Featured Comments: Week of 2013 September 8

There was one post that got one comment this past week, so I'll repost that one.

Featured Comments: Week of 2013 September 1

Reader Kaf Shiel said, "I tried Luna 2 last night but the desktop is dead (no point in clicking it at all) and the configuration of everything is not available (unless you really want to waste a few hours) also Planck is of no use at all as it is, since is just too basic and you can't configure anything on this OS without resorting to dConf and tons of work that don't really pay off... As for the comment that 'spend less time making it look and feel like i want to' i'm sorry but i like to do that, i like it personal... Distraction free? Nope! A dead desktop and a flintstones dock are bound to distract you a lot... It kinda gets in your nerves! Sorry but this one i have to "86" (cuisine chefs code). Best regards, Kaf".

Thanks to that commenter for that comment. This coming week, as with last week, I don't have any particular posts planned because of the business of the semester. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 September 1

There was one post this week that got two comments, so I'll repost both of those.

Review: Elementary OS 2 "Luna"

Reader sgreen said, "and we need Elementary for ??. I know the developer just wants to keep busy. If there's anything that will ruin Linux it's this kind of crap. How many are in its user-base??"
An anonymous commenter disagreed: "I think the Elementary team are doing a great job. I find eOS to be very distraction-free. I spend less time in making it look and feel like I want to, because the developers have done that for me. Keep it up, guys! =)"

Thanks to both of those people for commenting on that post. As the semester has started and as I start to worry about graduate school applications, my frequency of writing new posts will generally go down, but I hope to have something written here from time to time. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 August 18

There was one post this past week that got a few comments, so I'll repost one of those.

Cap and Trade and Soda

After an odd irritable initial pair of ranting comments, an anonymous reader followed up with this: "i apologize for my snide remarks before. i was just irritated. okay, so maybe there are a few other ingredients (like oils). it might be worth your while to check out OpenCola, which (or so i've heard online) tastes pretty close to Coke. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCola_(drink)".

Thanks to that commenter for that (and especially also for apologizing about the previous comments). This coming week I will have a few more posts about quantum field theory out, but no reviews as I had promised, as that will likely have to wait until after I get back to campus next week. In the meantime, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 August 4

There was one post this past week that got one comment, so I will repost that one.

Review: Linux Mint 15 "Olivia" KDE + Xfce

An anonymous reader said, "Looking at your screenshots from the KDE spin I don´t see them looking different from oxygen. Did you change them before taking the screenshots? Also a general thank you for reviewing distros."

Thanks to that person for leaving that comment. This coming week, I'm going to be taking the GRE, so I definitely can't post anything until after Tuesday. After that, I may really only have time to put out my planned post reflecting on the past summer. After that, I'm going to be relaxing at home for two weeks, so my posts may become somewhat sporadic until September, which is when I get back to campus. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 July 7

I didn't post anything in the two weeks before this past one because I didn't really have much to post (not because I was particularly busy). This past week, there was one post that got a handful of comments, so I'll repost some of those.

Review: Korora 19 "Bruce" GNOME

Reader Barnaby said, "Skype works fine with Debian and Slackware 32-bit systems, probably Redhat based ones as well. I wouldn't blame errors with software installation in a live session on the distribution though, some things need a proper install, like the force switch to ignore the architecture."
Commenter arindam sen had this to say: "I agree with Kevin, 64 bit skype is required for Linux. It takes a bit to install the 32-bit Skype in a 64 bit OS and if you are not using Ubuntu/Debian, life becomes a bit tougher actually. There are some quick fixes suggested for Fedora/Kororaa but at times they worked for me and many times they didn't. So, it may not be the fault of the OS. Also, Gnome 3.8 is quite buggy compared to KDE. I reviewed Fedora 19 Gnome 3.8 (32-bit) and it is no where close to the performance offered by Fedora 19 KDE (4.10.4). Plus, I found GNOME a bit counter-intuitive to use. I really loved GNOME2 :(."
Reader dnlcerqueira had this to share: "I use Fedora 19 x64 and just installed the 32bit rpm without any problems , skype works perfectly on my pc."
Commenter crabdog countered, "I've tried the last few versions of Korora but only in VirtualBox. It looks fantastic and I really want to like it but it always seems very sluggish although my system has nice specs. Perhaps it would run better from a live boot and most likely better again on a proper install but for me if something doesn't run well in a virtual machine it doesn't get another chance."

