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Test Driving Linux
This title is another in the growing list of books published by O'Reilly Media, whose user group representative kindly gave me a copy of the book to review. The book comprises 341 pages, and has plenty of screenshots, an appendix of solutions, and a Linux CD secured in an envelope within the back cover.
The particular Linux distribution ("distro") provided on the book's CD is Move, which is based upon Mandriva Linux, which was formerly known as Mandrake. While most Linux aficionados have their favorite distro, and can argue vehemently in favor of one against all others, there is widespread agreement in the Linux community that Mandrake established itself as a solid choice years ago.
Brickner begins this manuscript with an enthusiastic first chapter in which he introduces the computer neophyte to Linux, using cars and test driving as analogies. He briefly mentions how Linux got started, how it fits into GNU/Linux, and what the terms "free software" and "open source" mean. He then describes how to get started with Move by booting off of the CD -- assuming that one's computer has the minimum system requirements (detailed in the book's preface). Non-confident readers will likely appreciate the author's reassuring explanation that Move will not affect their computer's current setup. The chapter continues with an explanation of the KDE desktop, its "kicker" panel, the look and feel of a typical KDE application, window control, desktop background customization, KDE programs that replace Windows applications, and finally how to log out properly.
The next nine chapters of the book cover major application areas, and how to perform common tasks using the corresponding KDE applications of those areas: Web surfing (using Konqueror or Mozilla), file management (Konqueror again), music and videos, games, communication (e-mail and instant messaging), digital image editing (using the GIMP), desktop customization (using the KDE Control Center), office suite (OpenOffice.org), and money management. The final three chapters explore the Linux command line (Konsole), popular programs that are not included on the CD, and advice to those users who decide to switch over to Linux long-term.
In all of the chapters devoted to the major KDE applications, Brickner does a competent job of explaining the basics to the beginner, including handy summaries for more proficient users (such as keyboard shortcuts), and plenty of screenshots that help the reader to verify that they are running the correct application under discussion, and that they are looking in the right places within the application windows. However, all of the figures are in black and white, which makes distinguishing text extremely difficult in those cases where adjacent colors, that are typically well contrasting, merge into shades of dark gray. In addition, I spotted one erratum, on page 84, in which the first letter of "Booting advice for Move" is in a strangely different font, for no apparent reason. This is not representative of the book as a whole, which is well-made, neatly laid out, and uses a flexible layout-flat binding.
Brickner helpfully warns the user of potential pitfalls, such as showstopper dialog boxes being hidden by other Windows. He should be commended for advising the user to set their browser identification to alternatives other than Internet Explorer, if only to encourage Web site owners to not limit the browsers that will work with their sites. One minor error in the browser chapter is, when referring to the Gecko rendering engine used by Mozilla, the author incorrectly identifies it as "gecko," though that may have been an error on the part of the publisher.
For those users who enjoy trying out Linux enough to consider abandoning Windows completely, the final chapter of the book will be most welcome. Brickner identifies which distros are capable of resizing an NTFS-formatted partition; this determines whether or not a user can install that distro on a hard drive already containing Windows, and thus have a dual-boot system. He also distinguishes between those distros that are Windows-like, in that the Linux characteristics are hidden as much as possible, versus those which make no such effort. One potential weakness in his discussion, is that he mentions the ability or inability of particular editions of various distros to authenticate against Windows servers, and yet he does not explain to the reader what that means. On the other hand, any reader who does not understand the idea, probably does not need to.
Overall, I found this book to be worthy of recommendation to anyone who would like to learn more about how to use a robust Linux distro on a live CD. The coverage of topics appears complete, at least for those tasks that the typical computer user needs to perform on a daily basis. There are few errors in the text, and the author has done an admirable job of warning the reader as to potential problems, as well as noting when certain features will not work when running off of the CD, and why. These explanations go a long way to assuaging the reader, who might otherwise become frustrated and conclude that either Move is not operating properly, or that they are doing something wrong. The publisher's choice to use only black and white images, no doubt has the advantage of keeping the book's cost reasonable (a list price of U.S. $24.95), but it has the disadvantages of reducing the utility of those illustrations -- especially when discussing color customization -- in addition to the aforesaid problem of adjacent grayscale regions merging into dark blobs that are difficult to distinguish from one another.
