http://www.osnews.com/story/5128/First_Look_at_TurboLinux_10D Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2012, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:10:14 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? The Turbolinux install, however, is a unique program called "Mongoose." Mongoose has a lot of the look of the new Mandrake installation but the feel of Red Hat's Anaconda (it may even be based on Anaconda code).


Would it be possible to say that "Mongoose" is an "Anaconda Killer?"

Kudos to the Turbolinux people for this gag! Quite tongue in cheek.


I'm glad to hear that Turbo is still around. With the lack of mention in the last couple of years, I had feared they had gone under.

One of the first servers I ever set up was using TurboLinux Server. It had the potential to really shake up RedHat at that point in time. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 03:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? It's tough to be credible when you having spelling and grammar errors on the front of your flagship application.

What about in reviews? ;-) Fri, 14 Nov 2003 03:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? eom Fri, 14 Nov 2003 03:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? I can't stand Linux distros that try to look like Windows or Mac. Just leave the damned default KDE/GNOME desktop. If nothing, make it look better with customized themes. *sighs*

Yeah...yeah...they need to please the masses. :rollseyes: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? I am impressed by what I heard, Turbo Linux has a very promissing distribution there.

I would suggest that they make a few changes however as I would like to see the My Computer desktop icon use the monitor icon that would be found in any complete icon set and I would like the MyDocument icon to be changed back to the home folder icons which would also be found in most icon sets. I would like the My Computer icon to be renamed to Computer and the MyDocument icon to be renamed to either Home or Home folder and I would like to see the english improved a little and the bugs fixed.

If Turbo Linux made these changes and got apt working then I would gladly buy a copy of their distribution, it sure beats paying over a $120 CAD for a copy of Windows XP Home upgrade. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? It's tough to be credible when you having spelling and grammar errors on the front of your flagship application.

In all seriousness, I have no problem that you modded down my previous comment.

That said, can you please fix this paragraph? Grammatical errors in a statement about grammatical errors is just too much for my poor overloaded little brain to cope with. Remember, I put the "Ant" in "PedAnt" ;-)


(FWIW, I expressly expect you to do the same with this one) Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? As one study showed (which has been quoted to death by gnome zealots, yes Im one myself, but I just forgot the quote), that it was harder for new users to use KDE because it was so uch simmilar to windows, but different around the edges.

So because it is mmore simmilar to windows, dosnt mean it will ease migration. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? did you add your computer's loop back address to the /etc/hosts file? Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? As one study showed (which has been quoted to death by gnome zealots, yes Im one myself, but I just forgot the quote), that it was harder for new users to use KDE because it was so uch simmilar to windows, but different around the edges.

So because it is mmore simmilar to windows, dosnt mean it will ease migration.

I've heard a lot of people say KDE is similar to Windows but in fact the only similarity I've noticed is that it has Kicker on the bottom similar to the toolbar (or whatever you would call it) in Windows.

I feel compelled once again to mention that Windows and KDE ane by far not the only desktops to either have the toolbar on the bottom or make it possible to have the toolbar on the bottom.

I was using Linux back when Gnome was 1.x and Kde was 1.x and back then both had the toolbars on the bottom, the toolbar can also be put on the bottom in BeOS, SEAL (FreeDOS GUI), MinuetOS has it there by default (if I'm thinking of the right OS here) and IceWM also has it on the bottom by default.

Now the only other similarty that isn't directly related to Qt (which only has minor similarities) is the right click menu's on the desktop which I am going to say right now are also found in Gnome and several other desktop's and Operating systems. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? Perhaps it isn't a mistake, just clever innuendo. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? >The arrogance of English speaking users has led most of us to believe that if it isn't huge in the US, it isn't "a player" in the market.

The arrogant English speaking users, can we mod down the article because it is offensive?!?!

I speak English and I said no such thing.

