After 11 successful looks at Linux, I think I may have found my favorite...
Arch Linux is a Linux distribution striving to Keep it simple. My opinions on this? Its great. Arch is lightweight and you can do anything in relation to Desktop Managers and configuration. I installed it on my Eee PC 904HA, and had similar results to Fedora. Sound from the headphone output is full of static, but I think that might be a hardware problem. Wireless basically worked out of box. Even with the core install, essentials to a laptop configuration were working. I went from there, installing and configuring X.org, GDM, Gnome, XFCE, and getting programs like Firefox, Pidgin, and OpenOffice.org. What I got out of doing this all by hand was a fast, slim system with only the essentials.
Arch Install
The Arch Linux installer is a text base installer, covering everything needed to get a working install on first reboot. It goes through partitioning, keyboard, time zone, and other settings. If you download the FTP image, you download packages from mirrors to use on the first reboot. I downloaded the ~150MB FTP image, and then downloaded some packages such as the kernel and Text editor, nano. I also dived into using EXT4 for my root partition. EXT4 is the latest EXT filesystem, and it seems faster than EXT3 would be. I had to use EXT3 for my /boot partition as GRUB doesn't yet support EXT4. Otherwise, the install went smooth, and I checked the configuration files to make sure that they were ok. They were, and I proceeded into my first installed start-up of Arch.
Arch Startup
The installed system was blazingly fast. I logged in as root, and I had a command line based system, that I was ready to install things like X onto. I read around the Arch wiki (Great wiki), figuring out how to go around installing what I wanted. Soon after, my system was ready and very usable.
Overview
Arch is a nice Linux distribution. It is lightweight and fast. It works great, once you have it configured properly. It gives you flexibility. You only download things you need. I have to say, with all of these things together in one distribution, it is my favorite. I have to give it a 5/5. I think this will be my distribution of choice for a while. Until something similar to arch comes along with a better mixture of performance and features, Arch will be my favorite. For now, I will stop distribution hopping and stay with Arch.
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Fedora 10: LiveCD install
I've had an all-around good experience with Fedora. It never stumped me out of my mind, and gave me enough options so that I was satisfied. I have used CentOS, Fedora Core 6, and Fedora 8, 9, and 10.
Fedora 10: Live CD Install
Fedora's primary download media has gone from Installable DVD, to Installable Live CD. There are a couple benefits to this-
Graphical Interface
Fedora 10 comes with GNOME version 2.24.1. It also comes with some beautiful new desktop artwork. Nothing else that is special here, but I find the Graphical User interface quite nice. The experience is overall fast and nice to work with.
Installation/Updates
I was lucky, I was able to download the image within a week of release. I had about 40 updates that all downloaded within 30 minutes. Installation took about 25 minutes (With 512 MB of memory). The installer (I assume it is still anaconda) was very easy to navigate. Once out of the live CD interface, Fedora 10 was fast and ready to be used.
Software
I was suprised by some of the software that was installed/not installed. With the LiveCD medium, you can only fit a limited number of things that the DVD would otherwise have. I found that instead of the entire OpenOffice Suite, only Abiword was installed. Under Graphics, only GIMP and gThumb were installed. Things like iok were installed. I found Intresting the changes that were made with software, but most things that you can't find installed directly after installation can be found and installed from the repositories.
Conclusion
Fedora 10 is easy to install, update, and use. Although the software from the LiveCD is a little less than you can get off of a DVD is less, there is probably enough to satisfy a normal PC user.
Fedora 10 pros-
Through everything, I believe Fedora 10 deserves a 4.5/5. It is easy to use, and fast. It may not be the distribution of choice for the newest user, but if they have a decent understanding of Windows/Other PC operating System, I think they would be fine with this.
Fedora 10: Live CD Install
Fedora's primary download media has gone from Installable DVD, to Installable Live CD. There are a couple benefits to this-
- Image takes less time to download. Whoever thought that going from a 4.7GB (Maximum) medium to a 700MB (Maximum) medium would improve that!
- Smaller size on your hard drive when it is waiting to be burned.
- Can be read by computers with a CD-Only drive.
- Doesn't need a DVD+R drive to burn.
- Less Software, A lot less software.
- Slower to boot (Live CD's have been this way for a while.)
Graphical Interface
Fedora 10 comes with GNOME version 2.24.1. It also comes with some beautiful new desktop artwork. Nothing else that is special here, but I find the Graphical User interface quite nice. The experience is overall fast and nice to work with.
Installation/Updates
I was lucky, I was able to download the image within a week of release. I had about 40 updates that all downloaded within 30 minutes. Installation took about 25 minutes (With 512 MB of memory). The installer (I assume it is still anaconda) was very easy to navigate. Once out of the live CD interface, Fedora 10 was fast and ready to be used.
Software
I was suprised by some of the software that was installed/not installed. With the LiveCD medium, you can only fit a limited number of things that the DVD would otherwise have. I found that instead of the entire OpenOffice Suite, only Abiword was installed. Under Graphics, only GIMP and gThumb were installed. Things like iok were installed. I found Intresting the changes that were made with software, but most things that you can't find installed directly after installation can be found and installed from the repositories.
Conclusion
Fedora 10 is easy to install, update, and use. Although the software from the LiveCD is a little less than you can get off of a DVD is less, there is probably enough to satisfy a normal PC user.
Fedora 10 pros-
- Less of a download size than the previous DVD
- Easy to use
- Easy to install and update
- Does most of what it needs to do on it's own, not much human interaction is required other than pressing a few buttons.
- Works inside Virtualbox (Yes, I have decided to stick with SUSE and virtualize).
- Great User Interface
- Fedora 10 has a little less software than I would prefer.
- LiveCD boot-up is slow (Like always, Not Fedora's fault.)
Through everything, I believe Fedora 10 deserves a 4.5/5. It is easy to use, and fast. It may not be the distribution of choice for the newest user, but if they have a decent understanding of Windows/Other PC operating System, I think they would be fine with this.
Happy Birthday Blog! How About a quick look at Ubuntu 8.10?
Today Marks this blog's first birthday. I started blogging a year ago, on November 12th, 2007. Since then my writings have improved, and my viewers have left insight on how to improve things. I thank you for that, and I hope more insight will come, so that I can improve by even greater amounts. I also hope to provide you with more information, and interesting links. On November 5th, 2008, I opened the Everyth1ng blog, be sure to check that out ( http://everyth1ng.blogspot.com ). Now how would a quick look at Ubuntu 8.10 be?
Ubuntu 8.10
I think I have had enough Ubuntu. I find that with each release the startup gets slower and the interface clunkier. The new "Theme" isn't exactly all that either. I do not think that I am expecting too much, but promised features that the Canonical teams seem to be put off until the last minute, which is not something you want to do with something as big as a piece of software, let alone an Operating system.
Installation
I can't say much about installation this time, as I opted to upgrade right from Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. The update process was smooth, and took about 2.5 hrs (Not Ubuntu's Fault). It was smooth on first boot up, but it seems alot slower than 8.04 was. It also seems much slower from the login to desktop (In either XFCE, or GNOME).
