Linuxed - My Linux Explore wishes everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year

2012 has been a great year for Linux. We saw quite a few innovations this year and quite a few ridiculous ones as well. In overall, I feel 2012 has been a landmark for the Linux world - we saw KDE gaining strength to strength with KDE 4.9, Gnome losing grounds to Cinnamon and Mate, XFCE and LXDE staying more or less the same without trying anything ridiculous, Gnome 3 developers finally having some sense to add a shutdown option, Ubuntu pitching for higher social network integration with Unity, Elementary OS rocking the Linux world without even its first final release out, and a whole lot of others. In overall, Linux distributions became more reliable, installed correctly without much effort, detected hardware much more precisely and are more beautiful than Linux ever had been. So, expecting a lot of the innovations to continue in 2013 as well, I wish to all Linux fans a very happy and prosperous new year. May everyone find their best Linux match this year :).

Install LibreOffice 3.6.4.3 in Ubuntu Precise: Easy way

On my primary production machine, I have Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon and it has LibreOffice 3.5 as the main office application. Whereas LibreOffice has already moved ahead to 3.6.4.3. Even Ubuntu Quantal repo has 3.6.2.2 build. Today I thought of experimenting with LibreOffice and install the latest available version from LibreOffice website. I downloaded the LibreOffice 3.6.4.3 for Ubuntu from LibreOffice download and unzipped the .deb files to a folder.

Then first thing I did is un-install the previous version via terminal using the command:

$sudo apt-get remove libreoffice-writer libreoffice-calc libreoffice-base libreoffice-impress libreoffice-draw libreoffice-core

Once the previous version is completely uninstalled, please follow the instruction directly from the read-me file:

"When you unpack the downloaded archive, you will see that the contents have been decompressed into a sub-directory. Open a file manager window, and change directory to the one starting with "LibO_", followed by the version number and some platform information.

This directory contains a subdirectory called "DEBS". Change directory to the "DEBS" directory.

Right-click within the directory and choose "Open in Terminal". A terminal window will open. From the command line of the terminal window, enter the following command (you will be prompted to enter your root user's password before the command will execute):

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

The above dpkg command does the first part of the installation process. To complete the process, you also need to install the desktop integration packages. To do this, change directory to the "desktop-integration" directory that is within the "DEBS" directory, using the following command:

cd desktop-integration

Now run the dpkg command again:

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

The installation process is now completed, and you should have icons for all the LibreOffice applications in your desktop's Applications/Office menu."

Installation ran smoothly and within 5-7 minutes, my updated LibreOffice suite was ready. Post installation, I just ran a system update to ensure everything is alright.

Best Linux Distro of 2012: Comparison of KDE distros

KDE has always intrigued me a lot, though I never started using it on daily basis for production purposes, till last week. I liked Gnome 2 a lot, but with Gnome 3 and it's resource hungriness, it is out of favor as far I am concerned. My interest these days is growing more and more on KDE - it is really user-friendly, plasma interface looks awesome, effects are subtle and KDE 4.9.* is quite stable with loads of KDE specific applications. Almost every popular distro now has a KDE edition for the users, an evidence of the growing popularity of KDE.

From Mageia 2

I chose some of the prominent 32-bit KDE editions that got released in 2012, namely:

• Ubuntu: Kubuntu 12.04.1 LTS, Kubuntu 12.10, Linux Mint 13 KDE, Linux Mint 14
• Fedora: Fedora 17 KDE, Kororaa 17 KDE
• OpenSUSE: OpenSUSE 12.2 KDE
• PCLinuxOS: PCLinuxOS 2012.08 KDE
• Slackware: Slackel 14 KDE, Slackel 4.9.2 KDE
• Gentoo: Sabayon 10 KDE
• Arch: Manjaro 0.8.3 KDE, Bridge Linux 2012.12 KDE, Chakra Archimedes 2012.07
• Mandriva: Mageia 2 KDE, ROSA 2012 Marathon KDE

Chakra's latest release couldn't be included as it no longer has a 32-bit edition. Chakra 2012.07 had the last release which supported 32-bit machines and is included in the test. A total of 16 leading Linux operating systems with a variety of KDE versions (from 4.8.3 to 4.9.4) are covered in this review. Systems used for the testing are:

• Asus K54C Core i3 2.2 Ghz laptop, with 2 GB RAM
• Asus EeePC 1101HA netbook with 1.33 Ghz Intel Atom processor and 1 GB RAM
• HP Pentium 4 desktop with 2.4 Ghz processor and 1.5 GB DDR RAM

Last two are low powered and hence, was not considered in the final evaluation. I used them for my personal query of performance on low powered machines. Primary evaluation was based on the performance on the Core i3 laptop which is decently powered and works well with whatever is thrown at it. The distros were evaluated after installation, which I carried out in 2012 at different point in time on the same system.

Evaluation Metrics
Following parameters were used to evaluate each and every distro:

• Installation time:
• Less than 20 min. = 10 points
• 20-30 minutes = 9 points
• More than 30 was out of option as none of the distros took more than 30 min. to install
• Installation Complexity:
• As easy as Ubuntu = 10 points
• Easy but a bit difficult than Ubuntu = 9 points
• Only Geeks can install = 8 points
• Hardware Detection: Primarily touchpad and Wifi detection
• Both touchpad and Wifi detected = 10 points
• Either of them not detected = 5 points
• Neither of them detected = 0 point
• Applications: A separate metrics created based on the apps bundled in the ISO.
• Office: A complete office suite with word processor, spreadsheet, presentation and a document reader gets 10 points, if any one is left out 2.5 points are reduced for each miss.
• Internet: I considered a browser, a torrent downloader, a download manager and an email client as the complete set getting 10 points. If any one of these is left out, 2.5 points are reduced.
• Graphics: An image viewer, an image editor, a scanning app and a snapshot app constitute the full set with 10 points. Any app left out from the list, 2.5 points are deducted.
• Sound and Video: An audio player and a video player constitute the complete set of 10 points, with a miss accounting for a reduction by 5 points.
• Here my requirements are pretty basic for a complete OS and I haven't given any extra credits for OSs with bulky ISO and loads of apps. Further, in the overall evaluation, applications has ~17% weightage (1 out of 6 criteria).
• Performance: Based on the RAM and CPU usage to load desktop with task manager running, measured after 10 minutes of booting up when the processes have stabilized.
• Less than 250 MB RAM and <= 10% CPU usage = 10 points
• 250-300 MB RAM and <=10% CPU usage = 9 points
• 300-325 MB RAM and <=10% CPU usage = 8 points
• 325-350 MB RAM and <=10% CPU usage = 7 points
• 350-375 MB RAM and <=10% CPU usage = 6 points
• 375-400 MB RAM and <=10% CPU usage = 5 points
• > 400 MB RAM or > 10% CPU usage = 4 points
• Aesthetics: Typical gray colored wallpaper and KDE default interface got a 7 and appealing modification of the KDE got points higher than that.

Results

• Installation time: Slackel 4.9.2 and Slackel 14 took about 5 min. of time to install, the lowest whereas all Ubuntu based distros took about 30 min. time, the highest.
• Installation Complexity: All Ubuntu, Fedora and Mandriva based distros were easiest to install and got full 10. Slackware and Arch based distros were easy but had increased complexity and hence, got 9.
• Hardware detection: All the distros detected touchpad, wifi, sound, etc. perfectly except Slackel which didn't detect touchpad and there was no option to manually configure as well. 
• Applications:  
• OpenSUSE and Manjaro didn't have a complete office
• Download manager wasn't there in Kubuntu, OpenSUSE, Bridge, Mageia and ROSA; Sabayon didn't have a download manager or a torrent client; Manjaro had only browser and a mail client. Chakra didn't have a torrent or an email client and hence got 6.
• Kubuntu 12.04.1 LTS and OpenSUSE didn't have a photo editor or a scan; Fedora, Bridge, Chakra and Slackel didn't have a scan app
• All OSs had a complete set of audio-video players

