| DistroWatch Weekly |
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| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 231, 3 December 2007 |
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Welcome to this year's 49th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! How many distributions have you installed? And what criteria do you use to evaluate them? Baris Paraskeva, a DistroWatch contributor, has summarised his experiences with many recent desktop distro releases in a grand overview - complete with ratings for ease of installation and use, package management and speed. In the news section, Ubuntu embarks on a new development journey, Mandriva announces two new products - Flash and Linutop, openSUSE launches a weekly newsletter, Mage Power interviews a leading developer of Source Mage GNU/Linux, and Foresight Linux unveils its plans for the upcoming version 2.0. Finally, we are pleased to announce that the November 2007 DistroWatch.com donation goes to MEPIS Linux. Happy reading!
Content:
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Reviews |
A grand overview of popular desktop distributions (by Baris Paraskeva)
Introduction
Amid the vast range of Linux distributions available today you will find varying complexity; from the simplistic Ubuntu to the much bigger and more system resource hungry distributions like Sabayon or openSUSE. Some distributions require the user to have a fairly detailed knowledge of Linux in order to perform basic functions; others are targeted to the Windows user, aiming to provide a familiar environment for web browsing, document editing, and other common tasks. Most computer users, from those who only use a computer to check e-mail once a week, to those who have over a decade of development experience, should be able to find a Linux distribution that suits their specific needs.
My intention here is to provide a brief summary of the Linux distributions that I have installed on my own system recently. The purpose of these reviews is to share my experiences of each distribution with other users to help make a decision about which is the best one to install.
I have generally evaluated the distributions in the out-of-the-box configuration, but with most of them I had to make some configuration changes or customizations in order to get up and running and form a realistic comparison. In all cases, the evaluations were conducted on an HP Desktop (AMD 3200+, 1 GB RAM, 256 MB video), and where possible, on a Sony Vaio laptop (P4, 1.8GHz, 500 MB RAM, 64 MB video).
* * * * *
Ubuntu (7.10)
 Installation. Ubuntu is one of the easiest distributions to install, however, Ubuntu 7.10 took 3 attempts to install on my laptop. It also installs quickly (around 40 minutes) thanks to the fact that it fits onto one CD. There is very little user interaction needed during installation, and once installation is complete there is minimal 'clean-up' required. It may be necessary to run the package manager (Synaptic) to get proprietary drivers for some hardware, but other than that you should be up and running after installation, including unencrypted wireless Internet if appropriate. If you have a Windows disk or partition on your system, Ubuntu will give you the option to import the Windows users if you want that.
Ease of Use. Everything is generally intuitive in Ubuntu. I installed the GNOME desktop, which will feel reasonably familiar to Windows users, although the brown colour scheme may be a little unsettling to some at first. The fact that Ubuntu provides only 2 virtual desktops is a little annoying, but changing the setting to give more desktops is easy given that the desktop buttons are already there. System configuration is fairly straightforward, and adding new users, with the appropriate privileges, is easy. Printers 'pop up' as soon as they are plugged in, so you do not even have to go into the administration dialogs to set them up. In my evaluation, I did not have any problems with hardware (printer & scanner), nor did I encounter any significant web browsing problems, although I had to install some codecs to get certain streaming video to work. Image thumbnails appeared almost instantly when a photo folder was opened for the first time.
Package Management. The package manager is pretty robust; there were no conflicts with dependencies on older packages, and selecting the additional software repositories, by clicking the appropriate check boxes, provides access to most of the available free and open-source software that is likely to be desired. The Synaptic GUI provides sensible groupings for the packages, and the search feature seems to work well. Downloading is relatively quick and error free.
Speed. The speed of Ubuntu is mostly good; from power on to the login screen took 54 seconds, then 22 seconds to get to a stable desktop (all icons displayed). My test set of 400 MB of images took 37 seconds to copy from my USB thumb drive to the home folder. Printing speed was disappointing; 19 seconds from hitting the print button to hearing my printer burst into life to print an image pasted into an OpenOffice.org Writer document. This is a lot slower than printing in KDE.
Summary. Ubuntu is a good all-rounder, well suited to those with little or no Linux experience, but equally useful to the Linux gurus. You can install pretty much any package you are likely to want, but the general look and feel of Ubuntu is somewhat 'tame' compared to other distros.
| Ease of installation |
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Generally easy and intuitive, but it failed twice on my laptop |
| General ease of use |
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No task is particularly complicated |
| Package management |
 |
No problems there |
| Speed |
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Generally quite fast, but printing is slow with GNOME |
| Average |
8.75 |
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* * * * *
PCLinuxOS (2007)
 Installation. PCLinuxOS is one of the easiest distros to install; it is unlikely that any tinkering is needed before performing some basics tasks like web browsing or document editing etc. The CD includes proprietary video card drivers, so you have the option during installation, to use the X.Org video driver or the proprietary NVIDIA driver. The X.Org driver may not allow the maximum possible screen resolution of the video card to be used, so it is generally better to go for the proprietary driver. Also, video intensive applications like Google Earth may run very slowly with the generic X.Org driver.
Ease of Use. KDE is the default desktop supplied with PCLinuxOS. This takes a little longer to get used to than GNOME in my opinion. Adding new users is somewhat awkward as you have to carefully select each of the groups they belong to so that they can use the system resources. Once you get over the KDE quirks, navigating your way around the system is relatively straightforward, and PCLinuxOS provides a nice system configuration interface which makes it particularly easy to configure printers, network connections, the display, and other peripherals. I also like the interface for adding applets to the toolbars. I encountered a printing problem using the laptop, but not on the desktop. Streaming videos should be viewable immediately after installation, and Google Earth worked quite smoothly on my system.
