Linux is all about choice. Endless debates carry on each day, but a new company with a new distribution, Cobind, has a classic, but novel, approach: Do one thing, and do it well.
I’ve been reviewing Linux distributions for a few years now, and each time I load something new, I’m struck by the fact that it’s almost always a close variant to everything else. It takes a while to get things running – to customize everything and get the desktop looking just right for me. I have to spend a while organzing the taskbar and optimizing the system. I’ve gotten very used to manuevering around default settings, even though they aren’t always what I want. This is generally a given when installing a new Linux distribution.
This would all change last week when I installed Cobind Desktop version 0.1 on my machine. For the first time in a long time, I saw what I felt was Linux done right. I sat in front of a machine that promised to deliver something very exciting in the near future. Cobind desktop is based heavily on Fedora Core 1, but unlike other desktops has a novel approach to OS delivery. Whereas many Linux distributions offer a variety of programs to give the user choice, Cobind does not. Cobind offers a simple and sleek set of packages, focusing on delivering a single product well rather than a slew of options with mixed results.
Cobind installation will almost definitely get a graphical facelift before 1.0. Currently, it uses a curses-like interface much like the Slackware or Red Hat text-based installation. It’s relatively simple, and very quick. The install is not ready for the general public, but shouldn’t confuse anyone who has ever installed Linux, even if they’ve only done so via Anaconda or YAST (the install actually does run Anaconda, albeit without the graphical portion). After running through the uneventful install, which runs under a half hour using only one disc, you are greeted by the Cobind boot screen.
Cobind delivers a nice graphical boot sequence, and that is followed by a first time wizard reminiscent of Fedora’s. So similar is the wizard that your time configuration still offers to sync up to Red Hat’s NTP servers. Unlike some newer desktop varieties, Cobind, thankfully, does encourage the creation of a user account before the first login. Then you a greeted with a nice looking login screen, which is based on GDM.
This would be the first major problem I had with Cobind. The login process was tough to decipher, as the first box asks for a username, and upon entering your name, the same space for the password is only labeled “Welcome.” While it is confusing, it is certainly the effect of an alpha release and will be fixed by the next release. I tried a number of times to login unsuccessfully, and I realized I would be unable to login as a regular user. I tried logging in as “root,” and it logged right in.
The Cobind desktop is the most refreshing thing I’ve seen in a long time. First of all, you don’t get a choice of desktop envinronments. This distribution has made its choice as to what it offers – it’s running XFce4, a lean, mean, fast desktop. Unlike a vanilla install of XFce, it has some icons on the desktop, ones that are not only useful, but expected by most users – Start Here, Home, and Trash. Best of all, it has well thought out icons on the taskbar. It has Mozilla Firebird for browsing and Mozilla Thunderbird for e-mail, Gaim, Gedit, Abiword, Gnumeric, Gnucash, and XMMS. “For once,” I think as I log in, “a truly useful default kicker.” These are typical desktop apps, and while they may not be your first choice – AbiWord, Gnumeric, Gedit, and Gaim, at least, all have signficant competition – Cobind has done a good job at providing you a single solution to prevent confusion. There are a number of other applications installed by default, but how to access them is not immediately obvious. Any advanced user can add new programs, while a novice has virtually everything they need out of the box. There’s no overlap, you have one tool for the job.
It should be noted that Cobind using GDM, Nautilus, and the above applications is no coincidence. All of the above – with the exception of the Mozilla apps – even the desktop environment, are based on GTK+ (note that Mozilla does play nice with Gnome, which is based on GTK+, so it fits nicely). There are no KDE/Qt applications included in Cobind Desktop, nor are these libraries installed, as a cursory glance of the application list confirms.
