To begin this review, I visited Xandros download page, snagged the public torrent, downloaded the ISO, and burned myself a copy of Xandros 3.0.1 OCE. Credit goes to Xandros for having a professional website that’s easy to negotiate and for offering instructions to help new users of all platforms perform this task.
My test machine is an 800MHz AMD box with 256MB of RAM, a 20GB hard drive, RAGE IIC graphics, 17″ monitor, and C-Media sound. It is a used system that came to me with a trashed MS install and was a good candidate for recycling. I refreshed it with some new components and it has run Debian Sarge and KDE 3.3 spiritedly. I expect similar performance from Xandros as it too is based on Sarge yet runs a custom 2.6.9 Linux kernel.
I won’t go into specifics of the install suffice to say that it’s a purely graphical affair and a walk in the park. I allowed Xandros to assume the entire hard drive and after a few clicks, the install took approximately 30 min and was pleasingly uneventful. Xandros has so polished this process that MS could take notes.
Moving on …
The default account is the user, which is a good practise, and after entering the appropriate password, KDE 3.3 booted up.
The target audience here is Windows refugees and it shows. The first run wizard is professional and very helpful for setting user preferences. The desktop is straightforward and polished. A quickstart guide is a thoughtful gesture however some other icons littering the desktop link to pay services offered by Xandros, which seems to be the real purpose of this release.
Applets crowd the taskbar especially when other apps populate it — an XP user would expect an auto-hide feature here. The Xandros Update applet is there to remind, or nag, you of available updates. One click on the clock brings up the calendar window, which also allows you to configure time zone and servers for NTP update. Across the screen, the quick-launch panel is nicely filled and the K-menu sports a simple “Launch” icon that’s easy to comprehend.
The K-menu itself is laid out in a clear manner and a right click will allow you to modify it as needed. Packages installed from Xandros networks will predictably find their way into the “Applications” menu. (Upon further testing, I discovered that some packages installed from Debian repositories did appear in the menu and some not.) Below you’ll discover a file finder, the much maligned KDE Control Center, and links to Xandros File Manager, Xandros Networks, system-wide help, recently opened documents, application launcher, and user switcher and logout functions. Topping it all are the five most used applications. This is not a far stroll from the Windows environment and most should adapt quickly, which is why I believe Xandros prefers KDE.
Applications for most tasks are already installed and I feel Xandros has taken the time to cover all bases including writing some of their own spiffy wizards. There is a smattering of desktop games available but nothing serious. 3D acceleration was not available for my pathetic video card but 2D rendered fine and at a good resolution. Fonts and icons look nice as well.
Firefox and Thunderbird are first choices for surfing and email chores. These are fine apps and may already be familiar to Windows users. An abbreviated Kontact is included should people wish for PIM functionality.
OpenOffice is included for office duty though not in its KDE optimized version, which makes it look rather out-of-place. But it’s the full suite for word processing, spreadsheet and presentation authoring, plus relevant tools. Start-up is a tad slow on this older machine and lacks any launch feedback before the splash screen. But when it’s up and running, it works fine and is indeed a bargain.
Acrobat reader is there. But version 5.0 looks awful and features rudimentary navigation. Adobe really ought to be ashamed — this archaic app only cheapens the experience. I would have let KGhostview or the new KPDF handle this task even though rendering may not be 100%.
Crossover Office 4.1 is offered on a 30 day trial, obviously a teaser for you to upgrade. Fair enough. It worked perfectly and allowed me to easily install MS Office 2002 and a surprising amount of Win 9x based apps. This may be the crutch many are looking for to make the switch.
One outstanding program under the graphics banner is DigiKam, aka Digital Camera. It magically found the pictures I dumped in the home folder and previewed them as thumbnails allowing me to print or do quick edits such as resizing, cropping, colour correction, etc. It also supports a bunch of cameras and plug-ins. It’s just so easy and well thought out, it’s brilliant — a shining example of usability for the entire OS to follow.
Missing from the party is the GIMP should one wish to go futher in graphics. Saving grace is it’s available from Xandros networks for free albeit only at version 2.0.
