 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 458, 28 May 2012 |
Welcome to this year's 22nd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
It is an exciting time to be a Linux user, especially if you're interested in distributions which try to provide complete, novice-friendly experiences right from the beginning. This past week saw the
release of Mageia 2, the community supported fork of Mandriva. We also saw releases from the Linux Mint and ZorinOS projects and we expect to see a new version of Fedora before the end of the month. In this week's edition Jesse Smith investigates a new Debian-based distribution by the name of SolusOS and explores what this
project brings to the Linux ecosystem. We also have news about the latest Linux kernel, a rare release of a little-known desktop environment and an update on the
Google vs. Oracle Android lawsuit. Plus we will talk about protecting the files in our home folders using encryption and, as always, we will cover a full list of distributions released last week.
Happy reading!
Content:
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
SolusOS 1 "Eveline"
I have been away for a few weeks, enjoying some quiet and relaxation. Coming back from my vacation I wanted to experiment with a distribution I hadn't used before and the developers behind SolusOS gave me just such an opportunity. The SolusOS team recently made their first stable release, version 1, available and I hoped it would present some fresh ideas.
SolusOS is based on Debian's Stable branch, though many of the distribution's end-user applications are more modern than what we would usually find in Debian Stable. What we are given is an older, stable Linux kernel (version 3.0) and a legacy version of GNOME (version 2.30), but these underlying technologies are accompanied by VLC 2, the latest Firefox and a recent release of Thunderbird and a complete collection of multimedia software. This combination of a tried and true base with cutting edge applications is an idea which appeals to me as it has worked well for other projects, such as PC-BSD and Chakra. At the time of writing SolusOS is available in a 32-bit build only, however a 64-bit edition is in the works.
The SolusOS download is available as a DVD ISO image, weighing in at a little under 1GB. Booting from the disc displays a boot menu allowing us to load a live desktop environment or jump straight into the installer. The installer features a graphical interface and it walks us step-by-step through the usual questions. We're asked to choose our preferred language from a list, asked to identify our time zone and then we are asked to select our keyboard layout from a list. After that we're asked on which disk we want to install SolusOS. The following screen displays a list of partitions on the selected disk. We can format the partitions and assign mount-points by right-clicking on listed partitions. Should we need to add, edit or remove partitions there is a button at the bottom of the screen which will launch a graphical partition manager. Most of the installer is nicely laid out and fairly straight forward, the partitioning section perhaps being the one exception. The process of launching a separate partition manager isn't so bad, but right-clicking to select formating and to assign mount points struck me as being the only unintuitive part of the process. The next screen asks us to create a new user account and then we're asked if we wish to install a boot loader and, if so, where. The installer then goes to work copying files to the local drive and, about half an hour later, we're dropped to a command line as the "live" (non-root) user. At this point I had to use the "su" command to become the root user and manually initiate a reboot of the machine, which I found to be a roundabout way of doing things compared to the rest of the install process.
SolusOS 1 -- System installer and application menu.
(full image size: 389kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Booting into our local install of SolusOS brings up a light blue graphical login screen. Logging in presents us with a GNOME 2 desktop, again with a soft blue background. There are icons on the desktop for navigating the file system. Across the bottom of the display we find the application menu, the task switcher and system tray. The first time we login a first-run wizard appears. On its initial screen the wizard provides us with links to where we can find documentation and support on the SolusOS website. Moving to the following screen we're invited to configure networking (if the defaults aren't working) and enable the firewall. For some reason when I opted to turn on the firewall and adjust its configuration I was prompted for my password three times, otherwise the process worked well. The third screen of the wizard offers to detect and enable any proprietary drivers on our system and the forth page lets us set when the operating system will check for software updates. The final screen of the wizard invites us to donate to the SolusOS project. While going through the first-run wizard I opted to follow links to the project's documentation. At this time the wiki is a little thin, understandable for a freshly launched project. No doubt the documentation will be expanded as more users join the community and ask (and answer) questions.
The application menu in SolusOS takes a similar approach to the Linux Mint menu. It's an all-in-one panel for accessing folders, launching applications and accessing settings. Personally I find the menu style a bit cluttered, but otherwise functional. The distribution comes with a strong collection of software and the menu is packed with useful applications which I'll address in a moment. First though, I want to mention the theme. Generally I don't like to pay a whole lot of attention to the colours used in a distro as they are easily changed, but I feel the default theme used by SolusOS deserves mention for two reasons. The first is the combination of blue background and dark trim is, in my view, quite pleasant. It's attractive and professional, welcoming. On the other hand the combination of grey text on a charcoal background we see in the menus -- and the dark grey text on a light grey background we see on the website -- is one I find difficult to read. I soon found myself switching to a higher contrast version of the same theme.
The developers of SolusOS have tried to provide a complete selection of software out of the box. We begin with the Firefox web browser, LibreOffice, the Thunderbird e-mail client, GNU Paint and the VLC multimedia player. We have a disc burner in the default install, the Cheese webcam utility, Rhythmbox for playing music, the Mintitube YouTube video player and Deja Dup for backups. The MPlayer multimedia player is included, as are the Totem media player and the OpenShot video editor. Along with all the multimedia apps we also find codecs are included for playing popular media formats. Wine is included for installing and running Windows applications. In addition we find PlayOnLinux is installed for us, which makes it easier to manage Windows software. Common apps like a text editor, archive manager and calculator are available. Java is available in the default install, as are the GNU Compiler Collection and a Flash plugin. Network Manager is included in the default install to get us connected to the Internet. The sudo utility is installed for us, allowing our main user account to perform administration tasks using our own password. SolusOS comes with the 3.0 version of the Linux kernel.
SolusOS 1 -- Installing and configuring software.
(full image size: 243kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Package management on SolusOS is handled by the Add/Remove software application (also known as the GNOME PackageKit front-end). This graphical package manager provides a simple layout, showing us a list of software categories down the left side of the window. Over on the right, individual packages in a given category are displayed in a list. Next to each package name is a checkbox, allowing us to mark the package for installation or removal. Near the top of the package manager window we find a search box, allowing us to locate software by name. The package manager draws software both from the Debian repositories and from custom SolusOS repositories. For the most part I found the package manager worked well, aside from being a bit sluggish performing searches. One feature I liked, though it didn't always work, was that after an application was installed, the system would automatically offer to launch it. Something else I ran into a few times was, when I attempted to download a package, the manager would tell me it had run into an error though the cause wasn't clear. This only happened on a few occasions and I suspect my attempts to download software may have been failing because repository information was being refreshed at the same time, locking the packaging system. Users also have the option of using the Synaptic package manager, which is available through the Control Centre, or dropping to the command line to use the APT software management utilities.
Software updates are handled by a separate graphical application, which also features a simple layout. Bringing up the update manager shows us a list of available updates. We can then check or un-check which packages we wish to download. When I first installed SolusOS there were 42 pending updates and most installed without any problems. The remaining four updates which did not install, as it turned out, were blocked from being updated due to system settings, not because of an error. SolusOS automatically checks for updates periodically and will pop-up a notification when security updates are available.
Also on the topic of package management I noticed there is a tool included in the application menu for creating service packs. This should allow us to create lists of installed packages or to create mega-packages out of updated SolusOS software. I didn't get to test this idea as I found trying to create a service pack would result in an error indicating files couldn't be found.
SolusOS 1 -- Multimedia applications.
(full image size: 186kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
One of the characteristics I enjoy most about Debian's Stable branch is how light it is on resources. SolusOS, when sitting idle at the GNOME desktop, uses around 125MB. It has a small memory footprint by modern standards. The GNOME 2 desktop is responsive and, when desktop effects are not used, the performance is quite good.
I tested SolusOS on my HP laptop (dual-core 2GHz CPU, 3GB of RAM, Intel video card) and found the distribution worked quite well. My screen was set to its maximum resolution, sound worked out of the box and my Intel wireless card automatically worked and detected local networks. One minor issue I ran into was that when running from either the live CD or a local installation, the system would improperly give me an incorrect keyboard layout the first time I logged in. This issue could be corrected through the Control Centre settings.
I also ran SolusOS in a VirtualBox virtual environment and there I ran into some problems I hadn't experienced when running on physical hardware. For instance, SolusOS requires that VirtualBox enable the PAE processor feature, though the system doesn't display a message to this effect, it simply locks up at the boot menu. (To the developers' credit, the PAE feature is clearly mentioned in the release notes.) When running the installer in a virtual machine the installer would not allow me to edit disk partitions. I found I could work around this by booting into the live environment, running the disk manager and creating the partitions I wanted. After the partitions were created the installer was able to detect the partitions, allowing me to format them and set mount points.
Perhaps one of the hardest things for me to do when I'm reviewing a distribution is to separate personal preference and technical merit. There is a difference between a bug and something that is set up differently than I like, even if I don't always like to admit it. SolusOS presented me with just such an internal conflict. The application menu, for example, I personally found cluttered and I disliked having the Control Centre options act differently from the rest of the menu's categories. It's something I adapted to, but I didn't find it comfortable out of the gate. The default font colours I found quite difficult to read, but those are configurable. I ran into a number of little bugs, quirks and crashes with the package manger, with the firewall, the Appearance app and the service pack creator, but these were usually one-time events and, as I used the distribution throughout the week, I rarely ran into the same problem twice.
On the positive side, I found SolusOS came with a good collection of software. In most cases there was an app for each task I might wish to perform (with the exception of video playing, in which case there were multiple programs available). The system was stable during the time I was using it and I think the combination of a base derived from Debian Squeeze with cutting edge applications on top is a good one. I suspect novice users might have a little trouble with setting up partitions at install time, but once the system is up and running it is solid, useful and configured with an apparent focus on newcomers. In short, for a first release, I think the developers have done quite well. Once a few rough edges are rounded off and a 64-bit edition becomes available SolusOS will be a welcome addition to the distro scene.
