is suitable for all computers (by Tiny User on 2011-02-15 22:58:43 GMT from Australia)
The Distrowatch website says Tiny Core is "suitable for older computers with limited resources."
Tiny Core is suitable for all types of computers.
Tiny Core users would like to see this corrected on this website.
After installing Tiny Core, you can choose which applications to install. Most people install the same applications as other common Linux distros.
A small minority of users have older computers, and may install applications which use less resources.
Tiny Core is suitable for all types of computers.
135 • Ubuntu font (by Fewt on 2011-02-15 23:01:34 GMT from United States)
@Distrowatch - Thanks for changing the comment font back, it was seriously hard to read after switching to the Ubuntu font. :D
136 • @134 (by Don Sanderson on 2011-02-15 23:20:51 GMT from United States)
Tiny User; This is from TinyCore's own website:
"Tiny Core is:
* Very Small. At 10 megabytes, Tiny Core is 1/400 to 1/100 the size of the most widely used operating systems in the world (even compared to most Linux distros). That makes Tiny Core flexible enough to be stored and run from a dusty old laptop, old usb sticks, a just-about-full CD, or even non-traditional devices and embedded systems like mobile phones and hand-held hardware."
This gives one the impression it is especially suitable for older hardware.
DW lists it in 3 categories: 'Desktop', 'Live Medium' and 'Old Computers'. I'd say they have it covered.
Personally I've used it from a USB stick on very old to very new machines.
A fine and unique distro.
137 • re #128 the case of the mystery Intel wifi (by gnomic on 2011-02-16 00:03:01 GMT from New Zealand)
Go on, tell us what the wifi card is exactly? Enquiring minds want to know - well this one does anyway. Also, it would be interesting to know what networking utility is involved when the card is not detected, With wicd for example I sometimes find that a wifi interface is not specified out of the box, eg as eth1 or wlan0 or whatever the case may be. Once the wifi interface gets a name in wicd, bingo! So in such a case the OS has done its part, but the user is required to set a minor config detail in the gui utility. Going a step further, it would be interesting to know whether for example wifi networking is not happening because required firmware is absent. In my humble opinion such details would enhance the quality of your reviews. Saying that wifi didn't work because ceni or wicd or NetworkManager didn't see the interface, or mentioning that required firmware was not provided, would be more helpful for readers than the bare statement that the intel wifi card of type unknown was not detected which tends to pose more questions than it answers.
138 • Font (by octathlon on 2011-02-16 01:33:05 GMT from United States)
I guess I missed seeing the Ubuntu font before it was switched, so I can't offer an opinion on that. But whatever font is being used now, the capital F for example is out of proportion and distracting, the E too. There is not enough white space between lines in proportion to the text size, making it hard to read long paragraphs. Maybe a more normal-proportioned font could be found?
139 • Font name in CSS (by Stanley M on 2011-02-16 04:47:36 GMT from Canada)
The font name "Liberation Sans" needs to be doubled quoted in the CSS to take effect, this applies to all font names with spaces in them.
140 • Sabayon WIFI (by Joost Ruis on 2011-02-16 09:15:57 GMT from Netherlands)
@Jesse
I didn't see you file a bug report.
http://bugs.sabayonlinux.org/
Regards.
141 • eeePC (by Tom on 2011-02-16 12:45:57 GMT from United Kingdom)
Hi :)
Anyone know of a good distro for running an eeePC?
1Gb RAM, 1.66GHz Intel Atom N270
Ubuntu Netbook Edition 9.10 works (apart from wireless but that got fixed) but more recent ones don't (tried last week). Mint doesn't work "out of the box" either.
Auroraos used to be called eeeUbuntu and Meego might be worth trying? Any other ideas?
Regards from Tom :)
142 • @141 (by Fewt on 2011-02-16 13:12:34 GMT from United States)
Aurora is still in beta, but that shouldn't stop you from testing it. Also check out Fuduntu (http://www.fuduntu.org).
143 • #141 eeePC (by octathlon on 2011-02-16 14:21:01 GMT from United States)
I love Easy Peasy on my eee701. It's based on the previous Ubuntu Netbook Remix (NOT Unity), and it has a custom kernel and setup so all hardware and function keys work correctly.
