I pieced together a Gateway M250 laptop a year or so ago (3 bad ones parted out into 1 good one) and loaded it up with max RAM (2GB).  It’s now a handy little 14 inch laptop with a 1.73Ghz single core Centrino processor.  Not bad…but when playing videos or streaming them, it can really struggle.  So keeping the operating system lightweight on it is a definite must.

Enter, CrunchBang.  It’s small and fast.  It’s elegant and slick.  Just look at this screenshot:

Simple and sleek, CrunchBang gives feelings of order and uniformity while breaking the speed limit signs.  I’d like to take some time to show you why I feel CrunchBang Linux should be the next distribution of Linux you put on your laptop.  Let’s get started…

In the screenshot above we find the login screen that greets you after installing CrunchBang.  It’s very basic and sleek…it gives the impression that CrunchBang has things together.  It’s impressive but you won’t get to the most impressive portion of CrunchBang Linux until you login for the first time after installing.  I’m going to assume that you already have CrunchBang installed and are booting it for the first time in this review since the install is very easy to do.  After the installation, you’ll be greeted by a command line first run wizard (see below):

This wizard will take you through a plethora of tasks…including, but not limited to, getting you connected to the internet, installing development tools, installing web server tools, installing software development tools, and of course…updating your install.  You’ll be able to select each that you want to perform or skip each depending on your need/desire.  THIS is how a first run wizard should be.

This wizard is just a simple script but it does more in the first few minutes for new users than any first run wizard I’ve ever seen.  In my opinion, this tool puts CrunchBang head and shoulders above just about any other distribution of Linux out there.  This lightweight approach to things permeates the entire install.

Now that you’ve made it through the first run wizard, we can explore the various applications installed by default.  For a list, please see the CrunchBang wiki entry.  I’ve found that there is a lightweight replacement for everything I’m accustomed to.  You access these applications by right clicking ON the desktop…which is the standard way to do this using the Openbox window manager.

As you can see, there is a well organized menu structure for the applications that are installed and the appearance provides a uniform appearance just like all other areas of the distro do.  The theme is modern and elegant and continues throughout the menu structure.

Are you a Firefox, Opera or Chromium fan?  Doesn’t matter.  Install scripts are provided inside the menu to get you the right browser right away.  Just a small detail that shows the creator of the distro isn’t thinking about only themselves but rather, the standard user.

I recommend CrunchBang Linux for ANYONE out there…regardless of skill level…who wants a lightweight, complete, and polished distribution of Linux with very few hassles.

CrunchBang Linux Review originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on March 14, 2012.

1. I switched from Serendipity Blogging Engine to WordPress
2. YALB gained a sponsor for hosting

Now, I’ve been running the new blogging engine and software for over a month now so that I could form an opinion on both of these items.  I’m happy to say that WordPress fits the bill quite nicely (more on that in later posts)…but that my host is the BEST part of the changes that have happened.

Evolution Studios offered me some server space on their servers…Linux of course…and not a moment too soon.  My old account was beginning to crawl with latent page loads and the service had grown latent as well.  Evolution Studios stepped in and made me a great offer and asked that I evaluate things and post my honest opinion (whether good or bad) of how the transition went and how well the service is.

Just some background on Evolution Studios:  They power all of the media behind ping.fm and chris.pirillo.com (yes, THAT Chris Pirillo).  Those two sites alone generate a huge amount of traffic and have elected to go with evolutionstudios.org to be their media workhorse.

I can honestly say that both the transition and service went beyond my expectations.  Not only did I have one of their engineers helping me every step of the way, I was able to approach that engineer with all of my questions being answered in REAL TIME…which was fantastic.

So why all the hoopla?  Why would I go out of my way to give these guys a “thumbs up”?  One word…or URL rather.  Ping.fm is one of their clients.  I use ping.fm on a daily basis…it allows me to make one post to ALL my social networks via Instant Message or igoogle page widget.  It’s fast and easy.  And all of their media is powered by Evolution Studios.  So, despite having HUGE customers like Chris Pirillo and ping.fm which both have millions of users on a daily basis…they still found the time to hold my hand through the migration and bent over backwards to make my hosting experience BEYOND EXCELLENT.  I think these guys will continue to grow and will continue to bring on like minded individuals who are courteous and professional…and I think their clients will benefit.

I asked Evolution Studios if they were having any specials this week so that I could tell everyone that reads my blog about them and they wanted to offer readers here a deal.  The first 100 users referred through Yet Another Linux Blog will receive a $20 coupon to go toward any hosting plans purchased.  If this sounds like a good deal or you just want to check the host out, visit Evolution Studios today.  The coupon code is “devnet“.  Remember, that’s the first 100 openings so space is limited!  Let Evolution Studios show you what EXCELLENT products and services are all about

Hosting like it should be...

