Tiny Core Linux 4.7 Review: A base to build your own system!

First when I used Tiny Core Linux in 2009, I just started using Linux, and I was a bit disappointed with Tiny Core. Later when my experience and learning grew, I realized that I chose the wrong file to boot (Tiny Core and not Core Plus) and I completely underestimated an otherwise very efficient distro.

When the 4.7 release note came in Distrowatch a few days ago, I was prompt to download the Core Plus 67 MB ISO - really "tiny" if you compare it to any other distro! Now, given this is my first "real" experience with Tiny Core, there are chances of a lot of things being mentioned here, which may seem juvenile to experience Tiny Core users. But, I am taking my chances - can't stop myself from reviewing such an amazing distro.

What I did is initially do a live boot and then did a frugal installation on a 8 GB partition. In Core plus, essentially what you get is a shell on which you can build your own customized ultra-lightweight system with the preferred apps. Given this introduction, it is understandable that sufficient exposure and expertise is required to try out Tiny Core and explore its potential. Otherwise, you may end up disappointed like what happened to me in 2009 as I was limited that time by my own knowledge of Linux.

From Tiny Core Linux 4.7

In 4.7 version, Tiny Core comes with Linux kernel 3.0.21 which is same as the 4.6 version. The system used for the test is Asus K54C with Intel Core i3 processor (2.4 Ghz) and 2 GB RAM. Definitely not a resource constrained machine!

Core Plus provided me several desktop manager option at bootup like FLWM, Ice WM, Fluxbox, etc. I booted it up with default FLWM as I like it's minimalistic look with a docky below. It gives a no-nonsense and professional impression.

LAN was detected automatically, sound card worked, touch pad worked out of the box with both single/double tap, vertical scroll working, which is good. In Wifi mode, on clicking the wifi icon in the docky, it opened a terminal which scanned quickly the wifi networks around and asked me which one I would like to choose. After choosing the home network, I gave the password and the connection was instant! Pretty simple and efficient, I really like it!

There is no auto-mount and the user is required to mount the drives through control panel or mount icon in the docky to access the drive.

Applications
You won't get much default applications out-of-the-box with core plus but most of the relevant applications can be downloaded from repositories through "Apps" and/or "Scm Apps". I downloaded my favorite applications like

• Browser: Firefox 16, Chromium 22.0.1229.79 for Tiny Core
• Plugins: Adobe Flash 11, had a tough time in installing it
• Music: Banshee
• Video: VLC 2.0.1
• Notes: Leafpad
• Photos: Mtpaint
• Chat: Pidgin
• File Manager: Thunar and Nautilus
• Office: Abiword, Gnumeric, pdf reader and writer, etc.
• Conky to decorate the otherwise blank desktop!

From Tiny Core Linux 4.7

From Tiny Core Linux 4.7

From Tiny Core Linux 4.7

LibreOffice suite 3.5 and 3.6 are there in the repos along with a host of other applications like Clementine, Audacity, Audacious, Opera, Seamonkey, etc. The repository may not be rich like a Debian or a Ubuntu but enough applications are there to satisfy most common needs. I didn't install Skype, but there is a getskype.tcz in the repository to install Skype 2. Same holds for Nvidia drivers as well - it exists in the repository but I didn't require it.

Next was installation of the restricted codecs, ffmpeg, gstreamer, etc. and the application manager works well to resolve all the dependencies and satisfy all the preconditions before downloading an app. However, one thing I noted that there are quite a few antiquated apps like Firefox 10 which doesn't work even if you download and install. Experienced users would know a priori exactly what he is looking for, so no pain for them even if redundant apps are there in the repository. But, it may frustrate a bit the first time users.

From Tiny Core Linux 4.7

With regards to settings, Tiny Core offers an integrated view through control panel. I really like the option and I could set up most of the stuff from there without hitting the terminal.

From Tiny Core Linux 4.7

Installation
Installation is easier than I expected. You need to check whether you want to do a frugal installation in hard disk, or install in USB. Next thing for frugal is to decide on the partition where the OS is to be installed and whether to install boot loader. I made a frugal installation with whole disk option and boot loader to keep things simple. It would then ask for the formatting options with ext4 being the default. All it takes is about 5 minutes of time and you are done! Reboot and enjoy!

From Tiny Core Linux 4.7

From Tiny Core Linux 4.7

Post installation, I downloaded almost all the basic applications required for daily chores, as mentioned in the application section.Though the repository may not the richest around but offers most of the common applications.

