The Lycoris Development Team is hard at work finishing Desktop/LX Update 3. Release candidate 0 is now available and all users can use the Update Wizard to update their systems to build 119 or install anew. Desktop/LX now can read/write Windows shares. Download the 613 MB ISO from here.
Lycoris Update 3-RC0 Available
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Much has happened since build 75, let alone the stable 46. Build 119 is awsome and I can’t wait till stable. Go Lycoris, Go!
Before you complain about no KDE 3, don’t bother.
KDE 3.x will not be in Desktop/LX until at least beryl. They have applied thousands of patches to kde to make it:
A) Stable, which is a huge priority of Lycoris
B) Easier to use (in a way)
Remember, Lycoris is aimed at “mom & pop” who aren’t going to know there isn’t even a KDE 3. They just want something that works. All they’ll prolly do is email, internet browsing, listen to music, and writing some word documents.
All I want to say on the KDE2.2 vs KDE 3.2 issue is that eventually it becomes extremely expensive for a company to maintain its own separate code base, particularly when many of the issues that are occupying is present engineering time have been solved upstream by the developers.
It would be far more efficient and I wager more productive to work with the existing KDE developers. Your mom and pop argument doesn’t hold all that well -which it isn’t to say that is all wrong as there are some Walmart systems being bought. But it doesn’t hold all that well simply because most mom and pops don’t install their own OS.
They ask their neighborhood geek to do so and any self-respecting neighborhood geek is going to want to give them the latest KDE. Why? Because it’s faster, more full-featured and more stable.
If you don’t believe me, download KDE 3.2 from CVS.
So they did a bunch of work on KDE2.2. That sounds cool. KDE2.x was fine. I think 3.x is better, but KDE2 is not bad, and remember, most of these people were probobly using WIndows 98.
So are there any screenshots? Or have there been no asthetic changes since whatever build is on their website.
Thank you for not “directly” flaming me like most people do when i mention about stop complaining about KDE 3. I haven’t used KDE 3.2 yet, but it looks really cool. I have used, and use kde 3.1.x in other distros. So I do know the differences.
It may be a bit faster, but please, compare stock kde 2.2 with Lycoris’s and you’ll notice a HUGE difference. And I’m sure there a big difference between the latest KDE and Lycoris’s version.
About stability. I can’t say. I’ve gotten very little crashes out of either. But there is a difference between stock kde 2.2 and kde 3.1.x, definently.
More full-featured. Yes, I have to agree. It has some features that a VERY cool. As well as apps that I love, like K3b, but I can live without them, until KDE 3 is in Lycoris.
Just my opinion about the last thing about full-featured i said.
ABout speed and stability, I can say they are less or more facts.
Cheers
There has been some changes since the build on the website. But more or less, its the same. More icons in places, and other changes. So its pretty much the same. As for this recent build, none that I know of as its a beta/release canidate.
It says “reads/writes to Windows shares”. They aren’t refering to NTFS are they? I assume its just vfat.
You know, I’m not sure really. All I know is the Network Browser (“reads/writes to Windows shares”) has been broken for a VERY long time, and now its fixed! So its big over at Lycoris
If you have any questions, I recommend asking the folks over at http://www.lycoris.org. I’m a member there too
i want to try it out but it wont load on my hardware (previous version). using nForce2 msi chipset not sure if its that or something else though. might download this one and see if they added more hardware
I think Lycoris is quite good at what it aims, but still… I have the impression that they keep releasing betas and R. Candidates, but rarely release “Stable” versions…
Is that so, or is it just me?
I have nForce(1), it works great. nForce(2) i don’t know about. Try asking in the forums at http://www.lycoris.org I’m sure someone their will know the answer.
CHeers!
I guess I could say its both. They are implenting updated apps and new features almost every release. Sometimes things go wrong, they make mistakes. They’re human, we make mistakes. I’m sure you’ve heard this many times, but Update 3 is VERY soon.
Its going to be great.
It says “reads/writes to Windows shares”. They aren’t refering to NTFS are they? I assume its just vfat.
That’s not a “Windows Share”. You can write to NTFS or FAT/FAT32 partitions via Samba. It doesn’t care what the filesystem is because it’s not dealing with it at that level.
I think what you are thinking of is mounting an NTFS partition as a local filesystm.
“Your mom and pop argument doesn’t hold all that well -which it isn’t to say that is all wrong as there are some Walmart systems being bought. But it doesn’t hold all that well simply because most mom and pops don’t install their own OS.
They ask their neighborhood geek to do so and any self-respecting neighborhood geek is going to want to give them the latest KDE. ”
There is no sense in this statement. Nobody installs anything by hand — either you pop the CD in and end up with a KDE 2.2 or you pop in some other CD and end up with a KDE 3.x..?! Why does this take a geek to do? Apart from that, once you are left alone to *use* it after installation, which is what mom + pop do, they really couldn’t tell whether this is the one or the other… and they don’t care.
A self-respecting geek will realize that an operating system that is easier to use is far more important than an operating system with the latest applications – if mom and pop can’t work it out, they’ll be the ones back there to pick up the pieces.
Of course, whether Lycoris actually fits this bill or not is debatable.
“Release fast, release often” doesn’t really hold up in the consumer world (or any other non-geekish world, for all that matters). Besides the fact that Lycoris should test out thouroughly their updates before releasing them – it makes good business sense.
The Lycoris situation is somewhat confusing. Obviously, their objective is to make an easy to use and attractive Linux. They, with their small team, have gone to great lengths to do this. And I like it and support them.
At first, I admired them for not dropping everything and jumping on the KDE 3.x bandwagon. They were sticking to their guns. But, it has been so long now and Beryl seems to still be a long way off. People who buy Lycoris on Microtel computers at Wal-Mart probably don’t care, which is good. But, Lycoris has fallen so far behind now regarding KDE that they are now missing the really good stuff in it. It is a conumdrum.
Does the new installer finally work in VMware? I tried loading lycoris a while back and it would crash in the middle of install. You would think that every major distributor would test first in vmware (or bochs?) because its so much quicker to rip down a VM and start over than a full machine. Also saves on CDs
For the ones who read my two Hell & Bliss artivles: Lycoris is kinda what the mom/dad/grandma etc proog Linux should look like.
Just my opinion thoug
“One of the very biggest announcements is that Desktop/LX now writes windows shares. Yes, you can not only read all the files from your old system, but you can also write files there as well! Networking is much easier, as many people also use their windows box as a server.” http://distrowatch.com
seems like there might be NTFS write support… Unless they just added fat32 read write support but that would seem weird…
To all of you that are wondering about whether it can write to ntfs shares:
No linux distro with self respect is going to try to write to any ntfs partition / drive that is on your own computer. However, the issue at hand is that Desktop/LX has had an issue where it would not be able to write to shares (folders) on another computer. That means via the network. That is now possible. Whether the share on the remote computer is NTFS or not is irrelevant, because all that is taken care of. The whiz-bang news is that it is now possible to write to shares on another computer. end.
Well, there is alot more whiz-bang new things, too. check it out
I looked at the screenshots on the Lycoris site, so I’ve never actually ran Lycoris.
However, it’s seems so lame. I always get the feeling that Linux is like an OS you buy out of the trunk of some guys car on a street corner. Nothing more than a cheap knockoff of a real product.
All OSS desktop designs need to use (at least) some originality. Why would I want to use something that’s almost like Windows when I could just use windows.
??Why would I want to use something that’s almost like Windows when I could just use windows??
Cost!
??Why would I want to use something that’s almost like Windows when I could just use windows??
Cost!
Hence the cheap knockoff comment.
What you see on the screenshots is just the finishing touch. It usually shows how much care has been put user friendliness.
The look is so easy to configure most people start by custumizing it to something completly different.
A linux distro should be chosen for its functionality.
As an exemple here are two of the main reasons I switched from Windows to Linux:
-KIO FTP slave allows me to work off an FTP site as if it was on my hard drive. (Windows can open but then saves to the temp file it created…)
-No Mail client. (I found the one thing Eudora could hardly do, Mozilla was to bulky, I would never touch Outlook/Outlook Express, and Thunderbird/Minautor would would not come)
And many more but that is not the subject is it…
Just out of curiousity, have you used linux before or are you just stating an observation? If it was the later, i suggest you try using Linux/Lycoris first before you judge and when I say “use” i mean really using it as a main OS for let say a week or two. Anyway branding the DEs of OSS as knockoffs of Windows is too harsh. why not use linux first and try the DE… XFCE4 and see if it is a knockoff of Windows.
They do not appear on their site (or I missed something), but what are the licences of the distro ? I mean, what are the proprietary parts ? What is redistribuable and what is not ? Icons, code ? Thanks for any clarification.
Uh, the last time I used Lycoris, build 46 or so, it was able to read/write to windows shares… why is this news?
it’s news because shortly after the release of 46 it no longer worked untill now – a year later
What Kevin meant to say…
“I looked at the centerfold on the Playboy site, so I’ve never actually had a girl.
… Nothing more than a cheap knockoff of mother.
… Why would I want to use something that’s almost like mother when I could just use mother.”
Sorry, but I couldn’t resist that one! That was sick and disgusting, but you do get the difference between looks and use now, don’t you?
LOL! Very funny! but dont be to harsh on lil Kev… he is just misinformed…
Just out of curiousity, have you used linux before or are you just stating an observation? If it was the later, i suggest you try using Linux/Lycoris first before you judge and when I say “use” i mean really using it as a main OS for let say a week or two. Anyway branding the DEs of OSS as knockoffs of Windows is too harsh.
As I said in regard to Lycoris, I have never used it. I was just going by the screenshots which look like they are trying to make a near duplicate of WinXP. As for Linux, I started playing around with it using Slackware around ’95 – 96 (not really sure of the exact year). Since then, Redhat, Mandrake, and Gentoo.
As a whole, Linux has made a huge leap in usability from that time period. (It took me months to get X running back then, quite a lot of fun though). Despite the improvement, Linux has never made the jump to my main desktop (XP and Jaguar now). They Linux DE’s are the reason. None of them really float my boat.
I really dislike the attempts to make Linux “just like windows” so a newbie can use it without having to learn anything new. Esp. when they go to the trouble of duplicating XP’s (mostly) ugly icons. What I meant by the post is that I’d like to see something differnet and original because Linux is the only system where that can happen. (Apple already makes a nice desktop, and MS never has).
why not use linux first and try the DE… XFCE4 and see if it is a knockoff of Windows.
I haven’t tried that one. I might at some point in the future. What advantage does it have over XP and Jaguar?
What Kevin meant to say…
“I looked at the centerfold on the Playboy site, so I’ve never actually had a girl.
… Nothing more than a cheap knockoff of mother.
… Why would I want to use something that’s almost like mother when I could just use mother.”
Sorry, but I couldn’t resist that one! That was sick and disgusting, but you do get the difference between looks and use now, don’t you?
I get the difference, that’s why I have a Mac nad not just one of the bazillion XP Aqua themes. I figure that a company thet went to that much trouble to recreate XP’s look also tried to duplicate it’s function. As I said in the post, I’ve never actually used Lycoris.
BTW, How did you know my mom was a Playboy centerfold?
Linux distros improve so quickly that anything 6 months old seems ancient to me. KDE 2.2 seems like ages ago. I think whoever said it would be more productive to work with the KDE developers was right on. Endlessly modifiying an old code base seems pointless to me.
ALL I know is that all of their icons and graphics are copyrighted.
Nice reply. I think you have been away to long from the linux experience. The Linux DEs has come a long way since the 90s. Being a full time linux user (migrate from WinXP) I think the OSS file managers (intergral part of any DE) is far superior to that of winXP. Take for example Konqueror, copying/moving/linking files using it is a breeze compared to XP. Changing the wallpaper is also way easier, just drag them wallpapers to the desktop and presto. A right click on any folder will give you easy access to the command prompt. To get this functionality in winXP I have to use a separate prog called (if I remember it right) TweakUI. In the browser dept., winXP also lags behind. Think pop-up/image blocking and tab browsing. In the areas of personalization, winXP lags behind too. I have to patch a dll of winXP or buy Windowsblinds to make it themable. In linux DEs this comes as standard. To be fair to winXP the only thing it has that OSS doesnt in terms of file management is its right click “send to” menu (but the OSS file manager, Velocity is gaining in this area).
I’ll probably check out KDE again when 3.2 comes out. Haven’t used it since 3.0.
Konq. is pretty good, but I’d prefer it split into a browser and file manager rather than one monolitic program. Either way, I’ll probably continue using Firebird on my PC, unless OSS comes up with something as good as Safari.
forget the flame warz! on what other linux install can you play solitaire! its a great install and clearly aimed at mom and pop. these are people who dont know what the desktop is and think that the internet is a big Blue E. perfect for them and for general desktop fun.