YALB – Now Brought to you by Evolution Studios originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on October 7, 2008.

Despite the luxury this bought me…I found myself missing out on many big stories. Let’s face it, not everyone knows how to title and tag their blog entries (current company INCLUDED) to correctly reflect what the subject matter is. Since RSS readers only get a small synopsis of the head of an article, it’s difficult to find out if you want to read the article or not. I found myself missing some key phrases that I normally wouldn’t miss (like FOSS, FLOSS, and OSS) mainly because I wouldn’t see those in the third sentence of the synopsis when I was quickly scanning my feedlists. So, I searched for something that was better than those I had used: Pluck, Sage, Owl, Sharpreader, Wiz. I found it. And to my delight, it’s a cross-platform, GPL Licensed, Feed-synchronizing one that delivers unparalleled functionality and options. There’s nothing like it on the planet. If your interest is peaked, you’re in for a real treat if you keep reading.

One word. Two Syllables. Blogbridge.

It’s one of the best feed readers I have ever used. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to cover near as much ground in a small amount of time. It allows me to scan through hundreds of blogs daily and filter out the stuff that doesn’t interest me. There seems to be a lot of this today as people start out well but then turn their blog into a news aggregator or change focus and broaden what they blog about. This review is going to be populated heavily with screenshots of this amazing tool. I’ll go through some of the functionality of Blogbridge but overall, there are too many features to cover in a single article.

GPL

Guides

Service Account

Tagit!

Some of the things that set Blogbridge apart I’ve pictured above. First off, it’s GPL which makes it outstanding in my book. Second, a stock install has no RSS feeds setup. I find it very annoying when you install a feed reader and find it already has a section of ‘popular’ feeds for you…that’s like me buying a car and them putting in Brittany Spears in the CD Player…I don’t want it to happen EVER.

Next up, Guides. You can choose to have feeds by default by using the “Guides” option pictured above. These “Guides” plugin to their Service Account (also pictured above). Your feeds that you subscribe to can be synchronized to Blogbridge servers so that no matter what computer you install it on you’ll have your feeds waiting for you. I find this very convenient due to going back and forth to work…I’m able to read no matter what my location. Things work much in the way Foxmarks would save your Firefox bookmarks. It’s very handy.

Lastly, tagging is a must for me. Inputting common words separated by comma in the installation screen pictured above such as Linux, FOSS, FLOSS, etc. allows me to quickly filter through my articles and weed out those that don’t contain these tags. This makes reading the most important articles (to me) a snap. You don’t have to put tags in there but they’re awfully handy as you’ll see later.

These things aren’t the only fabulous things one finds in Blogbridge…they’re just a few of the things you’ll see when you first install it. There are countless other functions, bells, whistles, and features that I’m not even going to go into. I haven’t even found all the different things you can do with Blogbridge…but I will attempt to do it justice and showcase the things I DO know.

First things first…you’ll need to get some feeds. Say you have an OPML list you’d like to import. This can be done simply by going to the menu Guides >> Import. Just like you would have individual feeds divided by folders in other RSS readers, Blogbridge divides the categories up into “Guides”. You can also use the BlogBridge feature of automatically signing up to previous chosen Topic Guides. These topic guides are put together by many experts in each individual field of interest so it might be a good idea to start with those previously selected and then pick and choose from them. Pictured below are some screenshots of the “Guides” in action.

Changing Icons

Guides Online

Setup Guides

As you can see…you have many different options when customizing your guides. You can go online and browse different Guides that topic experts have…you can import these guides with all of their feeds when going through initial setup when you are installing. It’s up to you how you control your feeds and how you classify them using your guides.

Let’s say that you just want to browse and setup feeds manually…so setup one Guide as perhaps “Daily Reading” by right clicking in the space on the far left of the screen for guides and choosing “add guide”. You can also get back to adding expert guides here if you didn’t set them up during installation…simply select “subscribe to reading list” instead of “add guide” when you right clicked in that space and hit the “suggest” button. Now that you have a guide added, let’s put some feeds in there.

I love keyboard shortcuts…and adding a new feed can be done with control-n or by right clicking in the Feeds column. If you visit a feed you like, you can copy the URL and Blogbridge should detect it on the klipboard so that when you go to add a feed the url is already present.

Adding Feeds is simple with Blogbridge

Another great set of features that Blogbridge has is the granular control over feeds aka articles. You can quickly cleanup old feeds, search through existing ones, and/or tag articles to find them easily later. You can also share out those tags with the rest of the BlogBridge community or you can import tags from that same community.

