OSNews:

OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/18076/Zen_Yourself_Free_a_Windows_Defector_Discovers_ZenWalk Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:47:40 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com haha http://osnews.com/thread?247516 http://osnews.com/thread?247516 Nice little article there! I quite liked the personal and humble style

And note, the word review is nowhere to be seen.

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (spikeb) Comments Link? http://osnews.com/thread?247521 http://osnews.com/thread?247521 Would it have been terribly difficult to link to "ZenWalk" for those of us who have never heard of it?

Guess its time to hit google so I can at least see some screenshots. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Arakon) Comments Funny :-) I've been in between long http://osnews.com/thread?247522 http://osnews.com/thread?247522 I used Arch Linux many years. Then suddenly got tired; too much fixing. I joined the Ubuntu-craze. Everything just worked, and it was almost as fresh as Arch.

However, now I see that I don't use any features of Ubuntu. I don't ever start Gnome, DBUS or any other resource hungry bastards. I run Ion3 and do everything in the terminal.

So I would maybe be better off making the switch back to the simplicity (and Zen

of Arch Linux. However, I've heard so much praise for Zenwalk (like this funny article), so I might just try that as well. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Velmont) Comments Welcome to the free software world http://osnews.com/thread?247523 http://osnews.com/thread?247523 What I would have liked to read, too, was how his family took the switch in. Anyway, refreshing article and I'm happy that this guy has found a home with ZenWalk (btw, since when is it called ZenWalk? Is this another distro than Zen?).
I guess, he would have found a home with a number of other, more spartan distributions that are just below the public horizon or suffer from an unwarranted reputation of being "hard to learn". Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (B. Janssen) Comments RE: Funny :-) I've been in between long http://osnews.com/thread?247529 http://osnews.com/thread?247529 I personally use Ubuntu with Windowmaker or fluxbox, so as such we're in kind of the same position. Personally, One of the big advantages with Ubuntu and one of the main reasons I stick to it is the availability of obscure software.

I don't need much of it, but every time I find myself in need of some obscure software, I tend to find that someone, somewhere has already packaged it for Ubuntu. Perhaps not in the official repositories, but always somewhere. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (dagw) Comments rajo http://osnews.com/thread?247540 http://osnews.com/thread?247540 Very nice, non-geek writing! Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (stooovie) Comments On the nail http://osnews.com/thread?247545 http://osnews.com/thread?247545 He describes well for me at least the awkward position of taking an increasingly severe dislike to both Apple and Windows offerings but not being entirely sure of oneself when it comes to surfacing the hidden depths of Linux: good that he feels happy sailing with ZenWalk. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (orfanum) Comments Nice article http://osnews.com/thread?247549 http://osnews.com/thread?247549 I've been running Zenwalk since version 2.6 and I've been enjoying every version that came out since. This distribution is a speed king and speed isn't its only merit.

By they way, version 4.6.1 is out since a couple of weeks now, which is better that 4.4.1 that is reviewed here in so many things...

Link to homepage for anyone that needs it:
http://www.zenwalk.org/ Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (gapan) Comments Question to zenwalk users http://osnews.com/thread?247550 http://osnews.com/thread?247550 I have one question I haven't found an answer to. How compatible is zenwalk with slackware? Or more precisly, if I download a slackware package from linuxpackages.net or some other site, can I reasonably expect it to work on zenwalk? Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (dagw) Comments RE: Question to zenwalk users http://osnews.com/thread?247561 http://osnews.com/thread?247561 Yes, you can reasonably expect slackware package to work.
Zenwalk 4.6.1 use same basic lib as Slackware 11.
When you download package from Zenwalk mirror, xnetpkg take care of dependencies for you. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (test7) Comments Audacious http://osnews.com/thread?247562 http://osnews.com/thread?247562 To the author: yes, default Audacious is ugly, but you can use Winamp themes on it. Helps a lot. Just drag 'n drop into the themes list in preferences.

re: dagw
Yes, you can use Slackware 11 packages. I've been using Zenwalk since before it was called Zenwalk and it's always accepted Linuxpackages.net packages nicely. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shuste73) Comments Summary http://osnews.com/thread?247563 http://osnews.com/thread?247563 "Less is infinitely more"
Good summary of Zenwalk and Slackware spirit.
Zen 4.6.1 is a very good tool for day to day work. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (test7) Comments Let's be honest http://osnews.com/thread?247564 http://osnews.com/thread?247564 Zenwalk is a good distro without any doubt... but it's not for old PCs anymore (I mean, really old PCs as it once was), and you can't compare abiword with openoffice, nor gqview with digikam, nor you can compare its security updates and availability of packages with a mainstream distro.