Rounding out the graphics capabilities are Kolour Paint for doodling. Kooka for scanners, and Xandros’ amazing wizard for handling CUPS printing set-up — I merely plugged in my USB printer and followed the instructions that appeared. Quite impressive.
Under the internet banner, there is an easy connection wizard for ADSL and dial-up users. DHCP works right from the get-go and I was pleased to see my SMB network and Debian server assessable from the Xandros File Manager. Sharing folders is also an easy task. This is a very network friendly distro.
Kopete is the default chat program and, while functional, clearly lacks the glamour of MSN Messenger. I wish Mozilla would make a chat client as spiffy as Firefox.
Frankly, I was surprised to see Skype, an increasingly popular VOIP client. Third-party apps in Linux are sometimes difficult for beginners to set up and it’s nice to see its inclusion.
Bittorrent isn’t neglected either. A quick install from Xandros Networks and I had Bittornado working perfectly. However, the wxpython UI would make anyone wince, and saving files by default leaves you to navigate the root file system. This may be too traumatic for a new-to-Linux user.
True to its nature, the VPN client has been stripped from OCE. But I don’t think many home users would miss it. It is but another reason for business users to upgrade.
I looked for the famous firewall wizard but to no avail. It does appear in Xandros Networks client but has no link to initiate the download. Strange. I simply installed and used Firestarter.
There is functional, if unspectacular, multimedia software included, basic players for CD, midi, mp3, and many video formats. Noatun is the default media player but lacking many of its available plugins. Now where are amaroK? Also, RealPlayer is included, but not Quicktime or and WMV codecs. And encrypted DVD playback is missing too. This may be a disappointment to some.
As every Debian aficionado knows, there is a wealth of software for Sarge available free from various Debian repositories around the world, but hard as I tried, I could not manually set application sources in the Xandros Network manager. Some other options in the menubar were disabled as well leading me to feel this more of a crippled demo. Manually entering sources and toggling expert mode uncovers the treasure-trove of free software, though I don’t know how many Windows refugees would bother learning to do so. OCE may leave you stuck with what’s available from Xandros Networks, but for the casual user it seems adequate.
As every DThe Xandros File Manager is functional, attractive and clones the Explorer experience quite well. It is the perfect application for its mission and is clearly what makes Xandros special. Intergrated CD burning would be a bonus if not throttled back to 2X and sans DVD capability. And since K3B, the killer burning app for KDE, is not available through Xandros Networks, you would want to upgrade.
Pop in a music CD and it starts to play; jam in a data CD or a USB stick and XFM opens with contents listed. This is very good functionality expected of Windows users and reflects the careful thought put into the operating system. However, all these features and polish seem to come at a price as the entire system feels sluggish when compared to KDE/Sarge on the same gear. I wouldn’t recommend OCE on a lesser machine.
My overall impression is of an operating system built for a purpose, with ease of use, networking power, and ability to run critical MS software aimed to attract users of Window particularly in the corporate environment. Home users may be disappointed by the austere apps, the limited repository, the lack of eye candy, and annoying subtle marketing. Next to other community releases like Fedora, OCE feels like a crippled demo. As a power user, I can easily unlock its potential but at the risk of breakage. The huge binary repositories and infinite up-gradability, hallmarks of Debian, are largely lost because Xandros does not fully embrace Sarge.
Aesthetically speaking, OCE is a mixed bag. There are conflicting toolkits and redundant functionality. It’s not near as polished as, say, Mac OS X and lacks the personality of Ubuntu. I suppose it’s a matter of quality control and kernel stability, as Xandros must focus on their target audience and turn a profit. However, aside from the aforementioned qualities, there isn’t a lot that makes Xandros stand out from the growing crowd of Windows clones. If you otherwise like this release, I would recommend at least ante up for the Deluxe version. Compared to its contemporaries, it is worth the coin.
