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VectorLinux SOHO 5.9 Deluxe Reviewed
An anonymous reader writes with a link to Caitlyn Martin's review of the Slackware-based Vector Linux SOHO 5.9 Deluxe: "I've read past reviews by other reviewers describing Vector Linux as 'better Slackware than Slackware' or 'what Slackware should be' and I always felt that was a bit of a stretch. With this release it isn't a stretch. You get all the reliability and stability of Slackware, better performance than vanilla Slack (at least on my hardware) and the features and most of the conveniences users of distributions touted as user friendly have come to expect."
Vector Linux is a decent distro to try out if you're a distro-hopper. But it's still just one of those generic desktop distros that doesn't seem to have any specific aim. I've used it in the past on computers that struggled with other distros, and it seemed to work well.
What's the value of information that you don't know?
But I think other things should be focused on. Like getting peripherals to work more seamlessly.
I remember Slackware as being the most fundamental flavor out there--where you have to meta-configure every little thing about it... aka "fine tune" if you will the thing from the ground up. Which made it a rather secure system to start with since out of the proverbial box, it opens nothing up until you do.
So; what is this "what Slackware should have" business???
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Vector's aim is to be a small stable distro for home and small business use.
That pretty much puts it in a class with a few hundred other distros. The difference with Vector is that it is a small stable Slackware based distro for home and small business use.
For most people new to Linux that difference might be like saying 'but our's goes to 11!'. However, for long time Slackware users it is a good thing. If you have year's(or even decade's) of Slackware experience and are looking for a user friendly distro. Vector would be a good choice. Especially for small businesses.
For non-Slackware users and Linux newbies you are absolutely correct that it does not stand out from the crowd.
Vector is for Slackware what Libranet was for Debian. A really great implementation based on the parent distro. I miss Libranet. I keep hoping that Ubuntu or Mepis get up to Libranet quality standards someday.
It does nothing extraordinarily *evolutionary compared to Slackware. Just a silly attempt of attracting userbase? Maybe someone should re-release Slackware as Deque Linux and label it as what Vector Linux should have been.
Without any license agreement. That's pretty bold I say. Seems like it'd be too easy for a group of users to pool some money to get a copy then throw it up on a free file host. Then again, that would involve work for someone on the group's end.
My thoughts gravitate toward software which is free and continues development via donations. How many people actually click the donate button? Only if I end up using the software daily or I think the software is awesome do I ever contribute. This just seems like an up-front donation, so if you know someone who donated (and therefore has the software) then you don't have to. It sounds like a good thing to try out - I'd be interested to know what the profit from such software is, relative to software which includes a "click here to donate" button.
I guess in the end it allows people who don't have money to get around buying it, and probably the people who have the money to spare end up shelling it out (for convenience).
-x2O
No 64-bit build - no deal. All modern CPUs are 64-bit, and pretending that they don't exist is not going to help you.
I'm a Kubuntu fan, but when I'm setting up older hardware, sometimes even xubuntu and fluxbuntu are too heavy. Vector Linux light edition runs just fine on a 500Mhz box with 64MB of ram. DVD's and other multi-media run out of the box, no difficult config needed. Set up was easy too, though I wasn't using any unusual hardware. It's worth trying out.
64 bits ought to be enough for anybody!
Caveat Utilitor
> especially when cutting edge means nothing and stability is paramount.
Now that's just a load of FUD. A 64 bit Linux is just as stable as a 32 bit one. It is not even "cutting edge", since the same source is compiled on both platforms. If you write good code, you shouldn't even have to change anything; just recompile and run. I run Slamd64 myself, and everything on it is 64bit and very nice and stable.
> Most of the useful(java plugin) or popular apps(games, some business) are not as
> stable in 64-bit if they exist at all(skype) so why put out a 64 bit distro
So it's a chicken and egg problem. Somebody has to start wanting 64 bit programs before companies will start providing them. It's the nature of business. Sure, you might not see any benefit from migrating to 64 bit, just as many people like you did not see any benefit from migrating to 32 bit from good old DOS. But a distribution packager is supposed to know these things, supposed to care about the advantages of the x64 platform. He ought to start migrating everything and everyone onto 64 bit, because it will eventually happen, just as 32 bit application completely replaced 16 bit ones. Be the egg, not the chicken.
try portpkg
Higuita
...to pay your $699 licensing fee you cock smoking teabaggers!
Make SELinux enforcing again!
XFCE has no right to continue to call themselves lightweight. Over time I've watched it get heavier and heavier. I think these lightweight distros should switch over to LXDE.
Did not you hear about the performance of Vector Linux? Oh, it performs so much better than vanilla Slackware. It performs superior (on my hardware). Well, my hardware is old, true. And yes, Vector Linux makes it perform better.
--- Buy the newest Vector Linux to make you old PCs perform better than ever! ---