Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal Alpha 3 Review: Anticipating more cutting edge apps

26th July, 2012, exactly one month after Alpha 2 release, Kate Stewart has announced the release of Alpha 3 of Ubuntu 12.10. Being an avid follower of Ubuntu, I downloaded the 765 MB ISO from the Ubuntu cdimage site. Booting up was quick in VirtualBox and I was greeted with the familiar Unity interface.

From Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Screenshots

From Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Screenshots

Applications

Application-wise, there is not much change from Ubuntu Precise, only I see the very latest versions of apps like Firefox and Thunderbird. Possibly, by the final release, we'll see Firefox 15. As usual, the ensemble of apps is comprehensive and rich. However, some of my favorite apps like VLC, Adobe flash support, multimedia codecs, etc. are still not in-built. During installation flash and codecs are downloaded whereas you can install Firefox from Ubuntu repository. Linux kernel is also updated to 3.5.0.6 and Gnome to 3.5.4. Final release possibly will have Gnome 3.6.

From Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Screenshots

From Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Screenshots

From Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Screenshots

From Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Screenshots

CPU and RAM usage

In Alpha 2, I found RAM usage to be ~ 446 MB. It has significantly come down to 318 MB in Alpha 3, under identical conditions with only System monitor running. Definitely developers worked on that area. CPU usage is around 8-10% which is decent for a comprehensive OS like Ubuntu. Precise uses ~300 MB under identical conditions.

From Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Screenshots

Overall
I see a lot of progress from Alpha 2 to Alpha 3. Definitely, by October we'll see a further polished and refined distro with better performance from Unity. Would I replace Precise with Quantal? I am not sure. At this point, I'll go for 5 year support as upgrading doesn't happen with Ubuntu and reinstalling the whole system means a lot of task for me. For now I'll stick with Pear Linux 5 (forked from Ubuntu 12.04 LTS).

Slide show of Ubuntu Quantal from my Picasa album.

Read more!

AntiX 12: Most complete lightweight Linux distro I have seen!

Linux never ceases to amaze me - particularly the light-weight distros aimed for low powered PCs! There are so many options and depending on your need and suitability you can pick and choose which one to use. Plus, it brings your old machine back to life without compromising on the security and with the state-of-the-art applications! You can't ever think of that with any other operating system, for sure.

I came across the latest release of AntiX in distrowatch. I have never used AntiX before and thought of trying it in VirtualBox. And surely I am amazed with what I saw.

I downloaded the 694 MB ISO from Sourceforge site. For a light-weight Linux, the ISO seemed a bit bulky initially. The boot up was really fast and I was greeted with a window giving me option of booting with Icewm or Fluxbox. Since both are lightweight desktop managers, I decided to go with Icewm.

From AntiX 12 RC2

From AntiX 12 RC2

From AntiX 12 RC2

Applications
Application-wise, AntiX 12 is the richest among the light-weight Linux distros I have seen. A very catchy desktop with a good collection of essential apps like LibreOffice suite, MPaint, Gtkam digital camera browser, Iceweasel, bit-torrent, Dillo, Links 2, Pidgin chat, GParted, MPlayer, webcam (guvcview), GDebi package installer, etc. to name a few. Flash support is out-of-the-box. However, a few of the preferred apps may be missing but you can download them from synaptic package manager. It is based on MEPIS and Debian testing and you can get the advantage of Debian repos with AntiX.

From AntiX 12 RC2

CPU and RAM usage
Before I used AntiX, I thought Puppy uses the lowest RAM/CPU. But, it seems like AntiX is the King here. Fluxbox uses 1% CPU & 65MB RAM whereas with IceWM, 2% & 71 MB, with no other app, except conky, running!

Overall
Honestly, I really liked AntiX. If you have a old computer lying, Intel/AMD x-86 compatible, you can try AntiX to check if it works for you. Potentially, it is equipped enough to give the flavor of a fully functional and complete OS! In fact, it is the most complete light-weight OS I have ever used. Kudos to the developers.

A slideshow of the screenshots that I uploaded in Picasa is presented below.

Read more!

Linux Mint 13: Now with XFCE and possibly best of the lot!

Linux Mint never ceases to amaze me! First they came up with the heavily cinnamon version of otherwise deplorable Gnome 3 and now they have added XFCE version. And to be honest, it looks brighter and shinier than Xubuntu 12.04 LTS!