So, although Zenwalk is indeed great, it doesn't fill more than a small niche! Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jcpinto) Comments Very nice http://osnews.com/thread?247566 http://osnews.com/thread?247566 I also have an X2 and 2GB of RAM, but still can't force myself to run anything heavier than XFCE on Zenwalk or Fluxbox on Slackware (I run Slackware current, so I occasionally find another OS on another partition useful).

I think that both visually and in a what-services-the_OS-runs way, simplicity is better. My wife has a tricked out dual-core Sony laptop, and she puts on all these toolbars and whatnot. Ends up making the computer more difficult to use visually and, being Windows, leads inevitably to system restores and clean installs.

For me, filling my 21" monitor with one work window (browser or whatever), gkrellm and the Fluxbox toolbar is perfect. All the info I need, none of the useless crap I don't. Same with Zenwalk and what it offers casual users: all the help they need, and none of the bloat they don't.

Nice to see a recent convert agree. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (joef) Comments RE: Question to zenwalk users http://osnews.com/thread?247568 http://osnews.com/thread?247568 I don't run into any problems, with the caveat that you still have to ensure the dependencies yourself if you're not using NetPkg. I have Slack on one partition and Zenwalk on the other, and routinely download packages to one and then install them on the other later. I have also cross-installed programs I've compiled myself (Rox-Filer, rtorrent and a couple other little must-haves). They're both rock-freakin-solid. The only problem I've ever had with either is with video drivers. I pretty much have to use the nvidia driver. The Xorg nv driver won't give me full resolution. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (joef) Comments I like this http://osnews.com/thread?247570 http://osnews.com/thread?247570 I like seeing an OS commentary/review from someone other than an OS geek. Really, the real gauge of the success of desktop Linux is what non OS geeks are thinking/doing. What do writers, truck drivers, waiters, nurses, etc. think. Too many times a review of a distro includes "I dropped to the command line and ...". That is not an option for some people. I write software for a living. I don't really care a whole lot of what techno's think of my program (I do care what they think of my code, though!), but what the end users think.

Good going, Mr. Jennings. Let's see more of that! Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (fretinator) Comments RE: Funny :-) I've been in between long http://osnews.com/thread?247576 http://osnews.com/thread?247576 Then suddenly got tired; too much fixing. I joined the Ubuntu-craze. Everything just worked, and it was almost as fresh as Arch.

Goodness, what on Earth needs fixing on Arch? Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (twenex) Comments RE: Link? http://osnews.com/thread?247577 http://osnews.com/thread?247577 Was thinking the same thing.I wanted to see a screenshot of his system since he was willing to key us in on some of his hardware. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:50:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (islander) Comments Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247580 http://osnews.com/thread?247580 First 3 paragraphs do nothing but slam Microsoft with absolutely no references to any problems he's had nor did he try to seek any help. The first 3 articles had nothing to do with this. Was it too much to ask to just have you start with "I downloaded and installed ZenWalk and here is my experience with it"? Linux users always feel this need to justify why they are running their OS with some type of Microsoft bashing.

Linux isn't exactly error free either with its updates every few days. I had a custom kernel I compiled and it worked fine, installed ubuntu updates, on next reboot that kernel no longer worked. Kernel Panic. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (TaterSalad) Comments RE: Link? http://osnews.com/thread?247581 http://osnews.com/thread?247581 Ever hear of DistroWatch?

Now, a comment on the actual article (about Audacious):

I'm not sure, but I have a feeling the writer just stuck with the default skin (most likely), or is just not into the Winamp-style look to begin with. Personally, I love it--it's my favorite app--considering I've been using Winamp in Windows since around 1997, and I prefer its simplicity over a full-blown media library-style program. If there were no Audacious, my switch to Linux would've been much harder.

