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.
Ubuntu 9.10 brings polish but may demand tinkering
January 6th, 2010Linux Mint 8 review
January 6th, 2010Linux 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.
SimplyMEPIS 8.5 beta4 Greets a New Year
January 5th, 2010Warren 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.
Hulu Desktop for Linux
January 5th, 2010When 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
January 5th, 2010For 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.
Hidden Linux : Learning to love KDE 4 (part I)
January 5th, 2010There 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.
ASTRO – Android file manager
January 5th, 2010The 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
Kahel OS (version 12-25-09) (Gnome)
January 5th, 2010The 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?”
Ultimate Edition Linux 2.5
January 5th, 2010Some 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.
Zorin OS 2.0
January 5th, 2010Zorin 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.
Pardus Linux – An open-source Janissary
January 5th, 2010Some 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.
Linux Mint 8
December 21st, 2009The recent release of a major new version of Ubuntu means that it’s time for new versions of various remastered distros. This time around it’s Linux Mint 8. Linux Mint, as you may already know from previous releases, takes Ubuntu to another level by slicking it up with tools, multimedia codecs and more.
Slackware 13.0
December 21st, 2009Even though I gave up on reviewing Linux distros a while back, I keep getting mountains of hits on here for people who who want Linux reviews. Since my Slackware 12.2 review was the second-most commented post on this blog, I decided it was a good distro to revisit. So, when Slackware 13 came a few months ago on the LXF magazine, I decided to throw it into Virtualbox to see how it has changed. One difference this time around is that I now have the dual core machine so I am running Slackware on that machine (especially since it has hooks for better virtualization so it should run better)
Fedora 12 Constantine – Mixed feelings
December 21st, 2009Constantine is the name of a mediocre movie starring Keanu Reeves, the name of a few Roman imperators and also the name of the latest Fedora release. After having tested the tsunami of exciting new releases, starting with Ubuntu Karmic Koala and having recently published a Mandriva 2010 article, also known as the Autumn Distro Release Fever (ADRF), it’s time for a Fedora review.
NVIDIA Linux 2009 Year In Review
December 21st, 2009Another annual tradition of ours besides running a Linux Graphics Survey is to provide a “year in review” analysis of the ATI and NVIDIA Linux drivers with their respective graphics driver releases from the past year in terms of both feature improvements and how their quantitative performance has changed. We have been doing these annual ATI and NVIDIA yearly reviews going back to 2005, but now it’s time to share our thoughts and numbers for 2009. We are beginning with our NVIDIA Linux 2009 Year In Review.
Ten KDE 4 Tricks Worth Knowing About
December 21st, 2009Since I discovered just how great KDE 4 is a couple of months ago, I’ve been using it full-time and am loving it. In all that time, I’ve discovered a few tips and tricks that I couldn’t live without, and all of them are listed here. Some of these include an inline CLI, split folders, setting up a media keyboard and using advanced wallpapers.
Fedora 13 all set for the Rocketry Artwork
December 21st, 2009By now you would know that the next Fedora release, Fedora 13, will be named “Goddard”, after the famous Rocket scientist Robert H Goddard. After deciding on the name, fedora contributors have started working on the designs, themes and other artwork for the next release. There are a few ideas in the air about Rocketry related artwork but they are also looking of other fedora users and enthusiasts to come up with their more innovative stuff
Linux Mint: Making Linux easy
December 15th, 2009Most users that have used Linux as their desktop operating system for any length of time will tell you that Ubuntu is one of the most user-friendly Linux versions available.
Ubuntu Karmic settling in once again
December 15th, 2009It’s not like I actually did anything, but my issues regarding my Toshiba Satellite 1100-S101 laptop from the long-ago year 2001 and its Intel 82830 (aka 830m) video not working all that well in Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) have mostly disappeared.
Gwenview the best image viewer !
December 15th, 2009KDE4 users know Gwenview the default image viewer for KDE, but may not know that Gwenview is one of the best image viewers ever existed. It is fast, quick, modern, shiny, particularly in full-screen mode, and has basic photo editing functions.