GNU/Linux (especially 2.6.18+)
Never has their been such an uproar in computing as a free kernel and free utilities-- all done very well with rapid, mindful if darwinian skill. Linus Torvalds crafted Linux, and has been holding on for dear life ever since. Coupled with the GNU utilities and two main window manager branches (Gnome and KDE), Linux underpinnings now grace objects from tiny wristwatches and clever cell/mobile phones, to IBM mainframes and everything in between. The promise of Linux for civilians is slowly but surely being realized through distros like Ubuntu, Novell/SUSE, Mandrive, Knoppix, and others, but the enterprise server market belongs to Red Hat, Novell/SUSE, and communities formed around each of these. That doesn't mean that there isn't worth in the literally hundreds of distros out there.
Off the top of my head:
1) 'Civilian distros' such as Knoppix & Mandrive? Knoppix is mainly used as a rescue CD and Mandrive DOESN'T EXIST. Mandrake/Mandriva does, but not Mandrive!
2) Novell/SUSE twice, but no Debian or Fedora?
3) GNU utilities? Are those still prevalent?
How can you develop much of anything with such a shotgun approach to hardware...This would be good for the hacker kids of the 1970s/1980s - lots of time to play around, no mature apps (that cost less than $1000), and no real expectation that you could get real work done on a small computer.
How do we develop programs for anything? We have OSes that run on LOTS of different sets of hardware, and there are lots of programs that run across lots of different OSes. We talk about these daily on Slashdot: Firefox, Thunderbird, Open Office, Pidgin... the list goes on and on. And there is no way you can call any of those apps NOT mature.
I haven't heard use of the term 'Rat' used in reference to the Big Block Chevys in ages. Nice.
Disclaimer: I'm a Dodge Fan.
Personally, this rates a solid 'Meh' in my book. Like the other five or six long running V8s from the Big 3, they may not be in current new production, but those things are everywhere, run forever, have a phalanx of 3rd party manufacturers providing them new, and will have aftermarket parts until hell freezes over. Let's not shed a tear just yet.
Instead, we seem to be witnessing the birth of a new hybrid stack — open source underneath, and proprietary on top.
Maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet, but HUH? When did this become new? I've been running Opera on my Kubuntu box since day one (back in '06). I also do believe Lotus Symphony is closed source (or was at one point). Irregardless, it's not new.
And I also want to echo what other people have said: They're developing closed-source apps to run on an open-source system. Bravo! Good on them. In the end, as long as they respect the licensing contraints, it's all good in my book.
I'm with you 100%. My parents finally got a computer 2(?) years ago and from day one I punted IE and gave them Opera (it's what i use at home, and since they live 50 miles away makes it easier to troubleshoot). They have been happy with it (except for a weird javascript thing on an airline site) and yes, Opera = Internet.
I did have Thunderbird installed on there too, but my Mom preferres web based E-mail. *shrug*
I think that giving users the *OPTION* is the true win. I could care less if IE is on top with big blinking letters. The fact a window will come up asking which internet browser they would like to install plants a seed in the back of their heads that there ARE options out there. Maybe they'll ask the resident geek, or they'll google it. Maybe they decide they want to try something different or decide they'll stick with tried and true. It doesn't matter. They have the choice, and the fact they are aware they have a choice is what counts.
I have used the documentation pages many times myself, and also find them good quality. My thought is if Linux documentation lacks why doesn't Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, Mandriva, etc. Creative Commons the work and start using those pages as their docs. Obviously they will need people to work as editors to fine tune to the particular distro, but why not? If this is a big enough issue, throwing money at it to fix is worthy.
Maybe it's me, or are we starting to see BSD & Linux become the new Gnome vs KDE or new.deb vs.rpm? Debian & BSD they can now handle each other's packages (like KDE apps can run in Gnome and vice versa if the right libraries are installed) and I stand back and wonder if Google and others might be right where the apps are everything and the underlying OS means very little to the average consumer.
Irregardless, cheers to the OpenBSD crew on another release, even if I'm a Kubuntu user. When one of us does well, we all do.
The testing concept was pretty absurd - (relatively) stable netbook releases vs a new distro that can barely be considered in 'Alpha' and really doesn't have a platform yet. If Ubuntu, Fedora or Suse had one of their Alpha distros benchmarked vs something stable they would be screaming bloody murder. Wake me when Chromium (much better name for the OS than Chrome by the way) is about to get released.
I second that. Where the real money is spent on netbooks is the smaller form factor - not the mature hardware. Smaller keyboards, smaller screens, smaller cases. And with all the netbooks competing on price point I will guarantee that the cases are as cheap as they can get away with.
