Mad Penguin reviewed a migration tool not too long ago that helps make migration from Windows to Linux almost seamless. It's a commercial product, but foolproof from what it looks like. Also the licensing cost is pretty low.
5 seconds into the article...
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Office 12 Exposed
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· Score: -1, Offtopic
People kill people. The same holds true for ROTS showing up on bittorrent. Blame the software? You've got to be fscking kidding me. Blame the people, not the distribution method.
Mad Penguin has added an update to the review explaining that since the writing of the review, SUSE has made four patches available for the release which fix media support. They are apparently only on the EU mirrors though. They also made available a listing of the packages SUSE has patched, which is pretty extensive. You can find that list here. The final score was bumped up to 4/5 stars as well.
ummmm... movies won't play? Codecs maybe? These are required in Windows as well. Linux is no different. Actually, getting Win32 codecs on Linux is a snap.
The server appears to be up and down so heres a complete mirror I grabbed a few minutes ago:
As time pushes onward, the computer word grows exponentially in size, accomplishments, features, advances, and of course... system requirements. The latter is more a burden than a benefit if you ask most people who have the pleasure of working with computers day in and day out, but the Linux community has a decided advantage over most: They have the ability to control their destiny and the hardware it will run on.
Sure, some of you will immediately say "X or Y distro is bloated to the point that is comparable with Microsoft Windows at this point" and you aren't wrong for saying so. Linux has grown to a size where it can easily put Windows to shame in terms of sheer girth. Linux in the year 2004 has more bells and whistles than Windows could ever dream of, and that's not a bad thing... unless you are the proud owner of hardware that Thomas Edison would be able to easily identify in a line up.
So what do you do with that old Pentium II 266MHz laptop or PC that's been stashed in your closet for the past three years? Is it possible to actually use it again as a worthwhile companion for performing everyday tasks that your new 3GHz computer handles so easily? Well, the full answer could be very complicated if we were to cover ever last little detail, but the short answer is simple: YES.
VectorLinux can (and always has been able to) take an old dinosaur of a computer and render it just as useful as the day that it was new. Seriously. Built on Slackware Linux, one of the most stable and best performing distributions available today, VectorLinux has been optimized to the point that it outperforms every other distro I've tested on older equipment... without fail. So, if you've got an older computer that you were getting ready to throw out the door, dust it off, purchase a copy of VectorLinux, and bring it back to life.
Features:
* Linux kernel 2.6.7
* Glibc-2.3.2
* Gcc 3.2.3
* XFree 4.3
* KDE 3.2.3, XFCE 4, Fluxbox, and ICEwm
* Mozilla 1.7
* VASM
Installation If you've ever installed VectorLinux before, you know the installer. It hasn't really changed much over the past couple of years that we've been monitoring it. It's simple, GUI-less, to the point, and lacks advanced options. Is this a bad thing? In some cases with certain distros, yes, but in the case of VectorLinux it's not even a concern. The reason being is that this distro is so stripped down as it is, fine tuning packages and settings after the installation takes just as much time as it would during the install, and there really isn't much to it anyway.
For those of you who are reading this and have never installed VectorLinux, don't be intimidated by the lack of a pretty graphical installer. The Vector installation is completely simple, even without the GUI, and any user with a basic understanding of Linux will have no problem installing it. The only 'gotcha' I noticed (and I've complained about this in past reviews... nothing has changed) is that after partitioning the drive(s) you come to a prompt that is a bit confusing to the newcomer... it's a multiple choice screen which has the following options:
RETURN Return to the partition program. I want to try again
REBOOT Reboot the system to add the new partitions
RESTART Don't know how I got here but I want out
To most people (including myself), restart means reboot... but obviously there is already an option for rebooting, so what exactly does it do? Restart the installer? Well, sort of. What it means in VectorLand is continue on with the next step of the installation. I stumbled on it the first time I saw it, but can now easily navigate through it since I've reviewed this distro so many times. I guess the developers have seen this so many times as well that they don't even realize it's there. Other than that single issue, the installer is flawless. On the few machines
Here's a small clip from the article: "The simple fact is that not enough people really know about Firefox, and this advertising campaign is one of the best ideas I've seen come out of the Open Source community in quite some time. We all know that no matter how compelling our software may be, the majority of the world's population doesn't even know it exists. It's not from lack of effort on our behalf, either. We spend much of our time promoting free software, as I'm sure most of you reading this do, but the one thing we lack is real visibility. We can eat, sleep, and sweat Firefox, but in reality, we are up against a large company with tons of money being dumped into their image... a very difficult proposition wouldn't you say? If you look at it for what it is, you'll see it for what it is. When a company can produce software which crashes constantly, allows strangers to steal personal information with little to no real effort, and then to top it off with the 'we'll patch it when we get around to it' attitude and it still controls 95+% of the market, anything less than a miracle is going to crumble from the weight. It's an odd thing isn't it? The fact is that Internet Explorer is harmful to the people who use it. But the truth is, people don't really pay attention to the facts. If they did, that 95+% of the world would all be running OS X right now wouldn't they?"
Slashdot Mirror
Mad Penguin reviewed a migration tool not too long ago that helps make migration from Windows to Linux almost seamless. It's a commercial product, but foolproof from what it looks like. Also the licensing cost is pretty low.
SLASHDOTTED!