Package Management. Adding repositories through the Synaptic package manager is easy, but PCLinuxOS is somewhat light on additional packages. Many of the listed additional repositories are just mirrors of the main repositories. There are some that give additional packages, but you do not have access to the full set of open source and other free software that is available with other distributions. Manual installation of packages is of course an option, but successful integration will often take some expertise. The package groupings in Synaptic are good, but nothing is displayed while the repositories are being checked, so it looks like the system has hung for a while.
Speed. KDE can be significantly slower due to its heavy use of system resources, but in PCLinuxOS the KDE implementation is pretty slick. Boot time was 78 seconds to get to the login GUI, then 10 seconds to get all the desktop icons displayed. The standard set of 400 MB of images took 41 seconds to copy from my USB thumb drive to the home folder, and print spooling took 7 seconds to print an image in OpenOffice.org Writer.
Summary. This is another good all-rounder. Web browsing seems much quicker than most other KDE distributions, and the desktop appears professionally designed. The limited range of free software available through the repositories will be a problem for some, but there are still several thousand packages available. Windows users will feel comfortable with PCLinuxOS.
| Ease of installation |
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Just click a few boxes and it is done |
| General ease of use |
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A good KDE implementation, but adding users is awkward |
| Package management |
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A good robust interface, but package support is light |
| Speed |
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No real problems, but booting was a little slower than most |
| Average |
8.5 |
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* * * * *
openSUSE (10.3)
 Installation. openSUSE 10.3 would not install at all on my laptop. The problem seemed to be with the network driver, and bypassing that driver did not help. I was not able to find any assistance with this on the web site, so I decided to skip my laptop evaluation and go straight to the desktop where it installed without any problems. The time required for this installation is significant as there is a lot of content on the DVD. Allow at least one hour to complete the installation process. There are proprietary packages and plug-ins that are now included with openSUSE, so this ads a little extra time to installation as you have to go through and accept the user agreement for each one. The hard drive configuration interface is a little less user-friendly than some, but throughout installation there is a contextual help panel displayed all the time; something that will be appreciated by those not so familiar with the installation process. openSUSE does not check for existing user accounts during installation, so these will have to be added later if needed. Proprietary video drivers are not included, but can be obtained through package management.
Ease of Use. openSUSE is quite nicely put together. There is no default desktop, you must choose whether to install KDE or GNOME. Both provide an easily navigable system, and system configuration is easy. For my evaluation I chose the KDE version. The menu system is nicely laid out with pleasant icons against each option. This makes menu navigation a little easier than with many other distros. There is a 'My Computer' icon on the desktop, which makes the system feel a little too Windows-like, but when you open the icon you are presented with a wealth of useful information and links. Configuring the system using YaST is uncomplicated. When a new printer is connected the configuration interface is launched automatically. Adding new users is a little easier than with other KDE distros. One annoyance is that when a removable storage media, such as a USB thumb drive, is plugged in it does not have an icon on the desktop; instead you have to select it from the computer menu, or from the 'My Computer' window. openSUSE provides only 2 virtual desktops by default, but changing that to 3 or more is simple to do.
Package Management. Adding extra repositories to the YaST package management system is now very similar to adding to Synaptic in Ubuntu or other distros. All you have to do is look at a list of the repositories and check the ones that you want to use. This gives access to a wealth of open source and other free software available to the Linux community. It takes a while for the additional repositories to get added after they are selected though. The list of available software is slightly different to that for Ubuntu and other Debian-based distros as openSUSE is RPM-based. Many of the packages in the main repository are somewhat out of date now. They can generally be updated from the other repositories, but this causes dependency problems. During package installation you get alternating pop-up windows instead of a steady progress bar; this can get quite annoying, and it seems quite slow. On the positive side, the YaST package management interface has a very well organized grouping of the packages that makes it very easy to scroll through and find what you want without having to use the search facility.
Speed. There were significant speed problems with openSUSE 10.2 on my system, but this version (10.3) seems to be much better. From power on to a stable desktop took 68 seconds as the login screen is omitted by default if there is only one user. After I added users, boot up took only 35 seconds, then another 13 seconds to get to a stable desktop. My 400 MB of data took 42 seconds to transfer from my USB thumb drive. Getting my printer to start printing the image in OpenOffice.org Writer took only 5 seconds. Web browsing seemed a little slow, but it was not possible to measure this due to the huge variation in access times.
Summary. openSUSE appears to be targeted at Windows users, and as such it seems to be a well designed, very professional distribution, but gamers and developers may prefer a more simplistic interface.
| Ease of installation |
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Installation is easy, but it would not work on my laptop |
| General ease of use |
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Very easy to navigate and configure |
| Package management |
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Very easy, but a little slow |
| Speed |
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Comparable to other distros, but package management and web browsing are slow |
| Average |
7.75 |
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* * * * *
Fedora (8)
 Installation. Fedora is quite easy to install and I like the way that it suggests how you should organize your hard drive(s). It seems that the Fedora team have put a little more thought into the partitioning than many other distributions. Whether this makes a real difference to performance is debatable, the fact that you can simply choose to let it automatically overwrite the existing Linux installation makes it very easy. Installation is quick if you select the general desktop applications (around 45 minutes). It will take a lot longer if you decide to include all the development packages. As Fedora adheres religiously to the Free Software principles, there are no proprietary drivers or codecs included with the distribution, so these will need to be added after installation. This can take a lot of time before you are able to get productive with Fedora. One benefit is that you get to choose to install SE Linux which is recommended by the US NSA for security.
Ease of Use. Fedora has a big following, but mostly with developers and generally with people who have been using Linux for at least a few years. It is not as intuitive as many other popular distributions, and you will generally have to use the terminal quite often. System configuration can be fiddly, and configuring wireless Internet often requires some knowledge as you probably have to set up NDISwrapper. This will generally not get configured automatically during installation as it does with most distributions. Setting up the printer and most other common peripherals is easy. Adding codecs and proprietary drivers can be a little tricky. Generally speaking, Fedora is not that user friendly, especially to those who are not familiar with the terminal.