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| Miscellaneous News |
Linux 3.4 released, EDE 2.0 released, New KDE partnership
 We couldn't have GNU/Linux distributions without the Linux kernel. With that in mind, it was good this past week to see the release of Linux version 3.4. The new kernel contains a number of bug fixes and feature improvements, including the ability to use 32-bit pointers in 64-bit mode and several Btrfs
enhancements. The Kernel Newbies website reports, "This release includes several Btrfs updates: support of metadata blocks bigger than 4KB, much improved metadata performance, better error handling and better recovery tools; there is also a new X32 ABI which allows to run programs in 64-bit mode with 32-bit pointers; several updates to the GPU drivers: early modesetting of Nvidia GeForce 600 'Kepler', support of AMD Radeon 7xxx and AMD Trinity APU series, and support of Intel Medfield graphics; there is also support of x86 CPU driver autoprobing, a device-mapper target that stores cryptographic hashes of blocks to check for intrusions, another target to use external read-only devices as origin source of a thin provisioned LVM volume, several perf improvements such as GTK2 report GUI and a new 'Yama' security module." As usual, users willing to compile their own kernel to get the latest features can download the source code from kernel.org.
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There are several open source desktop environments out there from which to choose. We often hear about GNOME, KDE, Xfce & LXDE, but there are other, less talked about, options out there.
One such under-sung project is the Equinox Desktop Environment (EDE) which, after five years of work, just released version 2.0 of the light-weight environment. "EDE is small desktop environment built to be responsive, light in resource usage and to have familiar look and feel. It runs on Linux, *BSD, Solaris, Minix, Zaurus and even on XBox."
EDE attempts to be freesesktop.org compliant and is licensed under the GNU licenses GPLv2 and LGPLv2.
Speaking of desktop environments, the KDE project announced a new initiative on May 22, the Make Play Live Partner Network. According to the announcement the new partner program "is designed to build and support a collaborative business and economic network. Members work together to provide comprehensive professional service and product offerings around Plasma Active and devices such as Vivaldi. Professional support options make it easier to convince potential parties, such as users, clients, customers and partners, bringing KDE software to a larger group of users." At the time of writing nine members have joined the partnership network.
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 This week contains some good news for fans of Google's Android, the mobile operating system derived from the Linux kernel. The jury in the Oracle vs. Google trial decided that Google's Android system does not violate Oracle's patents. As
CNET reports, "In the decision at the U.S. District Court of Northern California, the jury in the trial said Google did not infringe on six claims in U.S. Patent No. RE38,104 as well as two claims in U.S. Patent No. 6,061,520. The verdict is a win for Google, and marks the end of the trial's second phase, which focused on the claims of patent infringement." The trial's first
phase focused on potential copyright infringement. Regarding the issue of copyright, the jury found in favour of Oracle under the assumption APIs can be copyrighted. Whether programming APIs can indeed be considered copyrighted material remains to be decided.
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Many open source enthusiasts are familiar with the One Laptop Per Child project, an attempt to put
inexpensive computers in the hands of children all around the world. Recently the Punjab government
in Pakistan introduced a similar initiative and plans to roll out 125,000 computers running Ubuntu
to college and university students. The Chairman of the Punjab Information Technology Board was quoted
as saying, "Supporting open-source software at this scale, in a country with rampant use of proprietary and pirated software, is bold and laudable. Due to its flexibility, zero-cost and broad-based academic support, open-source software is the de facto standard for college and university students worldwide." According to the article over at The Register
Pakistan will deliver an additional 300,000 computers running the popular Linux-based OS next year.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Encrypting one's home folder
Mixing up the bits asks:
I have seen when installing certain distros the question "Encrypt your home folder?" and I haven't checked "yes" yet. 1) Does encryption slow down your machine when accessing or copying files? 2) Should I use a different method like Truecrypt after install of the OS, or some other software/method? 3) What are the advantages of encrypting and should the entire system be encrypted rather than just /home?
DistroWatch answers:
Let's cover the last question first, what are the advantages of encrypting and should we encrypt the entire operating system or just our home folder? Really, the only reason to encrypt data on the hard drive is to prevent someone who has gained access (especially physical access) to the computer from reading your files. A prime example is if your laptop gets stolen are there files, contacts, tax records, photos or passwords stored on your hard drive that you don't want anyone to see? Assuming there are files which you'd rather keep private then it is a good idea to encrypt your data. The down side to encryption is that if you forget your password you won't be able to access your own files, in which case you had better have a backup stored separately. As to whether it is worth it to encrypt the rest of your disk, there probably isn't any reason to encrypt your system files. You usually don't stand to lose anything if someone gets a copy of the files under the /usr directory or your configuration files in /etc. It may be worth while to encrypt your swap partition (assuming you have one), as sensitive information can be written to the swap partition and could be recovered. If you're concerned about security, encrypting swap is a good idea. There is a handy tutorial on encrypting your swap partition on the CrunchBang forum.
As to whether you should use Truecrypt or some other form of encryption, I would probably stick with what your operating system provides unless you need a feature offered by other software. Truecrypt is an excellent piece of software, but if you just want a basic layer of protection between yourself and a laptop thief the default encryption technology which comes with your distribution should be adequate.
Continuing to work backward through the questions, that brings us to whether there is a speed penalty for reading and writing data on an encrypted partition. The answer to that is yes, there is a penalty, but it's a small one. In tests I've run using the ext3 file system the penalty for both reading and writing files on an encrypted partition was about 10%. Say saving a file to, or copying a file from, a regular partition takes 10 seconds. Performing the same operation on an encrypted partition would take 11 seconds. Chances are you won't even notice the difference while performing day to day activities, I certainly have not.
When in doubt, I would recommend taking the installer's option to encrypt your home partition and I recommend making regular backups to another (unencrypted) medium in case you forget your password.
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| Released Last Week |
siduction 12.1
Ferdinand Thommes has announced the release of siduction 12.1, a desktop Linux distribution with a choice of KDE, LXDE and Xfce desktops, based on Debian's unstable branch: "We are pleased to present our first release of siduction in 2012. siduction 2012.1 'Desperado' is shipped with 3 desktop environments: KDE SC 4.8.3, Xfce 4.8 and LXDE, all in 32-bit and 64-bit variants. The released images are a snapshot of Debian 'Unstable' from 2012-05-21. They are enhanced with some useful packages and scripts, our own installer and a custom patched version of the Linux kernel 3.4, accompanied by X.Org Server 1.12.1.902. We ship KDE SC in version 4.8.3." Read the full release announcement for further details.
Mageia 2
Mageia, the second stable release of the community distribution originally forked from Mandriva Linux, has been released: "We're the Mageia community, and we are very happy to announce the release of Mageia 2! We've had a great time building our community and our new release, and we hope you enjoy using it as much as we enjoyed making it. Here are some of the nice things included in Mageia 2: KDE 4.8.2 SC, the current release of the popular KDE desktop; GNOME 3.4.1, Xfce 4.8.3; VLC 2.0.1; Flash Player plugin 11.2; Chromium Browser 18; GIMP 2.8 featuring the all new single window interface...." See the release announcement and release notes for more information.
Mageia 2 -- KDE Desktop
(full image size: 400kB, resolution: 1024x768 pixels)
Linux Mint 13
Clement Lefebvre has announced the finale release of Linux Mint 13, code name "Maya: "The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 13 'Maya'. Available in two editions, Linux Mint 13 features the choice between a productive, stable and mature MATE 1.2 desktop and the brand, new modern-looking and exciting Cinnamon 1.4. These two desktops are among the best available, they're perfectly integrated within Linux Mint and represent great alternatives to GNOME 2 users. Linux Mint 13 is also an LTS (long-term support) release and it will be supported until April 2017." Read the release announcement and release notes for system requirements, known issues and upgrade instructions.
KANOTIX 2012-05
Maximilian Gerhard has announced the release of KANOTIX 2012-05, a Debian-based desktop distribution and live DVD featuring the latest KDE desktop: "The first few days of LinuxTag 2012 in Berlin are over. It seems to become a tradition for KANOTIX to release at LinuxTag. As announced earlier in highlight report we offer an update release for KANOTIX 'Hellfire' and a preview to KANOTIX 'Dragonfire'. KANOTIX 2012-05 'Hellfire' is still based on Debian 6.0.5 'Squeeze' and contains KDE SC 4.4.5, Iceweasel 12.0, Icedove 3.1.16, Pidgin 2.10.4, Linux kernel 3.2 (Ubuntu recompiled), LibreOffice 3.5.3, WINE 1.4, GFX overlays for NVIDIA and AMD 3D graphic driver. The preview of KANOTIX 2012-05 'Dragonfire' is based on the upcoming Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 'Wheezy'." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details.
Webconverger 13.0
Henry Kai has announced the release of Webconverger 13.0, a specialist Debian-based distribution for Internet kiosks and other web-only deployment scenarios: "Webconverger 13 excitingly includes WebGL 3D accelerated support for NVIDIA hardware and security enhancements, as well as: search engine changed to DuckDuckGo from Google after signing a revenue share deal on sponsored links like Linux Mint; new boot API to override DNS; new API to support scheduled shutdowns; updated Firefox to 10.0.4; updated Flash to 11.2.202.235; updated dwm to 6.0. All users should upgrade to this release, especially those with NVIDIA hardware." Read the remainder of the release announcement and visit the project's redesigned website for further information and a detailed changelog.
SME Server 8.0
Ian Wells has announced the release of SME Server 8.0, a major new update of the project's specialist server distribution based on CentOS 5: "The SME Server development team is pleased to announce the release of SME Server 8.0 which is based on CentOS 5.8. Changes in this release: backups - provide support for selective restore with modern browsers, remove default index.htm from primary ibay before restore, allow backup reports to go to an alternate user instead of admin; file server - gracefully handle upgrades from SerNet Samba, changes in Samba's 'Recycle VFS exclude' syntax (for ibays); LDAP - create Samba account during event for machine, keep UID/GID for computer accounts in synch for UNIX, Samba and LDAP...." See the release announcement for a complete list of changes and new features.
