OnLine E-ZineReturn to: OnLine E-Zine Main IPCUG Home Page
OnLine E-Zine
Return to: OnLine E-Zine Main IPCUG
Home Page
At our last meeting of the IPCUG Linux SIG, the topic of
discussion was about using Linux instead of Windows and if is this a realistic
option. The success of any operating
system can be measured by the number of applications available for it. There are a lot of applications available for
Linux and have been for a long time but these applications were more of a
technical or programming nature, not focused on the Desktop or on Productivity
in the home or office.
It’s a chicken and egg problem. For an operating system to be successful,
there must be a lot of applications available but before a lot of applications
are available, there have to be a lot of “installed systems” running that
operating systems. Linux has by and large
been grown on the backs and energy of the Linux community under the GPL (free)
license scheme. This can only carry an
operating system so far, at some point, the vendors have to start making some
money which includes RedHat, SuSE and the now financially troubled Mandrake who
actually makes the best distribution for the desktop in the minds of many. And of course, software application
developers have to eat too…
You know we are starting to get there when you see books in
the Linux section of the Bookstore, written for applications such as StarOffice
and OpenOffice; books that sell in the $40 range, just like the books for those
applications that run on that other operating system.
The IPCUG Linux SIG & the RedHat 8.0 Desktop
The IPCUG Linux Special Interest Group (SIG) standardized on
the K12 3.0.1 Distribution which includes a number of applications,
particularly Educational, and is based on the current RedHat 8.0 release and
uses the RedHat 8.0 installer. The K12
group does a great job of maintaining their distribution with all the latest
errata and updates from Redhat plus the educational applications and other
updates such as the latest version of OpenOffice. The K12 distribution is also free for the
downloading, 3 cd’s.
At the March 20th,2003, meeting of the IPCUG
Linux SIG, we discussed actually using Linux instead of Windows and are we
there yet? For most things, we are and
for those things that aren’t available in Linux, yet, there are two ways of
still running Windows when we just can’t live without it via Dual Boot or
Win4Lin among the alternatives. The uses
we discussed were Word Processing, Internet, Email, and Graphics.
The K12 Distribution actually gives a choice of 3 different
Word Processors and 2 office suites which include spread sheets and
presentation tools. The “free” Word
Processors available are Abiword, KDE Write, and OpenOffice. Abiword might be best compared with WordPad
but it is a little more powerful. KDE
Write is work in process but very good.
The OpenOffice suite is the “free” or GPL version of StarOffice, which
is quite powerful and complete. And if
you want to spend some money, you can buy StarOffice 6 which runs on both Linux
and Windows as well a couple other operating systems. One of the SIG members called attention to
OpenOffice’s ability to write PDF files directly which would normally require
Windows Acrobat or using a PDF publishing service. To help kids (and some adults) get started
with typing skills, the K12 edition also includes TuxTyping.
Linux is legendary for its functionality in the Internet
arena in that it is used to provide a number of services on the Internet
including very secure web servers and support services. It is only natural that
it provides several desktop alternatives to Windows and Internet Explorer. Internet Browsers freely available are
Galeon, Mozilla, Konquerer, and Netscape.
It also has a text based Lynx browser.
A wide variety of email clients area also available which range from
text based Pine and Mutt to the Outlook like Evolution that includes contact
management and calendaring.
In the graphics department, there is the absolutely awesome
and powereful GIMP application, which comes close to rivaling the standard
bearer Adobe Photoshop in capabilities.
There are numerous articles and even a book or two on how to use the
GIMP and you can import pictures from your digital camera in Linux.
Not discussed at the meeting but available on Linux are tons
of Games to idle away one’s time.
State of the State - Linux Desktop Distributions
Things are moving fast as Linux vendors focus on the
Desktop. RedHat just released 8.0 last
October and introduced the “Bluecurve” desktop with it’s very attractive soft
curved windows boxes and anti-aliased fonts.
Mandrake was leading the charge somewhat with its 9.0 version in
offering a higher level of usability on the Desktop and it was released about
the same time as RedHat 8.0. Now, at the
onset of the coming of April, RedHat is releasing 9.0, officially available for
download on March 31st and in the stores on April 8th. The version 9.0 number is significant in that
usually the Linux releases go in increments; with version 7.x of RedHat there
was a 7.0, a 7.1, and 7.2 and a 7.3 which was an extremely stable release but
with RedHat 8.x there never was an 8.1!
Suggestive that RedHat jumped to 9.0 just to be on the same version
number as Mandrake.