One of the great features Blogbridge has that simplifies my reading is filtering. With this feature, we put to use the keywords you inputted during the installation process. When filtering by tags/keywords you’ll quickly be able to identify the feeds and posts in the feeds that mean the most to you. For example, some of my keywords are ‘Linux, Free Software, Open Source, FOSS, FLOSS, and OSS’. I can quickly find the articles that contain these keywords by enabling filters:

Applying filters

Filter by Stars

after applying filter

You can also filter further by using the stars rating system. The stars rating system allows you to rate the blogs that you read on a scale from 1-5 stars. This plugs directly into the community as well and shows you the average rating (shown by the # of greyed out stars before you rate it). Rate the blogs you like higher and then filter by stars. This is a way for you to quickly read the blogs that you rate the highest and to leave out the others that you didn’t rate that high. Very handy

So you have control over all of these feeds with filters…what about the articles contained in these feeds? You have excellent handling of these as well by Blogbridge. Let’s go over some hypothetical examples that showcases this. Let’s say that you have 2-3 hundred feeds…many of which may be outdated or are updated less frequently than normal…will you go through each of these to find the relevance to you or look at the update frequency of these (show as a graph in the feeds column in BB) and spend hours finding those you need to trim? Most likely not…it’s a daunting task. But daunting no logner. Blogbridge includes a cleanup wizard just for this situation.

Messy Feeds? Too much mess to clean? Blogbridge makes cleaning a snap with the Cleanup Wizard!

After you’ve cleaned, perhaps you read an article that you’d like to come back to later in the day…in this instance, you can pin the article and keep it ‘stickied’ to the top of all feeds.

Pinning article	Unpinning
Tagging	Marked Read

When you’re finished following up on it, you can unpin it. You can also tag individual articles in your feeds and share those tags with the Blogbridge community.

You can set Blogbridge to automatically mark an article read after a set period of time you have it selected, or you can right click the article and mark it read. You can also search through all of your feeds to find EXACTLY what you’re looking for.

You can quickly find your way through vast amounts of information by using Blogbridge to handle your feeds. Whether you want to use it in simple mode (where you just subscribe and read feeds without using the whiz bang features) or use it to the fullest…there are so many options that any voracious reader would be completely satisfied with its abilities.

The preferences and settings menu’s are robust and contain so many different features that I wouldn’t be able to go over them all here. Screenshots of the settings and preferences menu are posted below:

Advanced

I’ve found Blogbridge to be the complete package I need to navigate quickly through the hundreds of feeds I subscribe to. I can quickly and easily sort through this mount of information using the handy filtering system that utilizes my keywords/tags. I can also keep my Blogbridge updated with my latest feeds and then synchronize these from anywhere in the world via the Blogbridge service. Using the stars rating system, I can keep track of Blogs and sites that I find interesting and worthy and I can use this to filter in or out articles and sites that I want to read first or don’t want to read at all.

I highly recommend that you give Blogbridge a try. If you use PCLinuxOS, you can install Blogbridge immediately by using synaptic or apt-get. For all others, check your distros repositories or visit Blogbridge’s download page. Hope Blogbrigde works for you as well as it does for me!

Blogbridge, Simply the Best RSS originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on February 26, 2007.

So…today I’ll be looking at Fedora Core 4. We’ll begin by assuming I’m a new user and new to Fedora in General.

The Quick Look

First things first. Fedora offers hands down the easiest install of any distro out there. Anaconda is like a betty crocker oven…even a kid could bake with it. For some people, this doesn’t cut it because they may or may not need to feel ‘old skewl’ or ‘l33t’ by keeping things text based or even similar to an Ubuntu/Debian installer feel. For new users though, the Fedora Anaconda install is stellar. Fedora really shines in this area.

Package selection during the install is all graphical, clear and concise. Adding visuals to any presentation or process will make it more efficient and easier to understand. After the install, you are greeted to a KDE or Gnome session depending on what you choose. I chose KDE since I’m more fond of it than Gnome.

During the experiment, Mrs.Devnet experienced problems with an extremely slow booting Fedora on our test computer. I chalk this up to it being a test release. There were no problems with it during this time. In fact, Fedora has increased its boot speed considerably with FC4. It’s one of the fastest booting distros I’ve dealt with. What makes it even better is that it is fully graphical. Though most people want a text boot, I like the fact that you’re given an option.

The Quick Look Continued…

So, let’s pretend I’m a new user and just finished installing Fedora Core 4. What’s the first thing I need to do? Browse the internet of course. So, opening up the web browser is the first thing I’ll do. Of course I’ll stop by Yet Another Linux Blog which is one of everyone’s first stops right? Perhaps I’d navigate over to hotmail and check the old email. After that’s through, maybe I’ll navigate over to amazon and check out a few books/CD’s. Wait a second. There’s something wrong on the web page. Something isn’t displaying right. It wants me to click here. Easy. Installation of flash is a snap. So Firefox and Macromedia save the day in this case. But there are other plugins that aren’t so easy to install.