So, would I recommend Xandros 3.0.1 OCE to my Grandmother? Sure. It’s one of the slickest out-of-box Linux experiences I’ve seen and offers so much potential simply being based on Debian. In fact, I played with it for several days and you can see the screenshot of my pimped Xandros desktop. I safely added Synaptic, amaroK, K3B, replaced Noatun with Kaffeine, and installed a bit of eye candy too. You know, it’s really quite acceptable once you add Sarge repositories.
About the author
My interest with computers can be traced back to the eighties, but it wasn’t until the late 90s when I began hobby building and selling PCs. Two years ago, and after eons of fighting with MS’ finest, I switched to Debian and haven’t looked back. I also casually write fiction and decided to combine skills to promote the cause. I am a family man and reside on Canada’s east coast..
If you would like to see your thoughts or experiences with technology published, please consider writing an article for OSNews.
sorry, my last sarcastic post needs modded, I am a little dim tonight and did not see the actual review.
I had a look at it and actually was one of the better reviews that have been on this site
nice one
Just wanted to say thank you for the nice review. Very thorough and informative, the way reviews should be.
but I imagine a lot of newbies will break the box.
Same like I did with Mepis about a year ago.
Touching just the right negative and positive points (I believe) connected to Xandros. Good review!
I installed Xandors OCE and tried it out. My initial observations were that some things don’t work as expected. For instance, I tried to install the Mouse Gesture extension in Firefox, and it installed without any error messsges, but did not work when I tried to use it.
Ark was not installed by default and I had to download it from Xandros networks. I think it is a strange decision not to install it by default.
I also tried to compile mplayerplug-in 2.8 after downloading the source but got compilation errors. I have compiled the same source on other distributions. I wonder if other users have also faced similar issues.
the reviewer did not talk about how easy it is to set up a samba file share on xandros 3.0 OCE it is even easier than sharing a drive or folder on a windows system.
“Under the internet banner, there is an easy connection wizard for ADSL and dial-up users. DHCP works right from the get-go and I was pleased to see my SMB network and Debian server assessable from the Xandros File Manager. Sharing folders is also an easy task. This is a very network friendly distro.”
But Xandros 3 just bails on me with error 2000 at random points in the install. I almost hate that it’s getting good reviews, because I can’t try it!
I love rhubarb
Xandros introduces the concept of trialware into Linux. Thanks, but, no thanks. I’ll take full functionality with my linux desktop and I’ll make sure that the full distribution is fully open source, such as Fedora, Mandrake or even Suse’s download version.
You can fool some people, some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all of the time. Wake me when Xandros opens the source code to their file manager and when they begin to contribute actively and visibly to the upstreams project that they profit from, particularly KDE.
I just tried Xandros myself, and it was very slick, providing the absolute best customization of Konqueror I’ve ever seen. I was also able to get just about any app I wanted running. Unfortunately, though, it doesn’t seem to support even rudimentary hardware acceleration for my laptop chipset (I have an HP with an ATI Mobility Radeon M6), so 2D graphics rendering is unbearably slow and jerky, and 3D is out of the question. I tried installing a more recent version of Xorg (from the Ubuntu repositories; I had read that this is workable), and not only did this fail to improve things, but I ended up permanently breaking Firefox in the process. Perhaps I could have improved things had I been able to get at graphics settings; however, Xandros’s conf files are non-standard, and no GUI-based X-Windows setup tool is available. While I guess this follows the model of simplicity and everything “just working”, it left me wanting for something like Suse’s Sax2. (Suse, by the way, is the only distro I’ve seen that gave me an option to install “experimental” OpenGL acceleration during the initial install, and it worked beautifully).
Nice review. I am getting ready to give it a spin and now I knowwhat to look out for. If it don’t work like it should I’ll just put XOS 2.5biz on my system……….
I agree with others – a nice review. I have now tried each free version of Xandros as it has been released because of all the reasons people rave about it. Ver. 3.0.1 OCE is the FIRST version that cannot recognise my Win Modem, it knows its there but says it does not have a driver. Version 2 found the modem, installed the driver and worked much faster and slicker than any other distro that i have tried with external modems. What’s happened here? Do the pay versions work better.
