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"However, I don't see any real difference in performance or boot times on either OS. For that reason, I'm reticent to advise installing Linux to be a magic bullet for boot time woes"

There is a difference and you can tweak Linux to get that little more performance on old hardware. Secondly your wife won't risk having her online identity stolen in some drive-by phishing attempt. One of the fastest put-of-the-box solution I've seen is Yoper

No, it's XP with 512MB ... curiously enough Yoper running on the same machine has no such problems ..

"the number and power of the computing resources involved was probably pushing the limit"

You mean just to project a video onto the roof. I've got an old 500MB, PC that can play DVDs without problem. It runs on Yoper, you should try it, runs encrypted DVDs straight out of the box, no config issues.

So, in this case, you'd suggest a New Zealand-made distribution of Linux?

it has been done, a dozen of times
what these Linux distros really lacks is publicitity and marketting .. ie an excellent P.R Machine.
Microsoft can afford that, Apple too, contributors already spend much of their free time helping, they dont have the cash also.

So in short what Linux distros need are millionaire patron.
Ubuntu is an example of how much patronage matters.

Many tried in varies way - maybe you could try your version?

Linspire's approach is of Click to Install, run everything as root, offer interesting goodies such as iTunes, etc

Xandros which tries to appeal to the business man, hides even the terminal, if you are a techie, it is a difficult distro to work with. But non-techies find it a marvel.

Beatrix is probably the closest you've envisage, with but essential apps and very light and fast.

Puppy Linux approach is have it micro light weight in Ram, they don't strip the techie-stuff but add lots of tutorials, wizards and follow-throughs. I have to admit I liked it, its good for old machines too.

Yoper's approach is to get you up and ready where one-CD installs everything you might need and more - very fast. The community is very helpful and friendly. The idea is that the distro should be as multi-media ready as possible on things like plugin (which are short of impossible for a newcome to install).
Wonderful idea, but we need more help with that, like all free-distros specially - we need helpers, contributors, coders, packagers.

In the Linux community, the will is there, just the challenge and obstacle is very big. Drivers and hardwares primarily set for Windows machine and nothing else .. etc

What we all need is patronage, sponsorship.

What we need is what Apple, Microsoft + etc has:
money-money-money (even if its to pay for hosting our servers).

Remember the saying: easier-said-than-done

So I would urge anyone that is really concerned to join a distro that matches your ideals and instead of criticizing offer help - there are many ways of doing that, learning being one.

If the idea of coding is really off-putting I found reading this pretty interesting and applicable to any open source project:

Q: Are there non-coding ways to help?

Very true. For example, KDE builds with a specific versions of Qt and gcc compilers, if you are using Visual C++, you will even need the right fixpack.

Without a GCC version no one can tell if you are just building it with the wrong GCC.

Possibly, here's a link that might be useful, here the user is trying to build Linux and complains that it throws the 'conflicting types' error, and this didn't happen with the distros. Turns out the distros use the older, slower gcc-3.3 compilers. That is why sticking with one of the distros, might be a better idea. Otherwise you can try hitting the various support web sites.

You've obviously never installed windows... I wish it was that simple. The only time it is ever that simple is if your using a vendor provided recovery disk. Otherwise you would boot to a nearly unusable system with absoultely no software other then a browser, media player and paint. If you want some functionality like a recovery cd install where you just pop in a disk and away it goes use Yoper. If you want something with more choice but still easy to use and install, get Fedora or Suse. (despite the distro wars, both are really nice) The Fedora install more or less consists of choosing whether you want to do a desktop install, server install, workstation install, or advanced install. Assuming you select desktop install, everything else is done for you other then a few quick questions (like name and stuff). Everything is autodetected (although you are asked to verifiy it and can change it if you so desire). The Suse install, while different, is just as easy. And regardless of your choice of distro, you'll be left with a freshly installed system that is secure, does not "call home" or have any ports open unless you specified differently and contains enough software that most users could probably get away with never having to install anything else ever. Not to mention an easy to use updating system that updates all of your software, not just select microsoft choices. As far as I'm concerned, Linux beats Microsoft and it is MS that needs to catch up and learn a thing or two from us.
Regards,
Steve

[Note: I'm the Yoper.com Site & Forum Administrator]

with them ripping off icons and interface cues from Mac OS X

This was discussed in the last Slashdot article on Yoper nine days ago. That is not our fault, we just modified a panel and use it. The icons came with it. If this really bugs you so much, join our forums and make a suggestion in the 'Ideas and Reccommendations' forum

I wonder how much longer their site will be around seeing that they are running a trial version of IPB Portal.

