Sorry for the long lay off, due to my schedule and my job duties. But now I managed to get an broadband internet line to my residence. So now I can update and maintain my blogs at any time I want. So theres no delays any more.
Thank you
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
What should a Newbie do first
For a newbie in the world of Linux it's very easy to get lost 'cos there are so many distributions and there are so many windows environments for a newcomer it's very hard. So I thought to give some tips that I picked up when I was newcomer to this Linus world. Any new comer out there who are already using Linux and who are planing to become a Linux user it's very good idea to polish up your English. Because Linux is a community based project you need to communicate with lot of people to get help or to tell them some thing that you found in the distribution. So it's a very good idea to get your English knowledge in writing and reading well polished.
Gnome stands for "GNU Network Object Model Environment" people in GNU who wanted a better and totally free desktop environment built this using GTK+ as the base. If your look at the GUI it resembles Apple Macintosh desktop layout using two panels one on top of the screen and one on the bottom of the screen. This environment is very small and ever effective.
KDE
KDE stands for "K Desktop Environment" started in 1996 Matthias Ettrich, who was then a student at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.He used Qt toolkit as his base and the GUI looks more toward another none free OS in the market.
Theres another not very popular desktop environment in the market known as Xfce(XFce Common Environment) built in 1996 by Olivier Fourdan and after that rebuild Xfce was rewritten two times now what you see is a very different version than the very first release.
Now lets look at some leading linux distributions in the market. (I got the bellow content from Distrowatch.com)
Another good habit to have in the Linux world is that of reading most people who turns to Linux after getting fed up with Bills & Gates doesn't have this habit very much 'cos in a Gates environment theres very little to read and very little to do because that environment is very much machined based and user get to see only the GUI and if theres any error comes up just click on "Don't Send" and continue what ever they were doing. What happens when a user turns from that kind of a OS to a open source one they get stuck 'cos they lack the habit of reading what ever comes on to the screen. Bear in mind to get the habit of reading into your computer life.
Now lets turn to the GUI part of any Linux distribution the desktop environment. There are two main stream desktop environments.
GNOMEGnome stands for "GNU Network Object Model Environment" people in GNU who wanted a better and totally free desktop environment built this using GTK+ as the base. If your look at the GUI it resembles Apple Macintosh desktop layout using two panels one on top of the screen and one on the bottom of the screen. This environment is very small and ever effective.
KDE
KDE stands for "K Desktop Environment" started in 1996 Matthias Ettrich, who was then a student at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.He used Qt toolkit as his base and the GUI looks more toward another none free OS in the market.
Theres another not very popular desktop environment in the market known as Xfce(XFce Common Environment) built in 1996 by Olivier Fourdan and after that rebuild Xfce was rewritten two times now what you see is a very different version than the very first release.
Now lets look at some leading linux distributions in the market. (I got the bellow content from Distrowatch.com)
Ubuntu
September 2004 was the birth year for Ubuntu. Although a relative newcomer to the Linux distribution scene, the project took off like no other before, with its mailing lists soon filled in with discussions by eager users and enthusiastic developers. In the few years that followed, Ubuntu has grown to become the most popular desktop Linux distribution and has greatly contributed towards developing an easy-to-use and free desktop operating system that can compete well with any proprietary ones available on the market.
What was the reason for Ubuntu's stunning success? Firstly, the project was created by Mark Shuttleworth, a charismatic South African multimillionaire, a former Debian developer and the world's second space tourist, whose company, the Isle of Man-based Canonical Ltd, is currently financing the project. Secondly, Ubuntu had learnt from the mistakes of other similar projects and avoided them from the start - it created an excellent web-based infrastructure with a Wiki-style documentation, creative bug-reporting facility, and professional approach to the end users. And thirdly, thanks to its wealthy founder, Ubuntu has been able to ship free CDs to all interested users, thus contributing to the rapid spread of the distribution.
On the technical side of things, Ubuntu is based on Debian "Sid" (unstable branch), but with some prominent packages, such as GNOME, Firefox and OpenOffice.org, updated to their latest versions. It has a predictable, 6-month release schedule, with an occasional Long Term Support (LTS) release that is supported with security updates for 3 - 5 years, depending on the edition (non-LTS release are supported for 18 months). Other special features of Ubuntu include an installable live CD, creative artwork and desktop themes, migration assistant for Windows users, support for the latest technologies, such as 3D desktop effects, easy installation of proprietary device drivers for ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards and wireless networking, and on-demand support for non-free or patent-encumbered media codecs.
What was the reason for Ubuntu's stunning success? Firstly, the project was created by Mark Shuttleworth, a charismatic South African multimillionaire, a former Debian developer and the world's second space tourist, whose company, the Isle of Man-based Canonical Ltd, is currently financing the project. Secondly, Ubuntu had learnt from the mistakes of other similar projects and avoided them from the start - it created an excellent web-based infrastructure with a Wiki-style documentation, creative bug-reporting facility, and professional approach to the end users. And thirdly, thanks to its wealthy founder, Ubuntu has been able to ship free CDs to all interested users, thus contributing to the rapid spread of the distribution.
On the technical side of things, Ubuntu is based on Debian "Sid" (unstable branch), but with some prominent packages, such as GNOME, Firefox and OpenOffice.org, updated to their latest versions. It has a predictable, 6-month release schedule, with an occasional Long Term Support (LTS) release that is supported with security updates for 3 - 5 years, depending on the edition (non-LTS release are supported for 18 months). Other special features of Ubuntu include an installable live CD, creative artwork and desktop themes, migration assistant for Windows users, support for the latest technologies, such as 3D desktop effects, easy installation of proprietary device drivers for ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards and wireless networking, and on-demand support for non-free or patent-encumbered media codecs.
- Pros: Fixed release cycle and support period; novice-friendly; wealth of documentation, both official and user-contributed
- Cons: Some of Ubuntu's own software (e.g. Launchpad, Rosetta) are proprietary; lacks compatibility with Debian
- Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
- Available editions: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) processors; Ubuntu Server edition also for SPARC processors
- Suggested Ubuntu-based alternatives: Linux Mint (desktop), Freespire (desktop), gNewSense (free software)
OpenSUS
The beginnings of openSUSE date back to 1992 when four German Linux enthusiasts -- Roland Dyroff, Thomas Fehr, Hubert Mantel and Burchard Steinbild -- launched the project under the name of SuSE (Software und System Entwicklung) Linux. In the early days, the young company sold sets of floppy disks containing a German edition of Slackware Linux, but it wasn't long before SuSE Linux became an independent distribution with the launch of version 4.2 in May 1996. In the following years, the developers adopted the RPM package management format and introduced YaST, an easy-to-use graphical system administration tool. Frequent releases, excellent printed documentation, and easy availability of SuSE Linux in stores across Europe and North America resulted in growing popularity of the distribution.