Snowlinux 2 "MATE"
Lars Torben Kremer has announced the release of Snowlinux 2 "MATE" edition, an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the GNOME 2-like MATE desktop: "The team is proud to announce the release of Snowlinux 2 'Cream'. Snowlinux 2 'Cream' is based upon Ubuntu 12.04 and is supported for 5 years until April 2017. This is one of the reasons why Plymouth was removed. Due to drastic changes with GNOME 3 and Unity, Snowlinux has a traditional desktop - MATE. New features: MATE 1.2, Linux kernel 3.2, Chromium 18, Firefox 12, Thunderbird 12.0.1; Snowlinux Metal theme and icons; open as administrator; open in terminal; delete permanently; terminal colors; Universe, Multiverse and Medibuntu repositories; better software selection; improved speed and response; new look and feel; system improvements." Here is the full release announcement.
Snowlinux 2 -- MATE desktop
(full image size: 428kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Bridge Linux 2012.5
Dalton Miller has announced the release of Bridge Linux 2012.5, a desktop-oriented distribution based on Arch Linux: "In this version, we have something very exciting. We are the first Arch-based distro to support (U)EFI out of the box. The 64-bit live media should boot natively on (U)EFI systems. There are some special steps that are required for installation, so be sure to check the README on the desktop for instructions. The rest of the changes are as follows: fixed live GNOME screensaver lock issue; fixed gcc-libs issue; fixed 'db not found' errors when running Pacman for the first time; replaced sudoers.d with sudoers; add VirtualBox additions to all editions; replaced LightDM with LXDM in Xfce; added mobile broadband provider info; updated Xfce to 4.10." Here is the complete release announcement.
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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 |
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 4 June 2012. To contact the authors please send email to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, suggestions and corrections: news, donations, distribution submissions, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (feedback and suggestions: podcast edition)
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • SolusOS (by Koroshiya Itchy on 2012-05-28 10:39:52 GMT from Belgium)
I think that the notion of a distro with stability-oriented core components (kernel, xorg, etc.) but modern applications is a very appealing one. This could allow users to enjoy the latest features from their favourite applications without compromising system-wide stability. I have done something similar myself by upgrading Debian stable to testing while holding kernel and xorg-related packages. The resulting hybrid is not perfect, but works quite well. I think I will test the 64-bit edition of SolusOS as soon as I have the time.
2 • EDE and other desktops (by uz64 on 2012-05-28 10:42:47 GMT from United States)
I wish more distros would ship with EDE as the primary desktop, or at least package it with the distribution either as an optional install option or a download from the repository. I remember playing around with it back when STX used EDE 1.x as its default desktop environment. It wasn't perfect and it could have used some work, but as a curious new soon-to-be Linux user who was just testing the waters and used to Windows, I liked its concepts (ie. mimicking of the Windows desktop, even down to the theme and settings windows).
Unfortunately, the distribution was quickly renamed SaxenOS and they changed the desktop environment, and from that point on it became just another Xfce distro (and a not-so-great one at that). Now, according to its page on Distrowatch the distribution has been discontinued, and I honestly couldn't care less given the path they took. But still, I never see any distributions that use EDE as default, and I have no idea what EDE2 is even like as a result. Literally no distributions seem to even package it... I don't know what Debian's requirements are for packaging a program for the distro, but even with the shitloads of packages that Debian is comprised of there are not even any packages for that OS.
I would like to try a good EDE distro, or at least see where the distro has been heading since STX ditched it and started to suck... when will one ever exist? It would also be nice to see the Trinity desktop and maybe eventually the MATE desktop packaged as a part of Debian, but given that Trinity has been out for a while and still doesn't seem to have made it into Debian's unstable repositories, I'm not looking forward to it or the other two environments making their way any time soon.
And yet, LXDE somehow became popular out of nowhere and quickly made it into Debian. And while decent, I'm not really that big of a fan of it and it sometimes just feels... not sure what word to use... bland, maybe?
3 • LuninuX (by Dave on 2012-05-28 11:27:22 GMT from United States)
This is really a comment for last weeks DWW. I've been looking for a easy way to experience Gnome 3 on Ubuntu and until LuninuX, I was very disappointed. I've tested two different systems with the beta of LuninuX, and both work well. I just about never post anywhere, but this release has me excited and got me thinking that others may be looking for the same Gnome 3 on Ubuntu experience. Check it out.
4 • Re: SolusOS in VirtualBox (by hobbitland on 2012-05-28 11:39:29 GMT from United Kingdom)
I also ran into PAE problems with Ubuntu 12.04 under VirtualBox. I turn PAE and after installation replaced the 32bit PAE kernel with the standard 32bit kernel. Then I turned PAE off :)
Physical Address Extension (PAE) allows x86 processos to address upto 64 GB but it slows it down. Why would I want to waste > 4 GB for VirtualBox VM? One 1GB is enough for a VM.
I think 32bit linux distros should not move to PAE and if they do they should provide the non PAE kernel as well and select PAE one only if > 4 GB RAM.
5 • re 4 (by greg on 2012-05-28 12:18:43 GMT from Slovenia)
That is how it was in Ubuntu before. To install PAE you only needed to install 2 packages. Or it was done automaticly if you had more than 3GB ram.
I am not sure why the push of default PAE kernel. Also anyone that has more than 3GB and doesn't need specific 32 bit programmes to run would do just fine with 64bit version of the OS.
I too ran SolusOS in VB (live) and was a bit dissapointed with ram consumption. I wanted to try a different DE but didn't know the password to login. somehow i managed to get to terminal to shut it down and then delete the iso....
6 • nice SolusOS (by Tomás on 2012-05-28 12:44:40 GMT from Portugal)
Congrats for the SolusOS review
i found it quite interesting and im thinking installing it. the partition manager is a shame its difficult to use.
System installer is yet a major source of problems to most new users.
Great job for the idea of getting a proved mature kernel with a cutting edge software.
p.s: i hope tomorrow to have the best linux ever: fedora 17. i hope gnome3 to get off the little tiny big idiot ideas that have destroyed the gnome 2 use and feel
7 • SolusOS (by Michael Leones on 2012-05-28 12:56:12 GMT from United States)
Unfortunately, it is a cheap copy of LinuxMint Debian which author claims that he put the original LinuxMint Debian edition together. The problem is on most machine with Intel Graphic Cards, Mint or Original Debian boots and installs, however SolusOS will not. I tried to address it with them but kindly got ignored. It is not a mature Distro and needs to be tested better before the release
8 • SolusOS's Desktop Environment (by Fabio on 2012-05-28 13:36:12 GMT from United Kingdom)
If I understood correctly, SolusOS is creating a DE that looks like Gnome2 but is using Gnome3 technology (from their website: "Long story short our Gnome 3 will be identical to Gnome 2 but using updated technology.")
Isn't this what MATE is already doing?
9 • Why I like Linux Mint 13 MATE (by dude on 2012-05-28 14:44:21 GMT from Kuwait)
Linux Mint 13 MATE has lots of good features. For one, everything just works. I don't get error messages saying I have missing this or missing that. It even finds and installs missing video, wifi and other drivers too. What's not to like about that? It could take hours to make everything work after installing Ubuntu or Fedora. Also, the MATE desktop environment is much easier to use than KDE or Unity. Now that Gnome 2 is gone, I had to find an alternative with better usability, and MATE is it. I notice other distros are starting to include MATE too, like Snowlinux. Keep It Simple Stupid! What's wrong with a simple easy to use desktop environment that just works? At least it's easy to find stuff with MATE. There's a Calculator for example, instead of a Kalculator or Galculator. The Control Center is another feature I like. It's very easy to change the apperance, monitor, mouse and other settings. I give Linux Mint 13 MATE two thumbs up! Haven't tried the Cinnamon desktop environment yet. No need to. MATE works for me!
10 • SolusOS 1 Review (by JustinKrehel on 2012-05-28 14:44:33 GMT from United States)
Thank you Jesse for the review and positive words regarding SolusOS.
Just to address a few points made so far:
"Incorrect keyboard settings" : The LiveCD by default uses en_GB and UK keyboard. This is because the ISO was initially developed with a UK layout. The installer allows you to select a different layout for your install.
PAE: We are aware of this issue and over the coming weeks there will be a respin of SolusOS for
non-PAE users.
64-bit: We are ironing out the last bugs out of the 64-bit edition as we recently released RC2/Prefinal. This will be coming soon, you can check http://www.solusos.com/ for release announcements.
Theme issue: We also provide a modified Zuki Blues theme for anyone having difficulty with the default Victory theme, meaning nobody has to strain their eyes :)
30 minute install: Most installs of SolusOS as reported by those in our community tend
to take inside of 10 minutes. Those with faster computers do so in 5-8 minutes. Perhaps it was a bad ISO/burn? (which could account for the tty issue)
Package Management; SolusOS Package Management uses dpkg/apt. We integrated PackageKit to make life easier and allow automatic installation of codecs. Add/Remove is gpk-application, the Gnome PackageKit frontend.
VirtualBox testing: We know that Virtualbox (unfortunately) gives an inaccurate experience on how the distribution will truly run because of the virtualized hardware. SolusOS can be run live from a usb key and does so very lightly. Roughly 130MB idle ram usage and the team strongly recommend anyone testing to use this method. The ISO can be dd'd to a stick or put on to a key using UNetbootin. Either method takes less than 5 minutes.
Installer/Partitioning: We are aware of the issues some users may experience whilst installing SolusOS and will be addressing them in future releases. Should users find it difficult to install we are happy to provide help on the IRC Channel (using X-Chat on the LiveCD)
If anyone has further issues please use http://forums.solusos.com or http://launchpad.net/solusos to report them. If you are using the LiveCD you can just open X-Chat which will take you directly to our IRC channel where you can get support.
Thank you to everyone using or testing SolusOS. We encourage any and all feedback!
Justin Krehel
SolusOS Developer / Release Manager
11 • SolusOS & it's future DE (by Maruel on 2012-05-28 14:46:07 GMT from Argentina)
@7 I feel you man, they are not mature as they mostly won't take any negatives in their forums. You either suck up to the creator (as 99% of the people over there do, even if he doesn't deserve it) or get out of there. And yeah, while it is based off Squeeze, it has many many bugs, sadly.