As long as it takes to unseat the monopoly. That "trial version" is unlimited, but we are looking into buying the full deal. Not just so that we can get rid of the "trial" tag, but so that we can use extra features that Invision Power Services provide.

Let me pull out my venture capitalist checkbook!

Please do. All donations welcome! :)

http://www.yoper.com/forum2/index.php?showforum=28

yoper (site admin): Why bother to be a rude and brainless chicken. Stay away. We do not need you. It might not be Your OS. This is freedom of choice. We convert businesses. We save businesses. You are obviously not a business or in any way our target market. We are a business.

We compiled, tested, packaged, compiled, tested, packaged, compiled, tested, packaged. Until one of you actually tries it how can you even start talking. It is a complete new Linux not based on anything else, targetting the i686 business market. You nerds arenot our business. You nerds are no ones business and this is the reason why as a community we fail to fight M$ properly. After years of dev you could have actually given it an objective go instead of slagging it off and blindly comparing it to slackware only because it was posted on /. in the same article as slackware. Ignorance is bliss. Stay in your matrix and stay blind. This is a business and not a charity organization for brainless and gutless chickens that fill a forum up with junk. Stay with your Linux and leave us alone. Business users need us, since they are sick of YOU. We do not need brainless nerds with too much time on their hand. We need businesses who want to save time and money and save their behind from having to hire you.

yoper (site admin): Why bother to be a rude and brainless chicken. Stay away. We do not need you. It might not be Your OS. This is freedom of choice. We convert businesses. We save businesses. You are obviously not a business or in any way our target market. We are a business.

We compiled, tested, packaged, compiled, tested, packaged, compiled, tested, packaged. Until one of you actually tries it how can you even start talking. It is a complete new Linux not based on anything else, targetting the i686 business market. You nerds arenot our business. You nerds are no ones business and this is the reason why as a community we fail to fight M$ properly. After years of dev you could have actually given it an objective go instead of slagging it off and blindly comparing it to slackware only because it was posted on /. in the same article as slackware. Ignorance is bliss. Stay in your matrix and stay blind. This is a business and not a charity organization for brainless and gutless chickens that fill a forum up with junk. Stay with your Linux and leave us alone. Business users need us, since they are sick of YOU. We do not need brainless nerds with too much time on their hand. We need businesses who want to save time and money and save their behind from having to hire you.

... I think I'll put on a Free OS (recomendations? It is a Celeron 756mhz Dell).

I just installed Yoper Linux on a 700MHz Celeron with 256mb of RAM and it works beautifully. I originally heard about it on /. a few days ago. It is everything it says it is: very fast and very stable, and very easy to use. Once I've played with it for a while it will be going on my main workstation in place of Windows, for good.

Well why don't you find out what all the fuss is about and hop on the torrent.
Regards,
Steve

It also includes XFree86 4.4.0 (yopper pkg list)

Wasn't there some license problems with that?
I mean, most distributions seem to have switched to X.org

I looked into it when it made its debut a couple of years back. Several things made me uneasy. IIRC:

1. It seemed to launch with huge fanfare and hype, and there was a bit of a backlash when it turned out to be just another "generic distro plus knoppix hardware detection" deal.

2. Source wasn't originally available, so it was infringing on the GPL.

3. They were very reticent about acknowledging the work they'd built on, and responded quite violently to any criticism.

I had a poke about their website recently, the things that now make me uneasy are:

1. Package availability -- according to this declaration, you can only install Yoper-packaged RPMs ("The ones for other distros have to probably be installed with rpm -Uvh --force --nodeps and might break apt.").

