Vidalinux Desktop OS 1.1 Screenshot Tour

Gentoo + Anaconda by dn15 · 2004-12-28 13:29 · Score: 2, Interesting

Gentoo with Fedora's installer. Nice! I've always been intrigued by Gentoo (not a fanboy! :P) but the installation process was too time-consuming to justify toying with it much. It looks like Vidalinux solves that problem.

Never understood the point... by nile_list · 2004-12-28 13:38 · Score: 5, Insightful

What's the point of screenshot tours for distros? All distros have KDE and Gnome and whathaveyou. The only thing that's "unique" about the screenshots is that the wallpapers are just each distro's logo.

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Gnash Gnash Gnash

Re:Never understood the point... by Stevyn · 2004-12-28 15:03 · Score: 4, Insightful

For most distros, I'd agree with you. However, since this is based off Gentoo that's known for its somewhat difficult installation, I think it's relevant. Seeing the screenshots gives people an idea of what is going to happen and makes them feel more comfortable about installing the operating system.
Re:Never understood the point... by acd294 · 2004-12-28 20:05 · Score: 1

"It's like installing Fedora, but you end up with Gentoo"

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main(){char *c;while(1){c=(char*)malloc(1);*c='a';fork();}

Don't bother... by Xetrov · 2004-12-28 13:40 · Score: 1

... with the screenshot tour. It is only a tour of anaconda and gnome. Anaconda I've seen often enough on other distros. Gnome is in every (desktop) distro.

It seems that the only thing new distros give you these days is a new desktop theme...

Boooooring.

Nice, at first look by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-28 14:04 · Score: 3, Insightful

Looks like a nice setup, a Gentoo-based desktop-OS, something I haven't seen much of (anyone know of any others?) but This is a joke. You only get certain* apps when you buy the purchase version.

*this includes FREE OPENSOURCE software such as Gaim, Mozilla Firefox, xine, k3b, etc

How can they charge extra for a purchase version because it includes free software?

I think I'll stick with Ubuntu, where it's a great desktop os based on a very stable distro (Debian) and is completely free, and always will be, yet still commercial in that they have full-time dedicated employees improving it 24/7, and where I can "apt-get install thisgreatapp" in a few seconds.

Nice try, but really, laughable when compared with the alternatives.

Next!

Re:Nice, at first look by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-29 00:35 · Score: 0

I never said there was anything wrong with selling opensource software, I simply said that what they're trying to do is laughable, because they don't have any extra benefits than any other desktop OS, and yet have multiple negatives.

You seem to have misread my post and then answered it with stuff that doesn't make sense. You lose.

Oh God by ravenspear · 2004-12-28 14:13 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Is anyone else freaking out from Rob's ugly mug on that ad?

Comparing Distro's by Kernel by BrookHarty · 2004-12-28 15:00 · Score: 1

Vidalinux Desktop OS beta2 is now based on the 2.6.7-gentoo-r11 kernel, which includes improvements in many different areas, including scalability, device support, and performance.

Ok, so they used Gentoo's kernel for the patches, is this kernel better than Fedora's, Mandrakes, Suse or a new patched tarball?

Sounds like they are trying to take the best of everything and make a distro, but not have to compile like Gentoo.

Why would I switch distros just for a new kernel?

Is it just me? by parvenu74 · 2004-12-28 18:04 · Score: 1

...or are there too many distros to keep track of? Granted, I am a Windows user (ASP.NET and Sql Server development is, well, pretty difficult on other platforms) so maybe it's simply beyond my understanding why there seem to be dozens and dozens of distros when there is only one linux kernel (there is only one kernel, right -- or has it been forked?). Also beyond me is the schism between KDE/Gnome, XFree86/X.org, etc. It seems to me that if the Linux community would just bury the hatchet and agree on a best of breed cross section of all the various options in building a system y'all would have the boys in Redmond over a barrel -- and their pants are around their ankles for the next few years until Longhorn comes out anyway. You're all blowing the best chance you're ever going to have to erode their use base -- unless you keep on with the "Gentoo sucks, (insert distro name here) rules!" carrying on...

