SYS-Linux, aka why you should leave distro-making to the pros

In the DistroWatch Weekly comments for this issue, I came across a distribution called "SYS-Linux", which is currently in pre-alpha state. It was an attempt to create an easy-to-use, complete distribution which assumed the user didn't know anything about computing. Its main claim to fame is apparently that it can be installed without a wizard- the user doesn't have to answer any questions. Wow! So the user doesn't have to set up the disks so that they don't lose any data, doesn't have to set up a user account for themselves so that the system isn't completely screwed if it's hacked, and doesn't even have to set up the boot loader (whatever it may happen to be)? Wow... A newbie's dream come true!
Wait, who is this guy? What does he know about Linux? Apparently he knows enough to make a SLAX remaster, but doesn't know how to get the ISO size any smaller than /!\ 2.7GB /!\. Which is how big it is.
Anyways, here are the main issues I see:
-Desktop. He never says what desktop is used. From the Softpedia page, it looks like KDE.
-Partitioning. No partitioning controls means you have no clue how badly the installer will fsck your disk up. That means you risk losing all your data by installing this distribution! Bleh. No thanks, I'll pass. And that's why I didn't bother trying it. That and the /!\ 2.7GB /!\ DVD image.
-Accounts. Since there's no account setup, I assume everything's done via root, which is a whole other story. If you get hacked, that means the hacker will have /!\ TOTAL CONTROL /!\ over your system. And that, my friends, is why we usually set up separate accounts for the regular users. Plus, what if you slip up with a command in the terminal? The results can be dire.
Wait a second, what's the root password? I'm guessing it's either tucked away somewhere on the 'Net, so that you have to look for it for an hour before you can even log in (and not from another OS, obviously, because if there was one, it got wiped off your HD during the partitioning...), or it doesn't exist. In that case, someone could just SSH into your system and instantly have root access. Wow, Linux is really secure, isn't it?
-Elitism. I despise elitism of any kind, especially aesthetic elitism. I quote from this guy's DWW comments:

Just today when I opened this new home page, I saw the new SuSE installer in ugly green color. Impressionant program, with plento options ..... I felt me very glad that users of my distro don't need it !!!

Color choices are subjective. A lot of people like that color scheme, and I bet they outnumber the people that like a grayscale pic of two guys boxing on their desktop, which is what SYS-Linux ships with (according to the Softpedia screenshot). How accurate, though, that that comment on openSUSE's installer was below the belt.
-Packaging. Wow. Packaging on SYS-Linux is a disaster. It says it's built with "a good working mixture of .tgz , .rpm packages and own compiled progs". Whatever that means. It probably means it either has no packaging tools at all or a mix of them. And if that means what I think it does, some package aren't removable. Too bad, since the CDDVD installs to /!\ 11GB /!\. With no package selection. Wow, they make Sabayon look good.
So, how do you upgrade it?

For the most new releases in the future, it's not necessary to download the whole new install DVD. Instead, you can download SYS_Linux-.tgz , install it with #installpkg ... .tgz, go into its main folder, copy thereto the file SYS_Linux.ext3.lzma , and then execute ./mkbootcd . This produces an updated install DVD .iso .

That's right, you do some crap with the image, re-burn it, and re-install it (losing all your data in the process). [sarcasm type="extreme"]That's really user-friendly, isn't it? I think someone with no computing skills could grasp that pretty easily.[/sarcasm]
-"Completeness". He says it's a complete distribution. Way to go. In fact, it seems REALLY "complete". As in it has about 10 programs for each purpose. I mean, GIMP, Krita, AND KIconEdit? 11 different image viewers (not counting the previously-mentioned 3)? It's true- just look at this screenshot. (Caution: May result in your eyes burning. The previous link is not Goatse.)
Okay, what did I say about Zenwalk 5.0 just a day ago? I said that it was a marginally complete desktop even though it was less than a 500MB download. It does this by including only one program for each purpose and by not including stuff that people won't need. Really, how many people use Hydrogen? I personally love it, but I'm a musician. Most people don't need a drum machine on their computer.
My theory on why it's so big? It's impossible to install anything.
-Homepage. I crawled the Web looking for reasons to redeem this distro, info that might change my mind, and guess what I found?
It doesn't have a homepage.
Hmm... Those in glass houses... The domain http://copaya.yi.org/ seems to be somewhat associated with it, but it doesn't even have a homepage.
-The name. Does anyone think that naming a distro "SYS-Linux" will not turn off newbies? As if that's not enough, check it out: the name's taken. Syslinux is a commonly-used boot system used to set up Live USBs, among other things.
I like the idea of a zero-work-to-install distro as much as anyone, but what do you think that work's for? To make you look 1337? Give me a break. Until someone competent decides to spearhead a campaign to get an easy-install OS out there, it remains a dream. Or a nightmare, for anyone who installed it.
[/berangerism]
Still from Zenwalk 5.0,
The Distrogue.

