I am pulling my hair so far.
It is official, Linux on PPC is rubbish. I mean really rubbish. So incredibly bad that I can't believe some think this is a viable option. And I am talking YDL, OpenSuse, Gentoo and Debian. Not your obscure distro.
If I can't sort it, OS X will go back on the laptop.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Pardus 2008 is around the corner!
The roadmap has been released:
- Tuesday 3rd June: Pardus 2008 Beta
- Monday 9th June: Pardus 2008 RC1
- Monday 16th June: Pardus 2008 RC2
- Monday 23rd June: Pardus 2008
I will try to write a review, you never know, someone might read it...
- Tuesday 3rd June: Pardus 2008 Beta
- Monday 9th June: Pardus 2008 RC1
- Monday 16th June: Pardus 2008 RC2
- Monday 23rd June: Pardus 2008
I will try to write a review, you never know, someone might read it...
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
SliTaz to the rescue of the old T20
Two days ago, I mentioned below that I could not get a Linux distro which fitted my requirements - I now have!
Introducing SliTaz Cooking, the mini-est distro ever which works like a dream on the tiny IBM T20. Not only is is beautiful, it also took 4 minutes to install, comes with Openbox, has a pretty good mirror repo pick, is shipped with Firefox 3 (!) and is rock stable for a cooking release. What else do you need? So Puppy is out and SliTaz is in.
It is so stable that the SliTaz team is introducing this release at the Linux Days in Geneva this week. Don't get me wrong, it is never going to replace Pardus on my laptop, but when it comes to refurbishing old PCs for people wanting the internet, a word processor and to load photos from their digital camera, it will be my first choice.
Introducing SliTaz Cooking, the mini-est distro ever which works like a dream on the tiny IBM T20. Not only is is beautiful, it also took 4 minutes to install, comes with Openbox, has a pretty good mirror repo pick, is shipped with Firefox 3 (!) and is rock stable for a cooking release. What else do you need? So Puppy is out and SliTaz is in.
It is so stable that the SliTaz team is introducing this release at the Linux Days in Geneva this week. Don't get me wrong, it is never going to replace Pardus on my laptop, but when it comes to refurbishing old PCs for people wanting the internet, a word processor and to load photos from their digital camera, it will be my first choice.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Which Linux for an IBM T20?
I have managed to get hold of an old IBM T20 with a 256 ram with a 10 gig HDD which I want to give to a friend as a home laptop. This guy has only known MS and I want to make the experience a success. Allthemore that my friend lives in another country, and when I eventually give the laptop to him, I will not be there to sort any issue. Not that I could anyway, my skills are limited to installing the Linux distro and playing with the Grub config to make sure that the PC boots ok.
So I set my eyes on a light distro which will have a word processor, a browser, an ethernet easy to set up connection, Skype, a pleasing graphic environment and (very important) perfect stability.
Of all the distros I could find, Puppy Linux was the best, but TinyMe was the best looking (but the update just messed it up big time). So I started to look for a light distro which has the easy use of Puppy and the looks of TinyMe.
And you know what? There is no distro out there with an Openbox graphic environment as the desktop environment of choice. The closest I got to this was GrafPup but I could not manage to burn the iso image on a disk. And then, trying to decipher the forums of Puppy linux needs a PhD in computing, since the explanations are clearly not geared towards new users.
Shame though. A lot of time and patience is being used on showing off 3D desktops and useless graphical gimmicks, but when I look for a simple distro which looks good out of the box, no chance. I wonder why there can be no graphical desktop which looks great and still be light? Puppy Linux is nonetheless the ticket, I just hope that my friend will not be too taken aback by the 1996 look.
So I set my eyes on a light distro which will have a word processor, a browser, an ethernet easy to set up connection, Skype, a pleasing graphic environment and (very important) perfect stability.
Of all the distros I could find, Puppy Linux was the best, but TinyMe was the best looking (but the update just messed it up big time). So I started to look for a light distro which has the easy use of Puppy and the looks of TinyMe.
And you know what? There is no distro out there with an Openbox graphic environment as the desktop environment of choice. The closest I got to this was GrafPup but I could not manage to burn the iso image on a disk. And then, trying to decipher the forums of Puppy linux needs a PhD in computing, since the explanations are clearly not geared towards new users.
Shame though. A lot of time and patience is being used on showing off 3D desktops and useless graphical gimmicks, but when I look for a simple distro which looks good out of the box, no chance. I wonder why there can be no graphical desktop which looks great and still be light? Puppy Linux is nonetheless the ticket, I just hope that my friend will not be too taken aback by the 1996 look.
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