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Another Xandros 2.0 Deluxe Review
JimLynch writes in about his review: "If we had to define Xandros 2.0 with one word, we'd pick 'usable.' This time around, the folks at Xandros have refined their product significantly and come up with something that makes Linux quite comfortable and easy to use, even if you're a total newbie to the OS. Obviously the Gentoo crowd won't be interested in this distro, but Windows users who haven't used Linux before or have had bad experiences with other distros will particularly enjoy this release. The time to begin the desktop migration to Linux might very well have arrived with Xandros 2.0." An earlier review was also favorable.
Have you even tried Xandros 2? I have, on my laptop. All the stuff you're going on about worked fine. It took me all of 2 minutes to configure my Winmodem dialup account. First time ever a distro configured a winmodem for me. Flat out, everything worked well. Crossover Office configured Forte Agent in no time. Newsbin Pro even worked. (It never did for me before) I configured a Windows printer in less time that it takes me in SuSE 9. This product is GOOD! Samba worked out of the box. I could share files both ways on a windows network.
I've been using Xandros Desltop 2.0 for a few weeks, coming to it after several years with a number of other distributions.
It is, indeed, a slick piece of work. Installed as advertised. Detected and offered the correct drivers for all of my periperals, including my printer. Saved me the trouble of chasing down and installing some Mozilla plugins. Crossover works as advertised. The tweaks to KDE are well done and present a professional image.
The standard install does not deposit the usual retinue of servers and development tools on your drive (most are available on the 2nd CD or via download). That makes sense for the market Xandros is targetting. (Makes sense for me, too. On my home desktop box, I don't need 'em.)
If Xandros targeted the geek market, included the usual geek software, rewrote their manual, and changed their advertising to downplay the Windows thing, this distribution would be seen by geeks as the best desktop Linux released to date. Most geeks won't look at it that way, but they'll be wrong.
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I have read the review, and all the other ones that are floating around on the net, and yes, beside Knoppix (www.knoppix.net) Xandros is stepping in the right direction to complete the bridge for Home Linux users. Not to say Xandros doesn't have flaws (Slow Loading, No 2.6 Kernel, And it didnt get all my hardware). Then again Windows Xp didn't get all my hardware either. Either case, they have pretty much made a seamless gap for people looking try linux, and have the ability of dual booting. One of the features I enjoyed was their File Browers. It has been re-written to make it appear as tho you are in Windows, and don't have the evil Linux (*nx) file system Structure. Flaws with it: * Any game you play with a game pad - Need to download, and install modules. * Sometime when accessing your CDRom, it will say it doesn't exist, and has an error about mounting /var/.../../.. ?
* Slow booting, and Shutdown
* I have to manually force it to use ACPI 4 Not
ACPI 3, 2,1 or APM 4,3,2,1 .. Why all the
choices?
* Xandros Networks has a button called "Update
All" don't seem to work, or at least the 4 time
I tried it.
* And last but not least, Not a aXandros Only
problem, some windows games will not work under
WineX.
Final Comment: -> Very stable, Using RiserFS works flawlessly, and you get one of everything.. (Browers, text editor, chat program)
As for winex their site they have something similar. Search and see if the game you want will work.
Started with Xandros/1.0 a while back. Nice simple package, installs all by itself, but a little dusty around the edges. But hey, it brought a number of old PCs back to life as simple browser/email/Office boxes, no hassle.
Chucked Xandros/2.0 deluxe onto a box (from which I'm typing this). My main machine, now. The switch from a W2K notebook was remarkably easy. I did use CrossoverOffice to install MSIE because we need this to test some applications. But most everything else has gone the native Linux way.
Xandros' good points: Debian, the file manager, seamless integration with Windows networks, good selection of packages, clean and dry user interface (compared to the 'how much more can we add' horrors of Lindows 4.5). Everything a 'normal' user needs within easy reach, and very little poking under the hood to make it all work. The file manager is especially lovely, though I suspect a large part of that comes from Konqueror. Double-click on _anything_ and something useful happens. Archives magically uncompress, ISO images magically get burnt to CD, Windows executables run immediately (assuming CrossoverOffice is there), RPMs get launched in the Xandros installer. It "just works", and that's the greatest compliment I can give any software.
Xandros' weak point is the lack of some useful packages in the standard sources. To burn DVDs for instance I needed to install K3b and a number of auxilliary tools myself, some from source, some from RPMs and other packages. But then exploring and installing one's own packages from source is part of the fun of getting the system you want.
Linux is an operating system with depth (as are most Unix systems). Xandros wraps this up so nicely that you almost get that Windows experience. But when you open the wrapping, there is solid metal underneath, and it feels good.
I forgot how limiting Windows was, how many comprimises there are in the platform, and to tell the truth after a decade of using mainly Windows, I was a little scared to jump to a Linux distro. Xandros made this move easy, so easy that I did not once think 'Oh, forget it'.
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I myself still use a few old win32 apps out of sheer complacency, but they don't run flawlessly, and switching to Linux is definitely an uphill battle. Unless you already have a bunch of geeky Linux friends, you can probably expect not to make any either... But Linux has it's own rewards for those who stick with it.
You'll just have to find out for yourself. Good luck, and may Linus be with you! ;-)
Let me start off by saying you really WON'T need your Windows apps after switching to Linux. That's old news. Now you can get Linux native apps that do that same things as their Windows counterparts and do it just as well. (Just as easy to install too) I run Linux on my laptop and XP on my desktop and there's nothing I can't do with my laptop and Linux native apps that I can do on my desktop. To get to that point took more work on my part, but far less then it would have a year ago. Plus... if you do find something that only works on Windows (say some MS Office feature) you can run most of the major Windows Apps painlessly on Linux with Codeweaver's Crossover Office and/or Plugin. I've not had a need to use it on my system BUT I have used it before and it's about as simple to use as you can get. The apps don't run as fast, and there are a few very minor bugs here and there for some apps, but it's still very usuable. Standard WINE is a MAJOR pain in the butt to use... unless someone written a very well detailed how-to already.
As far as games go... Linux is definitely not there yet. Particularly with DirectX games. WineX works pretty well for a lot older games (1-2 years old being considered "new") but still nowhere near well as Windows apps do. You will have to do some work to get them running too. Good thing is that most of the major games have Linux native versions. With the state of 3D and video card driver support, openGL, etc... they still don't run as well as on Windows systems but they are playable. So if you play a lot of games I'd say hold off with Linux OR dual boot because Linux isn't there (yet).
All and all Linux makes a very good desktop for something that's computer savvy. There's still a lot of work to go before it's as easy to use as Windows but at the rate things change in the Linux world I wouldn't be suprised it it was pretty close in the next 2-3 years. I think it will take commercial development to do it.. since consistency is not something the community does well.. but with IBM and others going to Linux on the Desktop that will happen.