 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 407, 30 May 2011 |
Welcome to this year's 22nd issue of DistroWatch Weekly! As DistroWatch celebrates its tenth birthday (the website was publicly launched on 31 May 2001 as a single-page "Comparison of Linux Distributions" featuring 12 Linux distributions in a tabular format), we are bringing you yet another DistroWatch Weekly packed with reviews, news, articles, screenshots and other useful content. This week's feature article looks at the recently-released SimplyMEPIS 11.0, a solid entry-level desktop distribution based on Debian; this is followed by the usual news section presenting information about the fresh-from-the-oven Fedora 15 and Linux Mint 11, as well as news about the upcoming inaugural release of Mageia and updates on Gentoo and Tiny Core Linux. The Question and Answers section then brings an interesting comparison, in the form or two interviews, of Oracle's OpenOffice.org and its recent fork, Document Foundation's LibreOffice. There is more, including a link to an interview with Ubuntu's Mark Shuttleworth and the usual section on new distributions submitted last week to DistroWatch. As always, happy reading and a big thank-you to all our readers for your continued loyalty. Let's hope that the second decade of DistroWatch is even better and more exciting than the first!
Content:
- Reviews: Thoughts on inverted jellyfish, or my week with SimplyMEPIS 11.0
- News: Best features in Fedora 15, prolonging agony of Linux Mint, Mageia 1 ready for launch, interview with Mark Shuttleworth, Gentoo weekly newsletter, Tiny Core Linux GUI installer
- Questions and answers: LibreOffice versus OpenOffice.org
- Released last week: Fedora 15, Linux Mint 11, Zenwalk Linux 7.0 "GNOME"
- Upcoming releases: Mageia 1, Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 1
- New additions: Suriyan
- New distributions: AnikOS, Zenix OS
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (25MB) and MP3 (39MB) formats
Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Thoughts on inverted jellyfish, or my week with SimplyMEPIS 11.0
SimplyMEPIS 11.0 arrived on May 5th, bringing with it promises of novice-friendly computing and working, trouble-free hardware. A quick look at the release announcement suggests that SimplyMEPIS 11.0 is a fairly tame release, featuring upgrades to key applications and a move to LibreOffice. The latest release comes on a DVD (the ISO is 1.4 GB in size) and is offered in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavours.
Booting from the live disc brings us to a graphical login screen with the account name "demo" filled in for us. The password to login, which is displayed at the top of the screen, is also "demo". We're then provided with a KDE 4.5 desktop, which features a soft underwater background. In the middle of the background is an artistic rendering of the MEPIS logo with streams of light around it or, alternatively, it could be an upside-down jellyfish. Icons on the desktop lead users to the MEPIS website, a quick-start guide and a local copy of the distribution's manual. The MEPIS documentation is well laid out and seems to be written with newcomers in mind. The desktop also features an icon for starting the installer.
Launching the installer, which requires the live disc's root password, begins by showing us the distribution's license agreement. We then move on to partitioning. The installer opens the KDE Partition Manager to assist us in dividing up the disk. With partitioning complete, we assign partitions to mount points and select our preferred file system (ext3, ext4 and ReiserFS are offered). The installer copies over its files and then we're given the option to install GRUB. Next we get to choose whether to run Samba and confirm our keyboard layout. The final steps guide us through setting the system clock, creating a regular user account and setting a new root password. The whole process is fairly straightforward and the installer features help text to the left of the screen for each step. With the configuration steps done we can reboot to run our local copy of MEPIS.
SimplyMEPIS 11.0 - running Firefox 4
(full image size: 395kB, screen resolution 1366x768 pixels)
Logging into our new desktop for the first time we find the same manual icons and shortcuts we had on the live disc. At the bottom of the screen we see the application menu and quick-launch buttons for the settings panel, Firefox and KMail. Over to the right is a clock and, next to it, an icon letting us know if software updates are available. The application menu uses the Classic launcher style which I find faster to navigate than the Kickoff style. While I'm on the topic of layout and how things look I'd like to mention that so often now I'm finding desktop themes seem to be divided strongly in style. On the one side we have desktops with the classic layouts and themes that appear to have been designed when 16-bit computing was a hot new thing. On the other side we've got desktops with layouts better suited to phones and small tablets where everything is a widget and the theme shines like chrome in the sun. It's not often I see a layout that retains the classic workflow, yet embraces a more modern look. The MEPIS desktop does that, combining what I feel are the best aspects of the KDE 3.5 and KDE 4 environments. It's pleasant to have things where I expect them to be and still have my desktop look nice.