@8 No. MATE is a Gnome2 FORK, that is, they took Gnome2 source code, changed every component name to mate-something, and voila, now it can coexist with Gnome3 (i.e. it is NOT Gnome3, it is a separate desktop environment, originally beign a mirrored copy of Gnome2). What they (actually not 'they', but 'he') is going to do is take Gnome3 Fallback, port Gnome2's panel applets, and boom, you get Gnome2-alike desktop environment, but using Gnome3.
12 • Re: 8 (by passerby on 2012-05-28 14:50:11 GMT from United States)
There has been discussion of porting MATE to GTK+ 3 (I don't know where that stands at present), while SolusOS 2 will apparently have a patched version of GNOME 3 fallback mode.
13 • Linux Laptops and Broadcom Wifi Adapters (by dude on 2012-05-28 14:54:53 GMT from Kuwait)
I really hate Dell laptops that come with Broadcom Wifi adapters. These Broadcom wifi adapters NEVER work with Linux out of the box. I found a workaround to make these damn things work. You have to connect your laptop to your router with an ethernet cable first. Then, use your package manager and install the following:
b43-fwcutter
firmware-b43-installer
firmware-b43legacy-installer
Then reboot. This worked for me. Either that, or spend $25 for an Intel wifi adapter and you won't ever have this problem again.
14 • SolusOS install (by Jesse on 2012-05-28 15:19:47 GMT from Canada)
@JustinKrehel
"30 minute install: Most installs of SolusOS as reported by those in our community tend to take inside of 10 minutes. Those with faster computers do so in 5-8 minutes. Perhaps it was a bad ISO/burn?"
The half hour install for SolusOS was about the amount of time I would expect for a distro of its size. My rule of thumb is a distro of about 700MB (1 CD) takes between 20-30 minutes to install on my machines. Distros of around 1GB or more typically take between 30-40 minutes. The only distributions which would install on my machines in 10 minutes or less are tiny distros like SliTaz or Tiny Core. It's not a case of a bad burn, but simply low-end hardware. I remember chuckling when I saw the installer estimate a 10 minute installation as I thought it was being very optimistic.
15 • Re: SolusOS Install (by JustinKrehel on 2012-05-28 15:50:08 GMT from United States)
@Jesse
Understood mate. That was one of my other thoughts as well was that must be some low-end hardware! :) These are the kinds of things we like to hear as they allow us to help target those hardware profiles and work on improving the user experience for everyone. It also gives us the added bonus of making some of those "older" machines usable for folks again. While we don't specifically target low-end hardware, we certainly try to keep things down as much as possible to help.
Please feel free to reach out to us if you need anything!
- Justin
16 • @8 (by Sam on 2012-05-28 15:52:57 GMT from United States)
"If I understood correctly, SolusOS is creating a DE that looks like Gnome2 but is using Gnome3 technology (from their website: )
Isn't this what MATE is already doing?"
I thought that too. In this case, I think they're using the fallback mode of Gnome 3 (was on ubuntu's 11.04 release), with extensions designed to mimic gnome2.
In the case of MATE, that's a genuine fork of the Gnome 2.x desktop.
I may be wrong.
17 • @16 (by IkeyDoherty on 2012-05-28 16:07:32 GMT from United Kingdom)
We're not "creating a DE".
We've patched gnome-panel so that it acts exactly the same as the
panel of Gnome 2. All the traditional interaction is restored. Combined
with the fact we use fallback as a base, i.e. metacity, gnome-panel,
nautilus, it is in fact no different to using a Gnome 2 desktop.
This isn't a fork, it retains compatibility with Gnome 3 but provides
a true Gnome 2 experience. We are finding the best way of
porting 3rd party applets to the new panel, but work is already
under way. For example I'm working now with the Cardapio
developer to get it to Gnome 3, and work is coming along
great there. We may even provide a compatibility layer
to make it easier in the transition but it would be better
if they were all ported to use GObject Introspection,
not PyGTK as most of them do.
Heres a screenshot of the right click menu working again:
http://ompldr.org/vZHlvNA
Here's another screenshot with gnome-system-monitor 3.4:
http://ompldr.org/vZHloOQ
As you can see we've made massive progress. Instead of
forking to give people the traditional desktop, we've just
restored what was already there. A much cleaner
solution and we believe people will be happy with it.
This is ongoing development work and has no bearing
on SolusOS Eveline, but is rather the preparation for
the desktop in SolusOS 2 (Wheezy based). We promised
our users that they would get exactly the same desktop
when they finally upgrade to SolusOS 2, and it's a promise
we're determined to keep.
18 • @17 (by Sam on 2012-05-28 16:12:56 GMT from United States)
And kudos on your development work on SolusOS. I tried out (I think the RC) a few weeks ago. The fact I wasn't certain if it was MATE, Gnome 2, or Gnome 3 with some interesting extensions I think means you're up to some good work.
19 • @17 (by IkeyDoherty on 2012-05-28 16:15:57 GMT from United Kingdom)
Thank you very much Sam :)
20 • Home folder encryption (by tek_heretik on 2012-05-28 16:34:05 GMT from Canada)
I feel very safe and secure running Linux (Kubuntu 12.04, I have no need whatsoever to encrypt my home folder, unless you have some corporate secrets that will bring down your company or have ILLEGAL pornography, there really is no need. Then again, I don't have 10 users sharing my computer, even so, reading somebody else's home folder is not exactly easy, especially for a nosey Windows user, lol.
21 • encryption (by Arkanabar on 2012-05-28 18:08:03 GMT from United States)
@20, you are not thinking this through. It is hardly unheard of to keep financial and/or medical information on a laptop, or unpopular political opinions. The way DHS or FBI uncovers a "terrorist plot" is to send an agent or confidential informant in to a group, get him to split of the most easily manipulated members, and browbeat/plead them into blowing something up. Search "fbi occupy entrapment" and see how much crap comes up.
Make sure you use a secure password: http://xkcd.com/936/
22 • On SolusOS, MATE, LMDE and Mint (by Kirk M on 2012-05-28 18:42:16 GMT from United States)
Just a few points here on SolusOS, MATE, LMDE and Mint that have been addressed in previous comments (in no particular order).
The current version of SolusOS (32 and upcoming 64 bit) is based on Debian Stable (Squeeze) and uses Gnome 2 as the DE. This is due to Gnome 2 being the most current release of Gnome when Squeeze was released.
Ikey Doherty was the original developer of LMDE when it was first released. LMDE is based on Debian Testing and is updated via "Update packs" and not directly from the Debian Testing repositories.
SolusOS and LMDE are two very different distros altogether. The one thing they did have in common is Ikey. ;-)
MATE is a direct fork of Gnome 2.32 and is under active development. It has nothing to do with Gnome 3 or extensions. The DE is for those who still prefer the actual Gnome 2 experience. Think of MATE as "Gnome 2 Continued".
Linux Mint 13 is based on Ubuntu 12.04 without Unity or gnome-shell. It's Main Edition now comes in two flavors. A MATE Edition and a Cinnamon Edition.
Mint's Cinnamon DE is a fork of gnome-shell and mutter (called "muffin") and runs on Gnome 3. It uses Mint's new "Cinnamon applets" to provide the various panel functions. Cinnamon is not gnome-shell customized by extensions.
In Linux mint 12, gnome-shell was offered as the default DE along with the Mint Gnome Shell Extensions (MGSE) package which made gnome-shell operate a bit more like a traditional DE. MGSE was discontinued once Cinnamon was released. This is probably where the confusion comes from.
23 • DELL @13 (by Mac on 2012-05-28 19:05:07 GMT from United States)
I have used dell laptops for 10yrs. And like them and will not change unless something changes. But I am also a kde user for 2yrs now. Been in linux for abt 10yrs also, with gnome 2. But kde is my choice for now and see any reason to change that. Aptosid, siduction and kubuntu. Windows 7 for my wifes work. You will find all 4 of these on every puter I have.
Have fun
Mack
24 • SolusOS (by TuxTEST on 2012-05-28 19:49:54 GMT from Canada)
Excellent review!
I love SolusOS! tested on 3 desktop and 1 netbook work well on all PC. Good base Debian, installation easy step for all user. Maybe Mate in the next release for desktop management.
Only small problem is a cup configuration printer. The choice is really small. Canon is not there.
Overall Good work dev Team... I love it and I use it on my principal desktop! Bon OK with another distro and bsd system. :)
25 • Merging some of these DE... (by fabio on 2012-05-28 20:04:12 GMT from United Kingdom)
Choice is good but, guys, aren't there a little too many forks, variations, extensions, re-spins, etc of Gnome 2&3? Cinnamon, mate, gnome shell, gnome-fallback, this, that, the other... Don't you get a better result if you unite the forces?
@22, 16, 12
Thanks for the explanation, it's hard to keep on top of all these DE's develpments nowadays!
@13
I feel the pain, I have a dell with a bloody broadcom too and only with PartedMagic the wifi card works out-of-the-box.
26 • SolusOS, etc. (by eco2geek on 2012-05-28 20:23:41 GMT from United States)
@17: >> "We've patched gnome-panel so that it acts exactly the same as
the panel of Gnome 2."
I'm looking forward to seeing your results. It's a safe bet that many people who liked GNOME 2, but don't care for GNOME shell (or Unity), would like to see "Fallback Mode" given some love in the theming department, and perhaps even given an equal footing with GNOME shell.
Kanotix has been doing the same kind of thing as SolusOS, except with KDE, for a while now -- that is, putting updated apps and an updated kernel on top of Debian Stable.
@20: >> "I have no need whatsoever to encrypt my home folder, unless
you have some corporate secrets that will bring down your company or
have ILLEGAL pornography, there really is no need."
Do you also write and send all your correspondence on postcards? After all, unless you have some corporate secrets that will bring down your company or are sending illegal pornography, there really is no need to use an envelope, is there?
27 • @13/dell wireless (by mz on 2012-05-28 20:25:25 GMT from United States)
I've fought a bit with Linux Mint to get the wireless working on the dell laptop I'm using now, but it was fairly easy to cut & paste stuff from the forms to the command line. Of course when installing Unity infected all my DE's and I wrecked my system trying to get rid of Unity bits I switched to a Distro that worked out of the box without a problem. I highly recommend PCLOS to dell users who have to fight with their wireless, it sure worked on my old dell B130 without any effort on my part. It's at least worth giving the live CD/USB a try, might just work for you too.