Test Driving Linux is clearly of value in better introducing the public to the power and promise of Linux. It is undoubtedly one of the most user-friendly tools that could assist Linux advocates in spreading the word, and encouraging computer users to break away from operating systems that are expensive, buggy, and non-secure. As Brickner notes in his preface, when people unfamiliar with Linux give it a test drive, by simply booting off of the CD provided with the book, they just might want to stay with Linux long-term.
Michael J. Ross is a freelance writer, computer consultant, and the editor of PristinePlanet.com's free newsletter. You can purchase Test Driving Linux: From Windows to Linux in 60 Seconds from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Very strange distro to have with this book, they should have chossen one of the "buzz" distros, sience this is what the book is about. Not trying to start a distro war, but come on, a distro that has a name people would have heard once or twice would have been nice.
TruePunk | Games
Great idea and all , but Id be amazed if you could power down windows in that time , never mind boot a live CD ...(not entirely meant to be that serious a remark)
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
This title is another in the growing list of books published by O'Reilly Media, whose user group representative kindly gave me a copy of the book to review. The book comprises 341 pages, and has plenty of screenshots, an appendix of solutions, and a Linux CD secured in an envelope within the back cover
"Lots of screenshots?" Is that the technical termonolgy for "It's got plenty of pictures?" Because it's hard to read a book without pictures.
(kidding)
This applies not only to the computer newbie, but also to experienced users. I use Windows XP but I want to dual-boot to Linux for various obvious reasons. Installing Linux on the same HDD as Windows is too risky (I have tried it before two or three times, and I had to repair windows and reinstall the service packs before they would boot). LiveCDs aren't really a good solution if you want to use Linux as your (even secondary) OS, because saving data is not as practical and they take more to load. Virtualisation is a better alternative, although it is still a bit slower than the real thing and graphics aren't supported so well... What's a man to do?
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
Tempting, but I am waiting for SymphonyOS to develop more before I spend more Linux time.
I have been giving KNOPPIX cds to my friends for a year now. Best idea going, boot to the CD and start working
You make find even changing your BIOS settings to make your CD drive bootable is impossible.
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
368 pages, including 2 to explain how to pop a CD in the drive, reboot and not be worried about formatting the existing hard-drive, and 366 pages describing software that, by now, are all graphical and almost as easy and intuitive to use as their Windows counterpart.
Come on... That guy David Brickner just wanted to write his very own Linux book and cash in on it.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I recommended LiveCD distro Ubuntu to a client one time because they wanted to try linux from a safe distance. It ended up throwing a huge 2 gig swap file onto his hard drive and destroying all traces of Win98. I had to undergo the painful task of re-installing Windows 98 on a 100mhz or so laptop (he won't upgrade for anything). Never found out the reason it did that.
I find myself now employed in a windows using company; and honestly, it sucks trying to get up to speed on this thing. Since starting 2 of our servers have been hacked and used for god-knows what; and to the best of anyone's abilities inside the company the best thing we could do about it is "install the latest service packs". There are tons of novice works out there; but are there any that are written with an experienced Mac/Solaris guy in mind?
When I installed Fedora (core 2) on a Windows laptop last year, I had to use Partition Magic to do the repartitioning. Could somebody comment about which Linux distros now do this for you? I'm genuinely curious (and don't want to shell out $ just to do a one-time system prep for installing dual-boot next time). Thanks...
Have you read my blog lately?
MGBs, Tanks, and Batmobiles
And with businesses like Suso [suso.org] you can actually stop by and pick up a free live CD so that you don't even have to bother downloading and burning the CD.
I'm in Zoowalhakisthan, how long does it take to come pick up a live CD at Suso?
The only people for whom what you said is true are the ones living within 15 minutes drive of Suso, that's 5 minutes getting in the car, 15 minutes driving there, 5 minutes getting the CD, 15 minutes coming back and 5 more minutes getting out of the car. Anybody else can download and burn the ISO faster than that.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I tend to agree that the LiveCD's are a pale stand-in for a full install, but I don't really think dual-boot is often very problimatic. Boxes are cheap, buy one or power up that old one sitting in the corner, and do a full install of some popular distro than has a decent GUI installer (Red Hat...).