SuSE Linux was acquired by Novell, Inc. in late 2003. Major changes in the development, licensing and availability of SUSE Linux followed shortly afterwards - YaST was released under the General Public License, the ISO images were freely distributed from public download servers, and, most significantly, the development of the distribution was opened to public participation for the first time ever. Since the launch of the openSUSE project and the release of version 10.0 in October 2005, the distribution became completely free in both senses of the word. The openSUSE code has become a base system for Novell's commercial products, first named as Novell Linux, but later renamed to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
Today, openSUSE has a large following of satisfied users. The principal reason for openSUSE getting high marks from its users are pleasant and polished desktop environments (KDE and GNOME), excellent system administration utility (YaST), and, for those who buy the boxed edition, some of the best printed documentation available with any distribution. However, the recent deal between Novell and Microsoft, which apparently concedes to Microsoft's argument that it has intellectual property rights over Linux, has resulted in a string of condemnation by many Linux personalities and has prompted some users to switch distributions. Although Novell has downplayed the deal and Microsoft has yet to exercise any rights, this issue remains a thorn in the side of the otherwise very community-friendly Linux company.
SuSE Linux was acquired by Novell, Inc. in late 2003. Major changes in the development, licensing and availability of SUSE Linux followed shortly afterwards - YaST was released under the General Public License, the ISO images were freely distributed from public download servers, and, most significantly, the development of the distribution was opened to public participation for the first time ever. Since the launch of the openSUSE project and the release of version 10.0 in October 2005, the distribution became completely free in both senses of the word. The openSUSE code has become a base system for Novell's commercial products, first named as Novell Linux, but later renamed to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
Today, openSUSE has a large following of satisfied users. The principal reason for openSUSE getting high marks from its users are pleasant and polished desktop environments (KDE and GNOME), excellent system administration utility (YaST), and, for those who buy the boxed edition, some of the best printed documentation available with any distribution. However, the recent deal between Novell and Microsoft, which apparently concedes to Microsoft's argument that it has intellectual property rights over Linux, has resulted in a string of condemnation by many Linux personalities and has prompted some users to switch distributions. Although Novell has downplayed the deal and Microsoft has yet to exercise any rights, this issue remains a thorn in the side of the otherwise very community-friendly Linux company.
- Pros: Comprehensive and intuitive configuration tool; large repository of software packages, excellent web site infrastructure and printed documentation
- Cons: Novell's patent deal with Microsoft in November 2006 seemingly legitimised Microsoft's intellectual property claims over Linux; its resource-heavy desktop setup and graphical utilities are sometimes seen as "bloated and slow"
- Software package management: YaST graphical and command line utility using RPM packages
- Available editions: openSUSE for 32-bit (i386), 64-bit (x86_64) and PowerPC (ppc) processors (also a non-installable live DVD edition); SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop/Server for i586, IA64, PowerPC, s390, s390x and x86_64 architectures
Fedora
Although Fedora was formally unveiled only in September 2004, its origins effectively date back to 1995 when it was launched by two Linux visionaries -- Bob Young and Marc Ewing -- under the name of Red Hat Linux. The company's first product, Red Hat Linux 1.0 "Mother's Day", was released in the same year and was quickly followed by several bug-fix updates. In 1997, Red Hat introduced its revolutionary RPM package management system with dependency resolution and other advanced features which greatly contributed to the distribution's rapid rise in popularity and its overtaking of Slackware Linux as the most widely-used Linux distribution in the world. In later years, Red Hat standardised on a regular, 6-month release schedule.
In 2003, just after the release of Red Hat Linux 9, the company introduced some radical changes to its product line-up. It retained the Red Hat trademark for its commercial products, notably Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and introduced Fedora Core, a Red Hat-sponsored, but community-oriented distribution designed for the "Linux hobbyist". After the initial criticism of the changes, the Linux community accepted the "new" distribution as a logical continuation of Red Hat Linux. A few quality releases was all it took for Fedora to regain its former status as one of the best-loved operating systems on the market. At the same time, Red Hat quickly became the biggest and most profitable Linux company in the world, with an innovative product line-up and other interesting initiatives, such as its Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) certification programme.
Although Fedora's direction is still largely controlled by Red Hat, Inc. and the product is sometimes seen -- rightly or wrongly -- as a test bed for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, there is no denying that Fedora is one of the most innovative distributions available today. Its contributions to the Linux kernel, glibc and GCC are well-known and its more recent integration of SELinux functionality, Xen virtualisation technologies and other enterprise-level features are much appreciated among the company's customers. On a negative side, Fedora still lacks a clear desktop-oriented strategy that would make the product easier to use for those beyond the "Linux hobbyist" target.
Debian GNU/Linux
Debian GNU/Linux was first announced in 1993. Its founder, Ian Murdock, envisaged the creation of a completely non-commercial project developed by hundreds of volunteer developers in their spare time. With sceptics far outnumbering optimists at the time, it was destined to disintegrate and collapse, but the reality was very different. Debian not only survived, it thrived and, in less than a decade, it became the largest Linux distribution and possibly the largest collaborative software project ever created!
The success of Debian GNU/Linux can be illustrated by the following numbers. It is developed by over 1,000 volunteer developers, its software repositories contain more than 20,000 packages (compiled for 11 processor architectures), and it is responsible for inspiring over 120 Debian-based distributions and live CDs. These figures are unmatched by any other Linux-based operating system. The actual development of Debian takes place in three main branches (or four if one includes the bleeding-edge "experimental" branch) of increasing levels of stability: "unstable" (also known as "sid"), "testing" and "stable". This progressive integration and stabilisation of packages and features, together with the project's well-established quality control mechanisms, has earned Debian its reputation of being one of the best-tested and most bug-free distributions available today.
However, this lengthy and complex development style also has some drawbacks: the stable releases of Debian are not particularly up-to-date and they age rapidly, especially since new stable releases are only published once every 1 - 3 years. Those users who prefer the latest packages and technologies are forced to use the potentially buggy Debian testing or unstable branches. The highly democratic structures of Debian have led to controversial decisions and gave rise to infighting among the developers. This has contributed to stagnation and reluctance to make radical decisions that would take the project forward.
Although Fedora was formally unveiled only in September 2004, its origins effectively date back to 1995 when it was launched by two Linux visionaries -- Bob Young and Marc Ewing -- under the name of Red Hat Linux. The company's first product, Red Hat Linux 1.0 "Mother's Day", was released in the same year and was quickly followed by several bug-fix updates. In 1997, Red Hat introduced its revolutionary RPM package management system with dependency resolution and other advanced features which greatly contributed to the distribution's rapid rise in popularity and its overtaking of Slackware Linux as the most widely-used Linux distribution in the world. In later years, Red Hat standardised on a regular, 6-month release schedule.In 2003, just after the release of Red Hat Linux 9, the company introduced some radical changes to its product line-up. It retained the Red Hat trademark for its commercial products, notably Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and introduced Fedora Core, a Red Hat-sponsored, but community-oriented distribution designed for the "Linux hobbyist". After the initial criticism of the changes, the Linux community accepted the "new" distribution as a logical continuation of Red Hat Linux. A few quality releases was all it took for Fedora to regain its former status as one of the best-loved operating systems on the market. At the same time, Red Hat quickly became the biggest and most profitable Linux company in the world, with an innovative product line-up and other interesting initiatives, such as its Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) certification programme.
