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.

Linux Lite: Small distros for old machines

One of the reasons why one would get Linux is to make use of old hardware. Windows Vista, with all the DRMs built in, is bloated beyond belief, especially with the shiny "Aero" effects. Pretty but useless, like Paris Hilton... Anyways, people who do this had better check the system requirements before they pick a distribution. Ubuntu is the obvious choice for most people, but when that person is stuck on a 400MHz Pentium II laptop with 128MB of RAM, it might not be such a good idea. So, here are some small distributions that get the job done on old systems, too. They might also be good for gamers who want to eke every possible bit of performance out of their machine.
-Ubuntu Lite and Fluxbuntu: Variants on Ubuntu that use IceWM and Fluxbox, respectively, as their desktops. Although these are lighter than their GNOME counterpart, you can still do better- they come with bloated services that slow the system down.
-Damn Small Linux: "50 megabytes of penguin power", a business-card-sized CD that runs Fluxbox and a collection of tiny apps. With a 2.4-series kernel, hardware compatibility will be limited, but it works fine for gaming.
-Zenwalk: Slackware is incredibly efficient, but hard to install. Zenwalk is a friendlier distribution based on Slackware, but using XFCE, which also runs faster (but isn't too hard to use).
-Absolute Linux: Absolute is a lightweight desktop (it boasts an idle RAM usage of only 26MB with certain services disabled), but the CD comes with an enormous number of programs. It uses IceWM, and is based on Slackware.
-DeLi (Desktop Lite): A small, independent distribution. The CD image is only about 130MB, and it is designed to run on really old machines- it can run on 8MB of RAM. Also uses IceWM.
-PCLinuxOS and SAM Linux: Although they're not as small as the previously-mentioned distros, these forks of Mandriva run superbly on relatively old machines (my test system, in case I need to remind anyone, is an 800MHz Celeron with in i810 graphics chipset and 320MB of RAM). PCLinuxOS uses KDE, and runs faster than Ubuntu. SAM uses XFCE, and has a great, OSX-like launcher. PCLinuxOS is currently the top distribution according to DistroWatch (surprise!).

When looking for a fast system, there are three things to keep in mind:

• The desktop. Most lightweight distributions use either XFCE (gaming systems) or IceWM (legacy systems). IceWM is *tiny*, but XFCE is a complete environment, with its own apps and libraries.
• Bloatedness. Distros like Ubuntu or openSUSE (and especially Fedora) have a lot of services running in the background, and they slow the whole thing down. Distros that follow a strict KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) strategy (Slackware and the like) don't have all this bloat slowing them down.
• Optimizations. Distros like PCLinuxOS are optimized for an i586 (Pentium) or later CPU. This means they won't run on a 486 or later, but they'll run extra-fast everywhere else. Arch is i686-optimized (Pentium II), the highest level, and follows KISS (which has nothing to do with Gene Simmons). Gentoo and other source-based distros let you choose how you want it optimized, but are notoriously hard to install.

Finally, as a general consideration for making your system even lighter (and snappier), make sure you're not loading any more libraries than you need to. Here's an example:
A normal system:
-GIMP (uses GTK)
-Firefox (uses libFirefox)
-amaroK (uses Qt, KHTML)
-Nautilus (uses GTK, libGNOME)
-arK (uses Qt)
-Tomboy (uses GTK)
...You get the idea. The apps on this system either load too many libraries or rely on their own. A good system uses a couple libraries a lot.
Optimized system:
-GIMP (uses GTK)
-Epiphany (uses GTK, GTKHTML)
-Exaile (uses GTK)
-Thunar (uses GTK, Exo)
-XArchiver (uses GTK, Exo)
-Orage (uses GTK, Exo)
Three libraries are shared between 6 programs, which would otherwise be packing their own libraries.
From SAM Linux 2007,
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?

For you pickier users

Sooo... Did you take my advice and try PCLinuxOS? No? Clearly not. That's okay, I might have found something better. Sure, PCLinuxOS is one of the fastest KDE-based distributions, but if you don't like KDE, think, for a second, about how fast stuff woud run with XFCE installed on it. That is what SAM Linux is. PCLinuxOS comes with tools for re-mastering a new Live CD, like SLAX. I haven't tried it yet, but I know this much:
-SAM Linux comes with 3D effects, just like the 0.94-test versions of PCLinuxOS.
-It uses an XFCE desktop, but as far as XFCE desktops, SAM's is a cut above most others.
-PCLinuxOS with XFCE 4.2 installed runs SuperTux about 7 FPS faster than usual.
Might SAM become the new Xubuntu? Might I happen to install it myself and give it a try? Stay tuned for another chilling episode of...
(from PCLinuxOS 0.93a/XFCE)
-The DistRogue!