2. Lack of decent documentation -- lots of important information seems to be squirreled away in the forums.

3. Amateurish website ("Yoper is one of the most standardised Linuxes that you will find and hardware performancetries to be better better than that of any commercial OS." -- http://www.yoper.com/about.html )

3. Responses to criticism still seem pretty belligerent, not to mention self-contradictory. A forum post from March 2003 says:

We are not a one man distro. Currently we have hundreds of users and several people on the development team and also a new commercial team that does the commercial side here in NZ. ( original post )

Then, in October 2003:

Some of you compile quite a few packages, which is great!!!! The base Yoper is done by ONE person and this person (ME) has a distro which is now fairly well known even though it is only version 1. Just think of this. Yoper is a one man distro and so many have an opinion on it. ( original post )

So, is it a one-man distro or not?

Still, it seems they're no longer trying to flog it for 99 USD, which makes me think a little more kindly of it :-).

I looked into it when it made its debut a couple of years back. Several things made me uneasy. IIRC:

1. It seemed to launch with huge fanfare and hype, and there was a bit of a backlash when it turned out to be just another "generic distro plus knoppix hardware detection" deal.

2. Source wasn't originally available, so it was infringing on the GPL.

3. They were very reticent about acknowledging the work they'd built on, and responded quite violently to any criticism.

I had a poke about their website recently, the things that now make me uneasy are:

1. Package availability -- according to this declaration, you can only install Yoper-packaged RPMs ("The ones for other distros have to probably be installed with rpm -Uvh --force --nodeps and might break apt.").

2. Lack of decent documentation -- lots of important information seems to be squirreled away in the forums.

3. Amateurish website ("Yoper is one of the most standardised Linuxes that you will find and hardware performancetries to be better better than that of any commercial OS." -- http://www.yoper.com/about.html )

3. Responses to criticism still seem pretty belligerent, not to mention self-contradictory. A forum post from March 2003 says:

We are not a one man distro. Currently we have hundreds of users and several people on the development team and also a new commercial team that does the commercial side here in NZ. ( original post )

Then, in October 2003:

Some of you compile quite a few packages, which is great!!!! The base Yoper is done by ONE person and this person (ME) has a distro which is now fairly well known even though it is only version 1. Just think of this. Yoper is a one man distro and so many have an opinion on it. ( original post )

So, is it a one-man distro or not?

Still, it seems they're no longer trying to flog it for 99 USD, which makes me think a little more kindly of it :-).

I looked into it when it made its debut a couple of years back. Several things made me uneasy. IIRC:

1. It seemed to launch with huge fanfare and hype, and there was a bit of a backlash when it turned out to be just another "generic distro plus knoppix hardware detection" deal.

2. Source wasn't originally available, so it was infringing on the GPL.

3. They were very reticent about acknowledging the work they'd built on, and responded quite violently to any criticism.

I had a poke about their website recently, the things that now make me uneasy are:

1. Package availability -- according to this declaration, you can only install Yoper-packaged RPMs ("The ones for other distros have to probably be installed with rpm -Uvh --force --nodeps and might break apt.").

2. Lack of decent documentation -- lots of important information seems to be squirreled away in the forums.

3. Amateurish website ("Yoper is one of the most standardised Linuxes that you will find and hardware performancetries to be better better than that of any commercial OS." -- http://www.yoper.com/about.html )

3. Responses to criticism still seem pretty belligerent, not to mention self-contradictory. A forum post from March 2003 says:

We are not a one man distro. Currently we have hundreds of users and several people on the development team and also a new commercial team that does the commercial side here in NZ. ( original post )

Then, in October 2003:

Some of you compile quite a few packages, which is great!!!! The base Yoper is done by ONE person and this person (ME) has a distro which is now fairly well known even though it is only version 1. Just think of this. Yoper is a one man distro and so many have an opinion on it. ( original post )

So, is it a one-man distro or not?

Still, it seems they're no longer trying to flog it for 99 USD, which makes me think a little more kindly of it :-).

http://apt.yoper.com/torrent/yoper.torrent

Help save their gracious FTP mirrors.

Does anyone else think it's strange that a story about yoper has no link to their home page, but does have a link to gentoo?

There are other knoppix remasters of gnome. See the full list, or try a few direct (morphix has had gnome for a while) links.

