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Brief Review Of Vector Linux SOHO
duncan bayne writes "I have just installed Vector Linux SOHO 5.0 RC2 on my old P150 laptop. Overall I was very impressed, and have posted a brief review on my blog. This distro has a lot to offer, especially to schools and other organisations trying to extract more useful life from obsolete hardware."
my pentium mmx piece of shit laptop i got laying around waiting a linux install doesn't have a cdrom drive... so bootfloppy started network install is just about the only realistical option for installing linux on it(or borrowing a suitable cdrom drive from someone).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Not true, at least not where I work. Since education budgets are tightening, we have to make our existing computers last longer. It's often cheaper to upgrade memory and hard drives to meet Windows specs than to buy a new workstation with XP preinstalled. Of course, if the CPU is too out of date for XP or 2000, then you either 1) buy a new workstation and/or 2) install Linux (which I have on several computers in our library) on existing computers. I, for one, refuse to throw out a perfectly good computer simply because it won't run Windows. As long as it boots, has a working hard drive and network card, I'll find a use for it. And if the motherboard dies, I take it off of the inventory and cannibalize for parts.
It's all fun and games until someone loses the key to the handcuffs.
It seems to me that most Linux distributions stand or fall based on the quality and availability of their packaging system.
It's disappointing to see this system doesnt have packages for vim, or lyx. So the reviewer had to install from source.
Sure that's possible, and trivial for small packages without tons of dependencies - but building from source seems to me to be something you'd wish to avoid when installing on a P160 with 64Mb of RAM...
Unfortunate, I guess if the distro becomes more popular the archive will grow, but if it doesn't then there will be a big downside to using it.
RTFA and you find out that he had to compile many things from source, by hand, as the VLAPT system doesn't contain many packages.
Not "impressive" or "polished" at all.
There's no mention of what the default KDE is like (beyond "slow") as he uses IceWM. Nothing about hardware detection. No screenshots. Nothing.
Awful, awful article apparently reviewing an awful, awful distro; but he doesn't tell us enough to say how good it is.
By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
The system requierments for soho state ....
System requirements
Vector Linux SOHO is relatively heavy compared to the standard version. It is recommended that your system meets these requirements:
* Processor: Pentium III compatible or better (so you may use AMD).
* Hard disk: 3 GB for the system, then you need more for your personal files.
* Memory: 128 MB, spare 256 MB for comfort.
* Video card and Monitor capable of 1024x768 resolution, 24 bits.
* Standard mouse, keyboard, sound card, CDROM, etc.
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so I can see why he may have a few problems on a p150
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though