PS.
Nice concept on the SolusOS thing, although I have to say the installer that it seems to share with LMDE is a bit of a pain. This site helped me with LMDE and it might help with SolusOS too:
http://helpsite.org/linux-mint-debian-edition/
28 • Encryption and SolusOS (by Omar on 2012-05-28 21:25:33 GMT from United States)
@20 "I have no need whatsoever to encrypt my home folder" So why even comment!!!!
I would like to think the distrowatch readers and Linux users in general are more security conscious than the average computer user. Most of these readers and users would laugh at "I have nothing to hide mentality". I could maybe possible understand not encrypting a home folder on a desktop if you leave alone and never have visitors. Very thin maybe!! But not encrypting a laptop is just crazy to me. I'm probably in the minority with this way of thinking, but its just my opinion.
@ IkeyDoherty you have done a great job. I think what you with SolusOS, Corenominal with Crunchbang, and even Clem with LMDE are doing some the best work in the Debian community. Huge kudos to all of you.
29 • SolusOS vs. Squeeze (by Microlinux on 2012-05-28 21:48:17 GMT from France)
Sometimes I wonder why folks don't simply stick with the real thing (Debian stable with a handful of backports, that is) instead of poorly reinventing the wheel.
30 • Various (by Becky on 2012-05-28 22:07:52 GMT from New Zealand)
@29 - maybe because some of these 'origin' distro's make it more difficult by leaving out things that people really need - like up to date multimedia? I use Blender for various projects - and I've only found 1 distro that had anything resembling a current release... all the others are several steps behind and show no signs of including the updated versions. It applies with other things - when was the last time you saw an original distro that had ever bothered to update 'wine'.....?
As for broadcom support - my old HP laptop (like the Dell models) had broadcom wireless. Once I found that Mandriva had all the right bits to make it work fine.... I stopped playing around with other distro's on the HP - it just wasn't worth it - and I needed a reliable wireless connection more than I needed to waste time.....
31 • re:25 DEs (by WoodCAT on 2012-05-28 22:55:36 GMT from Canada)
I think it is great to have such a variety. Cinnamon, Mate, Gnome-fallback, anything but gnome shell will do (On desktop). I'm sure one or two will prevail. Also for the short time these were in development, they work really good. And if somebody doesn't like them he free to choose something else.
32 • RE: Comment 2 and EDE (by Marti on 2012-05-29 00:39:26 GMT from United States)
There is a url for an install of a minimal Ubuntu:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimal
If EDE was ever a deb package available via apt-get I would like to TRY, from somewhat "scratch", a minimal EDE distro. I have thought about it since finding EDE and the now dead (I think) quark window manager. I actually don't have the guts to try it, so it's just a mental exercise. But I agree with #2.
33 • Too Many 'buntu variants (by Brad on 2012-05-29 01:31:06 GMT from United States)
I think there's just too many buntu variants out there. I found arch and love it.. and if I couldn't use arch for some reason, I've learned enough about linux using arch to mold Kubuntu 12.04(and with it's LTS, just wow!!) into what I want and how I want it to work.. I think there's just "too much" choice.. yes I said too much choice in a linux topic. just my .02 now I'm broke
34 • RE: SolusOS (Comment 7) (by Michele on 2012-05-29 03:18:23 GMT from United States)
@7: I have an Intel graphics card and SolusOS runs much better on it than most other distros I've tried. Mileage varies I suppose...
35 • Beefy Miracle (by FedoraFiend on 2012-05-29 03:20:56 GMT from Australia)
Help us Fedora 17, you're our only hope for a modern Linux desktop!
36 • Wifi adapters not working in Linux (by dude on 2012-05-29 03:22:11 GMT from Kuwait)
I mentioned the problem with Broadcom adapters earlier. One of my pet peeves is Linux distros who don't support my laptop Wifi out of the box. For example, my Wifi adapters don't work out of the box Slackware and Arch based distros. If my laptop wifi adapter doesn't work, then I keep trying other distros until I find one that works. I can understand the problem with a discontinued adapter like the old Broadcom adapter in my 4 year old Dell. But why doesn't the Intel adapter work with my 1 year old Dell Vostro laptop with modern distros? I can understand why some distros have wifi turned off for security reasons, like Backtrack. I just want to pass this on to the teams building Linux distros out there. We are beginning the Post PC Era. Not everybody uses an ethernet cable connected to a LAN anymore. For Linux to stay relevant, it needs to support Wifi from a growing number of devices.
37 • Install times (by claudecat on 2012-05-29 04:17:25 GMT from United States)
Having done a few installs this evening, I thought I'd weigh in on the matter of install times. I did 2 installs (Kubuntu 12.04 - 64 and Mint 13 MATE - 64) on my lowly HP Mini 110 netbook and each took around 10-15 minutes. I can't recall any install (other than those done from a Mandiva/Mageia, openSUSE or Fedora DVD - not live media) taking much longer than this.
Nice review of SolusOS - sounds interesting, but I'm gonna wait for the 64 bit version before trying it myself.
38 • @28 Re: Home Encryption (by tek_heretik on 2012-05-29 05:40:40 GMT from Canada)
OK, a laptop maybe, especially if you take it out a lot, but come on, seriously, how many high profile business people/government workers/doctors run Linux on their laptops, I'll give ya a hint who DOES run Linux on laptops, college students, etc, they can't afford $400 for Windows and $800 for the office suite. Why did I comment, because a lot of average Joes come here and read this stuff, encryption can slooooooowwwwwwww your system down, so why bother if it is not REALLY needed, all that being said, the flip side of YOUR "maybe" is the rare tech savvy individual with sensitive data, I did say "computer" in my previous post, not laptop, I guess I should have clarified more clearly. As for a typical multi-user home PC, different accounts should suffice, encryption is really not necessary.
39 • Re: 26 29 Ubuntu/Debian respins (by hobbitland on 2012-05-29 06:01:51 GMT from United Kingdom)
I use Gnome 3 fallback in Ubuntu 12.04 which looks just like Gnome 2. Yes, there are just too many pointless Ubuntu respins. Respins that claim to be like Gnome 2 but not quite with questionable quality.
Ubuntu 12.04 has really crap defaults but a very good base in which one can make a respin. Changing a few packages and making a couple of customised packages then calling it a new distro is really silly. I had to make some customized packages for Ubuntu 12.04 to fix dependencies myself.
I don't trust Debian any more because they reduced support to 3 years and I don't call 3 years long term supprot distro anyway. Debian also needs to fix the live CD and make live installs work without network connection.
Ubuntu offers 5 years now on desktop as well as server. The reason you need 5 year support is suppose you buy a new computer just before Ubuntu 12.04 release you will have 3 years supports. In the case of Debian its only one year support.
I will not even touch distros that have one year or less support which is the vast majority of distros out there. I prefer to make my own respin of Ubuntu LTS versions. I test distros in Virtualbox and chroot only letting them loose on my bare hardware if I want to upgrade.
I have only two Linux partitions which production and testing. I never do upgrade installs as that can screw up the production partition. I only share my respin with my friends and family as anyone can make respins with different package selections.
40 • 64-bit Update (by IkeyDoherty on 2012-05-29 07:10:05 GMT from United Kingdom)
Thank you for all the kind comments on SolusOS :)
Just a small update, 64-bit Final is currently being tested and will be uploaded
today. Upon passing final examination it will be made available for general
use. Looking forward to perhaps talking with some of you on our forums or IRC! :)
41 • new small Desktop: razor-qt siduction development release (by arno911 on 2012-05-29 09:30:24 GMT from Germany)
For those who like Qt, but don't want KDE4: the razor-qt Desktop Environment, featured on the latest siduction development release is a valuable addition to the DE scene :-) The ISO has initially been build live at the Linuxtag convention in Berlin this weekend. read more in the blog:
http://news.siduction.org/2012/05/aftermath/
42 • @tek_heretik (by greg on 2012-05-29 09:50:51 GMT from Slovenia)
that is unless someone doesn't break into your home and steals you computer....actually studes get a lot cheaper versions of windows and office so it's not realyl an issue here. also notebook is supposed to be portable (i.e. carried arround). even if you are a student with it. and many if not all now have them at lectures, in library, cafes....
43 • Identity theft (by Gavin R. Putland on 2012-05-29 09:54:03 GMT from Australia)
Your computer files contain information that might be used to impersonate you and run up debts in your name. Encrypting your files stops that information from falling into the wrong hands. The argument that you have nothing to fear if you're not doing anything illegal doesn't hold water, because the cleaner you are, the more advantageous it is to steal your identity.
44 • $HOME encryption (by Anonymous Coward on 2012-05-29 10:23:58 GMT from Spain)
I have a desktop system with a pseudo-full system encryption installation. The /home , the swap and other critical areas of the drive which could leak data are protected.
Am I a secret agent? An executive who needs to hide sensitive information? NO. But setting encryption up is so damn easy that the only reason why someone would chose not to use it is system efficiency. By the way: just /home encryption does not slow the system "that much". You can take a faster algorithm than the default if you are so concerned.
Most people don't really care about security at all. They don't care if someone infects the computer and sends Spam through it. They don't care if they have a keylogger because they have nothing to hide. Know what? People starts caring after their bandwidths goes down or someone compromises a facebook account and impersonates the owner. But not before.
I have stolen mails and files from friends in order to demonstrate to them that it is not hard to get sensitive information from systems that are unsecured because they have "Nothing to Hide". I got passwords, and all kinds of stuff nobody would like to have seized by an enemy. You would be surprised if you knew the kind of information which could land you into hell if it was stolen from your "Nothing to Hide" computer.
Security is serious business and those who take unnecessary risks because of laziness deserve what happens to them. It is not that hard to use proper encryption, to take basic measures to protect your wifi, to set the security updates etc. I understand that placing an Intruder Detection System or OpenVAS or whatever could be considered overkill, but refusing to use simple security measures that a kid could use seems... weird.