Its default skin in Zenwalk isn't too good though; in fact, I barely remember what it looks like (too bright, white and plain, that's all I remember). I changed it a long time ago (that collection I built up over the years in Windows still comes in handy). But one thing's for sure: the skin "ArcticAMP" looks daaamn good, nice and clean, good colors, and has been my choice for at least half a year. Looks great with the default Zenwalk theme, although I've customized my entire Xfce theme.

Anyone who wants to check out ArcticAMP, here's a link:
http://customize.org/winamp2/skins/33244 Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (UZ64) Comments RE: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247582 http://osnews.com/thread?247582 You cannot take an arbitrary custom kernel, chuck it into an arbitrary Linux distro and expect it to magically work. That is hardly bug. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (dagw) Comments RE[2]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247585 http://osnews.com/thread?247585 But my custom kernel did work up until I installed the updates. It worked for a couple of weeks. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (TaterSalad) Comments VirtualBox http://osnews.com/thread?247589 http://osnews.com/thread?247589 It doesn't work in VirtualBox 1.38 on Windows XP.

Which is a shame as I was looking forward to playing with it at work.

http://img14.imgspot.com/?u=/u/07/163/12/Zenwalk.PNG Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (nicholas) Comments RE: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247598 http://osnews.com/thread?247598 It was a wonderful article. All the bashing was very light hearted and the author poked fun at himself. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (parrotjoe) Comments RE[2]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247601 http://osnews.com/thread?247601 But it didn't bring anything to the article. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (TaterSalad) Comments RE[2]: Funny :-) I've been in between long http://osnews.com/thread?247604 http://osnews.com/thread?247604 What doesn't? Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jcpinto) Comments RE[2]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247608 http://osnews.com/thread?247608 And now I'm being modded down for bring up good points about the article and my own experiences with linux. If you don't want to be criticized then don't post an article, especially parts that don't pertain to the subject matter. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (TaterSalad) Comments RE[3]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247612 http://osnews.com/thread?247612 No, you're being modded down because you missed the point. (At least, I hope that's why you're being modded down). Furthermore, you make sweeping and obviously untrue statements; if there is any Microsoft bashing, it is in but a single paragraph not the 'First 3 paragraphs'. By my eye, the second paragraph is more critical of Linux than anything else.

To complain that Linux is unstable because you do unstable things doesn't seem to do you much credit, either. I've been playing with Mandriva One, which was completely stable until I started screwing with the Kernel and drivers. This is my own fault, I chose to take a working product and mess with it. If you try to mod your iPod, and in the process you break it, is this Apple's fault?

Criticism should be welcomed, but only if it's intelligent.Edited 2007-06-13 16:49 Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (rexstuff) Comments RE[4]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247613 http://osnews.com/thread?247613 And you missed my point. Blatantly bashing Microsoft had no purpose. Like I said, he could have started with saying "ZenWalk is a linux distro that does this for me and this is why I am using it". Then I was criticized for sharing my own experiences. I never said it was unstable, I said an update caused a working machine to fail. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (TaterSalad) Comments RE[4]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247615 http://osnews.com/thread?247615 No, you're being modded down because you missed the point.

I realize this is off topic, but there is no "missed the point" mod option, just like there isn't any "just plain wrong" option. So as such people shouldn't be modded down for these reasons. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (dagw) Comments RE: Audacious http://osnews.com/thread?247616 http://osnews.com/thread?247616 Or you could use amarok,banshee to name a few :-) Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (netpython) Comments nice article of a average user http://osnews.com/thread?247617 http://osnews.com/thread?247617 Nice article and gives me the dejavu feeling i had after having installed PCLinuxOS.

One of the few distros which offers PAE i686 kernels so i can activate the NX bit on my amd64 kernel.although i "only" have 1 GB RAM and the kernel is geared towards 64 GB RAM max.booting with noexec=on noexec32=on gives:NX (Execute Disable) protection: active when i issue: dmesg|grep NX

Awkwardly no other distro exept pclinuxos (at least that i know off) did it. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (netpython) Comments Great write up. http://osnews.com/thread?247629 http://osnews.com/thread?247629 I've not used Zenwalk before but I might just give it a go after reading this.

