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Archive for the ‘reviews’ category

2

GhostBSD 2.5 review

GhostBSD is a desktop distribution based on FreeBSD. It comes as an installable Live DVD image and is developed by Eric Turgeon and Nahuel Sanchez. The latest edition, GhostBSD 2.5, based on FreeBSD 9, is the project’s fourth release, and was made available for public download on January 24 (2012). This article provides the first [...]

Published by on February 2, 2012 8:59 pm
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KahelOS 111111 review

KahelOS is a desktop Linux distribution derived from Arch Linux. Unlike Chakra, another Arch Linux-based desktop distribution, which uses the K Desktop Environment, KahelOS uses the GNOME 3 desktop environment. It employs a rolling-release development model, and comes to use by way of the Republic of the Philippines. While the last two releases of KahelOS [...]

Published by on January 9, 2012 10:28 pm
5

Linpus Lite Desktop 1.6 review

Linpus Lite is a Linux distribution published by Linpus Technologies, Inc., a Linux software solutions provider based in Taiwan. Linpus Lite Desktop is, as the name suggests, the version designed for traditional desktop computing. Aside from that, the company also publishes other editions (for example, Linpus Lite Android Edition and Linpus Lite PCTV), but those [...]

Published by on December 26, 2011 9:36 pm
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Chakra GNU/Linux Edn 2011.12 review

Chakra Edn 2011.12 is the third and final edition of the Chakra Edn line of Chakra, a desktop GNU/Linux distribution based on Arch Linux. The first two editions were Chakra Edn 2011.09 and Chakra Edn 2011.11 (see Chakra Edn 2011.11 review). I always like to start my reviews by providing information about the installer and [...]

Published by on December 22, 2011 12:45 am
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Pear OS Linux Panther 3 review

Pear OS is a new Linux desktop distribution based on Ubuntu Desktop with the graphical installer. Its development started in early August 2011 by David Tavares (from France), and on August 15 2011, Pear OS 1.0, the first version marked “stable,” was released. The latest edition, release on December 14 2011, is Pear OS Linux [...]

Published by on December 17, 2011 12:46 am
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Fedora 16 KDE review

Fedora 16 is the latest stable edition of Fedora, a Linux distribution whose development is sponsored by Red Hat, Inc. The main edition uses the GNOME 3 desktop environment, but there are editions, called Spins, that use other desktop environments. The available Spins in order of popularity, based on download count, are: Fedora KDE, Fedora [...]

Published by on December 14, 2011 2:28 am
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Linux Mint 12 review

Linux Mint 12 is the latest edition of the popular Linux distribution. Not to be confused with Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE), the version of Linux Mint that is based on Debian, Linux Mint 12 is based on Ubuntu Desktop. This release, code-named Lisa, comes with more desktop options than you would normally find on [...]

Published by on December 8, 2011 10:02 pm
0

Sabayon 7 KDE review

Sabayon is a Linux distribution described by its developers as “… a bleeding edge operating system that is both stable and reliable.” It is based on Gentoo, a source-based (Linux) distribution. The latest edition, Sabayon 7 (GNOME 3, KDE and Xfce desktop editions), was released October 10 2011. Sabayon Core was released nine days after [...]

Published by on November 30, 2011 4:05 am
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Kubuntu 11.10 review

Kubuntu 11.10 is the latest stable release of the desktop Linux distribution sponsored by Canonical Ltd., a Linux software provider based in London, UK. It is based on Ubuntu, but uses KDE, the K Desktop Environment. According to the Release announcement, Kubuntu is a “perfect OS for casual users, social butterflies, Linux gamers, software developers, [...]

Published by on November 17, 2011 9:05 pm
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Chakra Edn 2011.11 review

Chakra Edn 2011.11 is the second maintenance release of the relatively new desktop Linux distribution with some ties to Arch Linux. The first review of Chakra on this website was of Chakra Aida 2011.04. With this release, there is a DVD and a CD installation image. The CD image contains very few applications, while the [...]

Published by on November 11, 2011 9:02 pm
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AgiliaLinux 8 GNOME review

AgiliaLinux is a fork of MOPSLinux, a defunct Linux distribution that was based on Slackware. Now, AgiliaLinux is an independent, multi-purpose distribution with development roots in the Russia Federation (MOPSLinux was also a Russian distribution). AgiliaLinux 8, the latest release, was made available for public download on October 3 2011. With this release, AgiliaLinux’s development [...]