We have benefited hugely from projects like GNU, the Linux Kernel, Moblin, Ubuntu, WebKit and many more. We will be contributing our code upstream and engaging closely with these and other open source efforts.
Off the top of my head, I know GNU, Linux & Ubuntu are GPLv2. And I'm pretty sure unless they really want Chrome OS to crash, burn and get a ton of bad press they'll have to license it under GPLv2. Which means we get to modify, recompile & redistribute.
Actually, I would prefer Kubuntu not be considered the redheaded step child of the three big *buntus. I do agree with Kubuntu's devs deciding to act like it's Ubuntu-minimal + KDE rather than the previous ubuntu + KDE bits tacked on. Only good things can come of it. Next time I rebuild my system I'm going to do KDE Neon + ubuntu-minimal.
As for Irfanview, yeah, it's awesome. Now if it would only open a file when I double click on it instead of just opening I'd be happier than a pig in manure.
As echoed previously: sudo aptitude install gimp. Make it so.
This can only be considered a good thing - another well funded GUI to go against Gnome, KDE & XCFE. Myself I have been looking over OpenGEU for a while (even ran it for a week) and while I really like some of the features it's not ready for prime time. I partially blame the integration of GTK pieces into Enlightenment but I feel that is a necessity at this moment. If funding from Samsung can improve Enlightenment to where it has a stable, 100% native suite then only good things can happen.
That's it? At my previous job those were the SMALL ones. If you really wanted to have fun the 500 Ton was sitting around idle a lot. Not sure how well it would make beef jerky though - kinda oily & not a lot of heat.
Of course, I'm a mechanical engineer - what do I know?
Slashdot Mirror
This is like the third time in three weeks that BB has gone down. Remind me again why my wife wants me to get one of these?
Off the top of my head:
OpenSuse: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=suse
Linux Mint: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mint
Macpup Opera: http://macpup.org/
I thought this was the Linux distro that came in the shape of that cute pointy blue pill :-/
Nah, that's the Matrix.
GNU/Linux (especially 2.6.18+)
Never has their been such an uproar in computing as a free kernel and free utilities-- all done very well with rapid, mindful if darwinian skill. Linus Torvalds crafted Linux, and has been holding on for dear life ever since. Coupled with the GNU utilities and two main window manager branches (Gnome and KDE), Linux underpinnings now grace objects from tiny wristwatches and clever cell/mobile phones, to IBM mainframes and everything in between. The promise of Linux for civilians is slowly but surely being realized through distros like Ubuntu, Novell/SUSE, Mandrive, Knoppix, and others, but the enterprise server market belongs to Red Hat, Novell/SUSE, and communities formed around each of these. That doesn't mean that there isn't worth in the literally hundreds of distros out there.
Off the top of my head:
1) 'Civilian distros' such as Knoppix & Mandrive? Knoppix is mainly used as a rescue CD and Mandrive DOESN'T EXIST. Mandrake/Mandriva does, but not Mandrive!
2) Novell/SUSE twice, but no Debian or Fedora?
3) GNU utilities? Are those still prevalent?
Whatever, this article officially fails
How can you develop much of anything with such a shotgun approach to hardware...This would be good for the hacker kids of the 1970s/1980s - lots of time to play around, no mature apps (that cost less than $1000), and no real expectation that you could get real work done on a small computer.
How do we develop programs for anything? We have OSes that run on LOTS of different sets of hardware, and there are lots of programs that run across lots of different OSes. We talk about these daily on Slashdot: Firefox, Thunderbird, Open Office, Pidgin... the list goes on and on. And there is no way you can call any of those apps NOT mature.
I haven't heard use of the term 'Rat' used in reference to the Big Block Chevys in ages. Nice.
Disclaimer: I'm a Dodge Fan.
Personally, this rates a solid 'Meh' in my book. Like the other five or six long running V8s from the Big 3, they may not be in current new production, but those things are everywhere, run forever, have a phalanx of 3rd party manufacturers providing them new, and will have aftermarket parts until hell freezes over. Let's not shed a tear just yet.
At the risk of a 'Whoosh!', What the hell are you talking about?
Instead, we seem to be witnessing the birth of a new hybrid stack — open source underneath, and proprietary on top.
Maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet, but HUH? When did this become new? I've been running Opera on my Kubuntu box since day one (back in '06). I also do believe Lotus Symphony is closed source (or was at one point). Irregardless, it's not new.
And I also want to echo what other people have said: They're developing closed-source apps to run on an open-source system. Bravo! Good on them. In the end, as long as they respect the licensing contraints, it's all good in my book.
Because slashdot hasn't done a logo for them yet. It's only been 5 years after all...