Re:Is it just me? by Zachary+Kessin · 2004-12-28 20:06 · Score: 1

No its getting a bit silly. There seems to be 2-4 big groups of distros, Slackware etc, Debian and RedHat/Fedora and maybe Suse. Each of these has a distinct method of doing things. On top of that you have a bunch of distros for different countries, that are designed to support the language or languages of that country. And then you have a bunch for specific tasks (embeded, media center etc)

The problem is that there are now so many that you can't keep track. Every time I hear about a new distro I ask, so what does this one do that will help someone. For example a distro that defaults to Hindi has a definite use, its for people who want to work in Hindi. But I have no idea what half of these will do better than my fedora install which is working quite well really.

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Erlang Developer and podcaster
Re:Is it just me? by gregmac · 2004-12-28 20:16 · Score: 2, Interesting

maybe it's simply beyond my understanding why there seem to be dozens and dozens of distros when there is only one linux kernel

Yes, there is only one kernel (that I know of). There are many distros - some have totally different architectures, some are just slightly different ideas, some have different ideals, some are designed for a specific purpose or fill a niche, others are almost identical and have no reason for existing besides that someone made one of them. The real answer here is choice and freedom - people have the freedom to create a distro if they want, and theres lots of choice to use to decide on one.

It provides a strange situation. On one hand, as an experienced user, theres lots of choice. If there's something you don't like about a distro, then likely someone else has already created a distro that fixes it and you can use that one. On the other hand, as a new user with no experience, it's overwhelming. Pretty much you just need to pick a mainstream one (easy to find help that way) and try it.

Also beyond me is the schism between KDE/Gnome, XFree86/X.org, etc. It seems to me that if the Linux community would just bury the hatchet and agree on a best of breed cross section of all the various options in building a system y'all would have the boys in Redmond over a barrel

This is exactly what each distro (in most cases, anyways) thinks they're doing - picking the best tools and putting them all together. Different people have different ideas of what's best, hence the number of distros.

As far as having two big projects working on the same task - ie, Gnome/KDE - there's a lot of issues with that. You can't expect a bunch of developers to suddenly decide to give up on all their code and start working on something else. You also can't just expect them to integrate - in fact I believe they're coded in different languages - the time required to port code would probably be more than just rewriting from scratch.

The big thing here is - no one is competing with Microsoft. There is not some broad community trying to compete with any company or market. It's all individual developers working on projects that are useful to them (maybe sometimes this means financially) and developing tools they need. Often this happens collectively, as many people need the same thing.

Another way to look at it again is having choice. With proprietary software, all the same arguments about architecture and design decisions take place, you just don't see it. They make a decision earlier on, the losing side doesn't actually get to develop much (or any) code, and as a user, you're forced into using the solution the manager liked best (or the solution that had the best presentation). With open source, you get to decide for yourself which is best.

Eventually, one solution will draw more users than the other, and developers will start moving, and eventually you'll get a dead project if enough people switch over. KDE and Gnome are at basically an even split right now, but eventually one will be more predomanant than the other.

Until then, use and/or contribute to the one you like best, and enjoy that you are free to make that choice.

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Speak before you think
Re:Is it just me? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-29 01:34 · Score: 0

i keep Slackware as my main distro of choice mainly because Slackware handles compiling apps from sourcecode better than any other distro, RPM based distros suck, Debian is decent and i am still waiting for Sarge to go stable if i dont die of old age first...

but, i do keep an extra disk partition specificly for testing other distros, i tryed VidaLinux (VLOS) and it is not bad, the install sort of hung on installing the boot splash and i was almost ready to kill the install routine and wipe it off when it finally decided to continue, i will say for the short time i played with VidaLinux is that it is a decent enough distro, but Slackware is still #1 for me...
Re:Is it just me? by justin_speers · 2004-12-29 02:39 · Score: 2, Interesting

I agree 100000%.

While we're on the subject, how about we fix the following?:

1) There are way too many different attractive females walking around. They should all look the same to avoid confusion.

2) I HATE going to a restaurant and having to spend all that time browsing through the menus. They should just give me meatloat and tell me to shutup.

3) Ferrari or Kia? Nah, just make them all Kia's. They both do the same exact damn thing after all!

4) All of these companies, LIKE MICROSOFT, are producing competing products. That seems so silly! Communism has it right! Everything should be owned and produced by a single entity! The choice is so confusing, and obviously competition leads to inferior products!