Java Java Java. Why has Sun not learned? They try to show open source software just how open source they are and they can’t even get a Java installer right for Linux? I honestly think that all Linux devs should get together and re-evaluate using Sun Java plugins for web browsing at all. We need an alternative. Afterall, it’s a crock right now. By not having a precompiled Java install in your distribution, you are alienating practically any new user that isn’t tech savvy. No getting around it. This is why distros such as SimplyMEPIS and PCLinuxOS are popular…because they cater to the new user and the end user. Fedora Core 4 can tout license all they want in this case until they turn blue in the face…but the bottom line is that Java is difficult to install for a new user and 9 times out of 10 they’ll give up before they get it.

Perhaps Fedora might provide an installer for it…perhaps a nice script to create an rpm for it…something that can help. At least something better than the crap-tastic stuff that Sun provides on their website for Linux…with instructions valid for 4 releases ago. As stated previously, most users would bail…especially after seeing that screenshot above which shows that I have java installed (after following a how-to guide on how to do things and yet java still doesn’t work). I had to re-download and install from scratch and then track down why the symbolic link before I could get it to work. After a few hours of repeated headbutting of the wall, I finally got things working. How many new users are going to put that much work into their distro? That’s right…about NONE. Of course, it took me that long because its been forever since I compiled java myself having used precompiled distros for over a year.

[soapbox]Why do I tout the new user? Because the new user is the key for Linux. If Linux is to even begin to put a dent in the desktop market it needs to accomplish two things…first, to become a viable business alternative to M$ (which has begun) and secondly, to win over new users. By accomplishing the first, it will get support from businesses in the form of driver support and larger usage. By accomplishing the second, Linux can grow and become even more great than it already is. The new user is key.[/soapbox]

So, back to the assessment. Next, I decided to listen to some streaming music from a website. I listen to online radio stations because I feel that pop music should be popped into the toilet and flushed…no offense to those of you who like it. It’s just not for me. Online radio gives me a choice to listen to whatever I want. I’m sure there are others who share this idea and also listen to online radio stations. So, I decided to see what Fedora Core 4 could do for me.

Wouldn’t you know it…they lost me again. No streaming music…and what is worse, there is no information provided on how to resolve the problem. So finally after cycling through about 5 different music players and attempting to play music streams with each, I find that I need codecs…and then I’m back to square one as a new user. Being Linux savvy means I know right where to go for these codecs…but would a new user? Not a chance unless they had their hand held. So, yet again something that could be taken care of with more attention to detail (perhaps a quick script with disclaimer…Kanotix anyone?). And people actually recommend this distro for new users? Come on!

Ok…so perhaps I’m giving Fedora some extra criticism because of third party applications installed on it. But honestly, I thought most of these programs would work better on it like they do on other distros that I use. Will a new user be as understanding as I am? Most likely not. Hence, the reasons I pull no punches. I’m sure most die hard FC4 users think I’m nuts…but if you’re a new user or a recent convert with minimal experience, you’re probably silently cheering.

What’s next? Well, we’ve surfed the internet. We’ve checked the webmail. We could use Kmail or Evolution or Thunderbird to get mail but I’m not overly concerned with these applications as they are all pretty good and not really needing a testing. Nay, we’ll do what just about every other user might decide to do. Plug in a thumb drive with some mp3′s to play. In this case, I’m using my Cruzer Micro 512MB Thumbdrive…you might have some sort of mp3 player. Since these devices are relatively similar, this should give good indication on how FC4 handles pluggin devices. Not bad! It detected my Cruzer Micro straight away and placed a desktop shortcut! Let’s see if this is a fluke or if Fedora Can actually detect this thumbdrive each time…and Fedora scores in this area. The only problem is that it creates an icon for each time you plugin the device but this is just a small nucense. In no time, I’m browsing files and looking for a tune to play. Very nice indeed. This is one of the first distros that actually detects and installs my thumbdrive.

What happened next is something that happened during our previous look as well. Fedora Core does not come with mp3 support. As stated in our previous review, this is always chalked up to license. This is a major kink in Linux being able to appeal to new users. In this case, Fedora, as expected, takes a nose dive. Many users have run across this mp3 issue and Red Hat/Fedora pulls up the patent issue. To me, this is a huge cop out. How so many other distros can have mp3 support out of the box is a mystery. Many of you are probably thinking, “well, Fedora and Red Hat are larger targets because they’re a bigger business.” Agreed. Perhaps they should approach RCA who holds the patent and find out what they can do to reach an agreement? Perhaps they should include an mp3-to-ogg vorbis converter with a nice little how-to included with a link to it on the desktop? There are many avenues that they could take…but instead, they’ve left it well enough alone through 4 releases. It is my personal opinion that this area is also holding Linux back as well. Linux cannot appeal to the masses if it can’t play DVD’s and mp3′s.