Published by on November 7, 2011 4:30 am
19

Ubuntu 11.10 review

Ubuntu Desktop 11.10, code-named Oneiric Ocelot, is the latest stable release of Ubuntu, a Linux distribution whose development is sponsored by Canonical Ltd., a Linux software provider with headquarters in the UK. Aside from Ubuntu, Canonical also sponsors Kubuntu (based on KDE, the K Desktop Environment), Lubuntu (LXDE, the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment), Xubuntu (Xfce), [...]

Published by on October 26, 2011 9:09 pm
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Sabayon 7 GNOME 3 review

Sabayon is a Linux distribution described by its developers as “… a bleeding edge operating system that is both stable and reliable.” It is based on Gentoo, a source-based (Linux) distribution. The latest edition, Sabayon 7, was released just last week (October 10 2011 to be exact). Sabayon has support for all the known free [...]

Published by on October 19, 2011 9:16 pm
12

OpenIndiana 151a Desktop review

OpenIndiana (OI) is a distribution of illumos, which is a community fork of OpenSolaris. And OpenSolaris itself was the open source version of Solaris, before it (OpenSolaris) was discontinued by Oracle, after Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, Inc., in January 2010. Before OI’s base was switched to Illumos, it was based on OpenSolaris. I know this [...]

Published by on October 15, 2011 5:15 am
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Pardus 2011.2 review

Pardus is a Linux distribution developed by the Turkish National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology (UEKAE), an arm of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). Unlike most distributions, it is not based on another; an original, in the same sense that Debian is an original Linux distribution. This article presents a [...]

Published by on September 28, 2011 8:11 pm
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Pardus 2011.2 screenshot preview

Pardus 2011.2, code-named Cervus elaphus, is the latest version of the Linux desktop distribution developed by the Turkish National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology (UEKAE), an arm of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). Judging from the contents of the Release Notes, Cervus elaphus appears to be more like a bug-fix [...]

Published by on September 20, 2011 5:19 pm
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ALT Linux 6 Simply review

ALT Linux, published by ALT Linux Ltd., a software vendor based in Moscow, Russia, is a distribution that originated from what used to be Mandrake Linux, now Mandriva Desktop. The first review of an ALT Linux Simply edition was of Simply Linux 5 (see Simply Linux 5 review). This srticle is a review of ALT [...]

Published by on September 15, 2011 3:55 pm
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ALT Linux 6 KDesktop review

ALT Linux, published by ALT Linux Ltd., a software vendor based in Moscow, Russia, is a distribution that originated from what used to be Mandrake Linux, now Mandriva Desktop. The first review of an ALT Linux edition was of ALT Linux 5 ARK Desktop, followed by Simply Linux 5 review. This article is a review [...]

Published by on September 10, 2011 3:02 pm
0

Ubuntu 11.10 beta 1 screenshot preview

The stable version of Ubuntu 11.10, code-named Oneiric Ocelot, will be released sometime in late October, but the first beta has just been released on September 1 2011. If you would like to take it for a spin, you may download it from here. This article just presents a few screenshots to showcase some of [...]

Published by on September 4, 2011 10:35 pm
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Mandriva Desktop 2011 review

Mandriva 2011, code name Hydrogen, is the latest desktop edition of the popular Linux distribution. Released August 28, 2011, it marks a new direction in the development of Mandriva desktop distributions. Where there used to be three versions of previous editions (Mandriva One, Mandriva Free, and Mandriva Powerpack), the Release Notes say that only two [...]

Published by on September 1, 2011 5:31 am
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Fedora 16 KDE and GNOME 3 Alpha screenshots

The first alpha of Fedora 16 was released yesterday (August 23, 2011). As you might expect, this is buggy, really buggy. While bug hunting is in progress, here are a few screenshots from the KDE and GNOME editions. A few of them have already been posted here, but the rest are new. In that article, [...]

Published by on August 24, 2011 12:29 pm
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Linux Mint 11 LXDE review

Linux Mint is a desktop-centric distribution based on Ubuntu Desktop, and Linux Mint LXDE is the edition that uses the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment (LXDE). The latest release, Linux Mint 11 LXDE, was released August 16, 2011. This article presents a review, the first for an LXDE-based Linux Mint edition on this website. The installation [...]

