Updates about SYS-Linux

I've learned a little more about SYS-Linux through the forums. Apparently, while it's still harder to upgrade than Windows, it *does* have a package-management system. And it uses the worst kind possible (at least IMO): Slackware's .TGZ packaging system. In a post, the lead developer says to download the packages yourself (as far as I can tell- I'm not a native Portugese speaker) and doesn't even provide a working link. I'm sorry, but I don't think "http:///" has any .TGZ packages. Anyways, downloading packages yourself, installing them via command line, and not even using dependency tracking? And this guy says his distro is for newbies? If you really like Slackware's packaging system, get Wolvix or Zenwalk, both of which have GUIs that download and install packages automatically, and have dependency tracking.
Then there's the package list. Bleeding-edge, fortunately enough, since you'll probably have to go for a while without upgrading it. In fact, it uses kernel 2.6.24-rc6-git2 (yes, a nightly build, which is probably as unstable and buggy as you can get- and this is the KERNEL!), Firefox 3.0-b2, Opera 3.25 (an ancient version released in 1998- cutting-edge indeed!), and db "1.85,2.4,3.3,4.2,4.4". Whatever than means. :S I honestly don't think a newbie likes it if their kernel crashes every 5 minutes, so they might want to pick a more stable version. Good news, though: kernel 2.6.24 just went stable!
And check it out: This distro satisfies everyone with its enormous package selection! Take a look at AV production, for instance:

* Audio-/Video-Studio/Produção: audacity 1.3.4 ; avidemux 2.4 , cinelerra 20071124 , dvdrip 0.98.8 , ffmpeg 20071102 , dvdshrink 2.6.1.10 , dvd+rw+tools 7.0 , k3b 1.0.4 , freevo 1.7.5 , acidrip 0.14, gstreamer 0.10.14 , kino 1.1.1 , kvideoencoder 0.0.8 , kstreamripper 0.3.4 , lxdvdrip 1.7 , mplayer 20071021 , muse 0.9.2 , rosegarden 1.6.1 , soundkonverter 0.3.6 , transcode 20071004 , sox 14.0 , streamripper 1.62.3 , winki 0.4.5

Errrm... Cool, but... I see 5 video editors (counting FFMpeg), 3 DVD rippers, 4 audio editors (counting Rosegarden), and a bunch of other redundant programs, but not much else. And under multimedia? There are 10 different media players. Looks like someone forgot didn't have time to fine-tune his app selection, did he?
And, of course, the all-emulating Wine.

* Emulador, p/usar programas de outros sistemas (McIntosh, Unix, Atari, Commodore, Windows): wine 0.9.51

Wait, Wine can emulate Mac/Atari/COMMODORE systems TOO? Wow, I never knew that! I always thought that "Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X, OpenGL, and Unix," like the site says. Really, if you don't know what something does, don't put it in there.
Now for the challenge: I will make a CD image based on Xubuntu that is marginally complete (and it's not complete unless it has Compiz, we all know that much) and can still fit on a CD. It's not only possible, but easy thanks to Reconstructor, a tool for remastering Ubuntu images. It will have improved artwork, a more complete app selection, and Compiz, but most importantly, it will fit onto a CD roughly a quarter as large as the SYS-Linux image. I'm doing this just to show that it's possible to have a complete system that doesn't take up /!\ 11GB /!\ when installed. SYS-Linux is based on Slackware, but a key tenant of Slackware got lost somewhere in the remastering: "Keep It Simple, Stupid!"
From Arch (versionless),
The Distrogue.