Although Fedora's direction is still largely controlled by Red Hat, Inc. and the product is sometimes seen -- rightly or wrongly -- as a test bed for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, there is no denying that Fedora is one of the most innovative distributions available today. Its contributions to the Linux kernel, glibc and GCC are well-known and its more recent integration of SELinux functionality, Xen virtualisation technologies and other enterprise-level features are much appreciated among the company's customers. On a negative side, Fedora still lacks a clear desktop-oriented strategy that would make the product easier to use for those beyond the "Linux hobbyist" target.
- Pros: Highly innovative; outstanding security features; large number of supported packages; strict adherence to the Free Software philosophy
- Cons: Fedora's priorities tend to lean towards enterprise features, rather than desktop usability
- Software package management: YUM graphical and command line utility using RPM packages
- Available editions: Fedora for 32-bit (i386), 64-bit (x86_64) and PowerPC (ppc) processors; Red Hat Enterprise Linux for i386, IA64, PowerPC, s390x and x86_64 architectures; also live CD and live DVD editions
- Suggested Fedora-based alternatives: BLAG Linux And GNU (desktop, free software), Berry Linux (live CD), Yellow Dog Linux (Apple's PowerPC-based systems)
- Suggested Red Hat-based alternatives: CentOS, Scientific Linux, StartCom Enterprise Linux, Lineox
Debian GNU/Linux
Debian GNU/Linux was first announced in 1993. Its founder, Ian Murdock, envisaged the creation of a completely non-commercial project developed by hundreds of volunteer developers in their spare time. With sceptics far outnumbering optimists at the time, it was destined to disintegrate and collapse, but the reality was very different. Debian not only survived, it thrived and, in less than a decade, it became the largest Linux distribution and possibly the largest collaborative software project ever created!The success of Debian GNU/Linux can be illustrated by the following numbers. It is developed by over 1,000 volunteer developers, its software repositories contain more than 20,000 packages (compiled for 11 processor architectures), and it is responsible for inspiring over 120 Debian-based distributions and live CDs. These figures are unmatched by any other Linux-based operating system. The actual development of Debian takes place in three main branches (or four if one includes the bleeding-edge "experimental" branch) of increasing levels of stability: "unstable" (also known as "sid"), "testing" and "stable". This progressive integration and stabilisation of packages and features, together with the project's well-established quality control mechanisms, has earned Debian its reputation of being one of the best-tested and most bug-free distributions available today.
However, this lengthy and complex development style also has some drawbacks: the stable releases of Debian are not particularly up-to-date and they age rapidly, especially since new stable releases are only published once every 1 - 3 years. Those users who prefer the latest packages and technologies are forced to use the potentially buggy Debian testing or unstable branches. The highly democratic structures of Debian have led to controversial decisions and gave rise to infighting among the developers. This has contributed to stagnation and reluctance to make radical decisions that would take the project forward.
- Pros: Very stable; remarkable quality control; includes over 20,000 software packages; supports more processor architectures than any other Linux distribution
- Cons: Conservative - due to its support for many processor architectures, newest technologies are not always included; slow release cycle (one stable release every 1 - 3 years); discussions on developer mailing lists and blogs can be uncultured at times
- Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
- Available editions: Installation CD/DVD and live CD images for 11 processor architectures, including all 32-bit and 64-bit processors from Intel, AMD, Power and others
- Suggested Debian-based alternatives: MEPIS Linux, Ubuntu, Damn Small Linux, KNOPPIX, sidux, Dreamlinux, Elive, Xandros, 64 Studio
Mandriva Linux
Mandriva Linux was launched by Gaël Duval in July 1998 under the name of Mandrake Linux. At first, it was just a re-mastered edition of Red Hat Linux with the more user-friendly KDE desktop, but the subsequent releases also added various user-friendly touches, such as a new installer, improved hardware detection, and intuitive disk partitioning utility. As a result of these enhancements, Mandrake Linux flourished. After attracting venture capital and turning into a business, the fortunes of the newly established MandrakeSoft fluctuated widely between a near bankruptcy in early 2003 to a flurry of acquisitions in 2005. The latter, after merging with Brazil's Conectiva, saw the company change its name to Mandriva.
Mandriva Linux is primarily a desktop distribution. Its best loved features are cutting edge software, superb system administration suite (DrakConf), excellent implementation of its 64-bit edition, and extensive internationalisation support. It had an open development model long before many other popular distributions, with intensive beta testing and frequent stable releases. In recent years, it has also developed an array of installable live CDs and has launched Mandriva Flash - a complete Mandriva Linux system on a bootable USB Flash device.
Despite the technical excellence, Mandriva Linux has been losing momentum in recent years. This has partly to do with the emergence of other user-friendly distributions that have caught up with Mandriva, but also with some controversial decisions by the company which have alienated a large sector of the distribution's user base. Mandriva's web presence is a messy conglomeration of several different web sites, while its "Mandriva Club", originally designed to provide added value to paying customers, has been getting mixed reviews. Although the company has been addressing some of the criticism, it continues to face an uphill battle in persuading new Linux users or users of other distributions to try (and buy) its products.
Mandriva Linux was launched by Gaël Duval in July 1998 under the name of Mandrake Linux. At first, it was just a re-mastered edition of Red Hat Linux with the more user-friendly KDE desktop, but the subsequent releases also added various user-friendly touches, such as a new installer, improved hardware detection, and intuitive disk partitioning utility. As a result of these enhancements, Mandrake Linux flourished. After attracting venture capital and turning into a business, the fortunes of the newly established MandrakeSoft fluctuated widely between a near bankruptcy in early 2003 to a flurry of acquisitions in 2005. The latter, after merging with Brazil's Conectiva, saw the company change its name to Mandriva.Mandriva Linux is primarily a desktop distribution. Its best loved features are cutting edge software, superb system administration suite (DrakConf), excellent implementation of its 64-bit edition, and extensive internationalisation support. It had an open development model long before many other popular distributions, with intensive beta testing and frequent stable releases. In recent years, it has also developed an array of installable live CDs and has launched Mandriva Flash - a complete Mandriva Linux system on a bootable USB Flash device.
Despite the technical excellence, Mandriva Linux has been losing momentum in recent years. This has partly to do with the emergence of other user-friendly distributions that have caught up with Mandriva, but also with some controversial decisions by the company which have alienated a large sector of the distribution's user base. Mandriva's web presence is a messy conglomeration of several different web sites, while its "Mandriva Club", originally designed to provide added value to paying customers, has been getting mixed reviews. Although the company has been addressing some of the criticism, it continues to face an uphill battle in persuading new Linux users or users of other distributions to try (and buy) its products.
