Monday, June 23, 2008

Linux on PPC

I am getting my hands on a ibook G4 with the view of testing all distributions made for PPC and see which one works out of the box.

My criteria will be as follows: -

1. I do not care if it's a KDE or a Gnome distro
2. Full hardware recognition. It's not as if there are millions of specs to look for, so if a distro is poor on the graphics card or the wifi card recognition, it gets the boot automatically.
3. Dual boot. I will be keeping a copy of OS X on the drive, so the linux installer must recognise the OS X partition and give me dual boot option on re-booting
4. Full multimedia support. I could not care less about the whole codec issue, I just want everything to work straight out of the box.
5. Speed. If I have to wait 12 minutes for the box to boot....
6. I want a graphical interface for updates and additions which is simple and easy
7. And finally, I DO NOT want to touch the command line. As linux is supposed to be ready for the masses (so I read everywhere), everything should be "point & click". As for point 2 above, non compliance means an automatic red card.

I plan to review the 32 bits distros listed on penguinppc for the next 6 weeks or so, until the end of July, and will do a league table to finish? Now this is going to be fun (my girlfriend of 4 years thinks I am crazy and is thinking of calling my mother to see if this is normal behaviour....). I really like Techie Moe's rants, so I guess it will be more in line which that kind of piece of writing than a proper linux.com review.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Microsoft Linux - the premier linux distro - and other miscellaneous thoughts


I am sure this is a well known website, but it is the first time I come across it. Quite scary, I never knew Microsoft had already invaded Mars in 2005... Just proves to show that Nasa is way behind on its program. Someone should really tell them.

On a sadder topic, my team, la Section Paloise, has not managed to get promoted to the Top 14 this year, and did not even finish in the play-offs. Disappointing. Hopefully next year will be a bit more exciting. I know my avatar is a Biarritz tux, but that is the closer I could get (same departement: 64). Don't get me wrong though, I also support Biarritz in my spare time. If there is a good soul out there who can do me a Pau tux, I would be extremely and eternally grateful to them...

Finally, I am trying to find a DTP Desktop Publishing Linux distro to give to my uncle who is struggling with his small publishing company. I have found Ubuntu Studio, but there is live CD version, and before that he commits to Linux on en expensive PC/Mac, he might as well try it as a live version for a while. Any thoughts anyone? All suggestions are welcome.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Pardus 2008 is just the best looking distro ever!

I came across this link today, it looks absolutely fantastic!

With a few tweaks, I have set-up my system with the following: -
- Windows decoration: Powder
- Style: Domino

I still am under 2007.3 and will wait until 23rd June to update to 2008, but I have had this look for a while now and I just feel I am going to be just at home with Pardus 2008.

So that you have a better idea, I am posting screenshots below of 2007.3.