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Remember that the you can bring down the Windows down instantly by flicking the powerswitch behing the computer (ivo-boot). A fast computer (overall speed) and a quality cd-drive should at least get the Linux KERNEL started with time to spare. Booting
to the login screen probably takes a while longer but as the die hard purist say thats not really Linux.
I sent several of the latest live CDs to a friend so he could test drive Linux. All of them gave him kernel panic errors. After an updated Bios, stil the errors. Many cheat codes later, we were no closer.
He then installed Mandriva LE DVD just fine, and has been running Linux for weeks now on his old laptop.
My point is that Live CDs can often give Grandma the wrong impression, including that Linux is buggy and slow among other things.
Sometimes buggy, time consuming and unessarily difficult, yes. Slow? No.
You have been eaten by a Hurd of GNU.
I use LiveCDs quite a bit but almost strictly for repair or support of an existing system. I will often find myself needing to boot up a LiveCD in order to bring peace back to the troubled partition.
On another note I specifically find the lightweight LiveCD Slax to be one of the best. A really nice feature it has is if you have at least 256MB of RAM you're able to load the entire CD into the RAM Disk and effectively run it without a CD.
You really need to give Ubuntu a try. I have worked with all of the "newbie" distributions, and this one BY FAR is easier to work with than the others (Fedora, Mandrake, etc.). Also, if you decide to check it out, Ubuntu Guide will help get your feet wet. It will solve your #2 problem. As far as your #1 problem, you just need to spend more time in linux.
I can't think that Joe and Pam User would want to experiment with an OS on their PC at home.
The apple model seems to make a lot more sense, allowing Joe and Pam to play with the Mac in a store, where they can test out their apps, see the mac working with their printer - and all of the other day to day activities that they do at home.
Test driving an OS with Open Office and browser is a good start... but it does not come close to helping Joe and Pam understand exactly what the OS will do for them in their everyday lives.
We need Linux Test Drive centers, complete with in room experts who can help users understand how the OS works and how to get the best of it.
1) Create 2 partitions
2) Install Windows in first partition
3) Install Lilo
4) Install Linux in second partition
Other than the caveat that Windows MUST be installed first (otherwise it will clobber the Linux boot sector), I don't see why this should cause a problem. Perhaps your problem is with dynamicly resizing an existing parition?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
HP has a set-up where you can "test drive" different OSes and hardware.
http://www.testdrive.hp.com/
Included are Linux, BSD, VMS, and HP-UX, Itanium, PA-RISC, Alpha, and x86.
I've played with a LiveCD before too, and thought it was great. But when I wanted to install to an empty FAT32 partition, I had major issues with every single distro. Some were confusing to install, some KPed on boot, some just didn't start, etc. The LiveCDs were neat, but I couldn't do anything useful with them simply because they were CDs. I'd love to get Linux going but it just isn't as user-friendly as Windows is or OS X is.
Well, at least the Windows installation procedure. That is usually pretty easy to get started. But beyond that, ~shudder~
After using many distros, I've found that fonts on linux look a hell of a lot clearer than on windows. Maybe this is a standard troll spouting mindless gibberish about linux, but what distro are you using that can't render fonts better than windows?
..." or "emerge ..." than hunting down some installer like on windows every time I need a little program.
And the "snappy" thing your talking about is related to xfree or xorg, not linux. Linux is just a kernel managing the back end stuff on your computer. the x server and the window manager are the things you probably interact with.
And as for package managers, the main distros all have good software like apt, yast, portage, etc. that manages this very well. I find it easier to type "apt-get
I'm not a newbie when it comes to linux and I've used unix for a while too. But I seem to have had better luck with the newbie distros. A few years ago I was trying to get linux on an old sparstation 20. I tried all sorts of things on it but the only one I really had success with was Mandrake. Eventually I went back to solaris because Sun wasn't providing a JDK for linux at the time.
I'm probably going to install Sarge on that laptop but I'm in no rush, it's pretty much just a terminal server client. I should just figure out how to roll my own and put it on a cd so that all it is is twm and a vncviewer.
Open Source Java DAO Generator
What's this about live Linux CDs? I've never heard of something like that. That sounds amazing!
- Me, 1999
I use Gentoo Linux. Recently I crashed my system, the result of being on the bleeding edge of technology. The Live CD is my only hope of rescuing the system, so that I don't have to start from scratch and re-format the Linux partitions. Then I would loose everything and it would take another mounth to build the mountain from the molehill.