Xubuntu 7.10: Solid as usual

In Linux-land this week, it was pretty much Ubuntu Gutsy, Ubuntu Gutsy, and Ubuntu 7.10. (And KDE 4 Beta 3.) Nothing else was on Digg, and little else on Tuxmachines, on October 18. As usual, the GNOME side of Ubuntu got all the new features (and the hype that comes with them), but the new additions, Gobuntu and Fluxbuntu, didn't seem to receive as much attention. As is tradition, neither did Xubuntu.
But Xubuntu is still a solid system for people with older hardware. It still runs lightweight, GTK-based software and can still (supposedly) run off as little as 64MB of RAM. It still includes most of Ubuntu's features (except Compiz Fusion, which is a big downside), with XFCE as its (capable but underrated) default desktop. It still doesn't run amazingly fast, but it still balances speed and friendliness. The biggest change in this release might seem superficial, but it's a very welcome improvement- a new theme based on the Murrine engine. Add in the usual updates, and you get another solid release.
But one thing troubled me as I booted off the live USB. GLXGears only reported 260FPS, and the lowest score I'd seen so far was 800 (for Fedora 8 Test 3). Hmm. The past Ubuntu releases had hovered around 1000. Everything else seemed to run snappily (except games, which had the same bizarre problem)... After looking around a bit, I found the problem. Gutsy is missing a package vital to 3D acceleration, and to fix the problem, just run the command;

sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri

and that should fix it. GLXGears jumped to 900FPS.
Nothing has changed in the install since last release, so I won't go over it. Well, actually, one thing did: The install froze at 86% when downloading language packs. Just like on Kubuntu. Beta. Wow, since someone already filed a bug on Launchpad, I thought it would be fixed for the final release, but nooo... Not good. Like last time, taking the system offline during the install fixed the problem.
From a blank install, I had a working desktop that could do all the things an average user would want to do: work with spreadsheets and documents, browse the Web, play music... The boxed application set is minimalist as usual, but still functional. It uses Totem for all audio playback (may I suggest adding Exaile?), AbiWord for word processing, and Transmission for BitTorrent downloads, along with the usual app set. MP3 codecs aren't boxed, but just like with last release, can be installed with a few clicks when needed. (It even has a wizard! :-) And since it came with ipw3945 drivers, I didn't need to worry about wireless.
The thing that really struck me about this release was the artwork. Xubuntu uses the new Murrina-StormCloud theme, along with an XFWM theme from XFCE 4.5-svn. The resulting system looks sleek and runs fast. And the wallpaper is an immense change from past releases, using a new steel-gray color scheme to replace the previous blue. Awesome. Of course, with my custom settings, I didn't get to experience the wallpaper after the install, but the live desktop looked sweet. (In the screenshots, all of the eyecandy can be added with XFWM's built-in compositing, a special font for XFWM titles, and WBar 1.3. No Compiz, Avant, or anything special.)

But Xubuntu's goal isn't to just sit around and look pretty. Even without CFS, scores in Sauerbraten and GLXGears were solid, but it isn't a gamer's OS. (Especially if that "gamer" forgot to order a laptop with decent 3D acceleration... x.X) The lightweight desktop remained responsive with Firefox, GIMP, and a handful of other GTK apps open, but slowed down when I added Azureus into the mix (Java programs are slooow...). This is why I use Deluge for BitTorrent downloads...
Xubuntu Gutsy marks another solid release from the Xubuntu team. It's not supposed to be a full Ubuntu release, but a more watered-down version for older machines, which explains why it's missing a few things (coughcoughcoughCompizcoughcoughcough). If you don't like the default package selection, just add more programs in Synaptic. The new artwork, along with the changes common to all versions (new kernel, GIMP moved to 2.4-rc series), make the upgrade worth it.
Pros:
-New artwork
-Package upgrades
-GIMP 2.4 (worth it alone)
Cons:
-No new ground broken
-Still not fast enough
-Installation issues
Friendliness: 4.5/5- Almost on par with the main Ubuntu.
Performance: 3.5/5- It's supposed to be fast, but it could be a lot faster...
Features: 3.5/5- A basic desktop, but a complete one.
Packaging: 5/5- Top of its class again.
Artwork: 2.5/2.5- Nowhere to go from here, the artwork is superb.
Community: 2.5/2.5- The Ubuntu community remains helpful, enormous, and diverse.