Cobind is fast and simple. XFce4 is extremely customizable, and although not my first time using it, it was the first time I’d seen it preconfigured. One issue Cobind will have to work out is use of file manager. Cobind appears to use Nautilus, the Gnome file manager. Clicking a desktop icon will bring up a window using Nautilus. But clicking on the folder in the XFce taskbar brings up your home directory using Velocity, another Gnome file manager. You can actually access XFFM, the XFce file manager, directly from the taskbar as well. There is an additional link on the taskbar to bring up Konqueror, but the link doesn’t work, as Konqueror is not actually installed. This is mere clutter. There is no need for a distribution aimed at simplifying things to offer three or four file managers, much worse, for them to make them all easily and inconsistently accessible from different buttons and locations. This will prove confusing for most users – even those familiar with Linux GUIs – attempting to customize the file manager. Since Nautilus appeared most easily, I was fairly comfortable. I have not found Nautilus to be slow, and I felt Cobind was very responsive overall using any of the FMs.
One of the big plusses of Cobind was the crispness and polished look and feel. With anti-aliased fonts (via XFce), the OS is clean and beautiful. With a bunch of icon sets and more window themes than you could fathom (again, via the massive XFce library), a system can be super customized in a few clicks without a single download. I found the default appearance of Cobind to be very attractive.
My first action was to launch the browser – Mozilla Firefox 0.8, the perfect choice for a home desktop user. I changed the default fonts to the included Bitstream Vera fonts, and everything became instantly gorgeous. It launched quickly and easily and included the anti-aliasing that standard Linux Firefox packages don’t always have by default. I followed it up by launched Thunderbird. Later, I closed Firefox and tried to launch it while Thunderbird was open. Met with an error, I found this nasty bug on the Cobind website. I had to create a custom launcher to get around it. Worse, the launcher instructions on the website didn’t even work until I chmodded the new script file to be executable. I can chock this one up to be a 0.1 release also, but still, this one is particularly annoying. How did this one not get caught in testing?
The one thing missing from Cobind that make sit unuseable as a primary desktop for me was the lack of a video player. There is no totem or mplayer to watch any sort of video file or DVD. Without this core application, a desktop system is severely lacking. Other apps like gftp are present but unlabelled. I would highly recommend a new item is added to the launcher – some sort of “Additional Applications” drawer to contain links to other applications.
Cobind also appears to be developing new tools to manage their distribution. A glance of their website shows that they are developing “Yummy,” a graphical front end to the popular yum (Yellowdog Updater), which is most comparable to apt-get. A software installation scheme seems to be another important step to Cobind, as they are not shipping 0.1 with a compiler, and Fedora RPMs, strangely perhaps, do not appear to always be 100% compatible with it. In fact, having downloaded RPMs of lynx and nmap, neither would install, even with a –force argument. As of now, there is no real way to manage your software without using YUM.
The good news is that yum does appear to work most of the time. The first time you type “yum” followed by any arguments into the terminal, it will retrieve updated headers. This process took over 20 minutes on my machine. After that, I was able to install OpenOffice.org with the simple “yum install openoffice.org.” Yum is a nice tool, but really needs a synaptic like interface that allows you to browse apps more easily than with yum search.
Samba 3 is installed as well, however, I was unable to mount Samba shares on my network. I had gone to the command line and typed mount -t smbfs -o username=ascheinberg,password=password //SERVER/share /mnt/data. This failed everytime. There is no Samba browser readily available, so I opened up the file manager and typed smb:///. It didn’t work – I was using Velocity. So I double clicked the Home icon on the desktop and tried it with Nautilus. This brought up my domain. I was able to finally browse to a server, and log in through the GUI. As I’ve seen on other distributions, with each folder click, I was forced to authenticate again. While I can connect, I won’t.
I was happy to see that sshd starts by default. One of the huge advantages of Linux for me is that from any machine on my network, I can always connect via SSH either via puTTY, WinSCP, or the terminal. Since Cobind is essentially serverless – there’s no Apache, MySQL, FTP – I worried that SSH would be unuseable. Luckily, it appears that sshd does start up by default, allowing secure connections.