May Long-Live-Live-CD's!!! Rob
I'm still waiting for someone to package PC virtualization software preconfigured to boot a linux distro. Then there is _really_ no way your PC can be harmed.
Drew Vogel
I got a PCjr when I was 8 years old and I've been on the DOS/Windows platform since. I installed redhat and suse a couple of times a couple of summers ago and I have to say that it performed slowly versus the win 98 se I was running on old 450-800 mhz boxes. Maybe I didn't have enough ram I don't know. What was very difficult was adding software that wasn't part of the original distribution. I guess that's the idea is that the distribution should have everything you need in it? I don't know I may be an idiot. I am still very intrigued by linux, but I figure that if I can get over my head (e.g. I have no idea how to compile something) it may not work for a lot of the so called power windows users (and I know more about computing than you'd think) Maybe for people more experienced or less experienced than I - linux is great. Another thing is that the UI seems very derivitave of Windows and inconsistent. I'd like to see someone really create something special that really draws people in. Anyway...
I think not. If Linux itself was simpler, more straightforward and demystified, now that would be something.
At present Linux' only major advantage over Windows on the desktop for Joe User is the price. And everyone has already paid for Windows.
I don't mean any disrespect, but I think you're giving too much credit to Windows software with this comment. Being graphical and sometimes consistent does not by itself make something "easy and intuitive to use", even though a lot of people seem to equate those qualities with being visually appealing. I'm not trying to imply that any unix-derived software does any better, but I don't think it's correct to start applying labels such as "easy" and "intuitive" until somebody who's never previously seen or used the software can sit down and accomplish exactly what they want, and quickly.
I know lots of people who are very proficient at using certain Windows software. It's because they use it for tasks that they do frequently. They know the software and they've come to understand it through years of practice. At some point, though, they still had to take the leap to comprehend the idea of a "task" fitting inside a generic electronic box that supposedly does everything.
Many of the same people become incredibly frustrated as soon as they try to use software with which they're not familiar. It doesn't work in ways they expect, and often it'll use concepts that they've never been acquainted with. The fact that it's Windows, graphical, or even roughly consistent with other applications, makes no difference for it being easy and intuitive, at least beyond being able to tell the difference between a button and a menu option, for instance.
As it is, I don't personally think that most traditional software has a hope of ever really being intuitive and easy in this way. The concept of taking a generic box and having it do a million different things is just to complex. The only time that software, and computers in general, will be truly intuitive and easy to understand is when people no longer think of it as software, or computers for that matter.
A basic wrist-watch (without lots of other modes) is a really good example. Using it to find the time is an operation that most people will figure out simply by looking at it and noticing the time. It's not necessary to understand anything about computers, or how to put the watch into 'time-display' mode, to understand how to get the time from it. For most other tasks, we've still a very long way to go before software becomes "intuitive and easy". I doubt word processors will reach that point, for instance, until they're as obvious to use as something like a pen and paper. All that software really does at the moment is to make a lot of things possible that weren't possible before.
I use linux, and I prefer it over Windows at the moment. Part of this decision is because I've invested time in learning about it, and I'm happy with the relatively expert user interface that it offers for me to get what I want done more efficiently. My preferred WM is WindowMaker, because I like its light-weight feel compared with KDE or Gnome (plus it's supported by Debian). In an ideal design, though, there shouldn't be any serious difference between an expert and beginner interface, because everyone should simply be able to do exactly what they want to do efficiently and quickly.
I started off on my Linux adventure with a Live Linux CD...knoppix, i believe.
The only problem is that some live cds do not work on all computers. I tried running knoppix on my old 300Mhz PII Gateway...no luck...not enough memory. Plus, you can't save files with a lot of distros. Sometimes the internet doesn't even work.
Live CDs are a nice toy though, it demonstrates the power of the computer....its a gateway to the world of linux.
Live Distros are not a panacea. They aren't for grandma. But they are a great hobby toy for a computer enthusiast.
If you're willing to put a few hours into an install and config that will work reallllllly well, look into coLinux. http://www.colinux.org/
You won't have to dual boot, just run Linux at the same time as Windows. It performs better than virtualization. The only hurdle is getting a desktop, coLinux doesn't have video drivers for X. However, you can just use cygwin and run the desktop as a Windows app. For me, doing app development on Linux and Windows simultaneously, it's the best solution I've found so far. I can get a KDE desktop in 22 seconds (I just timed it) on an old P3 850Mhz laptop with 256MB of ram. All without interrupting my work in Windows.