- Pros: Beginner-friendly, especially the commercial editions; excellent central configuration utility; very good out-of-the-box support for dozens of languages; installable live CD
- Cons: The company's customer service has developed bad reputation over the years; complex, confusing web site infrastructure; dropping popularity due to its commercial nature and unpopular corporate decisions in the past
- Software package management: URPMI with Rpmdrake (a graphical front-end for URPMI) using RPM packages; "SMART" available as an alternative method
- Available editions: Freely downloadable Mandriva Free and One editions for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) processors; commercial Mandriva Discovery, PowerPack and PowerPack Plus editions for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64); also high-end "Corporate" solutions for desktops, servers and firewalls, all with long-term support options
- Suggested Mandriva-based alternatives: PCLinuxOS (desktop), MCNLive (live CD)
PCLinux OS
PCLinuxOS was first announced in 2003 by Bill Reynolds, better known as "Texstar". Prior to creating his own distribution, Texstar was already a well-known developer in the Mandrake Linux community of users for building up-to-date RPM packages for the popular distribution and providing them as a free download. In 2003 he decided to build a new distribution, initially based on Mandrake Linux, but with several significant usability improvements. The goals? It should be beginner-friendly, have out-of-the box support for proprietary kernel modules, browser plugins and media codecs, and should function as a live CD with a simple and intuitive graphical installer.
Several years and development releases later, PCLinuxOS is rapidly approaching its intended state. In terms of usability, the project offers out-of-the-box support for many technologies most Windows-to-Linux migrants would expect from their new operating system. On the software side of things, PCLinuxOS is a KDE-oriented distribution, with a customised and always up-to-date version of the popular desktop environment. Its growing software repository contains other desktops, however, and offers a great variety of desktop packages for many common tasks. For system configuration, PCLinuxOS has retained much of Mandriva's excellent Control Centre, but has replaced its package management system with APT and Synaptic, a graphical package management front-end.
On the negative side, PCLinuxOS lacks any form of roadmap or release goals. Despite the growing community involvement in the project, most development and decision-making remains in the hands of Texstar who tends to be on the conservative side when judging the stability of a release. As a result, the development process of PCLinuxOS tends to be long and a new version is not released until all known bugs are solved. There are currently no plans for a 64-bit edition of PCLinuxOS.
PCLinuxOS was first announced in 2003 by Bill Reynolds, better known as "Texstar". Prior to creating his own distribution, Texstar was already a well-known developer in the Mandrake Linux community of users for building up-to-date RPM packages for the popular distribution and providing them as a free download. In 2003 he decided to build a new distribution, initially based on Mandrake Linux, but with several significant usability improvements. The goals? It should be beginner-friendly, have out-of-the box support for proprietary kernel modules, browser plugins and media codecs, and should function as a live CD with a simple and intuitive graphical installer.Several years and development releases later, PCLinuxOS is rapidly approaching its intended state. In terms of usability, the project offers out-of-the-box support for many technologies most Windows-to-Linux migrants would expect from their new operating system. On the software side of things, PCLinuxOS is a KDE-oriented distribution, with a customised and always up-to-date version of the popular desktop environment. Its growing software repository contains other desktops, however, and offers a great variety of desktop packages for many common tasks. For system configuration, PCLinuxOS has retained much of Mandriva's excellent Control Centre, but has replaced its package management system with APT and Synaptic, a graphical package management front-end.
On the negative side, PCLinuxOS lacks any form of roadmap or release goals. Despite the growing community involvement in the project, most development and decision-making remains in the hands of Texstar who tends to be on the conservative side when judging the stability of a release. As a result, the development process of PCLinuxOS tends to be long and a new version is not released until all known bugs are solved. There are currently no plans for a 64-bit edition of PCLinuxOS.
- Pros: Out-of-the-box support for graphics drivers, browser plugins and media codecs; fast boot times; up-to-date software
- Cons: No 64-bit edition offered; no out-of-the-box support for non-English languages; lacks release planning
- Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using RPM packages
- Available editions: MiniMe, Junior and BigDaddy editions for 32-bit (i586) processor architectures
- Suggested PCLinuxOS-based alternative: SAM Linux Desktop
MEPIS Linux
MEPIS Linux was first announced in 2003 by Warren Woodford and his company, MEPIS LLC. The idea was to turn the Debian unstable branch into a beginner-friendly distribution, complete with automatic hardware configuration, support for popular media formats, and latest software packages. MEPIS Linux pioneered the concept of an easily installable live CD - a user could simply boot the CD, investigate the content, and then install it to a hard disk with just a few mouse clicks.
In the following years the developers focused on providing reliable hardware support for all kinds of troublesome hardware, including software modems and wireless network cards. In 2006, largely due to the volatility of Debian's unstable branch, the base system of MEPIS Linux was switched from Debian to Ubuntu, but it has returned to its Debian roots with version 7.0. Originally MEPIS Linux consisted of two editions - a desktop-oriented SimplyMEPIS and a developer-oriented ProMEPIS, but the latter edition was later dropped. Currently, the project provides both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of SimplyMEPIS.
On the negative side, the distribution lacks any clear roadmap or release schedule, but it appears that periodically updated versions will be released with older code base and newer technologies, such as the 3D desktop features. As a consequence, SimplyMEPIS is no longer as up-to-date as it once was. Beta testing tends to be extremely long and final releases are frequently delayed by months from the original projection. While SimplyMEPIS CD images are available for free download, MEPIS LLC encourages satisfied users to sign up for paid-for access to a premium server, which constitutes the company's only source of income.
KNOPIX Linux
The first public release of KNOPPIX was made in early 2003. This event was quickly followed by an astonishing number of highly positive reviews in the Linux media; this was the first Linux live CD that required no manual configuration. The KNOPPIX CD was meant to be placed in the CD-ROM drive and a few minutes after boot, the computer would run a full-featured, graphical Linux operating system with thousands of applications - all without the need to install anything on the computer's hard disk. Although KNOPPIX certainly wasn't the first Linux live CD, its creator, Klaus Knopper, went further than any other developer before him in scripting a hardware auto-detection and auto-configuration routine that put similar scripts produced by commercial Linux companies to shame.
The Debian-based KNOPPIX became such a huge success that many Linux users found it an indispensable and portable tool for a variety of tasks. It could be used to recover files and data from hard disks, to demonstrate the capabilities of Linux to new users, to test Linux hardware compatibility of laptops and desktop computers before purchase, or to boot it in Internet cafés and use it as a full-blown Linux operating system for every-day tasks. In fact, it became such a popular tool that within a short period of time dozens of similar projects sprouted all over the Internet, using Klaus Knopper's hardware auto-detection scripts and developing KNOPPIX-based variants ranging from full desktop systems to highly specialised forensics, testing and recovery tasks.
While KNOPPIX can be considered beginner-friendly in terms of its hands-off auto-configuration, it also includes many advanced features better suited for more technical users. Especially the recent DVD editions of the product came with a large number of software packages, including all popular desktops and many server applications pulled from Debian's unstable and testing archives. This increase in software numbers brought some problems, however; KNOPPIX has become slow (especially the DVD edition), buggy (Klaus Knopper does not seem to believe in public beta testing) and messy (in terms of menu arrangements on the different desktop systems). There is no release planning, but new KNOPPIX versions appear roughly twice a year, usually shortly after major Linux exhibitions in Germany, where new KNOPPIX versions are first unveiled to the public. It has lost some of its original glory due to the fact that most major Linux distributions now also offer live CD/DVD editions of their product.
