I've been using GNU software since the 1980s and Linux software since 1995. About two years ago now, I started experimenting with the Debian packaging. My first experience was a bit rough, it seemed to take a bit of work to get the base software installed and configured, at least two years ago.
A few vendors have done much to improve the situation, and even the base Debian software is finally showing signs of improvement. In the past year or so, though, several small projects have emerged that make installing Linux a snap, and they use Debian GNU/Linux packaging, which makes ongoing maintenance as easy as the initial installation.
Mepis is one such project. Based on Knoppix, Mepis utilizes some of the great innovations found in Knoppix that improve hardware detection and boot times directly from a Live CD image. Mepis goes a bit further, lightens up and speeds up the interface, and simplifies installation to disk.
The result is a very usable system that you can carry with you and use from Live CD, but is also a complete system that can be easily installed to disk. I personally have found Mepis to be the best Live CD implementation I've found yet, and also a very complete system in its own right.
People considering Linux software ought to take a close look at this software. You can try it out without having to replace anything, yet you can also install it on your system quite simply and easily. The software is current, fairly well tested out (even though it uses some software from the "unstable" Debian software tree), and it boots up quickly, even from CD. I'm usually booted up and running within two minutes when I run from CD, and I can install the software and even download additional software onto my disk in well under an hour (including config. time). I recommend this software.
Apparently this latest worm has successfully infected lots of systems with something. My system has been getting absolutely clobbered with lots of these silly messages. Fortunately, I'm running GNU/Linux software, so it's more of an annoyance than anything else, the only side effect I've seen is lots of extra mail. I've managed to automatically filter some of it as junk, but my filter needs to get a bit smarter, still getting lots of junk mail.
I'm really excited about MozillaFirebird, too. To me it has many of the features found in Mozilla, Netscape, and Galeon, but with a much lighter footprint. What's nice beyond that is I've discovered that you can use soft links to share configuration information between Mozilla, Phoenix, and MozillaFirebird hidden directories. Usually, though, all it takes is to create your setup within the.mozilla directory, and the other browsers can read the information. For me, that's a big advantage, because each browser has desirable characteristics. Being able to share those characteristics is extremely valuable and useful.
Since the main conversation in this thread is about the new Opera release for Linux, my comments are that this version seems to be very fast, based on a very short set of tests. It also appears to have one or two flaws, at least. I was able to bring the browser down within five minutes by visiting a discussion forum at Ziff Davis Media's Extreme Tech Web site. Given that problem, I'll probably be using Opera mostly when I plan to be downloading software. I like the way Opera handles download transfers.
This new browser is on my keeper's list, but probably won't be my most frequently used browser, simply because I ran into problems so quickly. I will, however, give it a longer test drive, and use it along with many other browsers.
I haven't had a lot of time to fully thrash out the new version. I'd been running the earlier Linux field test version. Just got the brand new Version 7.11 for Linux this evening. I had to download the static version; the shared version was incompatible with the libraries on my Debian system.
First time I started up the browser, I found it to start very quickly and also render pages quickly, as good as anything I've seen, including Galeon and MozillaFirebird.
However, a few minutes after starting the browser, I entered the Ziff Davis Extreme Tech site, a site I've used with lots of different browsers, including previous versions of Opera.
After scrolling through a few forums and looking at the Extreme Tech UNIX and Linux discussions, my browser abruptly quit without asking.
I restarted the browser and it offered to continue where I left off, so that wasn't terrible, but there do appear to be a few rough edges somewhere in this latest release.
It could be that I have some old content or configuration that needs to be changed, but from my perspective, a browser should behave itself and handle unexpected conditions without disappearing.
So though this browser is very fast, it seems to still need a bit more work. I tend to stick with Netscape 7+; it has been working very well and very stable for me on my Linux systems.
Not everyone needs to learn or know the Linux command line. I agree with that statement.
The Lycoris Desktop/LX Linux distribution makes a concerted effort to make it unnecessary to use the Linux command line, but it does not prevent you from doing so.
For me, this is an ideal scenario. I am a long time UNIX and Linux user, but I still appreciate being able to point and click for the every day stuff. I appreciate it so much that I now use Lycoris as my every day desktop system, even though I have Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000 Professional, QNX 6.1, and about 8 different Linux distributions at my fingertips. I still use and test all of those systems, but for day to day use, I now go with Lycoris. I can read my Email, browse the Web, and of course, read and contribute to Slashdot quite easily. Isn't that what desktop systems are for?
At the same time, being a "techno dweeb", I installed the Lycoris Developer Tools from the command line and then installed a variety of other tools that I use when I want more flexibility. I have both with Lycoris: ease of use AND flexibility, and yes, I even have my command line!
