Place of Stuff

Following on from Part One of this series, I now have Debian Etch installed. I have spent most of today tweaking it to act the way I want. And here is an obligatory screenshot:

Now, it will strike the more observant/astute of you that this desktop is almost exactly the same as my Slackware desktop. This is where Linux is funny that way - beyond prettying up the desktop, the differences are all under the bonnet. Yes, there are a few Debian logos around, but otherwise it’s exactly the same as any other KDE desktop.

Continue reading ‘Part 2’ »

I have very much come to terms with the fact that I am a Slacker. There really are no two ways about it. Since late 2002, I have changed distros fairly regularly (although I ran RedHat 8 and 9 because I liked them) to see if there’s anything else out there, but I return to Slackware regularly.

While walking the dog, earphones in and mind wandering, it struck me that the reason I stick with Slackware is that I never give another distro enough time to settle in. Some of that is, I believe, because Gnome seems to be fast becoming the default desktop. Don’t get me wrong, I no longer cross myself when that DE is mentioned, and I can say that it’s fairly pleasant to use. But I’m a KDE user. I prefer KDE and feel far more comfortable using it.

So I set myself a challenge: install a different distro an use it for a minimum of one month. Fairly straightforward - I even decided not to gear the test against itself, I will be using KDE as the desktop wherever possible. That way, I can stay within my comfort zone while still trying something new.
Continue reading ‘Part 1’ »

In a bid to actually fill this blog with more than just ramblings, I’ve begun reviewing distros that catch my eye. These are not necessarily mainstream distros - everyone does those - but just interesting distros. At least, interesting to me.

The latest in the series is Puppy Linux. I ran version 2.01r2. Puppy is a small distro - the iso itself is 71mb - and gets you several internet browsers, a gui desktop, different text editors, a download/install manager and much else. It is designed to be small and lightweight. The fact that Firefox is only available via the package manager and is described as a “Large and powerful web browser” made me smile. This gives you an idea of the aims of the Puppy project.

The install was very quick and straightforward. You are given a choice of Xvesa or Xorg when deciding on your video options - Xorg didn’t work when I tried it, but that is likely to be a problem with Qemu not with Puppy.
Continue reading ‘Puppy Linux’ »

Have you come across React OS? It aims to be an open source version of Microsoft Windows - which sounds like a contradiction in terms until you take a look at it. Let’s let the site tell us a little about it:

The ReactOS® project is dedicated to making Free Software available to everyone by providing a ground-up implementation of a Microsoft Windows® XP compatible operating system. ReactOS aims to achieve complete binary compatibility with both applications and device drivers meant for NT and XP operating systems, by using a similar architecture and providing a complete and equivalent public interface.

Although Free Software advocates agree that free software operating systems improve the state of the art by fostering competition, ReactOS has practical benefit for others, too; ReactOS is the most complete working model of a Windows® like operating system available. Consequently, working programmers will learn a great deal by studying ReactOS source code and even participating in ReactOS development.

ReactOS components are growing more and more compatible with equivalent, closed source alternatives, but ReactOS doesn’t simply stop at an arbitrary line in the sand. ReactOS has and will continue to incorporate new versions of the Win32 API and so will track and sometimes even define the state of the art in operating system technology. Rather than using current technology as a limit on our activities, we are constantly incorporating features from newer versions as well.

In short, ReactOS is aiming to run your applications and use your hardware! Finally, a FOSS operating system for everyone!

Continue reading ‘React OS’ »

As recently blogged by me, I installed Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) to my laptop so that I could get around Fedora issues I was having and have a workable desktop. And here is my trip report.

I installed the latest version, 6.06, and expected to have loads of fun reconfiguring and getting it to work. Depending on your point of view, the fact that it worked entirely out of the box and with no problems is a good or bad thing. Since I am using this as a temporary measure, maybe, I see it as a good thing. I downloaded the .iso file from the site and burned it to disk. Note: when burning, I followed my own advice and burned it at a low speed, no coasters for me! The iso file you download is for a live cd - this means that the entire distro can be run entirely from cd and you don’t have to touch your hard disk. The live cd comes with a very simple to run installer should you wish to install it to disk. Which I did.

I rebooted, it had recognised and configured my video card, my mouse, my network card and my sound card. By now I was feeling a wee bit superfluous. I needed to do nothing - except open the menus to see what was running. My wireless card gave me a few issues, which I got around by installing wireless-tools and related files via synaptic and apt and lo, my wireless card was up and running. Didn’t take long to do either - absolute piece of cake, to be honest. I would definitely recommend this distro to the newbie in your life.
Continue reading ‘Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake)’ »

No, not me LXer.com posted a story (or a link to one) from a reviewer who had been heavily criticised for one of his reviews (story is here). One of the “talkback” entries was from a blogger who had a very similar experience. Now, I don’t want to go into a rant about how every time you have an opinion on Linux world+dog leap in and tell you how stupid you are. We’ve all seen it and it’s tiresome: Linux is a big boy now and no longer needs us all to leap to it’s defence. If there is a problem with Linux, acknowledge it, fix it and move on.

At this time of writing, the article is about 7 months old, but I thought it useful to link to it and discuss it because of the focus of the reviews and the eventual winner. First, some links:

• The criteria used
• The distro roundup
• Head to head and final winner

Continue reading ‘A Windows User Reviews Desktop Linux’ »