Distro News

sledge writes "eiT, a small German company, recently released easyLinux, a distribution targeted at beginners. Could be an interesting competitor for the 'big' boys. " We've mentioned this before, but it's actually been released now (in German - the English version should be out RSN). It looks impressive - a GUI based install, nice setup tools, etc. Does anyone know how the new stuff is licensed?
Also, Gael from Linux-Mandrake writes "We have release Mandrake6.0beta (Mariner) a few days ago and we need many many many people to test it!! :) It's available for download Thanx!!! " So, it seems as if all the news in Linux distributions for the day comes from Europe.

Comments

More and more and more distros

[gavinhall]

Posted by F1reB1rd:

Hi,

I had a quick look, and I must say, I'm impressed. I am also creating a distro (yes another one), aimed at students, and home users (more at students, while I don't pay for bandwidth to other students). There are 4 people working on it at the moment.

We will give the choice of various WM's, and install GTK and Qt as a matter of course. We will have an rpm and deb and pkgtool-supporting database (hurrah!) and we will have graphical config tools for all the servers we package, and be all user-friendly (but not user-sichophantic).

Well, enough plugging... our minimal pages (while we are hacking on the tools) can be found at http://lunariX.org. The site will be updated later, as soon as there's something worth looking at.

I know you slackwaree guys are gonna hate me....

[A Life in Hell]

But I really think that distros like this are the way of the future for about 90% of users. Simple install that doesn't require you do do nearly as much real work? I'd like to use that. That said, I'm a console junkie, so I'll be sticking to the more advanced distros, but my mother uses linux, and this sort of distro she could operate (she is reasonably technically adept for a windows user, but no expert/geek :)

are Linux users faithful?

[SBarany]

I think most of Linux users begin with some distribution and after some time they try out an other one. I am wondering whether it is usual
to change completely. It would be interesting to know:
- how long has somebody used a distribution before deciding to change
- how many other distributions he/she tried
- what are the rates of change (from - to)

Diversity not lost. Just delayed.

[Wokan]

It would be nice if they'd given users a multiple choice on tools to install. For example: vi, emacs, joe, or pico. Netscape or Lynx. FTP or NCFTP. KDE, Gnome, WindowMaker, FVWM, or AfterStep.
I realize there are more options in each of those categories. I'm just listing the first ones to come to mind.
But at least with such a system, users would still know they're getting each of the tools they want. And optional tools could have a None option.
As is though, easyLinux doesn't really remove the choice. You just have to learn enough to be able to download and install different tools that you may want.
Take my Windoze box, I couldn't stand the limitations of Notepad for basic text editing, so I got Notepad++ instead. I didn't want an unstable browser tied to an already unstable OS. So I got Netscape. (At least when it crashes, it doesn't take half my system with it.)
I'm still learning Linux. So I'm trying all kinds of programs out. Most of which weren't included with my distribution (Mandrake 5.3).
So all is not lost. A determined newbie wants to know he/she can have a working system quickly for peace of mind, and then they'll start experimenting with the options. I, personally, was a little unsure what to install when presented with all my options. And I didn't get my system the way I wanted until I had tried at least 10 different full re-installs.

Digital Wokan, Tribal mage of the electronics age

Caldera Open Linux 2.2

[rawg]

Its all about the Caldera Open Linux 2.2 install. I installed it the other day, and wow. You can even play Tetris while its installing. The install is multi-tasking. Its fast, easy. KDE wm with a few themes.

I love the install, and it works good, but there is a lot of things that are not there. I think I like Debian the best right now.

This could be the future..

[weaselp]

..ladies and gentleman. I've seen their screenshots and they're great if one is used to gui installation tools.

Most important for "us" they still allow what they call advanced or pro mode during install.

What we might find a bit disturbing is the fact that they include only KDE (from what I read) and don't let the user choose between different wm/de but for the beginner this can be a great advantage.

What I dislike is the fact that they do not ship most of the sources with their CD(s?) they can however be obtained on cd for a small fee or downloaded from their ftp.

cu
--

Am I getting paranoid ?

[Dinsdale]

"Further, easyLinux is strongly restricted to specific tools and programs, to protect the beginner from the killing diversity of applications, that nearly all do the same thing."

I must be getting paranoid.I keep thinking..just replace the name "easyLinux" with "Windows". Yes diversity kills! My God you may be put in a situation where you might *learn* something.Have to ask questions,read a man page or hack it your self . All joking aside I suppose, if Linux is to migrate to the desktops of the world, install's must become more user friendly.I just have a concern that, if you hide the dirty details of what goes on under the hood from the average user, you are becoming like the other big O/S's that keep the user deaf,dumb & blind. Ah well..maybe it's time for Prozac in my diet.