Eye On Linux - Latest Comments

Re: Who Cares About Microsoft Office for Linux?

dopadapo — Mon, 13 May 2013 06:51:06 -0000

In Linux. is there any offline notebook application comparable to MS-OneNote? If not, I would buy MS-OneNote for Linux if it is available.

Re: Fedora 19 Sneak Peek

Scott — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:26:30 -0000

My experience is similar. I have installed Fedora 15, 16, and 17 on Walmart laptops and now have a custom-built desktop with Fedora 18 installed. Speed was not an issue on the laptops with any version of Fedora, and there are fewer stability issues on these machines when Fedora is used instead of Ubuntu derivatives.

The speed issues people have seem mostly related to use of current distributions running on old or under-powered hardware. This just does not occur on current machines custom-built for Linux. Go figure.

Re: Fedora 19 Sneak Peek

David Dreggors — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:57:23 -0000

I simply have not seen an issue with Fedora being slow. Maybe in comparison with tiny lightweight distros/desktops sure, but not when compared to a full desktop/media targeted distro like Ubuntu, Mandriva, Suse, etc... In fact I found Ubuntu way more unstable and even slower at times. Can't speak for the newer Mageia (Mandriva fork), never used it.

I always buy those (disposable?) $300 laptop specials at Walmart as my work machine. I run Fedora 17 & 18 on two of them right now and have no issue. I love Gnome 3 and it is not slow trust me. I ran Fedora 16 on previous laptops as well.

I am not saying that anyone is wrong here, just that my experience with the last 4 laptops and the last 3 versions of Fedora has not been what you have mentioned here. I found/find Fedora to be a great Desktop distro.

But hey, if you want really fast... Go FreeBSD ;-)

Re: Fedora 19 Sneak Peek

Ti-Paul — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:25:55 -0000

When reviewing, you should read the release note...
On this Fedora alpha release, they specifically mention that the kernel used is slower because extra debug information is enable in order to do a better job a analyzing bug reports...

I'm no Fedora user. I'm on Arch (CinnArch-Gnome to be exact). ;)

Re: Fedora 19 Sneak Peek

Brian Masinick — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:04:04 -0000

Your comment about Fedora not being particularly fast tends to be true. I find that the combination of the kernel options, the Secure Linux (SELinux) setup, the number of daemon processes used, etc. all contribute to a system which, while feature complete and an excellent software development environment, is really good for things like security testing and software development and debugging, but not the optimal setup for routine, every day Email reading, forum research, and those kinds of things.

If you need a great development environment, a really secure setup, or you want to test out future Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) features, then this is a terrific platform. If, however, you want a stable every day system or a light, fast system, then you can do better elsewhere, such as Debian, antiX, for speed and stability, MEPIS for simple and stable, or Mint for a routine, easy to use system.

Re: Elive 2.1.37 Sneak Peek

Jim Lynch — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 02:05:24 -0000

I do not know, Brian. Sorry.

Re: Elive 2.1.37 Sneak Peek

Brian Masinick — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 01:34:55 -0000

One thing I am wondering about before I download this particular version, since it only runs either Live or in a virtual environment is whether it has enough wireless drivers included to operate a wireless network live. If it does not, for example, have the b43 wireless firmware included, then this particular version would not be useful to me running live; I'd HAVE to use it in a virtual environment on a system that already has wireless firmware included.

Do you happen to know if the live image has much wireless firmware included, especially NON-FREE firmware, such as the Broadcom b43 firmware driver?

Re: Elive 2.1.37 Sneak Peek

Jim Lynch — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:38:02 -0000

Yeah, it doesn't get as much press attention as Ubuntu, etc. But it's certainly worth checking out. It's kind of a quiet distro in comparison to some of the others.

Re: Elive 2.1.37 Sneak Peek

Brian Masinick — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:27:39 -0000

Ought to be worth a fresh look; I've used Elive before and it can be pretty handy!

