Phil at PhilipandJenny.com did a review of the Kubuntu LiveCD. Considering the raves I’ve heard about Ubuntu and Kubuntu I was a little surprised at the outcome of his analysis, but I believe that his experience will be an invaluable guide for anyone giving this distribution consideration.

Phil runs a Sager 3760 laptop with the same finicky wireless card as me: the Intel 2200. This card has closed-source drivers although the guys at ipw2200.sourceforge.net have done their best to help us out. The drivers for this card have a habit of crashing systems, causing system hangups, and generally providing a wireless internet connection. Phil discusses how Kubuntu handles this card.

It was a little slow starting, compared to Knoppix or Slax. But that’s a trait of Live CDs, and I don’t really care. I like KDE 3.4! It has nice new popup tooltips on the kicker. They animate into view, but it is tasteful, not too flashy. The Trash icon has been moved from the desktop to the kicker, and good riddance.

Check out his article to read more.

I was looking at the home page of this site earlier today and I saw an ad for Xandros advertising it as the ‘King of the Linux Desktop.’ I figured I’d check out what it was claiming and I went to Xandros’ home page to see their claims.

Xandros is very similar to Linspire but, as Gary will tell you in his review of Linspire, Linspire is really not a useful version of Linux. It fails to truly add much to Linux other than branding many open source applications as their own.

Xandros seems to suck less than Linspire. It has an intuitive interface and it attempts to provide an experience as similar to Windows as possible. Mad Penguin has this to say:

Xandros 2.0 Deluxe falls in a special category of distros reserved for the would-be Windows convert. It keeps close company with its cousin LindowsOS [Linspire], and with features such as seamless Windows networking, CD burning/file manager integration, directory/printer sharing, and easy software updates makes it stand head and shoulders above the rest. After reviewing other Windows-like distros such as LindowsOS [Linspire], I believe Xandros has done a much better job.

Of course, both Xandros and Linspire cost actual money to buy. This is acceptable for pieces of software like CodeWeavers Crossover Office which develops a useful application and uses it’s revenue to add to the development of Wine, which helps everyone. With Xandros and Linspire however there’s no indirect aid to the Linux community - just people spending money for Linux.

It’s because of the rather mediocre performance of Linspire and Xandros (compared to many other distributions) that I would suggest to everyone who’s trying to convert from Windows to try either Ubuntu or Kubuntu. They are the same operating system with only the graphical interface changed. Specifically, I’d recommend Kubuntu for new users (it’s prettier).

I’ve been using DVD::RIP for a while now (that means a week) but ever since I upgraded to KDE 3.4 I’ve been having troubles getting it to work reliably will all of the components that it needs. It’s become common for DVD::RIP to tell me that it can’t read dvd’s, encode anything, get a table of contents, or preview a frame. Mind you it can do all of these things - just not at the same time.

And despite this I’ve had an overwhelmingly positive experience with Gentoo. I’m still not smart enough to get a recent release of IPW2200 working with it yet, but I’ve really enjoyed portage. Something about the transparency and fluidity of a package manager that can upgrade and install anything - even itself - is really desirable.

Jem Matzam at NewsForge reviewed the newest release of the Linspire distribution. At version 5.0 it’s come a long way, but Jem points out some flaws that will cause most Linux users to punch their computer in frustration.

Linspire Five-0 is a mildly improved edition of Debian-based Linspire. The interface and desktop are a little prettier than they were, CNR (Linspire’s Click N Run “software warehouse”) has a few more entries, and hardware support has gotten better. From a technical standpoint, there isn’t much wrong with Linspire 5.0 — it works well and as expected.
NewsForge

Linspire has tried to be the entry point for new Linux users coming from Windows. If a person is so new to Linux that they don’t miss the Gimp or the advanced features that all other distributions offer, then they’ll probably be very satisfied with Linspire. Linspire has software limits much like many apple products. The photo manager, for example, is designed to do manage photos in a basic way and burn them straight to a CD if a user presses the ‘burn to cd’ button.

Linspire is great for beginners, that’s about it.

If you shop around for a new stereo or new computer speakers you’ll be surprised at the similarity between them. The main difference is that computer speakers (while often pushing just as much sound quality out of themselves) are usually much smaller for the same price.