144 • RE: 141 (by Landor on 2011-02-16 15:14:36 GMT from Canada)
Tom,
Why chase something that has some craptastic interface? It's a computer right, albeit a mobile one, treat it like one. My 1005HA only gets a standard desktop installed on it. There's something to say for the same experience across multiple devices. People reinvent the wheel just because they think they should, which is never a good reason.
Hardware isn't an issue with the 1005HA that I've found, not anymore. You neglected to say which model of Eee you were needing this for as well. The model a world of difference, you should know that already, as if I recall you've said you're highly experienced in the computer field.
So anyway, Any standard distributrion should pretty well support the majority of Eee PC models. Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, Mandriva, Ubuntu proper, etc...
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
145 • Re #17 and #141 (by imnotrich on 2011-02-16 15:27:00 GMT from Mexico)
Hi 17, for your laptop I would recommend Puppy 4.3.1, skip the Puppy 5's altogether. If you don't need wireless any of the Puppy 3 versions will work great.
For #141, there is a Puppy optimized for the eee - I've never tried it but I beleive it is based on one of the Puppy 4 versions.
(hint: the Puppy 5's are more a mixed breed rather than a pure pup in that they use Ubuntu binaries-as such they're inferior to previous puppy versions imho)
146 • @144 (by Fewt on 2011-02-16 15:32:12 GMT from United States)
> People reinvent the wheel just because they think they should, which is never a good reason.
I'm not sure that I agree with that. Many of these distribution remixes and forks employ a lot of configuration changes that help improve the experience for the devices that they target.
For example in Fuduntu, I make many Eee PC specific configuration changes including full automated support of the SHE engine that improves battery life on my 1000HE from 5.5 hours (default Fedora) to 10.25 hours idle, and on my Lenovo T400 the improvement on battery power is from 3 hours (default Fedora) to 7. I can watch over 8 hours of h264 video on my 1000HE unplugged which is pretty much a cross country flight. I don't know of any major distribution that can claim this sort of thing "out of the box".
> Why chase something that has some craptastic interface? It's a computer right, albeit a mobile one, treat it like one.
This I do completely agree with which is why my mobile optimized Linux distribution uses the GNOME desktop. :D
147 • PureOS=nicelooking Deb6, but... (by capricornus on 2011-02-16 15:43:52 GMT from Belgium)
[@100] as with Deb6, this very nice looking pure os doesn't offer me to do something with my dual screen, and by absence of Samba will not find my NAS-attached HP-printer. Oh, all that pure thing, just give me pure Mint. My systems always work well (exception: Mint8 was a disaster, and Mint10 cannot handle the Wifi of a Eeepc 1005 HAB). But Mint10-64 does exceptionally well on eg. dual processor systems.
148 • @ 129 - "Bodhi is only a remaster..." (by forlin on 2011-02-16 15:57:23 GMT from Portugal)
Landor
I appreciate de DWW and it's comments section and I've been following it consistently, week over week. since almost 2 years, so its normal that your person and other frequent names are familiar to me and I use to be interested about yours, as someone who obviously knows much more about Linux as the typical regular user (like me) do, and also about Open Source in general.
Of course that your words about Bodhi are only related to the code in the iso, witch is yet a remaster of another build. That's the same as it use to happen with most of the hundreds distributions active today, but every one is much more than the simple iso (code) made available. the site, the support to the user, the community build around it and namely the project and the particular characteristics of the leading developing board team, is what most differentiate all of them.
I did read your review of Bodhi in your blog and the related comments, so I appreciated Jeff's intervention about that @ 131. Sometimes I ask myself what is the reasons why so many people decide to put so much of their time, energy, effort and knowledge to build something with the purpose of offering it to the world at no cost, as is the case with Bodhi and so many others. Jeff is a very young person and if you go back three months and follow all the work that was made since that time you'll see that he's quickly growing and learning with it. That's already one positive outcome of that all. The main one being that the users who like the Enlightenment desktop do have today a differentiated option to choose from.
As I said above I use to read your comments and have learned a lot with many of them, which make me think that you would be an added value in case you decide to participate at anything with some appeal to you. You mentioned at the referred review that you also like the Enlightenment desktop manager and because the Bodhi project is all around it, being yet at it's own first steps, I think that it could be great if you consider the possibility to join it more closely being a voice on helping it's development to make it more useful to all the Linux users.