Published by on August 23, 2011 6:18 am
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Parsix 3.7 review

Parsix is a Linux distribution based on Debian Testing. It is a community distribution with roots in Iran. It is not as popular as other community distributions, but development is active and well. The only previous review of Parsix on this website was of Parsix 3.2, which was more than a year ago. This article [...]

Published by on August 18, 2011 8:16 pm
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CentOS 6 review

CentOS, Community ENTerprise Operating System, is a Linux distribution derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Not many would consider it a desktop distribution, but it could be configured as one, though it requires a bit more tweaking than other well known desktop distributions to just work. The latest stable version, CentOS 6, was released on [...]

Published by on August 11, 2011 12:59 pm
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Mandriva Desktop 2011 pre-release screenshot review

The last of the pre-releases of Mandriva Desktop 2011, Mandriva Desktop 2011 RC 2, was made available for download yesterday, just one day behind schedule. It, of course, looks better, runs better, than the previous pre-release, which I previewed here. As the title suggests, this article is not a full review, but a screenshot tour [...]

Published by on July 28, 2011 3:19 am
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Sabayon 6 GNOME review

Sabayon is a multi-purpose, Linux distribution based on Gentoo, with support for binary package installation. Sabayon 6 is the latest stable release and installation images for the E17, GNOME, KDE, LXDE, and Xfce desktop environments have been released. The KDE edition has already been reviewed. (See Sabayon 6 KDE review.) This article is a review [...]

Published by on July 24, 2011 5:29 pm
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Pardus 2011.1 review

Pardus is a Linux distribution developed in Turkey. To be specific, it is developed and maintained by the Turkish National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology (UEKAE), an arm of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). It is a desktop-oriented distribution based on KDE, the K Desktop Environment. This article presents a [...]

Published by on July 19, 2011 10:33 pm
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PCLinuxOS 2011.6 KDE review

PCLinuxOS is a (Linux) distribution that was derived from Mandriva Linux. It is a rolling release distribution, which means that once installed, updates are continually made available so that re-installation or upgrading when a new ISO image is released is not necessary. The project makes installation images available for all major desktop environments. Three versions [...]

Published by on July 15, 2011 4:10 pm
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Pardus 2011.1 screenshot pre-review

Pardus is a desktop-oriented Linux distribution with roots in the National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology (UEKAE), Turkey. The latest table version, Pardus 2011.1, was released just yesterday. Like Pardus 2011, Pardus 2011.1 is made available via DVD installation images, and also via Live DVD testing-only images. While a review is still in the [...]

Published by on July 12, 2011 2:34 pm
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Ubuntu 11.10: Screenshot preview

Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2 was recently released for the brave and adventuresome to test. I did not do much of a testing, but ran the system in a virtual environment to see what it looks like. Aside from the kernel, there is really no major change, as far as I could tell, from the last [...]

Published by on July 11, 2011 2:40 am
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Sabayon 6 KDE review

Sabayon is a Gentoo-based, Linux distribution with support for binary package installation. Installation images for the major desktop environments are regularly published and updated. The KDE and GNOME 2 editions of the latest, Sabayon 6, were released just last week. June 23, 2011, to be precise. This article presents a comprehensive review of the KDE [...]

Published by on June 30, 2011 5:16 am
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Fedora 15 KDE review

Fedora 15 KDE is one of several officially-recognized Fedora Spins. The others are, in order of popularity, the LXDE, Xfce, Security, Electronic-Lab, Games, and Design-suite Spins. The KDE Spin sits atop the popularity list. The LXDE and Xfce Spins have been reviewed on this website. (See Fedora 15 LXDE review and Fedora 15 Xfce review.) [...]

Published by on June 25, 2011 4:49 am
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Mageia 1.0 review

Mageia is a Linux distribution forked from Mandriva Linux by former contributors and members of Mandriva, As expected, there was a flurry of activities between the announcement of the fork of the distribution (on September 18, 2010) and the first official (stable) release (June 1, 2011). Teams had to be put together, servers and hosting [...]