MEPIS 7.0-rc2: See Fedora

Introduction
I tried MEPIS 6.0 and 6.5 a while back because it seemed like a good distribution. The best of Ubuntu, Debian, and Knoppix all rolled into one with some extra goodies a la Mint- who wouldn't want it? It turned out to be a decent distribution, but a solid one at best.
All this is (hopefully- it's the last RC, but it's still just an RC) going to change with version 7.0.
Here's a brief list of the stuff bundled with MEPIS 7.0:
-a full KDE desktop
-MP3 playback
-a bunch of in-house system-configuration utilities
-PulseAudio (via the repositories)
-Synaptic on crack (noticeably faster than the one Ubuntu has)
Put all of this on a Debian base and you can tell it's going to be good.
Installation
After trying out Sidux 7.04 (trust me, it's nothing to get excited about, and when they say "Lite edition", they mean "SLAX, but twice as big and based on Debian"), I had installed it onto my USB key, which set up the MBR the way I needed it. Since Sidux and MEPIS (not to mention Knoppix and Kanotix) use the same live system (and bootloader- GRUB instead of syslinux/isolinux), I copied the files off of the MEPIS ISO onto the key and ran it as a live USB.
The install hasn't changed at all. You still have to go through an 8-page wizard which covers the usual areas (plus a scary license at the beginning, but it's no big deal), but the install itself whizzed by from the USB. (Fun fact: Sidux- LITE- took 38 minutes to install from a CD, and I have a screenshot to prove it.)
Artwork
MEPIS has nice, calm artwork, and the included Nuvola icon theme (most KDE distros [ab]use the default Crystal SVG) is fun and cute.

But I don't really like that sort of thing.

(And yes, I know I have too many desktop icons.)
Most people do, though, and I don't blame them. Neither do a lot of people in charge of distro artwork. I see light blue color schemes everywhere, although colors seem to be gradually darkening (see PCLinuxOS, Ubuntu Gutsy, and KDE 4's default wallpaper, all of which are darker than their predecessors).
Installed Software
MEPIS comes with a huge selection of pre-installed software. Okay, maybe "good" isn't the right word so much as "smart". It runs a KDE desktop, but has the GIMP for image editing (smart choice). It also has something most distros neglect because of Linux's inherited security- firewall and AV programs.
Under multimedia, the selection is sparse but good. RealPlayer (!) and amaroK are both included (along with MP3 codecs for amaroK), along with K3B for CD burning. amaroK also covers iPod management. Add in MPlayer and Kino (for DV editing, an area often neglected by other distros), and all your multimedia needs are covered.
Office apps are basic- OpenOffice, KMail, Kontact, a PDF viewer, and organizational software- but it's still a complete office suite. Remember you're getting this all for free.
Internet options look basic at first. MEPIS comes with the standard KDE browser suite (Firefox and Konqueror), along with KTorrent and Kopete (IMing) but wait- what's this? Java? Skype? GuardDog Firewall? All included. You can guess that MEPIS's main goal isn't to play by the GPL...
MEPIS might be KDE-based, but it has its share of GTK apps where necessary. Image editing is covered by the GIMP (which, IMO, still beats Krita), and Synaptic, rather than the misnamed Adept, does package management. gFTP is bundled as an FTP client. And... wait, GAMES? This thing has games? Other than the normal KDE game suite, MEPIS comes with Tux Racer to keep you from doing what you're supposed to be doing occupied. It's not the Orange Box, but it'll have to do. Besides, most general-purpose distros don't ship with any games other than the defaults.
Hardware Support
MEPIS has historically good hardware support, but now, it's even better. I was pleased to learn about the MEPIS Network Assistant, which I used to get my wireless card running with no additional software (but with some support from the MEPISLovers forums- thanks, guys!). My screen resolution was detected flawlessly.
Performance/Gaming
Tremulous wouldn't connect to other servers because of the firewall, so I had to disable it for gaming.
Extras
The MEPIS Assistants cover a wide range of tasks, from setting up a network connection to repairing a broken MBR (with one click). There are four total, for users, networking, system tasks, and X. Of course, there are also the usual KDE adminning apps, like KInfoCenter and KControl.
Pros:
-Extensive software selection on one CD
-Custom control center
-AV and firewall included
-Plays restricted A/V formats
-Good hardware support
-Fast
Cons:
-Firewall blocks most online gaming by default
-Artwork isn't anything to brag to Fedora 8 users about
Friendliness: 4.5/5- Wireless was annoying. Everything else was fine.
Performance: 4.5/5- Entirely too fast to be based on Ubuntu.
Features: 4.5/5- A complete desktop and a half. RMS would not approve.
Packaging: 5/5- Synaptic, but faster than I'm used to.
Artwork: 2/2.5- Meh. Not outstanding, but the icons are cute, and it's calming overall.
Community: 2/2.5- [relatively] Helpful and quick. Plus, they're used to dealing with newbies.