Today, Cobind is not fully useable. It is missing some important apps, it has a number of bugs, and it is still suffering from “distribution definition syndrome,” where the developers, it seems, haven’t decided with certainty what Cobind Desktop will be. However, it is accurately labelled 0.1, and in that sense, it is an unwavering success. I have rarely seen a distribution that has excited me so much for its subsequent releases, and I’ve rarely seen a release so focused on true default useability for the desktop. In time, we’ll want to see advanced video applications, a flawlessly integrated Samba interface, and perhaps some new tools like a mature Yummy to help administer the local system. For now, I will not be able to commit to Cobind full time. But I can promise you that I am more excited about Cobind than any other distribution out there. Although in its infancy, I believe Cobind Desktop has potential to take the Linux desktop world by storm.
Installation: 8/10 (dead simple, but text based)
Hardware Support: 9/10 (got everything on my system)
Ease of use: 8/10 (optimized by default, not much bloat to cause confusion)
Features: 9/10 (boasts the first real XFce4 desktop distro and useable apps)
Credibility: 8/10 (still alpha, but professional looking)
Speed: 9/10 (speed demon compared to larger, more robust Red Hat and SuSE offerings)
Overall: 8/10, based largely on promise of what’s to come
Adam Scheinberg is an IT Manager in Orlando, FL. He is a regular contributor to OSNews.
If you would like to see your thoughts or experiences with technology published, please consider writing an article for OSNews.
Not a bad looking desktop, if you like poo. Personaly I find the XFCE4 desktop too awkward. I can respect the fact however that this adds yet another dimension to the linux desktop choice.
fedora + focus = a Good Thing.
Im a slackman till something else better comes along, but cobind looks like something to keep an eye on
Isn’t this essentially what Bruce Perens et al what trying to create with UserLinux?
I believe that too much choice is bad — friends don’t let friends have too much choice. Sort of like having enough rope to hang yourself….
It does seem like a cool thing, but it has some major flaws:
* Based on Fedora 1 – Fedora 2 will be out in a few weeks
* Not compatible with Fedora rpm’s – huge drawback
* No compilers installed – why no?
Basically – what I would REALLY love would be if they made just a few minor adjustments to Fedora Core 2, making it default to install all that stuff, but still be a Fedora install. Also, the system requirements seem rather high for such a light OS…
However I do like that they use Firefox as the default browser, and that they only supply one program of each kind, people need to still be able to install other stuff.
They still have a long way to go, but the Live CD seems cool and they do have potential for a cool product. I wish them all the best of luck…
‘cuz Cobind’s got a DOG T-SHIRT !!! in the merchandise dept. — now that’s what I call a novelty 🙂
A live CD is announced…
” I believe that too much choice is bad — friends don’t let friends have too much choice. Sort of like having enough rope to hang yourself….”
To continue your analogy, the average person has enough rope to hang themselves. Very few hang themselves however…..
Have good defaults, and let the users change them if they want. Me changing my desktop does not make you change yours.
I believe that too much choice is bad
I disagree, but I think the choices should reside in the distribution–a different distro that did this with KDE would be cool too. The trick is to make the choice in the distribution you install, and not the packages you install after you get the distro running.
I’ve used Cobind and right now it just isn’t up to snuff. Using XFCE4 with Nautilus may seem like a good idea, but nautilus isn’t setup correctly upon installtion to run smoothly with anything but gnome. There are many features that cannot be accessed. Also, but running nautilus without the –no-desktop option, you kill XFCE’s right click menu.
The author routinely states his probelms and say these probelms should of been done in testin but then he says it is a 0.1 alpha release. How useful is longhorn right now??? This is even early alpha for a linux distro. If it is good today, by 0.5 comes out it will be great. Just remember even mozilla firefox is only 0.8
This sounds pretty much like the distro I’d like to make (but don’t have the time to do). Perhaps not in specific choices, but the focus is the same.
I’ll definitely try this one out. Thanks for mentioning it.
What’s their target market…UPS?
While missing a Video Player, is definitely a minus…
I don’t think it cripple’s a distribution as a desktop OS.
Through most of the 20 years I’ve used a Computer, I’ve probably viewed videos less than 1000 hours.
What I do most, does not entail watching videos.
The lack of a video player is annoying, and should be easily remedied.
But it doesn’t cripple a desktop distribution in my opinion.