KDE	App – Office	App – Internet	App – Graphics	App – Multimedia	Applications
Mint 14 KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00
Mint 13 KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00
Kororaa 17	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00
PCLinuxOS 2012.08 KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00
Mageia 2 KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00
Kubuntu 12.10	10.00	8.00	10.00	10.00	9.50
Fedora 17 KDE	10.00	10.00	7.50	10.00	9.38
Slackel 14 KDE	10.00	10.00	7.50	10.00	9.38
Slackel KDE 4.9.2	10.00	10.00	7.50	10.00	9.38
Sabayon 10 KDE	10.00	6.00	10.00	10.00	9.00
Bridge KDE	10.00	8.00	7.50	10.00	8.88
ROSA 2012 Marathon KDE	10.00	8.00	7.50	10.00	8.88
Chakra Archimedes 2012.07	10.00	6.00	7.50	10.00	8.38
Kubuntu 12.04.1 LTS	10.00	8.00	5.00	10.00	8.25
Manjaro 0.8.3 KDE	7.50	4.00	10.00	10.00	7.88
OpenSUSE 12.2 KDE	7.50	8.00	5.00	10.00	7.63

• Performance: Mageia 2 consumed least resources whereas OpenSUSE had the worst performance of the lot.

KDE	CPU Usage	RAM Usage	Points
Mageia 2 KDE	1-10%	221 MB	10.00
Mint 14 KDE	1-5%	255 MB	9.00
Sabayon 10 KDE	1-10%	270 MB	9.00
Kubuntu 12.10	2-10%	300 MB	8.00
Mint 13 KDE	1-5%	300 MB	8.00
Slackel 14 KDE	1-10%	300 MB	8.00
Kubuntu 12.04.1 LTS	2-10%	310 MB	8.00
Kororaa 17	1-5%	320 MB	8.00
Chakra Archimedes 2012.07	1-10%	310 MB	8.00
Fedora 17 KDE	1-5%	330 MB	7.00
Bridge KDE	1-10%	330 MB	7.00
Manjaro 0.8.3 KDE	1-10%	335 MB	7.00
PCLinuxOS 2012.08 KDE	1-10%	340 MB	7.00
ROSA 2012 Marathon KDE	1-10%	340 MB	7.00
Slackel KDE 4.9.2	1-10%	355 MB	6.00
OpenSUSE 12.2 KDE	1-10%	366 MB	6.00

• Aesthetics:  
• To me, ROSA has the most creative KDE spin and hence, got a full 10. 

From ROSA Marathon 2012 KDE

From ROSA Marathon 2012 KDE

From ROSA Marathon 2012 KDE

• Mint, Mageia, Slackel, Chakra and Sabayon really had a stylist looking KDE spins and got a 9 each. OpenSUSE had also an attractive interface and got 8.

From Linux Mint 14 KDE

From Mageia 2

From Slackel 14.0

From Sabayon 10

From Chakra Linux 2012.07 Archimedes

• Kubuntu and Manjaro had the bland KDE with the gray colored wallpaper to showcase and got 7.

From Ubuntu 12.10 Comparison

From Manjaro 0.8.3 KDE

Final on Core i3:
And the winner is Mageia for providing a balanced KDE edition which consumes the least resources and pleasant aesthetics. Second is the distro for all seasons, Linux Mint 14 - very stable and performs like a beast. Kororaa 17, a Fedora spin and the LTS version of Linux Mint are in joint third position. Fourth is ROSA 2012 for a really gorgeous KDE spin. Sabayon Linux, for its amazing aesthetics and great performance and PCLinuxOS, for its great stability, are in joint Fifth. 

-->

KDE	Installation time	Installation Complexity	Touchpad/Wifi Detection	Applications	Performance	Aesthetics	Overall
Mageia 2 KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	9.00	9.83
Mint 14 KDE	9.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	9.00	9.00	9.50
Kororaa 17	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	8.00	8.00	9.33
Mint 13 KDE	9.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	8.00	9.00	9.33
ROSA 2012 Marathon KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	8.88	7.00	10.00	9.31
Sabayon 10 KDE	9.00	9.00	10.00	9.00	9.00	9.00	9.17
PCLinuxOS 2012.08 KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	7.00	8.00	9.17
Fedora 17 KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	9.38	7.00	8.00	9.06
Chakra Archimedes 2012.07	10.00	9.00	10.00	8.38	8.00	9.00	9.06
Kubuntu 12.10	9.00	10.00	10.00	9.50	8.00	7.00	8.92
OpenSUSE 12.2 KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	7.63	6.00	9.00	8.77
Kubuntu 12.04.1 LTS	9.00	10.00	10.00	8.25	8.00	7.00	8.71
Bridge KDE	9.00	9.00	10.00	8.88	7.00	8.00	8.65
Manjaro 0.8.3 KDE	10.00	9.00	10.00	7.88	7.00	7.00	8.48
Slackel 14 KDE	10.00	9.00	5.00	9.38	8.00	9.00	8.40
Slackel KDE 4.9.2	10.00	9.00	5.00	9.38	6.00	9.00	8.06

How the results change with 10% weightage of low powered machines?
ROSA, Sabayon and Bridge didn't live boot on Asus EeePC netbook whereas Mageia and Mint 13 LTS didn't live boot with a GUI on the P4 PC. PCLinuxOS, Chakra and Slackel didn't boot up on either of the machines and hence, are not included here.

Of the distros that boot up on Asus EeePC, Mageia performed the best (1-10% CPU and 240 MB RAM, performed really fast) closely followed by Mint 14 KDE (1-10% CPU and 245 MB RAM). On P4 PC, Mint 14 KDE performed the best (1-10% CPU and 221 MB RAM), followed by Kororaa, Fedora, Kubuntu, Manjaro and Bridge. ROSA's ranking got really hit as it didn't boot up on EeePC and dragged a lot on HP P4 PC.

Now the weighted rankings changed with Linux Mint 14 topping the chart, followed by Mageia and Kororaa with Fedora in the 3rd position. Had Mageia booted up on P4 PC, I guess Mageia would have topped for sure.

-->

KDE	Installation time	Installation Complexity	Touchpad/Wifi Detection	Applications	Performance	Aesthetics	Netbook	P4 PC	Overall
Mint 14 KDE	9.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	9.00	9.00	4.50	4.50	9.43
Mageia 2 KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	9.00	5.00	0.00	9.14
Kororaa 17	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	8.00	8.00	4.00	4.00	9.14
Fedora 17 KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	9.38	7.00	8.00	4.00	4.00	8.91
Kubuntu 12.10	9.00	10.00	10.00	9.50	8.00	7.00	3.00	4.00	8.64
Mint 13 KDE	9.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	8.00	9.00	3.50	0.00	8.50
Kubuntu 12.04.1 LTS	9.00	10.00	10.00	8.25	8.00	7.00	3.00	4.00	8.46
Manjaro 0.8.3 KDE	10.00	9.00	10.00	7.88	7.00	7.00	4.00	4.00	8.41
ROSA 2012 Marathon KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	8.88	7.00	10.00	0.00	3.00	8.41
Sabayon 10 KDE	9.00	9.00	10.00	9.00	9.00	9.00	0.00	3.00	8.29
OpenSUSE 12.2 KDE	10.00	10.00	10.00	7.63	6.00	9.00	2.50	2.50	8.23
Bridge KDE	9.00	9.00	10.00	8.88	7.00	8.00	0.00	4.00	7.98

Final Verdict
I have not used any other KDE distro as smooth as Mageia 2 and it is the BEST KDE distro of the year, to me. It is closely followed by ROSA Marathon and Linux Mint 14 KDE. ROSA Marathon looks out of the world and Mint 14 is truly an amazing distro, typical Mint, which works on almost every system I tried. Since I won't recommend to install a KDE distro on a low powered machine, my final rankings consist of assessment on the Core i3 laptop primarily. So, my top 5 KDE spins of the year are:

1. Mageia 2 - very resource efficient and good looking distro
2. Linux Mint 13 & 14 - Is more stable than Mageia and performs really well, works on any kind of system
3. ROSA 2012 Marathon - Looks the best and performs reasonably
4. Kororaa 17/Fedora 17 - Delivers one of the best performances and looks reasonably good
5. Sabayon 10 - Amazing aesthetics and very good performance, stability may be an issue 
5. PCLinuxOS - Very stable and has the richest out of the box applications but slow to receive updates 

You can take Sabayon and PCLOS as joint 5th. KDE spins out of top 6 but deserves special mention are:

• Kubuntu: Works on all machines and is really good in resource usage
• Manjaro: Already in the big league and improving by leaps and bounds with every new release.
• Chakra: Pure KDE distro and performs really well.

I know a lot of the readers may have a different opinion based on experience. It would be interesting to know your experience with KDE as well. Please share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section.