Rant: s/Kubuntu/PCLinuxOS

I'm a die-hard Ubuntuer, let's face it. So, it should come as a shock that I've decided against using- or recommending- Kubuntu Linux, in favor of PCLinuxOS. Sure, all bets are off after April 19 (release date of [K,X]Ubuntu "Feisty"), but for now, PCLinuxOS 0.93a is an undeniably able substitute for Kubuntu 6.10.
One of PCLinuxOS's main advantages is speed. Kubuntu's been known to boot fast (even faster than Xubuntu) through a new init system called Upstart (which Xubuntu lacks, but can have installed through "sudo apt-get install upstart"), but PCLinuxOS is still a bit faster (a matter of seconds). It does this by "splitting" some packages, and not booting some less-vital parts of itself- a trick Debian uses.
PCLinuxOS also one-ups Kubuntu as far as user-friendliness- something vital these days. It comes with a built-in control center, in addition to KDE's control center and config dialogs. As of the 2007 pre-releases, it also includes 3D drivers and AIGLX/Beryl effects. Ubuntu can easily have Beryl installed, but as of Edgy Eft, Beryl is not included (it will as of Feisty). (Update: the dev team, lazy as usual, put it off until the release after that. For the most part, these are the same guys who released Ubuntu 6.06 a month and a half behind schedule.)
Finally, PCLinuxOS just plain looks cooler. Windows Vista came out 3 days ago; PCLinuxOS has had a default theme similar to it for longer. Transparent taskbar? Sure. Clear window borders? Yep. Tolerable wallpaper? Mm-hmm. Some of the other included themes are pretty cool, too. (Windows MCE fans? Check out SUSE2. Looks nothing like SUSE, but who cares?)
So, basically, PCLinuxOS owns Kubuntu, and will for a long time. But there are workarounds: The Vista theme can probably be downloaded from KDE-Look.org, and Beryl can be installed. As for the boot speed, look here.
From Debian "Sid" (oops... I've said too much),
The DistRogue.

First look: Xubuntu 6.10 "Edgy Eft"

I've used Xubuntu Edgy in the past, and it remains my distro of choice. Why? Simple:

• It's fast. XFCE is, simply put, one of the fastest desktop environments in existence.
• It looks cool. I don't know about you, but I prefer Xubuntu's blue color scheme to Ubuntu's orange one- it's there, but it's quiet.
• It's small. One of the computers I use for testing only has 4GB of free space on its Linux partition.
• It's easy to use. Okay, so ease of use is subjective. Relative to some distros (AHEMM, DebSlackToo), it's a piece of cake- it's one of the easier ones.
• It's underrated. I root for the underdogs- that's why I like SymphonyOS. And speaking of root...
• It's easy to do stuff as root on it. You're in the sudoers file by default (/etc/sudoers says who can use the sudo command), and the root password is your OWN password. How easy is that? Bonus: no root = harder to hack.

Now, for the changes in Edgy:
For starters, an eft is a newt. Ubuntu names their releases after animals (with an adjective in front), hence names like "Dapper Drake (duck)", "Breezy Badger", and, coming up next, "Feisty Fawn". Edgy's name proves the point that it's more cutting-edge than previous versions, with an improved init system (faster startup, which now kicks Ulteo's behind to Mars and back), better support for Compiz (Feisty promises even better support), and support for the Xen virtualization software (run other OSes inside Edgy). It also has better artwork, in the form of new wallpaper, a cooler USplash screen, an updated GDM login screen, and the new version of Clearlooks, which Fedora uses. And while Xubuntu doesn't come with a 3D driver, there's a workaround, and it involves clicking here.
From Xubuntu Edgy,
The DistRogue.

Brief update: PCLinuxOS

I forgot to mention PCLOS's 3D features: this doesn't mean Compiz, but just the NVidia driver. To install an NVidia driver on PCLinuxOS, just go to Synaptic and install the "nvidia-xorg" package. It's as easy as that. It'll restart X, and then you're done, if it gives you the NVidia splash screen. And it works- GLXGears reported [s]1012[/s] over 3000 FPS- the highest score ever on my PC. I haven't seen any distro that's as easy to make 3D-capable as that (other than Mandriva, which PCLOS is based on). One problem: Games ran in an annoyingly low screen res, at an unnaturally low frame rate- just like on Mandriva. Hmm...
From PCLinuxOS 0.93a,
The DistRogue.

Useful Rant: Ulteo Linux

Not many Linux enthusiasts haven't heard of Mandriva Linux, the distribution started back in 1998 by Gael Duvall. However, Gael's side project still remains shrouded in mystery- but not for long.
Here's the story: In 2005, Mandrake had evolved into an enormous corporation. That year, they brought in Connectiva Linux and changed their name to Mandriva. Earlier the next year (this year, as it happens), they made a stupid decision to go with their previous good one: They fired Duvall. Translation: "Thanks for starting us up and leading us to the top and everything, but we don't need you, despite all you've done. Bye, we'll take it from here!" This sparked massive protest around the open-source community, but they stood by their decision. Now, Gael's out for revenge- and even though revenge is "a dish best served cold", his scheme could give Mandriva some hot competition.
Enter Ulteo Linux. Ulteo's description on Distrowatch reads, "Ulteo promises to bring new concepts designed to help individuals with limited knowledge to accomplish many common computing tasks." It's clearly designed to be as newbie-friendly as possible, but one has to wonder how it could be any friendlier than Mandriva. Maybe ("maybe"? More "probably") Duvall will draw inspiration from it. We can assume the whole "kit and kaboodle" will be in there (literally, if "Kaboodle" refers to one of KDE's media players). MP3 support? Duh. NVidia/ATI drivers? Obviously. 3D desktop effects? Clearly. God knows what else? "Whatever it is... you can find it on [s/eBay/Ulteo]!" But for now, we only know a few useful things:
-It'll be based on Kubuntu.
-It'll use Debian/Ubuntu's package management system, which kicks Mandriva's poorly-set-up RPMed fanny all over the place (see my review for Mandriva One 2007).
-It'll be user-friendly. EXTREMELY user-friendly.
-It'll set up Mandriva the bomb. All their base will belong to Duvall.
-The first release is due out soon. Obscenely soon. As in TOMORROW.
So, barely anyone knows anything about Ulteo as of now, but everyone will. Very soon. Can anyone stand the suspense? 0_o... TAFN.
From Xubuntu 6.06,
The DistRogue