Of Lacking and Improvements

So we found quite a few areas where new users would trip up and most likely give up on right away. Being that Mrs.Devnet, a new Linux user, took a look at Fedora Core 4 Test 1 a while back…I decided to take a look back to see what her major gripe about Fedora Core 4 was. She stated that overall it was a lack of knowing what to do with Fedora. There were minimal programs installed on her Gnome desktop and she didn’t know how to download the ones she wanted nor had any means to find the program she might. There was no documentation readily available on how to get to the things she needed.

In cases like this, distros such as Xandros with Xandros Network and Linspire with CNR might be a better alternative for new users since they offer graphical explanations of what each program is. But the silly thing about all this is that they charge for this software. What I’m amazed at is that someone hasn’t done this for Red Hat or Debian already and made a distro have something like CNR and Xandros Network only an open source derrivative where one isn’t charged for freely downloadable software. Fedora strikes me as the prime candidate to come up with something like this to revolutionize the desktop. They’ve got excellent support via Red Hat and fantastic community members. They’ve als go tons of documentation if you know where to look. This is one area I think ALL distros can improve in…

I thought about the lack of direction Mrs.Devnet had right away out of the box on this distro. One way to improve this would be to place a document on FC4′s desktop that points users in the right direction for getting started. Perhaps another improvment might be to include a link on the desktop to a tutorial for getting started. If it were my Linux distro…I’d include a link to a Wink Flash tutorial geared toward new users. This would physically show new users how to get started using their brand new Linux desktop. Visually seeing a desktop in action would benefit a new user greatly.

Conclusion

It’s obvious from my quick look above that I’m quite unimpressed with Fedora…mainly because of its inability to provide easy solutions to java and mp3 issues. There are ways to circumvent patent infringement with disclaimers or with third party scripts. Hopefully, Fedora will cater to the user instead of requiring them to become well versed in compiling code within the first 10 minutes of using…because I know the average user isn’t going to want to drop to CLI anytime.

I’m very happy that Fedora Core 4 offers a great distro for those of us that have some Linux knowledge and that boot speeds are quite impressive. However, for new users, I will continue to recommend against it. Overall, after getting a fully configured FC4 box…I was riding high on the hog. I’ve had it on my test computer now for about 2 weeks and it has been stable and fast. Hopefully, some of the recommendations for this great distro won’t fall on deaf ears. That way, new users can enjoy what I’m enjoying right now with minimal effort. That’s the key…simplifying our lives with computers and Linux…not complicating them. Thanks for reading!

Experiment Revisited: Fedora Core 4 originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on July 23, 2005.

VS.

Look and Feel – This is one of the biggest determining factors for me. PC Linux OS looked and felt more comfortable and felt that way more so than any other distro we tried. The way it looked set me at ease right away and was easier to navigate because of this. MEPIS could really use some work on the user friendly icons and graphics. Making the distro ‘feel’ as easy as it is to use would make it a world better. Advantage – PCLinuxOS.

Performance – Both of these performed well. However, PCLinuxOS booted up in 5 seconds. Nothing in the entire experiment could top that. Fast, stable, and fun to use…despite being a beta version. Advantage – PCLinuxOS.

Hardware/Software – PCLinuxOS has a great selection of preinstalled applications that I can use for what I do with a computer. I didn’t have to go looking for anything at all. MEPIS includes a lot of stuff as well, but no nearly as much as PCLinuxOS. It also doesn’t have any filesharing applications. I’m told that installing stuff is a snap once you master a package program…however, that isn’t what we set out to do in the experiment so I have to go with default installs. Advantage – PCLinuxOS.

Upgradeability/Security – I am not qualified to compare anything on this criteria so I’ll make it a draw. Advantage – Both Distros.

Documentation – During the experiment I didn’t notice much difference between the two distributions. However, if you go to the home site for PCLinuxOS and the home site for SimplyMEPIS, you see a world of difference. It seems that PCLinuxOS has a much more active website. It was also great that PCLinuxOS gives you a chat icon to go right to a chat room to help you out (editors note: mrs.devnet is speaking about an IRC #pclinuxos icon on the default PCLinuxOS desktop that people can use for help). Advantage – PCLinuxOS.

Installation – While PCLinuxOS install is by no means difficult, SimplyMEPIS was easier and FASTER than anything else.. Nothing can touch SimplyMEPIS in this category. Advantage – SimplyMEPIS.