Overall: 4.3/5
I'm still trying to decide where to go next. My biggest candidates are Arch and Puppy, but Arch's installer keeps crashing. I had this problem back when I tried 0.72... And Puppy is... well... Puppy Linux. Since I have a new computer, I can't find any uses for it other than gaming, and it doesn't come with libSDL. Too bad, it would make an awesome gaming platform...
From Xubuntu 7.10,
The DistRogue.
PS: A word on that chart. I've made another PHP image generator to make little charts comparing the strengths and weaknesses of various distros. The numbers on the left side represent ease of use, while the right side focuses more on practicality. Here are some more:
Mandriva 2008:

openSUSE 10.3:

Wolvix 1.1.0 "Hunter" Edition:

PCLinux OS 2007:

eLive 1.0: Turning a laptop into a l33t machine

I reviewed eLive 1.0 a while back, saying that it made a great desktop. When I played some Tremulous as part of my review of Xubuntu 7.10 (still coming up), I was disguested by how low my FPS rates were- they dipped below 6FPS on a medium-sized map (Nexus 6). So, I installed eLive with E16 as the desktop and tried it again. This time, the numbers were more like 20-30FPS- playable even with a lot of players in the same room.
Now for the shocker- I was using an Intel graphics chip, which is notoriously useless when it comes to gaming. Usually, I tweak xorg.conf to give it 128MB of VRAM from the system memory, but I didn't do it this time. And Tremulous ran playably anyways.
Sweet. I guess eLive is my gaming system from now on.
From eLive 1.0,
The DistRogue.

Nightmare over!

Mad props to mantra for this. Taking out the RTC battery for a few minutes did the trick, and I'm now writing this from my own laptop, now happily running Xubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon". And rest assured that a review is coming right up. I already love the sleek artwork. Hint to XFCE/GNOME users: Use Murrine-based themes for good-looking GTK2 artwork that supposedly runs 30% faster than the Clearlooks engine.
From Xubuntu 7.10,
the DistRogue.

Full-length review: Ubuntu, Xubuntu and Ubuntu Studio 7.04, and dyne:bolic 2.4.2

Well, the promised uber-review is finally here. With the release of Ubuntu 7.04 (aka "Feisty Fawn"), a new fork of Ubuntu, named "Ubuntu Studio", was released, to go along with Kubuntu ("LinuKs for KHumans", released with 5.04), Edubuntu ("Linux for Young Humans", 5.10), and Xubuntu ("Linux for Gamers and Humans with Old Hardware", 6.06 LTS). It focuses on content creation, containing numerous tools for audio, video, and picture manipulation and creation. Of course, there are numerous other unofficial forks, not to mention ideas (both serious and non-serious). There's an Ubuntu fork for everyone!
Armed with a working wireless connection, I decided to put Ubuntu, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu Studio through their paces, and compare Ubuntu Studio (aka "Ubustu") with dyne:bolic, a rival content-creation OS.

