The Linux-Blog Badge

<booming voice> Calling all of you who have read our experiment! Yet Another Linux Blog needs your assistance. </booming voice>

We’re gearing up for the final stretch where we crown the “YALB Recommended Best Linux Desktop for New Users”. The last comparison between SimplyMEPIS and PCLinuxOS will take place when Mrs.Devnet and I get to our new apartment on 16 May (or a few days after that…we gotta unpack 🙂 ).

However, we can’t do this if we don’t have a snazzy icon or badge to give to the winning distro. I posted a few badges in another topic here but they kind of went unnoticed. So, there was a poll in the forums (forums were removed in 2006) for everyone to check out and vote on.  Please help us out and cast your vote!

Experiment: The Distro Roundup

What do you get when you take 1 new Linux user with zero Linux experience, add 5 distros and stir? You get the Linux Blog experiment, that’s what. What makes these reviews different from all other reviews is that they are done by an avid Windows user. That means they’re not sugar coated…they’re not ‘made nice’ to make things appear to be good when they’re not…and when the distro’s succeed, they are really applauded. Why? Because my wife (aka mrs.devnet), the main focus of the experiment, loves to NOT spend money for anything and everything. If I can convince her that Linux is ready for the primetime and deserves a permenant place on our desktop, she’d be as happy as I would be.

As some of you know…the last review by Mrs.Devent went up on the blog early this week. Most of you saw how it was received…I know she didn’t dig the current distrowatch #1, Ubuntu, very much. The reason the review wasn’t well received is because people do not have a grasp of the entire scope of the experiment. So to remedy this, I’ve round up all the reviews into this single post. That way, everyone will be on the same page with what we focused on (criteria of the experiment), what hardware we used (hardware post), and which distros we took for a drive. The results were interesting and odd…because some of the distros you’d have thought would have scored well, didn’t score well at all.

However, the reason for the experiment wasn’t to find problems with distributions…it’s to provide solutions in the form of feedback and to find the best distro for a convert from Windows. So we set out to review each distro in our list and test how it ran for a new user with no alterations to the distro…that is, right out of the box.

While every single user of Windows has different requirements…I felt that Mrs.Devnet was somewhat average in her tastes. She does p2p and multimedia stuffs and she checks mail then surfs the internet. Pretty average. So, the beginning of the experiment was set to some standards. I’m going to post a link to that here so that we’re all on the same page:

 

First up was Mandrake 10.1 Community. Mrs.Devnet found Mandrake to be a 6 out of 10 for her first review. In her upcoming post we’ll talk about where Mandrake went wrong for her and where it can improve. However, during this review, Mrs.Devnet found the distro infuriating: “In conclusion, Mandrake has made a dummy out of me and I don’t like it one bit. An experience like this is enough to wound any new user’s pride. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure this is a really great OS for someone who knows a lot about Linux or computers in general.” Here’s the link to the Mandrake review:

Next, we had SimplyMEPIS 3.3 Test2. SimplyMEPIS is a LiveCD with optional hard disk install. The simplicity of this distro is touted quite a bit with around 10 clicks to a hard disk install. I included test distros in this review because we wanted to go with the most current offering a distro had. That way, people couldn’t get upset because we weren’t using bug patched versions. Some might argue that the distro is test for a reason…but in my software developing past…a test distro really was used for feedback and not for bug finds…that’s what beta versions are for. Anyways, SimplyMEPIS scored 7 out of 10 and rocketed up to first place. In the end, this distro settled for second place and a right to be in the distro drawdown. Of SimplyMEPIS, Mrs.Devnet writes, “I liked SimplyMEPIS for the most part. Even though it is sometimes confusion and sometimes annoying I know this could easily be overcome with a little more time.” Here’s the link to the SimplyMEPIS review:

PCLinuxOS .81 rang in next. Like SimplyMEPIS, this distro provides a very polished Linux desktop in a matter of minutes being a LiveCD with hard disk install. PCLinuxOS scored a whopping 10 out of 10 propelling it up to first place ahead of SimplyMEPIS. Mrs.Devnet had the following to say about PCLinuxOS: “Guess what? Mrs.Devnet thinks PCLinuxOS ROCKS!! It makes everything I need to do simple AND it’s easy on the eyes. It serves my purpose, bottom line. This is exactly what Linux needs to draw average users.” Once again, the link to the review:

