Desktop Linux Reviews

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.

Occasionally I get an interesting, off-the-beaten-path suggestion on the Request A Review page. This time around somebody suggested doing a review of OpenSolaris. If you aren’t familiar with OpenSolaris, here’s a little background from Wikipedia:

OpenSolaris is an open source operating system based on Solaris created by Sun Microsystems, now a part of Oracle Corporation. It is also the name of the project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around it.

The last time I looked at PCLinuxOS was back in 2009 when I was working full-time for ExtremeTech. There’s a new release out and it’s a good time for a review of it here on DLR. I’ve also gotten some requests for it in the Request A Review page and I’m always happy to try and fulfill those requests.

I’ve been somewhat tardy in getting to the KDE version of Linux Mint 8. But I’ve finally been able to sit down with it and thus couldn’t resist writing a review. As great as the GNOME version of Linux Mint is, it simply isn’t for everybody. Many people still prefer KDE to GNOME and a separate review is helpful for those looking for an alternative for GNOME.

When I first started Desktop Linux Reviews, I wanted to include some Linux applications along with the distribution reviews. I’ve finally gotten around to that now and the first application review is Hulu Desktop for Linux.

Hulu is one of the most popular video sites on the web. You can watch all kinds of different television shows and movies right in your browser. But there’s also another way to watch Hulu and that’s to download the Hulu Desktop application for Linux.

Some Linux distros sell themselves by being minimalistic. They only come with a limited range of apps and everything is geared toward keeping the file size and hardware requirements absolutely minimal. Then there’s Ultimate Edition 2.5. Ultimate Edition leans the other way and throws in everything including the kitchen sink.

Ultimate Edition 2.5 is based on Ubuntu 9.10 and it weighs in at a chunky 3.1GB. Clearly this is a distro you won’t be able to fit onto a CD. But that’s fine as long as you have a DVD and DVD burner available. This larger size is due to the fact that it comes with a lot of software (more on that in the software section).