Now we talk about my Criteria…

Mail – Both use Kontact. There isn’t much difference. This is a moot point to try and consider a favorite. Kontact is a great mail program. Advantage – Both.

Internet – I had difficulty getting windows media player applications working in SimplyMEPIS the first time around. That still hasn’t changed this time around. PCLinuxOS is once again flawless at playing any type of media I can throw it at on the internet. Hands down, PCLinuxOS is a distro I can use to surf at any of the sites I go to. Advantage – PCLinuxOS.

Listening to Music – PCLinuxOs has a better selection of music players for this task. There is also a decidedly better sound out of PCLinuxOS than there is out of SimplyMEPIS. I can’t put my finger on it (editors note: a good chance that this is because of different sound daemons used by the distros). Advantage – PCLinuxOS.

Download Files/Music – I am unable to download files in SimplyMEPIS since it has no P2P programs installed. PCLinuxOS has limewire installed by default. This is exactly what I need to do my daily stuffs. (editors note: mrs.devnet is well aware that you can install using a package manager…but this review is for default installs only) Advantage – PCLinuxOS.

Burning CD’s – Both of the distros are great on this one. Both come equipped with K3B and both detected my burner. Both burned CD’s and none of them failed. Therefore, I’d rate these about the same. Advantage – Both.

So, PCLinuxOS takes the cake. It is just easier to use, easier on the eyes, and it caters to new users. It has everything you need right away without having to lift a finger. It feels more familiar to me coming from windows. If you know any new users out there that are looking to get into Linux, I would recommend them this distro. With this newly found Linux distro, I have asked Mr.Devnet to install it as our primary operating system. PCLinuxOS is the Experiment Winner. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should do so immediately. Thanks for reading. I have one last entry to do before I sign off of my husband’s blog for good. He wants me to give some constructive criticism to the distributions that didn’t win so that they can get better. So, I’ll look at doing that some time in the next few weeks.

Mrs.Devnet

Certifies PCLinuxOS

as the Best New User Distro.

Experiment: Final Head to Head originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on May 23, 2005.

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:

• The Criteria of the Experiment
• The Hardware of our Test Machine

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:

• Mandrake 10.1 Community Final Rating of 6 out of 10.

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:

• SimplyMEPIS 3.3 Test2 Final Rating of 7 out of 10.
  

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:

• PCLinuxOS .81a Final Rating of 10 out of 10

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:

• Fedora Core 4 Test 1 Final Rating of 4 out of 10

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:

• Ubuntu 5.04 “Hoary” Final Rating of 4 out of 10

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!

Experiment: The Distro Roundup originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on May 9, 2005.

1) Look/Feel

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…

My Criteria:

1) Mail – Easy install. Evolution is a nice program. Images are kinda slow to load but everything else was okay. Which by the way, it was Evolution in Fedora that gave me such a hard time. This leads me to believe that the problem is not with Evolution but with Fedora. –So the zero I gave Fedora in the email department is really justified. I wonder why it was so much better with Ubuntu? Anyways . . . (Score – 9)
2) Internet – My website doesn’t render, AGAIN. Plugins are not automatically installed. Flash was a snap with Firefox…but java is pretty much an instant replay of what I’ve been through with all but two distros. This aspect is really starting to bother me. If they can make it so easy in some distros, why can’t they do it with others? If people think that making it easy makes it too much like Windows, that’s just stupid. It’s like shooting yourself in the foot and I thought the idea was progress people, huh? But no one has to listen to me, it’s not like my opinion really matters anyway because I have no REAL knowledge or REAL desire to learn according to some people. The thing that bothers me most in this experiment is people telling me to just “learn” how to do things. Well I would, if I were not busy playing the part of a new user with each and every distro. I don’t think some people realize how much effort I put in to being an actual new user every time. I actually have to refrain from doing things that are too advanced and have to remind myself how I was using Mandrake (the first one I tried). I have to constantly keep that frame of mind without dumbing myself down too much. It’s not that easy. How many casual PC users know to go to forums and ask questions about how to install or use a new program. How many Windows users do you know that go to forums to find out how to install Java or Shockwave? Big fat zero, why? Because it’s already done for you. That being said, who is going to choose the hard way when the up side may be saving some cash but the down side is spending six months learning how to get your computer to the point that in Windows would take a few hours? Most people either figure it out on their own or not at all. That’s the bottom line, sorry to step on your toes folks but this is how it really works with us dummy’s. –Whew, I needed to get that off my chest! (Score – 2)
3) Listening To Music – I have no time for players that don’t play mp3s. I could not find a single player that would play my mp3s. I have over 5,000 mp3s and I am not about to change my format now. Nor do I have the knowhow to “just install this, it’s easy as pie”. –Yes, I am getting bitter, let’s just say it’s a good thing we are at the close of this experiment. (Score – 1)