149 • Pardus and KDE 3.5.10 (by RobertD on 2011-02-16 20:09:46 GMT from United States)
I tried the live version of latest release from Pardus featuring KDE 3.5.10. I must say I'm impressed with what the Turkish developers are doing and bringing to the Linux Desktop.
Their KDE 4.5 release may be one of the best implementations of KDE out there. IMO of course.
If you haven't tried one of their offerings you should.
RobertD
150 • What I would like to see in a new distro: "dual Debian & RPM resolver" (DDRR) (by Jeffersonian on 2011-02-16 23:24:22 GMT from United States)
Ladislav & Jesse:
after 13 years of using Linux, I found most ¨Top Distros¨ and derivatives to be now very good.
However I find myself using two Linuxes (Fedora and Mint) on a multi-boot machine, mostly because I am a software guy, and some development packages are only available under the form of .deb (Debian) or .rpm (Read Hat Package Manager), so even if I am almost fully (well almost) satisfied with both distros, I have no other choice than this becoming now silly multi-boot!
Alien (package translator) is not a solution: it is barely reliable.
And creating an rpm or a deb package is only easy on OpenSuse, using checkinstall, and is tedious, furthermore having only the .deb or .rpm on developments websites (Meego, Android, etc...) is rather the norm than the exception.
Indeed you can have both package managers (dpkg and rpm) on a single distro... but they do not share the same data-base, so smart dependencies resolvers like smart, yum, apt-get, Yast will not really work using two set of data bases(at least to the best of my knowledge).
The least path of resistance/work would probably be to have each of theses dependency
resolvers to either be able to use both database (probably the most simple), or even better share a common one (perhaps the most consistent).
It is not so likely that the RedHat folks, not that the Debian ones will work on that, because they are quite content with their respective package managers.
So if "some dude" having worked on some fancy package dependencies resolver could work on that, it would be a great asset to the superb Linux Project, as started by Linux Torvalds.
I do realize that this idea is not so original... so I am sure some have already thought about it. *** Please post about this "DDRR" idea ***
Jeffersonian.
151 • @141 • eeePC (by Tom (by meanpt on 2011-02-16 23:29:59 GMT from Portugal)
Ubuntu 10.10 with unity 2D - 141MB of ram without some startup services. Does it suits you?
152 • @151 RAM Usage (by Jeff Hoogland on 2011-02-17 02:00:26 GMT from United States)
Bodhi Linux with all default startup services, sub 100megs of ram ;)
~Jeff
153 • Pardus & Trinity DE (by Woodstock69 on 2011-02-17 02:30:55 GMT from Papua New Guinea)
Whilst it's good to see KDE3 still being "supported" by a distro, KDE3.5.10 is definitely too old.
If Pardus or any other distro wish to continue with KDE3 (and I fully support that at this stage) then they really should support the Trinity Project also. They have bumped KDE, or TDE as it's known, to 3.5.12 with several bug fixes.
http://trinity.pearsoncomputing.net/
There is still so much to love about KDE3.5 (simplicity, speed, elegance, great UI, not drab, bloated and mono-themistic like KDE4) and it works great on "older" systems like mine whereas KDE 4 is sluggish.
Don't get me wrong, I like the developments happening in KDE4 and it keeps improving. I use both 3.5 and 4.5 distro's. But if devs want to release a KDE3 distro, better to help out on the TDE project and advance it, than to offer a redundant version.
154 • Centos 4.9 (by Dan on 2011-02-17 02:49:57 GMT from United States)
So, will Centos 6 get bumped again so that 4.9 can get published first?
155 • @154 (by Pumpino on 2011-02-17 05:35:34 GMT from Australia)
Apparently RHEL 6.1 beta is not far from being released, so it's even possible that RHEL 6.1 will be released before CentOS 6.
156 • #141 eeePC (by zykoda on 2011-02-17 07:56:38 GMT from United Kingdom)
eeePC 701 1GB RAM 4GB SSD celeron
For me, Mint 10 live image on 4GB USB stick ran flawlessly for 2 weeks. And a pretty lively performer to boot! No swap designated. OOB.
157 • 152 • @151 RAM Usage (by Jeff Hoogland (by meanpt on 2011-02-17 11:05:58 GMT from Portugal)
:):):) sorry Jeff, but I'm running my Bodhi in the sub 60 mb of RAM :):)) .... to be more precise, it's around 59 MB, which makes it the faster 10.04 on earth :)
158 • @144 eee (by Octathlon on 2011-02-17 14:21:07 GMT from United States)
["Why chase something that has some craptastic interface? It's a computer right, albeit a mobile one, treat it like one. My 1005HA only gets a standard desktop installed on it."]