Slashdot Mirror
I've been using GNU software since the 1980s and Linux software since 1995. About two years ago now, I started experimenting with the Debian packaging. My first experience was a bit rough, it seemed to take a bit of work to get the base software installed and configured, at least two years ago.
A few vendors have done much to improve the situation, and even the base Debian software is finally showing signs of improvement. In the past year or so, though, several small projects have emerged that make installing Linux a snap, and they use Debian GNU/Linux packaging, which makes ongoing maintenance as easy as the initial installation.
Mepis is one such project. Based on Knoppix, Mepis utilizes some of the great innovations found in Knoppix that improve hardware detection and boot times directly from a Live CD image. Mepis goes a bit further, lightens up and speeds up the interface, and simplifies installation to disk.
The result is a very usable system that you can carry with you and use from Live CD, but is also a complete system that can be easily installed to disk. I personally have found Mepis to be the best Live CD implementation I've found yet, and also a very complete system in its own right.
People considering Linux software ought to take a close look at this software. You can try it out without having to replace anything, yet you can also install it on your system quite simply and easily. The software is current, fairly well tested out (even though it uses some software from the "unstable" Debian software tree), and it boots up quickly, even from CD. I'm usually booted up and running within two minutes when I run from CD, and I can install the software and even download additional software onto my disk in well under an hour (including config. time). I recommend this software.
Apparently this latest worm has successfully infected lots of systems with something. My system has been getting absolutely clobbered with lots of these silly messages. Fortunately, I'm running GNU/Linux software, so it's more of an annoyance than anything else, the only side effect I've seen is lots of extra mail. I've managed to automatically filter some of it as junk, but my filter needs to get a bit smarter, still getting lots of junk mail.
I'm really excited about MozillaFirebird, too. To me it has many of the features found in Mozilla, Netscape, and Galeon, but with a much lighter footprint. What's nice beyond that is I've discovered that you can use soft links to share configuration information between Mozilla, Phoenix, and MozillaFirebird hidden directories. Usually, though, all it takes is to create your setup within the .mozilla directory, and the other browsers can read the information. For me, that's a big advantage, because each browser has desirable characteristics. Being able to share those characteristics is extremely valuable and useful.
Since the main conversation in this thread is about the new Opera release for Linux, my comments are that this version seems to be very fast, based on a very short set of tests. It also appears to have one or two flaws, at least. I was able to bring the browser down within five minutes by visiting a discussion forum at Ziff Davis Media's Extreme Tech Web site. Given that problem, I'll probably be using Opera mostly when I plan to be downloading software. I like the way Opera handles download transfers.
This new browser is on my keeper's list, but probably won't be my most frequently used browser, simply because I ran into problems so quickly. I will, however, give it a longer test drive, and use it along with many other browsers.
I haven't had a lot of time to fully thrash out the new version. I'd been running the earlier Linux field test version. Just got the brand new Version 7.11 for Linux this evening. I had to download the static version; the shared version was incompatible with the libraries on my Debian system.
First time I started up the browser, I found it to start very quickly and also render pages quickly, as good as anything I've seen, including Galeon and MozillaFirebird.
However, a few minutes after starting the browser, I entered the Ziff Davis Extreme Tech site, a site I've used with lots of different browsers, including previous versions of Opera.
After scrolling through a few forums and looking at the Extreme Tech UNIX and Linux discussions, my browser abruptly quit without asking.
I restarted the browser and it offered to continue where I left off, so that wasn't terrible, but there do appear to be a few rough edges somewhere in this latest release.
It could be that I have some old content or configuration that needs to be changed, but from my perspective, a browser should behave itself and handle unexpected conditions without disappearing.
So though this browser is very fast, it seems to still need a bit more work. I tend to stick with Netscape 7+; it has been working very well and very stable for me on my Linux systems.
Not everyone needs to learn or know the Linux command line. I agree with that statement.
The Lycoris Desktop/LX Linux distribution makes a concerted effort to make it unnecessary to use the Linux command line, but it does not prevent you from doing so.
For me, this is an ideal scenario. I am a long time UNIX and Linux user, but I still appreciate being able to point and click for the every day stuff. I appreciate it so much that I now use Lycoris as my every day desktop system, even though I have Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000 Professional, QNX 6.1, and about 8 different Linux distributions at my fingertips. I still use and test all of those systems, but for day to day use, I now go with Lycoris. I can read my Email, browse the Web, and of course, read and contribute to Slashdot quite easily. Isn't that what desktop systems are for?
At the same time, being a "techno dweeb", I installed the Lycoris Developer Tools from the command line and then installed a variety of other tools that I use when I want more flexibility. I have both with Lycoris: ease of use AND flexibility, and yes, I even have my command line!
Brian W. Masinick
mailto:masinick@yahoo.com