(Parenthetically, can I point out that GNU/Linux fans seem to be, in comparison with the average, stoical PC user, nothing but sleazy, promiscuous slatterns, drifting from distro to distro like so many Edwardian society ladies, sometimes running several distros at once in a menage a trois of competing desires?....)
That's too funny. They're called distro whores for a reason! Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mzilikazi) Comments Discover more http://osnews.com/thread?247631 http://osnews.com/thread?247631 He's realistic enough to admit that if he encounters a serious problem, chances are he'll have to reinstall the OS because he lacks the knowledge to mend it.

This is indeed a problem with a lot of Linux distros when run by less technically minded users. For this reason, a good compromise imho is to run something like Ubuntu but install and use the XFCE DE. In the event of problems - pretty well inevitable with desktop Linux - you get access to Gnomeish gui tools and all of Ubuntu's help forums. The same would be even truer of SuSE and YaST (though he's clearly not a SuSE fan). Frankly, with his PC's specs he could run pretty well anything and it would seem fast.

Zenwalk is a jolly nice distro in my experience. But there's no denying that it's stripped down and is not really aimed at the "2-gig + x2 cpu" crowd. I suspect that the author of this article is short-changing himself to a degree, because he's not actually getting to try the best things Linux has to offer. Like, erm, Digikam, K3b or Amarok but that's just my 2 cents. Anyway he's happy and he has the neat 'n' speedy Zenwalk up and running OK so hip-hooray. I just hope that trying to deal with a serious borkage and Zenwalk doesn't put him off the whole experience.Edited 2007-06-13 17:51 Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (moleskine) Comments RE[2]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247632 http://osnews.com/thread?247632 "You cannot take an arbitrary custom kernel, chuck it into an arbitrary Linux distro and expect it to magically work. That is hardly bug."

Well, yes and no. One of the strengths of Linux is that you CAN do that. Look on any blog or anywhere on the net and that is touted as one of the biggest benefits. Comments like "If you don't like the distro's kernel, just compile your own" are very commonly made. What is not said though is that once you DO plug your custom kernel into the distro's framework, you can no longer rely on the distro's updates for any software, without suffering the same fate of the system not booting. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (DrillSgt) Comments Worrying a bit http://osnews.com/thread?247648 http://osnews.com/thread?247648 Nice to see someone enjoying Zenwalk.
But I start to worry a bit when I read this:

This then helps me rationalize my Linux ineptitude: the fact that I still can't get a tarball to come out right; that I'm fingers and thumbs the moment a terminal opens up; that I am never, ever going to compile a program. I am old; I am lazy.

I'm not saying that the author is stupid. I understand him (I think), being lazy myself.

However, I feel it's more about fear than anything else. Working with tarballs, compiling programs, typing a bit in the CLI, it's all *not* difficult at all. All it takes is a little bit of time, but that investment is paid back tenfold. Usually, all you have to do is read a README file (which you may even skip) and an INSTALL file.

It's a pity that, apparently, even a Slackware-based distro is not able to inspire its users to educate themselves to do *some* things the Unix way. Which gives so much more power to the user.
It's understandable, though. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (h3rman) Comments RE[3]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247652 http://osnews.com/thread?247652 What is not said though is that once you DO plug your custom kernel into the distro's framework, you can no longer rely on the distro's updates for any software, without suffering the same fate of the system not booting.

Unless the distro has patched something you don't like, you should really use the distro's kernel source and config as a starting point to roll your own kernel. Far less headaches that way.

I've done this on some production servers and it works reasonably well, although recompiling after every kernel update is a PITA. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (MattPie) Comments RE: Discover more http://osnews.com/thread?247660 http://osnews.com/thread?247660 "But there's no denying that it's stripped down and is not really aimed at the "2-gig + x2 cpu" crowd."

No. Zenwalk is really aimed at modern hardware. The fact that it is so fast makes it a good choice for relatively old hardware as well. I don't think there's anything stripped down about Zenwalk anyway. BTW, I'm running Zenwalk on my Core2Duo 1.6GHz/1GB RAM laptop and it feels amazingly fast.

Most people seem to think that if you have a modern high-spec PC you'd better run something bloated on it. Running something as fast as Zenwalk gives a real feeling on what your hardware can really do. The author of the article has realized that. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (gapan) Comments RE[3]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247672 http://osnews.com/thread?247672 That's not the point. You can't take a random custom kernel, throw it into a random distro, and then update it normally and expect it to 'just work'

That's what the parent is saying. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ThawkTH) Comments RE[3]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247673 http://osnews.com/thread?247673 No, it's not said.

