Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Ubuntu is described as "a free, open source operating system that starts with the breadth of Debian and adds regular releases (every six months), a clear focus on the user and usability (it should "Just Work", TM) and a commitment to security updates with 18 months of support for every release. Ubuntu ships with the latest Gnome release as well as a selection of server and desktop software that makes for a comfortable desktop experience off a single installation CD."

Ubuntu is good enough for me to continue using for a while, possibly indefinitely if the next release continues the same pattern of improvement that version 5.04 had over its predecessor. With what seems to be true dedication to the open-source market, Canonical has a very solid operating system with Ubuntu, and I'll gladly recommend it to anyone looking for a great beginner's system.

A free Linspire clone has hit the FTP mirrors. DistroWatch reports 'Freespire is a new Linux distribution, a free edition of Linspire with all proprietary components and trademarks removed. The distribution comes with a free repository of over 1,500 packages available via apt-get and Synaptic. This initial release functions as a live CD only and serves as a proof of concept. It certainly looks like an interesting idea: combining the benefits of Linspire's excellent usability and hardware auto-configuration with a free repository of Debian packages.'

It is far too early to make any judgments on Freespire. All I can say about this early release is that it has potential. It has a long way to go to win me over. I think for now I'd stick with the free Linspire 5.0 Live CD.

Underground Desktop is a GNU/Linux distribution, based on Debian-unstable, that touts itself as being fast and easy to install. Certainly, it attains the former goal better than many distributions, but this beta software remains very rough around the edges.

The standard procedure for Underground Desktop after an install is to boot straight to a full-blown K Desktop Environment -- as root. I was nearly in shock. Haven't we seen enough security problems with Windows users running as Administrator all the time? Didn't we learn our lesson?

In my experience, Underground Desktop is far from being user-friendly, and it contains numerous problems that need solving. It was no joy ride to get working, and it wasn't significantly faster than other distributions.

The "Lizard Blizzard" continues as OpenSUSE released Beta 2 of the upcoming SUSE Linux a coupla days ago.

Most of the changes appear to have taken place beneath the hood, updating software versions, squashing bugs, kernel patches and the like ... [also] the koffice icon on the desktop has been replaced by an OpenOffice.org icon.

For a more complete report of the goodies in SUSE Linux by OpenSUSE, consult my previous report.