As a desktop distribution built atop FreeBSD, PC-BSD makes available to the desktop user all the cool technologies inside FreeBSD. One of those cool technologies is ZFS, the Zettabyte File System, a file system developed by Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle Corporation) for the Solaris operating system. ZFS has no parallel in the Linux/BSD world. It packs features that no other file system in the Linux kernel has (btrfs is a potential answer for ZFS in the Linux kernel, but it is still a work in progress).
This post presents a step by step guide on how to install PC-BSD 8.1, the latest version of PC-BSD, on a single-disk, encrypted ZFS file system. While using ZFS on a single disk system does not take full advantage of the powerful features of ZFS, this configuration allows a user who might not have access to a multiple disk machine to play with some of the basic features of ZFS.
As the name suggests, Jolicloud is a cloud-based operating system. It is derived from the desktop edition of Ubuntu 9.04, and is the first stable and publicly downloadable, Linux, cloud-based distribution that I am aware of. Version 1.0, the first stable edition, was released several weeks ago. This review, the first for Jolicloud on this site, also marks its listing in the Mobile & Cloud category.
Installation: Installing Jolicloud is via the same graphical installation program used on Ubuntu 9.04. It is a very basic, seven-step process. Full disk encryption is not supported, and unlike the newer installer on Ubuntu 10.04, encryption of the home directory is also not supported, You also do no have the option to password-protect GRUB, the bootloader.
Alpine Linux is a distribution designed primarily for use as a router, firewall and application gateway. The latest stable version, Alpine Linux 2.0, was released last week (August 17, 2010). This review is the first for this distribution on this site, and also marks its first listing in the Firewall & Router category.
Installation: Installation of Alpine Linux to hard disk is via a text-based interface. The setup-disk script takes care of the completed automated installation, and the whole process takes less than two minutes. By default, the script creates the following partitions (test installation on an x86 computer with a 250 GB hard drive):
PC-BSD 8.1 was released on July 20, 2010, roughly five months after version 8.0 was released. Some of the suggestions made in the review of PC-BSD 8.0 have been carried out in this latest release. In fact, the changes were made within one month of that review being published. It is an encouraging example of how some distro developers respond to suggestions (or critical reviews).
While I still think that PC-BSD is not yet ready for the masses, it is coming along very well. This review will offer another detailed look at some of the good and bad sides of this FreeBSD-based distribution, with the attendant recommendations and suggestions for improvement.
Let me begin by looking at the bright side of this distribution. And as always, it has to start with the …
Been awhile since Mandriva 2010 Spring was released. Considering the company’s financial woes, and the rumored takeover negotiations, we thought they might never release it, but they did. Mandriva Linux 2010, aka Mandriva Linux 2010.1, was made available for download on July 8, 2010. There are three versions:
- Mandriva One 2010 Spring – the free live CD edition that contains the usual cast of free software and a limited set of non-free applications. Available for 32-bit platforms in KDE and GNOME.
- Mandriva Free 2010 Spring – the no-cost edition that ships free of proprietary (non-free) applications. Available for 32- and 64-bit platforms.
- Mandriva Powerpack 2010 Spring – this is the fee-based edition (49 €, or about 65 USD). It comes loaded with all the applications – free and non-free – that you will ever need. It ships, for example, with non-free applications that are missing in Mandriva One. Like Mandriva Free, it is also available for 32- and 64-bit platforms.
Performing a distribution upgrade is one task I have never attempted on Mandriva Linux. And that is because Mandriva Linux 2010 is the first Mandriva version that I have used on any of my personal computer until the next update was released. So here was an opportunity to test how well the upgrade feature worked.
For this article, I show how a default installation of Mandriva One 2010 and a custom installation of Mandriva Free 2010 was upgraded to Mandriva One 2010 Spring and Mandriva Free 2010 Spring respectively (read a detailed review of Mandriva 2010 Spring). In a default of Mandriva One 2010, the install creates just one non-LVM partition where everything in installed under /, the root filesystem. In my custom installation of Mandriva Free 2010, I used an LVM-based partitioning scheme, with separate Logical Volumes for the major filesystem directories (/usr, /tmp, /var, /, /home and /opt).
The first part of this article presents how the Mandriva One 2010 installation was upgraded.
In the last article about btrfs on Fedora, we showed how to pass the btrfs option to Anaconda, the Fedora system installation program, on Fedora 13. This article presents a step by step guide on how to actually partition a disk and install Fedora 13 on a btrfs-formatted root filesystem. Basically, this is a continuation of how to enable the btrfs Anaconda option on Fedora 13.
