Pardus 2009 review
Software Management: Pisi is Pardus’s package manager, with a graphical frontend that is just as easy to use as any other. I think it’s even better than Synaptic, the graphical application manager you will find on most other distros. Out of the box, only one repo is configured in the system, but if you run Kaptan (you really should run it before using Pardus) you can enable access to a contrib repo.
Even with access to the contrib repo configured, the software selection available on Pardus is sparse. Sparse, that is, compared to the range of applications available on the repos of distros like Sabayon, Mandriva, Fedora, and Ubuntu. One good aspect of the applications on Pardus’s repos is that they are up to date. On the repos of those other aforementioned distros, a significant percentage of the applications are obsolete.
Package Manager (Pisi frontend)
Administration: Pardus sticks with the traditional root user system (a superuser account, the root account, and regular user accounts for other users.) There are, of course, graphical applications for configuring every aspect of a running Pardus installation.
Adduser admin tool
Most of the system managements applications are located in the Control Center.
system control center
If you are going to be dual-booting Pardus with other operating systems, one tool that you will find very useful is the Migration Tool. Like one found on Mandriva, this tool allows you to move/copy (or migrate) your documents from other operating systems to Pardus. But curiously, you won’t find the Migration Tool where you might expect. You won’t find it under System, Utilities or Settings menu categories. Look for it under Lost & Found.
Migration Tool
Browsers and Browser plugins Pardus 2009 ships with two browsers – Mozilla Firefox (version 3.5.1), and Konqueror, the native system and Web browser for KDE. Out-of-the-box, Mozilla Firefox has the plugins necessary to render most multimedia files you will encounter on the Web. Aside from those times when you’ll need to use Konqueror, most users will likely be surfing the Web with Firefox.
Security tools and Network Manager: Aside from the usual set of security tools and applications you will find on Linux and BSD distributions, Some of the better distros have a graphical firewall client configured and enabled out-of-the-box. Others have a graphical firewall client, but disabled by default. Pardus 2009 falls into the latter category.
Pardus firewall client (default state)
There is no VPN software installed. They are, however, available in the repo. You could install OpenVPN (client/server), and vpnc, the Cisco EasyVPN-compatible client. On most other distros, the VPN clients (openvpn and vpnc) are integrated into the Network Manager applet, for easy setup of VPN connections. The Network Manager applet on Pardus lacks such integration. If you choose to install any of the VPN clients, you won’t even find them in the menu. You only option is to launch a shell terminal and setup your (VPN) connections from there.
As with virtually all Linux and BSD distros, Pardus 2009 ships with SSH client. The SSH server is also installed, but turned off by default.
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John
I agree with Mark T. But it can be a good idea to wait to 15 january. Then the real Pardus 2009.1 will be released:
25 Dec – Beta
8 Jan – RC
15 Jan – Release
If I want a easy install and user friendly linux dist it are Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Pardus for me.
finid
The knock on Pardus is that there is no 64-bit version yet.
finid
Update:
I just had an email exchange with Onur Küçük, who I believe is the lead dev of Pardus, and here is what he had to say about the status of the 64-bit version of Pardus:
And here is what he had to say about the current version of Pardus:
Mark T
I just started using Pardus with the 2009.1 beta released in late December. So far it has worked nearly flawlessly. Install was easy. Nearly everything works out of the box.
The upgrade to 2009.1 RC1 was flawless and didn’t even require a reboot.
The repos are gradually filling up (152 games now) Networking runs fine for me except my hidden router which it can’t login to. I need to reenter my password, and try again. My public router (for everyone else in the house) connects fine.
I still like Ubu though as it is the easiest and most reliable install for my broad array of computers. Mandria has improved. Fedora NEVER seems to install right for me, nor does Debian.
Pardus is the closest in ease of install to Ubuntu I hae found so far.
John
Pardus 2009.1 coming soon:
“Pardus 2009.1 will be introduced during the CeBITexhibition in Istanbul on 7-11 October.”
I guess som of the issues here are fixed then.
finid
By 7-11, you mean October 7-11, 2009.
