I know this has been a long time coming but I've had coursework/exams/an interview to deal with and the actual writing got put on the back burner. However, I have been using Xandros a fair bit and it must be said that I really like it. If you're not a Slackware junkie (like me) I would reccomend Xandros as the best distro to use - it's good for experienced users and completed newbies alike.
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I agree, Xandros is a wonderful distribution, and I intend this in no way to detract from that fact, but have you tried MEPIS yet? Amazing! Experience for yourself why it just jumped to number 10 on your own site.
Thank you for your good work.
William
I'm also interested in the fact that it has nvidia hardware drivers installed by default, now that is cool, if only more distros did the same 
how about java ? mp3 ? did you have to load any plugins to get those to work ?
i'd like to see more screenshots too, is xandros only kde based or does it do gnome as well ?
cheers and thanks for the review
anyweb
linux-noob.com
IIRC there are some tools for ripping mp3's from CD, and XMMS plus other apps to play them.
Gnome isn't in there which sucks a bit because I much prefer it to KDE but they did make KDE more bearable than I usually find it.
Java was installed for runtime but not the JDK which I downloaded from sun in the usual manner (Java is very easy to set up on any Linux distro).
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.2_01-b06
encoding:mp3 playing via eg. xmms, notaun and so on...
decdoing: CD directy to waw or OGG inside of XFM (drag and drop :-)
mozilla-plugins: flash, java, helper app acrobat, helper app real one, in deluxe all crossover plugins like shockwave, media player 6.4, vrml, quicktime, and so on...
in the recent versions of gnome there's a nifty program called gnome-font-properties. in redhat it's available from preferences->font. it has a setting on its details dialog which allows you to change the dpi it uses to render fonts. this might solve the problem of large or unreadably small fonts on extreme screen resolutions.
you can also change the setting programmatically using gconf. the key to change is /desktop/gnome/font_rendering/dpi
Why all the complaints about Xandros? It great that there is finnaly a usable version of Linux out there. My company used to donate money to all kinds of projects. Keeping track of this is a PAIN! Its better to pay for a good distro and have the money distributed by them. We have enought work, doing out work and dont have the time to try to figure out where to send out bucks.
Dude. I like Xandros - I was just mentioning some of it's faults. The way the fonts were configured on my system was not what you would expect from something so well polished otherwise.
And MS Word crashing - that's a bit ropey since it's one of the major selling points don't you think? Like I said though - for me it's not an issue since I like to use OOo anyway.
As for the usaable comment, I would suggest that all Linux distros are usable (some more than others) this is just the first which should be usable by someone who has never seen a computer
although it's not the place of complaint I did install this distro to my friend's comp, but i couldn't in mine. Maybe it couldn't configure out my Philips 109b4 19' with lightframe. This means that I don't use it. If anyone could help me changing the config file manually I would be happy to try another time. My e.mail olti@ecluboz.com. Just who wants to help...
Unless somehow the DPI setting is screwy, selecting a 12point font should make it look the exact same size regardless of your monitor or resolution: 12 points.
If you take a ruler and measure a 60pt font on slackware and in Xandros, you will know what distro is getting it right.
If it's Xandros, then you are doing it wrong, it's just that slackware is compensating your mistake with some other error ;-)
My point is that I think it got the DPI screwy - a twelve pt font should not be over a centimeter high on a 1600x1200 display (in fact it was more like 1.5 cm)
Well I had a bit of a go at linux a few months ago and didn't get very far, but thanks to this review I think I'm gonna give it another go. Thanks!
Nice commentary on Xandros, especially the acknowledgement that the font issues are endemic to the way Linux (XFree86, really) is structured. (Although, as a Xandros user, I'd like to see the GTK font hassles officially addressed by the vendor.)
I'm guessing, though, that Matt does not really represent the market Xandros is going after. It would be good to hear from an office worker who had her Windows machine replaced with Xandros.
Call me screwy, but I have seen monitors appear to retain configuration (DPI?) information provided by one OS when switching to another OS. I've seen it when switching from one OS to another on a dual-boot machine, and I've seen it when installing a new OS on a working machine. Font display on the new OS definitely looked pretty bad.
The "effect" goes away the first time the video card is reinitialized.
Anyone else ever notice this? Or, am I just makin' it up?
That can't happen :-)
In the end, the software has to draw on pixels.
It goes like this: using ddc, the X server obtains physical size of the screen, and from the video card it gets the resolution in pixels (like, 1024x768).
That, in turn, allows calculation of the physical size of a pixel.
Then freetype uses that information to know how large in px a certain pt size is.
The only way what you say could happen is by having the monitor be so confused it reported a wrong size. Since the size of the monitor is never supposed to change, how that could happen is pretty hard to imagine :-)
To know who has the data wrong, look at xdpyinfo's output.
For example, this is mine:
screen #0:
dimensions: 1024x768 pixels (347x260 millimeters)
resolution: 75x75 dots per inch
If your fonts are inordinately huge, then it must be getting the size in millimeters wrong.
I had this problem as well (with a Dell Inspiron 8200 1600x1200 Laptop).