Updating packages? Fedora, or any other distro that uses Yum or Apt, really shines at this. Just type "yum install package-name" or "apt-get install package-name" and the system resolves all dependencies, downloads & installs all the dependent packages and then downloads & installs the package. It really is simplicity itself.
My solution is called KVM.. I don't have any trouble finding older computers very inexpensively that run Linux just fine. I'm running SuSE 9.2 on a PIII-550 with 256 Megs of Ram and it works great. When I want to use the XP box to run Quickbooks, I just tap-tap on the num-lock and there's my XP window.
Actually, I go a bit further than that as I've got a 4 port KVM switch so I also have a similar box with Ubuntu 5.04 and a Celeron 900 with Xandros. All of these computers were given to me after a customer upgraded their office. So there's never a hassle when I want to change what distro I'm playing with.
I've dual booted boxes in the past and the only problems I've had with dual booting was with an XP install that got broken and the reinstall messed up the booting. No biggie.
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
Don't be a dick. The only reason I started using Linux was because I found live CDs that work properly with my hardware. Ubuntu, Knoppix, and PCLinuxOS are all I use now. (Hint: all have live CDs.)
This is not an illusion, a rip-off, or a ninja technique!
That's kinda interesting... several years ago my brother and I started rebuilding computers from old parts people gave away. We had several winmodems. Could almost never get them to work in Windows, since we didn't have the original driver disk, and the drivers were difficult to locate online. At one point we tried to contact some kind of support line for one of the companies and they said that they had a driver for the modem, but couldn't send us them because it was against company policy (better not let those winmodem drivers fall into the hands of non-winmodem owners!) . I think we just ended up finding regular modems. So, certainly, the horrors of winmodems are not just for Linux users. I wonder if any of those winmodems are supported by open source Linux drivers. However, having trashed all of them and dial-up Internet service years ago, I have no way to find out.
The Live CD is also an install CD. It includes QT Part-ed, which works as well for me as Partition Magic. The installer script has an option to resize with QT Part-ed as well.
If you want your life to be different, live it differently.
You are using a crappy distro. Use a debian based distro. No RPM's, great fonts, easy istall etc. Try UBUNTU, DEBIAN (SARGE) CD1 etc
Don't make your problems my problems!
Toys, of course, but a good way to learn.
Or you could google for 'winknoppix' . Plenty served !
Read more about it here: Desecration of the Qur'an at Guantánamo Bay
First I think the book will be a great way to introduce Linux to new people.
/dev/hda6) partitions and a Swap partition /dev/hda7). I then install WinXP first. Then Ubuntu. When it asks where to put grub in my case I put it on /dev/hda6. Then I install Fedora. In my case during the Fedora install I format the /dev/hda5 and make it the / root partition. When it comes to the part about the Boot manager you need to Add /hda/6 and name it Ubuntu. I chose to make Ubuntu my default.
I am by no means a computer expert. More of a user really. I now have on my Laptop Ubuntu (as my main working system, Windows XP for doing lab experiments from the SANS Security Essentials Toolkit book, and Fedora Linux also for experiments and so I learn how to use rpm's as well as Debs.
Basically I used a Knoppix cd and QTParted to create an NTFS partition (/dev/hda1), two EXT3 (/dev/hda5,
Then You need to follow the steps in the www.ubuntuguide.org to get your multimedia working. About a half hour of cutting and pasting. For Fedora this may help: http://fedoraguide.org/fc2/fc2beginnersguide.html
There may be an easier way but it works for me.
"Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's brains..."
i've given live cds to friends before and been available to give advice, but for people who do not know any linux users this could be very useful.
While I heartily support livecd's for both introducing new users, and for diagnostic/rescue missions, I think coming up with a slick Knoppix-like distribution which uses coLinux, would go a long way.
