Linux Review 8- G-OS Space 2.9

GOS 2.9
is based off the Ubuntu distribution, and it is the operating system that is coming on the Everex G-PC's and the Everex Cloud Book. The new 2.9 version, has a Mac-OS type feel. Even though it seems appropriate, the G does not stand for Google.

Installation
Installing GOS 2.9 was basically installing Ubuntu, the installer is exactly the same. But, actually installing it was painfully slow, and the status bar is so small, you can't see it go across. It looks like it just hangs at 0%, so you have to be patient with this one. Boot up time after installation is also very slow. The install was off of a 760MB image, requiring a DVD, which really frustrated me, I have to use a DVD for an image that was just 60MB over the size of a CD. No where, can the naked eye see, that this is a pre-release. Supposedly it is not. I think that the GOS team has a bit of work to do.

Visual Appeal
The Visual Appeal of this distribution is alright, it has a Mac OSX feel to it. The manager is a bit confusing to me, having never used a mac in my life. The close buttons are on the left. The dock at the bottom is where all the applications that the team has chosen to put in there go. At the top, if you click the GOS logo, you can get a full list of applications, and Log Off, Restart, and Shutdown, which, whenever I chose shut down, I have to power cycle my system because GOS becomes non responsive. I do like the dock provided by the avant window navigator (AWN), but I also find it hard to change what is there, and to easily see what programs I have running. When I am running Firefox, most of the time, if it isn't a program launched window, it will appear as the little smiley face. That one thing can annoy you so much, when you are looking for your open windows and can't find any. The overall theme is pretty good, and the addition of AWN is nice too. It seems pretty smooth to use.

Wrap-Up

So, like all distributions, G-OS has some ups and downs. First of all, many things don't work. Second, in the boot loader, it is still recognised as Ubuntu. That will confuse some new Linux users, and it almost confused me too. But the inclusion of AWN is quite nice, and so is the overall theme. A lot of shortcuts to web applications are included, making it nice if you have Internet. The fact is, I believe this distribution is more aimed toward Internet use, than offline use. I would have to wonder what you would do with the Everex cloud-book if you weren't online. I give this distribution an overall score of 3/5, there is still quite a bit of work to be done.

Get 3D Effects running in PCLinuxOS

Video Explains all,

Food For Thought- 4/7/08

Alright, so here is an idea I would like to support, and it is also one of the reasons I do the reviews. Windows 7 is supposedly coming out eventually, probably in the next year or so, and probably to replace the horrible Windows Vista that has been released on the people. Windows XP, is coming to the end of it's lifetime. According to M$, you will no longer be able to buy Windows XP off the shelves by June 30th. (I think) Windows can still be shipped pre-installed on a PC coming from large manufacturers for a bit after that. Eventually, XP will enter an "Extended Support Mode", and after that period of time, it will be completely unsupported. If my PC fails, and I build a new one, I probably wont be able to install XP on it. I would like to go to Linux, and never touch a Windows OS again. It probably wont completely happen, but I have to pay $$$ for it, so I probably wont buy it. Why spend money where there is a free alternative anyway? Schools are possibly looking towards doing some of the same things. That will be cool (Vista doesn't network well anyway) Hooray for Linux, it is your turn to shine!

With that out of the way, I want to ponder another idea. Running a web server within the school. I was thinking, if we can test it behind a firewall for a couple days, we could approach the www easily. If it is behind the firewall, it should only be available to access within the network. We would need to explore the idea a little more, and get a non changing IP from the Network Admin.

April 4th- FOSSVT! Great Conference!

This Friday, I headed to the FOSS VT conference, to do two jobs. One job was to present, the other to podcast. So, I headed down with Ms. deLaBruere, and another person. We all presented together, but that comes later.
We brought about 5 laptops, and the XO Laptop (For the OLPC mesh-up, I was told they broke a record, there was 4 XOs in the same place!) to podcast. We arrived a bit late, but hurried to get set up in the rooms that had the conference, there was three conferences going on at the same time, so I didn't get to see them all. Fortunately enough, there is a podcast of each one, I will end up at least hearing them all. There were 12 in all, with out presentation being one in the second session. I had a great experience presenting, but again, that comes later. Podcasting was pretty good, still have to check if we got anything good, so that will probably be set up on the internet if there is anything good, like to put it on a personal web server, but probably within school, my personal ISP doesn't allow it. So, hopefully I can negotiate that, we will see, give it time.
So, back to our presentation, It went great, probably mostly because of the audience, they asked great questions, and pushed along the presentation. My presentation went great, I asked questions, they answered, and sometimes they even asked back, pretty cool, I'd say, even without the laptop prepared with recent Flash installed, and the horrid wireless at the resort, it went alright, our first concern was if we couldn't even get to the presentation, everything was online, I will embed the slides at the bottom of this post so you can see. I watched two of the Setting Up a Linux Server sessions, both were great, and were somewhat funny, in a geeky kind of way. I also got an introduction to things like MythTV, the owner said it works great, but is a pain to set up. OK, so thats that, if we ever get those podcasts up, I will link the blog to them, we will see as time passes.

Slides-

Linux Review 7- Heavily GIMPED 1.5 Beta

Heavily GIMPED 1.5 Beta Release
Heavily GIMPED is a release that many people have never heard of. The distribution is designed for graphics artists, and includes the popular Open-Source Applications, GIMP, Blender, Inkscape, and Xara XTreme. It features look brilliant, and the graphical user interface is through GNOME. The GNOME UI is also heavily customized, you wouldn't really realize that it is GNOME.

User Interface
Although I don't have a picture, (Forgot to take one) I can tell you the GNOME interface is brilliant. Window frames are black, and the top and bottom task bars are black and white respectively, and somewhat translucent, you can see through to your background perfectly. The installer is somewhat Ubuntu-like, and will bring you through a very quick install, just about 10 minutes.

Once Installed the operating system uses Synaptic for package management, and a tool called GIMP-IZE! to change options, like administrator things. It comes with Firefox, Abiword, Gnumeric, Thunderbird, and shortcuts to things like Google Docs, Blogger, and also things such as Zoho or Thinkfree. All launch to their login pages in Firefox, and there are also launchers to go to your home folder and other places. It also comes with the graphics applications described above, and a few other tools, like a calculator, a notepad, and a launcher to IGoogle. If Abiword or Gnumeric aren't right for you, you can always install Open Office, it is in the repositories. Updating was also very quick, the 1.5 beta was just released a couple weeks ago.


The logo and desktop background are designed in the GIMP.

Horay to the developers! This distribution has tons of features, and great repositories. Everything is quick! And the GIMP-IZE! configuration tool has a normal person mode, and an expert mode. It is just great! It deserves a 20/5 (A 4/1). It is great, just not that great, 4/5!