I have ADSL (using a D-Link modem) but have not put a NIC in my Linux box yet. Are there any tricks etc. in getting ADSL configured? Does it require specific modem drivers etc.?
Regards,
Peter
After downloading the OCE about a week ago, this is my new distro of choice. Up until then I was using Arch which I downloaded a few month ago after all the hype. Unfortunatly I never really got into it. Too much stuff wasn’t working the way it should and I was getting too much strange and annoying behavior. It’s not that I couldn’t have fixed that stuff had I put my mind to it, but it was more that I felt I shouldn’t need to.
Now I’m no Linux newbie. I’ve worked as a Unix admin for many years. The first linux box I admined was redhat 4.something I’ve used red hat as personal a desktop since redhat 5 and I’ve also admined linux workstations for various companies. I’ve tried just about every major distro there is including most of the ‘hardcore’ ones. So I know my way around linux.
But sometimes you get tired of hacking config files to try to do something that should be trivial, and just want a distro that works well enough from the start and can be easily configured into what I want. Xandros gives you that. After a simple install, you get a KDE config which I consider superior to all the other default KDE installs I’ve seen (I prefere KDE to GNOME, but not by much).
There where a few packages that I wanted that wheren’t installed by default, but the Xandros Network quickly let me find, download and install much of what I wanted. And the really cool feature with Xandros network is that, although by default it only searches for packages made and distributed by Xandros, after on click in the menu you get access to most of the Debian package collection as well. So far I haven’t been able to break my install by using those debian packages.
I know this is aimed att linux newbies, but even if you are an experienced linux user who just wants to have a solid KDE desktop I would recomend you take a look. It makes most things easy, and the hard, obscure things aren’t any harder or more obscure here than any othe distro.
That being said, this distro is never going on a server and I still like Gentoo and Slackware for times when I want that controll (or just good old fun hacking). But for the day to day desktop, Xandros is it.
I think the review paints a bit more negative picture of Xandros OCE than really exists.
“however some other icons littering the desktop link to pay services offered by Xandros, which seems to be the real purpose of this release.”
I completely disagree.
I also don’t understand what problem the reviewer had with adding repositories to XN. The process itself is terribly simple and he isn’t clear about what dosen’t work.
As far as bringing Trialware to Linux. Xandros is *hardly* the frist Linux distro to include a time limited demo of some optional program, it’s been done by various distros for years.
I’m using OCE V3 right now and it certainly dosen’t feel crippled to me. Any software I’ve wanted I’ve been able to get and install. I can do anything I’ve ever been able to do in SuSE or Redhat or Mepis or any other distro, only usually easier and faster.
There are dozens of servers on the Net where isos are made available to the public. Why didn’t Xandros pick a few of them to host their Open Circulation Edition ? Some of us have no use for P2P and don’t trust it enough to allow it through our firewall.
Does anyone know if Xandros offers a better day to day experience than Libranet ?
I’ve noticed that everyone talks about how slick and good the Xandros File Manager is. I can’t understand this, compared to GNOME’s file manager Nautilus the XFM is (IMO) a boxy, ugly, Windows Explorer Clone.
Also, can anyone explain *why* Xandros is easier than other distributions like Fedora, SUSE or Ubuntu? For me, it only seems like people prefer it because the *useable* edition costs money, and that it uses a lot of Windows concepts, like trial-ware etc. etc.
>Also, can anyone explain *why* Xandros is easier than other distributions like Fedora, SUSE or Ubuntu? For me, it only seems like people prefer it because the *useable* edition costs money, and that it uses a lot of Windows concepts, like trial-ware etc. etc.
In what way is OCE not *useable*? I don’t understand that statement at all.
And aside from “trial-ware”, which as I said before has been around in various Linux distros for about as long as there’ve been commercial Linux distros, what Windows concepts does Xandros OCE use?
Forget my statement of the free Open Circulation edition, that it isn’t useable. I had obviously not read enough of the review.
>Also, can anyone explain *why* Xandros is easier than other distributions like Fedora, SUSE or Ubuntu?