Thanks to all those who commented on that post. This coming week, I may have another review out (or I may wait a bit). Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 June 16

There was one post that got a couple of comments this past week, so I'll repost all of those.

Review: Zorin OS 7 Core

Reader arindam sen said, "Thanks for the good review. I agree with you - it is sad the Ubuntu 13.04 derivatives are only supported till Oct'13. Like what Fuduntu did with Fedora, some Ubuntu derivative should target of creating a rolling release distro. Anyway, Ubuntu developers were also debating over a rolling release distro last year. I am not sure what is the present status now."
Commenter Eddie had this to say: "Zorin does look interesting and I also have a problem with the new release schedule that Ubuntu has now, even tho I know and understand why they are doing it. I don't think that a rolling release would work well and that is just because of some bad experiences I've had with several rolling release distros in the past. The distribution upgrade path for Ubuntu has worked well for me the last several releases but I'm not sure how well a derivative would do. The last time I checked the AWN project had mostly been abandoned. I feel that this could lead to problems with Zorin. Maybe they should take it over. Everything seems to be moving so much faster with distributions now than 10 years ago. It makes me miss the CP/M days. Anyway thanks for a nice review."

Thanks to both of those people for those comments. This week, I may have a review out (along with possibly other posts). Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 June 9

There was one post that got a handful of comments this past week, so I'll repost some of those.

Review: Linux Mint 15 "Olivia" Cinnamon + MATE

Reader Mechatotoro said, "Thank you for the time to write about Mint; your review is very useful and enlightening. I really appreciate your objective observations! Again, thank you and good luck with your studies."
An anonymous commenter had a different experience: "I have been using Mint 15 since the RC release and it has been rock solid for me as well."
Reader Bernard Victor had a similar counter: "I am using Mint with Cinnamon desktop. I have found it very stable and responsive. Desktop effects work well. I think it is the best all round distro that I have tried. I also have PClinuxOS loaded which is not half as responsive though seems pretty stable. Could be that some of your problems result from only usinga live USB system."
Commenter on4aa supported, "I am happy to read a rather objective Linux Mint review, pinpointing the same desktop environment issues that made me leave Linux Mint Debian Edition. [...]"


Thanks to all those who commented on that post. This coming week I will have another review along with maybe one other post coming out. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 June 2

There was one post this past week that got a handful of comments, so I will repost most of those.

How-To: Make Xfce Like Unity

Reader Mike Frett shared, "That's why I use XFCE, very customizable. I don't particularly like Unity, but I enjoyed the article. Incidentally, you could have turned the Opacity down a bit on your Dock to match Unity's. I use Xubuntu, when I do I always delete the Dock on the bottom and drag the top bar down to the bottom. I add some spacers and launchers and such till it looks like *that* classic OS from around '98. It's just my preference because it's simple and stays out of my way. I use the Shiki-Brave and Classic Ambiance themes. Nothing in my System Tray on the right except the clock, weather update and Network Monitor (Bars only). And Dots style separators. I like it =p Point is, it's very customizable to anyone’s liking. But it annoys me they still call XFCE a 'light' WM when it's resource usage is the same as Gnome 3 and KDE; and they STILL don't have even basic effect's like fade-in and out or Min-Max animations."
Commenter Morten Juhl-Johansen Zőlde-Fejér had this bit of support: "This is an excellent documentation of the level of customization that is possible. I seem to recall another site where they did a Vista and MacOS X redesign - it was quite impressive."
An anonymous reader said, "Unity's screen layout is actually OK. But if Unity was just a reorganization of an on-screen dock and panel, then it wouldn't have generated so much controversy. Canonical eliminated the start menu, replacing it with a cumbersome search function; they also adopted the Mac's one-menubar-for-all-programs style, took away many customization options, and put all of that in a package that requires high-end graphics capability to even run. I don't know why anyone would want to emulate any of that. With Xfce, you can put a launcher in the dock that opens the "application finder", which is a nicely laid out menu of installed programs, organized by program type (graphics, internet, etc.). Alternatively, the launcher could run "thunar /usr/share/applications", which would produce a very Mac-like display of clickable icons of all installed applications. I imagine one could do this with Unity, in effect restoring the start menu (but I haven't tried - Xfce works just fine). And I still haven't found a simpler way to switch desktops than Xfce's trick of just moving the mouse off the right or left screen edge. No mouse clicks at all! Gnome 2.x had the same thing, I think; gone the way of the Dodo bird..."
Another anonymous commenter countered, "I'm with Innocent Bystander. I switched to Xfce 3 years mainly to get away from what I saw coming down the pike with GNOME 3 and Unity. While it's interesting to know that this can be done with Xfce, this article begs the question: WHY would anyone in his/her right mind WANT to do this? As someone who likes Xfce the way it is due to the Xfce team sticking to tried and true intuitive GUI design that has stood the test of time, I consider this article to be completely and utterly pointless."