The distribution comes with a solid collection of software on the DVD and the installer places about 3.8 GB of data on the local disk. We're provided with the Firefox web browser (version 4.0.1), LibreOffice 3.3.2, the KMail e-mail client and a document viewer. We're also given the K3b disc burning software, Amarok for playing music, Kdenlive for editing videos and VLC for playing multimedia files. There are a few games in the menu, along with the Kopete instant messaging client and a CD player. The KPPP dialer is provided and, for the artistic among us, there are copies of the GIMP and KolourPaint. MEPIS has some of its own configuration tools, which help us create and manage user accounts, set up and troubleshoot our network connection, check our disks for errors, create bootable USB drives and repair the bootloader. To configure the system's look & feel we're given the KDE System Settings modules. Rounding out the menu are tools for managing archives, creating backups and editing text files, along with a calculator and the KGpg cert & encryption front-end. Out of the box MEPIS comes with Flash and popular multimedia codecs. We're also given Java and the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). Behind the scenes MEPIS runs the 2.6.36 Linux kernel.
SimplyMEPIS 11.0 - LibreOffice and configuration tools
(full image size: 277kB, screen resolution 1366x768 pixels)
When we log in a notification icon appears in the system tray, letting us know whether new software is available. Clicking on this icon launches the Synaptic package manager. Updates, along with other package-related tasks are handled by Synaptic. It's a stable and quick application and I ran into no problems when using it. Behind the scenes Synaptic uses APT. The command line APT tools are available if we wish to make use of them. MEPIS is based on the Debian distribution and can pull from Squeeze's repositories. MEPIS additionally has its own repositories for distro-specific packages and updates. This gives users a virtual mountain of software to install, with nearly 30,000 packages in the default repositories.
SimplyMEPIS handled my hardware beautifully. I tried running the distribution on two machines, one desktop machine (2.5 GHz CPU, 2 GB of RAM, NVIDIA video card) and a laptop (dual-core 2 GHz CPU, 3 GB of RAM, Intel video card). Both machines booted quickly, my screens were set to their maximum resolutions, audio worked out of the box and my Intel wireless card worked without any fuss. My laptop's touchpad worked smoothly and handled taps as clicks. Performance on both machines was better than average and the KDE environment was quite responsive, especially on the laptop. When running the distro in a virtual machine I found performance continued to be good with as little as 512 MB of memory.
One thing that I found really standing out while I was using SimplyMEPIS is that it feels balanced. Before going into this review I'd been running Slackware Linux, a very conservative, do-it-yourself style of distribution. Immediately before running Slackware I'd been using Ubuntu, a project leaning more towards being experimental, and offering a let-me-do-it-for-you approach. SimplyMEPIS sits pleasantly in the middle. It's modern without being experimental and it's friendly without being too simplifying. The interface is streamlined without reducing functionality. The artwork is attractive, without being distracting. The system gives us notice of things like available software updates without being demanding. The application menu is arranged to reduce clutter with popular software near the top level of the menu and additional programs in nested menus. I suspect this was done in an effort to avoid overwhelming novice users with options. I liked that desktop effects were turned off by default, as was desktop search/indexing. A few weeks back I complained about how it is a common feature now to have windows maximize when moved to the top of the screen and I was happy to find MEPIS doesn't do that by default. And, during my trial, I experienced no system or applications crashes or lock-ups.
I think it's fair to say that I found using SimplyMEPIS pleasant, but more than that, it impressed me. Since Ubuntu came along I find that SimplyMEPIS isn't often mentioned in the same circles as Linux big names such as Fedora, openSUSE, Mandriva and the big-U. I think the 11.0 release proves it should be. Usually when I'm testing a distribution I keep a notepad next to the keyboard so I can jot down observations -- keeping track of what's available, what doesn't work, what stands out... While working with SimplyMEPIS my paper remained mostly empty, not because there isn't anything there to write about, but because the experience was so intuitive and seamless. I didn't run into any of the usual breaks in flow; rather I just sat down, used it and everything worked as expected.