What this means is that a small computer is now an affordable alternative to a conventional stereo system. Computers can run any file format you give it and hard drives can store your whole music collection.

So what’s the ideal music system?
There’s a great article on O’Reilly about setting up a music station with Knoppix. It goes through installing Knoppix on an old PC (the kind you thought you didn’t need anymore) and turning something old and slow into a fantastic sound system.

If you’re really interested in doing this, I recommend setting up a secure wireless LAN in your home to allow you to put the sound system anywhere and control it from anywhere else. It’s pretty nice to carry a notebook into your kitchen that will allow you to change the songs that are playing in another room.

Named ‘Beagle’, the desktop search tool that will ship with Suse 10 (due in 2006) will be similar to Spotlight from apple which was in turn copied from the Google Desktop Search.

Beagle indexes documents, email, Web history, IM and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) conversations, images, music files, source code, and more, including widely used file formats such as Microsoft Office Word and Microsoft Office PowerPoint files, MP3 files, and JPEG and Portable Network Graphics (PNG) images.
Novell Linux 10

I’m still holding out for Suse 9.3 which will feature the Xen hypervisor among other seriously cool softwares. When versioni 10 comes along next year you can be sure a lot will have changed in the Linux scene.

Gentoo has released their first version for the 2005 year. Named (cleverly) Gentoo 2005.0, this includes all the latest pieces of Gentoo.

It wasn’t long ago (and it still is with many distros) that upgrading your version of Linux meant reformatting and reinstalling from scratch. The greatest thing about the Gentoo distribution is that any current user can immediately upgrade their installation by using Portage. Portage is the package manager for Gentoo and works based on downloading and installing necessary programs upon request. Portage can automatically calculate program dependencies and install the required packages for you. For information on installing Gentoo check out my Gentoo installation guide

Those who want to try out Gentoo 2005.0 can get it at: Gentoo Torrents. (get the Universal LiveCD)
For current users, upgrade simply by typing:
# emerge –sync
# emerge -u world

Linspire Inc (formerly Lindows - they got sued) has released a free version of their otherwise closed-source operating system. It’s only the LiveCD but it’s enough for a tase of what Linspire has to offer.

Linspire was one of the first corporations to begin aggressively taking normal users from Windows and offering them a Linux flavor that wouldn’t make them do anything hacker-like. The package manager that ships with Linspire is called ‘Click-N-Run’ and it does exactly what it promises. It appears to be binary packages that can be browsed and downloaded from the Linspire server and immediately installed. The abstraction that the CNR interface provides is an essential component of any entry-level linux distro in my opinion. If you can’t install the program that you need, the rest of the computer has no use to you.

Version 5.0 of the Linspire LiveCD can be downloaded (for free, legally) via bittorrent at the following link: Linspire LiveCD 5.0

RedHat has put much time and effort into developing their RedHat Enterprise platform. It comes with support from the RedHat team and it also comes with a hefty price tag.

Enter CentOS. The CentOS (’ Community ENTerprise Operating System’) team has taken all of the GPLed parts of the RedHat Enterprise system and released them under a different name. So if you’re looking for the RedHat Enterprise software solution but you’re not interested in their support, check out CentOS.

A week ago I spent the weekend installing Gentoo Linux on my Dell 600m laptop. I had decided on a stage 3 (the easiest of 3) install from a Universal LiveCD and I documented the whole procedure. I figure it’ll be useful for other’s who try to do it to know some of what I went through. I know I could have used some help by people describing what glitches they ran into along the way.

So here it is: The Gentoo Stage 3 Install

On my new Gentoo installation I’ve decided I’m ready to upgrade to the new KDE 3.4. When I typed #emerge –pretend kde it showed me there were no updates. This was disconcerting because I was sure the new version had been released.

What I had yet to figure out was that Portage does not automatically update it’s information on what packages are available. That must be done through the command #emerge –sync. When that’s finished, it’s possible to update any packages you want.

