MadPenguin is reviewing the latest version of ArkLinux, 1.0a7. Recently, we hosted an interview with Bero, project leader of the ArkLinux distribution.
Review of ArkLinux 1.0 alpha7
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I thought that this was a great review. I am also testing ark linux and i found it to be a great distro. Besides some minimal problems it think this is something great. I’ve tried lycoris and I’ve found it more troublesome than any linux i’ve tested so far. It had alot of trouble installing simple drivers and when i tried installing them via gui it crashed had to do it manually. This distro on the other hand detected almost everything except the monitor which after some tweaking worked perfectly. I think this is a great distro but as the author stated gaim is a must. Many home users use it and probably will be looking for it. I also like that kmess was included. Good Idea. Only thing that I think would be a good idea is an easier way to install drivers especially from NVidia.
But its funny people say Redhat makes a bad distro, and then they go on to for ma derivative of it. I am sure stuff like the kernel and underlying system are mostly unchanged. I also think these distro’s will have a tough time surviving as Redhat starts attacking the corporate market strongly. The desktop in your average user’s home will then follow. It seems people forget how computers came to be.
Well, I would like to see Redhat lift a lot of the ideas from projects like these because its high time they started benefitting from their work.
I liked the “from-the-end-users-point-of-view” kind of review. What I missed was the peripheral equipment recognition. When I installed Mandrake the last time (9.0) it recognised my sound card, set up my display and nvidia geforce, my tv card and last but far from least important my internet setup (network card etc).
One interesting aspect about the “login as root by default” concept that Windows had is that this distro might try to make things a little bit too easy for the end user. Even Windows tries to make the user enter a user name (not password though). Asking a user for an administrators password during installation is not too much too ask.
But its funny people say Redhat makes a bad distro, and then they go on to for ma derivative of it.
Personally, I think Redhat is a very nice disto. What makes it unattractive for me is that you have to buy an account in order to receive easy updates. I have nothing against them making money, but since many other distros provide free updates that are every bit as easy, I can’t bring myself to pay Redhat for them.
If RH was “VERY GOOD”, there wouldn’t be a need for one of these other distro’s…
But hey, ARK slims down the CD count from 3 -> 1, adds in several wizards, KDE that actually looks like KDE, and a whole buncha other things…
Makes a good OS (RH), less bloated.
“Personally, I think Redhat is a very nice disto. What makes it unattractive for me is that you have to buy an account in order to receive easy updates.”
That’s incorrect. You can register as many machines as you want with RedHat Network FOR FREE, but only one of them can be eligible for updates at a time. This means that if you a home user with one machine, basically you register and it works. For free.
Well, sure. If you can actually connect to their free servers, that is. I have a box that has been trying for over 48 hours.
Me, I just put apt-get and use freshrpms and tuxfamily to get the updates.
I can also fetch the updates into my own apt repository and update my other boxes from there, which is more efficient for the servers and for me. Can I do that woth RH’s service?
Easier to use, easier to automate, no limits, and it actually works. Looks like a winner to me.
Has it been used in any form for the control panel?
“It looks like they took the classic Mozilla theme and modified it to look like the default KDE 3.1 Keramik look and feel. This is a welcome look. It makes Mozilla blend in to the desktop very well.”
A better crystal mozilla theme is on kde-look.
I’m downloading it now. I wanted to get a KDE 3.1 disro with nothing else. I tried vector linux, but it could not recognize my monitor. Ark sounds like it could be the one I was lookng for.
MadPenguin seems to think that having a blank root password is okay, and justifies it by saying:
“Typical end-users don’t understand PC security and most think it’s a burden to have to deal with it at the desktop level.”
Of course, end-users think security is a burden. That’s because it is a burden. And if said user is not connected to the Internet, it is an unnecessary burden. However, most end-users these days are connected. A policy of having a blank root password is like playing Russian roulette with the end-user’s computer, and it offers a very small convenience that could very well exact a high price later on for the end-user. Not a good tradeoff in my opinion.
But its funny people say Redhat makes a bad distro, and then they go on to for ma derivative of it.
Redhat makes a very solid product indeed, but I’m just not able to warm up to their desktop. No reflection on Gnome, but I’m partial to KDE. So when someone can deliver a desktop I like on top of Redhat’s very solid Linux distro, then I’m interested in giving it a look. Choice is Good.
I know…running at root is one thing, but no password…did you get the impression you cannot add user accounts?
