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Ok, I have been able to boot into the 2.6.0-test5 kernel and use KDE 3.1.4, but, after my troubles, I'm sticking to the 2.4.22 kernel and am trying out gnome 2.4. There are obviously other choices for dekstops: fluxbox, xfce4, etc. How your desktop looks and operates is a matter of personal taste and "cast ... ." Now it's time to gather some tools with which to work. I'll need a Web browser, an instant messenger client, applications for word processing, spreadsheet and presentation, an irc client, a print server, etc. I examine what's available using "augur available" and make my selections. Mozilla Firebird, gaim, OpenOffice 1.1 beta 2 (ok, ok, sometimes, but not often, Sorcerer gets a bit behind, especially with betas and release candidates), xchat, and cups. Before I know it I have either directly, or indirectly because of options or requirements, cast some 300 spells and have most of what I need to do my work. Of course it takes some time, but that's about all, and it is possible to cast spells and continue to work. In fact, you can cast a spell for an application with which you are working while it casts. When you quit the application and restart it, you'll restart the updated version.

Keeping your system updated is also simple. Just run "augur synch" followed by "augur newer" followed by "augur update." The "augur synch" installs the latest sorcerer tools and grimoire. The "augur newer" compares your installed spells against available spells, and if there are newer versions or updates of your installed spells, it places the spell in the cast queue. Finally, "augur update" casts everything in the cast queue. When it's finished, all of your spells are the most up-to-date versions available. But that's not all. Let's say you have a spell that you don't want to automatically update. No problem, just run "augur hold SPELL" and that spell will not update. To unhold it, just re-run "augur hold SPELL" to toggle it off the hold list. Forget which spells you have held, just run "augur held" to see a list. What happens if a spell is updated, but there's some problem with the new version? Just run "dispel --downgrade SPELL VERSION" where VERSION is the version you would like to re-install. Providing you have left enough disk space in "necropolis," you can return to an earlier verison just that easily.

As you can see, Sorcerer offers tremendous convenience. Many Sorcerer users set up cron jobs to run the augur synch, augur newer, augur update combination on a regular basis. Other users get their boxes right where they want them and hold most everything except security updates. We usually update everything about once a week. Sometimes, however, bugs crop up. For instance, I was trying to cast XFree86, but the cast kept failing because it couldn't download the source file fontconfig-2.2.1.tar.gz. In Sorcerer, the grimoire is located in /var/state/sorcery/and the gimoire contains the cast instructions for each spell in a separate directory. You can learn more about writing spells by reading Scruff's Spellwriting Tips, which is located at the Sorcerer wiki page. Most spells have a DETAIL file and a BUILD file, and I noticed in the XFree86 DETAIL file that casting XFree86 was attempting to download fontconfig-2.2.1.tar.gz. There are a number of Web sites and mirrors that Sorcerer will use to grab sources from. Sometimes they'll be directly from a project's homepage, but often they are from the Sorcerer ftp site on ibiblio.org. When I checked the fontconfig Web site, I noticed that there was no fontconfig-2.2.1.tar.gz available, and (almost) all of the sources on ibiblio.org are BZ2, not GZ. To temporarily correct the problem, all I did was change the .gz to .bz2 in the XFree86 DETAIL file and the cast finished with no problem. I then reported my findings to the Sorcerer mail list and it was corrected in the next grimoire. Why am I telling you this? Well, for two reasons: first, you should know that sometimes in Sorcerer, just like the rest of life, things go wrong, but you should also be aware that you can often work around them; and second, when things go wrong, don't lose it, don't whine and complain, just use the Sorcerer resources and try to work through it. Send an message to the mail list, search the list archives, or get on irc.freenode.net#sorcerer and ask (you may have to wait awhile for a response since those folks aren't the chattiest bunch and, like me, they don't always notice when someone asks a question).

What if I need an application that's not in the grimoire? Simple, you have a couple of options. One, you can simply download the source(s) and install them manually (./configure, make, make install), that's really all Sorcerer does, but it also keeps a record of all those installations. Two, you can write a spell for that application. Read the wiki and look at some other, similar spells to get the hang of it. Just create a directory for your spell in the gimoire.local directory, run "augur merge" and "augur index" and you'll be able to cast your spell just like any other. That's the true power of Sorcerer, flexibility and actually learning something more about Linux without really trying.

As I mentioned, we've been using Sorcerer for nearly a year and have it installed on over half of our desktops. Our company is open to whichever OS or distribution an employee wants to run and most choose Sorcerer. We've had some problems, but mostly with commercial applications. One of the strengths of Sorcerer is the ability to quickly and easily update your box with the latest application versions. However, this can cause some commercial apps to no longer work because they require an older set of library files. It is possible to get around this problem by manually installing the older libraries, and whether you do this would depend on how much you need the application. Sometimes for us it is just easier to have a box running RedHat, Mandrake, or SUSE and keep the commercial applications running on there.

If you're looking for a Linux experience that recognizes all of your system hardware and peripherals during installation and one that sets up your desktop for you, Sorcerer is not for you. But if you want to really learn a little about what's really going on, how Linux interacts with your system hardware and peripherals, how to really set up your own desktop on a system that's running the most current applications, Sorcerer is for you. Based on my experiences I can highly recommend Sorcerer.

1. "Installation"
2. "Usage, Problems"
3. "Screenshots, Conclusion"