Posts Tagged ‘reviews’
Vine Linux is a Japanese, RPM-based, multi-purpose distribution. It is developed and maintained by Vinecaves, and it’s based on an earlier version of Fedora. It is one of those distributions that excludes non-free (proprietary) applications from its default installation. Unlike similar distributions, however, it has developed a smart method to make installing non-free applications very easy. This is a review of version 5.1, which was released last week. This also marks the first listing of Vine Linux on this site.
Installation – Vine Linux uses the Anaconda installation program. The installation process is very similar to that of older versions of Fedora. There is support for setting up RAID and LVM. LVM is the default disk partitioning scheme, with ext3 as the default journaling file system. Actually, ext3 is the only journaling file system supported. GRUB Legacy (version 0.97) is the only bootloader option.
PC-BSD is a FreeBSD-based desktop distribution, with KDE as the default desktop environment. It is the most actively developed of the BSD, desktop distributions listed on this site. This review is of PC-BSD 8, the latest stable edition, which was released earlier this week.
Installation – PC-BSD 8 sports a redesigned graphical installation program. It is one of the better graphical installation programs available on any distribution – Linux or BSD. It features a very clean and intuitive interface. Aside from providing a means to install a complete desktop system, the installer also allows for the installation of a FreeBSD server.
Parsix is a Linux distribution based on Kanotix and Debian. It is purely a desktop-focused distribution. The last major release was Parsix 3.0r0 (aka Kev). This review is of Parsix 3.0r2, the second update release of Kev.
Installation – Parsix is the second distribution reviewed and listed on this site with a menu-type installer (the other one is Zenwalk). It’s not the most user-friendly and inituitive installer that you’ll ever come across. It lacks support for disk encryption, LVM and RAID configuration. The default journaling filesystem is ext4, with ext3, reiserfs, xfs and jfs as the other options. GRUB 2 (version 1.97 beta3) is the bootloader.
Pardus is a Linux, desktop-oriented operating system developed by Onur Küçük and his team from Turkey. At a time when nearly every new Linux distro is based on or derived from Ubuntu, Pardus is a rarity. It is an original, not based on or derived from any other distro. As such, its package manager and graphical management tools are custom-developed. This article is a review of Pardus 2009.1, the latest stable release.
Installation YALI (Yet Another Linux Installer), is the graphical installation program for Pardus. It’s a very basic installation program, lacking support for setting up LVM, RAID, and disk encryption. Unlike other Linux operating systems, Pardus only allows for the creation of four partitions. Aside from the main system partition, you may also create a:
Linux Mint 8 (aka Helena) is the latest version of the popular, desktop-oriented distribution. Helena was actually released late last year, but I’ve just gotten around to reviewing it. As with prior releases of Mint, Helena is based on the latest version of Ubuntu, which in this case is Karmic Koala. For this review, I’ll go through the features of Mint 8 that I consider to be good, not so good and those that I think are bad.
Simply Linux is the Xfce-based distro from the same team that publishes ALT Linux. It is optimized for usage on the desktop. The major distinctions between Simply Linux 5 and ALT Linux 5 Ark Desktop are mostly limited to those between Xfce and GNOME desktop environments.
I think it would make more sense to call this distribution ALT Linux 5 Ark Xfce, but I’m not a distro developer. I just review them. Calliing it Simply Linux creates the impression that it is a completely different distro, when it is in fact the Xfce version of ALT Linux 5 Ark.
ALT Linux is an APT-ified, RPM-based distribution developed and maintained by the ALT Linux Team (ALT is recursive for ALT Linux Team). It was originally based on Mandrake (now Mandriva) Linux. There are two main development branches, “ALT Linux 5.0 Ark, a suite designed for making integrated solutions, and ALT Linux 5.0 School, a suite that is targeted at secondary and high schools.” Within the ALT Linux 5.0 Ark branch, there is a desktop version, and a server version. This review is of ALT Linux 5.0 Ark desktop.
Fedora 12 is the latest major update to Fedora, the Linux distribution that counts RedHat as a major sponsor. Fedora is Free Software and as a consequence, it is not one of those distros that we expect to “just work” out of the box. So if you are new to Fedora, don’t expect the same user-friendliness that you’ll get with distros like Pardus, Hymera Open and Mandriva One (or even Mandriva Free). It is, however, still a decent distro. How decent? Continue reading to find out.
As is the custom here, we always start with the installer.
Ubuntu 9.10, also known as Karmic koala, is the latest version of the popular Linux distribution published by Canonical Ltd. Aside from Ubuntu Netbook Remix, the netbook edition, Canonical also publishes the Live CD edition, and the alternate or text-installer edition. The Live CD edition is the edition that most users are familiar with. Though it offers a simple, six-step installation routine, the Live CD edition lacks some features supported by the alternate installer edition. Some people consider these features advanced, but I choose to view them as standard features of the Linux kernel.
Sabayon is a Gentoo-based, multi-purpose, GNU/Linux distribution. The latest version is Sabayon 5, released October 2, 2009. Two iso images, Sabayon 5 GNOME and Sabayon 5 KDE, are available for download. This post is a review of the GNOME edition.
As always, let’s start with the installer…
Hymera is a Debian-based, GNU/Linux operating system. It is a relatively brand new distribution developed and maintained by Hymera Engineering S.r.l., an Information Technology outfit based in Milan, Italy. Hymera Engineering publishes four versions of their Linux distribution – Hymera Open, Hymera Desktop, Hymera Evolution, and Hymera Server. This review is of Hymera Open, the free, desktop-oriented version.
Zenwalk 6.2 is the latest version of Zenwalk, a Slackware-based, desktop-oriented Linux operating system. The last review of Zenwalk on this site was of Zenwalk 6. That was just six months ago. What changed between Zenwalk 6 and Zenwalk 6.2? Where the changes of a cosmetic or bug-fix variety, or where they much more substantial?
Let’s find out.
Sabayon is a Gentoo Linux-based, multi-purpose distribution. Previous releases of Sabayon came in one huge DVD iso image with the option to install your favorite desktop. However, the latest release is available in iso images distinguished by desktop environments. For example, we have Sabayon 4.x KDE, Sabayon 4.x Gnome, etc. This review is based on Sabayon 4.2 KDE. A future review will focus on Sabayon 4.2 Gnome.
Now, come with me, let’s see what Sabayon 4.2 KDE has to offer.
Pardus is a Linux, desktop-oriented operating system. The latest release, Pardus 2009, was made available for download a few weeks ago. This review, my first of any version of Pardus, also marks the first listing of Pardus on this site.
As with all reviews on this site, I’m coming at this from the view point of a regular computer user, that is, someone just looking for a good distro that works right out of the box. The following is my experience using Pardus 2009 for exactly one week, performing three installs in the process.
Come with me. Let’s see what Pardus 2009 has to offer.