From LXer quoting Michael Robertson, CEO of Linspire Inc.:

“For more than a year, we’ve analyzed and studied the user experience to create a Linux product suitable for the mass market,” said Michael Robertson, CEO of Linspire, Inc. “Linspire Five-0 is so easy to use, it finally makes Linux practical for anyone – from a Fortune 500 executive to a kid researching a school essay.”

Linspire is an excellent distribution of Linux for the very beginning Linux user. With an approach to hiding the less refined parts of the Linux system similar to Apple’s approach, Linspire gives users full hardware support, a clean GUI (it runs KDE), and straightforward access to programs.

Linspire became famous originally because it sought to directly steal users from Microsoft Windows. Using the company name “Lindows” it offered a user experience comparable to Windows XP but done entirely with Linux applications. It supports a LiveCD and a hard drive install.

I was thinking of trying out Ubuntu a while ago. It’s received excellent reviews from everyone I know who’s tried it and it promises to be a very friendly distribution.

There are two reasons that I didn’t try Ubuntu:

• Ubuntu’s homepage has ugly colors.
• Ubuntu only contains Gnome - not KDE

I’m not one to prefer a Mac just because it’s gorgeous, I need substance too. However, KDE has really hooked me with it’s power and slickness and I can’t give it up.

Luckily, there’s Kubuntu. Following the wonderfully vacuous naming scheme for KDE Kubuntu provides everything that Ubuntu does - but does it with KDE.

As of the time of this article KDE 3.4 is being uploaded to the Kubuntu servers. If somebody tries it out let me know how Kubuntu runs this excellent new release of KDE.

The shortage of posts recently has been because I’ve been attempting to install Gentoo on my laptop and been having a ball. While enjoying myself, however, I’m often too browser-lacking to do any posts.

Right now I’m doing an emerge (Gentoo-speak for ‘install’) of the entire KDE package on my Dell 600m laptop. I started it late last night and i’ll be done sometime this afternoon.

When it’s done I’m going to do as many packages as I can quickly. I’m following the advice of Clete who’s updating his whole system before KDE 3.4 comes out in three days. It’s a good idea to only have KDE to update when it comes out - because it takes 16 hours on my 1.6GHZ to install.

The Fedora Core Linux Blog reports that the cd-images of Fedora Core will not contain some popular applications on the next release. Even some small and powerful programs (like Abiword and Gnumeric) aren’t going to make the cut.

Some controversy has been stirred up by this move. Couldn’t some packages (such as a selection of large desktop backgrounds) be removed instead of these popular packages? Sure, packages must be removed to keep the download size down, but what to remove? Lots of people use Gnumeric and Abiword, don’t they?

With all the discussion of software value and the open source community’s attempt to applaud all good software, this is the true test of what is useful. In the end, a decision must be made about what packages will be on the download CD. Do we need KOffice as well as OpenOffice.org?
Ultimately something needs to be cut for a distro to provide only the best software to its users.

Novell has officially announced that Suse 9.3 will be shipping in April of this year. They’ve also announced what improvements there will be in the new release.
useful improvements
There are several software and driver updates that will make this release of Suse Linux an excellent upgrade.

• Suse 9.3 will support Centrino, Bluetooth devices and many kinds of PDAs with synchronization.
• Power management for Suse 9.3 will be improved.
• Apple’s Ipod will be supported on Suse 9.3

serious improvements:
I didn’t realize how major the difference between Suse 9.2 and Suse 9.3 was going to be. There are some huge pieces of software innovation to be built into this release.

• The latest release of Mono will be included.
• the VoIP application Linphone is likely to be added to this release.
• Gnome 2.10 (released one day before the time of this article) will be included.
• KDE 3.4 will be shipped.
• The Xen Hypervisor will be included. Xen is like VMWare in that it allows multiple operating systems to run concurrently on a single host operating system. It’s the open source response to VMWare that will have Intel and IBM support as of it’s next release.

I’m really, really excited about Xen. I don’t have the cash for a VMWare licence and I’m huge on experimenting with different operating systems (as you can probably tell by my Distro Installs category). If anyone has used Xen before, please leave a comment and describe how it went.

I don’t know if there will be a Suse 9.3 torrent available, but I’m definitely installing Suse 9.3 the day it’s released.