For your laptop, use either good encryption or a frugal install of a Live system (with no permanency file). The first secures the data, the second ensures that there is really no sensitive data to leak.
That said, my best security measures have teeth and four legs. My second line of defense is the broadsword placed near my bed :-)
45 • Protecting your laptop (by Israeli Pinguin on 2012-05-29 12:05:04 GMT from Israel)
Just have a look at this FBI document called "Safety and Security
for the Business Professional Traveling Abroad".
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/counterintelligence/business-brochure
Seems like home encryption is a pretty basic protection, especially when taking your laptop abroad.
Quote:
"... Corporate espionage is an increasingly serious threat for a business traveler. The perpetrator may be a competitor, opportunist, or foreign intelligence officer. In many countries, domestic corporations collect competitive intelligence with the help and support of their government. To mitigate this risk, your organization’s critical information and technologies should not reside on any hard copy or electronic device you take unless it is absolutely necessary, and if so, then you must safeguard the physical access to the information by using encryption and keeping the material on your person at all times. Hotel safes are not adequate protection. ..."
46 • broadcom wireless (by gnomic on 2012-05-29 12:15:55 GMT from New Zealand)
Various comments earlier about problems with bcm wifi. I find most Puppy versions I try have no problem with the 4318 chipset on a Compaq V2000 laptop. Indeed most of the distros I try on the machine these days do wifi ootb. Main exceptions are those with a free disposition that don't include the required firmware. Ubuntu still requires jumping through hoops in this regard presumably because of fears over copyright and/or patent infringements. Perhaps some users need to harden up a little, and be prepared to read the fine manual. After all, even in Windows world there is the occasional need to hunt for a driver. The situation with respect to wifi in Linux has improved markedly from where it was say 5 years ago. Sadly, hardware support for Linux remains a minor consideration for many computer manufacturers.
47 • @38 - gov't, etc. laptops running Linux (by Pearson on 2012-05-29 12:50:44 GMT from United States)
I can say that one reason more gov't laptops are *not* running Linux is because of encryption. I know several people on a government project that would like to have Linux on their laptop but aren't allowed, due in part to being able to manage the encryption of the HD.
Believe it or not, most government, medical, etc. professionals do care about protecting data -- especially now that people are losing their jobs. Where it really goes wrong is when someone decides that the security policies don't apply to them (e.g. "I just want to get my work done", "security gets in the way", etc.). Another place it goes wrong is when the ones making the decisions aren't technically savvy/capable enough to make the *right* decisions. Hence, I actually agree with my acquaintance's employer's position about Linux laptops. If the IT group doesn't know enough about Linux encryption to do it right, it shouldn't be done. False security is a *very* bad thing!
48 • Your "Firtst Impressions on SolusOS Eveline" (by Torres on 2012-05-29 14:07:44 GMT from Colombia)
Dear Reviewer:
I read and I appreciate your comments. And as a SolusOS Eveline user I can say in any moment I had the problems the review say arise in the installation, nor in the first time some applications were used or later. I did not find the issues are annotated, except in the minor bug for the update in the case of some sound and video software, that was very soon fixed on the base the developers indicated in the SolusOS page.
It is possible, in accordance with the relativity of the likes and dislikes of everyone, improvements are neccesary. One of them is to make even more easier the installation process for beginners, for example, with a detailed tutorial on the partition for the OS and the mount points and boot installation. In the meantime, at the moment, the user has the help and support of the community and the developers that are ready to give it.
I am in accordance with you about the minor aspect of the dark grey text on a light grey background, that however the user can to change.
As you say SolusOS is a very solid, reliable and friendship OS. Additionally, is a very custom oriented distribution. It is both for the begginers and for the experienced. The developers include important value added, as it is the updated sotware with the more recent editions.
In conclusion, SolusOS has a brilliant and promising future.
Cordially.
49 • Encrypted laptops running Linux. (by Anonymous Coward on 2012-05-29 16:15:34 GMT from Spain)
Pearson wrote:
-------------------------------
If the IT group doesn't know enough about Linux encryption to do it right, it shouldn't be done. False security is a *very* bad thing!
-------------------------------
I agree with you. Hight security tasks need qualified people to perform them. Encryption systems are designed to work under certain security models, and such security models and their limitations must be known by the user. That means the user must be familiar with the security implementation. Of course, in less serious scenarios, it is less of a problem.
I have never heard about a dm-crypt encrypted laptop which was compromised by breaking the encryption with cryptographic methods. However, I have created myself initrd scripts to perform side channel attacks (actually, the Evil Maid attack). It is supposed that a qualified user who knows what he is doing can protect against such a thing, but I guess people does not usually check it. However, this kind of attacks are extremely hard to perform, are well known and, if properly carried out, are more a fault of the user than a fault of the system.
As for the IT staff knowing the security measures they use... well, many times they don't know very well about the encryption they are using, not to say about "estrange" encryption systems. Even some designers of the encryption software don't really know what's going on when working on some features in proprietary platforms, and have to use reverse engineering and hope for the best. Look, for example, at the problems the TrueCrypt people were having while implementing full disk encryption because Microsoft didn't want to help with the hibernation management. They had to improvise, and that does not sound very "secure" to me...
50 • Re: Home encryption... (by tek_heretik on 2012-05-29 16:38:28 GMT from Canada)
it sure is a paranoid world now, sheesh.
51 • Broadcom WiFi (by Caitlyn Martin on 2012-05-29 18:12:56 GMT from United States)
The PC era and desktops won't disappear anytime soon. Anyone who does significant typing will want a traditional keyboard and monitor to work on.
Regarding Broadcom wifi, which I also have, the issue is that Broadcom requires proprietary firmware which most distros could not, until recently, include. Broadcom has changed their licensing so that the firmware can now be redistributed but many Linux distros CHOOSE not to include proprietary firmware in their default installation and some choose not to include it at all. Blame Broadcom, not the Linux distributors.
FWIW, Ubuntu used to work out of the box but that seems to be broken in 12.04. (Yes, another regression, at least with my chipset.) Pardus definitely works out of the box.
Having said that, the process of installing three packages is no big deal as far as I am concerned. If you don't want to deal with that then buy from a vendor that offers systems preloaded with Linux. They are out there. If you chose a model that isn't offered that way blame yourself for making a poor choice, not Linux.
52 • @45 (by Hendrik on 2012-05-29 19:00:24 GMT from Netherlands)
@45, this mentioned at the fbi site or articel or whatever, is just commom sense.
Just do as the locals do blend in and dont, differ in any way.
If yu pull this off no one and really no one wil know what you do, or with what kind of sensitive materials you work, or carry.
Play the neigbhour and it will work, its the people themselves that atract problems even in the digital world.
53 • Re: Broadcom WiFi (by dude on 2012-05-29 19:06:13 GMT from Kuwait)
You say it's no big deal installing 3 packages. How can you install these unless you are tied to a traditional desktop LAN connection? I've had to disconnect printers from a hotel business lounge networks, stealing their LAN connection to install missing drivers. All this could have been avoided if the Wifi adapter just worked in the first place.
54 • Broadcom Wifi (by Mac on 2012-05-29 19:28:01 GMT from United States)
I have a Dell E6400 and I think that kubuntu-64 worked out of the box. But have changed wifi cards now so can't be for sure. Hope this is correct. It also worked with alfa usb wifi also. But if you want to try aptosid distro will show you how and what you need.
Have fun
Mack
55 • Linux (by Colin on 2012-05-29 19:58:07 GMT from United Kingdom)
Its not the Linux desktop that needs to become more modern. Its the applications and games on linux that need the attention now. All the games on linux look pretty ancient compaired to windows games and software. With wine not seem to be doing any for intel graphics cards, think ill be sticking with windows for a long time to come. Theres also just way to many linux distros out there.
56 • #53 Broadcom Wifi revisted (by Caitlyn Martin on 2012-05-29 23:40:11 GMT from United States)
Since you know in advance that proprietary Broadcom firmware is not included in some distros, you download the firmware packages before doing your install. That's what I do. Works every time.
As far as including proprietary binary blobs in Linux distros, many won't as a matter of principle. Once again, there are distros that are known to work with Broadcom wifi out of the box. Either stick with those or else buy hardware in the future that comes with Linux preinstalled and is guaranteed to work.
57 • @54 (by Mac on 2012-05-29 23:41:54 GMT from United States)
Yes Kubuntu-64 worked with my broadcom wifi dell but it called it eth2. But it worked ok. Hope this is some help. I have a wire also to work with.
Have fun
Mack
58 • #55: Windows vs. Linux (by Caitlyn Martin on 2012-05-30 00:19:00 GMT from United States)
@Colin, you're right that Linux does not and probably never will match up to Windows as a gaming platform. However, as a business platform to get real work done its head and shoulders above Windows. My customers include businesses who needed the reliability, stability and performance that Windows simply cannot offer. So... if you're main interest is gaming then yes, definitely, you should stick with Windows.
The second comment about "too many distros" is where we disagree. Operating systems are not one size fits all. That's why Windows fits so poorly for so many people -- it tries to be everything to everyone. We now see it failing on everything from phones to tablets to netbooks as people choose better alternatives. There aren't too many distros. There really are only a few major ones and the rest are all specialty builds which suit specific uses and specific needs. Most people pick one distro and stick with it. The choice, however, is the great strength of Linux.
59 • Mint 13 (by commenter on 2012-05-30 08:18:36 GMT from Canada)
Also see comment #9.
I've recently tried Mint 13 - Cinnamon edition. This was to replace an aging Ubuntu Remix which I loved, as it had the *old* style unity. The reason for the upgrade is that I couldn't get modern software to install without a lot of trouble.
As a side story, I tried Ubuntu 12.04 I hated it. I think HUD could be a brilliant feature for those familiar with their system, but for me, I don't know the names of the programs or what search terms to come up with, and never felt quite sure that some program would never be found. I just need menus. I found it *literally* unusable for various reasons. I remember thinking, this is the first time an OS made me angry.