So it has. Here's a topic where you can bitch about the deletion.

We compiled, tested, packaged, compiled, tested, packaged, compiled, tested, packaged. Until one of you actually tries it how can you even start talking. It is a complete new Linux not based on anything else, targetting the i686 business market. You nerds arenot our business. You nerds are no ones business and this is the reason why as a community we fail to fight M$ properly. After years of dev you could have actually given it an objective go instead of slagging it off and blindly comparing it to slackware only because it was posted on /. in the same article as slackware. Ignorance is bliss. Stay in your matrix and stay blind. This is a business and not a charity organization for brainless and gutless chickens that fill a forum up with junk.
Stay with your Linux and leave us alone. Business users need us, since they are sick of YOU. We do not need brainless nerds with too much time on their hand. We need businesses who want to save time and money and save their behind from having to hire you.

This is not flamebait. It's a direct quote from Yoper's website. While browsing Yoper's forum today, I came upon this post in this thread by the "Yoper Admin":

"We compiled, tested, packaged, compiled, tested, packaged, compiled, tested, packaged. Until one of you actually tries it how can you even start talking. It is a complete new Linux not based on anything else, targetting the i686 business market. You nerds arenot our business. You nerds are no ones business and this is the reason why as a community we fail to fight M$ properly. After years of dev you could have actually given it an objective go instead of slagging it off and blindly comparing it to slackware only because it was posted on /. in the same article as slackware. Ignorance is bliss. Stay in your matrix and stay blind. This is a business and not a charity organization for brainless and gutless chickens that fill a forum up with junk. Stay with your Linux and leave us alone. Business users need us, since they are sick of YOU. We do not need brainless nerds with too much time on their hand. We need businesses who want to save time and money and save their behind from having to hire you." (emphasis added)

Amazing that a serious company would post a messag like this. Provides a true insight into their goals and intentions with releasing this distro (basically money).

I was sorta suspicious about this post, thought maybe the poster was trolling or outright fasifying his post (note the lack of a link), but then I found this link on their official phpbb forums page. Turns out they *did* flame the people they need supporting them. That's a direct quote. See for yourself.

I gotta say, when I saw this article, the first thing I thought was "Yoper? What's that?" So I looked at the website. I thought to myself, hey, I might try that. Good idea with the Yoperize thingy, if they ever show how it could be done. Then I saw this post.

I'm all for trying to market Linux and make money off it, but this flame shows the true colors of the bunch that run Yoper. Avoid this distro with every ounce of your will.

Don't miss the forum

No download available. "Only via our store" and 98 bucks. Somebody mod up the guys at YOPER they're really funny.

well, try it for yourself

Easier said than done. The release version isn't available for download and I have better things to spend $98 on.

(Sorry, I'm about to flame a Linux distro... Posting anonymously to dodge Karma burns ;) )

Ok everyone seems to agree that Yoper doesn't really have anything special. It's just slackware + alien... Also I guess I'm not the only one here finding the catchphrase "Your Operating System!" just super cheesy... Also, what's with their product page? A huge PNG image? Doesn't even look good...

I have no problem with people trying to make money selling Linux. But do they have to insist so much on the Yoper(TM) all over the place. The domain is of course a dot-com, the first link on their navigation menu is "Store"... Sorry but half of my BS alarm have already been tripped...

But I get specially annoyed when due credit isn't given. Where is the page that says that their YDesktop is just KDE with the nice "K" replaced by an ugly "Y"? But I'm sure you will easily find the page where you can order "YDesktop Pack 1.0 for only $98"... I mean, their pages hardly mention it's a linux distro. Let's play a game: try to count how many times the word "Linux" appears on their site...

We could go on about how their site should be nominated for www.webpagesthatsuck.com (check the "About" link at the top... that actually takes you to the FAQ... Hello? HTML formatting anyone?), how their "user community" seems to have a count of 3 (oh but wait, these 3 are actully just flaming the distro on its own boards...)...

Ok, so if we agree Yoper kinda sucks...

so the question is, how in h*ll did they make it to #1 on Distrowatch?

*cough*cheaters*cough*faking*chough*hits*cough*. ..