It will be interesting to see what Cobind becomes in later releases.
“I believe that too much choice is bad”
How do you define “too much”. I believe 5000 MP3 players, 3000 OGG players, 1000 web browsers, 500 DE’s in 1 distribution is… hmm.. not good.
However i think choice in the essential meaning of the word, without overdoing it, is okay. Because what a distribution finds to be “the Best” isn’t what the user would find to be “the Best” necessarily. My only problem with choice is if a DE/WM menu includes applications which the user does not want.
Because of that, it should be easy for the user to edit the menu’s. Luckily, KDE comes with a nice menu editor. I’ve been thinking about a program which would keep up with the usage of applications and allow the user [by notification] to either uninstall or remove from menu an application which isn’t used or used much or an application which has a counterpart while the application isn’t used or isn’t used much though the counterpart is.
However, privacy comes a bit in mind, and this program shouldn’t be on by default and shouldn’t be hazarding the user either. Instead only when the user really wishes to. Also, counterparts aren’t always 100% a counterpart which futhermore blurrs the chance to chose.
Perhaps a better option is to say: “this program has the following features” and “this program has these features”; “which one do you want?”
I don’t know.. any thoughts on this?
> Because what a distribution finds to be “the Best” isn’t what the user would find to be “the Best” necessarily.
Then the user should choose a distribution which suits his needs more.
XFCE is a wonderful choice for a desktop system. I know people are afraid of change, but it’s soooo fast. I can run it quite well on my extremely old system. On top of that, it looks good too. Functional and clean.
I don’t see this as becoming a major distribution, though, because too many people are addicted to choice. Why do you think people still sell those 1000 shareware programs on a CD? Somebody must be buying them. Linux does offer than. This restricted choice is somewhat nonsensical, unless it just happens to be your choice. Personally I choose XFCE, so that is good for me, but perhaps other things wouldn’t work for me. That said, this might be excellent for the creator of this distro. It’s a learning experience for him that allows him to very easily install his configuration on any system he sees fit. I’ve thought doing something like that would be really cool for a long time.
Was that a Kindergarten shot at Lindows about creating a user? Of course it was. But if you are TOO STUPID to create a non Root user than you probably shouldn’t be using Linux at all.
The current version of Lindows (4.5) bends over backwards to give users a chance to create normal accounts. And this is a mature shipping product as compared to beta 0.1 .
No I don’t work or own part of Lindows. I mostly use Mac OS X 90% of the time but also Lindows (4.5), eComStation 1.1, BeOS 5 Pro. and ugh, I have to use and support Windows XP at work.
I’m just on here to note that his attack on Lindows is pathetic and lame.
is there any distro the uses XFCE 4 as the main window manager? besides this one
Yes, there is at least one more, I just can’t remember which one it is… I’ve seen it a few weeks ago.
Lame!
Sabon, it’s not a shot at Lindows/Linspire – there are many distros doing that now. Arc Linux is another example. I believe the distro should encourage this behaviour. That’s all I said. Don’t put words in my mouth.
Also, calling anyone “too stupid” for anything shows a level of immaturity we strive to keep off this board. Do it again, and we’ll mod you down without thinking twice.
I find it a little strange to be using Nautilus with an XFce orientated desktop. I use XFce to get away from Nautilus amongst other things. I find Rox2 works well as the main file manager in XFce4 (I use Emelfm2 for really serious file handling).
When I want to go into a more Gnome like environment I run a chimera desktop of the XFWM4 window manager with Rox2 managing the desktop and providing the desktop icons. With just the panel from Gnome. It looks indestinguishable from a vanilla Gnome – XFWM4 semms snappier than metacity but the memory bloat about the same. All the Gnome stuff seems to interoperate as normal (Bonobo seems to be running if that matters). The only downside is that OOo does not take the colour hints from GTK2 unlike in XFce4 and vanilla Gnome
BTW contary to what the author says Firefox is well integrated with GTK2 desktops such as Gnome and XFce. There is a specific GTK2 + TFT version which is obviously the one Cobind is using that gets the fonts right. This version of Firefox even takes the scroll bar widgets from the GTK2 window manager (both XFWM4 and Metacity) unlike Mozilla
I misread your comment about Firefox.