Slackware Linux
Slackware Linux, created by Patrick Volkerding in 1992, is the oldest surviving Linux distribution. Forked from the now-discontinued SLS project, Slackware 1.0 came on 24 floppy disks and was built on top of Linux kernel version 0.99pl11-alpha. It quickly became the most popular Linux distribution, with some estimates putting its market share to as much as 80% of all Linux installations in 1995. Its popularity decreased dramatically with the arrival of Red Hat Linux and other, more user-friendly distributions, but Slackware Linux still remains a much-appreciated operating system among the more technically-oriented system administrators and desktop users.
Slackware Linux is a highly technical, clean distribution, with only a very limited number of custom utilities. It uses a simple, text-based system installer and a comparatively primitive package management system that does not resolve software dependencies. As a result, Slackware is considered one of the cleanest and least buggy distributions available today - the lack of Slackware-specific enhancements reduces the likelihood of new bugs being introduced into the system. All configuration is done by editing text files. There is a saying in the Linux community that if you learn Red Hat, you'll know Red Hat, but if you learn Slackware, you'll know Linux. This is particularly true today when many other Linux distributions keep developing heavily customised products to meet the needs of less technical Linux users.
While this philosophy of simplicity has its fans, the fact is that in today's world, Slackware Linux is increasingly becoming a "core system" upon which new, custom solutions are built, rather than a complete distribution with a wide variety of supported software. The only exception is the server market, where Slackware remains popular, though even here, the distribution's complex upgrade procedure and lack of officially supported automated tools for security updates makes it increasingly uncompetitive. Slackware's conservative attitude towards the system's base components means that it requires much manual post-installation work before it can be tuned into a modern desktop system.
Gentoo Linux
The concept of Gentoo Linux was devised in around the year 2000 by Daniel Robbins, a former Stampede Linux and FreeBSD developer. It was the author's exposure to FreeBSD and its "autobuild" feature called "ports", which inspired him to incorporate some of the FreeBSD software management principles into Gentoo under the name of "portage". The idea was to develop a Linux distribution that would allow users to compile the Linux kernel and applications from source code directly on their own computers, thus maintaining a highly-optimised and always up-to-date system. By the time the project released its 1.0 version in March 2002, Gentoo's package management was considered a superior alternative to some binary package management systems, especially the then widely-used RPM.
Gentoo Linux was designed for power users. Originally, the installation was cumbersome and tedious, requiring hours or even days of compiling on the command line to build a complete Linux distribution; however, in 2006 the project simplified the installation procedure by developing an installable Gentoo live CD with a point-and-click installer. Besides providing an always up-to-date set of packages for installation with a single command, the other important features of the distribution are excellent security, extensive configuration options, support for many architectures, and the ability to keep the system up-to-date without re-installing. The Gentoo documentation was repeatedly labelled as the best online documentation of any distribution.
Gentoo Linux has lost much of its original glory in recent years. Some Gentoo users have come to a realisation that the time-consuming compiling of software packages brings only marginal speed and optimisation benefits. Ever since the resignation of Gentoo's founder and benevolent dictator from the project in 2004, the newly established Gentoo Foundation has been battling with lack of clear directions and frequent developer conflicts, which resulted in several high-profile departures of well-known Gentoo personalities. It remains to be seen whether Gentoo can regain its innovative qualities of the past or whether it will slowly disintegrate into a loose collection of personal sub-projects lacking clearly-defined goals.
MEPIS Linux was first announced in 2003 by Warren Woodford and his company, MEPIS LLC. The idea was to turn the Debian unstable branch into a beginner-friendly distribution, complete with automatic hardware configuration, support for popular media formats, and latest software packages. MEPIS Linux pioneered the concept of an easily installable live CD - a user could simply boot the CD, investigate the content, and then install it to a hard disk with just a few mouse clicks.In the following years the developers focused on providing reliable hardware support for all kinds of troublesome hardware, including software modems and wireless network cards. In 2006, largely due to the volatility of Debian's unstable branch, the base system of MEPIS Linux was switched from Debian to Ubuntu, but it has returned to its Debian roots with version 7.0. Originally MEPIS Linux consisted of two editions - a desktop-oriented SimplyMEPIS and a developer-oriented ProMEPIS, but the latter edition was later dropped. Currently, the project provides both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of SimplyMEPIS.
On the negative side, the distribution lacks any clear roadmap or release schedule, but it appears that periodically updated versions will be released with older code base and newer technologies, such as the 3D desktop features. As a consequence, SimplyMEPIS is no longer as up-to-date as it once was. Beta testing tends to be extremely long and final releases are frequently delayed by months from the original projection. While SimplyMEPIS CD images are available for free download, MEPIS LLC encourages satisfied users to sign up for paid-for access to a premium server, which constitutes the company's only source of income.
- Pros: Beginner-friendly; excellent hardware auto-detection and support; intuitive, installable live CD
- Cons: Software in its repositories not always up-to-date, lacks development roadmap
- Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
- Available editions: SimplyMEPIS for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) processors
KNOPIX Linux
The first public release of KNOPPIX was made in early 2003. This event was quickly followed by an astonishing number of highly positive reviews in the Linux media; this was the first Linux live CD that required no manual configuration. The KNOPPIX CD was meant to be placed in the CD-ROM drive and a few minutes after boot, the computer would run a full-featured, graphical Linux operating system with thousands of applications - all without the need to install anything on the computer's hard disk. Although KNOPPIX certainly wasn't the first Linux live CD, its creator, Klaus Knopper, went further than any other developer before him in scripting a hardware auto-detection and auto-configuration routine that put similar scripts produced by commercial Linux companies to shame.The Debian-based KNOPPIX became such a huge success that many Linux users found it an indispensable and portable tool for a variety of tasks. It could be used to recover files and data from hard disks, to demonstrate the capabilities of Linux to new users, to test Linux hardware compatibility of laptops and desktop computers before purchase, or to boot it in Internet cafés and use it as a full-blown Linux operating system for every-day tasks. In fact, it became such a popular tool that within a short period of time dozens of similar projects sprouted all over the Internet, using Klaus Knopper's hardware auto-detection scripts and developing KNOPPIX-based variants ranging from full desktop systems to highly specialised forensics, testing and recovery tasks.
While KNOPPIX can be considered beginner-friendly in terms of its hands-off auto-configuration, it also includes many advanced features better suited for more technical users. Especially the recent DVD editions of the product came with a large number of software packages, including all popular desktops and many server applications pulled from Debian's unstable and testing archives. This increase in software numbers brought some problems, however; KNOPPIX has become slow (especially the DVD edition), buggy (Klaus Knopper does not seem to believe in public beta testing) and messy (in terms of menu arrangements on the different desktop systems). There is no release planning, but new KNOPPIX versions appear roughly twice a year, usually shortly after major Linux exhibitions in Germany, where new KNOPPIX versions are first unveiled to the public. It has lost some of its original glory due to the fact that most major Linux distributions now also offer live CD/DVD editions of their product.