I'm with you 100%. My parents finally got a computer 2(?) years ago and from day one I punted IE and gave them Opera (it's what i use at home, and since they live 50 miles away makes it easier to troubleshoot). They have been happy with it (except for a weird javascript thing on an airline site) and yes, Opera = Internet.
I did have Thunderbird installed on there too, but my Mom preferres web based E-mail. *shrug*
I think that giving users the *OPTION* is the true win. I could care less if IE is on top with big blinking letters. The fact a window will come up asking which internet browser they would like to install plants a seed in the back of their heads that there ARE options out there. Maybe they'll ask the resident geek, or they'll google it. Maybe they decide they want to try something different or decide they'll stick with tried and true. It doesn't matter. They have the choice, and the fact they are aware they have a choice is what counts.
So the next episode of 'Lie To Me' is Cal Lightman vs a Robot? Outstanding!
'Lie To Me' is an excellent show by the way. Highly recommended.
Catapult + Glenn Beck
I have used the documentation pages many times myself, and also find them good quality. My thought is if Linux documentation lacks why doesn't Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, Mandriva, etc. Creative Commons the work and start using those pages as their docs. Obviously they will need people to work as editors to fine tune to the particular distro, but why not? If this is a big enough issue, throwing money at it to fix is worthy.
There was no Linux in 1979.
That's what I thought for the first 1/2 second before I read the rest of the comment. Hence why you didn't get the Whoosh.
Yeah, that was my bad. I blame a lack of coffee.
Meet the new Boss, Same as the old Boss.
.deb vs .rpm? Debian & BSD they can now handle each other's packages (like KDE apps can run in Gnome and vice versa if the right libraries are installed) and I stand back and wonder if Google and others might be right where the apps are everything and the underlying OS means very little to the average consumer.
Maybe it's me, or are we starting to see BSD & Linux become the new Gnome vs KDE or new
Irregardless, cheers to the OpenBSD crew on another release, even if I'm a Kubuntu user. When one of us does well, we all do.
The testing concept was pretty absurd - (relatively) stable netbook releases vs a new distro that can barely be considered in 'Alpha' and really doesn't have a platform yet. If Ubuntu, Fedora or Suse had one of their Alpha distros benchmarked vs something stable they would be screaming bloody murder. Wake me when Chromium (much better name for the OS than Chrome by the way) is about to get released.
I second that. Where the real money is spent on netbooks is the smaller form factor - not the mature hardware. Smaller keyboards, smaller screens, smaller cases. And with all the netbooks competing on price point I will guarantee that the cases are as cheap as they can get away with.
Value priced + Early in Life Cycle = Poor Quality
We have benefited hugely from projects like GNU, the Linux Kernel, Moblin, Ubuntu, WebKit and many more. We will be contributing our code upstream and engaging closely with these and other open source efforts.
Off the top of my head, I know GNU, Linux & Ubuntu are GPLv2. And I'm pretty sure unless they really want Chrome OS to crash, burn and get a ton of bad press they'll have to license it under GPLv2. Which means we get to modify, recompile & redistribute.
Actually, I would prefer Kubuntu not be considered the redheaded step child of the three big *buntus. I do agree with Kubuntu's devs deciding to act like it's Ubuntu-minimal + KDE rather than the previous ubuntu + KDE bits tacked on. Only good things can come of it. Next time I rebuild my system I'm going to do KDE Neon + ubuntu-minimal.
As for Irfanview, yeah, it's awesome. Now if it would only open a file when I double click on it instead of just opening I'd be happier than a pig in manure.
As echoed previously: sudo aptitude install gimp. Make it so.
Whoops - I meant to add that I use a number of GTK apps on my KDE system as well - notably Thunderbird and Open Office.
By 100% native suite I mean things like network manager, file manager, media player, menu, and battery gauge
Yes it's true that Linux's greatest failing was it didn't have enough GOOD, WELL DEVELOPED DEs!
There. Fixed that for you.
Seriously. Beyond Gnome, KDE & XCFE what is another well polished DE with all the bells & whistles that a modern distro is expected to have?
This can only be considered a good thing - another well funded GUI to go against Gnome, KDE & XCFE. Myself I have been looking over OpenGEU for a while (even ran it for a week) and while I really like some of the features it's not ready for prime time. I partially blame the integration of GTK pieces into Enlightenment but I feel that is a necessity at this moment. If funding from Samsung can improve Enlightenment to where it has a stable, 100% native suite then only good things can happen.
That's it? At my previous job those were the SMALL ones. If you really wanted to have fun the 500 Ton was sitting around idle a lot. Not sure how well it would make beef jerky though - kinda oily & not a lot of heat.
Of course, I'm a mechanical engineer - what do I know?