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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Review: Korora 19 "Bruce" GNOME

Activities screen

In the comments of my review of Korora 18 "Flo" KDE, a bunch of people asked me to review Korora 19 "Bruce" GNOME. Now that this new version is out, I'm going to review it. It hasn't been too long since my last review of Korora, so I'll skip the introduction and get right to the main stuff. I reviewed the 64-bit edition (usually I review the 32-bit versions of distributions essentially by default, but this time the 32-bit edition seemed rather delayed to the point when I first downloaded the ISO file, I was under the impression that Korora might have dropped 32-bit support) on a live USB made with MultiSystem. Follow the jump to see what it's like.

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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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Review: Korora 18 "Flo" KDE

Main Screen + Kickoff Menu

In the last week of classes, since finished all of my assignments, I have had a little time to do some distribution reviews before starting to prepare for final exams. The second such review is of the KDE edition of Korora 18 "Flo".

I have reviewed Korora before. Back then it was called Kororaa (with an extra 'a'), so I guess the name was shortened in a manner similar to that of Facebook (from "TheFacebook"). It's a distribution that essentially offers a bunch of niceties on top of Fedora with GNOME or KDE. This time I tried just the KDE version.

I tried this as a live USB system made with UnetBootin, as making it with MultiSystem gave problems on several occasions. Follow the jump to see what it's like.

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Featured Comments: Week of 2011 October 2

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

Review: Kororaa 15 "Squirt"

Reader Jonquil had this clarification: "You can change the icons and themes using Gnome-Tweak-Tool, which should be available in the repositories. Also, Appearance hasn't been deprecated. Something is wrong with the distribution you're using. I've used the Appearance settings in Gnome 3.0 AND 3.2 in Fedora, and they work just fine."
An anonymous commenter said, "I totally agree with the above article. After getting my first build up and running (I was completely supervised by my friend and mentor who has several certifications and has been building computers for over 20 years now.) I installed Kororaa 15 KDE on it. What a load of crap! When using Jockey to download the NVIDIDA drivers as instructed and installing them and going into desktop settings to set slideshow my screen went black. I have tried several distributions and the only ones that work with NVIDIA are Ubuntu based. AT least Bodhi comes with them already in place. I am using Ultimate Edition 2.9 and it works like a charm. Kororaa has definitely taken a hug step backwards and has lost its credibility with me as have Fedora based distributions. Fuduntu 14.11 failed miserably as well. So Prashnath I totally agree with what you have written here. Kororaa has definitely gone bad and gone bad quickly."

Thanks to those two for commenting on that post. This coming week, I don't really anticipate writing about much, because while I do have the next two days off, I also have an exam at the end of this week, and I'll probably be preparing for that. In any case, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing, commenting, and sharing!

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Review: Kororaa 15 "Squirt"

KDE: Main Screen

I've been swamped these past couple weeks. I mean, I've been absolutely, completely, and totally bogged down by work. I had 4 problem sets to do, on top of my recently-started UROP and other work-study stuff I'm doing, so I seriously had no room to breathe, until now. I briefly thought about starting work for next week tonight, but then I realized that whatever sanity I had left at this point would go out the window if I worked any more. I needed a break, so what did I do instead of working? I wrote this review! (This is my pre-emptive excuse if some people may feel that this is not thorough enough, or whatever. Yeah, yeah, sue me.)

GNOME: Main Screen

I've reviewed Kororaa before, and that was version 14 "Nemo" which featured KDE 4.6 and GNOME 2.32. This new version 15 "Squirt" has an unchanged semi-major version of KDE, but GNOME has been upgraded to version 3.0. Other applications have been updated too, so I figured it would be time to give it another go.

I tested both versions through live USB systems made with UnetBootin. I did not test the installation processes because there haven't been significant changes to the Anaconda installer since Fedora 14 "Laughlin". Follow the jump to see what each is like.

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Featured Comments: Week of 2011 June 5

There were a few posts that got a handful of comments, so I'll try to repost a few from each.

Review: Kororaa 14 "Nemo"

Reader jai ho said, "The developer could have used a kororaa logo (if any) in the gnome edition...using elementary logo removed this distro's individuality.. also you have forgot to give the link to kororaa website.. i do not know why you are reluctant to give a link to the websites.. its disgusting.."

Tech Support via CLI

Commenter T_Beermonster said, "And of course lets not forget that it's fairly trivial to set up ssh and screen. That way not only could you administer the system remotely but you can both attach to a shared screen session and he can learn from what you are doing. Much easier to do with cli apps than via x-forwarding", later adding in response to my response to that original comment, "It's often system administration even if you don't think of it as such. Getting a wireless card to work - sysadmin. Upgrading packages - sysadmin. etc. etc. ad nauseam. You aren't limited to sysadmin though - there is something slightly awesome about being able to set get-iplayer to download a TV programme at a relatives house. Or anything else you prefer to do."
Reader scan suggested, "You may want to give Teamviewer a try, it is free to use for non-commercial. It is super simple to use for both sides http://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/index.aspx?os=linux"
Commenter Linuxrich had this to say: "The command line is an awesome tool. As you rightly point out it makes a lot of tasks so much easier if you are willing to put aside anti cli prejudices. Not only can you cut and paste commands but it's often easier to describe how to do something on he command line as opposed to trying to explain which button to click..."
Supporting that, an anonymous reader said, "Hah exactly.. Im in IT Support (windows mostly sadly) and if I want to ask a user for the IP address of there machine should I a) try to describe how to click through parts of the GUI that the user has never used probably or b) start --> run -- type cmd --> type ipconfig.. read out IP please. CLI is awesome also for documentation as well.. a GUI tutorial or how-to is a million pages long with screen shots.. CLI is one page"

Review: Pinguy OS 11.04 Mini

Commenter Andy Prough said, "You make some good points about the different software options that come with Pinguy vs. Mint, but as you point out, either distro is easy to configure in terms of adding software. What I would like to see is a reviewer who is willing to take the devs for Pinguy, Mint, and even Ubuntu to task for failing to actually develop tools that would help users configure their distribution. For example, openSUSE has the YaST2 control panel, Mandriva and Mageia are using the Mandrake Control Center, and even Windows has a Control Center, but for all the Ubuntu clones and derivatives, you still don't have access to adequate tools to control the distribution. Instead, if you want to change something, you've got to wade through hundreds of thousands of pieces of very questionable advice from the Ubuntu user forums or other user forums. I would like to see all these "devs" actually "develop" something - namely, an intuitive way to interact with and configure their distros, backed up by rock-solid documentation. Until then, I don't consider any of them anything more than window-dressing on top of Debian."
An anonymous reader had this tip: "I think Ubuntu Control Center is on it's way! Check out OMGUbuntu, they've a full post dedicated to it along with PPA."
Commenter Daeng Bo countered to a previous comment, "Andy, As a user of Red Hat, SUSE, and Mandrake from the beginning of last decade, I'd have to say that Ubuntu, Mint, and Pinguy have the same things that these older distros have, though the tools lie in a menu instead of one giant tool."
Reader Linux said, "As usual, Pinguy Rocks!!"

Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. I don't have anything in particular planned for this coming week, but I'm sure I'll find something to write about. Remember, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing to, commenting on, and sharing these posts!

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Review: Kororaa 14 "Nemo"

Main Screen + GNOME Main Menu

This review has been a long time coming. I actually wanted to include Kororaa in my comparison of Fusion and Fuduntu, but the final release of Kororaa only came a few days ago, and I felt it wouldn't be fair to compare two final products to a beta release of a distribution.

So what is Kororaa? Based on my previous statement, it would be pretty easy to guess that it's a Fedora remix. But it's actually a little more complicated than that. You see, Kororaa actually started life as an easy-to-use Gentoo derivative; it was basically Sabayon before (or maybe just around the same time as) Sabayon existed, and regular readers of this blog know from my numerous reviews of Sabayon that it is a Gentoo derivative that's supposed to be easy-to-use and that just works. After about 2 years, however, Kororaa went dormant, due, if I understand this correctly, to the developer not having enough time or resources to properly maintain a Gentoo derivative. He then found Fedora, and since then Kororaa has been a Fedora remix. Furthermore, while I believe that Gentoo-based Kororaa focused solely on KDE, Fedora-based Kororaa has both KDE and GNOME releases, both of which I will be testing in this post.

I tested these editions of Kororaa via a live USB system created with UnetBootin. I tested the installation procedure of the KDE edition via VirtualBox within the live session with 1024 MB of RAM allocated to the guest OS. Follow the jump to see what it's like.

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