From Linux Mint 13 XFCE

As usual, the 830 MB installation ISO is power packed and complete with most of the common apps that we need like adobe flash, codecs, java, firefox 12, pidgin, GIMP, shotwell, VLC, Banshee, Thunderbird, bit-torrent, LibreOffice, pdf viewer and there is software manager from where you can download plenty of apps (of Ubuntu repository). Only app I can think of which is not there, is Skype. Rest all common apps are already there. Amazing!

CPU and RAM usage

When it comes to XFCE, the benefit you get is of low RAM and CPU usage, far lower than KDE or Gnome. Mint XFCE uses about 280-300 MB of RAM and 5% CPU with only task manager running. Amazingly low given that I am running the 64-bit version with only 1 CPU and 2 GB of RAM! 32-bit version will definitely consume around 200 MB of RAM!

From Linux Mint 13 XFCE

Overall
In overall, I liked XFCE version more than Mate or Cinnamon, given it is far less taxing and energy consuming. Plus, the way developers have tweaked XFCE to look like the Mate/Cinnamon version is amazing! Also, out of the box, you get almost all the applications that you would normally require in an OS. Definitely, the best general purpose distro right now in the Linux world. Hats off to the developers for creating such a complete, good looking and polished OS.

To see more screenshots, please visit my Picasa album. And thanks for reading my blog.

Read more!

Sabayon Linux 9: Impressive out of the box distro

I came to know of Sabayon from Distrowatch. And no experience of working with Gentoo and Gentoo-derived distros, I thought of trying Sabayon in my virtualbox. And I am really impressed with a slick and serious OS.

As the OS claims to provide out of the box applications, the distro is is slightly heavier in size. 32-bit KDE is 2.4 GB, Gnome 1.8 GB & XFCE, the lightest, 1.5 GB. You can download both 32-bit & 64-bit versions from Sabayon Download page. I booted them in virtualbox with 2 GB RAM allotted to each. The initial screen is similar, as shown below.

From Sabayon 9 Gnome KDE XFCE

Interface-wise, all of the three look no-nonsense interface, with the typical blue-black interface. Gnome is 3.2.1 & Linux kernel 3.4.0.

From Sabayon 9 Gnome KDE XFCE

From Sabayon 9 Gnome KDE XFCE

From Sabayon 9 Gnome KDE XFCE

Application-wise, almost all common apps that we require in a linux distro, are covered, except VLC being absent in Gnome & XFCE versions (present in KDE). Chromium, GIMP, Shotwell photo manager, Adobe Flash support, full LibreOffice suite, Basero, Cheese webcam booth, empathy, bit-torrent, movie player ... the list is really healthy. I really liked the marble view globe. App-wise I am not complaining. The Rigo application repository is rich as well.

CPU & RAM usage:
KDE:         7%        300MB
XFCE:       1%        140 MB
Gnome:    6%        180 MB

XFCE & Gnome are pretty light it seems.

I have put the screenshots of Sabayon at Picasa https://picasaweb.google.com/115526653443007105911/Sabayon9GnomeKDEXFCE?authuser=0&feat=directlink

In overall, I really liked Sabayon and will install the XFCE version in one of my computers. The interface is serious and looks like a fantastic distro meant for productivity.

Read more!

How to install MS Office 2010 in Linux? Even in 64-bit OS you can have Office 2010

I understand Linux purists would fume with this topic. I appreciate the LibreOffice suite - it is really good. But, a lot of Linux users who started with Windows, are more comfortable with MS Office. Also, I have seen quite a few Mac users using more MS Office for their documentation work than i-Works. Without going into the debate, given below are the simple steps how I installed MS Office 2010 Pro Plus in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64-bit through WINE. Following similar steps I don't think there would be any issue in installing MS Office 2010 in other Linux OSs as well.

Steps:

1. Download the latest PlayonLinux from here. 4.1.3 is the latest now - the version available in Ubuntu Software repository is not the latest, 4.0.6 possibly and that won't be useful for this exercise. If you've installed from Ubuntu repo, uninstall it before installing PlayonLinux 4.1.3.

For Ubuntu Precise & all its derivatives (Mint, Bodhi, Ultimate, Pear, etc.), you can install the latest PlayonLinux from the terminal as well. The commands are as follows:
$wget -q "http://deb.playonlinux.com/public.gpg" -O- | sudo apt-key add -
$sudo wget http://deb.playonlinux.com/playonlinux_precise.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playonlinux.list
$sudo apt-get update
$sudo apt-get install playonlinux

2. Copy MS Office ISO in a USB drive, if you don't have installation DVD!
Once installed, before actually proceeding to installation of MS Office, you should do this step to ensure that the App locates your ISO and reads it!

3. Start installation!
Once you start, playonlinux will download Microsoft fonts.

The office installation process is fairly simple. And keep your internet connection on for the process to work.

Click on Install on the top panel or Install a program on the right panel. Ignore the MS Office icons in the figure right now, they won't be there when you begin.

Go to Office, you'll see Microsoft Office 2010 entry. Click it and then click Install at the bottom. First a virtual drive Office2010 will be created and then you'll see the screen below.

My USB, named New Volume is actually visible in the list when I pressed next.

Ignore the FAT32 error and just click next.

Click next to start the installation. The app will download a few essential pre-requisites automatically before processing with the actual installation.

Once the pre-requisites are downloaded, actual process should begin with a screen like this.

Ignore the last error message, if appears on your screen. Already Office 2010 is installed in Wine.

Once complete correctly, playonlinux screen will look like this.

One caution, the installation with me was not as smooth as shown here. I became lucky at the third attempt!

Some screenshots of MS Office 2010 in my Pear Linux 5!

Read more!

OpenSUSE 12.2 first release review

9th Sep'12:
This is an old review of RC1. My final release review is at http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.com/2012/09/opensuse-122-gnome-review.html. This time I have installed in a system and thoroughly reviewed it highlighting the pluses and minuses.  You'll like it more than this one, I bet!

Old review:

Though I use Ubuntu/Debian allied distros for my daily use, but one distro which intrigues me, is OpenSUSE. It has very stable distros and 8 months release cycle with on average each release supported for 18 months (for releases from 2011 onwards). Like Ubuntu excels in Gnome and Unity, OpenSUSE has excellent KDE version. In fact, if you are a KDE fan, I won't recommend you Kubuntu but rather request you to try out OpenSUSE KDE. I bet you'll really like it!

For 12.2 release, I downloaded both the Gnome and KDE versions. For virtualbox, I downloaded the 660 MB 32-bit versions. You can get the 64-bit versions here: Gnome, KDE.

Live-booting is almost similar for both Gnome & KDE. You are greeted with a Welcome screen and then the Linux kernel is booted. Live-booting is fast and effortless.

From OpenSUSE12.2 Gnome

Linux Kernel is 3.4.4-1-1 default for both. Gnome shell used is 3.4.2 & KDE is 4.8.4 release 2. So, in nutshell, both uses latest desktop environments. One note, however, upcoming Ubuntu 12.10 has Gnome 3.5.0 in the alpha2 release. The interface for KDE is much better with typical OpenSUSE green - Gnome actually looks plain vanilla.

From OpenSUSE12.2 Gnome

From OpenSUSE 12.2 KDE

However, the menu (rather rechristened as Activities) in Gnome resembles Fedora 17 and is quite good looking. But, I am more fond of the KDE style menu, where it is easier to locate apps.

From OpenSUSE12.2 Gnome

From OpenSUSE 12.2 KDE

Application-wise both are rich and almost all essential apps barring Adobe Flash and VLC are provided. Firefox is latest (13). Slide shows from my Picasa albums can give you an idea on the out-of-the-box applications present in the distros. Further, apps can be downloaded/installed/removed using the much acclaimed YaST.

CPU & RAM Usage
I found CPU usage to be considerable lower in KDE version (6-10%) than Gnome (20-30%), at steady state with no other app, except task manager, running. Of course, I allocated only 1 CPU for the distros in virtualbox and Gnome possibly would need at least a dual core to run without any pain.

RAM usage is, however, higher in KDE (360 MB) than Gnome (290 MB).

Overall
In overall, I was more comfortable with the KDE version than the Gnome version. Otherwise, both are complete packages providing you most of the applications you'll need on regular basis. From the repository too, you can download packages that you may need. YaST is very good and I am thinking to install the KDE version (once the final release comes) in one of my computers. Definitely a very stable and robust distro.

Read more!

A week in replacing Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with Ultimate Edition 3

Yup, I bought a laptop with 3rd gen i7, 8GB, 2 GB Nvidia GEForce 630M & somehow I wasn't able to totally configure Ubuntu with compiz config to get the desired effects. So, once I saw the Ultimate Edition 3.4 note on distrowatch, I booted it up in my virtualbox. It won't load well on VB, and finally I decided to give it a try. Anyway, it is based on Ubuntu 12.04 and how bad it can be!

I downloaded the 64-edition from Sourceforge - it was more than 3 GB! I expected that it would contain a lot of relevant software. But, what I saw was somewhat mind-blowing and somewhat frustrating as well.