Mint 13 was a huge relief to me! All the programs I wanted to use (pidgin, xchat, firefox) were already installed, and there are nice shortcuts directly to firefox, files, and terminal which is very convenient. I immediately felt productive wtih this OS. I could play music, chat, and surf right away. I adjusted my desktop preferences as I liked. The menu categories are clear and organized. The program names made sense, except for some branded ones which I was familiar with from Windows.
Some problems however, sometimes my screen would disappear suddenly and I realized to turn off hot corners. Often my desktop will freeze completely, but I remembered to use ctrl-alt-backspace. Unfortunately this loses all my work. I have a feeling Cinnamon is buggy. I'm very hoping it gets fixed.
One other thing, I am really impressed by the installer. I don't know if this is mint or ubuntu's work, but it's very professional, starting in the background while asking you questinos, it recognizes and names the OS you already had installed (no weird technical names), and had the option to replace an existing linux, which is exactly what I needed. No manual partition setup, very simple.
All drivers, screen res, monitor switching worked.
I was interesting in comment #9 because I'm curious about MATE, perhaps it won't crash for me I hope it looks basically the same as Cinnamon.
Definitely recommend giving Mint a try!
60 • correction (by commenter on 2012-05-30 08:21:59 GMT from Canada)
I meant Ubuntu Netbook Remix edition, with a completely different Unity. I wish I could still use this GUI, it really maximizes my screenspace I should mention I'm using a netbook, Acer, with small screen..
Also Cinnamon is quite slow, takes a full second to pop up the menu. The software installer was impressively fast, it must use SQL.
61 • Mint 13 cinnamon 32bit (by zykoda on 2012-05-30 15:06:37 GMT from United Kingdom)
I tried to install thrice from the live DVD with the "somethingelse" partitioning option. I chose to format an existing ext4 partition, set it to "/" and grub2 on the root. Why it chose to save (non)existing files I do not know, since they were supposed to be removed on formatting the partition! That was the first failure which I OK'ed out of. Next the installer crashed. No mention of the grub boot loader! and I restarted into the Mint 10 bootloader and updated grub. Behold Maya was found and was listed when I restarted again. But system will not run. There are errors in the install.py and plugininstall.py when the installer previously crashed. seems that the system will never install and run on that machine! That's 11, 12 and 13 that have proved increasingly frustrating. Seems that 10 was the peak. Pity, because chaos seems not far ahead. Back to Debian.
62 • razor-qt (by Mac on 2012-05-30 15:55:49 GMT from United States)
Installed siduction razor-qt early this am. Having a great time with it. I like to play with new things and boy this is a great one. Not bad for a kde fanboy.
@61 Installed mint 13 mate-64 yesterday no problem. But just not my cup of tea but some are sure to like it.
Have fun
Mack
63 • Broadcom wireless... (by Edna Crabapple on 2012-05-30 20:15:32 GMT from United States)
I have 2 Acer TimelineX notebooks that have the Broadcom 43225 wifi chip.
The *only* distro's I have found to work OOB with this card are the 'buntu's. I've tried Ubuntu, Xubuntu, and Kubuntu 12.04. All found the card immediately and worked. I just had to supply my network password.
However- getting it working in any other distro is a real PITA.
64 • Rolling release(s) (by claudecat on 2012-05-31 04:11:23 GMT from United States)
Ok, here's the thing - I've realized during this current season of releases that I'm just sick and tired of reinstalling distros every 6-9 months. I no longer have the patience (or brain cells) to remember what I did last time to get things to work or to remember which packages I needed to do that. More important things to do, etc.
This has caused me to contemplate the concept of the rolling release, and in doing so I've come to the conclusion that Arch is really the only distro that pulls it off to my satisfaction. No repo freezes or breakage like in Debian testing or Sid (not that they're supposed to be rolling or even releases), no compiling and/or breakage like in Gentoo or Tumbleweed, no hopelessly dated kernel like PCLOS, no troubles at all really - for going on 3 years now. If there is an issue it's on the forum usually before I even notice it, and I have the latest everything (almost).
For the past few years I've maintained several distros on dozens of partitions, and have learned a lot, but I'm seriously considering blowing most of them away in favor of Arch and a few others. Of course, last month I may have said the same about Gentoo, so we'll see :=}. Oh, and I still need to check out Beefy Miracle and...
Nevermind.
65 • Re. 25 (by uz64 on 2012-05-31 04:29:14 GMT from United States)
GNOME Fallback is just that: a fallback mode of GNOME 3 meant to allow GNOME 3 to be run on computers without 3D hardware acceleration. Once GNOME Shell is able to run without 3D hardware acceleration, the fallback mode is set to vanish. Of course, this is not what some people--including myself--want to see. That's where MATE (a continuation of GNOME 2) and Cinnamon (a GNOME 3 environment with plug-ins to make it look, feel and act like GNOME 2).
Choice is good, and when there is such an extreme difference between, for example, GNOME 2/MATE and the GNOME Shell, I doubt that "uniting the forces" would even be possible. Personally, I am anxious to see MATE and especially Cinnamon evolve. And while I have no use for an unproductive and restrictive toy environment (GNOME 3/GNOME Shell) outside of specialized devices like tablet computers, I'm still interested in seeing how GNOME 3 evolves as well.
You don't complain when you walk around a car dealership do you? Or the cereal isle in a store? Why should operating systems be any different?
Hell, I stocked shelves at Wal-Mart for a while last year, and it's amazing how much variety there is in something as simple as plastic bags. But I'm not complaining.
66 • @64 (by mz on 2012-05-31 05:00:25 GMT from United States)
How much difference will a newer kernel make? I've switched from one to the next on PCLOS, and while I'm still on 2.6.38 I don't see the problem. Maybe it makes a difference to some, but I think that it makes no real difference to the vast majority of users. I probably don't 'need' the latest version of Firefox from the PCLOS & LMDE repos either, but I think that sort of thing does a lot more for me in terms of useful features than a kernel change would. I guess the point of rolling release for most if just that it feels better than settling for the old stuff in a RHEL clone, and while I get preferring a newer kernel I can't see it as a huge difference unless you need it for some specific new feature.
67 • Fedora 17 (by Roy H Huddleston on 2012-05-31 14:21:59 GMT from United States)
I liked the way it did my two monitors hooked up on the Nvidia 9500 GT. Didn't really need the Nvidia driver.
68 • newer kernel (@66) (by Barnabyh on 2012-05-31 22:32:12 GMT from United Kingdom)
You're right about that. But if it makes a difference, I noticed the 3.4 kernel on my Slackware box runs using around 15 Mb less ram with Openbox than 2.6.39. Of course these days nobody needs to care about that, only people who like running as minimal as possible.
69 • kernel version (by Jesse on 2012-05-31 22:51:25 GMT from Canada)
>> " But if it makes a difference, I noticed the 3.4 kernel on my Slackware box runs using around 15 Mb less ram with Openbox than 2.6.39. Of course these days nobody needs to care about that, only people who like running as minimal as possible."
I agree, most people aren't going to notice a 15MB difference. Those who are concerned about that level of minimalism will probably be compiling their own kernels rather than using one from the distribution's repository.
70 • Fedora 17 and then some ... (by mcellius on 2012-06-01 04:01:35 GMT from United States)
Yesterday I installed Fedora 17 and installed it, and have been playing with it all day. I'm using the version with Gnome 3 (not my favorite interface) and it seems fast and ... well, good enough. In general, pretty much the same as any distro with Gnome 3.
I know I can install Cinnamon with it, but I already know what Cinnamon is like (from Ubuntu and Mint) so I don't see the need. And I know there is a KDE version, but I already know KDE from Kubuntu and OpenSUSE and ... well, I think you get the point.
I agree with Caitlyn that the many choices and options are a Linux strength, but at some point there is no longer much of a point, I'm afraid.
Fedora has a few nice and new features, but these days most of the differences between the major distros are the interfaces, and in general any of them can run most of the interfaces, so there really isn't much to distinguish them. I'm not talking about the specialty distros here, which are good because of certain niches that they fill, but rather the distros that are aimed at general userbases.
I've tried most of the major distros and they're all fine. They do what you want them to do, and do it pretty well. There are little differences, to be sure, but in general if you learn one then you might as well stick with it since the others won't really give you much more, just a different way of doing it. Just change the interface and you'll have what's really different,
So while I agree wtih Caitlyn, I also think it's gone too far. Innovation is good and we need diversity for that, but seriously: hundreds of distros? I like a lot of the specialty distros (and use some of them), but the general distros that are really just the main distro with a different interface (an interface that the main distro can run, too)? C'mon.
We need some of you great programmers to put your efforts into Linux tools and software (other than distros) that enable Linux to complete with Windows and Apple. We don't need a 500th Linux distro, but we could use some programs that are usable by average (non-engineer) users.
71 • Debian, Ubuntu, Centos (by Ken on 2012-06-01 08:58:27 GMT from Congo, The Democratic Republic of the)
Debian stable is said to be more conservative than Ubuntu, but when I install Debian I am able to play mp3 files immediately without having to get other codecs. For Ubuntu I got to have internet connection and download additional codecs before I can play my mp3. Why can't Ubuntu ship with those codecs that enable Debian to play mp3s immediately after installation?
And having grown up in Debian world I find centos repositories disorganised and the graphical install of software too slow compared to Debians. Why doesn't centos improve software base and ease of installation to match Debian? Could be due to less human reources or just a feeling that they do not need to?
72 • Vector 7 soho (by BipBipLinuxuser on 2012-06-02 18:59:27 GMT from Canada)
Good news for fan of VectorLinux! Version soho 7 stable is out.
Installation step easy and run fast. Some interesting new tool.
Attention: Vector is for english native poeple only! A part KDE you can translate in your native language the other soft you don't have a package in the repo for completly translate the system...
It's a shame because VectorLinux has great potential in the univers of Linux Distro
73 • @71 (by cflow on 2012-06-02 20:47:14 GMT from United States)
A simple answer: software patents.
Canonical is trying to make a business when building an operating system, and the codecs are removed from the ISO to prevent a patent lawsuit that would be catastrophic to the OS it creates - like, for example, the patent providers might force its users to pay a fee in the ISO for each codec it has. As a business, its obligated to the laws of the countries it distributes its product.
