openSUSE "Leap" 15.2 - Any Good?

This is a review I've been wanting to write since forever. Having tried many iterations of SUSE Linux over its long life before, during and after the Novell era, it always left me feeling ambivalent. And I really wanted to like it. The last time I set out to write a review but then canned the idea was for 12.3, when images would work in VMware Player but did not boot on my real hardware. Now THAT is a long time ago and it also means a lot may have changed, hopefully for the better.

Manjaro Linux 19.0 KDE: Read it on Distrowatch

Manjaro Linux is one of those distributions I have tried many times over the years but was always unable to keep for any length of time due to this or that issue cropping up. Whatever it was, the last time I tested it must have been around 2014 or even 2013, which would have made this Manjaro 0.8.x. Manjaro 19.0 looks really interesting and it's brand new. I'm sure lots has changed so, in somebody else's words, test we must. Continue reading on Distrowatch (external link).

Looking for Alternatives to Systemd

The introduction and acceptance, often without much debate or end user involvement, of the systemd daemon into most Linux distributions over the last 1 1/2 years or so is a reality, and I'm not planning to take sides here or rehash any flame wars. As far as I'm concerned, the battle has been fought and the choices are clear. Why is that important to you and me? If you have even only one computer and are responsible for maintaining it then you're a System Administrator.

Whatever Happened to Zenwalk Linux?

In the world of Linux distributions new ones are springing up all the time. Some wither away and go stale or disappear completely. Fuduntu and Kongoni are examples of distributions that have either officially folded or in the case of the latter have not had a release for over two years and is pretty much abandoned, at least for now. Many of these are mainly one man shows. Zenwalk seems to be on the way to abandonment as well, slowly fading into glorious history.

Kernel 3.9.10 Now in Slackware-Current

The title says it all, already yesterday Linux 3.9.10 entered the Slackware-Current branch which is at some point to become Slackware 14.1. Can't wait, this will be another great and extremely up-to-date release if it goes on like this. Of course you can run the latest also with stable, so far all kernel updates from Current have been working well in my 14.0 system.

Running Slackware-Current

Slackware 14 was released 17 months after the previous release and in theory there should have been a massive bump. While a lot happened under the hood, for example the introduction of kmod and gtk+ 3, it just felt like more of the same on the desktop and not really worth the upgrade from 13.37, in particular if you'd already updated your stock kernel before. With a Linux kernel 3.2.29 and KDE 4.8.5 the new release seemed quite modest and middle of the road at the time.

CRUX 2.8 Review - The Inspiration Behind Arch Linux

This one is well overdue, but the time has finally come. In my defence, I installed CRUX 2.7.1 as far back as summer, but a hard drive failure wiped it all, and since then 2.8 was released. Just as well, so we'll be testing the latest version 2.8. CRUX is a DIY distribution that is perhaps less known than others, but it is the inspiration behind the mighty Arch Linux as the distribution Judd Vinet was originally using. I would point to this dated interview if you want to know more about the origins of Arch.

RHEL with the Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE)

TDE is the unofficial continuation of the KDE 3 project by a new team or as they put it a desktop environment for Unix-like operating systems with a primary goal of retaining the overall KDE 3.5 computing style,

that took the code when development on it ceased and all resources in the KDE camp moved over to 4. Trinity is more though than KDE 3 in maintenance mode though as they actively progress their own implementations of libcaldav and libcarddav libraries for the PIM-suite (now called Trinity PIM suite) and have taken over maintaining QT 3 with hundreds of patches applied since the last official update.

Compiling the Kernel in Slackware

One of the reasons why I chose Slackware is that the kernel and other included software is presented vanilla and unpatches, as intended by the developers. That makes recompiling a lot easier in my experience than in some of the other major distributions, no finger pointing, where one first has to track down and apply distribution specific patches.

Window Maker Has New 0.95.2 Release After Six Years

Here's something for those who haven't read it yet on Slashdot, a new version of Window Maker (yes, written apart is the correct naming scheme) has been made available. Apparently a new team has taken over development, and in fact this is the second release from them, ironing out some more bugs since the initial new 0.95.1 release in January.