Theming/ User Interface
Although theming isn't important in my mind, Ubuntu teams had promised a big theme change for 8.10. Other than the small change in colors and new desktop art, there isn't much to be found here. Where is it Ubuntu? I can't find it! Other words for the User Interface, it is still GNOME and Ubuntu-y
Conclusions
I liked the previous releases of Ubuntu. 8.10 doesn't really introduce anything special, at least that I can see. In fact, I almost think that the release quality of the releases is degrading. I do not know if it is just me expecting more, but I really do think it is getting lower each release. What do you think? Any Die-Hard Ubuntuers out there that have been with it since the first release? Please give me insight as to this. Maybe I'm going insane. I give this release of Ubuntu a 3/5. Promised features seem to be getting put on the back burner. In fact, the "new" theme we have was promised for 8.04. It may be the newest kernel technology, and some other nice features, but they aren't nessecarily what new users will see.
Overall score: 3/5
Disclaimer: Open_N0DE is not going to listen to any comments that involve my reviewing strategy, unless you tell me HOW to IMPROVE it. I review from a new user's perspective, and I look at distributions that look easy to use for the new user. I believe that I have a small amount of experience in Linux, and I run a webserver for testing the PHP pages that I am learning how to code. I also know a little of the Command line, and YUM and APT-GET tools. Unfortunately I do not know around in some things, and I apoligize for that.
Ubuntu 8.10
I think I have had enough Ubuntu. I find that with each release the startup gets slower and the interface clunkier. The new "Theme" isn't exactly all that either. I do not think that I am expecting too much, but promised features that the Canonical teams seem to be put off until the last minute, which is not something you want to do with something as big as a piece of software, let alone an Operating system.
Installation
I can't say much about installation this time, as I opted to upgrade right from Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. The update process was smooth, and took about 2.5 hrs (Not Ubuntu's Fault). It was smooth on first boot up, but it seems alot slower than 8.04 was. It also seems much slower from the login to desktop (In either XFCE, or GNOME).
Theming/ User Interface
Although theming isn't important in my mind, Ubuntu teams had promised a big theme change for 8.10. Other than the small change in colors and new desktop art, there isn't much to be found here. Where is it Ubuntu? I can't find it! Other words for the User Interface, it is still GNOME and Ubuntu-y
Conclusions
I liked the previous releases of Ubuntu. 8.10 doesn't really introduce anything special, at least that I can see. In fact, I almost think that the release quality of the releases is degrading. I do not know if it is just me expecting more, but I really do think it is getting lower each release. What do you think? Any Die-Hard Ubuntuers out there that have been with it since the first release? Please give me insight as to this. Maybe I'm going insane. I give this release of Ubuntu a 3/5. Promised features seem to be getting put on the back burner. In fact, the "new" theme we have was promised for 8.04. It may be the newest kernel technology, and some other nice features, but they aren't nessecarily what new users will see.
Overall score: 3/5
Disclaimer: Open_N0DE is not going to listen to any comments that involve my reviewing strategy, unless you tell me HOW to IMPROVE it. I review from a new user's perspective, and I look at distributions that look easy to use for the new user. I believe that I have a small amount of experience in Linux, and I run a webserver for testing the PHP pages that I am learning how to code. I also know a little of the Command line, and YUM and APT-GET tools. Unfortunately I do not know around in some things, and I apoligize for that.
Linux Review 10- OpenSUSE 11.0
Ok, last time I looked at OpenSUSE, I completely confused myself when trying to configure things. This time, even with little knowledge of the settings manager, or the package manager (Both tasks are handled with YAST2) I was able to figure things out. I actually set mount points for Windows partitions correctly this time! (This is done before installation starts). So even when I wasn't sure what setting in YAST did what when I began, I quickly discovered that YAST for settings is absolutely Awesome. The YAST package manager is a little slow, and seems to take up a bit of System resources. So let's get started, shall we?
OpenSUSE 11.0
You know, you want a system to be able to do something with. You don't want it to just sit there not allowing any work to be done, because (Insert Bloated Anti-Virus Software Here) is using too much memory, and the system is slow. You do want a secure system, so you think that using this anti virus and anti spyware/adware/malware and a huge firewall will protect the system. Even then, some of this malware can get in. Tracking Cookies are spyware, and they aren't automatically detected when the browser picks them up. You have to scan with your Spyware tool to find them. OpenSUSE is very secure, and when you want to change a setting, it's easy. For example, a webserver will bring you through the process, and even ask to open up a firewall port. That's great, most distro's have you doing that yourself.
Installing
Installing Open SUSE was a shorter process this time. It only took about 45 minutes and required a single reboot. I was running OpenSUSE right off, but found that I could not hit the power off in the start menu, I just powercycled the machine, but I still wonder why that was. On the next reboot, (Start Ups are a little slow) It worked just fine. Installing was painless, I knew what I was doing this time, and I was up and running OpenSUSE 11 right off the bat.
User Interface
The user interface is friendly, and the apperance is good looking. Starting Compiz fusion was also easy. Packaging with YAST is also prettty good. I was able to install the Phun Physics Simulator really fast, and It seemed to understand that that package needed 2D acceleration drivers, and downloaded those for me too. Wow, thats just awesome. It seems easy enough to the end user, that is a little tech savvy. It is pretty easy, but I would be weary about people wiping out their C:\ Drive because they don't know what a partition is. OpenSUSE does use some technical language, so be weary. The partition tool was pretty good too, speaking of partitions.
Conclusions
After figuring out OpenSUSE 10.3 slowly, I came into 11 quite easily, I have a picture of the installer, and will upload that once I can. So let's outline the main points.
The Good
OpenSUSE 11.0
You know, you want a system to be able to do something with. You don't want it to just sit there not allowing any work to be done, because (Insert Bloated Anti-Virus Software Here) is using too much memory, and the system is slow. You do want a secure system, so you think that using this anti virus and anti spyware/adware/malware and a huge firewall will protect the system. Even then, some of this malware can get in. Tracking Cookies are spyware, and they aren't automatically detected when the browser picks them up. You have to scan with your Spyware tool to find them. OpenSUSE is very secure, and when you want to change a setting, it's easy. For example, a webserver will bring you through the process, and even ask to open up a firewall port. That's great, most distro's have you doing that yourself.
Installing
Installing Open SUSE was a shorter process this time. It only took about 45 minutes and required a single reboot. I was running OpenSUSE right off, but found that I could not hit the power off in the start menu, I just powercycled the machine, but I still wonder why that was. On the next reboot, (Start Ups are a little slow) It worked just fine. Installing was painless, I knew what I was doing this time, and I was up and running OpenSUSE 11 right off the bat.
User Interface
Conclusions
After figuring out OpenSUSE 10.3 slowly, I came into 11 quite easily, I have a picture of the installer, and will upload that once I can. So let's outline the main points.
The Good
- Installer was easy to use
- Interface was nice
- Configuring things is quick with YAST
- User Friendly
- Pretty Fast when using
- YAST
- Technical Language (Not bad for me, but maybe another user)
- Boot Is slow
- YAST for package managing is just a little slow
- YAST
- Technical Language
Brochures?
Some people like to make brochures for advertising. Most use Microsoft Publisher. It works well, I've used it. Makes brochures look great too. But it is Closed Source, and you have to pay to get it. At School, Teachers still like brochures, and I was looking for an Open Source Application for this task. I found Scribus. I downloaded it and Installed it, and it came up asking me what kind of brochure I wanted. It loaded, and there it was.