Thanks to all those who commented on that post. I'm back on campus, but because my UROP (and graduate school preparations) are a bit less hectic than the normal semester, I'll probably be able to put out a review this week. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 May 26

There was one post this past week that got one comment, so I'll repost that one.

Review: SolydXK 2013.04.06

Reader Mechatotoro said, "Thanks for the useful review. I had not heard about SolydXK, so I will give it a try. Have you tried Mint Olivia yet? I'd like to hear your opinion since you are a Mint user and can therefore assess the system's general performance as compared to other versions of Mint... I'm also curious about the new themable login screen."

Thanks to him for leaving that comment. This coming week, I will have at least one review out along with at least one other post, as this is my last week at home before I go back to campus for the summer. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 May 26

I was out of town over the long weekend, so I couldn't post this yesterday. There was one post that got a couple of comments last week, so I will repost both of those.

Review: Korora 18 "Flo" KDE

An anonymous reader asked, "do you have a review for gnome edition"?
Another anonymous commenter shared, "I've been running Korora 18 for a few weeks now. It's extremely polished and I had none of the errors you encountered setting it up. Everything just works for me."

Thanks to both of those people for commenting on that post. This coming week, I will have at least one review coming up, as I am at home now and will have some time to do this again. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 May 12

There was one post this past week that got a handful of comments, so I will repost most of those. Also, I should mention that despite that post being a very short review-esque update, it somehow managed to get several thousands of views more quickly than any other post. I'd be curious to know where a lot of those views came from.

Review: CrunchBang ("#!") Linux 11 "Waldorf"

Reader DarkDuck shared, "I would not recommend #! to newbies. It's still to rough. But as soon as you become comfortable with the Linux system architecture and approach, #! maybe a good alternative. My own review of #!: http://linuxblog.darkduck.com/2012/03/crunchbang-linux-good-system-for.html".
Commenter krpalospo had the following question: "I really like debian, it was my first distro, but i have a question this distribution has support for apt-repository like ubuntu's distros the main reason for no using debian right now it's that this ubuntu tools help a lot in configuration of package system".
Reader Wolf had this to say: "Nice small delta review. I might try it someday, although I'm usually happy with Ubuntu LTS releases. One small thing: you may find even with error bars that 148 MB steady state RAM used is significantly different than the 150 MB steady state of before, but I question the practicality of this difference. 2 megabytes shaved off of steady state seems, practically, insignificant. I mean we are regularly seeing 32 and 64 GB RAM machines now, with 128 GB, 256 GB and higher on the high end. 2 MB steady state saved is miniscule."
An anonymous commenter asked, "Why isn't Semplice getting the attention it deserves. Imho it is better than #!, Been running it for a couple of weeks now and it a lot more polished than Crunchbang. Give Semplice a try."

Thanks to all those who commented on that post. This coming week, I have final exams and then I will be traveling home. My final exams go until (and include) Wednesday, so I won't really be able to write anything new for the week. However, I do have an already-written review on hold to publish this week. Also, I'll probably put out a post concerning the semester that is almost completed. Anyway, if you like what I write, please keep on subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 April 21

There was one post that got a handful of comments this past week, so I'll repost most of those.

Review: Fuduntu 2013.2

Reader Tran Mere asked, "Was there ever really big community behind Fuduntu or was it mostly just one man show?"
Commenter Andrew Wyatt, who created Fuduntu and is soon to retire from the project, replied, "There is a team of 20 people working on Fuduntu from developers to support to marketing, and we estimated having close to 150K users until we announced the project being EOL in September."
An anonymous reader clarified, "New name to Fuduntu will be FuSE linux, based on openSUSE. We'll see, but openSUSE is a great base, better than Fedora IMO".