My Favorite Distribution Releases 2010-2011

I was going to write about how I finally dumped Firefox for Opera, but Firefox 8 does not seem too bad and for the first time appears a bit nippier at start up. Like Dedoimedo has found, this does not look like a completely arbitrary decision to pump up the version number but actually has some small benefits, so I'm going to give Firefox another chance before it is relegated.

KNOPPIX 6.7 and ADRIANE Audio Desktop Review

Once upon a time the daddy of this distribution, Klaus Knopper, started a trend with his pioneering Knoppix live CD as rescue and repair tool. It was known for incorporating extensive hardware detection that required minimal to no configuration at boot to arrive at a fully working desktop.

Gaming on Linux, Better Than You Would Think

Gaming on GNU/Linux is still getting a bad rap. Obviously there aren't as many titles to choose from and you'll be hard pressed to go into your local Game and find Linux support advertised on the jewel case. However, no big deal. There are plenty of games out there that will keep you busy, and how much can one person play, honestly, unless you're unemployed and up 24/7 living on coffee and coke, and still have mum to do your laundry?

GNOME Shell Impressions - Trying GNOME 3 on Arch Linux

Another article about the GNOME Shell. Nothing really to see here, it's just opinion, and yours is as good as mine. If you are bored however, read on.

Recent trials with GNOME 3 using the Fedora Live CD's did not go so well. They always dumped me into fallback mode which is, despite some claiming it to be a solution for GNOME 2 lovers, nowhere near good enough as a tide me over, and it looked unfinished.

Arch Linux: How to Make Resume from Hibernate Work

I usually don't use the Hibernate function much, but lately I have been wondering why it was that my Arch installation did not resume from swap when my new Slackware 13.37 on the same laptop had no such problems.
Two things. I found I didn't actually have a swap partition in Arch as through some fooling around a while ago the UUID of the swap partition had changed, and Arch identifies partitions by this ID by default.

9 Slackware Based Live Distributions

A while ago I read a question as to why there are so few live distributions around based on Slackware when compared to other systems.  The answer is simple: there aren't. You only need to follow this link to a query on distrowatch to see that there are actually quite a few around, and probably more that are not in the site's database. I'll go through a few here that are my personal top choices.

Commodore 64 Returning as Windows 7 PC

How could OSNews have missed this? The Commodore 64 is making a comeback and apparently the first batch has already sold out. You can order yours on CommodoreUSA.net at $595/around £365 for a basic model — the same price as the 1982 original, which includes an Intel Atom 1.8 Gigahertz processor, a 160 gigabyte hard drive and 2 gigabytes of memory. The high-end version of the latest Commodore includes a BluRay drive, 4 Gigabytes of memory, WiFi and a 1 TB hard drive for $895.

Is Scientific Linux 6 Right for You? The Review.

Most of you will need no introduction to Scientific Linux, but, as it's sort of customary for a review to give a short overview before getting started I'll do just that.
Scientific Linux is a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) much like the CentOS project, rebuilding the distribution from upstream source rpms and removing and replacing the branding that vendor has applied to the installer, slides, wallpapers and whereever else in the system.

Slax Community Remix Renamed to Porteus Portable Linux

Last December I wrote about the Slax Community Remix on Distrowatch. At the time of writing the latest release of this dedicated community of Slax enthusiasts was v09. This now seems to have become the stepping stone on the way to the first official release 1.0 of the new Porteus Project and an updated v09 was released on 13th January. A website has been launched with documentation, FAQ's and download section as well as a forum.

Remember the year of the Linux desktop?

It´s a long standing joke, but I think two or three years ago people stopped claiming next year will be the year of the Linux desktop.

Not sure why that is. Perhaps because it is so self-evident to Linuxers that the day has already come and gone without anybody really noticing. Perhaps most have accepted that the year of the Linux desktop does not really matter because what is known as Linux will never be able to beat Microsoft or Apple in this space, nor does it even really try or want to. To think otherwise would be a fundamental misconception.