I've started using coLinux for my development environment, running a full Fedora install under Windows, surprisingly efficiently (blows the doors off of VMWare). A CD that you could stick in, run a program which starts coLinux and a Knoppix distribution, would really let people get the flavour of Linux, without even rebooting.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
A while back, I gave away a bunch of Knoppix CDs to my buddies at the local sports club. At first, they all wanted one, but later it turned out that none of them had taken the trouble to start one up. Apparently, the idea of actually running Linux on their PC just doesn't inspire the imagination. Apparently, the problem for them seems to consist of three things, not necessarily in the following order:
1.) Linux is usually not a platform on which they can play their favorite games.
2.) It's easy for them to get pirated versions of M$' OS and applications anyway.
3.) Complacency. Why bother?
It looks to me as though it may be many years before this situation changes. Something has to make Linux look like more of an attractive alternative to the average Windows user. Actually, I'm hoping that M$ itself will lend a hand here. When LongTime is finally released, perhaps it'll prove to be such a tough nut that it'll be impossible for anyone to install commercial applications on it illegally. Then everyone will be forced to pay M$' extortionist prices, which they'll hate.
But, as I was saying, this will take years. We're first going to have to arrive at a point at which the software for Windows XP is seen as outdated, the software for LongTime is seen as too expensive, and the software for Linux is seen as just (or almost) as good. Oh, and it'll also help if, by that time, more games are available for Linux.
you haven't tried gentoo
Handyboard Hackers' Resource Guide
..and good luck to them. Alot of Linux, especially in the Slashdot crowd, is indeed hype.
You're totally right.
I've tried a few Live CD's. Some haven't booted. My favourite has been Damn Small Linux which is 50mb (fits on a 7cm mini CD), can boot into RAM on a machine starting at 128mb and comes with Firefox (or Opera as a myDSL extension) and a variety of everyday stuff. I like it's minimalistic nature. I would keep a copy with me out and about but those guys bring out versions so quickly I gave up toasting off copies.
I will never be moving to Linux though, even though my next OEM PC will no doubt be bought without an OS (at a little reduced cost). I am just comfortable with Windows and there is no motivation for me to change and better yet reasons to change don't necessarily translate to motivation to change.
live-cds are great and all, and I use the for diagnostics, and even wiping Windows drives (particularly I don't trust DOS's drive naming conventions), but to actually try out Linux through live-cds doesn't really do it justice.
Even spinning as fast as it can, live-cds are nowhere near as fast as a HD. Even on a P4 laptop with 512MB of ram, the CDROM really delays things.
Perhaps someone could write a program that would fit on a floppy so that the user would simply download the iso, and boot a kernel inside it so that Windows doesn't get destroyed, yet the CDROM speeds won't ruine the whole experience.
Incidentally, Puppy Linux trys to make it as fast as it can by putting about 50MB+ worth of stuff in RAM.
I've used (formerly Mandrake) Move, Knoppix, SLAX, and Mepis. Most people I know who have heard of the live CDs have heard of all of those, and a bunch more.
antipaucity
I went from MS to Xandros after testing a few distros that wouldn't work with my Dell. Xandros is OK, but I recently moved to Mandrake (Mandriva). I love Linux now and am trying to get the gf to use it. I currently have a dual boot.
Step 1: Install Windows.
Step 2: Get yourself a Linux installation cd.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: A dual boot system ready to go!
If you're on Slashdot, you should know what a Live-CD is...good god....
In that case, I'd suggest Slashdot only carry stories on women, soap (not SOAP) and sun tanning techniques.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
I would have to agree with Blanks on this one! http://www.redfishonfly.com/
Capt. Rob Blake
They might again (hey, hope springs eternal), but No, Walmart is not selling boxed Linux of any sort in their stores right now. (Corrections welcome!)
For a time, though, they were selling Mandrake (old Slashdot stories address this, I'm sure -- search for "Walmart"); I think it was between versions 6 and 8, or 7 and 8 -- I bought two of the boxes at different points just to register a blip on their radar (also, because I needed a distro, and that was easier than downloading over dialup). I have good memories of Mandrake; it did *not* install smoothly on every machine on which I tried it, but it had a pretty good track record with me, and a sensible, nicely graphical installer.
They often do carry software, just not very much of it -- it's a big Everything store, so they do have to choose their product line with different criteria than I'd have for it, especially when it comes to software. Of course, for those willing to install it, the average Linux distro either replaces or circumvents much of the other software they'd rather you buy separately. (Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, low-end graphics / word processing, etc.)
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5