Well, you didn’t tell the whole story… The part that came after -> it is no different than you average garden variety Windows installation
He’s saying that hey… Blank root password = as bad as a Windows 98/ME setup. But hey, you’re right, it’s just pretty wrong to leave it open… They probably will address this after “numerous” complaints or comments like these… I’m sure a pop-up during the installation asking the user to type in a password can be done very easily…
That’s incorrect. You can register as many machines as you want with RedHat Network FOR FREE, but only one of them can be eligible for updates at a time. This means that if you a home user with one machine, basically you register and it works. For free.
You are right. I should have been more clear. It is a pain in the back end for me because I have many machines. Therefore, the options are to either sign up using a different email address for each box, or to log into RHN and change which machine I want to update. This sucks when I have to do it over 20 times. The only way updates are really “easy” to do is my opinion is to buy subscriptions, or use a different distro. I have selected to go with the second option.
I am looking to port an app me and a friend are working on to linux and I am downloading ark right now… i have not had the best experiances with most distros…and about the password… I hate passwords they are an annoyance unless you actually have something important on your comp… as in worth money. most important things would be backed up instantly by anyone with an ounce of forethought.
oh well, good luck to me! does anyone know if the development tools ISO available off their website includes KDevelop?
Fonts seem to be very nice. Excellent! Also some very nice screen shots.
I am glad someone is doing a good job on a newbie distro here, but absolutely no root password is unforgivable. Even a windows xp install at least takes the time to request an administrator password. You don’t have to put one in if you don’t want, but asking would be a nice touch.
Most users may not care much about security, but that doesn’t make security unimportant, it just backs up the common knowledge that most users ignorant. This isn’t their fault, they just need someone to teach them that a little bit of security goes a long way. Especially with fantastic permissions architecture.
ark linux wouldnt get past the start up… said something about not being able to mount root
Where can I find the alpha 7 release? I found only alpha 6 in the mirror.
MadPenguin is not advocating the non use of passwords. In fact, thats why we pointed it out. I firmly believe in the use of passwords on the desktop, but was merely stating that traditional users don’t understand the need, hence (I’m sure) the reason Ark decided to leave it out. Although I do agree with one poster here that it should be given as an option during setup.
Also, the mirror that has the newest version is here:
http://mi.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/arklinux/1.0-0.alpha7.1/iso
and
ftp://mi.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/arklinux/1.0-0.alpha7.1/iso
I’m sorry, but you cannot sacrifice security because the end user is too damn lazy to understand how the users work. Rather than let them continue on a path which is ultimately bad for them (ie, they’re going to get hacked), explain why they need a root password on the appropriate screen where they enter it. Hell, tell them to write it down and keep it in a safe place near the computer in case they need it.
I would prefer to see less Linux adoption than see mass Linux adoption that’s totally insecure. And in this case, “being as secure as Win9X/XP” is the most godawful mistake I can imagine. The only thing a shortcut like this will do is lead to a wave of worms taking advantage of it.
RedHat’s system for this is wonderful – you don’t have to ever “login” as root – just type in your root password whenever you need to do something with better privs. Think of it as your license to drive – if you’re too dumb to compute securely, you don’t compute at all. Elitist, sure – but we’ll have a better internet at the end of the day.
-Erwos
I guess i downloaded an old version maybe that is why it didnt work..because i just downloaded off the main website supposing that’d be the latest. downloading the correct version now..hopefully this will work.
I agree with using passwords and user accounts.
This is a very young distro though. Now, even Lindows has it set up so it’s visible and easy to create user accounts right after installation. Perhaps as they progress, Ark will do something like that. Of all the things one must learn about Linux, passwords and user names are a no brainer – people use them all the time with their AOL and MSN accounts.
Backing up is very important but do you want your machine used to attack other machines on the net. A good password can go a long way there.You could reinstall every thing after someone roots your machine but wouldn’t it be better to keep them out rather than rebuild. Security is a pain I’ll be the first to tell you that unfortunately in this day and age it is a necesary evil.Maybe in the future it won’t be needed but here and now it is needed.
Well, personally over the past 4 years the only time I have been infected by a viruis/worm/trojan was when me and my friends were looking into them and had a few on our systems… of course we wanted to see how good they worked so we started them up on each other, joining them to exe files and sending that6 file to our friend, or using netstat while sending them a file harmnless as a picture to get their ip and then attack them with something else…. funny really, anyways Ark is screwy on my system it had to disable x and i had no way of logging in because root with no password woukld work. I am back in a new RH 8.0 install and updating via RHN…oh well ark looks nice.
reason for rant^ for most common users it is pointless to have passwords…now if you use Linux you are not a “most commmon users”…