== Ubuntu and Xubuntu ==

For starters, I repartitioned the disk setup that came with my new laptop and installed Xubuntu over it. Since Ubuntu was installed already, that might seem like a dumb move. Well, I needed to repartition the disk so that the computer had a 40GB shared /home partition (need somewhere to store my music collection...) and various other partitions for other OSes. A 2-gig swap partition seemed like a good idea at the time, but proved invaluable while gaming. (Nexuiz needs at least 512MB of RAM to itself, nothing a simple "sudo swapon /dev/sda5" can't fix.)
Also, I had a taste of the new installer. Other than completely redesigning the partitioner, the major change is the new "Settings Migration Wizard", which swipes settings and documents (!) from other OSes (like Windows) and changes them so that they'll work on your newly-installed system. Oddly enough, my Ubuntu partition didn't show up on the wizard, even though it did on other test systems...
I then installed Automatix and used it to get some codecs, media players, and other things. Automatix is frowned upon by the Ubuntu officials, but it's an easy way to get a working system in minutes. I also added some games- from penguin classics like TuxKart and PPRacer to full-blown shooters like Tremulous and Nexuiz. All with a few apt-gets and a lot of patience- the local ISP was having issues (is a ping of 1500 to Google normal for a DSL user?)
Performance (as always) was a huge problem. Compiz and Beryl (as of Feisty, Compiz is installed by default) ran flawlessly (okay, nearly flawlessly...), but because of crappy on-chip 3D acceleration (and bad drivers from Intel), I scored less than 25FPS in ThinkTanks, a record low, and Nexuiz was barely playable with all the effects turned off. (With the defaults, it was pretty choppy...) Sauerbraten refused to run, and I'm not the only one having this issue- it looks like something's up with Intel chips. BZFlag was just barely playable online with a ton of effects disabled and 800x600 resolution, but in solo, it worked great with the defaults. At least SuperTux Mi1.9 worked, and Tremulous cranked out 60+FPS... (And the problem isn't my hardware. BZFlag worked fine with Sabayon.)
Ubuntu did have some other perks. A new disk-usage analyzer not only looks cooler, but makes it easier to find files and folders that take up disk space. A restricted-drivers manager allows unsupported drivers to be turned on and off. A simpler networking manager allowed for 2-click wireless connectivity from a blank desktop. A codec installer takes care of a longtime complaint of Ubuntu users- easy access to commonly needed multimedia codecs. And Compiz was integrated, with easy-to-use controls.
Ubuntu has been, is, and, judging by the plans for the next release ("Gutsy Gibbon"), will be a great distribution for a while. I once recommended Mandriva to a friend who was drooling (okay, not exactly drooling) over Compiz, but with Feisty, that's not even an excuse anymore (and it's about time!). Compiz was considered for Edgy and almost dropped for Feisty. According to rumors, Gusty will include Beryl, and maybe even Metisse.
Friendliness: 5/5- Other distros, such as Linspire and PCLinuxOS, are still friendly, but Ubuntu 7.04 set an even higher standard. The new changes are worth it.
Performance: 3/5- Xubuntu is much better in this regard. Ubuntu is a somewhat bloated OS, running various Apt-related processes in the background, alongside GNOME. Using XFCE helps.
Features: 4/5- Still not a complete feature set, but the new additions help you get there. So does Automatix.
Packaging: 4.5/5- There's nowhere to go from here except to use openSUSE's YaST2 packager, and only because of its superior filtering options.
Overall: 4.13/5- PCLinuxOS might be the top-dog distro for now, but Ubuntu is still the first choice for any newbie.

But wait! Don't hit that "Back" button yet!

== Ubuntu Studio vs. dyne:bolic ==

To get Ubuntu Studio working, I typed in "sudo apt-get install ubuntustudio-audio ubuntustudio-video" from the command line and waited for the download. Ubuntu Studio, being an official variant of Ubuntu, includes metapackages that can be installed from Synaptic or apt-get. These packages install all the necessary programs for a working Ubustu desktop.
dyne:bolic, on the other hand, is a separate distribution altogether. Put together by Jaromil the Rasta Coder, the inventor of the forkbomb (a code that shuts down a computer: :(){ :|:& }:; ), dyne:bolic fits on a CD-RW and packs 650MB of audio, video, text and image-manipulation/creation programs- all licensed under the GNU GPL. (Translation: The CD is 100% open-source.) It also happens to be optimized for a Pentium or later CPU, and claims the ability to run on as little as 64MB of RAM, thanks to an XFCE desktop. The killer: It's a Live CD, but can be installed nondestructively.
Ubuntu Studio, not to be outdone that easily, has two main edges. The biggest one is the sheer range of available programs. The image is 100MB too large to fit on a CD (if that's how you choose to install it), but it has many more programs than dyne:bolic. I counted 67 programs under my "Multimedia" menu after the install (of course, I also installed some programs of my own, such as XFMedia). There's also a handy launcher to give you an instant, customized recording studio.
The other important part of Ubustu is the kernel. Ubuntu Studio's kernel is of the low-latency flavor- It gives 95% of the CPU power to the currently running program. This is perfect for audio, where robbed CPU power disturbs audio playback, and gaming, where it can cause lag- and in fast-paced games like Quake, a little lag can mean an easy frag.
As far as performance, though, dyne:bolic beat Ubustu by a considerable margin. i586 optimization, combined with a lightweight desktop and little-to-no background bloat, was much more powerful than just tacking on a low-latency kernel.
Also, Ubustu's enormous app selection worked against it. The distributed copy of Audacity was compiled without JACK support, and the JACK drivers for amSynth and Hydrogen didn't work. As a result, some programs needed JACK to be running to work, while the major ones needed it to be disabled. Having QJackCtl handy only helped slightly. Dyne:bolic's selection of programs was more polished and interoperable.
Artwork on both distributions was great. Ubustu included a custom black-and-blue theme that looked sleek and polished. Dyne:bolic included calm, subtly-themed wallpaper that may well have been made using the CD itself. A clean, subtle XFCE theme and an out-of-the-way panel provided a serene, uncluttered workspace.
Both of these distributions are worth a try if you're considering a distro for content creation. Ubuntu Studio will give multimedia enthusiasts all the tools they need, while dyne:bolic is an indispensable tool for people stuck on old computers.