After you have passed the btrfs option to Anaconda either via the bfo method or the DVD installation method, the installer will present the step shown in the image below. This marks the start of the main leg of the first installation phase. Next to continue.
Fedora 13 is one of a handful of Linux distributions with support for btrfs, the B-tree File System, one of the newest file systems in the Linux kernel. Btrfs is destined to be the default Linux file system. Expect to see it as the default on Fedora by the time Fedora 17 comes along. For now, however, it is still an experimental file system, If you installed Fedora using any of the live installation media, btrfs will not be available as an option in the File System Type menu. To play with btrfs on Fedora, you will have to use the boot.fedoraproject.org (bfo) installation media or the DVD installation media, which is not a live media.
This tutorial will show how to enable the btrfs option using both methods of installation. Let’s begin the bfo method.
Sabayon is a multi-purpose, Gentoo-based Linux distribution. It is part-source, part-binary distribution. I just call it a hybrid distribution. The latest update, Sabayon 5.3, was made available to the public in early June. Installation images are available for the GNOME, KDE, LXDE and Xfce desktop environments. This review is based on the GNOME edition.
The main purpose of the reviews published on this site is to give readers a good idea of what they would experience if they actually downloaded and installed the distribution on their computer. It is, therefore, necessary to highlight good features, or features I think will lead to a positive user experience. It is also necessary to highlight badly implemented features, or features that could give a negative user experience. For this review, let’s begin by looking at the features I think you’ll like on Sabayon (5.3).
Thanks to its use of Anaconda, the Fedora installer, Sabayon 5.3, the latest release of the Gentoo-based distribution, is one of the first Linux distributions with support for the btrfs file system. Btrfs is one of the newest filesystems in the Linux kernel. It is similar to Oracle’s ZFS, but lacks ZFS’ more advanced features. It is also still in the developmental stage, not completely ready for prime time.
But it is good enough for us to play with, to get to know it better before it’s deemed ready for production. If this is completely new to you, btrfs, B-tree File System (pronounced Butter Tree F S), “is a new copy on write filesystem for Linux aimed at implementing advanced features while focusing on fault tolerance, repair and easy administration.” In many respects, btrfs is similar to LVM’s Volume Group. Imagine LVM on steroids (benefits of LVM) and you get a pretty good idea what btrfs brings to the table.
One of the most useful features of any operating system is an application or package update notifier, a simple utility which notifies you when there are package updates available for the system. Most Linux distributions have such a tool installed and running out of the box, and Mandriva is one of them.
On Mandriva 2010 Spring, the latest release, the updates notifier is configured to check for updates every three hours. While this seems ok, you do not have to accept the default. You can modify it so that it checks for updates less frequently. For those new to Linux and to Mandriva, this simple tutorial shows how to make the modification.
PCLinuxOS is a APT-ified, Mandriva-based Linux distribution. It’s one of those distributions that offer a separate version for virtually every existing desktop environment. Four of them – Enlightenment, LXDE, Openbox and Xfce are recommended for intermediate to advanced users, while the GNOME and KDE versions are recommended for all user levels (beginner to advanced).
If you make a detailed study of all six versions of this distribution, you are going to question the user-level tagging. But that is the subject of another post. For now, let’s review the KDE version, which was last updated on July 5, 2010.
Mandriva Linux is one of the distributions with built-in support for the Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM) in the installer. As a disk partitioning and management system, LVM brings a level of flexibility to disk management in a manner that is not possible with the traditional disk management scheme. There is no downside to using it. So if your distribution has support for it, it is highly recommended that you use it.
This tutorial gives step by step guidance, with more than 22 screenshots, on how to configure encrypted LVM on Mandriva Linux 2010 Spring, the latest release of the distribution. While plain LVM provides disk management flexibility, encrypted LVM offers an added bonus – increased physical security of the computer. Disk encryption is one of the methods you can employ to boost the physical security rating of your computer.
Spotify is a popular streaming music service developed by Spotify AB of Sweden. Like music streaming services, it enables you to enjoy and share the songs you love anytime,anywhere. Well, not exactly anywhere – Spotify is currently only available in a few western European countries – Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Spotify requires the use of desktop clients. At this time, clients are only available for Windows and Mac OS X. A Linux client is still in development. A preview version for Debian Squeeze and Ubuntu 10.04 of the development branch was released on July 12, 2010. This post shows to install the Linux client on both distributions, and then to take it for a spin in countries where the Spotify service is available. Keep in mind that you can also install Spotify on any other distribution derived from Ubuntu or Debian.
