Linux OS Distribution Reviews
Zorin OS is somewhat different from other distros, as it has a commercial angle to it. It has a paid full featured version with support and a free version. In this review, I take on the latest release Zorin OS 7 Free Version. It is based on Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) and has 6 months of support till Oct 2013.
The default desktop of Linux Mint 15 MATE is still the same. You got the same wallpaper with the only difference is the number “15″. The desktop is simple and clean with 2 icons by default. At the bottom is a gnome panel with a button on the left to launch the menu and some notification applets on the right.
The MATE menu still has the same default favorite applications just like in Linux Mint 13.
It is time to test the third sibling in the Ubuntu family, the one named Kubuntu. So far, we’ve had Ubuntu, which was somewhat bland. Then we also had Xubuntu, which worked like a charm, except for a kernel oops thingie affecting the entire range, a silly thing to coincide with the official release. The KDE version is next.
The Canonical developers seem to present more work onUbuntu touch to be employed than with traditional Linux distribution: The technical innovations that brings Ubuntu 13:04 against the previous version 12.10 include more in the cosmetics category. Had to “Raring Ringtail” not changed some icons of the Unity desktop, most users would probably barely notice the difference.
I will show you if and how openSUSE 12.3 can redeem itself. Naturally, we will go with the KDE desktop, because Gnome is not an option anymore. My test box will be the same T61 laptop, featuring two SSD for local storage, 2GB RAM, and a simple, generic Intel graphics card.
After getting past the boot menu, I was greeted by a pleasant boot splash featuring the Pardus name above a spinning progress meter on a dark gray background. After that came the desktop. The desktop isn’t too different from past releases, except for the facts that the rounded Pardus-style folder icons are now blue and the window control buttons are unusually large, so I won’t dwell on that.
People wishing to try the latest version of openSUSE have a number of download options. The project offers a handful of flavours, including a full DVD with a large collection of optional software, a KDE edition, a GNOME edition, a Rescue CD and there is a minimal net-install option. Each of these flavours can be had in 32-bit and 64-bit builds. I opted to download the KDE edition of openSUSE 12.3 and I found the ISO image was about 930 MB in size. Booting from the openSUSE media brings up a boot menu which will let us launch the distribution’s desktop environment from the live media, launch the system installer or perform a media check. Diving into the live environment brings us to a KDE desktop. A window opens which introduces us to the distribution and provides many links to the project’s documentation, help forums and to the KDE project’s user documentation. Dismissing this window we find a collection of icons on the desktop. These icons act as launchers for a web browser, the system installer, the LibreOffice suite and the KInfocenter which provides us with information on our machine’s hardware. At the bottom of the display we find an application menu, task switcher and system tray. I found that desktop effects were enabled by default. These are mostly subtle visual effects and the KDE desktop was quite responsive while these bits of eye-candy were enabled.
Being based on Debian (Debian Wheezy), Kali also uses its parent distribution’s installation program, the first Debian-based distribution I have reviewed in a while that uses the Debian Installer (DI). What that means is that Kali gives you more features (during installation) than BackTrack, Ubuntu or any other distribution derived from Ubuntu. This screen shot shows the installer’s disk partitioning options.
It’s a typical Linux distribution which allows you tinker, hack and play with it. To most of us a PC is more like a big boy’s toy where you do a lot of things – it’s like Lego block. I really dislike the idea of dumbing down an OS to a level that it is reduced to an ATM machine where you can’t do much. It does work for some people – like my grandma – but it doesn’t work for someone like me who ‘plays’ with his PC as well. So openSUSE still retains that ‘playfulness‘ of PC if you combine it with right DE, which I will talk about later.
The Sabayon Linux MATE desktop is a fairly minimal installation. You start with Midori as the only browser, and no office software is installed. Java and Adobe Flash are not installed by default, but they are easy to find in Rigo, the primary application to add and remove software packages.
Head developer Barry Kauler released version 5.4.3, aka Precise Puppy, in Oct. 2012. This latest release makes Puppy Linux better than ever. It is a fully functional Linux OS that puts its power and effectiveness in performance, rather than gobbling up resources with excessive eye candy.
Fuduntu was first released in 2010 as a Fedora-based Linux distribution. Its developers forked it the following year. The result is a Linux distro that has a user desktop experience somewhere between Fedora’s functionality and Ubuntu’s user-friendliness. As part of its Fedora roots, Fuduntu uses the Yum packager manager. – See more at: http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/Fuduntu-An-Innovative-Old-Linux-Revisited-77397.html#sthash.rdByll4y.dpuf