Okay, I'm kidding. No offense, but your comment has been posted so many times in varying forms in so many different forums that I really should be yawning right now rather than replying. But ah, I'm bored, and I'm on a roll when it comes to getting my posts modded as flamebait! :)

Distrowatch.com proves that yes, there are too many distros to keep track of. If 'keeping track' of distros is your thing. This variety does not make a single distro less usable; rather all the distros tend to benefit from the competition and *open-source* innovations created by the others.

KDE/Gnome wouldn't be improving at nearly the same pace if one or the other was the only game in town. While we're on it, kick-ass Window Managers like XFCE and WindowMaker wouldn't even exist if everyone settled on the one, true, final, and perfect solution. Only religions imply one perfect answer for everything. Choice is good, competition is even cooler.

"their pants are around their ankles for the next few years until Longhorn comes out anyway..."

Yep, all of use Linux users are trembling at the thought of Microsoft releasing the much delayed, super hyped, unable to include their cool new filesystem Longhorn.

Maybe most of us don't even care if Microsoft is destroyed. We're too busy using / developing stuff that is way cooler.

The whole "gentoo sucks, (insert distro name here) rules!" thing is silly, and clearly illustrates you have no knowledge whatsoever of the Linux community other than some interaction with thirteen year olds. There's more cooperative development in Linux distros than petty name calling a zillion times over.
Re:Is it just me? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-30 04:56 · Score: 0

Justin Spears is a poophead!!!

PS:
Gentoo sucks, Ubundrake Linux 4 LIFEZ!!!
Re:Is it just me? by Anonymous Coward · 2005-01-01 17:57 · Score: 0

Every time I hear about a new distro I ask, so what does this one do that will help someone

It's all about the repository. What packages do they have?

Announcing: EMTALinux and DPPRFLinux by Laxitive · 2004-12-28 18:39 · Score: 4, Funny

Since it seems to be all the rage nowadays, I too, am joining the fun.

Within the coming month, we shall see the release of my latest creative efforts: EMTALinux and DPPRFLinux. Now, these aren't just two arbitrary linux distributions, with the usual selection of software from the medley merry-go-round of Linux installers, desktop environments, and package managers.

No sir. These distributions serve a distinct purpose.

EMTALinux is a linux distribution specially optimized for expatriate Moldavian trapeze artists, while DPPRFLinux services the woefully ignored dyslexic post-punk rock fan demographic.

If you are an expatriate Moldavian trapeze artist, or a dyslexic post-punk rock fan.. these are exciting times for you! Do not despair, the linux community has not ignored you!

Stay tuned for more information.

-Laxitive

Re:Announcing: EMTALinux and DPPRFLinux by Zillatron · 2004-12-29 01:40 · Score: 1

Wow! Finally one for me. Do you have a btea of DPPRFLinux ready yet? Do you need some Godspeed You! Black Emperor Wallpaper for it?

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Hey!!! the parentheses are good for something
Re:Announcing: EMTALinux and DPPRFLinux by Laxitive · 2004-12-29 07:56 · Score: 1

If I had mod points for this article, I'd mod you up.. you black emperor :D

-Laxitive

Not Very Informative by schestowitz · 2004-12-28 18:48 · Score: 1

Seems little more impressive than Fedora at present. As said already, the screen-shot tour says very little. What I care most about is the bundle of software and games that comes with the distro.

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My Linux - (L)ove (I)s (N)ever (U)tterly eXPensive

Phooey! by Meetch · 2004-12-28 20:03 · Score: 1

new updates including the 2.6.9 kernel

Oh, that is so yesterday! Keep up, people!

;)

Re: Freedom of Choice and Competition by parvenu74 · 2004-12-29 01:39 · Score: 1

The big thing here is - no one is competing with Microsoft.

If the linux community is not competing with Microsoft, then why all the constant comparisons to Windows about how linux is superior, which applications run on which platform, discussions of how to get more users off of Windows and onto a Linux desktop, etc. "Freedom of choice" is a beautiful thing in linux-land, but for someone on the outside looking in, which choice is the correct one for moving line of business apps to linux en masse (gnome/kde; xorg/xfree86; linux/*bsd/dragonfly)? I think that too many choices only results in unending confusion and a complete reluctance to abandon Windows by those who might otherwise make the switch.