Ubuntu Studio 7.04:
Friendliness: 5/5- See notes for Ubuntu 7.04.
Performance: 2.5/5- In multimedia creation, low performance can have a serious effect on sound quality, even with a low-latency kernel.
Features: 5/5- It's a complete studio.
Packaging: 4.5/5- See Ubuntu 7.04.
Overall: 4.25/5.

dyne:bolic 2.4.2:
Friendliness: 4/5- Takes the pain out of having to use a Live CD.
Performance: 4.5/5- A lightweight, fast CD.
Features: 3.5/5- Not exactly a paltry feature set, but clearly not ultra-complete.
Packaging: 4/5- You can download modules from the site, and they're relatively easy to use- except that they require a hard disk or USB drive. (But where else would you store your files?)
Overall: 4/5.

What's next? SAM Linux 2007. Vector didn't make it past the install. (But Canada still has User Friendly and Billy Talent, eh?)
From Xubuntu Linux 7.04,
The DistRogue.

It's here.

The laptop got here today. I've already repartitioned the hard-disk setup. 40GB for /home should be enough...
Next up: A review of Ubuntu, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu Studio 7.04. PCLinuxOS follows that, and after that, it's time for a little-known Slackware derivative from Canada: Vector Linux. (It's Canadian, and they seem to do everything more sensibly than us Yanks, so you know it'll be good...) So far, it looks suspiciously like Zenwalk. They're both XFCE-using Slackware derivatives aimed at novices, they both come from French-speaking countries, they both have separate Live/Install CDs...
Still need to install Ubustu over Ubuntu and Xubuntu and add an SMP kernel, though...
From Xubuntu Feisty,
The DistRogue.

Time to upgrade GNU/Studios.

No doubt you've seen the hype about Dell's new Ubuntu PCs. I recently ordered one (with nothing out of the ordinary added), and here's what you can get on a laptop for $600:
-Dual-core Pentium CPU @ 1.73GHz
-512MB RAM @ 533MHz
-Intel GMA950 graphics accelerator
-Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG wireless NIC (which works well with Linux)
-80GB HD @ 5400RPM
Check it out yourself. I'll be posting a review to see how well Xubuntu runs on it when I get it, as well as that Ubuntu Studio Edition vs. dyne:bolic deathmatch you've all been waiting for (in my dreams)... Not to mention a review of SAM Linux 2007- about time! Expect a month delay (0.o) but I'm serious this time.

The image is downloaded, the MD5s are matched...

One review for Xubuntu 7.04 coming right up- as soon as I get the review for openSUSE out. As for Mandriva, well... I've been having boot problems, but I'll try to get some Metisse screenshots ASAP. Brace for some major reviewage.
And if you haven't heard the news by now, where have you been? While you were gone, Ubuntu Feisty came out right on schedule, with no delays!
From Xubuntu 7.04,
The DistRogue.