Fedora Core 4 Test 1 went onto our test computer next. Fedora Core is often touted as “the new user’s distro” and we set out to see if Fedora could foot this bill. This was also the first Gnome desktop centered distribution that we had examined. However, despite Mrs.Devnet’s pleasure of working with the Gnome desktop, Fedora Core 4 Test 1 scored 4 out of 10. Of Fedora, Mrs.Devnet stated, “It didn’t provide me with the things I needed to even go about my every day usage with my PC…I wouldn’t consider this to be new user friendly at all, by any means.” You can read the complete review at the following link:

Originally, we weren’t going to include Ubuntu into the experiment. However, a few users emailed me and were anxious to have Mrs.Devnet give Ubuntu a try. So, reluctantly, I allowed Ubuntu to be included with the experiment despite it’s rather more advanced install. Mrs.Devnet was able to stumble through the install using all defaults but was put off by the non-visual process (text only). Ubuntu scored 4 out of 10, which seemingly surprised many of those leaving comments on the review. Of Ubuntu, Mrs.Devnet commented, “So I have to ask the question, how can a distro that looks absolutely fantastic be so useless? …how is this attractive to a new user or a Linux convert?” Read how Ubuntu 5.04 “Hoary” tied Fedora for the lowest rating:

So there you have it. The whole She-bang. I made Mrs.Devnet go back to her Windows for some days in between each review to re-adjust to that environment. I wanted her to try and stay as fresh as she could for each review. I also wanted her to maintain her criteria and the main criteria as much as possible for each distro…so I explicitly forbid her to learn anything such as software installs/package installs UNLESS the “how-to” was included ON THE COMPUTER after the distro install. Not a single distro included a ‘getting started’ or ‘how-to’ guide by default. That’s why Mrs.Devnet didn’t get into upgrading/installing anything. So, something to take note of there.

If you’ve read each one of the reviews discussed above in detail and take to heart the criteria we set forth and the aim of this experiment…you’ll note that PCLinuxOS came out on top. Just to be certain, we’re going to take #1 and #2 (PCLOS and SimplyMEPIS) and pit them head to head in a distro duke out. The criteria won’t change…BUT instead of rating on a scale of 1-10…we’re just going to switch up to advantage or disadvantage. So if SimplyMEPIS installs better than PCLinuxOS…then advantage would go to SimplyMEPIS. Things might turn out different because SimplyMEPIS has since released an updated version AND an updated OS Control Center as well…so who knows? In the event of an even rating, Mrs.Devnet will choose the winner and will absolutely justify in writing why it won.

Also during this time, we’ll begin voting in the Forum here on which 2 badges (anyone that can design better than me, please submit some!! I’m not extremely crafty) will be given to the winning community to display proudly. We will also display the badge here on the Linux Blog front page as well. The badge can link back to this synopsis article.

An interview with the creator/main developer of the winning distro will also take place. YALB will contact the winner and attempt a Q & A session with them for posting here. It will be a chance for everyone to discover what drives the developer to produce the best free desktop as approved by YALB through the experiment. Lots of excitement?!?!?! I know its very exciting for both I and Mrs.Devnet to see the culmination of what we set out to do. We really appreciate all of those leaving comments and your continuing support. Since I don’t advertise this blog (other than through blog rolling and sometimes a news site picking us up) remember to spread the word! If you like something you read here whether in the forum or on the blog…please be sure to let everyone know. Everything is creative commons so please remember to give credit where credit is due. Thanks again for reading!

See the Results of this Experiment Here!

New Host, Same Blog

For those of you that didn’t notice…I recently migrated to an actual domain… (linuxblog.sytes.net has now become linux-blog.org) and host now due to a bit of traffic increase to the site. We had about 10 minutes of downtime overall today. All old links should work and update themselves automatically. If you find any problems, please let me know. Also, I do realize that there are some text oddities in older posts on the site and I’m working to eliminate these. Of course, going back through every single post I’ve ever done on this blog (and Mrs.Devnet’s posts) will take some time.

The main driver behind this move was a real life move that is coming up for us. You may not hear from us too much from around the 12th until after the 17th. Then we’ll be physically relocated ourselves. Thanks for reading and keep that petition alive!