Re: The Dark Side of Distrohopping

ScionicSpectre — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:47:36 -0000

See, I thought I might have a problem since I do this between Arch, elementary, and Ubuntu every few months- then you said 'three to five a day or less'. I think that makes me sane- right?

Re: The Dark Side of Distrohopping

GuiMaster — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 07:48:47 -0000

Great to see articles like this, because this is actually a problem for some people. Too much choice can actually be a problem for some, believe it or not!

Back in the day I used Windows 98. It was the only OS I had access to. Distro hopping wasn't an option. With Windows, distro / release hopping isn't an option because once you spend the kind of money Microsoft charges, you are happy to stay put. In fact, I really wish I could be using Microsoft as my main OS today. Unfortunately Microsoft is evil - in many ways - and so I feel like I can't use it as my main OS.

So in 2008 I downloaded Ubuntu to replace Windows 98. I've since purchased XP and Vista as secondary OS's. I got 7 on a Netbook that I bought. I was very happy with Ubuntu as my primary OS until 11.04 was released. When I realized that Unity was the future of Ubuntu, my distro-hopping nightmare began!

And what a nightmare it has been! I've installed and partially configured almost every release of Linux Mint and Ubuntu. That's KDE, XFCE, LXDE, Unity, Cinnamon, Mate, you name it. I'd have tried Elementary Luna by now if it would ever get out of Beta. I also tried Mint Debian and OpenSuse

Finally I reached a point last year where I felt sure that I am done my distro hopping ways, after settling on Kubuntu 12.04 LTS. But now the urge is coming back! I've spent hours configuring this OS and suddenly I have a desire to go back to Unity, even though I hated Unity!

Argh!!!

Re: Microsoft and the Windows 8 Attack on Linux

Richman — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:47:02 -0000

I have always built my own machines aside from my very first one which was a used IBM business machine and I haven't seen any MB manufacturers selling boxed MB's that come with the UEIF turned on much less being unable to turn it off and on at will. So I would presume that the effects of that whole debacle will lie on the shoulders of the consumer elite that give credence to the political/economic/capitalistic machine that enslaves them by way of their own authorization and will. But then most of these consumers don't much care about getting good value for their dollar and freely squander their billions without any need or consideration of true freedom. But then, Redmond knows this all too well along with their highly paid consumer marketing psychologists.

Re: Will Android Kill Windows 8 on the Desktop?

Richman — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:37:55 -0000

If Google launched a desktop os I don't think it will impact Linux much at all. There will be plenty of believers in free and open software that will stick to Linux for one big reason. Being FREE from the man. Google is a big corporate conglomerate and even if there desktop os is open sourced, they have demonstrated the propensity of wanting to control users through many other means including content, advertising and data control. I personally are against any control mankind devises from Corporate Capitalists, Zionists, Jesuits, NOC, Masons, Builderburgs or any such or similar control.

Re: The Dark Side of Distrohopping

Richman — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:04:54 -0000

Four to five distros per day? are you insane man. I thought I was ditro crazy downloading maybe 50-60 in the past 2 years. I havn't even reviewed them all. I maybe used 25-30. I have probably not messed around with more than 10-12 in a month. What I do is read the reviews and get a sense or general consensus on which ones are popular, cool, stable, appreciated, less buggy and then stick to the better ones that have the highest ratings because I don't have time for them all.

Re: Fedora 18 Sneak Peek

Andrew Du Bois — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:44:14 -0000

A hamburger patty is a cylinder not a sphere..

Re: Linux Mint Debian 201303 RC Sneak Peek

Michael — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:51:26 -0000

Any news about KDE LMDE?