- Pros: Unparalleled hardware auto-detection and auto-configuration; portable operating system that can be used for rescue, demonstration and testing tasks; provides a hard-disk installation script
- Cons: Recent releases somewhat buggy; lack of polish and unification of menus across the different desktop environments; slow when run from DVD
- Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
- Available editions: Live CD and Live DVD editions for 32-bit (i386) processors
- Suggested Debian/KNOPPIX-based alternatives: Damn Small Linux, sidux, Xandros Desktop, Elive, Dreamlinux, Parsix GNU/Linux, grml
Slackware Linux
Slackware Linux, created by Patrick Volkerding in 1992, is the oldest surviving Linux distribution. Forked from the now-discontinued SLS project, Slackware 1.0 came on 24 floppy disks and was built on top of Linux kernel version 0.99pl11-alpha. It quickly became the most popular Linux distribution, with some estimates putting its market share to as much as 80% of all Linux installations in 1995. Its popularity decreased dramatically with the arrival of Red Hat Linux and other, more user-friendly distributions, but Slackware Linux still remains a much-appreciated operating system among the more technically-oriented system administrators and desktop users.Slackware Linux is a highly technical, clean distribution, with only a very limited number of custom utilities. It uses a simple, text-based system installer and a comparatively primitive package management system that does not resolve software dependencies. As a result, Slackware is considered one of the cleanest and least buggy distributions available today - the lack of Slackware-specific enhancements reduces the likelihood of new bugs being introduced into the system. All configuration is done by editing text files. There is a saying in the Linux community that if you learn Red Hat, you'll know Red Hat, but if you learn Slackware, you'll know Linux. This is particularly true today when many other Linux distributions keep developing heavily customised products to meet the needs of less technical Linux users.
While this philosophy of simplicity has its fans, the fact is that in today's world, Slackware Linux is increasingly becoming a "core system" upon which new, custom solutions are built, rather than a complete distribution with a wide variety of supported software. The only exception is the server market, where Slackware remains popular, though even here, the distribution's complex upgrade procedure and lack of officially supported automated tools for security updates makes it increasingly uncompetitive. Slackware's conservative attitude towards the system's base components means that it requires much manual post-installation work before it can be tuned into a modern desktop system.
- Pros: Highly stable, clean and bug-free, strong adherence to UNIX principles
- Cons: Limited number of officially supported applications; conservative in terms of base package selection; complex upgrade procedure; no official 64-bit edition
- Software package management: "pkgtools" using TGZ (TAR.GZ) packages
- Available editions: Installation CDs and DVD for 32-bit (i486) processors
- Suggested Slackware-based alternatives: Zenwalk Linux (desktop), VectorLinux (desktop), SLAX (live CD), Slamd64 Linux (64-bit), Bluewhite64 Linux (64-bit), Wolvix (desktop, live CD), GoblinX (desktop, live CD)
- Other distributions with similar philosophies: Arch Linux, Frugalware Linux, KateOS
Gentoo Linux
The concept of Gentoo Linux was devised in around the year 2000 by Daniel Robbins, a former Stampede Linux and FreeBSD developer. It was the author's exposure to FreeBSD and its "autobuild" feature called "ports", which inspired him to incorporate some of the FreeBSD software management principles into Gentoo under the name of "portage". The idea was to develop a Linux distribution that would allow users to compile the Linux kernel and applications from source code directly on their own computers, thus maintaining a highly-optimised and always up-to-date system. By the time the project released its 1.0 version in March 2002, Gentoo's package management was considered a superior alternative to some binary package management systems, especially the then widely-used RPM.Gentoo Linux was designed for power users. Originally, the installation was cumbersome and tedious, requiring hours or even days of compiling on the command line to build a complete Linux distribution; however, in 2006 the project simplified the installation procedure by developing an installable Gentoo live CD with a point-and-click installer. Besides providing an always up-to-date set of packages for installation with a single command, the other important features of the distribution are excellent security, extensive configuration options, support for many architectures, and the ability to keep the system up-to-date without re-installing. The Gentoo documentation was repeatedly labelled as the best online documentation of any distribution.
Gentoo Linux has lost much of its original glory in recent years. Some Gentoo users have come to a realisation that the time-consuming compiling of software packages brings only marginal speed and optimisation benefits. Ever since the resignation of Gentoo's founder and benevolent dictator from the project in 2004, the newly established Gentoo Foundation has been battling with lack of clear directions and frequent developer conflicts, which resulted in several high-profile departures of well-known Gentoo personalities. It remains to be seen whether Gentoo can regain its innovative qualities of the past or whether it will slowly disintegrate into a loose collection of personal sub-projects lacking clearly-defined goals.
- Pros: Excellent software management infrastructure, unparalleled customisation and tweaking options, superb online documentation
- Cons: Occasional instability and risk of breakdown, the project suffers from lack of directions and frequent infighting between its developers
- Software package management: "Portage" using source (SRC) packages
- Available editions: Minimal installation CD and live CD (with GNOME) for Alpha, AMD64, HPPA, IA64, MIPS, PPC, SPARC and x86 processors; also "stages" for manual installation from command line
- Suggested Gentoo-based alternatives: SabayonLinux (desktop, live CD/DVD), VLOS (desktop), Ututo (desktop, free software only)
- Other source-based distributions: Lunar Linux, Source Mage GNU/Linux, Sorcerer, Linux From Scratch
FreeBSD
FreeBSD, a direct descendant of AT&T UNIX, has a long and turbulent history dating back to 1993. Unlike Linux distributions, which are defined as integrated software solutions consisting of the Linux kernel and thousands of software applications, FreeBSD is a tightly integrated operating system built from a BSD kernel and the so-called "userland" (therefore usable even without extra applications). This distinction is largely lost once installed on an average computer system - like many Linux distributions, a large collection of easily installed, (mostly) open source applications are available for extending the FreeBSD core, but these are usually provided by third-party contributors and aren't strictly part of FreeBSD.
FreeBSD has developed a reputation for being a fast, high-performance and extremely stable operating system, especially suitable for web serving and similar tasks. Many large web search engines and organisations with mission-critical computing infrastructures have deployed and used FreeBSD on their computer systems for years. Compared to Linux, FreeBSD is distributed under a much less restrictive license, which allows virtually unrestricted re-use and modification of the source code for any purpose. Even Apple's Mac OS X is known to have been derived from BSD. Besides the core operating system, the project also provides over 15,000 software applications in binary and source code forms for easy installation on top of the core FreeBSD.
While FreeBSD can certainly be used as a desktop operating system, it doesn't compare well with popular Linux distributions in this department. The text-mode system installer offers little in terms of hardware detection or system configuration, leaving much of the dirty work to the user in a post-installation setup. In terms of support for modern hardware, FreeBSD generally lags behind Linux, especially in supporting popular desktop and laptop gadgets, such as wireless network cards or digital cameras. Those users seeking to exploit the speed and stability of FreeBSD on a desktop or workstation should consider one of the available desktop FreeBSD projects, rather than FreeBSD itself.