I have to disagree, at least with the Eee701. The UNR interface is much better for the tiny 7" screen. Also EasyPeasy has a custom kernel that is already set up to make all the hardware and function keys work correctly on install. With a generic distro there are several things that won't work without a lot of hassle to research and configure. Newer models with larger screens may not have these issues, but it's nice to have something I can use that is perfect for the 701.
159 • SlackE17 (by RobertD on 2011-02-17 20:23:11 GMT from United States)
FYI,
The slacke17 project has released an updated script http://slacke17.sourceforge.net/
to install the latest e17 desktop/wm enviroment on slackware 13.1
Nice, very nice. It has been a while but better late than never.
RobertD
160 • CentOS (by Pumpino on 2011-02-17 20:28:53 GMT from Australia)
The dev mailing list has been an interesting read with Dag Wieers and Karanbir Singh arguing over the lack of transparency with CentOS development. ;) http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-devel/2011-February/006662.html
161 • No CMOV on your cpu - what distros to run (by passthejoe on 2011-02-17 23:54:29 GMT from United States)
I used to have a machine with a VIA C3 Samuel CPU, and it also had no cmov instruction. I was able to run Debian with the 486 kernel (which I still run on an old PII machine), and the installer should detect this when you run it.
Otherwise, it can be hard to find distros that accommodate pre-686 processors. Like you I used Puppy a lot. If you're willing to make the leap, OpenBSD runs great on these processors. But you can certainly stick with Debian. I just upgraded my PII box to Squeeze, so the 486 kernel lives!
162 • R U going to make a report on Debian's Fred BSD based version? (by Gilbert Boisvert on 2011-02-18 23:30:19 GMT from United States)
I haven't heard anything about Debian's BSD version. Have you got anything for us on this topic?
Any testing of this version coming up?
Cheers!
163 • Red Hat (by Distrowatcher on 2011-02-19 00:23:47 GMT from United States)
Just tried to install the latest Red Hat several times on my test bed.
Kernel Panic...... SCSI Drives it appears.
Funny, CentOS installs just fine.
Red Hat, 6.0 needs some work.
Just a bit of info in case you're interested.
164 • The good old command line (by Eddie on 2011-02-19 14:11:05 GMT from United States)
I'm basically a Gnome person and the other night I downloaded the RC of LinuxMint 10 KDE. Years ago I used KDE when it was in the 3.x versions. I was really lost in KDE 4 because I've never used it much. Even tho I was just testing out the distro there were several things I wanted to do and couldn't find my was around very easy. Thank goodness for the command line. It's a good thing it's there when all else fails. Don't ever let anyone tell you that we don't need the command line. It's a life saver. BTW the LinuxMint 10 KDE RC distro is coming along nicely.
165 • RE 89 - 131 - 146 -148 - 150 -163 (by Landor on 2011-02-19 15:12:41 GMT from Canada)
#89
Everytime you post I find something that's totally not true, or I actually think, what in the hell is he talking about. This week isn't any different. You really need to either let people know this is only your personal view and it might not be true, or that you're unsure of what you're talking about. I'm serious here.
First one: "Back then, I had been constantly finding incorrectly set USE flags all over the place which lead to most of the problems"
What pray tell is an incorrectly set USE Flag? Unless you know far more about USE Flags than I ever could, I have no idea how you could even type such a thing, let alone believe it. A USE Flag is a compile option switch, much like a switch for a light for you and possibly others that don't understand. You turn the switch on and the option gets compiled (remember that word, OPTION), you turn the switch off and it doesn't get compiled, meaning the option isn't available after it's compiled/installed. An e
xample is this, someone installs Kopete IM Client and puts a 'msn' USE Flag in their make.conf it will enable the ability for Kopete to have MSN support. If they put a -msn USE Flag it will build (or should) Kopete without MSN support and that option not be available after it's compiled/installed. How in the hell can an "OPTION" be incorrectly set all over the place. I'd really love to see the answer to this one.
Second one: "Where it takes hours and sometimes tens of hours to compile a Gentoo install and setup your overlay, Sabayon takes 20 minutes and your up and running."