(Sorry, I'm about to flame a Linux distro... Posting anonymously to dodge Karma burns ;) )

Ok everyone seems to agree that Yoper doesn't really have anything special. It's just slackware + alien... Also I guess I'm not the only one here finding the catchphrase "Your Operating System!" just super cheesy... Also, what's with their product page? A huge PNG image? Doesn't even look good...

I have no problem with people trying to make money selling Linux. But do they have to insist so much on the Yoper(TM) all over the place. The domain is of course a dot-com, the first link on their navigation menu is "Store"... Sorry but half of my BS alarm have already been tripped...

But I get specially annoyed when due credit isn't given. Where is the page that says that their YDesktop is just KDE with the nice "K" replaced by an ugly "Y"? But I'm sure you will easily find the page where you can order "YDesktop Pack 1.0 for only $98"... I mean, their pages hardly mention it's a linux distro. Let's play a game: try to count how many times the word "Linux" appears on their site...

We could go on about how their site should be nominated for www.webpagesthatsuck.com (check the "About" link at the top... that actually takes you to the FAQ... Hello? HTML formatting anyone?), how their "user community" seems to have a count of 3 (oh but wait, these 3 are actully just flaming the distro on its own boards...)...

Ok, so if we agree Yoper kinda sucks...

so the question is, how in h*ll did they make it to #1 on Distrowatch?

*cough*cheaters*cough*faking*chough*hits*cough*. ..

(Sorry, I'm about to flame a Linux distro... Posting anonymously to dodge Karma burns ;) )

Ok everyone seems to agree that Yoper doesn't really have anything special. It's just slackware + alien... Also I guess I'm not the only one here finding the catchphrase "Your Operating System!" just super cheesy... Also, what's with their product page? A huge PNG image? Doesn't even look good...

I have no problem with people trying to make money selling Linux. But do they have to insist so much on the Yoper(TM) all over the place. The domain is of course a dot-com, the first link on their navigation menu is "Store"... Sorry but half of my BS alarm have already been tripped...

But I get specially annoyed when due credit isn't given. Where is the page that says that their YDesktop is just KDE with the nice "K" replaced by an ugly "Y"? But I'm sure you will easily find the page where you can order "YDesktop Pack 1.0 for only $98"... I mean, their pages hardly mention it's a linux distro. Let's play a game: try to count how many times the word "Linux" appears on their site...

We could go on about how their site should be nominated for www.webpagesthatsuck.com (check the "About" link at the top... that actually takes you to the FAQ... Hello? HTML formatting anyone?), how their "user community" seems to have a count of 3 (oh but wait, these 3 are actully just flaming the distro on its own boards...)...

Ok, so if we agree Yoper kinda sucks...

so the question is, how in h*ll did they make it to #1 on Distrowatch?

*cough*cheaters*cough*faking*chough*hits*cough*. ..

Yoper. Right.

Shouldn't last long, with an 80k PNG of text.

Aside from that, they use alien to import other distros' packages, set CFLAGS, and possibly want to become the next Lindows... (from the about page)

What is the purpose of Yoper?

Yoper has not been designed to compete with or replace existing Linux distros. However, it will be used to support commercial conversions of office software from Windows to Yoper. These conversions will be done by trained and certified professionals within the Yoper franchise. Most technical issues with conversion can be resolved quickly by typing a few commands or running a few purpose built scripts. We prefer this method to having to develop and support an auto-detection system, that in time itself will become increasingly difficult to support.

So, what?

Other than yet another distro. Possibly with delusions of grandeur. And they seem to want your money.

Yoper has already been discussed thoroughly in an OSNews feedback thread and it has been decided that a lot of their claims are duds or dont quite work and they dont add anything visually pleasing to the distro. Everything Yoper looks like crap. Dont believe me, check out their screenshots. That Y instead of the K looks terrible.

Maybe Arch or Yoper. They have beta with 3.1rc.
Mandrake also released 9.1beta1 lately. Haven't try it though.

Yoper is linux since it is Linux From Scratch based! and it is GNU......

Someone else has already tried this, folks. And done a great job so far. It's called Yoper.