http://www.osnews.com/story/8467/A_Look_at_Linare_Professional Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:40:18 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? That is one big gumdrop. The more the better right? ugh.

Other than the default theme, it looks pretty nice. But what does it have that SUSE doesn't? Or Linspire for that matter? Tue, 05 Oct 2004 08:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? > About 2/3 of the standard FC2 Anaconda screens have been removed

Which screens have been removed ? Tue, 05 Oct 2004 09:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I wouldnt go for this any day.

I bought an @linux.net e-mail from these people and suddenly they changed it to @linuxtimes.net overnight with no forward or anything. I have tried to call them several times, left messages on the answering machine, and sent them several e-mails. No reply whatsoever (for half a month).

I am in the process of contacting my lawyer as we speak. I hope she can make them give me a reply. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 09:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? From what I read on linux.net, linare obviously lost the domain name over Aureex (or something), and so they can't forward anything. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 09:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Yet another toillet distro.It looks better than it runs. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 11:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I think blaming is one thing but using profanities and *shocking* language is another. (With Reference to Psot by Jophn Deo).

Of course the ones allowed to use such sentences should be the ones who have already made a gr8 distro.



______________________-

Ankit Malik
Just another 15 year old! Tue, 05 Oct 2004 13:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? It doesn't even really look that good. The taskbar doesnt seem to be aligned with the icons and the application "boxes" in it. I dont know about you, but the green gradiented color hurt my eyes.

Using green yucky color all over and then using blue Plastik?

The only think that looks nice is the icons imho. But command prompt: C:_? Tue, 05 Oct 2004 13:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I talked with the administrative contact of linux.net on the phone, and this is what I have understood is the situation:
MicroWalt Corporation registered the domain (in 1993 or something).
Aureex Corporation bought(?) the right to use the domain from MicroWalt Corp.
Linare Corporation pays(?) Aureex Corp. to run the domain and (perhaps) the services on it.

There is probably some kind of unagreement between Aureex and Linare that is the reason for this.

It's not because there is problems between Aureex and Linare (or whoever it is); it's the fact that this happened overnight with no prior notice that makes me mad.
I have contact with friends, family, business relations, newsletters, uncompleted orders, memberships etc. connected to this e-mail. Now they just get an error that the mailbox doesnt exist anymore. I know that I allready lost a couple of jobs because of this (I am a business owner) valued at approx $1,500. As I said in my first post I have telephoned and e-mailed them several times; with no reply.

The only thing I know about this from Linare is from their frontpage:
"Important Notice: Existing Linux.net email users
Your linux.net email ids have been changed from "@linux.net" to "@linuxtimes.net"."
Nothing more. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 13:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Yet another toillet distro.It looks better than it runs.

If it's a toilet distro it should get the runs pretty well, shouldn't it?

I have never seen their servers up (see screenshot)! As for the freshrpms/fedora channels these worked very well for normal applications, except for the system files (e.g. kdebase, kernel etc) where conflicts occured.

That rather skips over the need for a commercial distribution with support, wouldn't you say? Basically they're just throwing a Fedora based distro together in a hurry. I don't care for Lycoris or Linspire much (don't see the point), but at least you can do things with Xandros such as getting up and running on any sort of Windows network in a very short period of time. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 13:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Hmm...I got this just right now. Not by far a good answer after what I asked them...

Hello:
Sorry for the inconvience , your old user name and password is no more with linux.net ,it will work with linuxtimes.net . By default now your email address is username @linuxtimes.net not with linux.net , so you can access all your old emails from this linuxtimes.net with same user name and password .If you have any further questions please feel free to contact us.

Best Regards
Customer support
www.linuxtimes.net

If they can't run a business, don't do it! Tue, 05 Oct 2004 13:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Good lookin Panel, even though it's a pitiful copy of the windows green theme, oh well.
YOu should check on what cron it runs by default, and that some of them aren't getting stuck on themselves. I killed a couple on my fedora machine, just let prelink run. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 13:50:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Quote :Lindows, Xandros or Lycoris, as these "big-three of the Linux desktop market"

I don't think these guys are anything more than hardly relevant but I'd be most interested in finding out something that I don't know ! Tue, 05 Oct 2004 13:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? They are the top three pure desktop-oriented Linux distributions. Distributions like Mandrake, SuSE and RedHat/Fedora Core include a lot of non-desktop software, which already becomes clear when opening the boxes: they contain 3 times (the least) as many CD's as Linspire/Xandros/Lycoris .

