This is a bug fix release of Ark Linux 2005.1 and here is a mini-report on Ark.
Ark Linux 2005.1 SR1 Released
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Tetris in the installation is nothing new
. Caldera (ugh) OpenLinux had this in some 2.x versions.
Apologies for the OT post.
Is anyone else seeing http://planet.kde.org instead of http://planet.gnome.org?
i think april fool
Ark Linux, will the installer let me set up Linux on the existing Linux partitions that I have? I have read comments it is taking over the entire hard disk with giving you no options. Is this true?
I think this http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=290&slide=3 release=290&slide=3 answers my question. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t let the user partition the hard disk.
Ark’s install gives you two options (a 3rd is greyed out, so I don’t remember what it was) when it comes to hard drive usage:
Wipe whole drive for use with Ark.
Resize an existing Windows partition.
the third option may be “use empty space”, so if you partitioned beforehand, it might let you use that. I’m just guessing, though.
The reason to not let users have partitioning is because the audience for this Linux is people who don’t know how to use linux. Most people don’t even know what partitioning is.
That being said, it’d be nice if there was an ‘advanced’ button or something that allowed partitioning. As I just got this update release, I’ll let you know in a few moments.
Okay, guess I should’ve waited 3 seconds until I could get to the actual loader, hah.
In the 2005.1-SR1 install, there are 3 sections for “Installation Type”:
System Install: “This will use all disk space on ALL attached hard disks, overwriting any other operating system and data you might have installed.”
and greyed out is:
Express Install: “This will use all “unpartitioned space” (space not assigned to any other operating system/data) in your computer).
— So you would use this if you did want to partition your own drive — just use fdisk beforehand or something.
Parallel Install: An existing Windows or DOS drive is reduced in size to make room for Linux, leaving the data intact.
So there you have it.
I couldn’t even get the installer to load on my Compaq 866 DeskPro EN. This is the only distro I can’t even install. And I have tried a fair number.
Hello,
yesterday night I tryied 2005.1 into an XP Disk. Ark forced erasing everythink. Ok let’s erase!! It’s only XP!!!
After a clean autoinstallation a classical KDE Desktop was born!!
Nothing more than this.
The only value added of this distro is it’s XP like control panel and a 2 mouse clik installation. But nothing more.
I felt more usable Ubuntu Hoary and last Linspire.
Do you?
“This is the only distro I can’t even install. And I have tried a fair number.”
You are not the only one. I haven’t been able to install it since buying my present desktop, about 18 months ago.
“I felt more usable Ubuntu Hoary and last Linspire.
Do you?”
Indeed, especially Linspire (even if personally I don’t need or even want much handholding).
When this project was started,about 3 years ago, there was a big need for an easy to use desktop distro. Mandrake was about the only other alternative.
Today with the pletora of distro out there, whether this one succeds or not is pretty irrelevant.
They missed their chance when many people, including myself, were suggesting to use Anaconda, which they stubbornly refused.
J.A.M.D. Linux managed to be what Ark never was: an easy to install, easy to use desktop distro with a great community.
Two years after the last release it is still pefectly usable.
My conclusions after several trials with ArkLinux are these:
– You must have available and unpartitioned space on your HD.
– You must have at least two available Primary partition options on your HD. ArkLinux doesn’t play well with Logical partitions.
– Oh, yeah! You must pray very hard while Ark is being installed on your machine.
Otherwise, wait for the next generation of installer.
“- You must have available and unpartitioned space on your HD.
– You must have at least two available Primary partition options on your HD. ArkLinux doesn’t play well with Logical partitions.
– Oh, yeah! You must pray very hard while Ark is being installed on your machine.
”
I have tried all that, and more. Still no go.
And in any case, if you are a newbie stay away, unless your data don’t matter to you (or you don’t have any)
It seems to be an OSNews darling but from what I can tell Ark accomplishes little beyond removing the “cruft” of all those nice little utilities that make other OSs and distributions useable for people who enjoy using their computers to accomplish tasks. Its sort of like Gentoo for people who hate all that “cruft” of documentation.
And don’t tell me Ark is the FreeBSD of linux distros, FreeBSD does plenty of handholding and has great “idiot proof” user-level utilities for maintaining the OS.
Also after reading the interview with the team on this site I have to say I would be even less likely to run this distro, many of the team members gave me the impression they could take it or leave it.
If somebody invited you to their home and gave you a dinner which was either rubbish or caused food poisoning, would you still be grateful?
Anyway my reasons to complain are:
1)Bad linux distros bring the whole movement into disrepute.
2)Ark linux was once a very promising project, but it was damaged by the arrogance of one or two people.
Ark != Arch
I haven’t tried this update, but am using the “stable” release just released recently. The installer is primitive, but I wanted to wipe my drive anyway. Installation was flawless. The DCHP problem (which apparantly is fixed now) was my only complaint. Besides that, it’s a wonderful up-to-date KDE desktop distro.