The Linux Printer Driver Online Petition


I’ve had it! I’ve been locked in for the last time. No longer will I sit idle and allow choices to be made FOR me. I make the choices around here. When I’m in the market for a printer, I don’t want to have to think about which one to get. I want to be able to just go out, browse, pick one, and bring it home. Everything should just work right out of the box right? Wrong! You have to check the Linuxprinting.org Printer Database just to list out printers that you’re allowed to buy…that is, if you want them to work with Linux. I say this is a crock. I say it is a sham. There are more than one operating system on the market, and it is high time that companies…large companies…start to understand this.

You’ve heard it all before I’m sure. My thoughts on this are no where near unique. However, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about this. Having been involved with a couple of new user friendly distros of Linux lately, I can assure you that printing is one of the main disqualifiers of Linux converts. It is VERY frustrating for a new user to not get that $200 CANON computer they just bought up and running with Linux when there is no driver for it. In a sense, Canon is dictating what operating system that person must run! To me, this isn’t supportive of capitalism…it locks you into a certain OS. When was the last time you were locked into thinking a certain way and acting a certain way and having choices made for you? The only thing that comes to mind is McCarthism of the 1950’s…and I don’t think that’s a hugely positive stain from America’s sordid past.

How can we remedy this? Perhaps we’re barking up the wrong tree writing emails and letters to the companies. Most of the letters I’ve written fall on deaf ears. The thing that these companies forget is that WE are the consumers…therefore, WE dictate the rise and fall of the market. WE push a product or pull it. Sure, they advertise like hell and try to sway us this way or that…but the ultimate choice lies with US…you and I. The ball is in our court.

Therefore, instead of just writing these emails and letters, perhaps a different type of action can be taken. An online petition.

Let’s see what we can do to shake these manufacturers up. Let’s start a petition where we can each vote and generically address ALL manufacturers and let them know that we won’t take it anymore! Let’s collect as many signatures as we can and show them that Linux is no longer a small player in the market. Let’s force these guys into accepting their responsibility to provide us with a product that works REGARDLESS OF WHAT OS WE CHOOSE. Is anyone with me? If so, drop by the online petition I started today and add your name to the listing. Together, we can make a difference (corny I know…but true). Strength is in numbers. Let’s show them how strong we are.

After signing this petition, spread the word to everyone you know. Emails, links to this article, links to the petition, call people on the phone, snail mail, telegram, morse code, and smoke signal to everyone and anyone you can think of to get support for this. Let’s kick these manufacturers in the proverbial crotch. When the petition hits a mark of approximately 5,000 signatures…I’d say it would be a good time to start sending emails and letters to our printer manufacturers and let them know about our little petition. Perhaps you’re thinking that companies won’t repsond to these things…but rest assured, CNN has responded to these petitions before with apologies for their faulty action…so a printer manufacturer isn’t a far stretch. Spread the word! Let’s make this count!

Visit the online petition and cast your vote!

Animosity Unfounded

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes” Marcel Proust

NOTE: This post is in responses of criticisms that have arrived after the posting of an Ubuntu review by a new Linux user in our “Reviews” section.

I figured that I’d have to do something like this. Too many it seems look upon this experiment as “Just another Review” without truly figuring out what it is about. They say things like “just open a shell and do this” or “use synaptic/kpackage and install this” or “use the update client” or “how can you compare this to windows” without any understanding the scope and goals at all. They speak their mind without first understanding what it is that they are speaking on. To me, this is ignorance and looking at things in the same old way instead of with new eyes. However, this isn’t the only problem that is evident.

There are so many out there that empathize so much with a Linux distro that they feel someone is personally attacking them when their distro is trounced in a review…but also because Linux seems to have taken on a social stigma that makes it self defeating. That is, if you are inside of the ‘movement’ and decide to constructively criticize an issue in Linux…you are completely sold out by the movement you were so set on defending or helping. You are sold without a single consideration. Look at RMS…he’s been sold out as a lunatic by half of the world despite being the most clear and unwavering voice on his subject. But this lil rant isn’t about RMS…it’s about what happened when my wife reviewed, and trounced Ubuntu…because it didn’t suit her needs as a new Linux user. Things need to be said…because it is obvious that no one is getting it…and by IT I mean the whole point to the experiment and all of the reviews.