Now the navigation is a little tricky. You can create a Text Area, but if you double click it you can't edit text. You need to right click it, and do it that way. I had a strange time to navigate. For Windows it requires GhostScript. Its a pretty cool and good Software for it's purpose. On a review scale I would give it a 4/5. The Navigation is a little Sketchy, but works OK, and It will be my Brochure program from now on.
Now the navigation is a little tricky. You can create a Text Area, but if you double click it you can't edit text. You need to right click it, and do it that way. I had a strange time to navigate. For Windows it requires GhostScript. Its a pretty cool and good Software for it's purpose. On a review scale I would give it a 4/5. The Navigation is a little Sketchy, but works OK, and It will be my Brochure program from now on.
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.
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.
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!
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!
Ubuntu- Upgrading from 7.10 to 8.04(In the OS)
Ok, so, this is a really nifty feature. Ubuntu's upgrade service, which can be found within the update manager. It offers the upgrade from anywhere from the last Long Term Support realease (Happens to be 6.10), but it must be in sequence. I decided to reinstall 7.10 from my CD, and go up to the beta of 8.04. First, you must upgrade the system to be the most compliant with 8.04, then you can up the OS. This method saves you a CD, but it is still like downloading the image, there is about 650MB you need to download. Once downloading is done, it installs, cleans up, and then restarts your system.
The Ubuntu 8.04 beta utilizes alot of new and beta software. It comes with Firefox 3 Beta 4, OpenOffice 2.40 beta, and more! Ubuntu 8.04 also utilizes the brand new GNOME, and new artwork, as seen here-
I like the new look, but it is really a bit too active for me.
Beta Ubuntu 8.04 is great. Tons of new software and a new look are included. If I were reviewing it right now, it earns a 4.5/5. OK, now off to explore the web!
The Ubuntu 8.04 beta utilizes alot of new and beta software. It comes with Firefox 3 Beta 4, OpenOffice 2.40 beta, and more! Ubuntu 8.04 also utilizes the brand new GNOME, and new artwork, as seen here-
I like the new look, but it is really a bit too active for me.
Beta Ubuntu 8.04 is great. Tons of new software and a new look are included. If I were reviewing it right now, it earns a 4.5/5. OK, now off to explore the web!
Linux Review 6- OpenSUSE 10.3
OpenSUSE 10.3- KDE
Yes, it is pronounced like Soo-zah, but it is spelled SUSE. I pronounced it Soose until I was corrected just yesterday. That's funny.
Installing
Installing OpenSUSE isn't something a newcomer to GNU/Linux would find easy. The options are somewhat confusing, and at the partition menu I payed keen attention to the proposal, as to not mess up or erase my Windows system, so I could dual boot. You must pay keen attention to the proposals or you may mess up your system, but if you do pay good attention and not race through everything, you should be alright. If you are just getting rid of another OS and installing this one, it may be great for you.
The green user interface is well blended with the taskbar and the features around it. I like the start menu style, and I like the Chameleon. I installed KDE, I wanted a small change from GNOME. The install was fine, and it traveled right along, but I found it long and a little confusing, there were a lot of options that you have to pay attention to, and you have to reboot several times into the same install system. It does have a few cool features, like updating within the installer, but this also has a downside, if your internet connection is slow, this will slow down the install by quite a bit. Once updating was finished, I was asked to reboot, a third time, there were new kernel packages that were installed. Very annoying, but alright, the new Linux kernel may provide new features, or may add some more stability.
I struggled and struggled to get this operating system to mount my Linux to Windows partition. Being used to separate utilities to do this, I stumbled around the YaST administration program. Once I figured out how to get it remounted, I was off again. This time to explore YaST as a package manager.
YaST controlling package management is great. Almost better than synaptic. The search is powerful, providing you with the best results to what you searched for. It doesn't show the millions of packages availible in one screen. The only downside to this is if you forgot what you were searching for.
OpenSUSE does come with the good applications like Firefox and Thunderbird. It comes with OpenOffice, which is becoming more and more standard. I just wish the OpenOffice crew will come out with singular programs, but since all of the tools run on basically the same platform, and all of the applications require everything, it probably won't happen. It comes with several more useful day to day applications too. It also comes with the proprietary tools such as Adobe acrobat reader, and Flash. That's good, so you have what you need.
Once I figured out how to mount my Lin-Win partition, I took some pictures, and I also went out to see what the Open SUSE web site offered. I found there was a great wiki. There are also some mailing lists that provide discussion and help. I found the warning near them saying "Can send you over 100 emails a day" That is what I call good support. Wow! You can also purchase a boxed version of SUSE, sponsored by Novell, and in that case, Novell an provide professional support.
I also found the forums, and explored those a little, I found what other users were having for problems. OpenSUSE is a professional Linux Distribution. It provides great support, and it would probably work best as a workstation/server client. I think it would work best this way, most professionsal Linux distributions are designed this way. I am not sure about personal use, it is OK, but a little confusing at first.
Let's look at the pros-
Yes, it is pronounced like Soo-zah, but it is spelled SUSE. I pronounced it Soose until I was corrected just yesterday. That's funny.
Installing
Installing OpenSUSE isn't something a newcomer to GNU/Linux would find easy. The options are somewhat confusing, and at the partition menu I payed keen attention to the proposal, as to not mess up or erase my Windows system, so I could dual boot. You must pay keen attention to the proposals or you may mess up your system, but if you do pay good attention and not race through everything, you should be alright. If you are just getting rid of another OS and installing this one, it may be great for you.
The green user interface is well blended with the taskbar and the features around it. I like the start menu style, and I like the Chameleon. I installed KDE, I wanted a small change from GNOME. The install was fine, and it traveled right along, but I found it long and a little confusing, there were a lot of options that you have to pay attention to, and you have to reboot several times into the same install system. It does have a few cool features, like updating within the installer, but this also has a downside, if your internet connection is slow, this will slow down the install by quite a bit. Once updating was finished, I was asked to reboot, a third time, there were new kernel packages that were installed. Very annoying, but alright, the new Linux kernel may provide new features, or may add some more stability.
I struggled and struggled to get this operating system to mount my Linux to Windows partition. Being used to separate utilities to do this, I stumbled around the YaST administration program. Once I figured out how to get it remounted, I was off again. This time to explore YaST as a package manager.
YaST controlling package management is great. Almost better than synaptic. The search is powerful, providing you with the best results to what you searched for. It doesn't show the millions of packages availible in one screen. The only downside to this is if you forgot what you were searching for.
OpenSUSE does come with the good applications like Firefox and Thunderbird. It comes with OpenOffice, which is becoming more and more standard. I just wish the OpenOffice crew will come out with singular programs, but since all of the tools run on basically the same platform, and all of the applications require everything, it probably won't happen. It comes with several more useful day to day applications too. It also comes with the proprietary tools such as Adobe acrobat reader, and Flash. That's good, so you have what you need.
Once I figured out how to mount my Lin-Win partition, I took some pictures, and I also went out to see what the Open SUSE web site offered. I found there was a great wiki. There are also some mailing lists that provide discussion and help. I found the warning near them saying "Can send you over 100 emails a day" That is what I call good support. Wow! You can also purchase a boxed version of SUSE, sponsored by Novell, and in that case, Novell an provide professional support.
I also found the forums, and explored those a little, I found what other users were having for problems. OpenSUSE is a professional Linux Distribution. It provides great support, and it would probably work best as a workstation/server client. I think it would work best this way, most professionsal Linux distributions are designed this way. I am not sure about personal use, it is OK, but a little confusing at first.