Package Management. Fedora uses Yum for package management, which is nowhere near as user friendly as Synaptic or YaST. Adding repositories is something of a chore as you have to find the location of the desired package, and then get instructions from that website as to how to add the repository to Yum. However, there seem to be more and more websites that are providing instructions for Yum users. Most of the free and open source software is available through Yum, but integration can be a problem. With users adding repositories from all around the globe, Yum is sometimes not able to resolve the dependencies properly, and many installations tend to fail. If you are familiar with older versions of Linux, or if you are a developer, you will probably be able to resolve these issues, but for the typical Windows user it is probably not really worth the time figuring out what is wrong.
Speed. Fedora ran reasonably quickly on my system. From power on to the login screen took 144 seconds on my laptop, but this included a 60 second timeout while it tried to configure the missing wireless network each time. My 400 MB of picture data took 46 seconds to copy from the thumb drive. The printer burst into life after 23 seconds (printing a 4 MB image in OpenOffice.org Writer).
Summary. The bottom line is that you really need to know what you are doing if you want to use Fedora. It is not for novices, although installing this distribution will probably cause you to take a crash course in Linux system configuration, which could result in you becoming a guru, after some considerable frustration. Not recommended for those wishing to convert from using Windows, but developers will probably like the environment.
| Ease of installation |
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Quite easy, but there is generally a lot of configuration clean-up needed |
| General ease of use |
 |
Not as easy to use as most other popular distributions |
| Package management |
 |
Prone to failure |
| Speed |
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Decent, but boot up and printing are slow |
| Average |
6.5 |
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* * * * *
Linux Mint (4.0)
 Installation. Linux Mint, being based on Ubuntu, is quick and easy to install, and it also has the benefit that it includes most of the proprietary codecs and drivers that you are likely to need for your system. The only real difference is that Mint gives you the option to set the root password during install, which I found useful; one less thing to go and mess with after installation. I did not have the installation failure problems on my laptop that I encountered with Ubuntu.
Ease of Use. As you get going in Mint you will notice the similarities with Ubuntu. The overall look and feel is a little more subtle than Ubuntu, but I personally found the default desktop background a little distracting. There are several other Mint backgrounds to choose from, most of which are pretty cool. Some handy little tools are included, like Tomboy notes, which some users will love and others will never use. There is no virtual desktop selector on the panel by default, so you have to go and add that if you need it; something I found a little annoying as I think the virtual desktop features have always been one of the main benefits in using Linux. Generally speaking though, the Mint interface is 'clean' and easy on the eye. With this distro on my laptop, Google Earth did a lot of flickering despite using what appeared to be the most appropriate video driver.
Package Management. The Synaptic package manager is very user-friendly, and it is easy to add extra repositories. As this distribution is primarily based on Ubuntu, you have access to most of the many thousands of Debian packages. I did not encounter any installation failures in my evaluation, and the packages generally seem to be quite recent and quick to download.
Speed. Mint provided decent speeds on my system. From power on to the login screen took 49 seconds, then another 31 seconds to get logged in with all the icons displayed. The 400 MB of picture data took 42 seconds to copy from the thumb drive. The printer burst into life after 19 seconds. Web browsing seemed quite snappy, but it was not possible to quantify this due to the huge variation in download speeds.
Summary. Mint provides a nice, user-friendly environment suitable for Linux novices and gurus alike. Windows users will feel reasonably comfortable. A general comment though - this is basically Ubuntu with a few tweaks that some will like while others dislike. Inclusion of proprietary software makes Mint easier to install and use.
| Ease of installation |
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Very easy, not too many decisions to make |
| General ease of use |
|
Generally very easy to use |
| Package management |
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Relatively quick and you can get virtually whatever you want |
| Speed |
|
No major problems with speed, but printing is slow |
| Average |
9 |
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* * * * *
Sabayon Linux (3.4f)
 Installation. Sabayon Linux took several hours to install and configure on my system. This is because the DVD comes packed with just about every application you are ever likely to need, plus a whole load more that you probably will never need. The fact that the live DVD environment keeps running during installation slows things down also. During installation Sabayon gives you the option to choose 3D desktop effects, which is something a lot of people may otherwise not bother with. Configuring the hard drive for installation is quite straightforward with Sabayon.
Ease of Use. The main benefit of Sabayon is that the DVD is crammed with most of the packages that are ever likely to be needed for general use, and they are generally quite recent versions. However there is a real problem with cramming all this recent stuff into a distribution and rushing it out the door; the distribution is not tested as extensively as others and is therefore not stable. With Sabayon you really need to know what you are doing. Not just in terms of having some expertise with administering a Linux system, but also in terms of your ability to debug the problems that you will have. A few packages crashed on my Sabayon installation, generally due to resource conflicts. Also, the new user that I created on the system would never get any window title bars when logged in. This made it impossible to grab windows by the title bar to move them. None of these problems are insurmountable, but they all take a significant amount of time to debug and fix. By default, Sabayon will install the GNOME desktop elements even if KDE is selected as the desktop choice. This can cause other conflicts, but it does mean that you can install pretty much any package you find out there. With so much installed, the application menus are over complicated and messy. There are several duplicates within the menus, but the package management icon (Portato) is buried deep in the menus and is difficult to find. Sabayon does not provide any custom GUIs for system configuration, you just get the default KDE or GNOME GUIs. Gamers will probably like the look and feel of Sabayon.