These are the top rating and major distros in the Linux filed so try one or two of them and select the one you feel comfortable with and continue using that. Now I'm going to end this hope this information helps you.
FreeBSD, a direct descendant of AT&T UNIX, has a long and turbulent history dating back to 1993. Unlike Linux distributions, which are defined as integrated software solutions consisting of the Linux kernel and thousands of software applications, FreeBSD is a tightly integrated operating system built from a BSD kernel and the so-called "userland" (therefore usable even without extra applications). This distinction is largely lost once installed on an average computer system - like many Linux distributions, a large collection of easily installed, (mostly) open source applications are available for extending the FreeBSD core, but these are usually provided by third-party contributors and aren't strictly part of FreeBSD.FreeBSD has developed a reputation for being a fast, high-performance and extremely stable operating system, especially suitable for web serving and similar tasks. Many large web search engines and organisations with mission-critical computing infrastructures have deployed and used FreeBSD on their computer systems for years. Compared to Linux, FreeBSD is distributed under a much less restrictive license, which allows virtually unrestricted re-use and modification of the source code for any purpose. Even Apple's Mac OS X is known to have been derived from BSD. Besides the core operating system, the project also provides over 15,000 software applications in binary and source code forms for easy installation on top of the core FreeBSD.
While FreeBSD can certainly be used as a desktop operating system, it doesn't compare well with popular Linux distributions in this department. The text-mode system installer offers little in terms of hardware detection or system configuration, leaving much of the dirty work to the user in a post-installation setup. In terms of support for modern hardware, FreeBSD generally lags behind Linux, especially in supporting popular desktop and laptop gadgets, such as wireless network cards or digital cameras. Those users seeking to exploit the speed and stability of FreeBSD on a desktop or workstation should consider one of the available desktop FreeBSD projects, rather than FreeBSD itself.
- Pros: Fast and stable; availability of over 15,000 software applications (or "ports") for installation; very good documentation
- Cons: Tends to lag behind Linux in terms of support for exotic hardware, limited availability of commercial applications; lacks graphical configuration tools
- Software package management: A complete command-line package management infrastructure using either binary packages or source-based "ports" (TBZ)
- Available editions: Installation CDs for Alpha, AMD64, i386, IA64, PC98 and SPARC64 processors
- Suggested FreeBSD-based alternatives: PC-BSD (desktop), DesktopBSD (desktop), FreeSBIE (live CD)
- Other BSD alternatives: OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly BSD
These are the top rating and major distros in the Linux filed so try one or two of them and select the one you feel comfortable with and continue using that. Now I'm going to end this hope this information helps you.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Frugal Paradus Mint
Three of the coolest distro's are out two of them are distribution releases and one of them is a development release. Frugalware has finally released there 0.9 version to the public as a stable version there are no major upgrades but there are so many minor fixers to the system from there 0.9 rc2.
Paradus has released there 2008.1 rc this being there final rc release before the 2008.1 stable distribution version and the people at paradus is releasing this version with two flavors one containing the installation and the other as a Live CD I don't get this why they are doing some thing like this any way it's there distribution.
Mint have released Xfce edition of mint to the community with more desktop enhancing features. They have improved the memory usage. Upstream improvements from Ubuntu and have ufw firewall with better printing capabilities.
If you wish to download one of these distributions use the links below.
Paradus has released there 2008.1 rc this being there final rc release before the 2008.1 stable distribution version and the people at paradus is releasing this version with two flavors one containing the installation and the other as a Live CD I don't get this why they are doing some thing like this any way it's there distribution.
Mint have released Xfce edition of mint to the community with more desktop enhancing features. They have improved the memory usage. Upstream improvements from Ubuntu and have ufw firewall with better printing capabilities.
If you wish to download one of these distributions use the links below.
- Frugalware : i686 dvd ISO (torrent 4.5Mb) or x86_64 dvd ISO (torrent 4.120Mb)
- Paradus : Paradu 2008.1-tr RC ISO or Paradus Caslian 2008-KDE3 RC ISO or Paradus Caslian 2008-KDE4 ISO
- Mint : Linux Mint-5-XFCE ISO
- Frugalware release announcement.
- Paradus release announcement.
- Mint release announcement.
Triple Booting your System with GRUB
Well as usual I was doing some things on my PC and got this sudden brain blast to install Ubuntu on my secondary 40Gb HDD. So I downloaded Ubuntu x86_64 using my all time favorite CentOS and burned a CD from the ISO image file using K3B. After that I just booted my computer using my new Ubuntu CD and installed a fresh coy on 40Gb HDD. As being a new comer my self to the world of Linux I found out that after installing the GRUB on to the MBR of my secondary 40Gb HDD I've to boot from that HDD to get the Ubuntu GRUB menu. It was OK, but there was major problem I couldn't find my CentOS distribution in the Ubuntu GRUB menu. Ubuntu installation system didn't have detected my other Linux distro so to boot in to that I've change my boot hard disk from my BIOS and as I know that's not a very good idea to change the BIOS very frequently.
So I've to find a solution pronto, I turned to my good friend in the internet Mr.Google I toled him what I want to find but he also didn't have a satisfying answer for me. Then I turned to my forum people they were very helpful and guided me through. And here is what I've cooked up.
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,6)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VL1/LogVol00
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,6)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
# hiddenmenu
password --md5 dsadqe2121wsdsd2.
title CentOS (2.6.18-92.1.10.el5)
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-92.1.10.el5 ro root=/dev/VL1/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-92.1.10.el5.img
title CentOS (2.6.18-92.el5)
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-92.el5 ro root=/dev/VL1/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-92.el5.img
title Ubuntu
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1
title WindowsXP SP2
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
But this to work you've install your secondary Linux distribution in to the exact partition you've listed here. And this will load the secondary GRUB on your HDD that belongs to the new installation. This worked for me 'cos there are very little reconfiguration or editing of the grub.conf or menu.lst.
How to enter this code in to your GRUB
Log in as root and open up a terminal. If you're a CentOS user type,
#nano /etc/grub.conf
or
#gedit /etc/grub.conf
if you're a Ubuntu user type like this,
~$ sudo gedit /etc/grub/menu.lst
and press enter.
#nano /etc/grub.conf
or
#gedit /etc/grub.conf
if you're a Ubuntu user type like this,
~$ sudo gedit /etc/grub/menu.lst
and press enter.
Now you'll see a text file that looks just like the code that I've written here and scroll down to end of the file and type like this.
title Ubuntu
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1
hd1 means the HDD wich you've installed the Linux distro this could be 1, 2, 3 .... etc it depends on you and 0 is the partion where the GRUB have been installed this also could be 1, 2, 3 .... etc and remember in Linux partions and HDD number list starts from number"0"so befor you edit the boot loaders config file please verify wich number belong to wich partition or HDD.
OK, thats it try this and see wether this works and leave your comments.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Two devels are out
The two devils MidnightBSD & Dragon Fly BSD have come out of there caves. The Midnight BSD from Lucas Holt has released there 0.2.1version for the public. Midnight BSD is a derivative from Free BSD and the people in Lucas is trying to make BSD more simple to the normal or newbie user.