Let's look at the pros-
- Looks good
- Great support
- Uses YaST for package management
- Speedy
- Tons of features
- Comes with flash/java/ other proprietary software
- Installs updates before use
- Can take a while to install
- A little confusing
- If you have slow internet, don't update before use
A Look at the Dana Wireless by AlphaSmart
Dana Wireless by Alphasmart -
The Dana Wireless is a simple writing and word processing tool. It features several programs, and runs the PalmOS. The Interface, although very basic and uncolored, it is easy enough just to look at it, and instantly understand it. The Dana comes with a touch screen, controlled by stylus. It also does simple actions with the wireless access point if one is configured.
The keyboard is normal sized, and it is good to the touch. The device runs on rechargeable batteries, that are recharged through USB. On the top there are several jacks and plugs, one USB for printers, one for infrared communications with a printer, another USB for attachment to a PC, and two SD card slots, both for expansion cards, or expanding save space. The LCD doesn't apparently have a back light, but you don't usually type things in the dark. This device is OK, not outstanding, but good for simple tasks. You also can use it as a keyboard for a computer, but to make the text appear on a computer, you must push the send key, which can get a little annoying.
Overall, it is a good device, but there are low cost Ultra portables like the EEEPC that can do more than this device. It still is good, but it costs more than the triple E, $350 for the Dana, $300 for the 2G EeePC. It does deserve a good score though, there are quite a few things you can do with this that you can't with any other device, and vice-versa.
The Dana Wireless is a simple writing and word processing tool. It features several programs, and runs the PalmOS. The Interface, although very basic and uncolored, it is easy enough just to look at it, and instantly understand it. The Dana comes with a touch screen, controlled by stylus. It also does simple actions with the wireless access point if one is configured.
The keyboard is normal sized, and it is good to the touch. The device runs on rechargeable batteries, that are recharged through USB. On the top there are several jacks and plugs, one USB for printers, one for infrared communications with a printer, another USB for attachment to a PC, and two SD card slots, both for expansion cards, or expanding save space. The LCD doesn't apparently have a back light, but you don't usually type things in the dark. This device is OK, not outstanding, but good for simple tasks. You also can use it as a keyboard for a computer, but to make the text appear on a computer, you must push the send key, which can get a little annoying.
Overall, it is a good device, but there are low cost Ultra portables like the EEEPC that can do more than this device. It still is good, but it costs more than the triple E, $350 for the Dana, $300 for the 2G EeePC. It does deserve a good score though, there are quite a few things you can do with this that you can't with any other device, and vice-versa.
A Look At The XO Laptop
The XO laptop,
designed by the OLPC group, the XO laptop should be considered as a powerful learning tool. And it is not just that, it is somewhat a multipurpose system, designed with children and a cheap price point in mind.
Nicholas Negroponte. had a vision to provide a $100 laptop to kids around the world. He, along with many others, did not quite hit the small price point. Instead he hit around $170. Now the things I will describe to you may not seem like much in todays high standards.
The device, green and white, I like the colors, has somewhat a suitcase feel to it. The handle on top is there for easy carrying. I like it, it makes me feel safe that I wont drop it. Even though, it is designed so it can endure the drops and spills that a normal kid often makes. The internal storage is 1 Gigabyte. Yeah, it is somewhat small, but so what? You can still use it for normal day to day tasks such as word processing. You can also plug in USB devices such as a thumbdrive.
I also found several hidden features. The buttons on the left or right of the screen can be used for such things as scrolling around pages in tools such as word
processors. There was one, very surprising features which I will discuss later.
I have the thought that the motherboard is underneath the bright and clear LCD screen. The bottom layer of the PC is very thin, and I suspect that all the bottom really houses is the keyboard, the mouse, and the battery. The small and cheap laptop features some really surprising things. Under the external antennas there are 3 Universal Serial Ports (USB) I was able to plug in my thumbdrive, and I also tried out an external Logitech Classic 200 to type this post. It also has a headphone jack, and a microphone jack.
Once the laptop is open, you see the green keyboard, and the mouse touchpad. I found the keyboard a little small and very squishy. It wasn't a typical feel, it wasn't something that felt cheap, it was just that it didn't feel right. That lead me to plug in an external keyboard.
Around the screen, there are a number of buttons, and other things. The power button is here, there is a button to change the screen angle in 90 degree increments. There are other bidirectional buttons, and suprisingly, a webcam. I don't understand why they put that in, it could probably be $15 cheaper if it didn't have it.
Under the screen, there was something that looked like an SD card slot. I found an SD card so I could see if it truly was one, are sure indeed it was. Another one of these surprises. Hmmm... Why did they hide it though?
The screen also swivels on a nice hinge, it also can take shape as a tablet PC. The LCD is very bright and in places where it might be dark alot, that is good.
Programs on the XO are instead called activities. The base system is called Fedora Core 6, but it is so heavily customized, so it hardly looks like any kind of Linux. You can only distinguish that it is Linux through the kernel messages you can sometimes see on shutdown, and the Terminal Activity. You can get new activities, but only through the XO website. There are some strange activities, that I don't understand, but the very basic ones such as Browse Activity and Write Activity, are easily understandable.
The battery life is OK, the battery somewhat discharges fast, but it also charges back up pretty fast. The XO is sort of slow to start and shut down, but it wasn't designed to be the best blazing fast laptop in the day. This is a very respectable piece of technology. The more you look at it, the more you respect it. I began thinking it was ehh... but now I think I could use it every day.
The more and more I look at it, the more I become attached to it. I really don't want to give it back to my Tech teacher.
designed by the OLPC group, the XO laptop should be considered as a powerful learning tool. And it is not just that, it is somewhat a multipurpose system, designed with children and a cheap price point in mind.
Nicholas Negroponte. had a vision to provide a $100 laptop to kids around the world. He, along with many others, did not quite hit the small price point. Instead he hit around $170. Now the things I will describe to you may not seem like much in todays high standards.
The device, green and white, I like the colors, has somewhat a suitcase feel to it. The handle on top is there for easy carrying. I like it, it makes me feel safe that I wont drop it. Even though, it is designed so it can endure the drops and spills that a normal kid often makes. The internal storage is 1 Gigabyte. Yeah, it is somewhat small, but so what? You can still use it for normal day to day tasks such as word processing. You can also plug in USB devices such as a thumbdrive.
I also found several hidden features. The buttons on the left or right of the screen can be used for such things as scrolling around pages in tools such as word
processors. There was one, very surprising features which I will discuss later.I have the thought that the motherboard is underneath the bright and clear LCD screen. The bottom layer of the PC is very thin, and I suspect that all the bottom really houses is the keyboard, the mouse, and the battery. The small and cheap laptop features some really surprising things. Under the external antennas there are 3 Universal Serial Ports (USB) I was able to plug in my thumbdrive, and I also tried out an external Logitech Classic 200 to type this post. It also has a headphone jack, and a microphone jack.
Once the laptop is open, you see the green keyboard, and the mouse touchpad. I found the keyboard a little small and very squishy. It wasn't a typical feel, it wasn't something that felt cheap, it was just that it didn't feel right. That lead me to plug in an external keyboard.
Around the screen, there are a number of buttons, and other things. The power button is here, there is a button to change the screen angle in 90 degree increments. There are other bidirectional buttons, and suprisingly, a webcam. I don't understand why they put that in, it could probably be $15 cheaper if it didn't have it.