Package Management. Sabayon uses Portage for package management, accessed through the Portato GUI. The GUI at first looks user-friendly, but the package groupings are abbreviated and not as logically structured as with other distros. It is not that obvious where you need to look to find what you need. The search feature does not seem to be as effective as with Synaptic, and there is no description of the package in the search results until you select each one individually. Even then, the description is brief and often a little vague. Once a package is chosen for installation, it is not obvious which button you have to click to get it installed. During download there is no progress display, so it is not clear whether the download is working or not. However, as the DVD is crammed with so many packages, I did not need to download any of the standard packages that I needed for my evaluation. Instead I just selected a package that I wanted to try out for the first time - QCad, but the installation failed!
Speed. From power on to the login screen took 58 seconds, then 24 seconds to get to a stable desktop. The 400 MB of picture data took 42 seconds to copy from the USB thumb drive. The printer burst into life after 5 seconds. Web browsing seemed to be slick.
Summary. Sabayon seems to be aimed at gamers with significant Linux experience, who will probably love it. Those focused more on productivity will become frustrated as they will have to fix several little bugs before they can get into anything productive. Windows users will probably feel lost. This is definitely not for beginners.
| Ease of installation |
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Not that complicated, but it took forever and installation failed on my laptop |
| General ease of use |
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Generally not easy to use |
| Package management |
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Not that user friendly and seems to be prone to failure |
| Speed |
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No real problems with speed |
| Average |
6 |
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* * * * *
SimplyMEPIS (6.5)
 Installation. SimplyMEPIS is almost as easy to install as Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS. The main difference is that it is not as 'pretty' and it is easier to totally erase your hard drive by accident during installation of SimplyMEPIS. There is plenty of warning about it, but still, the installation GUI does seem to make it easier to screw up your hard drive than any other popular distribution. Also, you have to go and search for your proprietary drivers if you need them. Installation is reasonably quick, but the time will vary depending on how much reconfiguration of the hard drive is needed. SimplyMEPIS only provides 2 options for hard drive configuration; erase the entire drive, or manually configure the partitions. If there is another operating system on the hard drive which needs to be preserved, some knowledge of the standard Linux partitions will be required.
Ease of Use. Once installed everything seems to work pretty well. Animated weather maps and Internet video seem to work once the necessary codecs are installed. The look and feel of the KDE implementation is nice, and is unlikely to alienate Windows users too much. The default desktop configuration does not include a virtual desktop selector, so this has to be added from the applet selector if it is needed; an essential in my opinion. One thing that I found annoying was that whenever I deleted the contents of my SD cards or thumb drives, the status pop-up did not show any progress, it just stayed at 0% until it was finally finished, which gave the appearance that nothing was happening. I found that the default fonts were a little difficult to read in some applications. The general appearance of the desktop is nice, but a little bland, and I don't really see any benefit in keeping the panel shrunk as it is by default. A full width panel gives more space for quick launch icons and the window list. Hardware seems to be well supported, with no glitches during my evaluation.
Package Management. SimplyMEPIS uses Synaptic package management, as found in Ubuntu and several other distributions. Adding repositories is pretty easy, just check the boxes, and installing the software tends to work reasonably well. However, this is probably where SimplyMEPIS falls down. A few packages that I tried to install were reported as unavailable from the repository that had them listed. It seems that there is some clean-up needed in the repositories. Generally though, SimplyMEPIS package management provides most of the popular open source and free software that is out there, and installation is usually uneventful.
Speed. From power on to getting the login screen took 68 seconds, then another 22 seconds to log in and get a stable desktop. My 400 MB of picture data took 51 seconds to copy from the thumb drive. The printer spooling test took 6 seconds. Web browsing seemed brisk.
Summary. SimplyMEPIS is another good all-rounder, suited to Windows users and Linux Gurus alike. The KDE interface is nice and package management is easy, but there appear to be some problems with the repositories.
| Ease of installation |
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Quite easy but the general appearance is not that user friendly |
| General ease of use |
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Easy to use, but no custom interface for system configuration |
| Package management |
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Easy, plenty of packages, but not all downloads worked |
| Speed |
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Good, but not the fastest |
| Average |
7.25 |
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* * * * *
Freespire (2.0.6)
 Installation. Freespire installation is fast, around 20 minutes from start to finish. The main installation screen states that installation takes about 10 minutes, which seems to be about right, but then there is another 10 minutes of system configuration time needed before you can actually get into the desktop to be able to do anything. The process is quite painless, and the GUIs are user friendly. Proprietary drivers are included, eliminating the need to go and hunt for them.
Ease of Use. Freespire is one of the best-looking distributions that I have tried. It has a very professional look and feel. This is another KDE-based distribution, and this KDE implementation looks great. In theory, wireless Internet should generally be working automatically, however when I installed Freespire I had to spend a lot of time messing with it on my laptop. Freespire does not provide a custom system configuration interface, so you have to use the standard KDE control center, which is okay, but not as nice as some other distros provide.
Package Management. What sets Freespire apart from the other distributions is the package management system. While most distributions let you choose to install from a list of most of the available free, and open source packages, Freespire lets you also choose to install commercial packages. This means that you have access to packages where there is no free version available, but of course you have to pay for them to be able to use the full features. This can mean that you have too many search results to look through when you try to find a package that you need. Package management is done through Firefox over the web, which makes for a nice user friendly interface, but it is a lot slower than most other distros.
Speed. From power on to the login screen took 61 seconds, then another 14 seconds to get to a stable desktop. The set of 400 MB of picture data took 48 seconds to copy from the thumb drive. The printer burst into life after only 7 seconds.