Overlay? What overlay? Again, what in the hell are you talking about? I've never "had to setup an overlay" to install Gentoo. In fact, I've only ever used one overlay once! You really don't know much about Gentoo is my guess.
#131
I personally don't believe in sorry. If the person was truly sorry it wouldn't have happened in the first place. Aside from that though, you have
very good reason to publicly say here that you're sorry and blame it on "a bad day". You're now on the list and you want to appear happy, congenial, and the very decent young up-and-coming distribution developer to your potential user base.
#146
When I spoke of reinventing the wheel it was only in reference to the craptastic interfaces, that's why it was written in that paragraph, so it would coincide with that topic.
I actually used your power-management plugin on my 1005HA. Just with that I saw a very decent improvement for how long the charge would last.
#148
I have no desire to work on that project, nor give anyone the opportunity to be ignorant towards me again when I know enough from the first time.
Also though, to my comment about the remaster. I was in no way discounting any distributions that are a remaster, it, or any other one. I was simply stating that the fanbois that wrote the comment had no idea how easy it was to
remaster a distribution and it was a remaster itself.
#150
Since I'm discussing Gentoo earlier in this comment, have you considered using Gentoo? You didn't state what development packages you use, but a source based distribution like Gentoo is an amazing option for developers since by it's very nature it has all the development (or close to them) packages installed by default.
You might find the little bit of effort from someone with your experience might be worth it to not have to mess with two installs.
#163
"Just tried to install the latest Red Hat several times on my test bed.
Kernel Panic...... SCSI Drives it appears.
Funny, CentOS installs just fine.
Red Hat, 6.0 needs some work.
Just a bit of info in case you're interested."
That's pretty misleading information. You're saying RHEL 6 is flawed and CentOS. What you didn't mention, and maybe some people aren't smart enough to get it (I'm progressively under
standing that more and more as the years pass here), CentOS 6 isn't anywhere to be seen for anyone and you're "making it sound like" CentOS 6 is better than RHEL 6.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
166 • Pardus Linux 2 "Corporate" edition (by Andy Axnot on 2011-02-19 19:58:34 GMT from United States)
I've been unable to download Pardus Linux 2 "Corporate" edition for two days now. Anyone else having problems?
And I agree it would be nice if they supported Trinity.
Andy
167 • OS on EeePC-1005HAB (by capricornus on 2011-02-20 06:52:36 GMT from Belgium)
Since I was not able to solve the Atheros problem (WiFi degrading in time and then stopping), I switched back from Mint10 to Mint9. It pleases me much. I installed ElegantGnome, the DroidSans-font is the best choice for tiny screens. I installed CustomizeGrub because GRUB2 needed a GUI. PlayOnLinux gives me lots of possibilities using Windows software. Printing on a NAS-attached HP2055d is flawless. And my women prefer the GnoMenu with a Windows-like button and look - don't ask my why, it seems like fashion, or "de gustibus coloribusque".
168 • Re: 166 Pardus Linux 2 "Corporate" edition (by Andy Axnot on 2011-02-20 15:29:27 GMT from United States)
OK, I did what I should have done earlier. I went to their forum and followed the links from there. Maybe it's just me, but I can't use the Distrowatch links.
I'm using the 32 bit live version now. Quite nice, though it has flagged every single word I have written in this comment (using Firefox). Hey, my spelling isn't that bad. :-)
Andy
169 • Pardus Corporate and Trinity (by Landor on 2011-02-21 03:21:25 GMT from Canada)
I can understand why they didn't go with Trinity. While Timothy Pearson has been doing it for a while now, the project didn't really take off until too long ago. Also, other than some side projects, I don't see any distributions carrying it as a package.
So in essence really, you have to remember that Pardus is also for the government and the like, which this version is no doubt for. Not unlike RHEL, Debian stable, any LTS version, etc, they go with tried, tested and true applications. While Trinity has fixed some bugs present in KDE 3.5.10, it doesn't mean Trinity meets the criteria.
It'll be nice to see Trinity eventually get picked up. I personally think the project is the best alternative for people not wishing to use the four series, but also a great low-resource alternative with full desktop environment functionality.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
170 • @165 (by Crash Master on 2011-02-21 04:48:00 GMT from United States)
Gentoo has a nice users guide on overlays ... you might want to check it out so you can learn what they are used for.
http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/overlays/userguide.xml
Number of Comments: 170
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