Under the screen, there was something that looked like an SD card slot. I found an SD card so I could see if it truly was one, are sure indeed it was. Another one of these surprises. Hmmm... Why did they hide it though?
The screen also swivels on a nice hinge, it also can take shape as a tablet PC. The LCD is very bright and in places where it might be dark alot, that is good.
Programs on the XO are instead called activities. The base system is called Fedora Core 6, but it is so heavily customized, so it hardly looks like any kind of Linux. You can only distinguish that it is Linux through the kernel messages you can sometimes see on shutdown, and the Terminal Activity. You can get new activities, but only through the XO website. There are some strange activities, that I don't understand, but the very basic ones such as Browse Activity and Write Activity, are easily understandable.
The battery life is OK, the battery somewhat discharges fast, but it also charges back up pretty fast. The XO is sort of slow to start and shut down, but it wasn't designed to be the best blazing fast laptop in the day. This is a very respectable piece of technology. The more you look at it, the more you respect it. I began thinking it was ehh... but now I think I could use it every day.
The more and more I look at it, the more I become attached to it. I really don't want to give it back to my Tech teacher.
Linux Review 5- Linux Mint 4 "Daryna"
Linux Mint 4 "Daryna"
Is a unique distribution, it is based off of the popular and powerful Ubuntu, and it uses GNOME for it's window manager. These two things, although evident are changed up a bit, like full customization of it's big sibling, and it makes GNOME look great. Or, I should say, makes GNOME look like Windows.
Installation
Installing Linux Mint is very much like installing Ubuntu, go boot the LiveCD, and then click install on the desktop. The installer is almost exactly the same as the Ubuntu installer, but with the difference of mintInstall at the top. In my opinion it was slower than the Ubuntu boot process. Once you reboot into the actual Hard Drive install, it is much faster, a fact that I have seen since I started using LiveCDs. The install was quick though, installing under 30 minutes, just like Ubuntu.
User Interface (UI)
Someone did a lot of hard work here, GNOME looks more like KDE, the overall theme is very nice, and it is just nice. Have a look for yourself, right here. To the right of the logo, it says "From Freedom Comes Elegance," an excellent saying for this distribution. There are many more wallpapers, if you don't like the default one. The blue highlights are cool, and the diagonal line pattern is nothing that I have seen in Linux distributions before. The picture I have taken has some customization in it, I simply dragged Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird from the start menu to the bottom bar.
Updating
Linux Mint updates from Ubuntu repositories, so when Ubuntu receives an update, so does Linux Mint. I had 196 updates to install, and that translated to 276MB to be downloaded, it is a good thing it uses the Ubuntu repositories, they are fast, and I got around 90 KB/s. It predicted around 45 minutes to update, and I will leave it at that.
Installing More Programs
can be done in multiple ways in Linux Mint, There is Synaptic, and the Ubuntu Package Search, and Linux Mint has it's own software portal. There is only 94 programs for Daryna. There is some interesting things, such as a Microsoft Fonts installer package, and a Wine Doors program for installing Windows programs. The way you go about installing from the software portal is almost one click, click the Install Now icon, and open in MintInstall, and once open it asks you if you are sure that you want to install the program you clicked Install Now on. It seems to work pretty well. I also found Flash and Java already installed, so you can play on line games or watch on line video. Once I installed my restricted video driver, 3D effects were automatically enabled. Why were they automatically enabled? I don't know, I didn't do anything so that they would, but they are barely noticeable anyway.
Other Noticeable Things
The menu is different than other Linux OS's, I think people call it a kick-off style menu. Some categories are cluttered, others might only have one item in them. Linux Mint has their own Web start page, it has the green theme and a Google search bar embedded in it, I think it is a nice touch.
So, lets look at the pro's-
Is a unique distribution, it is based off of the popular and powerful Ubuntu, and it uses GNOME for it's window manager. These two things, although evident are changed up a bit, like full customization of it's big sibling, and it makes GNOME look great. Or, I should say, makes GNOME look like Windows.
Installation
Installing Linux Mint is very much like installing Ubuntu, go boot the LiveCD, and then click install on the desktop. The installer is almost exactly the same as the Ubuntu installer, but with the difference of mintInstall at the top. In my opinion it was slower than the Ubuntu boot process. Once you reboot into the actual Hard Drive install, it is much faster, a fact that I have seen since I started using LiveCDs. The install was quick though, installing under 30 minutes, just like Ubuntu.
User Interface (UI)
Someone did a lot of hard work here, GNOME looks more like KDE, the overall theme is very nice, and it is just nice. Have a look for yourself, right here. To the right of the logo, it says "From Freedom Comes Elegance," an excellent saying for this distribution. There are many more wallpapers, if you don't like the default one. The blue highlights are cool, and the diagonal line pattern is nothing that I have seen in Linux distributions before. The picture I have taken has some customization in it, I simply dragged Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird from the start menu to the bottom bar.
Updating
Linux Mint updates from Ubuntu repositories, so when Ubuntu receives an update, so does Linux Mint. I had 196 updates to install, and that translated to 276MB to be downloaded, it is a good thing it uses the Ubuntu repositories, they are fast, and I got around 90 KB/s. It predicted around 45 minutes to update, and I will leave it at that.
Installing More Programs
can be done in multiple ways in Linux Mint, There is Synaptic, and the Ubuntu Package Search, and Linux Mint has it's own software portal. There is only 94 programs for Daryna. There is some interesting things, such as a Microsoft Fonts installer package, and a Wine Doors program for installing Windows programs. The way you go about installing from the software portal is almost one click, click the Install Now icon, and open in MintInstall, and once open it asks you if you are sure that you want to install the program you clicked Install Now on. It seems to work pretty well. I also found Flash and Java already installed, so you can play on line games or watch on line video. Once I installed my restricted video driver, 3D effects were automatically enabled. Why were they automatically enabled? I don't know, I didn't do anything so that they would, but they are barely noticeable anyway.
Other Noticeable Things
The menu is different than other Linux OS's, I think people call it a kick-off style menu. Some categories are cluttered, others might only have one item in them. Linux Mint has their own Web start page, it has the green theme and a Google search bar embedded in it, I think it is a nice touch.
So, lets look at the pro's-
- GNOME looks more familiar to Windows users.
- Very Nice UI
- Easy to use
- Fast
- Uses Ubuntu Repositories
- Comes with Flash and Java
- and it is easy to change and customize
- LiveCD Boot is extremely slow, slower than Ubuntu
- Some confusing options
Linux Review 4- PCLOS MiniMe 2008
PCLinuxOS MiniMe 2008
Is a version of the popular PCLinuxOS distribution. It sort of looks more like Windows Vista, and it is a nice sleek black color, but I think that something was lost when they made it "Pretty" for example, The Network wizard no longer runs before you log in to the LiveCD, you must use the PCLOS control center to manually configure the network. Synaptic seems to run on an unreliable repository, although I fixed this by adding another one. These small annoyances add up quickly and it results in a bad distro. If the crew could fix this up it would be great. It does have less updates, but on the default repository it isn't something that would take less than 10 minutes on a 768 KB/s connection, or probably any connection at that. This distribution is Mini, there is nothing on it, so you must add all of your favorite programs manually, which makes this distribution a perfect one for creating your own remastered LiveCD.