Performance
The default desktop takes about 30-40 MB of RAM to get started with 0% CPU usage. With Firefox playing an Youtube video, Abiword, Gnomeric, Nautilus file manager and terminal open, the RAM consumption was 200 MB and CPU usage 28%! Undoubtedly even in low resource systems like a P3 or a P4, Tiny Core will offer blazing speed and ability to multi-task.

From Tiny Core Linux 4.7

Issue with Flash plugin
These days internet is synonymous with watching online videos and/or live streams. With getflash package, I had a bit of rough time. Initially when I clicked it, it showed that it had downloaded the program at /tce folder in root. However, when I started firefox, I wasn't able to play any flash video. I did it thrice but with no success.

I downloaded the flash plugin package for other linux from Adobe site itself and installed it via terminal. It worked for me. I could see the youtube videos but Firefox kept popping notifications to install additional missing plugins to play the media. Not sure where it goofed up!

From Tiny Core Linux 4.7

From Tiny Core Linux 4.7

Overall
Tiny core linux really impressed me with its speed, simplicity and power. If I compare it to Puppy Linux, Tiny Core seems a bit lighter and faster! Aesthetically too, it looks good with transparent docky and terminal.

Further, settings and usage is far too simple in Tiny Core (there is a tendency of lighter distros to be more complicated for users than the heavier counterparts). Most of the things like wifi, lan, sound, touchpad, etc. worked like a charm for me. Accepted, I didn't try out a lot of things there but whatever I tried out worked!

Definitely I recommend Tiny Core linux as a live-usb as well as to those who are in search of super light-weight professional looking operating system. Given it supports touchpad, nvidia drivers, webcam, etc., I can safely recommend it for both new as well as old systems. I bet once you start using Tiny Core, you'll start loving this highly functional distro.

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Manjaro Linux 0.8.1 XFCE Review: Fast, complete and looks awesome!

Last time when I reviewed Manjaro 0.8.0 XFCE, I really liked it. I didn't feel it wasted too much of RAM while using it, but there were criticisms from some corner. Possibly, I haven't really used it that much as Manjaro was never my primary distro. But, it is good that the developer, Roland Singer, came up with another version 0.8.1 XFCE, which LXDM instead of LightDM and built up a really good looking theme over LXDM. Once I read the release note at Distrowatch, I was quick to download it. I download the 32-bit version and there is a 64-bit version available as well.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

First, I noted that the 32-bit ISO size has bulked up significantly, from 664 MB (0.8 edition) to 1.5 GB (0.8.1 version). All it indicated to me is that it will loaded with all essential apps you can think of! And I was correct when I booted it up!

First, I did a live boot on Asus K54C laptop with 2.2 GHz Intel 2nd Gen Ci3 processor and 2 GB DDR3 RAM and then installed it on an 8 GB partition. Linux kernel is 3.5.4, updated from 3.4.9 in Manjaro 0.8. XFCE is the same, 4.10, which is the latest one.  Look-wise, the desktop hasn't changed but the conky has changed a lot, for the better. The earlier version had a barely visible top conky and now the conky at the right hand side definitely looks better. In nutshell, with all the changes, we have a very smart looking dark desktop with green Manjaro logo at the center.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

Applications
I see a major overhaul of the internet, multimedia and Office applications in the new release. Internet section has added some very important applications, like Skype 4, bit-torrent client,  FileZilla FTP client, Remote desktop viewer, and X-Chat. For me Skype 4 and bit-torrent client are very important for regular use and I really appreciate adding them to the default ISO. These apart, Firefox and Thunderbird are upgraded to 15 and Pidgin is the chat client. Adobe flash support is out-of-the-box, as was earlier. Even Java is by default. This is good for me as my internet login requires Java. It wasn't there in the earlier edition.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

Multimedia section, too, has added some very important applications. Still no VLC, but it has Audacity, Avidemux video converter, Openshot video editor, SMPlayer as video player, a sound converter and DeaDBeef music player. I really liked the minimalistic but very efficient DeaDBeef player. It is compatible to almost all music file formats and different sound effect mixing levels which users can control as per their liking. OpenShot is 1.4.2 and like all other applications in this distro, is the latest stable release. I would have liked a VLC, having ujavascript:void(0);sed it for so many years, but with multimedia codecs inbuilt in the ISO, I am not complaining. You can straight away boot the ISO and start playing your favorite songs or videos.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