Then again, why would anybody expect somebody who was such a novice to start rolling their own kernel?

Seriously, if I roll my own (especially if I've done any amount of reading on the subject) I know that I shouldn't then do a dist-upgrade from ubuntu, allowing it to essentially overwrite what I've done.

Sorry, but if somebody is a novice they shouldn't be custom compiling kernels on a production system. If anything test it a bit first. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ThawkTH) Comments RE[5]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247674 http://osnews.com/thread?247674 This isn't even a review. He doesn't owe us anything. Why should he explain his issues with MS?

Frankly, if he doesn't want to tell us, it's not really our business is it?

Point is, he dislikes Microsoft (if he left that part out somebody would be whining that he was far too biased and wasn't upfront about his feelings). He had issues. He heard Linux was a proposed solution. Had bad Suse experience.

Tried Zen, really loves it. Gave us, from a normal user perspective, excellent reasons as to why.

...Some people are never happy. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ThawkTH) Comments RE: haha http://osnews.com/thread?247677 http://osnews.com/thread?247677 I thought the first paragraph on page two was worth the entire article, indeed worth the entire expansive, voluminous, far-reaching, and capacious web site

Any paragraph that combines "Bryan Adams" and "hypertrophy" is OK in my book. Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Peter Besenbruch) Comments RE: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247705 http://osnews.com/thread?247705 I'm a Microsoft refugee. I also once or twice installed updates and had a panic; my Windows would not boot! I've also compiled a kernel on Linux, and learned that an update can undo your custom compile,yes it's true! I had to repair my "free as in beer" OS! Linux isn't error free, it does have security updates every few days instead of one Tuesday a month. Another problem I'm having with Linux is that I can't seem to find my Linux Genuine Advantage Validation Key! Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (pfsams) Comments RE[2]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247745 http://osnews.com/thread?247745 "Another problem I'm having with Linux is that I can't seem to find my Linux Genuine Advantage Validation Key!"

Maybe Novell and Xandros will have that "feature" in future versions of their software. Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Supreme Dragon) Comments So what is it other than http://osnews.com/thread?247754 http://osnews.com/thread?247754 XFCE Desktop on Linux?

Don't see much difference here than just running XFCE on any other distro. Thu, 14 Jun 2007 01:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (blitze) Comments RE[3]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247772 http://osnews.com/thread?247772

Maybe Novell and Xandros will have that "feature" in future versions of their software.

I stepped into that. I was trying to be lighthearted, but regrettably you may be right. I've read the arguments about Novell, both pro and con, I feel it was a bad move by Novell and also a bad move by Xandros. Linux has been doing fine without MS as the author of the article discovered. There are reasons why average users like me stay with Linux. It's more user friendly than MS, and I'm not an expert on buisness, but I think Novell and Xandros will not prosper in the long run. Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (pfsams) Comments RE: Worrying a bit http://osnews.com/thread?247779 http://osnews.com/thread?247779 Well, in certain cases it's easier than others.

On Gentoo, I could easily just compile all these things, because installing programs on Gentoo required having all the necessary header/source files to compile dependent programs; on the rare occasions in Kubuntu where I've tried to compile my own stuff I've had to grab the required development packages, which has generally required trial and error running ./configure.

It's a different perspective. Gentoo, SourceMage, and Arch (I think) are designed with compile- (if not source-)-level tweaking in mind; SuSE, Red Hat, K/X/Ubuntu and Zenwalk simply aren't meant to be used that way.

-------------

In the same fashion, I nearly broke MY Ubuntu trying to install a custom kernel on it; I gave up when I realized I'd have to go outside the package manager for so many automatically-installed things (nVidia drivers in particular) to make it work, that I'd start missing security updates, automatic upgrades, and things WOULD break sooner than later.

That was shortly after I switched from Gentoo; once I realized Xubuntu didn't work that way I was a happier man.