Installation was just like Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and it just replaced my earlier installation of Ubuntu without much pain. It downloaded a few updates while installing and I guess it would be around 30-40 MB download - primarily of language packs.

I was greeted with a Gnome fallback interface with a very colorful screen - predominantly red and black! The interface is typically a bit loud and enabled with all kinds of special effects. Even simple browsing through the menu or right click would see paper planes flying before your eyes & unfolding the menu! Surely, the developers have gone overboard on the special effect piece. However, one good thing, my Nvidia cards are getting utilized!

App-wise, I guess I had to download only VirtualBox. Rest of the essential apps are already there in the installation 3GB ISO, along with 100s of other apps which have very little chance of me using them. Given below are the menus for Office and Accessories - Office has LibreOffice suite, Calligra Office suite, Abiword, Gnumeric along with a host of applications from Gnome & KDE distros. Similarly on accessories too, you are confused (to some) or pampered (to others) with plethora of options.

Somewhere, I have a feeling not much thought went into judicious choosing of software. However, a bright side is that I can always uninstall the apps which I don't require. More more screenshots and apps in my Flickr account.

Once I recovered from getting inundates with applications, I tried redesigning it and in the login screen I selected Ubuntu Unity 3D. It actually screwed up the entire interface and even when you login selecting Gnome, the Unity interface would overlay on the Gnome interface. I searched a bit for the solution but didn't get any. Also, all the special effects are gone with Unity 3D. Then, I reinstalled the OS with a pledge I won't try any other option from the login screen!

Functionally UE 3.4 is good but I often get crash reports and my computer just froze twice in 4 days. I had to do a hard stop and it is quite unusual for a linux distro. Stability of the distro is an issue and hence, I had to abandon it after using to for a month or so. I found Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon to have better stability over Ultimate OS.

CPU & RAM Usage
Of course, it would be higher than Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. The conky on the desktop gives CPU usage of the eight processors (quad-core, 8 threads) along with RAM usage every moment. Without anything running, it is about 1-5% CPU & 420-500 MB RAM. Pretty decent!

One word of caution, this OS is meant for high end computers and won't run that well on low resource environment. I guess you understand it by now as well after reading the above portions of my review.

Overall
Overall, Ultimate Edition is a very powerful distro but not much polished. Too much of color and loudness doesn't make something beautiful and simply put, it lacks aesthetics. However, hard work from the developers shows while using the distro barring a bit of glitches here and there. A little bit of aesthetic designing would definitely add value to the distro. Further, a lot of work is required to improve the stability of the distro.

Read more!

PCLinuxOS KDE 2012.2: Pretty and solid distro

I have heard a lot of good things of PCLinuxOS and yesterday, finally I decided to try it out. I downloaded the stable version 2012.2 (KDE) from the PCLinux FTP. The ISO is about 690 MB and I booted it up in my VirtualBox. The initial liveCD boot was easy, it asked a couple of questions on my keyboard and location and finally landed on the desktop.

The desktop looks typical KDE and for serious stuff. One good thing is in the first login itself, the guest and root passwords are mentioned. For a lot of distros, many-a-times I have to search on net to get the default root password. The developers have surely thought of the first time users.

Applications

PCLinuxOS has a rich ensemble of out-of-the-box applications. Further, from synaptic package manager, other essential apps can be downloaded. Firefox 9 with Adobe Flash support, Dropbox, Thunderbird, pidgin, bit-torrent client, GIMP, VLC, DVD slideshow maker, television viewer, etc. are provided by default along with a host of KDE specific applications like Konqueror browser, smb4K, Ksnapshot, etc. Kmymoney or personal finance manager is provided with the default CD and I found it quite good.

The OS by default doesn't have any Office app but a link is given for the users to download LibreOffice once installed in the system. However, what I found is that PCLinux provides out-of-the-box support for a lot of graphic cards (like Intel EMGD, Nvidia) and peripheral devices like printers and scanners. This is really good for new Linux users.

CPU and RAM Usage

CPU usage is about 3-10% and RAM about 280 MB without any other app running - which is decent for a KDE OS.

Overall

Overall, I liked PCLinuxOS - a pretty solid KDE desktop. Definitely I liked it more than Kubuntu. The distro is really good and worth a try. Quite a few screenshots are provided in my Flickr Album for those who are interested to know more about PCLINUXOS.

July 15, 2012: I removed Xubuntu 12.04 LTS from my netbook and replaced it with PCLinuxOS. Seems like the distro, as well as, neat KDE interface, is growing on me! Installation was easy and the OS is really fast. 

Read more!