Also interesting, the financially troubled Mandrake is on
the verge of releasing 9.1 and it is due in stores the latter part of April.
Surprise! On March 26th, it
sends out an email advising users of the immediate availability of 9.1 for
download, free of charge, 3 cd’s. It looks like Mandrake wanted to beat RedHat
to the punch in releasing its latest version of Linux! I am not recommending
that you run out and download this if you are already running 9.0 retail.
I did a test install of 9.1 to an existing 9.0 working system and
identified two problems in the install. One is that it broke my working
9.0 system (maybe they should have done some more testing on this!). The
other is, that on an upgrade install, you don't get any choices to add additional
packages or programs that may be new with 9.1. The download version
is only the "core" GPL licensed system software and doesn't
include any of the "commercial" programs found in the retail pakages.
Mandrake is activity reminding users to subscribe to its
Mandrake Club as way of building revenue and while RedHat doesn’t make as much
a case about it, they also are looking to subscription revenue as a requirement
to join the RedHat network. Membership
in either program does provide benefits in keeping your system up-to-date as
well as new software releases and information.
I do recommend that you support your favorite distribution either by
buying the product and/or subscribing to the member/user services.
SuSE has 8.2 waiting in the wings … someplace … looking to
April or May for its 6 month release cycle.
There are two major distributions that are making Linux more
friendly, more “Windows” like in usage.
Desktop/lx from Lycoris is a $30 distribution and arguably the leader in
a providing a Windows like desktop on Linux and they have done an impressive
job including in providing desktop icons that a Windows user can feel right at
home with. Lindows 3.0 is a rather
spendy distribution at $129 but provides a good part of the Windows experience in a Linux
environment.
XPde is a recently released desktop environment with its own
window manager for Linux which goes some distance in recreating the WindowsXP
look and feel. Desktop Linux calls it as “to make Linux more approachable for
“mainstream” computer users who are familiar to the Microsoft Windows
environment.” A visit to http://www.xpde.com
and clicking on screenshots will provide over 20 screenshots of different
Windows like functions available in XPde.
The download is free and instructions for installing on RedHat are
available on the site.
An article found on http://www.desktoplinux.com discusses
Ark Linux, a distro for the masses.
According to Bernard Rosenkraenzer, aka “Bero”, co-founder of ArkLinux,
Ark Linux has a clear focus on the desktop/home user rather than the shotgun
approach taken by most Linux “everything for everyone” distributions. Ark
Linux is based on RedHat 7.3/8.0 and
available for free download at http://ww.arklinux.com where the opening page states “Ark Linux is a Linux distribution designed especially for
desktop use, primarily for people without prior Linux experience.” I loaded Ark Linux and was surprised at the cleanness of
installation. Current version Ark Linux
H20 (1.0) alpha 7 eXPerimental; The XP capitalization is obviously a play on
that other XP. An “alpha” release as
software goes is a pretty early release as software is initially released
“alpha”, then “beta”, and then gold, or almost the real thing. Printing
configuration was easy and both of my printers showed up “natively” in
OpenOffice; on printing from OpenOffice, I was given print dialog boxes for
each printer, much as I would be given in Windows. As to the part about being
“for people without prior Linux experience”; that may be the goal, it is not
there yet but getting close; some configuration is required to setup networking, LISa,
SAMBA sharing, and configuring services.
It has a very friendly “control panel” called “Mission Control (System
Settings). It is a single CD Linux
Install although 2 other CD’s are available but are really beyond the scope of
the “Desktop User.” I am quite impressed
by Ark Linux so look for a more detailed review or a demo at the Linux Group
Meeting..
Conclusion
Desktop Linux is exciting. It
is a very solid operating system and in my opinion, it is ready for the Desktop for both home
and office use. If you are interested in using
Linux as an alternative at either your home or office, you are invited to take
it for a drive at any of the websites shown below. If you are in the Boise, Idaho area, the
IPCUG invites you to come out to the Linux SIG Meetings, held on the 1st
and 3rd Thursday’s of each month at Executrain, 8950 W. Emerald
Suite 178, 6:30 PM.
Links:
http://www.redhat.com RedHat Linux 9
http://www.mandrakelinux.com Mandrake Linux 9.1
http://www.suse.com SuSE Linux 8.1
http://www.lycoris.com Linux is for Everyone! A distribution that just keeps getting
better.
http://www.lindows.com Bringing Choice to the Desktop user.
http://www.demolinux.org Demolinux is a
CD based version of Linux which allows you to test drive Linux without
installing it to your computer...
Return to: OnLine E-Zine Main IPCUG Home Page