How about the arrogance of people that stereotype!!!!
!!!! Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? I'd say this sounds like a good start. After being out of the (at least western) Linux market for a while, it sounds like they're making a comeback with a product that has a good deal of potential. This sounds more like what I think it will take to convert home users to Linux. Now, let's get QA all over it, squish some bugs, and I think this will be one killer distro. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? did you add your computer's loop back address to the /etc/hosts file?

Uh, no. Doesn't it seem a little strange that you'd need to do that at all?

For the record, /etc/hosts does identify the loopback IP. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? i totally agree...

here are my thoughts on the subject in a little rant i posted to my personal site here:

http://www.phatvibez.net/commentary.php?ID=notWindows

Linux needs to be "Different" not a poor knockoff, and Different does not mean hard to use either....

Linux does not have to be "made" to look like Linux to be considered "easy to use" Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? i meant...

Linux does not have to be "made" to look like Windows to be considered "easy to use"

stupid, stupid, stupid Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? How about the arrogance of people that stereotype!!!!

It's not a stereotype, it's a generalization, and it's not an inaccurate one. Surveys have been done on this - US people think Red Hat *is* Linux.
By the way, born in CT, lived in DC, now live in FL. I'm an English speaker, I know what I'm saying. If you are truly "offended" by this, you need to stop being naive and grow a thicker skin.

Linux needs to be "Different" not a poor knockoff,

Actually, Linux needs to recognize that different for the sake of different is not progress. Good ideas are good ideas, regardless of origin. I wish Linux fans would not decide an idea sucks just because Microsoft likes it. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? Linux needs to be "Different" not a poor knockoff, and Different does not mean hard to use either....

Linux does not have to be "made" to look like Linux to be considered "easy to use"

Some problems only have one right answer, if it is to make the Menu similar and a few desktop icons similar then I support that decision, I do however also welcome alternative ideas so long as they are equally as good.

I havn't tried Turbo Linux yet but when I tried Lycoris I almost forgot how to use Linux because everything was so similar to Windows and manual configuration was out of the question because when I tried it the included GUI config tools would mess up the settings if I did anything manually. I'm hoping Turbo Linux has a happy medium. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? There is another Turbolinux 10D "first look" at LWN, published 2 weeks ago:

http://lwn.net/Articles/55940/ Fri, 14 Nov 2003 05:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? I recently spent time in Asia and Turbolinux was definitely the largest Linux distro in that region (esp, in Japan and China).

Westerners seem to think Red Hat, SuSE and maybe Mandrake as the only major players. Go into any software store in those countries and you'll see a large variety of Turbo products displayed everywhere and very little (if any) Red Hat or SuSE. China is where everyone's betting on major future growth, so they're in a good position IMHO. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 05:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? Hmm, we were told by Turbolinux that this would be the first review in english to be published. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 05:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? My experience is exactly the opposite - I spent some time in bookstores around Japan and all I saw was dozens and dozens of books about Red Hat, but maybe one or two about Turbolinux. Same with software stores. I've never been to China, so I can't comment, but in some of the much richer Asian countries, like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore or Malaysia, Turbolinux is virtually unknown. It used to be reasonably popular some 3 - 4 years ago, but no more. SUSE is also pretty much unknown around here. It's all Red Hat (especially for the enterprise) and, to some extent, Mandrake. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 05:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? >How about the arrogance of people that stereotype!!!!

>It's not a stereotype, it's a generalization, and it's not an inaccurate one. Surveys have been done on this - US people think Red Hat *is* Linux.
By the way, born in CT, lived in DC, now live in FL. I'm an English speaker, I know what I'm saying. If you are truly "offended" by this, you need to stop being naive and grow a thicker skin.

Woah, I was only kidding.

Suggestion, next time just say "The ignorance of US users..." or "Most people in the US don't get exposed to...". You don't have to portray US/English speakers as arrogant.

We have a government that does that for us already.

Cheers Fri, 14 Nov 2003 05:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? I would have appreciated if someone would have tested one of THE Asian Linux distros in an ASIAN language.