Overall: 4.4/5- DistroWatch and other sites definitely don't give MEPIS its share of time in the spotlight.
From MEPIS 7.0-rc2,
The Distrogue.

Myah OS 3.0: Remember them? No?

I mentioned Myah OS briefly a few months ago in a tutorial on making live CDs. I mentioned that it was basically a faster version of SLAX, and not much else, and made a good base for a live CD. As of today, the development cycle of the 3.0 series started. They upgraded a lot of packages, added a better software selection, and plan on adding an installer.
Obviously, a live CD isn't the best choice for gaming, but once installed onto a hard disk, that changes. Myah OS is i686-optimized, making it even faster. Add in a lightweight desktop, and you're looking at some seriously high FPS rates. (And the lead developer says that kernel 2.6.23- with CFS- will be available for download after the installation.)
But gaming isn't Myah OS's only purpose. It could make an ancient (but not too ancient- Pentium II or later) machine run like new. If installing Ubuntu onto an old machine makes it usable again (like so many proponents of Linux claim it does), then imagine what Myah could do to that Pentium II 400 box sitting in your attic.
From Xubuntu 7.10,
The DistRogue.

Review: SabayonLinux 3.4e

It's been a while, hasn't it? School really has a way of slowing things down. But now I'm back on track.
Personal problems aside, it's well-known that Gentoo is one of the hardest distributions to install. So well-known, in fact, that there have been a lot of attempts to cut down on the install time by either automating the process or using binary packages. Sabayon Linux is one of the more important results to come out of efforts like these. Based in Italy, and named after a local dessert, you can tell it's going to be good almost immediately- guess who won the World Cup last year?
The basic idea behind Sabayon back when it was still young and was called RR4 (read: late 2005) was to take a Gentoo system, compile it for an i686 architecture, and install it as a series of binaries instead of compiling the whole thing from scratch. But later, Sabayon began taking turns in different directions, eventually moving from XFCE to KDE as the default desktop and even including demo versions of Quake 4 and Cold War, along with other proprietary software that Gentoo would never dream of adding. The system was synced into Gentoo's Unstable repository, and the project took on a bleeding-edge philosophy. By version 3.4e, Sabayon had grown into a monster of engineering, and on the surface, seems like nothing more than a jumble of useless software.
But that's not all.
Sabayon is an entire distribution, not just a remastering of a parent distro. For once thing, Gentoo is notoriously hard to base a distribution off of, but Fabio Erluciani and company managed to get away with it by using a custom system of catalysts and overlays for Portage. It also has its own artwork, including one of the best color schemes I've seen. It has some "glue" for holding the diverse range of software together, such as a custom autodetection program for NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards to select (closed-source) drivers. Finally, in the works (and available as of version 3.4e) is an alternate package-management system called Entropy, featuring the Equo package manager, which works the way apt-get would, installing packages the way the main system is- using binaries instead of compiling everything.
I got a copy of the 4.3-gig x86-32 DVD. It booted into a nice wizard for setting up 3D effects, complete with some music- a nice touch that can be disabled at boot time. After that, it went into a full KDE desktop with shortcuts to an obscene selection of games. Danger from the Deep? Torcs? FlightGear? God only knows how they got in there in the first place, but Nexuiz makes a good substitute to Quake, and Sauerbraten is still a great game.
The install, with everything checked except KDE and 2D arcade games (package selection is new in 3.4, and a welcome improvement), took an hour and a half and took up 9GB of space. Wow. And they say Gentoo is slow... On the plus side, the miniEdition, a CD-sized version of Sabayon 3.3, installed in about 20 minutes, owing to its smaller (but still complete) software selection. For people who still like to build their own desktop, try the Core Install option in the install wizard. It installs a minimal text-mode system, from which you can emerge [insert desktop here] just the way you'd want it (except for the artwork- but that's not a bad thing).
Performance was disappointing. Sabayon is supposed to be fast, but it took almost 2 minutes to boot on the first try, and only improved to 80 seconds on subsequent boots. Even with the "geeky" minimal Fluxbox environment, I could only get 1100 FPS in GLXGears, and Sauerbraten was nothing special- 20FPS. (Note: The map I use to test FPS is metl4, and I measure FPS by crouching behind the yellow armor with a grenade launcher. It's not great, but it's standardized. If you *really* want to give [insert distro here] a workout, try skycastle. It's an awesome map, but it's insanely laggy.) Tremulous was too laggy to play- but it felt cool to be able to tack "@Sabayon" onto my screenname. :)
Entropy is still under construction, making it completely useless at the moment. Binmerge (an older package manager) is still there, but it doesn't work. Equo works perfectly, but so far, nothing can be installed. I had to stick with good ol' Emerge for package management. Sabayon includes a GUI to Portage called Portato, and a KDE version called Kuroo. I tested Portato, and it worked perfectly- just take my advice and don't do a world update until you have a LOT of free time. Update Portage immediately- version 2.1.3.3 has a nasty bug that slows it down.
3D desktop effects are pretty standard by now, but Sabayon, being the bleeding-edge project is, includes Compiz Fusion and Metisse instead of the standard Compiz Vanilla and Beryl. It also comes with the SabayonLinux Acceleration Manager (aka SLAM), an open-source wizard for setting up acceleration through the two desktops.
Overall, Sabayon is a good desktop for beginners who want to live on the bleeding edge. It's a great way to ease newbies into Linux and show them what makes a distro work without the multiple-day installs of Gentoo.
Pros:
-Fast-ish installs (sort of)
-Considerably easy to use
-Customizable system via Core Install (for advanced users)
Cons:
-Non-Core-Install systems are slow
Friendliness: 4.5/5- In marked contrast to Gentoo.
Performance: between 2.5 and 4.5/5- It really depends on how the system is installed. MiniEdition installs are pretty fast.
Features: 5/5- Every conceivable program for Linux is on that DVD.
Packaging: 4.5/5- Portage + GUI = l33t.
Artwork: 2/2.5- Still needs work, but the general red-on-black color scheme is awesome.
Community: 1.5/2.5- The forums are comfortably large, and the Freenode IRC channel is always welcoming.
Overall: 4-4.4/5- Keep an eye on it as it matures.
From Debian 4.0r1 (wink wink nudge nudge),
The DistRogue.

How to turn your USB key into a bootable PCLinuxOS system

If you're a hardcore Linux geek, you'll want to take Tux with you wherever you go. Even if you're a normal user, you probably wouldn't mind having a penguin in your pocket. These are 100%-tested instructions on installing PCLinuxOS 2007 or later (2007, at the time of writing, is the latest version) to a gigabyte-or-larger USB key.
1. Download the PCLinuxOS CD image and open it in an archive manager.
2. Mount your USB key. It has to have one partition on it with more than 700MB of free space left, but any type of filesystem works. I used FAT32 for my key. Also, make absolutely sure that the partition is bootable (you can use a partition manager like fdisk or GParted for this). That means that its boot flag should be on.
3. Extract the contents of the CD image to your USB key. Don't make a folder on your USB key and extract them into the folder; otherwise, it won't boot.
4. Run these commands from the terminal:

cd
sudo grub-install --no-floppy --root-directory=. /dev/sdX

!CAUTION! Be careful with that command; if you do it wrong (for instance, use /dev/sda on a newer system), you might screw up your MBR, in which case, you'd better have a live CD ready. If you did it wrong, just run "grub-install /dev/sda" from a live CD. You do have one, right?
5. Make a file under the boot/grub folder in your USB key called menu.lst, with this in it:

title PCLinuxOS 2007
root (hd0,0)
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz bootfrom=/dev/sda1 root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us splash=silent fstab=rw,noauto
initrd /isolinux/initrd.gz
boot

6. Reboot and enable USB-HDD or USB-ZIP booting in your computer's BIOS if it isn't already enabled.
7. Enjoy.
I used PCLinuxOS for this, but it probably works with other distros, with some minor tweaking in menu.lst. The original tutorial can be found here, written for Damn Small Linux.
From PCLinuxOS 2007,
The DistRogue.

Review: DreamLinux 2.2 Multimedia GL Edition

Ever have one of those dreams where everything seems to be going unnaturally well, and then all of the sudden, you wake up and you're late for work? Sure you have. DreamLinux, at least in my experience, was sort of like that, minus the work part (metaphorically, of course). It's a great distribution, with some great features, but it feels cheaply made.
First off, the obligatory background info. DreamLinux is a Brazilian distribution aimed at multimedia enthusiasts and former Mac OS users. Why OS X users? That's what it looks like. It sports a custom theme and Engage, a launcher from the Enlightenment project that looks and feels almost exactly like OS X's Dock.
DreamLinux is supposed to be an installed system, but it can easily be used as a live CD. It includes MkDistro, a tools for remastering the CD on-the-fly, a la SLAX. It can best be thought of as a cross between Knoppix (the behind-the-scenes underpinnings), dyne:bolic (multimedia app set), and SLAX (remasterability). Although a GNOME desktop would seem like the best choice for an OS X look-alike, DreamLinux uses XFCE, a lighter-weight choice with a smaller memory footprint.
However, if you don't like remastering your CD every day, DreamLinux does come with an install option. And what an option it is! DreamLinux is the first distro I've seen to use a one-screen installer rather than a wizard. Sections of the screen ask for a root password, user setup, partition layout, and GRUB preparation, and at the bottom is an "Install" button.
After the install, I tried out some of the programs. Included were Blender, a 3D modelling program, IceWeasel, a completely open-source version of Firefox included with Debian Etch, The GIMP, the ever-capable image-tweaker, Audacity, a powerful audio editor, Kino, a FOSS digital video editor (GASP!), and GTKPod, an iPod managing app. Blender, Gimp, and Audacity worked perfectly (and in Audacity, sound is normally a huge issue). GTKPod failed to recognize my 2nd-generation iPod Shuffle, but at least it's there.
There were, as I remarked earlier, some issues. My native 1280x800 screen resolution wasn't detected (but hey, not every distro comes with 915resolution installed), and reconfiguring the X server didn't help. My Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 card wasn't detected either. Installing firmware-ipw3945 didn't solve this problem. I understood the instructions to turn on Beryl, but they didn't work. (Maybe it was just my graphics chip...) And the forums were of limited use. The language gap between the Portugese-speaking Brazilians and English users was pretty huge.
I can't recommend DreamLinux to the average user, but only because the average user couldn't care less about multimedia production. DreamLinux is a great distro, with a rock-solid Debian base and a great app selection.
Behold, my new rating system! Artwork and Community are now worth half a point each in the final score.
Friendliness: 3.5/5- Wizards are everywhere. Except the installer, of course.
Performance: 4.5/5- Debian is fast. XFCE is fast. DreamLinux is REALLY fast.
Features: 4.5/5- If you're into multimedia editing, make yourself at home.
Packaging: 4.5/5- Synaptic. What more is there to say?
Artwork: 2.5/2.5- I've always liked OS X's artwork.
Community: 1/2.5- Yeah. It's that bad.
Overall: 4.1/5- If you need a fast, solid, good-looking system, try DreamLinux.
Next reviews: Elive 1.0 "Gem" and Wolvix 1.1.0-rc2 "Hunter" edition. You might recall Wolvix... Well, they're up to the second release candidate towards v1.1. I'll go over how far they've come eventually.
From DreamLinux 2.2,
The DistRogue.

How to make a Live CD

Linux is a completely open-source family of operating systems (Linux itself isn't really an OS, but rather, a kernel), and so anyone can make their own distribution (in theory) and join in the action. But why do that? There are already hundreds of existing distributions, and odds are, one of them is right for whatever niche you have. This isn't a tutorial for making your own distro- that requires time, money, and m4d-1337 technical 5k!11z. This is how to make a Live CD for an application of your choice.

==Why have a Live CD?==

• Portability. A program would normally have to be installed several times in order for it to be able to be used wherever you go, so why not put it on a CD?
• Speed. Newsflash: If you dedicate an entire OS to just running one program, it'll run faster, and be more reliable.
• It looks cool on a resumé. Wouldn't you like to say to a would-be employer, "I made my own Linux CD"?

Take a pick. The last one's especially important. It will get you unquestioned authority in computing.

==Choosing a base system==

There are a few options for a base system. Here are the best choices:

• SLAX: The original remasterable Live CD. It runs a Slackware-based operating system with KDE. Only 200MB to start out.
  
• Wolvix: An extremely feature-rich OS that uses XFCE and a ton of programs. I recommend the 1.1.0-beta series. The "Cub" edition is about 240MB, yet is a complete OS.
  
• Myah: The version 2.0 series is pretty much the same as SLAX; however, the tech demos of the yet-unreleased Version 3 are i686-optimized (they run faster) and use XFCE. About 500MB.

Download the CD image (a .iso file) and extract it to a temporary folder in your home directory called "image".

==Adding the program==

SLAX 6-RC, Myah 3-TD1, and Wolvix 1.1.0 beta all use version 6 of the Linux-Live scripts. SLAX 5.1, Myah 2.2, and Wolvix 1.0.5, the stable versions, use version 5. This wouldn't be a big issue, except that the module format changed between those versions. It's probably a better idea to choose the newer versions of these distributions, because the new format makes smaller modules.
Make another folder called "program". Extract the file tree of the program to the folder. Inside, it should resemble a traditional Linux file system, with bin, etc, usr, or other folders (most of the time, it's just usr) in it.
Open up a terminal and type this:

cd image/name/tools

where name is either slax (for SLAX), wolvix (for Wolvix), or linuxcd (for Myah). Type the following commands:

chmod 755 *
mkdir ../modules
./dir2lzm ~/program ../modules/program.lzm

The first command makes all the tools for building LZM images (linux-live 6 modules) executable, so you can use them. The second makes a modules folder- this stores modules that are used at boot time. The third takes the program you made and turns it into an LZM file.

==Rebuild and burn==

You now have a file structure that you need to burn onto a CD. To do this, you need to make an ISO file.

cd ..
chmod 755 *.sh
./make_iso.sh

It will then prompt you for a name for the image. Hitting ENTER is usually fine.
In your home directory, there will be a CD image, ready to burn. Do so, but don't waste a CD-R on it, just use a CD-RW. It should fit, easily.

==Cut and try==

A Live CD usually doesn't come out right on the first try. Experiment with the image a bit. Here are some useful commands:

-lzm2dir: extracts an lzm file to a directory.
-chroot: allows you to run commands from inside another system. You can chroot to an extracted LZM file, for instance, and add or remove programs within the module itself.
-removepkg: This program comes with Myah OS, and allows you to cut down on the bloat that comes with it. ;)
-mo2dir: If you happen to have some old modules lying around, this convert them to LZM format.

==Examples==

The SuperTux Live CD is based on SLAX. The ThinkTanks Server Disk is based on Wolvix.

From Xubuntu 7.04,
The DistRogue.

Coming soon...