In terms of using this one day to day, it deserves only a 2/5
For using this one for a custom LiveCD, it is pretty much perfect, so 4.5/5.
Is a version of the popular PCLinuxOS distribution. It sort of looks more like Windows Vista, and it is a nice sleek black color, but I think that something was lost when they made it "Pretty" for example, The Network wizard no longer runs before you log in to the LiveCD, you must use the PCLOS control center to manually configure the network. Synaptic seems to run on an unreliable repository, although I fixed this by adding another one. These small annoyances add up quickly and it results in a bad distro. If the crew could fix this up it would be great. It does have less updates, but on the default repository it isn't something that would take less than 10 minutes on a 768 KB/s connection, or probably any connection at that. This distribution is Mini, there is nothing on it, so you must add all of your favorite programs manually, which makes this distribution a perfect one for creating your own remastered LiveCD.
In terms of using this one day to day, it deserves only a 2/5
For using this one for a custom LiveCD, it is pretty much perfect, so 4.5/5.
Linux Review 3- PCLinuxOS 2007
PCLinuxOS 2007PCLinuxOS has always been criticized for shoving to much software onto it's users. That is evident, as I could find anything I want for day to day use in the menu. There is tools for CD burning, the popular, and powerful Open Office Office Suite, The GIMP(v2.3), and many others. Installing was speedy and quick, taking only a minor 10 minutes on my dual-core system. The OS was also very usable in LiveCD mode, and it was quick and speedy in my opinion. You need to manually configure your time zone, keyboard, and network interface before you actually get into the desktop, which I found odd, and you also have to go through a login process, which has a guest account and a root account. You login with passwords, guest for guest and root for root, and they give it to you at the top-left of the screen, but I just thought it would make it take longer. The installed is called Drak-Live Enhanced, and the graphic is a PCLOS Icon with a witch's hat. Further on when installing the boot loader, it is a PCLOS Icon with a hat and it shows an LCD screen with the longer PCLOS icon, which I wish I had.
Updating takes quite a while, using the 2007 version in 2008 probably should be discouraged. Why? There are 538 packages to download, and some others to remove, or some to do other things to. Looking at the summary it said "76 MB will be used, and 616 MB will be downloaded", at least I can write my review while I download it.
The large bar at the bottom made me feel cramped, so I changed it to "tiny" I still feel cramped on the 1024x768 resolution and I wish I could turn it up to 1280x1024 so it is less cramped, but I need to install video card drivers. The blue theme with KDE is my favorite theme so far, it really is easy on your eyes and it is bright and easy to read. The start menu resembles a Windos start menu, it works well, and you can find everything in there.
Something unique with PCLinuxOS is that it comes with proprietary software, such as Flash player and Sun Java. The versions of these two programs are 9 and 6 respectively. It also comes with tools such as MPlayer for playback of MP3's and Windows Media files.
After installing the proprietary NVidia drivers from synaptic, you get a nice looking NVidia Splash screen before you log in. You are also enabled to use Compiz Fusion, the 3D desktop program, and with Compiz enabled it looks very good, although I couldn't actually get the cube to turn by dragging a window, you can still make it do that by pushing CTRL+ALT+left arrow/right arrow. You also get a better resolution, I now have a true 1024x768 so It isn't so cramped, and I have full usability. It feels much better now.
If you are switching from Windos, this OS is a great choice, sure there is some setting up required, and there will be some updates, but this OS is stable, and is full of software you'd need. There will be a learning curve, but you had that with Windos anyway. If your considering switching, this is a great choice, It even looks like Windos.
The Compiz Fusion Effects are really cool, the 3DCube is on, I found the configure tool in the start menu and now it is snowing on my desktop.
I also tried the Draw Fire feature, and the water effects feature, both are very well rendered and blend in nicely. I played a combat flight simulator called GL-117. With NVidia drivers enabling OpenGL, it looked great, and it achieved around 40-45 fps. This is an outstanding OS that I would defiantly use for stuff like Word and Web and it would probably make a good system rescue CD if it weren't for high requirements. PCLinuxOS is a Linux OS that needs a pretty good system. Looking at KSysGuard it shows me that 600MB of my Memory is being used, and there is 97 processes running. That's where it needs a good system. The require for proprietary drivers for a good system and effects is annoying, could NVidia or ATI make open-source drivers, or can they let the drivers be included in major distributions, or even the small distributions that not many have heard about? Downloading drivers from their website requires that you install them from the command line, new Linux users probably will not know how to do that. I wouldn't have been able to do it if it weren't for the drivers being included in the repositories, and Synaptic.This distribution is on the top of the list at DistroWatch, and I believe it deserves it. It is easy to use and fast, and it would work great for a Win-Lin switcher. It deserves a 4.5/5, just I wish it weren't so cramped(Resolution Wise).
Windows Product Review 1- Lego Brick Digital Designer
Yes, it's Lego Bricks, and now they have a designer program. The program .exe to download is a 27.2 MB file, so it takes a while, and it also requires the QuickTimeInstaller for sound, which is an additional 22.3 MB .exe file. It also takes a small amount of time to install, and the initial startup is slow, it has to find all the required files. Once it comes up it gives you three choices, Starter Model(Which gives you a model to build on), Free Build, and Recent Model. Chose any one of those and you will be building right away. You can rotate and zoom around the building. You can also, If you are using the bricks that allow it only, check the price for the pieces for your model. It gives you an estimate for what it will cost, and then you can upload and, I believe actually buy the pieces so you can build it. You can also take screen shots right within the program, and it will remove the side bars and the grid for you with the end product looking like this,
This product of course is free, (Not Open Source) and it can be downloaded from here. Download Digital Designer
There you have it, I give this product a 9/10. It is easy to use, easy to install, but the Quick time For sound thing is odd, and the file itself is a bit large.
Linux Review 2- Ubuntu
Ubuntu 7.10
is a well equipped Live CD type OS, so in terms of having an install time, I'd say,
within 2 minutes I had a working OS, and within 30 minutes I had an installed working OS. Ubuntu is easy on the eyes, and it uses GNOME for the Desktop Environment.
Installation
Installing Ubuntu was quick, under 30 minutes, just like Fedora. With the Edubuntu/ Digital Equity project I have discovered that memory makes a huge difference. It took under 30 minutes, and quickly rebooted into GRUB, so I could select which OS to boot. It didn't even ask me to install the boot loader, so I checked anyway by clicking advanced on the last install prompt screen, and it was checked, so it was good to install. Once rebooted I logged in, and It was ready.
Updates
Again, I had a large amount of updates, 186, more than Fedora. It took a while to update, and there were some really slow points but I could actually do things while it was updating, and Fedora's updater would turn non- responsive if you didn't pay attention to it. Another great feature is update download resuming, so if you already have some updates downloaded then it would resume from those updates.
The repositories are great, I found many things that just sounded cool, I found a screen recorder, again with that familiar Add/Remove programs feature, and If you don't find it in a program, then you can add a repository, or with Firefox there is a search engine already there called the Ubuntu Package search, an in-browser download program.
With programs that you get off of the CD, there is my favorite Browser, Firefox(Which I use in Windows too) Open Office(Which I use in Windows) The GIMP(Which I use in Windows) and some Games(That might have a Windows Relative.) Many people see Open Office as a slow word processor, on Ubuntu it is not. It is just as fast as Microsoft Word. The Word Processor load
s in 5 or 6 seconds.