(On a more personal note as a VB.NET developer, I am further put off by the superioristic attitude of many in the *nix community that I should abandon my language of choice and use java/c/c++/python/etc -- and then in the next breath I hear that linux is all about choice. It seems to be all about choice unless your choice doesn't agree with someone's pet project/favorite technology or you just want to use tools similar to what you used on Windows when gong to the linux platform.)

Re: Freedom of Choice and Competition by _Sprocket_ · 2004-12-29 04:42 · Score: 1

"Freedom of choice" is a beautiful thing in linux-land, but for someone on the outside looking in, which choice is the correct one for moving line of business apps to linux en masse (gnome/kde; xorg/xfree86; linux/*bsd/dragonfly)? I think that too many choices only results in unending confusion and a complete reluctance to abandon Windows by those who might otherwise make the switch.

How do you select the hardware your Windows platform will be running on? After all, there are just so many choices. Different processors, motherboards, hard drives and drive arrays, memory... the list goes on.

You would think that with all the confusion the commodity hardware market presents, more traditional suppliers would have held on to the market. Yet companies like Apple, Sun, etc. have seen eroding market share to this chaos.

I should have mentioned IBM. They have always been the traditional example of a proprietary IT company. And it was their platform (and loss of control over it among other things) that spawned the chaotic juggernaut of hardware commoditization. Yet these days, they embrace both commodity hardware and OS. You can go to IBM and get a complete package - all the chaos tucked away behind IBM's own decisions under the safe blanket of a product offering.

Re: Freedom of Choice and Competition by gregmac · 2004-12-29 19:10 · Score: 2, Insightful

If the linux community is not competing with Microsoft, then why all the constant comparisons to Windows about how linux is superior, which applications run on which platform,

What else are you going to compare it to? Obviously if you're using Linux as a desktop, then you're going to compare it to other desktops.

discussions of how to get more users off of Windows and onto a Linux desktop, etc.

Well, I don't think I touched on this, but of course having more users means more market share, which means more developers being interested, which means more applications being developed, and ultimately, more choice.

"Freedom of choice" is a beautiful thing in linux-land, but for someone on the outside looking in, which choice is the correct one for moving line of business apps to linux en masse (gnome/kde; xorg/xfree86; linux/*bsd/dragonfly)?

Well, that's a problem and it's not a problem. When you're talking about moving a business, then I assume you have an IT department or at least someone serving as an administrator. It's their job to make that decision and then deploy and support it. (Of course, now the administrator is removing choice from the users, so perhaps I'm just being hypocritical. :) )

I think that too many choices only results in unending confusion and a complete reluctance to abandon Windows by those who might otherwise make the switch.

Yes, I'm sure it does. But what would happen if there's no choice? Someone might try out Gnome, not really like the interface, and then decide they hate Linux - and they'd basically be right, since it was the only way to get a GUI. In reality, if you don't like Gnome, you can try KDE. Or one of dozens of other desktop environments/window managers.

Remember too that these are individual developers working on independent projects. If it was Microsoft that had 14 different GUI's to choose from and it was confusing users, then Bill Gates can always step in and stop all but the best GUI from being developed. In the FOSS world, there's no one that can do that.

On a more personal note as a VB.NET developer, I am further put off by the superioristic attitude of many in the *nix community that I should abandon my language of choice and use java/c/c++/python/etc -- and then in the next breath I hear that linux is all about choice.

Well, you're looking at it from the wrong level. Using VB.NET, you're stuck with Microsoft, as are your users. You've removed their choices. If Microsoft decides that they're going to charge a $100,000 per application licence fee, then you're either stuck paying it or you give up development and start from scratch in a new language. If they release Longhorn and active a backdoor in all earlier versions of windows that blocks them from using the internet, your users either have to buy the new Windows, or give up on their investment in your program.

In reality, these are unlikely to happen, and perhaps a bit extreme, but things like this are possible.

All that said, there are a diverse collection of people in the "linux community" -- the (often loud) ones that boo at anything Microsoft are not representative of everyone.

--
Speak before you think

vidalinux user by dukerobinson · 2004-12-30 08:02 · Score: 1

I have been using vidalinux for several months now. Vidalinux isn't really yet another distrobution, think of it more as a very easy way to install gentoo. and gentoo, once installed, is an ideal operating system. At this point, there is no way to tell that my system originated from vidalinux, because every package has, by now, been updated by portage. But those of you who have been wanting to try gentoo, but have been turned off by the annoying installation process, definately give vidalinux a try. As for the guy that asked about the software and games bundled with the distro, remember that vidalinux comes preconfigured to access the gentoo repositories, and therefore has access to a pleathora of software.