SimplyMEPIS 11.0 - settings and applications
(full image size: 431kB, screen resolution 1366x768 pixels)
That's not to say that I didn't come up with a few things I think could be improved upon. SimplyMEPIS has am intuitive and user-friendly feel, but there are a few areas where I think it could be more novice-oriented. The installer, for instance: I felt the partitioning and GRUB setup pages could have been improved by copying the design of either Fedora's, or maybe Ubuntu's, installer. The same goes for package management. Synaptic is a powerful and solid program, but it's not as novice-friendly as some other package manager front-ends and I would have liked to have seen another GUI option added for the newcomers.
My week with SimplyMEPIS may be one of the most intuitive and smooth experiences I've had when using an operating system. Everything worked out of the box, the desktop was responsive and there's lots of software available (both on the DVD and in the repositories). The desktop theme is attractive, I found it easy to find what I wanted and none of the usual modern "features" were present to distract me from what I was doing. The 11.0 release is a great combination of modern software on a stable base and I recommend giving it a try.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
Best features of Fedora 15, prolonging agony of Linux Mint, Mageia 1 ready for launch, interview with Mark Shuttleworth, Gentoo weekly newsletter, Tiny Core Linux GUI installer
The long-awaited Fedora 15 was released last weekend and the jury is still deliberating whether the new product is actually a step forward. While many will no doubt enjoy the updated application and the improved hardware support, the presence of GNOME 3 is a discouraging factor to others. ZDNet's Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols lists Fedora 15's five best features, which includes GNOME 3, although the author acknowledges some difficulties with the radically redesigned desktop environment: "GNOME 3 claims to be the 'the next generation of GNOME with a brand new user interface. It provides a completely new and modern desktop that has been designed for today's users and technologies.' It's not. ... For example, in shifting from one project to another in your workspace you need to use the dashboard as a window management interface For me, this is like having to stop my car to shift gears That by itself is so annoying that I quickly stopped using GNOME 3.0. I also miss each windows' minimize and maximize buttons. You can still minimize and maximize application windows, but what used to be an automatic action now wastes time. Finally, GNOME makes it very hard indeed to tweak your desktop. There's no easy way to even set up a screen saver!" Nevertheless the author also lists several positives in Fedora 15, including dynamic firewall, virtual desktop support and RPM 4.9.
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One popular distro that has been able to resist all the revolutionary desktop design changes that "plague" many major distributions is Linux Mint. The project's brand-new version 11, released last week, still uses the familiar GNOME 2 interface, albeit with a few "minty" improvements. But since Linux Mint is not an independent distribution, how long will it be able to avoid the upstream pressures? Susan Linton asks the same question in "Linux Mint 11 - Vital Service or Prolonging Agony?" "Mint has always been a wonderful distribution. In fact, it's been one of my favorites. But can its continued use of GNOME 2 be described as slowly ripping off the band-aid? GNOME 2 has been deprecated. There will be no more upstream work from the GNOME project on it. Just like with KDE 3, folks will talk of a fork or a continuation project, but just like with Trinity, progress will likely be slow and a difficult row to hoe as well as the stigma of not being embraced by distributions. Is Mint really doing its users a disservice by delaying the transition to GNOME 3 (or Unity)? Or is it serving a vital purpose by providing a familiar interface until a few GNOME 3 updates squash some of the bugs and usability issues?"
Linux Mint 11 - an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the standard GNOME 2 desktop
(full image size: 415kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
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This week will mark the inaugural release of Mageia, a project created last year by former developers and contributors to Mandriva Linux. For its first release Mageia focused more on creating and maintaining a development infrastructure than on adding dramatic new features and, in many ways, Mageia 1 feels like Mandriva Linux 2011 with updated software. But this is not necessarily a bad thing, given many distributions' desire to "differ" these days. So, come 1 June, Mandriva users might want to take Mageia 1 for a spin. Anne Nicolas in "Last few days before Mageia 1": "As you may have seen on packaging activity board, package updates rate has slowed down these last few days. Our Mageia 1 official release is in progress and here is the latest news from the Mageia teams working to make this release a success. As always, the very last pre-release days are the toughest! Package submission is now closed and any bug fixes, unless they are release blockers, are now postponed until after the release, and will be pushed through updates, provided by our security team. Packagers will still be able to add new packages in Mageia 1 after the release, using the backports repositories."