By some of the responses, it is obvious that some haven’t read all of the reviews nor the original intent of this experiment. If you haven’t, before you comment further…go back and read each and every entry under the section “Reviews” because ignorance has no place in this discussion. In order to appreciate what we were trying to accomplish, do you research. Do not speak with authority on that which you do not know.

Secondly, do not bring the GPL, freedom of speech, or anything else GNU/licensing/copyright into this experiment….it never had a place before in any other review (before ubuntu) and please do not have the audacity to bring it into the foray now. It also has no place in this experiment. This is not an experiment that has been done to debate the nuances of Free Software, the OSI, the GPL, or other such nonsense.

I say nonsense because this review is about Desktop environments of Linux. It would be asinine to not discuss how they compare to windows because windows is the de facto standard. Trying to discuss the Linux Desktop without comparing it to windows will not happen no matter how hard we want to pretend it won’t.

We can’t say Linux is better than Windows when it suits us (when we’re bragging or showing off to our friends) and then pull that card when it comes to a review. That is bias and bias has no place in this review. Mrs.D had an overwhelming task ahead of her and she trudged on and stayed fresh as she could. Did she do a good job? I believe she did.

We need to shake the mindset of the old developer who develops linux for his friends and users and start to develop Linux for EVERYONE. New users are a place that Linux has never been strong in…but as we see with this experiment, times are changing.

If one Linux distro includes mp3 support…then all can. No excuses. It doesn’t even matter for licensing. Do you think PCLinuxOS isn’t sold overseas? SimplyMEPIS? Look again. Tout your licenses all you want…but they mean squat to the end user. The end user just wants something that works. They don’t want to get into the whole debate of free vs. proprietary…they want things just to work. We need to make it work for them. We need to stop squabbling because someone trounced your favorite distro and grow up.

Continue reading “Animosity Unfounded”

Experiment 1.5: Ubuntu 5.04 “Hoary” Final Rating

Linuxblog Introduction: We took an average windows user, gave her a handful of distributions of Linux, and forced her to use each distro for one week. We gave her alsaconf, email servers, and mounted her windows partition to the fresh install. Then, we faded away and quietly watched her in her new environment. You too can join us by reading on…

1) Look/Feel – I was impressed with the desktop. I think it has something to do with Gnome because Fedora looked similar, but I like the look of Ubuntu better. It’s professional looking and it makes me feel like I am using something very official. It has that cool and sleek design that I want in a desktop–one of the best looking distros I have seen. (Score – 10)

2) Performance – I have no issues with performance. Everything seemed to work as it should. It’s not slow or anything. We’re cool here. (Score – 10)

3) Hardware/Software – All of my hardware was detected properly. There are not many software choices with this distro, as was the case with Fedora. I’m told this is a Gnome thing. So this is a definite down side of Gnome for me. I like choices. Remember, downloading new programs and such is out for me for the most part, unless I can get someone to help me…which I’m not doing for these reviews as to maintain new user status. (Score – 5)

4) Upgradeability/Security – I’m just guessing that everything is okay. Same situation as before. (Score – 10)

5) Documentation – Their website is very nice and organized. There seems to be the same attention to detail and documentation as with Fedora. But as before, it’s not a whole lot of help to a new person like me, right off the bat that is. I am sure with lots of time a work I can figure somethings out but this is not what I am here for. I want easy answers, just like every other average person. (Score – 9)

6) Installation – Installation went okay, it was text only and involved a lot of blind guessing, but I made it through. But after the install was done, I was instructed to take out the cd and it would automatically restart. Well I was then bombarded with text flying everywhere and I didn’t know what the heck was going on. Then after about five minutes I was sure I had done something wrong so I consulted the guru and I was informed that this was part of the install. Whah, hey? It would have been nice to have some sort of warning as to what was about to happen. I thought the install was over but no, evidently I was now watching the software being installed FOR TWENTY FIVE MINUTES!!! THEN a boot screen appeared. That whole ordeal was super annoying. If I had not had someone to consult, I would have probably pulled the plug after ten minutes. I need graphics, I need explanations!! This has been the worst install yet because I was totally convinced that something had gone horribly wrong and I was ready to write it off right then and there–but I didn’t. (Score – 2)

And now…once again…it is time for my criteria…

Continue reading “Experiment 1.5: Ubuntu 5.04 “Hoary” Final Rating”

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