Archive for the ‘reviews’ Category
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.
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).
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.
Mint 9, aka Isadora, is the latest update to the desktop-focused, Linux distribution based on Ubuntu (10.04). It is one of the more exciting desktop distributions, with a nice selection of custom-developed graphical management utilities.
Because it is based on and closely tied to Ubuntu, Linux Mint versions are always released after Ubuntu has been released, usually about one month after. With this review, I hope to highlight some of the good and not so good features of Isadora.
We are in the middle of another release cycle. Folks in the community are updating their systems, and demoing distributions that hold promise. Should Ubuntu 10.04, Lucid Lynx, be on your demo list? I can’t answer that for you. The best I can do to help you decide, is present to you a list of features that should make you smile and also ones I think will not be good for your blood pressure.
Before we get into the meaty stuff, a quick note about applications pre-installed on Ubuntu 10.04: Aside from a pair of applications, the rest are what you’ll find on previous releases. The pair I’m referring to is Simple Scan and Pitivi. Simple Scan is a document scanner and Pitivi is a video editor. Both are excellent tools. If you are reading about Ubuntu for the first time, here’s a list of the most important applications installed by default:
ClearOS is a network and gateway server distribution derived from RedHat and CentOS. Formerly known as Clark Connect, it is developed and maintained by the Clear Foundation, an IT solutions provider based in Wellington, New Zealand.
Installation: ClearOS is designed to be installed to a hard disk. The installation program is ncurses based and offers two installation modes – Gateway or Standalone. In Standalone mode, ClearOS may be installed with or without the firewall module. Support is available for LVM (ClearOS lacks support for LVM) and software RAID configuration. By default, the installer uses a non-LVM disk partitioning scheme, creating just two partitions – one of about 76 MB for the /boot partition, and the other for the main partition. Ext3 is the only journaling filesystem available.
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.