Mandrake and such are all-round distributions aimed at the less-experienced Linux user. Xandros and the likes are desktop distributions for newcomers. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 14:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? >Quote :Lindows, Xandros or Lycoris, as these "big-three of >the Linux desktop market"

>I don't think these guys are anything more than hardly >relevant but I'd be most interested in finding out >something that I don't know !


All I can say is Linspire 5 - when this baby is released it will really show what Linux for the desktop can do, I am a beta tester for this software and the new stuff is mind blowing. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 14:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Linare quote: "LINARE - Cutting edge technology that can make your life easier"

I wouldn't consider a desktop with KDE 3.1 and Open Office 1.1 cutting edge when KDE 3.3 and Open Office v1.1.2 has already been released. After all the next release of SuSE Linux due out in the next two months will have KDE 3.3 and Open Office 1.1.2, etc. The point is if a developer is going to call their distribution "cutting edge" at least provide the latest versions of the applications at the time of the distribution release. Does anyone know what Kernel this release is running? I couldn't find any information regarding the Kernel version on their site for Linare Linux. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 16:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I can appreciate Linaire's goals of bringing a fully user-friendly distro to a market where Windows could certainly use some competition...but...ack! That interface is *hideous*...

If this is a "Pro" version, why not whittle down that eye-candy (eye-sore?) and do what Windows should have done w/ XP, tone-down the themes or turn them off altogether. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 16:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? This isn't worth getting for free, let alone paying for. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 17:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? "They are the top three pure desktop-oriented Linux distributions. Distributions like Mandrake, SuSE and RedHat/Fedora Core include a lot of non-desktop software, which already becomes clear when opening the boxes: they contain 3 times (the least) as many CD's as Linspire/Xandros/Lycoris ."

That's what i mean.If you get the hang of it with those three
there's is enough under the hood to keep on going for a while. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 17:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? In my previous post I commented on the reasons why I believe Linare falsely claims their distribution Linare Linux Professional 2.0 is cutting edge because of the info here ( http://www.linare.com/linarelinux.php ). The URL link is linked to the ad on the main site page "Linare launches professional edition 2.0" found here ( http://www.linare.com/default.php ). Though if you follow the link here ( http://linuxpr.com/releases/7086.html ) in the News section titled "LINARE OFFERS PROFESSIONAL EDITION LINUX: GREAT FOR BUSINESSES" you will find a differant claim from Chief Technologist Dr.Dominic Paulraj (Linare employee http://linuxpr.com/releases/6509.html ) that Linare Linux Professional 2.0 actually uses the 2.6 Kernel and KDE 3.2.2 as the graphical desktop not KDE 3.1 as stated in the first link by Linare marketing. Maybe someone at OSNews that actually received a copy of this distribution can clarify what is fact and what is pure fiction. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 17:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? So, they use KDE, gmplayer, OpenOffice, Mozilla, and Evolution. Each of those uses a different system for UI... I weep for anyone trying to use that distro. Consistancy is very useful and important... I can handle a few exceptions to UI consistancy but these folks aren't even trying to pretend. Ick, just plain ick. I'll stay with Ubuntu thank you very much. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 18:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Not only that, but think of the memory consumption for bringing in all the support libraries. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 18:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? >All I can say is Linspire 5 - when this baby is released

yeah if it gets released, its getting a bit like Longhorn...
The Linspire team has just started to implent/use the new ReiserFS file system and the orinoco wifi drivers, progress is slow but the thrillseekers are nice, stable, fast and reconize almost any hardware known to humankind. I wish they would drop the everaldo theme and started making a more serious look like MacOSX.
I really hope LInspire 5 will come out 2005 but as things look now its more like mid-2005. Hurry up! Tue, 05 Oct 2004 18:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? What is going to be so great about Linspire 5 that everybody seems to water their mouth already?
Just curious. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 18:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Can you tell us more about the Linspire 5 beta? What's it like? What's mind-blowing about it? Which version of KDE? Screenshots?

If you don't have anywhere to post the screenshots, let me know and I'll host them for you. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 18:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? riiiiight.

it's called marketing.

what do you EXPECT them to say?

"ooh, our software is a bit old but it's great really, please buy it!"

...no. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 19:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Lindows, Xandros or Lycoris are now the big three desktop distributions?

What a ridiculous statement. Lycoris is a couple of guys up in Redmond that have produced a substandard distribution.