This OS was the first one I could enable desktop effects in, and they are brilliant! I also downloaded the Compiz-Fusion control panel to change the settings and I set 3d Cube as one, it truly is pretty cool. My graphics card, well integrated chip set, is the Ge-force 6150SE, with 128 MB of video memory. I'm not sure about this improving productivity, because I found it somewhat fun to drag my windows around to the next desktop and have it rotate. There are also a set of keyboard controls so you can change desktops, but the multiple desktop feature is so much more helpful, for example have one window with a web browser, with another with a word processor, and yet another with your file browser. I am now using a FAT partition that both Windows and Linux can put files. It is a 2GB partition, and it is much faster than using my thumb drive and rebooting every time I want to move a file.
Printing
Setting up a printer is easy, and you can use one connected to a windows computer through SAMBA (SMB) You can print into a PDF file, like digitally printing, not physical paper and ink, and there are options to have a server have a printer folder on it so that you can use a server to print, have an Ethernet printer on a switch connected to a server, and all other computers can see it. I configured an Edubuntu computer on Tuesday so that it could use a lab printer. HP has drivers for Linux, and many other companies, such as Canon, also have them.
Other
Ubuntu does not have any packages for a new desktop environment, instead you must use a flavor, like Kubuntu for KDE, and Xubuntu for XFCE. Edubuntu comes with GNOME, and it is customized with many Education programs, like the popular GCompris learning suite.
The repositories from Ubuntu are humongous, with All Programs selected in Add/Remove, there must be thousands of programs to install. I selected a screen recorder called Istanbul, It records your screen into a movie file so you can make a tutorial, show how cool Ubuntu is to your friends, or put how cool Ubuntu is or a tutorial on Youtube so every one can see. When you load the Add/Remove application, you are given a brief introduction to Synaptic, telling you that to add a program, check the box, to remove un-check it, and to make your check/un-check changes click Apply. You can still install KDE programs such as Koffice, or what I am trying now, KGet, a download manager.
Download speed, although varies with connection speed, seems faster on Ubuntu than on Fedora. I normally get speeds of up to 100KB/s and the fastest I have ever seen with Linux, was 136KB/s with an Ubuntu server. I checked a few of my favorite websites, and did some simple configuration.
Ubuntu is simple, easy to learn, and the repositories are great. Installing Flash was done through command line, but instead I unzipped, clicked setup and hit run in terminal, simple as that. Ubuntu is defiantly something to check out if you are looking to switch to Linux, It comes in a Live CD to test your hardware, and it is easy to dual boot.
Overall I give Ubuntu a 4.5/5 for ease of use, full feature, and it just works, The only downside is that it uses deb packages instead of RPM, and RPM is more self- extracting, and that is the way I would normally install flash.
If you would like me to review another Ubuntu based distribution,
Leave a comment with one of these letters,
K= Kubuntu
X= Xubuntu
E= Edubuntu
G= Gobuntu
or other= leave name of the distribution.
Now off to watch DistroWatch.
Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 4 is out, I'd like to Beta it.
is a well equipped Live CD type OS, so in terms of having an install time, I'd say,
within 2 minutes I had a working OS, and within 30 minutes I had an installed working OS. Ubuntu is easy on the eyes, and it uses GNOME for the Desktop Environment.Installation
Installing Ubuntu was quick, under 30 minutes, just like Fedora. With the Edubuntu/ Digital Equity project I have discovered that memory makes a huge difference. It took under 30 minutes, and quickly rebooted into GRUB, so I could select which OS to boot. It didn't even ask me to install the boot loader, so I checked anyway by clicking advanced on the last install prompt screen, and it was checked, so it was good to install. Once rebooted I logged in, and It was ready.
Updates
Again, I had a large amount of updates, 186, more than Fedora. It took a while to update, and there were some really slow points but I could actually do things while it was updating, and Fedora's updater would turn non- responsive if you didn't pay attention to it. Another great feature is update download resuming, so if you already have some updates downloaded then it would resume from those updates.
The repositories are great, I found many things that just sounded cool, I found a screen recorder, again with that familiar Add/Remove programs feature, and If you don't find it in a program, then you can add a repository, or with Firefox there is a search engine already there called the Ubuntu Package search, an in-browser download program.
With programs that you get off of the CD, there is my favorite Browser, Firefox(Which I use in Windows too) Open Office(Which I use in Windows) The GIMP(Which I use in Windows) and some Games(That might have a Windows Relative.) Many people see Open Office as a slow word processor, on Ubuntu it is not. It is just as fast as Microsoft Word. The Word Processor load
s in 5 or 6 seconds.This OS was the first one I could enable desktop effects in, and they are brilliant! I also downloaded the Compiz-Fusion control panel to change the settings and I set 3d Cube as one, it truly is pretty cool. My graphics card, well integrated chip set, is the Ge-force 6150SE, with 128 MB of video memory. I'm not sure about this improving productivity, because I found it somewhat fun to drag my windows around to the next desktop and have it rotate. There are also a set of keyboard controls so you can change desktops, but the multiple desktop feature is so much more helpful, for example have one window with a web browser, with another with a word processor, and yet another with your file browser. I am now using a FAT partition that both Windows and Linux can put files. It is a 2GB partition, and it is much faster than using my thumb drive and rebooting every time I want to move a file.
Printing
Setting up a printer is easy, and you can use one connected to a windows computer through SAMBA (SMB) You can print into a PDF file, like digitally printing, not physical paper and ink, and there are options to have a server have a printer folder on it so that you can use a server to print, have an Ethernet printer on a switch connected to a server, and all other computers can see it. I configured an Edubuntu computer on Tuesday so that it could use a lab printer. HP has drivers for Linux, and many other companies, such as Canon, also have them.
Other
Ubuntu does not have any packages for a new desktop environment, instead you must use a flavor, like Kubuntu for KDE, and Xubuntu for XFCE. Edubuntu comes with GNOME, and it is customized with many Education programs, like the popular GCompris learning suite.
The repositories from Ubuntu are humongous, with All Programs selected in Add/Remove, there must be thousands of programs to install. I selected a screen recorder called Istanbul, It records your screen into a movie file so you can make a tutorial, show how cool Ubuntu is to your friends, or put how cool Ubuntu is or a tutorial on Youtube so every one can see. When you load the Add/Remove application, you are given a brief introduction to Synaptic, telling you that to add a program, check the box, to remove un-check it, and to make your check/un-check changes click Apply. You can still install KDE programs such as Koffice, or what I am trying now, KGet, a download manager.
Download speed, although varies with connection speed, seems faster on Ubuntu than on Fedora. I normally get speeds of up to 100KB/s and the fastest I have ever seen with Linux, was 136KB/s with an Ubuntu server. I checked a few of my favorite websites, and did some simple configuration.
Ubuntu is simple, easy to learn, and the repositories are great. Installing Flash was done through command line, but instead I unzipped, clicked setup and hit run in terminal, simple as that. Ubuntu is defiantly something to check out if you are looking to switch to Linux, It comes in a Live CD to test your hardware, and it is easy to dual boot.
Overall I give Ubuntu a 4.5/5 for ease of use, full feature, and it just works, The only downside is that it uses deb packages instead of RPM, and RPM is more self- extracting, and that is the way I would normally install flash.
If you would like me to review another Ubuntu based distribution,
Leave a comment with one of these letters,
K= Kubuntu
X= Xubuntu
E= Edubuntu
G= Gobuntu
or other= leave name of the distribution.
Now off to watch DistroWatch.
Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 4 is out, I'd like to Beta it.
Linux Review 1- Fedora 8
Fedora 8 Review, GNOME+KDE
Fedora 8 was easy to install, it also seemed quick. It took a while for me though, I made the mistake of putting Other(Windows) as default, and my USB keyboard doesn't like Grub, so I couldn't go to the menu to select Fedora, and it would boot Windows. So then I installed again, with Fedora
as the default. (I will have to get this worked out to install OpenSUSE 10.3.) Once I was into Fedora, it has a nice selection for desktop pictures, I was greeted by a nice GNOME and Fedora theme mix. I fired up Firefox, and went to my email, site, which at I was asked to install Flash, so I tried with Firefox and it didn't work so I travelled to the Adobe site, downloaded a RPM version of Flash and installed it in a couple of clicks. I was also notified on updates, 171!!! I had 91 updates in Windows, and It surprised me that there are more updates for my Fedora install than my Windows. I then installed MPlayer, and Wine, which I removed (Wine). I then tried to open a music file in Rhythmbox, I found it has radio, so here I am listening to a radio station playing some good Classic Rock, and typing. Fedora is quite cool, but probably not as featured as much as I would like it to be.
Installing was quick, It must have finished within 30 minutes with the media test, the single DVD format doesn't require any switching of discs, and once installing it doesn't require any response. 171 updates, took forever! I started at 9:25 and finished at 11:00. Installing programs is easy because of RPM packages and the Add/Remove Programs Program, but I had to find another repository to get some of the programs I wanted. Fedora repositories seem somewhat limiting, to install MPlayer I downloaded it from the Livna repositories. ( Download the Fedora YUM RPM package, install, and it will be in Add/Remove programs. It should automatically be enabled) With Livna there are quite a few more programs.
Dual booting was easy, I was prompted to install GRUB with Fedora as default, and that is how I run Fedora right now. I like Fedora, it has a nice GUI, and GNOME is the default desktop environment. I installed KDE programs, Stellarium, and Audacity. Audacity in Linux looks a little different than the Windows version.
Fedora with KDE
because I was Fedora and KDE together don't look to bad, and to easily boot with KDE, you have to select KDE for session on the login screen. I got a little lost in KDEun-installed GNOME, and it took many programs with it. Firefox was replaced with Konqueror, and the ADD/REMOVE program went missing. I reinstalled Firefox by gaining root privileges, and inputting, yum install Firefox into Konsole, as the GNOME terminal had also went missing, GNOME games and open office writer also disappeared. With KDE I had 12 new updates to install, strange. I cant view the updates or anything, there is just that box icon in my start bar, just sitting there. KPowerSave seems to be an OK feature, it under clocks your CPU when idling, and it is supposed to save power. KDE seems a little less easy to use, with some programs being installed by the Console(Terminal/ Command prompt).Flash player stayed installed, even though Firefoxun-installed and reinstalled. Both GNOME Fedora and KDE Fedora use the RPM packaging system, they are self executable, so they are similar to deb packages and others. I had a basic understanding of KDE, but GNOME was more user friendly with the add/remove programs feature.
Sites-
Fedora 8(Fedora Project)
Livna RPM Repository
For Screen Shot Takers-
Both KDE and GNOME have a feature in Fedora allowing for you to take a screen shot! Just press Print Screen on your keyboard, save the shot, and you have taken it!
I give Fedora with GNOME a 4/5 for ease to use, fast install time, but updating took forever, and there was a small lack of software wanted in the repositories but that was easily fixed by adding a new one.
With KDE I give it a 2/5, it gets confusing and you cant seem to install more programs without using the Console and YUM.
Here I am looking at the Ubuntu home page, It's our next review. I already experienced good things with the live CD, hopefully even better with the install.
Fedora 8 was easy to install, it also seemed quick. It took a while for me though, I made the mistake of putting Other(Windows) as default, and my USB keyboard doesn't like Grub, so I couldn't go to the menu to select Fedora, and it would boot Windows. So then I installed again, with Fedora
as the default. (I will have to get this worked out to install OpenSUSE 10.3.) Once I was into Fedora, it has a nice selection for desktop pictures, I was greeted by a nice GNOME and Fedora theme mix. I fired up Firefox, and went to my email, site, which at I was asked to install Flash, so I tried with Firefox and it didn't work so I travelled to the Adobe site, downloaded a RPM version of Flash and installed it in a couple of clicks. I was also notified on updates, 171!!! I had 91 updates in Windows, and It surprised me that there are more updates for my Fedora install than my Windows. I then installed MPlayer, and Wine, which I removed (Wine). I then tried to open a music file in Rhythmbox, I found it has radio, so here I am listening to a radio station playing some good Classic Rock, and typing. Fedora is quite cool, but probably not as featured as much as I would like it to be.Installing was quick, It must have finished within 30 minutes with the media test, the single DVD format doesn't require any switching of discs, and once installing it doesn't require any response. 171 updates, took forever! I started at 9:25 and finished at 11:00. Installing programs is easy because of RPM packages and the Add/Remove Programs Program, but I had to find another repository to get some of the programs I wanted. Fedora repositories seem somewhat limiting, to install MPlayer I downloaded it from the Livna repositories. ( Download the Fedora YUM RPM package, install, and it will be in Add/Remove programs. It should automatically be enabled) With Livna there are quite a few more programs.
Dual booting was easy, I was prompted to install GRUB with Fedora as default, and that is how I run Fedora right now. I like Fedora, it has a nice GUI, and GNOME is the default desktop environment. I installed KDE programs, Stellarium, and Audacity. Audacity in Linux looks a little different than the Windows version.
Fedora with KDE
because I was Fedora and KDE together don't look to bad, and to easily boot with KDE, you have to select KDE for session on the login screen. I got a little lost in KDEun-installed GNOME, and it took many programs with it. Firefox was replaced with Konqueror, and the ADD/REMOVE program went missing. I reinstalled Firefox by gaining root privileges, and inputting, yum install Firefox into Konsole, as the GNOME terminal had also went missing, GNOME games and open office writer also disappeared. With KDE I had 12 new updates to install, strange. I cant view the updates or anything, there is just that box icon in my start bar, just sitting there. KPowerSave seems to be an OK feature, it under clocks your CPU when idling, and it is supposed to save power. KDE seems a little less easy to use, with some programs being installed by the Console(Terminal/ Command prompt).Flash player stayed installed, even though Firefoxun-installed and reinstalled. Both GNOME Fedora and KDE Fedora use the RPM packaging system, they are self executable, so they are similar to deb packages and others. I had a basic understanding of KDE, but GNOME was more user friendly with the add/remove programs feature.
Sites-
Fedora 8(Fedora Project)
Livna RPM Repository
For Screen Shot Takers-
Both KDE and GNOME have a feature in Fedora allowing for you to take a screen shot! Just press Print Screen on your keyboard, save the shot, and you have taken it!
I give Fedora with GNOME a 4/5 for ease to use, fast install time, but updating took forever, and there was a small lack of software wanted in the repositories but that was easily fixed by adding a new one.
With KDE I give it a 2/5, it gets confusing and you cant seem to install more programs without using the Console and YUM.
Here I am looking at the Ubuntu home page, It's our next review. I already experienced good things with the live CD, hopefully even better with the install.
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