Thanks to all those who commented on that post. This coming week, I don't have anything particularly planned because I anticipate this week will be quite busy. After all, the semester is drawing to a close rather quickly. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 April 14

There were two posts this past week that got a couple comments between them, so I will repost comments from one of those.

Review: Manjaro Linux 0.8.5 Xfce

Reader crabdog said, "Thanks for the write up. I'm a long time Manjaro fan and have been using it since its early days. I previously always had a full install of it on my laptop alongside windows 7 and usually another linux distro but I had some problems with 0.8.4 and ended up with Netrunner and Zorin OS on the laptop. I'm waiting for one of those to break so I have an excuse to put Manjaro back on ^^".
Commenter smakked had this clarification: "Arch devs have never shipped Cinnamon it is in the AUR but never been done by the Devs themeselves, and yes you are right Cinnamon uses old libraries that are not compatible with 3.8".
Reader Ade Malsasa Akbar had this bit of support: "What I like about Arch is BIG+SKILLFUL COMMUNITY and its rolling release system (but I don't know yet what is it). But my problem is installing Arch via console, I can't. With GUI, now I can try Arch first. I am curious with pacman also. Thank you for posting this review. I save it."

Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. This coming week, I will have a review out; a hint as to what it might be is that this might be the last such review I do of it (but certainly not the last review I will ever do, in case that sounded confusing). Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 April 7

There was one post this past week that got one comment, so I will repost that.

Long-Term Review: Chakra 2013.02 "Benz"

An anonymous reader asked, "Is there any reason not to use pacman -Syyu instead of pacman -Syy followed by pacman -Syu (or even instead of pacman -Syy followed by pacman -Su)?"

Thanks to that person for posting that. This coming week, I have holidays on Monday and Tuesday, giving me time to relax and perhaps post a distribution review. Other than that, I will probably post another thing about physics as well. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 March 24

There were two posts that got a few comments each, so I will repost most of those.

Review: Linux Mint MATE 201303

Reader Gary Newell said, "This is a good in depth review. I am currently using the Mint 14 Cinnamon release (Ubuntu base). If you have a powerful enough PC then Cinnamon is the best desktop as far as I can tell. I prefer the Consort desktop used by SolusOS to the MATE desktop and if I have an older PC I actually overall prefer to use XFCE and so tend to run Xubuntu."
Commenter Juan Carlos García Ramírez had this to say: "I still prefer xfce :D so linux mint 14 (Nadia) xfce for me".

Review: Pardus 2013 KDE

Reader Megatotoro shared, "I tested Pardus 2013 as well. In my case, I could test the repositories using Synaptic and could download the localization file for my language. I did notice that even so, some programs were still in Turkish (VLC, Synaptic). I have the Release Candidate installed on my laptop and it is greatly stable."
Commenter Mechatotoro had this bit of support: "@Prashanth, Thank you for your time with Pardus and your review. Good luck going back to school! @Mega, I just came from your blog and recommended you to read this review. I guess you are too fast :-)"

Thanks to all those who commented on those posts. I am back on campus now, and the semester isn't about to wait for me to settle down, so it will be back in full swing any minute now. This means that my post frequency will once again decrease through the rest of the semester. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 February 10

There was one post this past week that got a handful of comments, so I will repost all of those.

Review: Chakra 2013.02 "Benz"

Reader Mechatotoro had this to say: "Very useful review, thanks. I am also tempted to install Chakra..."
Commenter crabdog shared, "Had a bit of a play with it on a virtual machine. It looks pretty cool but would take something even better to make me change from my Netrunner KDE installation which I am still loving."
An anonymous reader said, "Looks like this is the best release the chakra team ever had".
Another anonymous commenter had this bit of support: "Thank you, great rewiev, keep tracking Chakra :)"

Thanks to all those people for commenting on that post. This coming week, I intend to start a long-term review of Chakra, though that of course won't finish for a few weeks. Until then, I may or may not have other distribution reviews out. However, I do intend to post a bit more about physics- and school-related stuff, and that will pick up this week. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 January 13

This past week, there was one post that got a handful of comments, so I will repost most of those.