Mageia 1 - the project's first stable release is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday
(full image size: 1,175kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
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The 100th issue of Linux User has brought us, among many other great articles, an interview with Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth. One of the topics covered is a profound shift in the way people think about personal computing: "We are witnessing a profound shift in the way people think about personal computing. No longer is it all about work -- computing is everywhere, all the time. It happens on your phone, on a tablet, on TVs and of course on your personal computer. And for the first time, it doesn't mainly need to happen on Windows. The Internet has meant that connected computing can happen on any device at any time, and that means Ubuntu can make a real difference in the day-to-day computing of a much larger audience. Touch and games are our inspiration. When we set about designing Unity, we drew inspiration from the world of consumer electronics. We wanted to produce something that felt more lightweight and easy to use than a traditional PC interface. We also wanted to take advantage of the incredible graphics technology that is found in every modern PC."
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In its heydays Gentoo Linux used to be a much more visible distribution than it is today, when it seems to have become a playground of hardcore geeks. Perhaps one of the reasons for this phenomenon is the fact that Gentoo Linux no longer produces that excellent weekly newsletter, full of great tips and translated into a dozen of languages. But as Patrick Lauer explains on his personal blog, people tend to underestimate just how much time and effort it takes to produce a quality publication on a weekly basis: "What people regularly underestimate is the amount of time that goes into a newsletter -- just little things like doing mailing list summaries easily takes an hour for every newsletter. Then there are items like interviews that are open-ended. Of course you can finish one up in 30 minutes, but that will be a bit bland and boring. So you find new questions, ask for clarifications on answers and soon you're looking at a few hours of time to process it nicely. Then you get semi-automated tasks like bug statistics and GLSAs, and once you have all those fragments you need to glue them together sanely, check that the formatting makes sense and send it to the gentoo-core mailing list. People will find dozens of issues you've overlooked, so you correct them all, send it again and wait for the next round of corrections." The article also offers hope that the famous Gentoo Weekly Newsletter might be re-launched in a not too distant future.
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Finally, a link to an interesting article about Tiny Core Linux, the world's smallest graphical Linux distribution. As Michael Reed notes in Linux Journal, the latest version of this mini-distribution that fits into an 11 MB ISO image, now offers a graphical system installer: "What does the long-wished-for installer actually look like? First of all, although it's a GUI application, it's not the Ubuntu installer, and it doesn't try to be. Along the way, the user has to answer some questions and specify boot options. If you've not used Tiny Core before, you will have to hit the documentation to familiarize yourself with some of the concepts. For example, Tiny Core has a number of different boot modes. These control what aspects of the operating system are persistent and specify the balance of how much of the OS runs directly in RAM. One snag, for newcomers, is that the documentation on the website isn't yet fully in sync with the new installer. However, new users should be able to glean what they need from the older documentation."
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
LibreOffice versus OpenOffice.org
Working-at-the-office says: I would really appreciate a piece that explores LibreOffice vs. OpenOffice.org and the future of OpenOffice.org.
DistroWatch answers: As regular readers probably already know, OpenOffice.org is an office and productivity suite. OpenOffice.org came about when Sun acquired StarOffice and decided to offer a free and open source version. The OpenOffice.org suite was generally well received in open source circles, largely because of its range of features, its completeness as an office suite and its interface, which was (at the time) familiar to people using MS-Office. OpenOffice.org wasn't perfect; it was large, relatively slow and there were complaints about how difficult it was to get patches applied upstream.
The patching issue caused some people to fork (or semi-fork) OpenOffice.org into a similar product with community patches. This branch was called Go-oo and was widely adopted by the big-name Linux distributions. Projects such as Debian (and by extension Ubuntu, Mint, etc), Gentoo, openSUSE and others started shipping Go-oo, or at least incorporating Go-oo patches into their builds.
After Oracle purchased Sun (and the rights to OpenOffice.org), some developers and contributors to OpenOffice.org decided to move away from the Oracle-controlled project and started LibreOffice under the banner of The Document Foundation. The LibreOffice suite is largely based on the work done by Go-oo and the LibreOffice project has gained a good deal of support from the various distributions. The Go-oo project has since been discontinued in favour of LibreOffice. Distros which were using Go-oo (or Go-oo patches) before have moved (or are in the process of moving) to LibreOffice.
With some of their developers gone and the Linux community focusing on LibreOffice, Oracle has announced they will no longer be involved in the commercial aspect of OpenOffice.org and will turn the project over to the open source community.
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