On the other hand Dragon Fly BSD is a Live DVD version for testing that contains more up coming versions of there new softwares. This live DVD version is code named as "DEVEL" and it's advaiced to backup every bit of your valuable data befor you go exploring with this distrobution.
On the other hand Dragon Fly BSD is a Live DVD version for testing that contains more up coming versions of there new softwares. This live DVD version is code named as "DEVEL" and it's advaiced to backup every bit of your valuable data befor you go exploring with this distrobution.
- To see Dragon Fly Realeas Notes Click here
- To see Midnight BSD Release Notes Click here
So sorry for taking a long time to updat my blog
Hi, people out there sorry for taking such a long time to update my blog I was stuck with my work from now on I'll try to find some time to update as much as I can for the sake of Linux.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Three big releases
These three days there have been much activity in the world of Linux. There have been three development releases and one distribution release. From OpenSUSE, Mandriva, Elive there have been development releases and not suitable for regular users but for testing purposes only.From Guardian Digital Engard have been released as a distribution. You guy's can check out the the release announcements on these release by clicking the links below.
- Release announcement for OpenSUSE.
- Release announcement for Elive.
- Release announcement for Mandriva Linux.
- Release announcement for Egard.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Using squid proxy as transparent
In transparent mode you don't need to give a specific port number. How to do that is listed here.
Using Squid proxy as an easy web filter.
You can use your squid proxy as small web filter. This article will guide you through please click here.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Very good free web hosting package
I came a cross an web site that allows free web hosting packages to the novice users who are still sniffing around. Best thing is they provide user sub domains for free but unlike other free providers there are no ads. And they give a very good real time cPanel that allows the user to manage there web site at an ease. They use Linux as there server operating system so it's very stable unlike other servers and have a 99% up time. So if you're interested click here to go to there home page.
Friday, August 15, 2008
OpenGEU New Beta is out
OpenGEU formerly known as Geubuntu has released there new beta version for testing. OpenGEU is based on the Ubuntu platform and used Enlightenment 0.17 to create a different desktop environment for the average user and it's very easy for person who is migrating from any other platform to this very easy. So take a peak at this new release.
Homepage : http://opengeu.intilinux.com/Home.html
Homepage : http://opengeu.intilinux.com/Home.html
Good site to down load Linux software
Go to this web site this contains over thousand of Linux software.
http://www.tuxsoftware.com/home/
http://www.tuxsoftware.com/home/
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Ubuntu v8.10 Alpha 4
Well known Debian based desktop Linux environment Ubuntu has released there alpha 4 of there next version 8.10 code named as "Intrepid Ibex" for testing purpose. This is not suitable for day to day use yet. To find out more about the new release click here.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Linux and GNU
After publishing the Linux kernel under a it's own share source licence. With the freely available GNU source he switched to GNU General Public Licence and he embedded Linux kernel into the GNU software and published the changed as version 0.12. Then in December 1992 he published the version 0.99 under GNU GPL.And this change made the Linux what we see to day. Very powerful contender for other gate's system.
The Name
At first Torvalds used "Freax" as the name for Linux. A portmanteau from "freek", "free" and "x" an allusion to Unix. But later he uploaded his file to a ftp server at the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) in September 1991. Ari Lemmke, the person who was responsible for the servers thought that "Freax" was not a very good name and he him self renamed the project as "Linux" with out the knowledge of Torvalds. But at first Torvalds protested but later he also accepted the renaming and it became generally accepted all over the world.
Lets look at the history of Linux
Actually before Linux came to planet earth there was another kernel called Unix and this was implemented in the 1960s and first released in 1970s. This was freely available and also because of it's portability Unix became a hit in the world of IT. Then after a while Unix became commercialized and was not free. So a person by the name of Richard Stallman created a project called GNU in 1983 to provide an Unix like operating system for free under GPL(General Public License). By the year 1990 everything was ready to created a full operating system but there was a problem the GNU kernel code named Hurd had failed to attract the interest of developers and was little unstable. And there was several other release from different creators but they also had smiler problems.
This led to a project in 1991 that began in Hesinki by Linus Torvalds that later became the Linux kernel. At beginning it was a terminal emulator that was used by Torvalds to access Unix servers. After a while Torvalds noticed that he has written an operating system kernel and on 25th of August 1991 he announced this to newsgroup "comp.os.minix" through Usenet. And later this became the famous Linux that we now today.
This led to a project in 1991 that began in Hesinki by Linus Torvalds that later became the Linux kernel. At beginning it was a terminal emulator that was used by Torvalds to access Unix servers. After a while Torvalds noticed that he has written an operating system kernel and on 25th of August 1991 he announced this to newsgroup "comp.os.minix" through Usenet. And later this became the famous Linux that we now today.
Friday, August 8, 2008
What is Linux really?
I'm going to start from the place where I left of in my first article. As you can remember I asked you a question is Linux a operating system or a kernel ?. Well most of them answered as it's an O/S but Linux is not a O/S, actually Linux is a kernel that have been gift raped with lot of free and good software's so normal people like you & me could work with in our home computer. OK, before I move on I like to give you a small idea about what is a kernel, So lets start.
What Is a Kernel?Let me explain it like this, all mammals have a thing called the brain. By using the brain we process things what our other 
sensors take in and decides what to do with it. Lets presume that no had a brain what will happen? there want be any civilization. Just like that the kernel is the brain behind those big graphics and user interfaces. What kernel does actually it makes everything happen in a computer and this illustration will make it much more clear to you how the kernel works. I think now you might have little idea about what is a kernel and how it acts in the operating system.
(image is from Wikipedia)
sensors take in and decides what to do with it. Lets presume that no had a brain what will happen? there want be any civilization. Just like that the kernel is the brain behind those big graphics and user interfaces. What kernel does actually it makes everything happen in a computer and this illustration will make it much more clear to you how the kernel works. I think now you might have little idea about what is a kernel and how it acts in the operating system.(image is from Wikipedia)
information contained in this article was taken from Wikipedia.org
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Welcom to sLinuxWorld Blog
I well come all you newbies to the world of linux (finally you guys made the right choice). This blog is based on my day to day experiences with the both operating systems. and I hope give you a little light toward the right direction until you guys get the hang of world of linux.If you've any problems or any help on linux or some distribution based on that format please don't hold back just ask me, I'm here to help.
By profession I'm a all round IT guy with knowledge on both the open sorce stuff and the ons with Bill's & Gates. I get to work with both platforms every day so I know up's and downs of both of them. And I love to see more and more people coming into the world of linux and leving bahind there old crashing memories. OK! that's enough about that I'm going to end this welcome note here and leave you guys a question.
Is Linux a operating system or a kernel ?
By profession I'm a all round IT guy with knowledge on both the open sorce stuff and the ons with Bill's & Gates. I get to work with both platforms every day so I know up's and downs of both of them. And I love to see more and more people coming into the world of linux and leving bahind there old crashing memories. OK! that's enough about that I'm going to end this welcome note here and leave you guys a question.
Is Linux a operating system or a kernel ?