It sounds like this guy is happier, too. With Zenwalk, he may have a harder time compiling his own packages, but at the same time he won't NEED to bother with that. No, it's not THAT difficult, but when is it going to come up?Edited 2007-06-14 03:31 Thu, 14 Jun 2007 03:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (DigitalAxis) Comments I applaud you http://osnews.com/thread?247806 http://osnews.com/thread?247806 Seldom do I see such lucid proses in a technical column. Cuneiform script! Linux is the Linear B of operating systems. You've made my day. Thank you. Thu, 14 Jun 2007 08:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (greengrass) Comments Really fast, but wireless hell... http://osnews.com/thread?247819 http://osnews.com/thread?247819 This article convinced me to download ZenWalk and try it on my laptop. That's fast, for sure. But then it takes some time to adapt (more than with other distros like Fedora or Suse), and the wireless configuration brought me back two years ago with the first steps of Ubuntu. And that's clearly a very very annoying problem, even if I just have to solve it once. I need wpa, and can't have it working yet. And even more annoying, after first boot, not network adapter AT ALL. I had to bring the firmware from my ubuntu to have my Intel 2200 wireless adapter recognized. But I can't understand why the ethernet one is not working. So at the same time, it's both very pleasant to use because of the speed, but also extremely frustrating as basically I can't do anything on it

Sorry about the mix feelings, but the installation is clearly NOT meant for beginners. Then for everyday use, I will need to be able to use it

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (risbac) Comments RE[2]: Audacious http://osnews.com/thread?247840 http://osnews.com/thread?247840 That depends on what you want. Some people just want a little something that plays music, and something like Audacious is just right for them. Some people want a music library, and so Amarok is the thing.

It has a lot to do with personal taste. People develop a very personal relation with their music, and it shows in their choice of a player. Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (wirespot) Comments RE: Link? http://osnews.com/thread?247842 http://osnews.com/thread?247842

Would it have been terribly difficult to link to "ZenWalk" for those of us who have never heard of it?

Would it have been so hard to read the second page of the article and use the link provided there? Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (crimperman) Comments RE[3]: Terrible Article http://osnews.com/thread?247848 http://osnews.com/thread?247848 Yes it did. It provided some background to explain the motives behind his switch.

Can't unsatisfied Microsoft customers complain about their products anymore? Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (archiesteel) Comments RE: Question to zenwalk users http://osnews.com/thread?247995 http://osnews.com/thread?247995 YES INDEED. Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (bradley) Comments RE[2]: Link? http://osnews.com/thread?248048 http://osnews.com/thread?248048 Should one have read most of the first page and still been left wondering what "ZenWalk" is? The writer failed.

The pagination is silly enough (most multi-part articles here have longer per-page content than this whole article), but not linking to it on the entire first page, much less the abstract/blurb, is just frustrating.Edited 2007-06-15 06:12 Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Spellcheck) Comments RE: Worrying a bit http://osnews.com/thread?248050 http://osnews.com/thread?248050 Yes, it's fear: fear that something will go wrong.

And even if you _can_ untar a file and run ./configure and the rest, then what happens when it doesn't work? Fear, that's what. Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Spellcheck) Comments this article summed up my feelings exactly! http://osnews.com/thread?248065 http://osnews.com/thread?248065 except i would have suggested linux mint, i have tried ubuntu but now that i have linux mint 3 running on my pc i have put my ubuntu cd in the bottom draw and thats where its staying. Fri, 15 Jun 2007 08:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (betaluva) Comments RE[3]: Link? http://osnews.com/thread?248077 http://osnews.com/thread?248077 I guess the choice was to mod -1 or say "go f--king google it!1". I can't tell which response would be more idiotic. Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Spellcheck) Comments RE[4]: Link? http://osnews.com/thread?248080 http://osnews.com/thread?248080 And OSNews adds "-"s to words it deems inappropriate, it seems. I did not know that.

Yes, this is off topic. That is a reason to mod down. Nothing in my original comment had such a reason. Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Spellcheck) Comments Re: So what is it other than http://osnews.com/thread?248228 http://osnews.com/thread?248228 "XFCE Desktop on Linux?

Don't see much difference here than just running XFCE on any other distro."

It's Xfce on a customized Slackware 11 with a 2.6 kernel and HAL/dbus support. It has a package management system with dependency resolution yet still maintains full compatibility with Slackware packages. It is tweaked to run almost as fast and responsive as VectorLinux (another Slackware-based distro) but more newbie-friendly.

I could go on all day, but asking what makes any distro different from all the others will get you the same lengthy response.

But then, you already knew that, didn't you?Browser: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/hspr-H102; Blazer/4.2) 16;320x320 Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Morgan) Comments