Sorry, I forgot to answer this. Here’s some examples of what makes Xandros easier for me.
It automatically installs Nvidia drivers for 3d acceleration. More distros are doing this now but not all of them. I’m not sure if Fedora does now, but I hosed many Redhat & Mandrake systems trying to get the drivers installed. If I remember right I borked Mepis several times as well. With Xandros I don’t even worry about it.
Xandros automatically connects me to my Windows network, nothing to install or configure or bother with. It’s there at bootup (one shortcoming; it automatically sets your doman to Workgroup. It should really optionally allow you to provide the domain name yourself. Not a huge deal, everything still works and it’s simple to change).
And Xandros is the *only* linux distro that’s ever let me print to my HP printer connected to a Windows machine on my network. I’m sure with enough knowledge and effort you can set it up in other distros but I could never get it to work. With Xandros setting up the printer requires a few clicks during the initial setup wizard and it’s done.
Xandros has never given given me any any problems with hardware detection. The boxed set of SuSE I bought would alternately fail to recognize my mouse or keyboard at boot up, always one or the other wouldn’t work. There are later versions of Mandrake which I couldn’t even completely install because my mouse would get stuck moving only up & down.
If you have a Windows partition Xandros automatically recognizes and mounts it. I can read my XP drive without having to hunt down and install an NTFS driver like I always had to do for Redhat.
>I’ve noticed that everyone talks about how slick and good >the Xandros File Manager is. I can’t understand this, >compared to GNOME’s file manager Nautilus the XFM is (IMO) >a boxy, ugly, Windows Explorer Clone.
First of all why to people always think that boxy==bad UI and smooth round shapes==good UI? As to the file manager itself, it is if anything a slick, superior clone of windows explorer. It just does what I want it to do in a way that Nautilus never has. As to whether or not it’s prettier than Nautilus, I haven’t given it much thought and really can’t see a reason to care. It’s easier to use and more efficient than Nautilus, and that’s good enough for me.
That being said there are a few annoying bugs in certain features of XFM which makes it far from perfect, but for day to day use I find it more efficient than Nautilus.
>For me, it only seems like people prefer it because the >*useable* edition costs money
In what way is the OCE not useable? I’ve yet to find anything that isn’t useable about it or any reason to upgrade to any other edition. As to trialware, the only trialware included is codeweaver and I fail to see why that’s a bad thing. It’s not like it’s the first linux distro to include trial versions of comercial software.
Aside from some spelling/grammatical issues, one of the best reviews I’ve seen here. Looking forward to reading your next review.
“Under the internet banner, there is an easy connection wizard for ADSL and dial-up users. DHCP works right from the get-go and I was pleased to see my SMB network and Debian server assessable from the Xandros File Manager. Sharing folders is also an easy task. This is a very network friendly distro.”
The author couldn’t go in depth on everything. He covered a lot and I thought the bit I quoted above says enough.
Some like total control, others performance, still others 99% user-friendliness (will start the coffee-machine before they wake).
However, Xandros – a canadian distro – does very well for windows refugees (count myself, dad & 2 sisters), and we are all happy campers.
Sure our needs are not outlandish – but they do vary & all have found their niche.
A few techno notes :
1) XFM is not a revamped Konqueror – it’s a from scratch app, initially designed by Corel corp (CLOS 1.x)
2) The more hand-holding, the more sluggishness you will experience, so don’t compare to vanilla Debian or other lean&mean distros (mepis, libranet, …etc) they don’t offer all the conveniences.
3) No distro I know can automagically detect, configure and make readily available 100% of the hdw/peripherals on the market (not even windows).
note : I was a windows support tech a few years back).
4) I find a bit lame the : they didn’t customize OpenOffice to blend with the theme/gui … ad nauseum. Who cares ? That much less eye-candy – great, just make it complete and make it work. If OO should be fantastic to look at – let’s send aesthetic enhancement ideas to OpenOffice.org.
Feel the power, enjoy the freedom.
Use Linux ! (and Xandros is one that does work pdg).
LB.