In addition to a review of Xubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn", I will eventually (as in very soon) be doing a content-creation shootout between two distributions designed for creative uses, dyne:bolic and Ubuntu Studio Edition. These two distros have the same goal: to provide tools to let a person's creativity loose on the world. These include audio-editing tools like Audacity and Ardour, graphics tools like The GIMP, and even video editors like Kino, all available for free. But there are some key differences:
-Desktop choice. Ubuntu SE uses, as far as I can tell, the default GNOME that Ubuntu uses. dyne:bolic uses XFCE, an uncommon, but favorable, choice.
-Performance. Multimedia editing of any kind demands a half-decent system. I've learned this the hard way. Ubuntu recommends 256MB of RAM for operation (for GNOME), while dyne:bolic claims that it can run on as little as 64MB. (This is even more impressive because Xubuntu recommends 128MB of RAM, and, like dyne:bolic, it uses XFCE.) In addition, Ubuntu can run a 386, whereas dyne:bolic needs a Pentium or K5-class CPU or later, but this is actually an advantage for it. Ya see, nobody really uses a 386 for multimedia production anymore, and Ubuntu would probably run obscenely slowly on a 386 anyways. However, optimizing a system for a Pentium (i586) allows it to run faster. The last i586-optimized distribution I tried, SAM Linux, was roughly 150% faster than Ubuntu.
-GNU-ness. Ubuntu isn't a completely open-source distribution. (That would be gNuiSance.) dyne:bolic is. It's also a Live CD, whereas Ubuntu Studio doesn't have a live version (and a text install, like Breezy).
-dyne:bolic has a cooler name. This is always a big criterion. Not to mention Jaromil "The Rasta Coder", the inventor of dyne.org and the forkbomb... :(){ :|:& };:
From Xubuntu 7.04,
The DistRogue.

Meet the pack...

Today, I was introduced to Wolvix, a SLAX-based live CD that uses XFCE instead of KDE. I've already downloaded the CD, added some custom SLAX modules (gotta have SuperTux and SuperTuxKart on there...), remastered the .ISO file, burned a CD, and made an untested QEMU image, so I can run it in Windows. Yes, in Windows. Now, the way I use computers might be changed completely. Most people think of a computer system as hardware and some software and data installed on a hard drive. With Wolvix, all the software resides on a CD, which is much more portable than a hard drive, and the data, along with the QEMU image, can be stored on a USB key. This "hybrid system" is highly portable, which might become a virtue when I take the next year off in Spain, without a half-decent system of my own, but with a lot of web cafes and maybe complimentary Internet access at the place I'll be staying. Wolvix, when used with QEMU, can run on Windows without any prerequisites, and the live CD doesn't even need Windows- or a hard drive, for that matter. One major problem: I'm using the pre-1.1.0 series of Wolvix, in which the provided NVidia driver (gefore.mo) doesn't work. I've tried it with several variations, but it still fails to work. :( Read more here. [EDIT: As you can see from the link, they're working on it. The beta versions of Wolvix 1.1.0 will, apparently, have working NVidia drivers.] As soon as that bug gets ironed out, I might use Wolvix as my primary system. Who knows where the possibilities end?

This is where a rescue CD would come in handy...

I just lost ~$100 worth of music. Not to mention a crapload of other files. How did this happen? Well, the desktop system I use for gaming kept crashing during the Windows boot sequence, so my folks decided to send it in for repairs. It came back a day later (that would be today...) minus everything. I guess he took a certain adage to heart: "The quickest route to a computer's heart is through a strong electromagnet." All the files were gone. The HD had been reformatted, and Windows XP reinstalled over it. I could describe it more emotionally, but it would have to be censored. Heavily.
Now, what did the n00b-masquerading-as-a-pro do wrong? He forgot to back everything up before reformatting it. Sure, he couldn't access the files from the Windows boot, but there was a perfectly good Mandriva partition available... I take it he thought himself above that. Not so, the damned luser! I'm getting the LART out now. There's no idiot stupid enough not to be smartened up a bit with a Cat-5-o'-Nine-Tails. Anyways, Mandriva, the developers being to dumb to include it without Gael Duval, lacks support for reading NTFS drives. But guess what?
Knoppix can. So can a crapload of other live-CD distros.
So really, this guy had no excuse. Live CDs like Knoppix are free, and are more than adequate for backing up files. Pop a Xubuntu disk into the drive, plug in the media, and copy away. There's a reason why they call these "rescue disks"...
Moral of this story: Linux users are more competent than people who haven't heard of it. If you're in the computer-repair business: learn from this poor old jerk's example, and GET A COPY OF KNOPPIX! Dammit, what are you waiting for?!
EDIT: Sorry for the strong language. Well, the files are all intact, but almost everything had to be reinstalled.