I am a recent XFCE convert after using KDE for years, I have finally found something I like better.
XFCE4 is just awesome. It has all the good things about GNOME, but doesn’t have the odd feeling I always got using GNOME myself.
XFCE is so damn fast too… it like BLINK! and you desktop is all ready to go with a toolbar, desktop switcher, mailbox monitor, icons etc..
It has everything you need and is fast, fast, fast…and its new themeing is letting people create some great looks.
XFCE4 is simply the best parts of GTK without having to use the full blown (and bloated I think) Gnome.
Without this core application [a media player], a desktop system is severely lacking.
Try telling that to the European Union …
any distro using xfce4 gets a thumbs up in my book
Since I look for ways to revive older PC’s (even 486’s), the first thing I want to know about any distro that’s new to me is, what are the hardware requirements? Many reviews and distro home sites seem to omit that vital info completely, or make it hard to find. Please, all, make it clear what it takes to run the distro, OK?
TIA
ROC
distros outnumber users blablabla
80+ redhat based, 50+ debian, 60+ cd based, 30+ firewall…
how many people actually use them?
novell,sun,redhat and other 2 small companies lindows,mandrake are ‘the distros’ in the market
http://www.cobind.com/specifications.html
I wish someone would make a desktop distro based on slack. (Vector refuses to acknoledge my hard drive’s existance) Oh well just wishful thinking on my part back to learning the real slack.
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It is my solemn vow to someday be able to hold my head up high and say “I am not a newbie, I am a guru!”
Too much choice c’mon i love linux for it’s choice of apps
it is cheaper to take choice away
A fellow UConn-ite wrote:
By Forsetti (IP: —.public.uconn.edu) – Posted on 2004-04-26 19:24:08
Isn’t this essentially what Bruce Perens et al what trying to create with UserLinux?
kind of. UserLinux is taking on the task of selecting packages for its “distro”, but the primary goal is to establish a truly open distributed support network for debian (ie the subset of packages UL chooses). UL will provide centralized resources for local companies who install, maintain, and build ancillary services onto the UL packages.
UL’s stated policy is to get as much of its customization folded back into debian as possible.
i’m looking forward to UserLinux – if possible i’d like to take on a part-time job supporting it (in addition to my full-time IT work at UConn).
“is there any distro the uses XFCE 4 as the main window manager? besides this one”
Morphix uses XFCE if you install their “light GUI” version.
I think going with a pure GTK2 based desktop and applications is a great idea.
What I would like to see, is after installation is complete that a “one time wizard” would bring up a web page that would mention the choice between open software and propritary software, Mention what may be legal in one conuntry may not be in another, and have links to a yum/apt/urpmi repository where users can install the “goodies” that are often missing.
Things like java, flash, media player, and css plugin for encrypted CD’s. This way all of these things are only a click away, end-user agreemtments can be displayed at install time. No commerical software is forced on anyone and the end user is responsible for knowing if they can install css, instead of having to wait till a DVD does not play to even know that they need it.
I also like the idea of offering a “light” desktop and a “full featured version”. With the full featured version having more eye-candy enabled, and gkrellm or some dockapps running, with flashy screensavers.
My XMMS question is, does XMMS come with mp3 decoder or not?
it is lacking in many areas. I always use it for some time just to let it remind me why i don’t use it as my main desktop.
All the arguments about bloat and slowness in DE’s like Gnome and KDE is without merit in my book. I have an AMD64 with more than enough ram and disk and running gnome or KDE is not an issue at all. It’s more than fast enough plus I don’t have to have windows popping up before I click on the icons!
This review was awesome, but there’s a distro based on Slackware 9.1 (which I consider much more stable than fedora), that already does this… or relatively close to it.
It’s a one disc distro, with KDE, slapt-get update manager with a custom front end, Slackware 9.1 package compatibilty, a strong set of tools, and a large amount on customizeable options…. but is simple and straight forward.
http://www.collegelinux.org