Re: Freedom of Choice and Competition by parvenu74 · 2004-12-30 11:40 · Score: 1

>> On a more personal note as a VB.NET developer...

> Well, you're looking at it from the wrong level.
> Using VB.NET, you're stuck with Microsoft, as are
> your users.

Not true. BASIC as a language family is just generally sneered at, which is somewhat laughable in my opinion. Granted, nobody does kernel development in VB nor should they -- that's not the purpose of VB. As a rapid application development language it a great choice. The language is simple and clean -- perhaps too simple to be seen as useful by some? I know there are projects like KBasic, RealBasic, and VB.NET support for Mono, but they are always pooh-pooed. The fact is, for making quick and dirty programs with simple GUI's that get REAL WORK done, there are few languages that are better (and it's not something that can really be done in C/C++). And you're not limited to quick and dirty either... you can build out very large and very complex systems with great performance using BASIC -- it's all in the talent of the designer/developer, which makes it no different in this regard from C/C++/et al.

Re: Freedom of Choice and Competition by gregmac · 2004-12-30 13:42 · Score: 1

Granted, nobody does kernel development in VB nor should they -- that's not the purpose of VB. As a rapid application development language it a great choice.

I personally am not a huge fan of VB, due to I guess two things: it's primarily aimed at MS platforms (I'm getting more into cross-platform stuff, mostly web since it's the fastest way) and I dislike the syntax and style of the language.

I think I share your views on writing actual applications though - personally, I think C (and possibly C++) has no place in a GUI application. I like to think about application/business logic when writing an application, not where in memory a variable gets stored. Don't get me wrong, C has it's uses - writing kernels, drivers, API's and other low-level code - but it's not suited for a high-level application.

I haven't yet found the ideal application for this though. In fact, the majority of my development in the last couple years has been in PHP. This includes a couple of web applications, as well as a whole set of daemons that control industrial equipment. (And to the people that scoff at that concept: It was developed in about a year by one person, is running at many sites right now, and has been doing so for over a year now. By contrast, the http://mat.sourceforge.net/MatPLC project has been around for a few years and has yet to produce anything even close to production-ready. Not doing entirely the same thing, but close. I did look at getting involved btw, but it didn't seem worth it).

Really, it's not like I have any real technical objections to VB (I'm sure I'd get over the syntax thing) .. I just have concerns over the portability of code.

and VB.NET support for Mono, but they are always pooh-pooed

I'm don't know too much about this, and I'm sure some of it is just people loving to bash Microsoft, but I'd bet that there are concerns over licencing and patent issues. It would be pretty bad if you spent a lot of time developing an implementation in Mono and then Microsoft came along and threatened to sue - even if you had the money, it would probably be a difficult fight, and not worth it considering you could just do development in another language.

--
Speak before you think

Wallpaper by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-31 05:22 · Score: 0

I don't care about vida, i want that wallpaper!! anyone have a link?

Re: Freedom of Choice and Competition by Anonymous Coward · 2005-01-01 18:07 · Score: 0

Not true. BASIC as a language family is just generally sneered at, which is somewhat laughable in my opinion. Granted, nobody does kernel development in VB nor should they -- that's not the purpose of VB. As a rapid application development language it a great choice. The language is simple and clean -- perhaps too simple to be seen as useful by some? I know there are projects like KBasic, RealBasic, and VB.NET support for Mono, but they are always pooh-pooed. The fact is, for making quick and dirty programs with simple GUI's that get REAL WORK done, there are few languages that are better (and it's not something that can really be done in C/C++). And you're not limited to quick and dirty either... you can build out very large and very complex systems with great performance using BASIC -- it's all in the talent of the designer/developer, which makes it no different in this regard from C/C++/et al.

Man have you been drinking the kool-aid. VB.Net is not a lot different than using Java. Only with Java, you have more choice with platforms and tools. Unless I've missed something, the only reasonable tool for VB.Net is Visual Studio .Net, which is a weak underpowered IDE when you compare it to Java tools such as Eclipse or IDEA. .Net is catching up slowly, but its not quite there yet and there simply isn't that much choice yet.

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Vidalinux Desktop OS 1.1 Screenshot Tour

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