A bit dated I suppose, but still relevant: http://madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=4419
Mad Penguin is running an interview with EFF attorney Wendy Seltzer. Good read.
Mad Penguin published a "progress" review of FC4 not too long ago and it was a pretty good read.
Good point ;)
How can they run an XBox on Windows 3.11?? I just don't get it... Will we be required to add TCP/IP on our own if we wish to play over the network?
People kill people. The same holds true for ROTS showing up on bittorrent. Blame the software? You've got to be fscking kidding me. Blame the people, not the distribution method.
and pegs MSN squarely in the head with it.
Firefox Porno? hmmm I think that might be illegal...
Switch to Linux :)
Sorry, it had to be said!
Mad Penguin has added an update to the review explaining that since the writing of the review, SUSE has made four patches available for the release which fix media support. They are apparently only on the EU mirrors though. They also made available a listing of the packages SUSE has patched, which is pretty extensive. You can find that list here. The final score was bumped up to 4/5 stars as well.
ummmm... movies won't play? Codecs maybe? These are required in Windows as well. Linux is no different. Actually, getting Win32 codecs on Linux is a snap.
Looks like they have the server running ok now, so ya'll should be able to read :)
The server appears to be up and down so heres a complete mirror I grabbed a few minutes ago:
As time pushes onward, the computer word grows exponentially in size, accomplishments, features, advances, and of course... system requirements. The latter is more a burden than a benefit if you ask most people who have the pleasure of working with computers day in and day out, but the Linux community has a decided advantage over most: They have the ability to control their destiny and the hardware it will run on.
Sure, some of you will immediately say "X or Y distro is bloated to the point that is comparable with Microsoft Windows at this point" and you aren't wrong for saying so. Linux has grown to a size where it can easily put Windows to shame in terms of sheer girth. Linux in the year 2004 has more bells and whistles than Windows could ever dream of, and that's not a bad thing... unless you are the proud owner of hardware that Thomas Edison would be able to easily identify in a line up.
So what do you do with that old Pentium II 266MHz laptop or PC that's been stashed in your closet for the past three years? Is it possible to actually use it again as a worthwhile companion for performing everyday tasks that your new 3GHz computer handles so easily? Well, the full answer could be very complicated if we were to cover ever last little detail, but the short answer is simple: YES.
VectorLinux can (and always has been able to) take an old dinosaur of a computer and render it just as useful as the day that it was new. Seriously. Built on Slackware Linux, one of the most stable and best performing distributions available today, VectorLinux has been optimized to the point that it outperforms every other distro I've tested on older equipment... without fail. So, if you've got an older computer that you were getting ready to throw out the door, dust it off, purchase a copy of VectorLinux, and bring it back to life.
Features:
* Linux kernel 2.6.7
* Glibc-2.3.2
* Gcc 3.2.3
* XFree 4.3
* KDE 3.2.3, XFCE 4, Fluxbox, and ICEwm
* Mozilla 1.7
* VASM
Installation
If you've ever installed VectorLinux before, you know the installer. It hasn't really changed much over the past couple of years that we've been monitoring it. It's simple, GUI-less, to the point, and lacks advanced options. Is this a bad thing? In some cases with certain distros, yes, but in the case of VectorLinux it's not even a concern. The reason being is that this distro is so stripped down as it is, fine tuning packages and settings after the installation takes just as much time as it would during the install, and there really isn't much to it anyway.
For those of you who are reading this and have never installed VectorLinux, don't be intimidated by the lack of a pretty graphical installer. The Vector installation is completely simple, even without the GUI, and any user with a basic understanding of Linux will have no problem installing it. The only 'gotcha' I noticed (and I've complained about this in past reviews... nothing has changed) is that after partitioning the drive(s) you come to a prompt that is a bit confusing to the newcomer... it's a multiple choice screen which has the following options:
RETURN Return to the partition program. I want to try again
REBOOT Reboot the system to add the new partitions
RESTART Don't know how I got here but I want out
To most people (including myself), restart means reboot... but obviously there is already an option for rebooting, so what exactly does it do? Restart the installer? Well, sort of. What it means in VectorLand is continue on with the next step of the installation. I stumbled on it the first time I saw it, but can now easily navigate through it since I've reviewed this distro so many times. I guess the developers have seen this so many times as well that they don't even realize it's there. Other than that single issue, the installer is flawless. On the few machines
Mad Penguin basically said the same thing in this article, and it's true.
Here's a small clip from the article:
"The simple fact is that not enough people really know about Firefox, and this advertising campaign is one of the best ideas I've seen come out of the Open Source community in quite some time. We all know that no matter how compelling our software may be, the majority of the world's population doesn't even know it exists. It's not from lack of effort on our behalf, either. We spend much of our time promoting free software, as I'm sure most of you reading this do, but the one thing we lack is real visibility. We can eat, sleep, and sweat Firefox, but in reality, we are up against a large company with tons of money being dumped into their image... a very difficult proposition wouldn't you say? If you look at it for what it is, you'll see it for what it is. When a company can produce software which crashes constantly, allows strangers to steal personal information with little to no real effort, and then to top it off with the 'we'll patch it when we get around to it' attitude and it still controls 95+% of the market, anything less than a miracle is going to crumble from the weight. It's an odd thing isn't it? The fact is that Internet Explorer is harmful to the people who use it. But the truth is, people don't really pay attention to the facts. If they did, that 95+% of the world would all be running OS X right now wouldn't they?"