Debian, on the other hand, is not a business, and doesn't intend to make a profit, so it has some kind of leeway to distributing patent encumbered codecs. Even though all the codecs it supports are open source, they aren't safe from patent trolls. But Debian's philosophy about them are kind of... hazy, in that it doesn't want people to even think about seeing if they violate patents. Kind of strange if you ask me.
Must you know, Ubuntu is much more convenient with codecs than other businesses- in Fedora, since Red Hat is in the U.S. they even refuse to have a repository of these codecs by default - In order to install something like VLC you have to add a repo from some completely outside website! But better safe than sorry, I suppose.
74 • Re: #25 (Merging some of these DE...) (by Fernando on 2012-06-02 21:27:41 GMT from Brazil)
fabio wrote:
> Choice is good but, guys, aren't there a little too many forks, variations,
> extensions, re-spins, etc of Gnome 2&3? Cinnamon, mate, gnome shell,
> gnome-fallback, this, that, the other... Don't you get a better result if you
> unite the forces?
I just got sick of all that bloody mess, and then adopted XFCE. No more
instability problems since the smart change! I now refuse to try either
SolusOS or any other distro that doesn't come with this wonderful DE.
By the way, I use the XFCE edition of Dreamlinux (Debian Wheezy)
and also Zenwalk (Slackware). Both work like champs.
75 • Patents and Codecs (by Jesse on 2012-06-02 21:33:24 GMT from Canada)
I'd just like to add a few observations to post 73. One being that Ubuntu allows codecs to be downloaded at install time, which is fairly convenient. Also, some other businesses do provide codecs in their open source operating systems. Mandriva does/did, PC-BSD by default connects to a repository which contains all the codecs one might want. I think SUSE will offer to add the proper repositories for the user and search for codecs. Red Hat seems to be the only Linux company that won't touch patented codecs. I'm fairly sure all the other corporate-backed distros have a non-free repository which can be enabled through their control centre or turned on at install time.
76 • To all those impressed with Mint (by tek_heretik on 2012-06-03 03:24:52 GMT from Canada)
I'm not. It's based on Ubuntu, so after the base, you have to consider the GUI, sorry, Mate and Cinnamon suck, the functionality just isn't there, it's TOO simple.
Somebody was curious about the difference between Mate and Cinnamon, Mate is just an old style Gnome replacement where Cinnamon is getting most of the development attention so if you are going to use Mint, use the Cinnamon version (which still 'reeks' of old Gnome).
Somebody else mentioned Mint peaked at 10, very true, I agree, used 10 for a year but the support time limit was running out so it sent me scrambling for a replacement, which led me to Kubuntu 12.04 LTS (5 year Long Term Support), Ubuntu based, nice looking and functional, GUI settings up the wahzoo, completely opposite of Mint, no matter the Mint GUI choice.
As for anything Debian or Debian based, sorry, some programs I can get in an Ubuntu based distro just aren't there and way too many breakages, etc. Like the Mint people say about their Debian based edition (LMDE), "expect rough edges", oh yeah, they're there, hours of Googling fixes, blech.
Arch looks great, love the rolling update thing, but again, I looked in their repository list, programs I need are not there, Kubuntu's repository has TEN TIMES the packages, so after Arch's command line install pain in the arse, etc, you are left with little choice of software or a compiling nightmare. I am not a jobless wonder that has hours and hours of free time to mess with Arch. There is something to be said for 'out of the box'.
Kubuntu's day has arrived, worth looking at, no, I not a developer for them or affiliated in any other way except being a member of their forum (which is separately run btw), I am just a computer savvy everyday Joe that has tried just about every distro flavour under the sun. Kubuntu 12.04 is fantastic and 5 year support to boot (no pun intended).
77 • 1600x900 screenshot (by tek_heretik on 2012-06-03 04:45:28 GMT from Canada)
My Kunbuntu 12.04 desktop (default wallpaper). That 'box' underneath Gkrellm is the desktop 'folder' of personal files, added program icons from the main menu by right clicking, I prefer the classic menu, obtained by right clicking the menu icon in the taskbar.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79786334@N02/7313026152/sizes/h/in/photostream/
78 • @76/Mint (by mz on 2012-06-03 06:44:31 GMT from United States)
I think given how new Cinnamon is it's actually fairly feature rich, and it seems fairly lean compared to most other full featured DEs as well. Unfortunately Cinnamon doesn't like the hardware I run LMDE on, but having tried it with other hardware in the past I think it has real potential. I'll still take KDE over any other for now, but I think Cinnamon is a solid achievement for the little Mint team. I guess my opinion of default Ubuntu is about as high as your opinion of Mint, so to each his own.
79 • 2D Desktop Systems (by Mike on 2012-06-03 08:58:23 GMT from United States)
Equinox Desktop Environment (EDE) looks pretty nice but seriously, given all that we have learned about about 3D interface development over the past 20 years, why is anyone in 2012 writing new 2D Windowing systems?
80 • NVIDIA Optimus (by Blue Knight on 2012-06-03 14:20:56 GMT from France)
SolusOS says: « support for hybrid GPUs, such as the NVIDIA Optimus.» I know Linux had some problems with the NVIDIA Optimus cards. Someone knows if now the things are better and if the support for these cards in Linux/BSD has improved? Also, SolusOS is really good with them? And what about Fedora and Mageia, please? Thank you very much... :D
81 • Arch v Ubuntu reprositories (by mandog on 2012-06-03 16:24:14 GMT from United Kingdom)
Archlinux
repositories= 5,716 The main repros only contain the most popular apps.
AUR Packages= 3,7181 Contains the vast majority of arch apps.
private user repros?
=42,897+
Ubuntu = around 40,000 in including mediabuntu and get deb
PPA repros?
So unless there are 428,970 packages the TEN TIMES MORE is a joke.
Ubuntu seems to have the same give or take.
By the way I did a arch Netinstall the other day the latest disc now lets you choose the desktop environment also the only file that needs altering during set-up is rc.conf as you need to add a display manager to the daemons list. Reboot and you are there to your favorite desktop 10 mins is all it takes. All the GUI tools you need are in AUR including package management.
If thats what you want
Cinnamon Considering it age is rock stable and fast I use it on Archlinux,/Linux Mint.
82 • @76 (by notsure on 2012-06-03 18:25:47 GMT from United States)
Don't know much about the mint/ubuntu thing, but for out of the box rolling release, where arch is too cumbersome, there is always slackware and slackware-current. 'repositories' would be alien's, slackbuilds and slacky. hope this helps.
83 • @81 (mandog/repositories math) (by tek_heretik on 2012-06-03 19:45:44 GMT from Canada)
Umm, either you didn't read my post correctly or you need to go back to school...
4,000x10=40,000...mmm k? I deal with math everyday in my job, part of the reason I love computers is the math involved.
As for rc.conf editing in Arch, they couldn't script/automate that? Seems silly to me for only ONE file, but then again, they do say "prepare to get your hands dirty with under the hood command line".
84 • @81 again... (by tek_heretik on 2012-06-03 19:51:55 GMT from Canada)
Now I see what you are saying, private user repo's, umm, yeah, that would make me feel safe, to install from there to a distro on my hard drive that is supposed to be permanent, NOT! I was referring to MAIN repo's, I think I have a total of 3 cross distro packages installed, only because they are a fix for something, but they came in .deb's, which happen to be compatible with a *buntu, can you say that for Arch?
85 • Arch vs. *buntu repos (by Barnabyh on 2012-06-03 20:15:16 GMT from United Kingdom)
mandog was talking about AUR having 37 181 packages, and then added private user repos with a question mark. So that would be about the same as buntu then.
It would still mean you have to compile though as AUR only includes build scripts, but this can be automated with yaourt and Packer I hear.
Still, probably not what you want. But are you really using that many programs that cannot be found in the main one?
86 • @85...did you not read the part... (by tek_heretik on 2012-06-03 22:37:49 GMT from Canada)
where I said I went to look at Arch's repo list MYSELF, sheesh. One more time, around FOUR THOUSAND in their main, and yes, I do install tons that I cannot be bothered with yaourt, yogurt, lol, or any other other poop piler, my God, it's 2012, not 1992, 20 years have passed since Linus put the kernel on the net, and yes, I do the odd command line fix or run a program from the command line, I am not allergic to it but still, like I said earlier, I am NOT unemployed and don't have hours upon hours to do what other distro's have already automated. :-P
87 • SolusOS (by wall-e on 2012-06-04 05:28:32 GMT from United States)
My install DID take 30 minutes on a Toshiba X505 - Corei5, 7200rpm disk, nVidia GeForce. I don't think that's legacy hardware, at least not yet.
I'll admit to being a bit pissed during install, since this is the third time a clean install of the nVidia drivers was promised but didn't work. But I found the sgfxi fix, which worked just fine. Basically, I booted 'nomodeset' on both the LiveCD and installed system, then ran sgfxi, and had no further problems.
I only wish the more problematic non-free drivers could be installed by default, at least until this situation clears up. I don't know if there are legal or technical problems to doing this, however I have seen a rare few Linuxes that do. Most don't, and researching just the right incantations to use on each distro is a royal pain.
I think the idea of a Debian stable with updated major packages is a good one, and think someone should have done it sooner. Basing on testing is too much of a problem, particularly for new users and those who want install-and-go, as LMDE has proven, so I think Solus is the better path.
There is a bit of ass-kissing that does go on in the forums, but I much prefer that to seeing new users get drilled a new one whenever they ask a simple question. That does not seem to happen on the Solus forums. Not yet, anyway.
All in all, this seems like a very solid release for a 1.0. It's been about a year, since my disaffection for Ubuntu/Mint, that I have been searching for a new one that runs well on this machine. I'm hoping I can stick with Solus for a while.
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| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
Ging
Ging was a live CD distribution based on Debian GNU/kFreeBSD (which was based on Debian, GNU and the kernel of FreeBSD). Ging consists entirely of free software as per Debian Free Software Guidelines, and has a commitment to remain this way.
Status: Discontinued
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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