I'd be especially interested in information like:
a) how good is the Japanese input method (is it intelligent, is it good with dealing with placenames/people's names, is there an easy way to find Kanren-moji etc.)

b) How good are the Japanese fonts (how many characters do they include etc.), also is the anti-aliasing for Japanese fonts working properly.

c) Are there any other double byte issues Fri, 14 Nov 2003 05:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? I still consider Storm Linux to have been the most innovative distro for the time. I mean, today all these distro basically have the exact same stuff. I remember it was the first distro I installed, and it detected all my hardware. Nowadays, its a different story. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 06:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? It seems that Turbo Linux has zero consistency between releases. I wish they'd have stayed with their first desktop; a nice modified Afterstep theme with a little admin panel and a black and yellow colorscheme. If they'd stuck with that and kept it up to date, they'd really have something today.

I had a subscription to it back then, and they pulled the subscription service, went crazy on the Far East, and their product stopped being interesting.

What they were then is sort of what Libranet and Vector are now; a nice twist on the usual. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 06:34:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? People, can we get a grip on this please? It's _XFree86_, never XFree or X-Free or any other derivative that is sometimes used. The 86 is part of the name, like the 's' at the end of 'OSNews'.

This was a pretty decent review, but it always looks amateurish when writers make such elementary mistakes. Hint: just because kids on Gentoo forums may use 'Redhat', 'SuSe' and 'XFree' etc. doesn't mean they're in any way correct.

M Fri, 14 Nov 2003 12:34:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? Guys, take a look deeper at the K menu. It's the best logically devided menu I have seen in my life. Definitely gonna try that layout over here on MDK for my parents.

Grammar errors are funny I think they should hire some english native speaker.

Otherwise KUDOS ! Fri, 14 Nov 2003 12:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? Suggestion, next time just say "The ignorance of US users..." or "Most people in the US don't get exposed to...". You don't have to portray US/English speakers as arrogant.

Well, one only had to look at the survey when Joe US was asked to label countries on a map. Then there was another question when the person was asked whether there was anything wrong with the map, Australia (the main land) was labeled "North Korea" and Tasmania labeled "South Korea", and not one American could spot the problem with the map. There was then basic questions like, "who are the wallabies?", "what is the capital of Germany", "Who is the president of the Russian Federation".

After seeing it, I couldn't decide whether or not I should laugh or cry with horror. You'd think that Joe US would have been taught basic geography in primary school like, "naming the capitals", "know your current events" or in secondary school learn about basic history events like the Russian Revolution, Napoleon and the origins of the first world war. This wasn't an optional subject, this was standard, run of the mill curriculum along with English, Grammar, Science and Mathematics. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 12:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? People, can we get a grip on this please? It's _XFree86_

Did you know what was meant? Is there anyone who doesn't know that "X" and "Xfree" refer to XFree86? Ok then - stop being such a stickler and loosen up. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 13:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? Pray tell why Fedora got an 8.5 on the install and Turbo got a 9?

-Erwos Fri, 14 Nov 2003 14:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? "Is there anyone who doesn't know that "X" and "Xfree" refer to XFree86?"

Eh? You're obviously not very bright, so let me clue you in. X does not refer to XFree86. Where on earth did you get that idea from? X is a protocol -- see www.x.org -- and XFree86 is an separate implementation.

There are lots of versions of X other than XFree86, but evidently you don't know that.

And yep, while most people would understand that 'Xfree' refers to XFree86, that's besides the point. It's still wrong and looks unprofessional in reviews. Most people would understand 'Linnux' and 'FREEbsd' and 'Mcrosoft' but does that make it right?

M Fri, 14 Nov 2003 14:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? First it was Mandrake 9.2, now TubroLinux 10D is providing a video player that does not need additional codecs. I hope this trend continues with other commercial Linux distros. I wonder are they using the windows codecs or have they figured out a way to play window media files without the windows codecs.

My best guess is that they are using the windows codecs, but because the DMCA is only US law it enables them, Mandrake and TubroLinux, to include them in their distros because both companies are based outside of the US.

