Submitted by Remember Yoper? Yoper is working towards version 3.0 of their Linux distro. For those of you that want to help with the beta testing, a download is now available. Yoper is optimized for i686 processors and speed. You can also find a short review of Yoper 3.0 beta over at Tuxmachines.
Yoper Linux Hits 3.0 Beta
About The Author
Adam Scheinberg
Technology Executive • Web Developer • Father • Foodie • Music Snob • OS enthusiast
Follow me on Mastodon @[email protected]
I think some old news are getting in lately. If I’m not mistaken 3.0 beta was released in the begining of March, and that review is certainly from March 7th.
You’re right. Yoper 3.0 BETA came out in March, but there hasn’t been any news of it on OS NEWS & I only found out about the new version myself just yesterday. I’m sure there were others out there that didn’t know about the release of 3.0 BETA.
I only see Ubuntu, Suse, Arch, & a few other linux distros mostly posted on here. You would think there were no other linux distros out there from reading OS NEWS. Or is it that people just don’t care about any of the other distros at all?
I thought going from 2.x to 3.x for Yoper is a big deal & should be on here to let people know that another Linux OS is out there maybe worth checking out.
I was hoping people would be interested in beta testing & helping Yoper to improve. Or at least get input from those who have tried it as to why it is good or bad, but I’m surprised with the small number of responses. Looks like nobody cares about responding unless it is Ubuntu, Suse, RedHat or Mandriva, etc. which I think is unfortunate and that only very few (popular) linux distros are ever covered and mentioned on here because people are only into the mainstream Linux distros.
That time upgrading packages worked for like 1-3 packages, when apt or whatever hanged so I had to kill it and start over, all the time.
Do I have to say I wasn’t impressed? Imho Ubuntu, SuSE and Redhat Enterprise Linux should cover most peoples Linux distribution needs. I’d probably try SuSE the next time I install Linux even thought I’m not a fan of RPM.
“Imho Ubuntu, SuSE and Redhat Enterprise Linux should cover most peoples Linux distribution needs.”
LOL, you want to make Ladislav Bodnar unemployed.
choice is nice and all and i understand with the reasons but still too many distros around
I also had no idea that a new version had come out, I dont think its bad to post something when no one has herd of it.
Last time I used yopper was when 2.1 came out, it wasnt as stable as I liked, and the fact that the developers were kde type people(I had problems with installing gnome), so I switched to debian. Yopper is not a bad distro from what I remember, the things that yopper did, I can happily said were very well done. I remember it was even easier to setup then ubuntu and had more features at first boot. I probably wont install it again since it is a kde centric distro, but if I had to use it I wouldnt have a problem with it.
OK so being compiled for 686 is supposed to mean greater performance. But isn’t that also true for Ubuntu64? Is the 64 bit version of Ubuntu also compiled for 686+?
I’m a little tired of slashing my system to compare distros.
thanks ahead of time I look foreward to any reply.
Rob
The 64-bit version of Ubuntu is for 64-Bit plus. It has no linear relationship with i686. I believe the only variety there consists of some incompatibilities introduced by Intel’s EM64T hackjob and whether or not SSE3 is supported, so consider it pretty much optimized for any chip that’s compatible with it.
686 is basically Pentium II or newer. When Yoper started out, that was a good place to be (especially when everyone else was compiling for compatibility all the way back to Linux’s origin, the 386.) It meant good performance on all contemporary 32-bit chips, but things forked a little with Athlon XP and Netburst. If you were that obsessed with optimization, you’d compile your own (Gentoo, for example.) Anything else, the CPU was just too fast to let optimizations stand out much.
I thought Yoper was great when it was new, aside from the package manager bug brought up in a previous comment, but it’s a little behind the times at this point. Now the challenge to be solved is making 64-bit operating systems compatible and useful without needing to resort to making an entire chroot. Gentoo has done that with G5s (they have a profile for 64-bit kernel with 32-bit userspace), but I think x86_64 needs that a lot more, and it’s shocking to me that the precompiled distros don’t have this thoroughly solved since it would just mean putting the same, old 32-bit packages in different directories.
thanks for the info! Yea I’m surprised at the numerous programs that don’t work with the x64 version as well. It’s more than the plugins and win32’s, programs such as tuxracer, and some obscure programs I use won’t even compile from source on it. That aside, I haven’t noticed any app speed difference between the 32 and 64 bit versions except for cd ripping where the 64 bit power is kicking in as it rips and encodes in twice the speed.
I can’t answer the Ubuntu64 question as I still use a 32 bit system. And very hard to find a direct answer to this anywhere on the Ubuntu site.
Yoper 3.0 is currently beta, so I would only install it on a spare partition for testing out, not to be used as the main system until final release.
Ubuntu is pretty good. Easy to use, lots & lots of packages to install, big support community, etc. But it comes with i386 kernel, which can be replaced with i686 or K7 (or ?) and when I changed the kernel I noticed an improvement in overall responsiveness, but it still didn’t feel fast to me.
I believe a distro should have speed, stability, a good feel to it, ease of use and many programs available. That is what you should be looking for.
Arch & Yoper are two of the faster performing precompiled distros out there, but they aren’t for everybody, just like Gobo, Ark, Foresight, Frugalware, PCLinuxOS, Ubuntu, etc. You have to decide what you like and go with it. And if Ubuntu works & you like it, then stick with it. After all, it is the most popular distro out there right now.
The best source for learning about different Linux distros available is http://www.distrowatch.com
You’ll find background information, version #s, release dates, links to reviews, etc. You can’t go wrong by choosing one of the top 10 or top 20 ranking distros & trying them out.
This beta IS rather dated. The next iso is expected to roll out in June 2006. And it will have some upgraded stuff, too.
Yoper is not only fast because of compiling against i686 architecture, but because of some specialized flag usage (read our site). Also, it will ship with the most important things on one CD only, thus you cannot compare it to multi-CD distros like SUSE, Fedora or Mandriva. Sure, Yoper has fewer packages, but still, it is a useful distro, especially if you want to compile/develop things. The devel-tools are installed by default.
And Yoper will get a new installer and a reworked centralized config-tool later. So, enough things are going on there.
One note: Yoper was once built by one person, Andreas Girardet, who is now working for Novell/SUSE as you might know. He did a great job. But now, this distro is a 100% community project and things have thus changed a lot.
One thing I’d like to say: We do need help, just like any other small distro. People who bugtest, program, compile packages, write documentation, help with user-support on IRC or Forums or mailing lists. We are a small team of upaid volunteers and thus we cannot do the same things that the big players with hundreds of developers do as a full-time job. But we try at least to give something back to the community. And it would be nice if others would join us. It does not take much to work on a distro as there are many areas where people can help out. But complaining that e.g. Fedora, SUSE, Mandriva and Ubuntu do it all better does not help any of the smaller distros.
Those who complain should ask themselves: “What have I done to help the Linux development? When did I help others the last time?” Every minor distro needs some support from users or spare-time developers, some useful feedback. Remember that Ubuntu, Mandriva, Red Hat etc were also once small distros.
arctic – Yoper Ltd. Board Member
There is obviously a limit to the best number of distros to have. Too few would be bad (but certainly isn’t going to happen any time soon!), but so too is having way too many, which is the situation we have now. I am not saying that people should not be free to start their own distro, or support and use whichever one they like, but I am saying that those who want to support the development of linux or other open source projects should pick a big one and help polish it. So many open source projects are 90-95% of the way towards being where they need to be in terms of polish and professionalism; they just need the finishing touches to truly be equal or better as their proprietary rivals.
It is the little details that make a huge difference. Right now, there’s loads of talent and interest out there, but it is being spread too thinly. Hundreds of linux distros are limping along when they have no business existing. All that coding talent is effectively being wasted by duplicating effort.
To take a famous example, imagine if there were a handful of cathedral-building projects. These projects were moving along briskly and the larger community were starting to notice them. But then, instead of accepting the invitation to help with the partly-complete cathedrals, many individuals wanted to have their own cathedral. So they copy the design of their favourite cathedral, trim all the best features out (since they don’t have the time, manpower or resources to implement them), then gather whatever materials they can find lying around and start cobbling together a competant but ultimately inferior imitation of the larger, better-supported cathedral projects. This is a waste of time and effort.
And no, Ubuntu was never a small distro. Almost immediately it attracted huge interest and support and has consequently developed rapidly (whether or not it deserved this is irrelevant). This is in marked contrast to hundreds of other distros which attract very little support and thus have little to offer in comparison to the big ones, yet still keep going for no discernable reason. If you are working on a project in a saturated field and your project doesn’t take off within a reasonable amount of time, you would be wise to reconsider your motives and the best way of utilising your talents.
If you do decide to keep going with a project with your name on it, fine. But don’t pretend you’re doing the open source movement any favours.
Well, first of all, I joined a distro that was already established for quite some years in order of NOT to start working from scratch on distro number 1560. I thought that working on Yoper is a good first step for my contributions to Linux and I still think that my decision was right. Really, what chance would a newcomer have if he would want to join one of the big league at once? A rather small chance, I guess.
Fact is: You learn a lot more about the building process of Operating system on rather small distros. It will take some time to learn everything important in your field of expertize (probably years). But the time invested is worth the blood, sweat and tears, even if you don’t realize that. And: Yes, I work on it, because I think that almost everyone (!) can help the OSS movement. It is not about making any favours but about helping to find weaknesses in current designs, find bugs, give users a feeling that somebody actually cares about their problems, fears, ideas.
FYI, I have followed the Ubuntu movement from the very beginning, that is all those months before October 2004, when they launched their first alphas that didn’t even have a name. And until 5.04 hit the mirrors, Ubuntu WAS a rather small distro. Trust me. You can tell me whatever you want, but really, it was not even 10% close to the Mandriva or SUSE or RedHat size and spreading by then.
I agree that there could be too many distros out there. But I won’t point any fingers at anyone who made his own distro. Everyone has to know for himself what he wants to do with his resources. Who am I to dictate how they shall use their capabilities? It’s just like saying: There should be only one car manufacturer or one computer manufacturer, ’cause they all recreate what had been done before by others. Sorry, that is plain dumb imho.
Now ask yourself: Why do we ask for help? Because we prefer to add more intelligent minds to our project than seeing them coding on yet another distro. But after all, it is each individuals choice. We can only propose things. The rest is up to you.
arctic – Yoper Ltd. Board Member
I tried out Yoper when it was first released… rather I attempted to. The installer sucked, so it wouldn’t install on my hardware. One of my buddies is working on it now, so eventually, I’ll end up trying to install it on my laptop.