Summary. Freespire is very well presented, and Windows users will probably like the interface. This is probably not the right distribution for developers or hard-core open source enthusiasts as they will find the package management frustratingly slow, and they will not be interested in the commercial packages.
| Ease of installation |
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Very quick and easy, but not that many choices given |
| General ease of use |
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Quite easy to use, but no custom GUI for system configuration |
| Package management |
|
Great interface and plenty of packages, but slow |
| Speed |
|
No real problems other than slow package downloads |
| Average |
8 |
|
* * * * *
Conclusions and Recommendations
For those users who want something that is quick and easy to install and generally easy to use, Ubuntu is a good choice, but Linux Mint and PCLinuxOS may save a little time as they include the proprietary drivers. openSUSE is another good solution, but installation takes a little longer. All of these distros also have good community support. Freespire is another alternative, well suited to beginners.
Those who have significant experience with Linux tend to stick with the distribution they have been using for years, blissfully unaware that there are others out there that could save them a lot of configuration time. Fedora is good for those wishing to do some serious development work, but beginners will find it frustrating.
After completing my evaluation, I decided to keep Mint on my laptop, generally for the pure simplicity of use, which I value on a laptop. On my desktop I have kept openSUSE, mainly because of the good hardware support interface; something I use a lot with the different peripherals that I swap in and out. The package availability is another bonus.
| |
Ubuntu |
PCLinuxOS |
openSUSE |
Fedora |
Mint |
Sabayon |
MEPIS |
Freespire |
| Ease of installation |
|
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|
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|
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| Ease of use |
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| Package management |
|
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| Speed |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Average |
8.75 |
8.5 |
7.75 |
6.5 |
9 |
6 |
7.25 |
8 |
|
|
| Miscellaneous News |
Ubuntu "Hardy Heron", openSUSE Weekly News, Mandriva Flash and Linutop, Fedora release history, interview with Eric Sandall from Source Mage, Foresight 2.0 plans
 The developers of Linux distribution seem to never take a break. Barely a few weeks have passed since we swamped the Ubuntu download mirrors to get hold of the new "Gutsy Gibbon", but already the first alpha build of Ubuntu's next release, version 8.04 and code name "Hardy Heron", is out for testing. This will be a so-called LTS release, which means that it will be supported with security and bug-fix updates for 5 years on servers and 3 years on desktops. It also means that it will be a lot more conservative than any of Ubuntu's most recent versions and will probably focus on existing issues and cosmetic enhancements, rather than groundbreaking new features. Still, it should be worthwhile to follow its development, especially if you need a well-tested and highly stable operating system for your desktop or server. Happy testing!
* * * * *
 Weekly newsletters have been an essential part of many distribution projects, so it was surprising to see that openSUSE had never published one. That finally changed last week when the project announced its inaugural openSUSE Weekly News: "We are very glad to be able to announce the first ever issue of the openSUSE Weekly News newsletter. The aim of the newsletter is to summarise all the finer details occurring in and around the openSUSE community. This issue covers: YaST documentation now in public SVN; joint GNOME/KDE public packaging day coming up; PulseAudio in the works for openSUSE; KWIN Composite updates; distribution, build service and communication status updates; in tips and tricks: how to install openSUSE on a Mac Mini, and how to get Screenlets on openSUSE." The first issue is available for your reading pleasure here.
* * * * *
  It was a busy week for Mandriva, at least in terms of press releases and product launches. Among the flurry of announcements intended, no doubt, to open our wallets while searching for that perfect geek holiday gift, was the one featuring the new Mandriva Flash, a bootable USB device carrying the latest Mandriva Linux 2008: "Mandriva today introduced the 2008 Mandriva Flash 4 GB, the newest member of the Mandriva Flash family that lets you take your entire desktop with you wherever you go. 2008 Mandriva Flash includes a new functionality: ezBoot which reboots under Linux without going through BIOS settings, and the double utilization of Windows and Linux system. Mandriva Flash 4GB provides a full-featured system - Mandriva Linux 2008 KDE - that requires no installation, on a bootable USB key. All you have to do is plug in the USB key, turn the PC on and the Mandriva Linux operating system is ready to use." Available from Mandriva Store (€89.00, free shipping) or Amazon.com (US$93.99).
Another interesting gadget arriving from the Mandriva stable is Linutop, apparently the world's smallest and quietest personal computer: "Linutop is a small computer running from a USB key. Without internal hard drive, Linutop is extremely robust. It offers a completely silent, energy efficient operation, in an extremely small package. Plug the key, start your Linutop system everywhere, save and exchange your data on the free space, up to 3GB!" What are the product's specifications? "Processor: AMD Geode LX700 (x86), RAM: 256 MB, 4x USB 2.0 ports; audio in & out, network: 10/100baseT Ethernet (RJ-45), video: VGA output (SUB-D15), size: 9.3 x 2.7 x 15 cm; Aluminium case, power: DC in 9V - 1,5A (5W), weight: 280 grams; AC adapter 220V." Available from Mandriva Store (€349.00).
Finally, Adam Williamson emailed DistroWatch with information about the new international editions of Mandriva One 2008 live CDs: "Due to popular demand, Mandriva has created two alternative builds of the One edition of Mandriva Linux 2008 containing alternative translations. The 'extra-i18n' build contains translations for Arabic, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Hindi, Lithuanian, Dutch, Norwegian Nynorsk, Ukrainian, Uzbek and Zulu. The 'asia' build contains translations for Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. If a language is not on either of these editions or the original One build, it may still be included in the Free and Powerpack editions. These new builds are available from all official Mandriva download mirrors in the /official/iso/2008.0 directory, and from the official Mandriva torrent server."
* * * * *
 Since its inception in late 2003, the Fedora project has produced a total of eight stable releases. It started as an unceremonious replacement of Red Hat Linux, a distribution often seen as nothing more than a testing ground for the company's commercial products. But it didn't take long before it regained much of the trust among the Linux using population and its recent releases have been well-received by most reviewers. In The unabated development of Fedora Linux, Niall Brady looks back at the past four years of Fedora development: "In September, 2003, Red Hat announced the formation of the Fedora Project. Some months earlier however, Fedora Core began life as an operating system when Test 1 (originally called Beta 1) was released. A further two test releases were produced after the first Test release before the first 'final' release of Fedora was made available to the general public on the 5th of November 2003. That release was code-named Yarrow and had the rather exciting title of 'Fedora Core release 1'."