Published by on June 18, 2011 5:29 am
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Linux Mint 11 review

Linux Mint 11 is the latest release of Linux Mint, a desktop distribution based on Ubuntu Desktop. This is different from Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE), a version of Linux Mint based on Debian. (See a review of LMDE.) The Linux Mint project makes different installation images for the major desktop environments, and this article [...]

Published by on June 10, 2011 2:50 am
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Fedora 15 LXDE review

Fedora 15 LXDE is a Fedora 15 Spin, an alternate edition of Fedora, “tailored for various types of users via hand-picked application sets and other customizations.” Presently, seven Spins have been released. These are, in order of popularity about the time I hit the Publish button, the KDE, LXDE, Xfce, Security, Games, Electronic-Lab, and Design-Suite [...]

Published by on June 2, 2011 5:36 am
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Fedora 15 Xfce review

Fedora 15 Xfce is a Fedora 15 Spin. In Fedoraland, a Spin is an alternate edition of Fedora, “tailored for various types of users via hand-picked application sets and other customizations.” Presently, five Spins have been released. These are, in order of popularity, the KDE, Xfce, LXDE, Security and Games Spins. This article presents a [...]

Published by on May 28, 2011 4:30 pm
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Kubuntu 11.04 review

Kubuntu is a community-developed, desktop Linux distribution sponsored by Canonical Ltd, the same company behind Ubuntu. The latest stable release, Kubuntu 11.04, code-named Natty Narwhal, was released on April 28, 2011. This article presents a detailed review of this KDE-based Linux distribution. Installer and Installation Process: To install Kubuntu on a 32- or 64-bit computer, [...]

Published by on May 6, 2011 9:38 pm
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Ubuntu 11.04 review

Ubuntu 11.04, code-named Natty Narwhal, is the latest version of the popular Linux distribution. Released on April 28, 2011, Natty Narwhal is the first Ubuntu release to ship with the Unity desktop interface, replacing the GNOME 2 desktop. This release also marks the end of a separate Ubuntu Netbook Edition (UNE). So if you are [...]

Published by on May 3, 2011 5:57 pm
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Chakra GNU/Linux review

Chakra is a Linux distribution based on Arch Linux. It evolved from a hobby project to what is now, from my initial assessment, a very solid desktop distribution with features not yet available on established Linux distributions. The developers warn that, “This is alpha software, it could eat your hamsters.” It did not eat my [...]

Published by on April 30, 2011 1:12 pm
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Linux Mint Debian Edition Xfce review

Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) is the branch of Linux Mint that is based on Debian, unlike Linux Mint editions which are based on Ubuntu Desktop. But how can you tell which Mint release is based on Debian and which one is based on Ubuntu? Here’s the answer from the FAQ section of the release [...]

Published by on April 21, 2011 10:25 pm
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Zenwalk 7 review

Zenwalk is a desktop-oriented Linux distribution originally based on Slackware. The latest stable release is Zenwalk 7. It was made available for download on March 25, 2011, roughly ten months from the last prior stable release – Zenwalk 6.4. The Zenwalk project makes four editions available – The Standard Edition, Core Edition, GNOME Edition, and [...]

Published by on April 13, 2011 2:01 am
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Fusion Linux 14 review

Fusion Linux is a (desktop) Linux distribution derived from Fedora, with some inspiration from Linux Mint and Crunchbang, a Linux distribution based on Debian. It is developed by Valent Turkovic, a Fiber optics and Networking Engineer from Croatia. This release, Fusion Linux 14, aka Thorium, is the project’s second stable release. Fusion Linux releases are [...]

Published by on April 7, 2011 3:02 pm
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Foresight Linux 2.5 review

Foresight is an rPath-based, desktop-oriented Linux distribution. It is a rolling release distribution, so there is no need for frequent releases associated with other distributions that do not have this feature. In fact, this release, Foresight 2.5.0, is the first major release since February 2009 when Foresight 2.1.0 was released. Foresight offers 32- and 64-bit [...]

Published by on April 5, 2011 11:37 am
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Sabayon 5.5 review

Sabayon Linux 5.5 is the latest release of the Gentoo-based Linux distribution. It is also the first Sabayon release this year and judging from this distribution’s release history, we should expect to see at least three more releases before the end of the year. Sabayon offers a separate installation image for each of the major [...]

Published by on March 9, 2011 4:43 am
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