4) Download Music/Files - Again, no programs by default and again I am not advanced enough to download the programs on my own. (Score – 0)

5) Burning CDs – Wow, this is a first, no burner comes with Ubuntu. WHY? How is this new user friendly? Editors Note: Ubuntu does come with the Gnome burner, but it is not easy to find. Also, when Mrs.Devnet put in a CD it did not pop open like so many of you keep telling Linux Blog it does. Nothing happened. This being said, the burner will still score 0 because it is no use to Mrs.D if she can’t find it and if it doesn’t work. (Score – 0)

So I have asked the question, how can a distro that looks absolutely fantastic be so useless? Well, the answer I sort of half understood, it had something to do with the fact that it was Gnome based and there is some sort of space issue. So okay, you want it to be compact and all but how is this attractive to a new user or a Linux convert? Um, it’s not. There has got to be a way to have both, to some extent. I really wanted this to be an awesome distro, but while it held up to standard expectations, it obviously fell short of mine.

Mrs.Devnet

Experiment 1.5: Ubuntu 5.04 “Hoary” Final Rating originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on April 28, 2005.

Editors Note: More screenshots would accompany this review, but problems with software/hardware prevented many things from happening. Read on for more.

1) Look/Feel – as far as the look of this distro goes…everything is very nice and professional. This one is extremely easy on the eyes. I was excited at the chance to get to use the gnome desktop by default. I really like the way the menu bar is at the top instead of the bottom. I don’t like the fact that there are very few choices in the menu’s for anything. But overall, everything seems very nice. (Score – 8 )

2) Performance – Slow! With a capital “S”! During my first login, the desktop took approximately 45 seconds to login then froze. So we restarted and tried it again. It improved to 40 seconds but didn’t freeze this time. When clicking on menu’s it isn’t too bad…but whenever I open a program it takes forever and a year to open it up. This is horrible. (Score – 2)

3) Hardware/Software – This was a big issue for me as well. I don’t like the fact that there is very little choice in the menus. Also the fact that it is extremely difficult for me to download and install things (something I haven’t figured out yet in Linux) and that it doesn’t have many choices for software makes it useless for me. Fedora seemed to install all my hardware correctly though. (Score – 5)

4) Upgradeability/Security – Yet again this subject is lost on me. I have to trust that things are secure. Upgrading is a mystery for me. I’ve gotta be fair to this one so I’ll give it what I give every distro. (Score – 10)

5) Documentation – There is loads of documentation available from the Fedora website. However, none of this actually helps me at all. Being a new user this is like looking at a new language to me. I don’t understand any of it. It might be great for other people but it doesn’t help me out at all. Still, they’ve got great organization in place and a very detailed site, so they will score a bit high on this. (Score – 9)

6) Installation – Everything was very straightforward. They have an excellent graphic installation thing. Very easy to use. This might even be easier than Windows. It wasn’t a long installation either. It would be great if all of the distros installed like this. (Score – 10)

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

My Criteria

1) Mail – There is a new program I haven’t used yet called Evolution that is the only choice for mail in Fedora. After 2 attempts to get my mail configured, I gave up. This thing froze both times and wouldn’t let me do squat with mail. I’ve never had this much trouble with email in Linux and I’m really disappointed. Mr.Devnet says that evolution is quite nice from when he’s used it. Fedora really let me down here. (Score – 0)

2) Internet – I couldn’t get my website to render. Evidently, Java isn’t installed like it is in other distros. It gave me a link to click on so I did and I was able to download java. I couldn’t figure out how to install it at all though. In windows, its a double click. Here, I have no idea. I checked around at other web sites and found that most of them don’t render properly either. This was another major disappointment. Mr.Devnet told me that Fedora is put out by Red Hat who is a professional company that makes Linux. If this is the best they’ve got, they need more practice. (Score – 2)

3) Listening To Music – the default player is horrible. I couldn’t figure out how to use it at all. Took me forever to figure out how to put things into the que. I hated it all around. It is completely inferior to anything else I’ve used. Not only that, but this thing doesn’t even play mp3′s. What the heck is that all about? Well, I don’t have time nor experience to figure this one out. (Score – 1)

4) Download Music/Files – There is nothing in Fedora by default for me to do this. I couldn’t successfully download and install Limewire yet again. (Score – 0)

5) Burning CDs – It didn’t come with k3b, which I really like, so I was disappointed. But I guess the one that it has serves its purpose. (Score – 6)

So, to start out with, just booting into Fedora Core 4 looked very promising. Everything looked very nice. I was really looking forward to things. However, everything is barebones and minimal. I consider myself a very general user of computers. I think I use my computer for about the same thing that everyone else does. This did not serve my purpose. It didn’t provide me with the things I needed to even go about my every day usage with my PC. As I’ve said many times before, the idea of downloading programs on my own is something that is going to take quite a bit of time to learn, time that I and probably no one has.