I got around it by calculating what screen size (in mm) gave 96dpi with the 1600x1200 screen (i.e.ignore the real dimensions). I then added this to the Screen secion of XF86Setup (Displaysize xxx xxx) and the fonts were sorted :-)
All the best,
John
i cannot install xandros due to having an onboard graphics card plus an nvidia card.
Xandros sux like all linux distros.
The only problem I had with it was that whenver the filemanager was loaded, everything seemed to slow to a crawl and my mouse started skipping. Once i closed XFM everything sped back up. Other than that it's a cool linux distro
I have an onboard graphics card and an NVIDIA MX440 and have never had a problem installing Xandros. Also, the only reason why I purchased/use Xandros is because it was the only distro that displayed fonts correctly in OOo...
Installation of Xandros 2.0 is so simple even a ten year old can do it.... and our daughter did.
Detected all of the hardware accurately, found our dhcp enabled Linksys, and preceeded to update itself via the web nearly immediately.
I was more or less shocked.
I hear many reviews lately talking about how very few distros include the nVidia drivers, but never hear anyone complain when they don't include the official ATI drivers. Sure for everything less than (IIRC) an 8500, DRI will give you 3-D support, but not everyone has that low of video card. I for one have a 9600XT (slightly better than a FX 5700, plus HL2 for a similar price, it wins hands down) but it is terrible to get the official drivers working (I think its because the XT line isnt officially supported by the linux drivers as of yet). More distros need to include BOTH driver sets.
On a Xandros note, I installed it and didnt really like it, plus I accidently formatted my XP and backup partitions because it defaults to formatting when you set your mount points in the installer. I guess I'm just too used to SUSE just automatically recognizing and configuring my Windows partitions.
BTW apparently this font size is due to the fact that KDE doens't interface properly with XF86 (I'm sure somebody will correct me if this is wrong).
I have never had this problem with Gnome, just many others :-)
John
I use Xandros on five desktops in my house, including those of my three kids (all under 7). From kids to adults, Xandros and Debian give you the most useful, most thorough distro I have seen yet. I'm sticking with them!
Actually, its the reverse. Its GNOME that uses its own gconf setting to manage the DPI. KDE just gets the DPI setting from the X server. GNOME apps appear to do this too, but only when they're not run from GNOME.
I am at work, so I read kind of quick, but I did not see any thing about the Xandors Network Application, the one that lets you connect to Xandro's apt sources and debians.. It lets you install Win4Lin for free, and load great software. It also will convert .rpm files into .deb and install them for you. It is a great app.
I stand corrected (that only took 20mins) :-)
John
It should work as long as you disable your onboard graphics. I believe all motherboards with onboard graphics have this option, just check the manual to find out how.
Get these modified, cute IconSet for XN/XFM (Xandros Networks,
Xandros File Manager) here, because the default are ugly.
http://www.desktop-linux.net/xandrostips.htm
also, do a search for "xandros" at kde-look.org, their are
some really nice new added Xandros Desktop Wallpapers, made
by Xandros Forum Users.
thomas
isn't there a spellchecker in OOo? there were quite a few spelling errors...
There is a spell checker in OOo yeah - i was using kwrite at the time and was typing quite quickly (had to squeeze in the writing between work).
Should have run it through a checker though, I noticed loads of them when I read through it after it went live.
My excuse is that I spray painted by keyboard black so that it has no markings - of course that's totally unconnected but it sounds like a good excuse
...is to let go of the forward arrow when you get all the blue maxed out.
The you get more speed just by sliding.
Erm, could you very kindly explain what on earth your post is about?
No rudeness intended, it's just that, while I can read the words, I cannot figure out the meaning of your post:
--------------------
"...is to let go of the forward arrow when you get all the blue maxed out. The you get more speed just by sliding."
--------------------
Reads rather like "release the steering wheel when Thursday is square. Now thurbligs are more efficient." :-)
-Gnobuddy
He talked about a level in Tuxracer, which he couldn't complete.
If it is the level I am thinking about, he need more speed.
By pressing continuosly forward, you hit a max speed. When you release at this speed, the pinguin is sliding and get more speed.
Nice distro, will be even better if the ACPI issues get worked out for laptops. Other than that I'll keep slackware on the laptop and Xandos on the Desktop.
Xandros is a very decent distro for converting from Windows, and given that this is their target market, this is a *good* thing
I installed it on my test-mule machine, and it installed in a very small amount of time, boots up faster than Windows 98 ever did (If I recall correctly; it has been since about 1999 since that machine has seen windows...) and detected every bit of hardware it had. Bear in mind, it's mostly standard equipment, such as 3c905 network card, and an ATI 9600SE video card. I beleive on a different install it *may* have even detected the SB Extigy on my roommate's computer, but don't hold me to that...
The codeweavers's office and Win4Lin ran most of the average programs I threw at it, finally choking on Adobe Premiere.
Networking; 100% easy. integrated right in with a mixed network of Linux, Solaris, Windows 2000, Windows 9x, Mac and one BeOS machine. Samba worked perfectly. Much easier than on other distros.
Anyway, a definite contender for the Windows->Linux conversion crowd!