Re: Linux Mint Debian 201303 RC Sneak Peek

Brian Masinick — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 01:36:54 -0000

My opinion on the latest LMDE version is that it is a significant improvement to the previous edition. My primary beef with the previous version I had used (and I gave it a good look for at least a couple of months) was that it had problems with its boot manager. The implementation of GRUB, the boot manager, that was previously used acted as if LMDE was the only distribution worth using; rebooting, for example, would put you RIGHT BACK into LMDE instead of presenting a list of other systems.

For some people, who only use one system, that is not an issue. For me, it was a deal breaker.

That issue is nicely resolved in the Release Candidate that Jim describes. I'd agree with Jim that this version may be just right for those who want "a rolling release, you never really have to bother with upgrading in the same way you would with the versions of Linux Mint that are based on Ubuntu."

Of course, Debian, particularly in the "Testing" and "Unstable" (Sid) variations, are always rolling release versions, the "Install once" and upgrade for years, until you get a new system or simply "get bored" and want to implement something else.

Personally, I am still a Debian user, first and foremost. Nearly all of the software I use on a regular basis is either true Debian software or a derivative of Debian that is 100% compatible with Debian; antiX, SimplyMEPIS, and siduction are three examples, each of which I use. LMDE may get added to that list, but as it currently stands for me, I still use Debian Sid more than all of the others combined, so for LMDE to slip onto that list and get more than 1% of my system usage is unlikely. That said, it's a very good distribution. For someone who is already using it, or for someone who is looking for a system that they can install, use immediately, and continue to use it for months, or even for several years, this particular version is worthy of your investigation and consideration.

Re: Linux Mint Debian 201303 RC Sneak Peek

Jim Lynch — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:35:40 -0000

Aaah, I see. Thanks, Colin. That explains it. Good to know.

Re: Linux Mint Debian 201303 RC Sneak Peek

colin — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:13:42 -0000

regarding a list of what was in UP6: When I went from UP5 to UP6 there were hundreds and hundreds of new packages that got updated, so I assume that an exhaustive list wouldn't be much fun to look at.

Thanks for your reviews, I always enjoy them.

cheers,
colin

Re: Who Cares About Microsoft Office for Linux?

Craig Wessel — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:28:50 -0000

Why would you ridicule office for Linux? If you have an employer who requires the latest office or you want to check out Linux but want to keep office I think this is a great idea. While I still like libreoffice Having office on Linux without wine wouldn't be to bad. I could actually get my mother to switch over if that's the case. So I fully support this Idea and while I will still use Libreoffice I'll also have MS office installed when I need to use Data Tables and Graphs and such. I LIKE THE IDEA OKAY! And I fully support Microsoft porting it.

Re: Fedora 18 Software Manager

Adel Mohamed — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 07:20:42 -0000

actually Fedora software manager is not good like Ubuntu software manager .. at least in Ubuntu you can review the software before downloading it while this is not exist in Fedora

Re: Who Cares About Microsoft Office for Linux?

Asmer Mlaco — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:57:44 -0000

Forget Wine and VirtualBox. Did anyone ever tried to print a Word document while running it with Wine or VirtualBox? That is why native app would be cool. Love it or hate it, MS office is the best product, especially in corporate environments (Exchange, SharePoint, Outlook integration). LibreOffice is good product, but it looks like it is from Win95 era.

Re: Who Cares About Microsoft Office for Linux?

Brian Masinick — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:48:43 -0000

Yes, Office 365 is the Microsoft Web-based version. I am not aware of a free version; is there one?

Re: Who Cares About Microsoft Office for Linux?

Tim Climis — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:08:18 -0000

I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned the need for Outlook. Yes, it's terrible as an email client, but when your entire corporation is on an exchange server, and you need to have meetings with others, it becomes a necessity. Outlook calendars are the one thing preventing me from running a Linux box at work. If I could get Outlook calendars to work reliably in Linux, via MS Outlook for Linux, I'd pay for the whole suite, just for that one part of a single application.

Re: Who Cares About Microsoft Office for Linux?

Bill Payne — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 20:05:04 -0000

I would buy this.