I wouldn’t consider this to be user friendly at all, by any means. I wouldn’t use this unless I really knew what the heck was going on and knew the inner workings of things. Overall, this was the worst experience I’ve had with Linux.

Mrs.Devnet

Fedora Core 4 Test 1 Scores: 4 out of 10

(and I’m being generous on that one )

Experiment 1.4: Fedora Core 4 Test 1 Final Rating originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on April 12, 2005.

2)Â Performance – Very fast. My husband tells me that PCLinuxOS is optimized for our computer. Whatever. But it gets me a desktop 5 seconds after I type in my user/password and that is the fastest I’ve seen. I’ve had no problems whatsoever. (Score – 10)

3)Hardware/Software – Everything that I needed was right there when I needed it. As mentioned in my initial impression, I was thrilled to find that Limewire is standard with this distro. I was so impressed with downloading files in Linux that I don’t think I will ever download files with Windows again. I’ve also decided that it’s ok for Mr. Devnet to set us up with a permanent Linux desktop in our house. He was very happy to finally have my approval. My mouse still doesn’t work properly but I think this is a browser problem (so I’ve been told). (Score – 10)

4)Upgradeability/Security – I’m going to stop pretending that I have a clue about these issues. Since they don’t affect anything I’ve done so far, it’s only fair to give them a 10. Okay, so maybe that’s not fair but this is my review! (Score – 10)

5)Documentation – Their community website looks to covers all bases, as far as someone like me can tell. It was very well organized and I couldn’t help but notice the reader survey on their homepage. I think the new tux looks more professional but the old one is cuter. (Score – 10)

6)Installation – Took less than fifteen minutes. There seemed to be some confusing things that I would not have understood on my own having to do with partitions. Yeah, I have no idea. There should be an option to just use the entire disk like there is in the distros I’ve seen before. (Score – 8 )

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

My Criteria

1) Mail – We used Kontact, same as before. No problems and very easy to use. (Score – 10)

2) Internet – I’m getting to where I don’t even like Internet Explorer anymore. I now use Firefox even in windows (which is a relief to mr.devnet and, he says, our antivirus as well) (Score – 10)

3) Listening To Music – I used a lot more of the different multimedia players this time. I decided that I really do not like Amarok, it’s just too difficult to figure out. I think my favorite is Xine. It sounds great and it’s really easy to use. Regardless of the one I chose, my files were always easy to locate thanks to the “Home” icon on the desktop. Not to mention there wasn’t any confusing stuff on the desktop like last time with MEPIS. (Score – 10)

4)Â Download Music/Files – I think my feelings are apparent. (Score – 10)

5) Burning CDs – Again, my feelings about burning cds in Linux are clear. As long as K3b is already there and I don’t have to install it, I’m a happy girl. PCLinuxOS has everything I need already installed and ready to go. (Score – 10)

Okay, so I’m biased. At least I came to this conclusion on my own. I promise, I’d never even heard of this distro before I reviewed it. That’s odd because I have heard of all the others. I purposely block out everything that people say to me about each one, especially Mr. Devnet, because I want these reviews to be exclusively what I think.

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 exacty what Linux needs to draw average users. It’s easy to do the things that we NEED to do, first and foremost. After that, it opens the door for us to learn and become just a little bit more than the average user—which will make us feel really special. Unless something unexpected happens, this is probably going to be my favorite, the one I will use, and that deserves an OVERALL SCORE OF 10 in my book because I never thought I’d WANT to use Linux. All this from a distro still in it’s test phase is truly amazing. I’ll be excited to see what’s next.

Oh God, does this make me a nerd?

Mrs.Devnet

PCLinuxOS .81 Scores: 10 out of 10

Experiment 1.3: PCLinuxOS .81 Final Rating originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on March 19, 2005.

I’m not going to say much at this point besides the fact that the look and feel is so far the best of the distros I have tested. The real kicker was finding Limewire for Linux in my menu and ready to go. I must say, I sure could have used a pair of “Oops, I Crapped My Pants!” when I saw how much cooler this file sharing program was compared to anything I’ve ever used.

You’ll be hearing from me in a few days with what you can safely bet to be a glowing review for PC Linus OS 8.1a.

Mrs.Devnet

Experiment 1.3: PC LinuxOS .81a – Initial Impression originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on March 6, 2005.