John
I saw at this page:
http://worldforum.pardus-linux.nl/index.php?topic=2982.0
serif
thanks tubitak pardus team for this reliable and stable distro.i am pretty sure, mark my words here that it will be racing with ubuntu, fedora in a couple of years.keep up good work.but the only request from visual team developers:pls get rid of these cartoon based logos of kaptan pisi etc..on system windows, believe me it will be prestigious with new bussiness-style logo pictures
serif
more, 64 bit and gnome versions are looked forward to.as for me,if pardus gnome comes i will quit ubuntu at that mo.
mitsuzero
not complain about pardus
hmmmm my hardware is working out of the box, i dont encounter problems of use.
Ubuntu broken 2 disk (Sata) when i burning disk, i hate it really, i changed because of it.. and intel drivers ..
I get Pwned by Ubuntu …. xD
64 bit is in development.
John
I saw the problem “capricornus” had with the network with Pardus 2009.
Its a known bug by Pardus in Turkey. Some PC can not get internet connection. But I hope they will solve the problem soon.
Johan
I agree with Henrik. Put in a DVD movie in Pardus or Linux Mint and it start to play with no problem.
Do the same in Fedora, Mandriva or Ubuntu and nothing happends. You must spend some hours in forums and try out to find the correct media-codecs to install.Then maybe you could get it working. If you like that thats fine, but most people want systems thats works “out of the box”
So Pardus and Linux mint are very userfriendly and modern in that sense.
Henrik
I have tryed almost all of the greatest Linux distributions, Mandriva to. Pardus works best for me so far in a desktop PC. So of course I will tagged is “one of the best Linux distribution”
Based of my own testing.
“Just works” is the priority for me as for mr Smith here.
Henrik
Pardus 2009 have all avaible media-codecs, Java etc.. pre-installed. So it works “out of the box” To get the same thing in Mandriva you must pay and upgrade to the Powerpack version. ATI and Nvidia drivers works good to. Ubuntu have often problems with them. So I think Pardus are one of the best Linux distributions at the moment.
When people realise it I am sure it will be more known and popular.
finid
I’m not a fan of Ubuntu, and I think that Pardus is better, in some respects, than Ubuntu, but until Pardus provides support for LVM, RAID, and disk encryption, you should not be comparing it with Mandriva or tagging it as “one of the best Linux distributions.”
John
I use Pardus 2009 and want to say that many new programs have been added the latest days to the Pisi.
Maybe not as many as Ubuntu. But for example, when this review was written it had 53 games, now its 118.
So I think you got lot of choises now.
smith
Excellent, thorough yet easy-to-read review.
These days, I use “just works” distros almost exclusively. On my range of hardware, Pardus falls into that category.
64-bit is not a priority for me. Speed is not a priority. “Just works” is the priority. Compared to issues with other popular desktop distros, the CD audio dialog is easy to deal with (it’s good that you draw attention to it, though).
Again, thanks for your excellent review.
capricornus
On a rahter straightforward system with a wired LAN (DHCP), working well on all distro’s, Pardus will show me the LAN/DHCP but NO connection whatsoever, whatever I try. Back to MINT.
Luca Beltrame
Notice that Pardus’ Network Manager is not the NetworkManager usually found in most Linux distributions. It’s unique to Pardus.
Ahmet
Nice distro and i think it’s best KDE4 distro. Very fast and stable with KDE4.
And, x86-64 port of Pardus is coming in June 2010 (by Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University-Turkey)
MinteyFresh
I HATE distros that add buttons to the panel. I WANT IT EMPTY!!!
MacLone
I like Pardus a lot but that repos are always empty for months. Pardus 2008 repos are filled up with almost everything so… when pardus 2009 will get all the stuff?
adna
i think the most important part that pardus is missing is that there is no 64bit! i have only heard good thing about this distro but i wont touch it before they go along with the future…
finid
Good point. The newest computers, Intel or AMD, tend to be 64-bit, and those distros like Pardus without a 64-bit version will steer some users to other distros with 64-bit versions
Ganesh
Pardus 64bit is in progress and will be out soon.