VectorLinux is one of those useful but lesser-known Linux distros. It's
been around since 1999 and I've used it since 2006, off and on, in the
role of a secondary OS. Now, with the disruptive changes
Ubuntu forces on its user base with each new release, I've found myself
increasingly attracted to Vector's stability and convenience. This
article introduces "VL" to those who may not be familiar with it.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2007-02-17
Out of date. Trinity Desktop has been well and truly overtaken by KDE4, and desktop applications written for KDE4.
http://dot.kde.org/2012/04/11/first-version-calligra-released
http://www.calligra.org/tour/calligra-suite/office-applications/
http://www.calligra.org/tour/calligra-suite/graphics-applications/
This is where all the current development effort is going. Wake up and smell the coffee.
Edited 2012-04-14 05:25 UTC
Member since:2006-12-05
I agree with and find many of your posts informative, but while you're stating the facts here, I have to say that I don't fully agree with them. I still like KDE3. The Trinity Desktop is not only familiar, but is fast and runs well with much less memory than KDE4.
Sure, KDE4 is now more familiar since it really has started competing well feature-wise with KDE3, but... it's a massive pig. As impressed as I have been lately with KDE4 (I have accidentally ran it in a virtual machine with 256MB RAM and, amazingly, not only did it run without any crashing, but I was able to open Dolphin and Konsole at the same time), it still eats up too much memory.
I only have 1GB of memory in this piece of shit. I don't know, maybe I should be running a 32-bit operating system (it would use less memory), but at the same time... I have a 64-bit processor, why not make use of it and the extra registers available? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find much information on how much more memory 64-bit requires compared to 32-bit, other than the Windows Vista/Windows 7 system requirements--but I don't trust Microsoft's recommendations anyway, and I don't know how much memory use differs in 32-bit vs. 64-bit Linux distributions. [Note: Sure, I could look at various 32/64-bit Linux distribution system requirements, but they only give a decent estimate for standard usage, which I do not fall under. They don't say the approximate amount of memory increase per typical program.]
Then again, I have been unable to open as many tabs in Firefox without swapping to hell and back even in Openbox, so maybe my distribution (openSUSE 12.1 64-bit) or, more likely, the included version of Firefox (10.0.2) is to blame. I was running Mozilla's official Linux binary of Firefox in Debian previously with GNOME or Openbox, and the swapping didn't seem quite as bad.
That said, I do always have a shitload of tabs open. I used to have 70-80 or more open at a time before the system became completely responsive; now that number seems to be 55-60. Yeah, I know--in the end, I need more memory. But I have to work with what I have, and KDE4 doesn't allow me to do that. Hell, with openSUSE, even Openbox doesn't allow me to do that.
Edited 2012-04-14 09:00 UTC
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Google added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces.
"But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.
"Android and iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems worldwide, combined for 92.3% of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013 as Windows Phone crept past BlackBerry for 3rd place. According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million units worldwide during 1Q13, up 59.1% from the 125.4 million units shipped during 1Q12." Windows Phone doubles from a few to twice few, iOS loser market share as its growth is slower than that of the overall market. BlackBerry continues slide into irrelevance."According to the latest research from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies service, global Android smartphone profits reached US$5 billion in total during the first quarter of 2013. Samsung dominated and captured an impressive 95 percent share of all Android smartphone profits." Wow."During its Keynote today, Google announced new features coming to its flagship search function - you know, that thing we all started using Google for. VP Amit Singhal spent some time discussing what Google's search functionality will eventually morph into. Google's strategy is summarized by three words: answer, converse, and anticipate. Singhal explained that many of the pieces of these upcoming changes can already be seen in products that Google has recently introduced - namely, Google Knowledge Graph and Google Now, with perhaps a splash of Google Glass, too." I hold on to my hat every time Google changes Search. It's such a vital product in my daily life.
Member since:
2006-01-01
The only Linux I will ever consider as a viable desktop is if it came with an option to have Trinity Desktop as a desktop environment. So many editions of Vector and yet not one with TDE and this applies to other distributions too!
Edited 2012-04-13 11:03 UTC