Review: Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" GNOME

Reader Brandon clarified, "If you are talking about the google talk video browser plugin, I just tested installing that on my f18 install and the install went fine (haven't tested the plugin itself though). To install it I did: sudo yum --nogpgcheck localinstall google-talkplugin_current_x86_64.rpm".
Commenter crabdog had this to share: "I had a quick look at Fed18 but the lack of codecs, the incredibly boring default appearance and 'clumsy' package management turned me away from it pretty quickly. I went on to try the latest Netrunner and that one took me by surprise. It's gorgeous to look at and is very smooth to use (although the RAM usage is high, like most KDE). I even replaced my trusty AriOs install with it, mainly because I like those extra desktop effects and customization options that come with KDE."
Reader F1L0 added, "Some screenshot of Fedora 18 KDE here: http://linuxscreenshot.netsons.org/fedora-18-kde/".
Commenter ken halloran had this to say: "Fedora 18. I hated it. Gnome 3. Yuk. So buggy, I ran to get the Raid.I'd give more details, but I'd need intense therapy to recover. Bad. Just Bad."

Thanks to all those who commented on that post. This coming week, I'm hoping to have another review out. And as always, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2013 January 6

This past week, there was one post that got two comments, so I will repost both of those.

Preview: Elementary OS 2 "Luna" Beta 1

Reader CruelAngel said, "I belive you can move windows Alt+grab style but instead of Alt you need to press Super. Don't ask me why. (Maybe they wanted to use Super for something too. XD) Also the volume control notifyOSD is from Ubuntu. Their notify OSD has this feature since always."
Commenter crabdog had this to say: "Elementary is shaping up really nicely. I just hope that the release version isn't already obsolete/outdated by the time it arrives."

Thanks to those who commented on that post. Right now, IAP has started (and I will have a post at the end of it reflecting on it, but that won't be for another couple of weeks), so I am more free to post things here. That means that this coming week, there will be another review. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2012 December 16

There was one post that got a comment this past week, so I am reposting that one.

Done with 5th Semester!

Reader Mechatotoro said, "Good work, my friend! It's great to hear you also made it through this intense year. Enjoy your free time--you earned it!"

Thanks to him for that comment during the past week. This coming week, I will be spending time with family out of town, so I don't anticipate posting much until after new year's day. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting! Also, happy past-doomsday, happy holidays, and happy new year!

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Featured Comments: Week of 2012 December 9

There was one post that got a handful of comments this past week, so I will try to repost most of those.

Review: Linux Mint 14.1 "Nadia" MATE + GNOME 3/Cinnamon

An anonymous reader said, "It's too bad you didn't get to experience Mint 14 with Cinnamon. I have it running on both a Pentium E5300 desktop with Nvidia 440 GT, and on a 6-year-old laptop with Intel C2D T7200 with Intel 945GM integrated video, and it runs great on both."
Another anonymous commenter had this to say: "Cinnamon now comes with Nemo instead of Nautilus. I like it, but I am o so missing the ability to have scripts and actions from within Nemo. In my opinion it was made default file browser too early."
Reader ArcherB shared this experience: "I just installed MATE on top of my standard Ubuntu installation. Works great without the stability issues of Mint. Tried Cinnamon, but, like the author ran across, it was simply not stable enough for me. It would launch and run for a while, but then weirdness would crop up. It would either lock up, "tear", or certain aspects of it would fail. MATE works fine for me, so I'll stick with that and KDE."
Commenter Jonc said, "I've run into no stability problems with Mint 14.4 Cinnamon. Or any other problems. One of the pleasures of Cinnamon is that it requires little customization, unlike many other distributions that tout their configurability but release products that are ugly and disfunctional in their default state. I've found MATE to be slow after using it on Mint, Fedora and OpenSuse. The transitition from Gnome is incomplete (Check the Startup Apps: several instances of MATE processes running in parallel with their Gnome equivalents). I also wonder if the resources behind MATE are enough to sustain it and if it can make a successful transition to GTK3. If I wanted to run a Gnome 2 desktop, I'd go with CentOS. Now, that does require a good bit of tweaking to get a good looking usable desktop, but it is fast and very reliable."

Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. This coming week, I have final exams, but after that is finished, I'll probably have a post out looking back on this semester along with possibly another review. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

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