Office section was the weakest in the last edition with practically nothing there. Now it has the complete LibreOffice 3.5 suite.  However, it is not the most updated one as 3.6 is already out. It has Writer (Word processor), Calc (Spreadsheet), Base (similar to MS Access), Impress (presentation) and Draw (similar to visio). These apart, epdf viewer and Dictionary are there in the Office section with Orage calendar and Globaltime.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

PlayonLinux along with Wine is another major update from the earlier version. I find PlayonLinux very useful to run MS Office and other Windows software.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

In overall, I see almost all the applications that I wish to see in an ideal Linux distro are there in Manjaro XFCE. Possibly, the major overhaul was required. Last time when I reviewed Manjaro, I wasn't very impressed with the apps they provided.

Settings manager has all the setting controls at one place. It helps a lot the new users as they don't have to search for the setting controls.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

Earlier the conky control wasn't there and it is a good addition to this update. I enjoyed playing with the preset designs from the conky control. Also, if you don't like conky, you can stop it as well.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

Thunar is the file manager and it is of the latest version, 1.4.0. Other utility applications like 7-zip, calculator, Notes, gedit, etc. are present in the distro. I saw an entry for HP Device Manager but unfortunately couldn't check, as I don't have a printer at home.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

CPU and RAM Usage
Did I mention that the distro is really fast? Yes, it is fast and consumes about 180 MB RAM and 2-5% CPU with only task manager running.  Last edition consumed about 260 MB in similar conditions on the same machine. Agreed, RAM consumption is reduced in the updated version. Also, I felt, personally, this edition is considerably lighter and smoother to use - possibly because of the change in the desktop manager.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

Installation
Installation was easy as was in the last edition. It took about 10-15 minutes to get installed. Questions were as usual in the last edition. First I had to choose my location and set date and time, followed by preparing the disk where I wanted to install the distro. Then the actual install happens which takes bulk of the 15 minutes time. Set up the root account password and user accounts, install GRUB2 (don't skip it if you want a multiple boot system), re-boot and you are ready! One good thing is that Manjaro didn't me to download a lot of updates within a week of it's release. I recall OpenSUSE KDE asked me to download 1 GB of data within 5 days of it's release. That is extreme! Even normally, majority distros requires about 100 MB of update downloads, which actually amazes me. Ideally the bugs should have been fixed by RC2 and the final image should not require many updates. Manjaro 0.8.1 followed that route and I really appreciate the same.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

Repository
Arch repository is rich and Manjaro is 100% compatible to Arch repo. Plus, it has its own applications as well. So, I guess, you won't be starved if you are using Manjaro. Through Add Remove Software, applications can be added. Package manager is Pacman and it is really powerful. In the GUI, the groupings at the left panel to different application categories actually helps. I just downloaded VLC, didn't have any other app to actually download - everything is there in the ISO.

From Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1

Overall
I guess, the updates I saw are really significant and it is a complete overhaul. Now, as far as applications and usability are concerned, I can safely recommend Manjaro as really good OS, suited for new users as well Linux experts. All my settings, like location, time and keyboard were automatically detected. Everything worked without any issue. If you are looking for a fast, complete and good looking distro, then Manjaro XFCE 0.8.1 is for you.

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Snowlinux 3 E17 Crystal Review: Fast, very fast!

The world of preferred Linux window manager is dominated by Gnome, KDE, XFCE and LXDE primarily. About 90% of the new releases I see are based on either of the four desktops because of the extremely elegant graphical interfaces they offer. However, with changing priorities and a need to provide aesthetically pleasing visual effects, Linux world is also undergoing tremendous transformation, specially Gnome 3. Most of the today's highly sophisticated Linux distros no longer run well on low resource environment or support desktops less than 512 MB RAM.

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

However, there are some competing window managers who are trying to make a mark by proving ultra-lightweight desktop environments like Enlightenment, IceWM, JWM, Fluxbox, etc. Macpup, Puppy and Bodhi, I know, leverage these lightweight window managers to give very functional distros working on extremely low resource systems.

Having used and liked Macpup for quite sometime, I was eager to try Snowlinux 3 E17 with Enlightenment desktop once I read the release note on Distrowatch. Earlier, I reviewed Snowlinux 3 and was pretty impressed with it. I downloaded the 733 MB 32-bit ISO from the Snowlinux server and first did a live-boot followed by full installation. The system used was Asus K54C laptop with 2.2 GHz Intel 2nd Gen Ci3 processor and 2 GB DDR3 RAM.

Similar to other distros in the Crystal stable, E17 Crystal is also based on Debian Wheezy. Beta 2 installer of Wheezy got released this month only and is more or less the freezed version for the stable release to be announced in, I guess, sometime in Oct'12. Linux kernel used is the same as Snowlinux 3 Crystal Gnome, that is, 3.5.

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

The default desktop has a Mac crossed with KDE feel. However, I could use the settings to change profile to look like Gnome 2 or a typical Snowlinux with only the lower panel. Further, there is a mobile option for touch devices with a touch key pad. I started the mobile option but unfortunately couldn't find a way to go back to the other profiles. Ultimately, reinstalled the OS again as a solution!

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

Applications
Just like it's gnome counterpart, even here, the applications are carefully chosen considering the systems on which E17 is supposed to run. Most of them are lightweight and less taxing on the system, like, Abiword for Office. There is no point of having a relatively heavier LibreOffice suite and hence, the developers' decision to put Abiword is correct. However, I would have liked to see Gnumeric as well.
Firefox 14 is the primary browser. There is no by default flash support. Lightweight browsers like Dillo or Midori could have been given as an option but anyway, Firefox is miles ahead of all of them. Firefox 15 is already out and users can upgrade to 15. Thunderbird is the default email client with a bit torrent client completing the list. There is a menu entry for a "Web Browser" which I thought would be some lightweight browser provided in addition to Firefox, but it opens Firefox only. Possibly it is a lapse or meant to start the default browser, assuming users will install multiple browsers! Further, for some apps there are no icons! It doesn't look good and possibly the developers should take care to refine this distro further.

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

Audacious is the default music player and Gnome Media Player is for media. Multimedia codecs are there by default and hence, users can play movie or songs right after installation is complete. Few other applications are there like Geany for programming, leafpad, etc. Overall, it is not many but some essential softwares provided out-of-the-box. For rest of the apps like VLC, Chrome, Skype, Cheese, etc. and multimedia codecs or Flash plugin, there is Debain repository to download from!

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

One good thing is that all the settings are integrated to a common window, Settings Panel. I find this integration helpful as it reduces a lot of headache for new users.

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

The OS has two file managers, Thunar 1.2.3 and Enlightenment. I expected Thunar 1.4.0 here as it's been 4 months since it got released.

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

Anyway, both are fast and provide almost all necessary functionalities like drag and drop, cut-paste-copy, etc. And I tried moving a file from Thunar to Enlightenment by drag and drop and it worked! However, Thunar is definitely a more functional file manager, originally designed for XFCE.

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

Installation
Installation didn't take much time for me, maximum 15 minutes, with the internet switched off. I just had to choose language, keyboard language and location at which I intend to install it. Boot up was quick, within 10 seconds and I didn't face any trouble over any driver not working or internet not working. So, it was practically trouble free for me.  Post installation, Update manager notified me of a 10 MB update and things were up and running after that.

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

Repository
Snowlinux is 100% compatible to Debian repository and everyone knows how rich it is! Applications cna be downloaded via both Software Center and Synaptic Package Manager. I downloaded quite a few essential apps like VLC, Cheese, GIMP 2.8, adobe flash plugin, etc.. All of them worked without any issue, what-so-ever.

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

RAM and CPU Usage
Here, I was a bit disappointed initially. On the same machine, Snowlinux 3 with Gnome 2 consumed 125 MB RAM and 5-10% CPU. I expected E17 edition to consume significantly lower memory but it was around 130 MB with 2-5% CPU usage. But, when I tested RAM/CPU usage with Firefox, Abiword, Media player running, it was around 170 MB with 2-6% CPU usage. So, definitely this distro can run well even on systems with 256 MB RAM! And that is really encouraging.

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

From Snowlinux 3 e17 Crystal

Overall
Did I mention how incredibly fast and responsive this distro is? Yes, it is fast, real fast. Plus, my touchpad worked out-of-the-box with it. Given the kind of multi-tasking opportunity even on low resource systems. So, for those who are running a PIII or a PIV, instead of installing minimalistic distros, you can try out Snowlinux 3 e17! If it works for you, nothing like it! Barring few rough edges, it is a really secured distro with plenty of functional packages to offer and can put antiquated systems back to life and running. To add to it, Snowlinux 3 E17 is supported until February 2016 and is fully compatible to Debian repo. Further, for modern systems, if you need a Linux which is extremely fast, works with modern drivers and very functional offering a complete range of applications, you should try it out. I bet you won't be disappointed.

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