Desktop Linux Reviews

Last week I looked at Ubuntu Satanic Edition. This week I decided to review Sabily 10.04, which is the Muslim edition of Ubuntu. It used to be called Ubuntu Muslim Edition but the name was later changed. I’ve included that in the title of the review though to make it easier for folks that may not know the background of this distro.

Peppermint OS made quite a splash when I reviewed it. Many people had never heard of it, and there was a lot of curiosity about a web-oriented remaster of Ubuntu. Some time has passed and there’s a related version that has been released. This new distro is called Peppermint Ice. Why is it called Ice? Well read on to find out.

It has been ages since I delved into the nightmarish and barbaric world of Ubuntu Satanic Edition. Much has changed since I first dared to install it back when I worked for ExtremeTech. Is Ubuntu Satanic Edition still as evil as it used to be? Find out in this review as I take you on a journey into the dark side of Ubuntu Linux. Together we’ll explore…the distro of the beast!

In previous reviews, I looked at the latest versions of Ubuntu and Kubuntu. Now it’s time to look at a lightweight alternative to both of them, Lubuntu. Lubuntu uses the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment (LXDE) instead of the chunkier GNOME or KDE desktops.

Lubuntu 10.04 is not an official derivative of Ubuntu; it is not supported by Canonical. However, it is serves a very important purpose by providing an Ubuntu distro geared toward older or less powerful computers.

Well it’s often been said that “it never rains but it pours” and that seems very true the about Linux distro releases in the last two weeks. Fedora 13 has just been released so I couldn’t resist doing a review of it. I generally try to stick to two reviews per week but there was just no way I could wait until next week to share my thoughts about Fedora 13.

The last time I looked at SimplyMEPIS was the 8.0 release. In this review I’ll be taking a look at the latest version, SimplyMEPIS Linux 8.5. SimplyMEPIS is based on Debian, and it uses KDE as its desktop environment.

I’ve been reviewing various Ubuntu derivatives and this week I thought it would be fun to take a look at the netbook version of Ubuntu.

Ubuntu Netbook Edition used to be called Ubuntu Netbook Remix, but Canonical changed the name once this distro became an official edition of Ubuntu.

Whenever a new version of Ubuntu is released, a new version of Linux Mint soon follows. This time around it’s Linux Mint 9. Linux Mint 9 is based on Ubuntu 10.04.

I gave Ubuntu 10.04 a big thumbs up in my review, and I’ve been eagerly anticipating the release of Linux Mint 9. So how does Linux Mint 9 stack up? Is it still “a better Ubuntu” than Ubuntu itself?

Read on to find out…

Woof! Woof! Guess what time it is, folks? It’s time for a review of Puppy Linux 5.

Puppy Linux, in case you aren’t already familiar with it, is a lightweight version of Linux that is designed for portability.

The .iso file of Puppy Linux 5.0 weighs in at an incredibly petite 128 MB. It’s much, much smaller than all of the usual desktop heavyweight distros. But don’t let its small size fool you, Puppy Linux 5.0 is anything but an also-ran in terms of functionality and usability.

I’ve covered a lot of remastered versions of Ubuntu since DLR launched. But, every once in a while, I bump into one that is particularly interesting to review. Peppermint OS One is definitely in that category.

Peppermint OS One is a web-centric Ubuntu remaster that passes up common desktop applications like OpenOffice.org in favor of web-based alternatives such as Google Docs. And it doesn’t stop with office applications either; Peppermint OS One integrates video sites like YouTube and Hulu right into the desktop experience.

Last week I did a review of Kubuntu 10.04, one of Canonical’s officially supported Ubuntu derivatives. Today’s review is about Xubuntu 10.04, an officially recognized but not supported Ubuntu derivative. According to the Xubuntu downloads page, it is based on the “feature-rich core of Ubuntu” Linux.

Unlike Ubuntu (which uses GNOME), Xubuntu uses the Xfce desktop environment. Xfce is a lightweight environment that, according to its creator Olivier Fourdan, “…loads and executes applications fast, while conserving system resources.” Xubuntu is really geared toward those using older hardware or who simply prefer a no-frills desktop without the gobs of eye-candy found in GNOME or KDE.

I first took a look at KahelOS back in October 2009. There’s a new release out now so it’s time to look at it again.

KahelOS is essentially a remastered version of Arch Linux. Arch Linux has always had a reputation as being somewhat inaccessible to average desktop users, and KahelOS is an attempt to make Arch Linux more accessible to more people.

Last week I looked at Ubuntu Linux 10.04 and found it to be a delightful surprise. This week I thought it would be fun to look at the KDE version, Kubuntu 10.04.

Alas, I was not nearly as pleased with Kubuntu as I was with Ubuntu last week. While there have definitely been some improvements in Kubuntu 10.04, it lacks some of the things that defined Ubuntu 10.04.

Read on to find out why you should avoid Kubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS.

The open source world has been eagerly anticipating the final release of Ubuntu Linux 10.04, and now it’s finally here. Canonical has been working extremely hard and it shows in the quality of this release.

To put it bluntly, Lucid Lynx rocks!

Full-featured desktop Linux distributions like PCLinuxOS and Linux Mint are quite useful, but there are times when a smaller and lighter distro can also be desirable. CDlinux is petite mini-distro that can be installed on a USB device or on a Windows C: partition.

I thought it might be a nice change of pace to take a look at it and see how useful it might be for the folks that need a more portable version of Linux.