Has anyone been able to play a divx file, using the latest version of divx, in Kaffiene? Fri, 14 Nov 2003 14:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? "Mandrake and TubroLinux, to include them in their distros because both companies are based outside of the US."

Their products, however, can be not allowed into the US, which, last I checked, was a substantial market.

-Erwos Fri, 14 Nov 2003 15:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? I've also seen that survey and, after living in the US for more than 20 years, I honestly don't believe it. Sure, you'll find a number of uneducated dimwits here, but I have yet to meet someone who couldn't find Australia on a map. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 15:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? I'm not a turbolinux user but here's my take (or mostly simple translation of what they are saying) according to their advertisement.
Trubolinux 10D puts its most emphasis on completion of Japanese language environment and Windows connectivity.
While this review deals with the basic version of 10D, their most value comes from the full version which costs approximately US$140 bundled with commercial software products including:
ATOK X (Japanese input method second to none)
Ricoh TrueType Japanese fonts
StarSuite 7
Acronis Partition Expert 2003 (for squeezing Windows partition and making a room for linux)
Moreover, Japanese file names (including notolious hankaku-kana) in a shared Windows filesystem are shown properly in turbolinux environment (they claim that such feature in linux environment is first realized by turbolinux 10D).
Also, more than 2,000 drivers for inkjet and laserjet printers are provided.

FYI, another option for better japanese environment is Vine linux.
This one provides carefully organized and nicely integrated japanese environment costs around US$160.
I have no idea which distro is better than the other in terms of japanese environment.
But IMO turbolinux 10D surely is something worth to look at. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 15:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? Adam, thanks for the brief mention of Storm Linux - it brought back some great memories of working with the crew at Stormix. Good times, indeed. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 17:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? I know it does, but for some reason, If you use DHCP for your IP, you must have an entry for your computer with the loop back AGAIN. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 18:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? If they really wanted to look like XP, they would use XPde. I myself, see no resemblence to windows at all, it just looks like KDE. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 20:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? XFree(86) runs not only on x86 but on other platforms as well. e.g: on all platforms of debian. Hence it was renamed from XFree86 to XFree. Check http://xfree.org Fri, 14 Nov 2003 22:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? The "my computer" icon is a bad UI idea, IMHO. The main problem with it is that your desktop is usually covered with other stuff (running programs.

Better suggestions: browser your system through the menus. I believe that this is done now in e.g. default KDE. Fri, 14 Nov 2003 22:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? The "my computer" icon is a bad UI idea, IMHO. The main problem with it is that your desktop is usually covered with other stuff (running programs.

Agreed. I have always been a fan of having the storage icons on the desktop, ala Workbench/AmigaOS, Atari and MacOS. The network drives, however, can be listed under something like, "Mounted Network Drives".

Regarding browsing through menus, I disagree. If you have ever seen the average user get confused navigating menus, it would put you off putting menus into any application. Sat, 15 Nov 2003 02:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? More like a Turbo Terd, just another hyped based story on how wonderful Linux is. If it was so grand, why is it still in the backwoods so to speak?

Because it has failed, now just use 'Windows'.... Sat, 15 Nov 2003 02:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? Dude, I can't believe somebody not only stold your handle but apparently paid for it too. Sat, 15 Nov 2003 06:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? |Hmm, we were told by Turbolinux that this would be the first |review in english to be published.

Maybe they meant that this is the first review of the english version. The LWN review is based on the japanese offering - or so they say. Sat, 15 Nov 2003 12:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? "Hence it was renamed from XFree86 to XFree. Check http://xfree.org"

What? Does anybody on this site have a clue? That's complete and utter nonsense. The project is called "XFree86(tm)" as you can see on that site -- they've made that link to help out all the cretins who can't remember the name correctly.

XFree86(tm). There's no XFree. OK?

M Sat, 15 Nov 2003 13:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread? http://www.osnews.com/thread? This was the first reporter to receive the 10D product that will be sold in the U.S. (international version) Other reporters reviewed and wrote about our Japanease edition. Fri, 21 Nov 2003 20:50:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments