“If we had to define Xandros 2.0 with one word, we’d pick “usable.” This time around, the folks at Xandros have refined their product significantly and come up with something that makes Linux quite comfortable and easy to use, even if you’re a total newbie to the OS.” Read the article at ExtremeTech.
Review: Xandros 2.0 Deluxe
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
For once, a brief section on Installation! I hope more reviews go in this direction, instead of commenting at length on the look of the screen, and how the installer asked them to put CD #2 in.. which they then do.. then… etc…
As far as the America’s Army commentary, I’m not sure its fair to ask distros to include a 600+ MB game in their standard media releases. That’s basically an entire CD, just for people who like a particular type of game. It is also easy to download, so anyone wanting AA can get it fairly quickly.
So now Windows is bundled with “killer” games…
mmm…. yeah PinBall, Solitare!!! and don’t forget Minesweeper
1. no partition manager/editor in the setup (like Redhat/Suse or Mandrake)
2. Mozilla 1.4 is included but 1.5 was already long around, and the ugly mozilla theme
3. No function to permanent mount your NFS shares (still have to make a mountscript in /etc/init.d or in fstab
4. Xandros does not include the theme function in its modified kcontrol
5. Mplayer is not included in Xandros Network
6. the Digicam program is uncomplete
7. No way to burn DVD´s with the standard burn package
8. File deleting is slow and clumpsy
9. Making tumbnails is slow
9. Gallery/slideshow option do sometimes not appear when entering a photo folder
10. Lots of problems when trying to install with apt-get in the stable debian sources…
11. Scanning the network for printers is not possible with their modified kprinter wizard
etc…
Overall i would say a 6. I rather use Lindows or Lycoris if i want to have userfriendliness
I love Linux and have nothing against Xandros but there was a review of Xandros2 just 3-4 days ago on this forum. This one reads just like and advertisement. And so do some of the comments. Whats up?
PS: The review from a few days ago was much more imformative and evenhanded.
Does Xp come bundled w/- Apps.?
What I miss are boxed Apps off the shelf.
As soon as Joe/Jane consumer can buy his/her favourite S/w at the store, Linux will pick up.
They don’t care about “free as beer” or “open source”….. Just make Applications available at any store.
No demo? No buy!
Heya Tom, I posted the positive comment about the review’s brief install description, and can assure you I don’t work for Xandros, and have never even used it.
The review a few days ago was good as well. I was just trying to point out what I saw as a positive. Positive comments seem a rarity these days.
Yea its good to stay positive. I guess I was just worried that advertisements are becoming all to common here and this is my favorite forum. I don’t want to see it get away from the nuts and bolts of real OS issues.
They will have an evaluation version available soon.
Windows has had this ability for years–it’s high time that all Linux distributions have VPN wizards built into their desktops.
Unless you want to use a real VPN, then you have to download Securemote client and install it, just like you have to for Windows…
😉
it still cant play games or even dvds. Segment fault this and dependeny that.
wow linux sux
Who says it cant play games? Americas Army for example is available native for Linux… And with WineX you are able to play a lot of Windows games.
DVD-player is available via Xandros Networks (Mplayer) if not allready installed (I dont have any DVD-ROM so I havent been able to check…).
And well…for me Ive get more system crashes with Windows (XP) than I do with Xandros. Actually Xandros has only crashed on me once. (Well… KDE crashed… Ctrl+Alt+Backspace and it was up and running again.).
I can’t even run it. It hangs almost right away. Installation seemed smooth enough, but what good is that if I can’t run it?
“1. no partition manager/editor in the setup (like Redhat/Suse or Mandrake)”
You have a partitioning tool during install. It even can resize NTFS partition (only in delux edition).
“2. Mozilla 1.4 is included but 1.5 was already long around, and the ugly mozilla theme”
Mozilla 1.5 was included during beta there were to many stability issues so they went back to 1.4. The theme is indeed ugly.
“5. Mplayer is not included in Xandros Network”
Just activate the additional (unsupported) sources under XN. And that it is not included in main repository now doesn’t mean it will be there in near future.
“7. No way to burn DVD´s with the standard burn package”
K3B is also available.
“8. File deleting is slow and clumpsy”
Hmm. May be true, but for me all file managers under linux I tried so far were slower than explorer
“9. Making tumbnails is slow”
Again, Konq oder Nautilus weren’t faster on my machine. But the redraw all the time is really anoying.
“11. Scanning the network for printers is not possible with their modified kprinter wizard”
??? You can click on any samba printer share and connect it.
This installer section is breif because this is the first Linux installation where the user interaction with the installer is a breif affair!
I will be submitting a review for osnews.com soon – a little late I know but I’ve had coursework last week, exams this week (inc. one tomorrow) and an interview next week.
I will say now though that Xandros doesn’t seem like Linux to me – it doesn’t need you to fiddle around – it works. The only issue I had was getting the font size in mozilla sorted cos the menus were huge.
“You have a partitioning tool during install. It even can resize NTFS partition (only in delux edition). ”
I do not have NTFS filesystems but just a single harddrive (80gb) and i want to make partitions on it..that is NOT possible with Xandros.
“K3b is also available”
This is a newbie distro they expect to burn DVD’s in 2004.
“Hmm. May be true, but for me all file managers under linux I tried so far were slower than explorer
”
I did not compare them to explorer but to Konqueror, Nautilus and Velocity. Ever tried to copy 3 gig with explorer and then tried to run a DVD…slow..
“??? You can click on any samba printer share and connect it.”
We use netdirect and remote lpd in our office not samba printers..