* * * * *
 Gentoo Linux is not the only source distribution. In fact, Sorcerer and ROCK Linux existed long before Gentoo was conceived, while a couple of Sorcerer forks, namely Lunar Linux and Source Mage GNU/Linux, also develop highly customisable, but reasonably intuitive source-based solutions for power users. While none of them has reached the popularity and fame of Gentoo, they do have sizeable developer and user communities. Eric Sandall, one of the most prominent Source Mage developers was interviewed by Mage Power, giving an excellent overview of the project and its package management called "sorcery" (a functional equivalent of Gentoo's Portage) and its package repository called "grimoire": "A grimoire is a complete container of spells, their sections, and supporting scripts (such as account management) necessary for the spells to function. We have multiple official grimoires: z-rejected for binary-only and non-OSI licenses, games for the majority of games, test is the up-to-date grimoire where packages are first released for wide testing, stable-rc is where we have a snapshot of test to prepare for a new stable release, and the stable grimoire has some testing done to it to verify packages work and is the most bug-free release."
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 There can't be many GNOME fans who haven't heard of Foresight Linux, an rPath-based distribution that prides itself on delivering the very latest GNOME enhancements and features in one compact package. But the project is no longer content with simply integrating the GNOME components into the distribution; with the Foresight Linux 2.0 series currently in development, it promises to add KDE and Xfce to the desktop mix, develop support for x86_64 processors, and streamline the package management: "It is an exciting time for Foresight, as we take the next step in developing Foresight's core platform, adding KDE and XFCE to our already existing GNOME edition, and attract more users and developers." For more on Foresight's future, please see Foresight Linux 2.0 Development Overview by Antonio Mereiles, Ken VanDine and Paul Cutler.
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| Released Last Week |
Pioneer Linux 3.0.2
Technalign has announced the final release of Pioneer Linux 3.0.2: "Technalign, Inc. has announced the release of Pioneer Explorer workstation 1.2.0.9 RC2 and Pioneer Basic workstation 3.0.2.0 final. The workstation uses a live CD that allows the end user to test the workstations before installation. Pioneer Renegade and Pioneer Explorer are both community editions to test changes before they are made to Basic. The latest release of Pioneer Explorer RC2 uses KDE 3.X and 4.0 as the interface. Users may select KDE 3 or 4, providing the ability to test and use 4.0 as desired. Another notable correction has been the network interface under system tools identifying the release has been corrected." Read the rest of the press release for further details.
Turbolinux 11 Server
Turbolinux has announced the final release of Turbolinux 11 Server, a commercial Linux distribution designed for mid-range enterprises, with long-term support. Some of the features include: improved performance and security with the incorporation of the Tomoyo Linux security system; incorporation of the Zend Framework for building PHP-based web applications; inclusion of an enterprise-class load balancing software; long-term maintenance support, including security updates and service packs for the period of 3 or 5 years; advanced diagnosis of hardware compatibility for companies migrating from Windows or Solaris; improved system interoperability with Microsoft products. Please read the press release and visit the product page (both links in Japanese) for more details.
ASPLinux 12
ASPLinux has announced the availability of ASPLinux 12, a new major release of the Fedora-based Russian distribution. The most significant new feature in this version is the "works out-of-the-box" philosophy, with common audio and video codecs, ATI and NVIDIA proprietary video drivers, and files enabling full support for Russian throughout the system, all provided as an integral part of the package. Also included is a graphical system administration utility that allows users of all skill levels to be instantly productive. As for the system components, ASPLinux 12 uses Linux kernel 2.6.22 and includes X.Org 7.1, GNOME 2.18, KDE 3.5.7, OpenOffice.org 2.3.0, Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.5, GIMP 2.2.17 and other popular open source software. Read the press release and visit the product pages (both links in Russian) for further details.
Ubuntu Muslim Edition 7.10
Ubuntu Muslim Edition, an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution enhanced with Islamic software, has been updated to version 7.10 "The Ubuntu Muslim Edition team is proud to announce the final version of UbuntuME 7.10. This version has exactly the same features as the 7.04 version but is built on Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)." Some of the differences between Ubuntu 7.10 and UbuntuME 7.10 include: "OpenOffice.org, GNOME Games removed (available on CD 2); Flash player installed and configured for Firefox (to enable Quran recitations in Zekr); WCC (parental control) enabled by default (so as browsing the Internet is safe); UbuntuME packages - Islamic Calendar, Minbar, Zekr; miscellaneous packages - AptOnCd, rar, unrar, VLC." Read the release announcement and content information for further details.
IPCop 1.4.18
A new version of IPCop, a user-friendly firewall distribution geared towards home and SOHO users, has been released: "IPCop 1.4.18 is released. Some changes have been introduced since rc2 related to NTP (fix ntp user with ntpdate), Squid upgraded to 2.6.STABLE17, timezone upgraded to tzdata2007i, Snort rules permissions again. Update is split into two parts to accommodate free space limitation related to the numerous new packages added since the recent releases. A way to recover some free spaces has been created, allowing to select one of the two 'kernel type' installed. Most of the work has been made on bug fixes and update interface changes." Read the detailed release notes for a complete list changes and new features.
CentOS 5.1
Karanbir Singh has announced the release of CentOS 5.1, a Linux distribution built by recompiling the source RPM packages for the recently released Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1: "We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of CentOS-5.1 for the i386 and x86_64 architectures. CentOS-5.1 is based on the upstream release 5.1, and includes packages from all variants including Server and Client. All upstream repositories have been combined into one, to make it easier for end users to work with. And the option to further enable external repositories at install time is now available in the installer. This is the first release where we are also publishing a special 'netinstall' ISO image that can be used to start a remote install." Read the release notes and release notes for further information.
Damn Small Linux 4.1
Robert Shingledecker has announced the final release of Damn Small Linux 4.1. From the changelog: "Updated pciutils to 2.2.9; new iconView.lua - view & edit XPM icons; new notepad (editor.lua); new mini icons in JWM mydsl menu when available; new boot option 'user=name'; new boot option 'settime'; updated Torsmo to v0.18 - now supports noswap; updated .dfminfo now a plain text file; updated processing order of extensions with .tar.gz now last to better support myconf.tar.gz; root menu solely under user control - defaults to selected window manager menu; updated Firefox default preferences to use SansSerif font; new key bindings for JWM; added 'toram' to frugal installed GRUB checkfs menu item; updated several murgaLua programs to reflect the dropped fl_ask GUI widget; updated 'Getting Started' with Esc and Backspace key definitions for DFM...."
dyne:bolic 2.5.2
Denis "Jaromil" Rojo has announced the availability of dyne:bolic 2.5.2, a multimedia oriented Linux distribution designed primarily for media activists: "2.5.2 'DHORUBA' is out. This is a major bug-fix release for USB detection, encrypted nesting, international keyboard input, firewire video capture and playback. New software includes DarkIce, Snow, OggFwd and dvgrab for minimalistic command-line streaming receipts. Updated software includes Blender, Cinelerra and FreeJ. The image.dyne module is included by default. The User's Manual has been completed with more information. New dyne:II core features: it is a multi-user system, private data can be encrypted; can boot from CD, network and USB stick, perfect for thin clients; it's modular, so you can easily add and combine .dyne modules; it includes all compiler and development tools needed to build dyne:bolic." More details in the release announcement.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
November 2007 donation: MEPIS receives US$300.00
You asked for it and DistroWatch obliged: we are pleased to announce that the recipient of the November 2007 DistroWatch.com donation is the MEPIS project. It receives US$300.00 in cash.
MEPIS and the project's flagship product, SimplyMEPIS, don't need much introduction. They came to existence in the middle of 2003 with the goal of producing an easy-to-use implementation of Debian GNU/Linux. It was the first distro that was designed as a live CD with a graphical installation program that would copy the live CD image to the hard disk in just a few simple steps. It also comes with a kernel that is heavily patched with a variety of extra device drivers. There are many other aspects that make SimplyMEPIS a highly recommended Linux distribution for new Linux users.
Warren Woodford, the founder and lead developer of SimplyMEPIS, emailed DistroWatch after receiving the donation: "Wow, thanks Ladislav! That'll help pay the bills. Warren."
As always, this monthly donations programme is a joint initiative between DistroWatch and two online shops selling low-cost CDs and DVDs with Linux, BSD and other open source software - LinuxCD.org and OSDisc.com. These vendors contributed US$50.00 each towards this month's donation to MEPIS.
Here is the list of projects that received a DistroWatch donation since the launch of the programme (figures in US dollars):
- 2004: GnuCash ($250), Quanta Plus ($200), PCLinuxOS ($300), The GIMP ($300), Vidalinux ($200), Fluxbox ($200), K3b ($350), Arch Linux ($300), Kile KDE LaTeX Editor ($100) and UNICEF - Tsunami Relief Operation ($340)
- 2005: Vim ($250), AbiWord ($220), BitTorrent ($300), NdisWrapper ($250), Audacity ($250), Debian GNU/Linux ($420), GNOME ($425), Enlightenment ($250), MPlayer ($400), Amarok ($300), KANOTIX ($250) and Cacti ($375)
- 2006: Gambas ($250), Krusader ($250), FreeBSD Foundation ($450), GParted ($360), Doxygen ($260), LilyPond ($250), Lua ($250), Gentoo Linux ($500), Blender ($500), Puppy Linux ($350), Inkscape ($350), Cape Linux Users Group ($130), Mandriva Linux ($405, a PowerPack competition), digiKam ($408) and SabayonLinux ($450)
- 2007: GQview ($250), Kaffeine ($250), sidux ($350), CentOS ($400), LyX ($350), VectorLinux ($350), KTorrent ($400), FreeNAS ($350), lighttpd ($400), Damn Small Linux ($350), NimbleX ($450), MEPIS Linux ($300).
Since the launch of the Donations Programme in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$15,590 to various open source software projects.
* * * * *
New distributions added to database
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- Jazz Linux. Jazz Linux is a Polish distribution based on CentOS. The project is intended as a logical continuation of Aurox Linux, another Polish distribution that was discontinued earlier this year.
- Pendrive Linux. Pendrive Linux is a project that provides instructions for creating bootable USB pen drives carrying the latest version of Ubuntu. Ready-made devices can be purchased from the project's online store.
- ZXMameCD. ZXMameCD is a Slackware-based Linux live CD designed for playing Arcade games.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 10 December 2007.
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 280 (2008-12-01): Linux and economic crisis, VectorLinux graphical installer, Glendix |
| • Issue 279 (2008-11-24): Novell vs SCO, Linux netbooks in stores, Fedora user count |
| • Issue 278 (2008-11-17): DWW - end of an era |
| • Issue 277 (2008-11-03): Overview of Ubuntu editions, Plymouth, NetBSD 5.0 features |
| • Issue 276 (2008-10-27): KDE 3 vs KDE 4, Intrepid Ibex, Fedora 10 features |
| • Issue 275 (2008-10-20): Package management cheatsheet, Debian Lenny on Blu-ray, KPackageKit |
| • Issue 274 (2008-10-13): Package management cheatsheet, Mandriva Linux 2009 |
| • Issue 273 (2008-10-06): Overview of Linux Mint and CentOS, changes at Puppy Linux, DistroWatch on VOA |
| • Issue 272 (2008-09-29): Package management cheatsheet, e1000e module warnings, Linux Mint 64-bit edition |
| • Issue 271 (2008-09-22): Package management cheatsheet, testing OpenSolaris 2008.11, Ubuntu and Linux kernel |
| • Issue 270 (2008-09-15): Ubuntu and trademarks, Ubuntu Eee, Linguas OS |
| • Issue 269 (2008-09-08): Debian 5.0 on Eee PC, Fedora tests ext4, openSUSE 11.0 with Enlightenment |
| • Issue 268 (2008-09-01): The upcoming release season, Debian "Squeeze", SUSE Studio |
| • Issue 267 (2008-08-25): Interview with Kris Moore (PC-BSD), Fedora server compromise, Novell "interoperability" deal |
| • Issue 266 (2008-08-18): Mandriva Flash 200.1 on Eee PC, Slackware and KDE 4.1, Fedora update infrastructure |
| • Issue 265 (2008-08-11): LoLiTa, openSUSE 11.0 KDE3 live CDs, end of Linspire, Blastwave.org divorce |
| • Issue 264 (2008-08-04): Look at Parsix 1.5r1, Fedora 10 code name, interview with Jim Whitehurst |
| • Issue 263 (2008-07-28): NimbleX 2008 review, Parted Magic 3.0 mini review, Ulteo Virtual Desktop, Debian GNU/Linux 4.0r4 |
| • Issue 262 (2008-07-21): Sabayon Linux 3.5, flaw in package management, Ubuntu's community QA |
| • Issue 261 (2008-07-14): KDE4 a fork in the road, Debian Day 2008, openSUSE Build Service 1.0 |
| • Issue 260 (2008-07-07): Linux in first half of 2008, Gentoo 2008.0, Ubuntu in Assemblée nationale |
| • Issue 259 (2008-06-30): Package management, openSUSE 11.0 and KDE 4, Linux rescue CDs |
| • Issue 258 (2008-06-23): From Fedora 9 to openSUSE 11.0, Mandriva 2009 plans, Debian and ASUS |
| • Issue 257 (2008-06-16): Look at PC/OS, openSUSE 11.0 Gold Master, Mandriva Flash |
| • Issue 256 (2008-06-09): Computex 2008, Debian "Lenny" freeze, ten years of Mandriva |
| • Issue 255 (2008-06-02): Zypper, FreeBSD on Subversion, Novell's financial results |
| • Issue 254 (2008-05-26): Look at OpenSolaris 2008.05, openSUSE final testing, Zenwalk's new Netpkg |
| • Issue 253 (2008-05-19): Technology vs ideology, Ubuntu hate, bleeding-edge Fedora 9 |
| • Issue 252 (2008-05-12): Fedora 9 with KDE 4, Bluewhite64 interview, PC-BSD 7 alpha |
| • Issue 251 (2008-05-05): Look at Slackware 12.1, openSUSE 11.0 updates, OpenSolaris 2008.05 |
| • Issue 250 (2008-04-28): Look at Eee PC 900, Ubuntu 8.04, OpenSolaris RC, BSD Magazine |
| • Issue 249 (2008-04-21): Look at Draco 0.3.0, Fedora 9 delays, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS release |
| • Issue 248 (2008-04-14): Testing distributions, Mandriva 2008.1, gOS Space |
| • Issue 247 (2008-04-07): First look at Dreamlinux 3.0, April Fool's PHR prank |
| • Issue 246 (2008-03-31): Look at SliTaz 1.0, Arch's Aaron Griffin interviewed, KNOPPIX 5.3.1 |
| • Issue 245 (2008-03-24): Interview - sidux, Debian Lenny installer, SliTaz GNU/Linux |
| • Issue 244 (2008-03-17): Look at PC-BSD 1.5, PCe17OS, Mining DistroWatch logs |
| • Issue 243 (2008-03-10): Package management with Entropy, what's new in Mandriva 2008.1, OpenBSD 4.3 pre-release |
| • Issue 242 (2008-03-03): FreeBSD 7.0, Debian "Lenny" updates, KNOPPIX 5.3 |
| • Issue 241 (2008-02-25): UNIX cut and paste, Intrepid Ibex, Gentoo issues, Ultimate Edition |
| • Issue 240 (2008-02-18): Distributions and security updates, Fedora for KDE and Xfce users |
| • Issue 239 (2008-02-11): First look at Zenwalk 5.0; Fedora and openSUSE alpha tests |
| • Issue 238 (2008-02-04): Solaris on the desktop, Debian edges closer to "Lenny", Slackware's KDE 4 plans |
| • Issue 237 (2008-01-28): First Look at Mandriva Flash 2008, Gentoo Linux 2008.0 schedule, openmamba GNU/Linux |
| • Issue 236 (2008-01-21): Linux in Vietnam, Gentoo updates, Manbo Labs controversy, openSUSE Qt4 installer |
| • Issue 235 (2008-01-14): Distributions and KDE 4, Gentoo Foundation's charter revoked |
| • Issue 234 (2008-01-07): Visit to Mandriva haeadquarters, meeting with Gaël Duval, PCLinuxOS updates |
| • Issue 233 (2007-12-17): Distributions in 2007, Ulteo's Connected Desktop, FreeBSD 7 live CD |
| • Issue 232 (2007-12-10): First look at Geubuntu 7.10, ASUS Eee Linux PC |
| • Issue 231 (2007-12-03): Grand overview of desktop distributions, Mandriva's new products |
| • Issue 230 (2007-11-26): Look at Linux Mint 4.0, RoFreeSBIE and TrueBSD live DVDs, KDE 4 |
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