Archive for January 2010

Ubuntu 9.10 brings polish but may demand tinkering

A few months ago, a widely used operating system received a major upgrade — and Microsoft and Apple had nothing to do with it. This upgrade came from the developers responsible for one of the most popular versions of the open-source Linux operating system Ubuntu.

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Linux Mint 8 review

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.

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SimplyMEPIS 8.5 beta4 Greets a New Year

Warren Woodford has announced that SimplyMEPIS 8.4.96, the beta4 of MEPIS 8.5, is available from MEPIS and public mirrors. The ISO files for 32 and 64 bit processors are SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.96-b4_32.iso and SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.96-b4_64.iso respectively. Deltas, requested by the community, are also available.

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Hulu Desktop for Linux

When I first started Desktop Linux Reviews, I wanted to include some Linux applications along with the distribution reviews. I’ve finally gotten around to that now and the first application review is Hulu Desktop for Linux.

2010 kicks off era of hidden Linux

For something as open as Linux — the open source operating system developed by thousands of individuals and dozens of companies — you wouldn’t think it would be so hidden, but that’s exactly what Linux will be in 2010 and beyond. We’ve already discussed progress for non-desktop Linux and the layered pervasiveness of Linux. Now let’s consider what might happen as Linux quietly finds its way into even more consumer and enterprise use.

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Hidden Linux : Learning to love KDE 4 (part I)

There seems little doubt that KDE 4, the flagship desktop environment used by many Linux aficionados, was released too early. After seven years of solid, steady KDE 3 deployment, KDE 4 was released amidst the much media hoopla and near-universal user disappointment.

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ASTRO - Android file manager

The ASTRO File Manager helps you get the most out of your Android-powered phone. The Android operating system is designed to be very open and flexible, giving its users the chance to do more things on their phone than ever before. ASTRO helps your phone reach its full potential by giving you the tools to manage your phone

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Kahel OS (version 12-25-09) (Gnome)

The first distro I am looking at for the new year is Kahel OS, a distro based on Arch and hailing from the Philipines, it makes some bold statements and made it impossible for me to ignore!  Distrowatch seems to list a plethora of Ubuntu based distro’s and whilst much work goes into them, most of the time I ask myself “What does X do that Y doesnt?”

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Ultimate Edition Linux 2.5

Some Linux distros sell themselves by being minimalistic. They only come with a limited range of apps and everything is geared toward keeping the file size and hardware requirements absolutely minimal. Then there’s Ultimate Edition 2.5. Ultimate Edition leans the other way and throws in everything including the kitchen sink.

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Zorin OS 2.0

Zorin OS comes in a beautifully packaged ~1.4 GB ISO file for both the 32 and 64 bit architectures. I, of course, am using a 32-bit processor (not for long though ohboyohboyohboy) so I got the corresponding image. The live environment booted in about 2 minutes with a rather unprofessional looking logo flashing in the middle of the screen. I wasted no time and installed the system onto my battered HDD. The process is identical to Ubuntu’s, except the feature slideshow part, which is understandable, given the fact that Zorin OS looks quite different from Karmic.

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Pardus Linux - An open-source Janissary

Some time ago, I’ve received quite a few emails and open suggestions in several threads in a few forums I participate, asking, urging and requesting that I test the Turkish Pardus Linux. Having never used it before, I was intrigued by the popular demand and decided to take Pardus for a spin.

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