Lindows/Linspire, I still hold a bit of hope that they might be able to do something interesting, if anything because they are focused on the desktop and seem daring enough. However, they are yet to deliver something that matches Mandrake or Suse in stability, completeness or quality. Their biggest innovation is Click-n-Run and the desktop tutorials. The latter are nice, but I would wager that most users are allergic to recurrent monthly fees/subscriptions for software.

And Xandros is not a bad product at all, but they haven't delivered anything that differentiates them significantly from Mandrake and Suse. A new file manager becomes a liability as you become the sole maintainer. And K3b is a better and more complete solution to CD-burning than what is provided by the in-house Xandros app. Additionally, both of these offer a complete line of products, have been around longer and contribute more code to the open source projects on which they base their work. The fact that Mandrake releases alll of its configuration and installation tools under the GPL matters a great deal to us. Mandrake 10 and 10.1 are, in my opinion, the fastest distributions around and I have tried them all (Slackware, Fedora, Suse, Xandros, Debian).

For some reason and at some point in time, it became fashionable to bash Mandrake for the bugs found in release candidates, not on their final products. The much touted issues with 9.2 were primarily caused by a hardware company (LG) with defective engineering processes. Fortunately,LG eventually owned up to the problem.

I am also very hopeful that Suse will pull of something interesting in the next few releases. Suse 9.1 is already very good if a bit too resource-intensive. Suse's patching system is better than what any other distribution is providing right now because rather than re-download whole applications for a patch, you only download the necessary pathces, although urpmi is still much more flexible.

So in summary:

Linspire hold some promise. We'll see whether they deliver. Many people including me will not support a company with proprietary bits because if they happen to vanish or be acquired by a less than ethical company, nobody can continue where they left off. Licensing issues aside, Linspire have been a better open-source citizen than I had expected, but I would still like to see the installer and click-n-run under a suitable open source license.

Suse can deliver a very complete solution if they can stop the Ximian guys from warring with the KDE guys. I am a bit tired of the non-stop self-promotion by Miguel and their crew. But they do have a fantastic set of technologies that if put together coherently could deliver the best desktop around yet.

Mandrake is true to the Free Software spirit. Each release keeps getting faster and more consistent. It has the best multimedia support out of the box and the largest usenet and web communities. It is the oly company that has been contracted to deliver an EAL-5 product by next year, a security level attained by no other operating system other than IBM, with the technology that lets its z900 and z990 mainframes be divided into independent, isolated partitions.

Today, Microsoft's Windows, Sun Microsystems' Solaris, Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX and IBM's AIX all have EAL4 certification. Mandrake EAL5 will be a significant selling point in government and business with security concerns. Their clustering support and their expansion into services are also very promising.

Finally, and most importantly, their whole development process and tree are completely open to everyone. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 19:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? No, I did not.
When I say "big three desktop distros", I mean, desktop ONLY. SuSE, Mandrake and Red Hat are also server-oriented, while these three are only targetting the "home desktop appliance" market. And so is Linare. Tue, 05 Oct 2004 19:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Does it include updates? Tue, 05 Oct 2004 22:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Thank God! You didn't refer Linspire, Lycoris and Xandros as a big three desktop distros.

Linspire-- A multi million dollar company that has developed a small app click N run till their 4th version and funny it's not even a GPL application. Wed, 06 Oct 2004 02:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Eugenia,

I believe some would disagree with you on the big three or are misunderstanding your comment. Reason for that is when Microsoft has mentioned their main competition the names were Novell with their SuSE Linux and Red Hat with their Red Hat Linux. When speaking on Linux as a competitor they don't just mean the server end since they are being hit financially on the desktop front as well. Companies such as Linspire, Linare, etc were not even mentioned as real competition with Windows or even OSX. Novell's SuSE Linux is made not only for the corporate market but also private. SuSE Linux makes it easy to transition from Windows to Linux as well as use it in the home or at the office. It's also cost effective compared to consumers using Windows. So those are some of the reasons why I would consider it one of the big three. Just because a developer offers enterprise applications with private consumer (home) products does not exclude it from being part of the leading desktops. I also don't consider a Linux distribution as being one of the big three just because they sell their product in a cheap package (ie: Walmart PC). Wed, 06 Oct 2004 02:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? These are the specs from one of their Linare branded pc's

http://linare.com/ad1600.php


Hmm, glad to know they are the only company in the world that can run a duron on an intel 845 chipset. Yeah that instills trust in me to use their distro. Wed, 06 Oct 2004 04:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I bought one Linar PC from Walmart may be some 6 months back
and it seems to be working fine and no issues so far.

Cheers Thu, 07 Oct 2004 18:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments