Review: Pinguy OS 14.04 LTS "Papercut"

Main Screen + GnoMenu

I have now graduated college, so I am back home for 2.5 months this summer. In that time, I have many more opportunities to do reviews that I couldn't do during the same semester. This was originally supposed to be a comparison test against Antergos, which is another distribution that ships GNOME 3/Shell and aims for new users to Linux. Unfortunately, Antergos refused to boot. Therefore, what is left is a typical review of Pinguy OS, albeit with some more critical remarks than usual about how well it really caters to newbies (left over from when this article was a comparison test). Follow the jump to see what it is like.

Featured Comments: Week of 2014 January 26

There were two posts this past week that got a comment each, so I'll repost both of those.

Revisited: Linux Mint 16 "Petra" KDE + Xfce

An anonymous reader had this vote of support: "welcome back prashanth ji.............." [following the takedown of this blog for a large portion of the month of 2014 January].

Review: Pinguy OS 13.10 Beta 3

Another anonymous commenter suggested, "Elementary OS, with all the stability you need. :)"

Thanks to both of those people for leaving those comments. This coming week, I will have a post about the semester ahead. After that, the semester will start and will certainly become busy, so I likely will drop the frequency of posts after that, as I have done in past semesters. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

Review: Pinguy OS 13.10 Beta 3

Main Screen + GnoMenu

Several weeks ago, I reviewed a couple of distributions in the span of a week. I initially thought one of those reviews would be of Pinguy OS, but then I saw that I had last reviewed Pinguy OS when it was at version 12.04 LTS, so I figured I would only review LTS releases. Then the lead developer of this distribution asked me in a comment on another post to take a look at Pinguy OS soon, and I thought I would do that much earlier this month. Then of course this blog went down and didn't reappear until a little over a week ago. Now I can finally review Pinguy OS. I've reviewed it enough times (even in GNOME 3/Shell guise) that I can safely skip the introduction. I will say though that this is labeled as a review rather than a preview because there will never be non-beta releases of non-LTS versions. I tried Pinguy OS as a live USB made with MultiSystem (because for some reason using UnetBootin produced a non-bootable live USB system). Follow the jump to see what it's like.

Featured Comments: Week of 2012 July 1

There were three posts, each of which got a handful of comments, this past week, so I'll try to repost most of those comments.

Review: Pinguy OS 12.04 LTS

An anonymous reader had this bit of support: "Very Good Review!!"
In a similar vein, commenterبرق  said, "Nice review as usual. Good job, Prashanth!"
Reader Ant said, "I installed it on my wife's Dell laptop that previously had Win7 and she loves it. It's now her OS of choice :)"
Commenter linxbot shared this comparison: "I tried pinguy in my old compaq presario V3000 which has only 512 RAM and simply freezes in the splash screen stage.. but Zorin OS 6 which is based on same Ubuntu 12.04, its blued Desktop come within seconds and installation taken in few minutes. I have already installed Zorin OS some twenty of my friends on whose computers that 'windoze' infected except games and office for all other social activities they are doing fine in Zorin..If pinguy drop its many bloatware I may consider to try it in my old lappy..with zorin I am very happy!"

HIGGS!

An anonymous reader could only say, "Oh, really?"

Preview: CrunchBang ("#!") Linux 11 "Waldorf"

Commenter Fred said, "Openbox's failure to update menus as apps are installed or removed is a deal-breaker for me. For most of last year, I had the Xfce version of #! Statler installed on my computer but left when it was announced the Xfce version was being dropped. Unfortunately, for the first half of this year, I had been unable to find a distro that I had enjoyed as much as #! Xfce, so I finally gave in and installed #! Waldorf. But to me, Openbox's refusal to automatically update its menus as new apps are installed or removed is inexcusable, so I replaced Openbox with Xfce (my favorite desktop, BTW). And BTW, I too get similar memory usage readings with Xfce as you did with Openbox. In any event, it's good to be back with #!, even if it involved taking the extra time to ditch Openbox and everything associated with it in favor of Xfce."
Reader Istok responded, "openbox is a minimal window manager. it aims to manage windows and do that well, and it really does. it doesn't even have a native panel, that is how it's designed. there are plenty of WMs and DEs with self-updating menus, and so on and so forth. no WM can be everything to everyone. openbox is what it is, it's actually very consistent in its "philosophy". i believe that your criticism is not valid from an objective pov, although of course you're perfectly entitled to be unhappy and ditch it. [...]"
Commenter Neil Houghton suggested, "Auto updating Openbox menu is easy with; http://mimasgpc.free.fr/openbox-menu_en.html Or try Archbang with auto updating openbox menu included; http://archbang.org/"
Reader Tom had this response to that suggestion: "Build Arch from the ground up, don't go with Archbang. And if you need a self-updating menu, check for Debian menu and add it to the Openbox menu.xml by hand."

Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. This coming week, I will have at least one new review out along with the first long-term review. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

Review: Pinguy OS 12.04 LTS

Main Screen + Cardapio Menu

A couple weeks ago, the latest version of Pinguy OS came out, and I wanted to try it. I haven't had the time until today, though, so that's why the review is happening today.

I previously reviewed Pinguy OS 11.10 and found that while there are certain things to which I may not be able to become fully accustomed, the "beta" label on Pinguy OS 11.10 seemed overly cautious considering its stability and high quality overall. The latest version has not changed much from that beta version besides having newer packages in general, but because version 11.10 was never truly official, the changes in version 12.04 LTS are of course huge compared to version 11.04. Also, accompanying the new release is a revamped website, which looks a lot cleaner and less bloated than before.

I probably would not normally seriously consider a distribution with GNOME 3/Shell for installation on my hard drive, but one of the things that caught my eye about this release was the option of using the Axe menu instead of the default Cardapio menu in the top panel. I did some searching and found out that the Axe menu looks and could potentially act almost identically to the Linux Mint Menu, which is amazing. That is why I am trying the 64-bit edition (as a live USB made with MultiSystem); sure, GNOME 3/Shell doesn't have my nice desktop cube, but it could potentially have everything else I could want, and given that, I'm OK with giving up the desktop cube if I am left with no other good alternatives. Follow the jump to see what this is like.

Featured Comments: Week of 2011 November 13

There were no "Featured Comments" posts the last 2 weeks because I was too busy to post anything until this past week. Anyway, this past week, there were a few posts that got a bunch of comments, so I'll try to repost a few from each.

A Disappointing Review of #! 10 "Statler"

An anonymous reader said, "The Debian installer is not that to use. It's true on Debian live cd images you have to look a little, no big deal. Crunchbang is designed to be light on resources so you shouldn't expect "point and click." I thought the Dedoimedo review came up short.He should not have done this review unless he was willing to do it right."
Commenter Neuromancer put things in perspective: "Considering how very long Statler has been out, no one probably gave any weight to his review; I know I didn`t. Never mind. He wrote a pissy article and you wrote a pissy response to it. It happens. It`s the internet. I`ve already forgotten about it. In 10 minutes, so will everyone else, lol."
Reader Matt responded, " Thank you for your critique of Dedoimedo's review. I distro hopped for years before landing solidly on Crunchbang, and I won't be leaving any time soon. Needless to say, I love it, and I don't think it deserved this review. Now, I do understand that any Linux user in their right mind would instantly dismiss his review, but still, bad press is bad press. It wasn't so much that his review was negative. I don't mind that at all, his opinion is his, and he has the right to share it. What stung about it was that he didn't give it a fair chance. This isn't a replacement for Fedora, OpenSuse, Mint, or Ubuntu. It's a fun, enjoyable distro for those of us who enjoy playing with Linux, not necessarily expecting it to work the first time, every time. [...] What further put a sour taste in my mouth is that Dedoimedo admitted to not wanting to configure things and expected the distro to 'Just Work', and yet he chose to download the openbox version of Crunchbang. The XFCE version is far more user friendly, and is recommended for those users who want the Crunchbang experience without having to edit all of the fun config files. @Neuromancer As for your your comment, Neuromancer- Really? A blogger on the internet doesn't have the right to question another blogger? Dedoimedo posted his review publicly, fully knowing that his review was critical and negative. By your logic, what gave HIM the right to do that to Crunchbang? As an adult, with a public profile and with public posts, Dedoimedo is just as entitled to receive criticism as he is to give it. I'm sure that if he read your post he would do a literal face->palm. I'm sure he doesn't need you senselessly and needlessly defending his honor."
Commenter rikhard seconded the description of the Xfce edition: "i use #!CB for a long time, uninterrupted since it's been Debian based and i have never had to configure any file, maybe because i use the xfce version, i don't know! it's clean, fast and easy to use, my girlfriend use it and she hates computers."

SOPA: The Year of the Zombie Internet

Reader Neuromancer said, "I admit it, sometimes in a case like Silent Hill 1 or Final Fantasy 7 where the company has long since got its money and the only copies go for hundreds of dollars on Amazon, I`ll download a torrent. As far as new content, no I won`t. I wonder if anyone else will admit to it... Plus, I live on Youtube, and I shudder to think of the chilling effect that this will have there. One last thing, one error in the article. It isn`t hard at all to find pirated copies of anything on Google. Just saying." S/he later responded to my clarification, "Good point about the first few searches. If someone doesn`t include "torrent" in the search it won`t show. Youtube actually closes users that upload copyrighted material very quickly now, it`s the fact that some companies, (and countries), insist that everything is copyrighted even when it isn`t. Good article!"

Review: Pinguy OS 11.10 Beta

Commenter Van Long had this tip to make GNOME-Tweak-Tool setting changes effective: "instead of logging out and back, you can press Alt F2, type r and press enter"
An anonymous reader reported these quirks: "I found that I can't delete the Docky at the bottom of the display. Also, my Workspace defaults to #2 (or maybe it is mis-labeled on the Display), but if I open Firefox, it's magically changed to Workspace #1 on the Display with no switching of Workspace by the user. Also where are the Screensaver settings to select the Floating Feet? I've searched every menu? It does appear to run good from LiveDVD, and I guess an install is needed to really test it appropriately."
Commenter Pinguy, the creator of Pinguy OS, had this bit of news: "I will have the mini's done pretty soon."

Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. This coming week, I plan to have out a review, along with maybe one other post. In any case, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

Review: Pinguy OS 11.10 Beta

A new version of Pinguy OS has come out, and as can easily be predicted, it's based on Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot". And because I've taken a liking to past versions of it, I'm reviewing this new one now.

Main Screen

For those who don't know, Pinguy OS is basically Ubuntu plus everything and the kitchen sink. Also, the interface is made to look much more like Apple's Mac OS X, with a top panel featuring a global menu, along with docks and similar themes. However, there have been some changes out of necessity because as of version 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot", Ubuntu no longer officially supports GNOME 2, so Pinguy OS has also had to upgrade to GNOME 3. As a result, the whole "Apple Mac OS X" look has had to be adapted to the new interface and restrictions (and there are many such restrictions) of GNOME 3. I'd like to see if it still remains as usable and friendly as before.

I tested the live session on a live USB made with MultiSystem. I did not test the installation, because (1) this is an Ubuntu derivative, so there isn't much point in going through the whole Ubiquity song-and-dance one more time, and (2) the lead developer has said that this release is still beta-quality in terms of stability. Regarding the second point, the developer has also said that the stability of GNOME 3.X is not likely to improve anytime soon, so there will be no official final release of Pinguy OS 11.10; this is also why I'm calling this a review rather than a preview like I usually do with pre-release distributions, because this is as official as it will ever get. Follow the jump to see if it's the same Pinguy OS I came to know and love.

Poll: Should I Switch away from Linux Mint?

For over two years, Linux Mint has served me quite well. It's been incredibly easy to use and learn and just a pleasure to work with. It comes with the software I need (and really easy ways to get more stuff too), it's polished, it has a beautiful interface, and it's generally very stable. That said, I've been having a few issues with it lately. One regards Adobe Flash and the fact that I'm on a 64-bit system: until a couple months ago, I wasn't able to watch Hulu at all, and I'm still not able to use AV by AIM, which requires an up-to-date fully functional Adobe Flash plugin. The AV by AIM thing may seem a bit trivial, except that I need to actively look for alternatives to Skype so that if and when Microsoft decides to end Skype support for Linux, I won't be left floundering all of a sudden. In addition, I still sometimes have issues of Compiz removing my titlebars upon startup, the theme not loading properly on startup, Conky overlapping with other windows, and some panel applets disappearing/crashing from time to time. Sure, many of these things are the results of my own tinkering with the system, but it's still annoying to deal with those issues, as I would expect those breakages to not occur at all. And finally, I guess at this point, I just want something new and fresh to take my breath away again.

At the same time, readers of this blog know that I'm also enamored with #!. It's stable, fast, and quite lightweight, yet in almost all respects it's just as easy to use as Linux Mint. Other things in its favor are using Openbox instead of Compiz (meaning I get to play with cool transparency effects without worrying about titlebars disappearing), having a good way to upgrade packages and the system as it's based on Debian (pointing the package manager to new repositories and then upgrading usually works on Debian but not on Ubuntu), and having a working Adobe Flash plugin that lets me use Hulu and AV by AIM out-of-the-box even in the 64-bit version. The biggest downside will be the lack of niceties like the Linux Mint menu and tools along with the corresponding need to do some more manual configuration.

Other options include Pinguy OS 11.04 and Linux Mint 11 "Katya" GNOME, which I know work well with Hulu and AV by AIM but which won't be supported for as long.
So what should I do? Should I stick with my tried-and-true, familiar Linux Mint 9 LTS "Isadora" GNOME? Or should I switch to #! 10 "Statler"? Or should I switch to one of the other alternatives I listed? Or should I switch to another distribution entirely? (Please note that I'm trying to minimize manual configuration; I'm trying to get stuff done on my computer, after all. Therefore, no Gentoo/Slackware/Arch/et cetera for me, but derivatives may be welcome. Also, Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X are not welcomed as suggestions. I'm not going back to Microsoft Windows, and I'm not buying an Apple product.) Please let me know in the comments!

Featured Comments: Week of 2011 June 5

There were a few posts that got a handful of comments, so I'll try to repost a few from each.

Review: Kororaa 14 "Nemo"

Reader jai ho said, "The developer could have used a kororaa logo (if any) in the gnome edition...using elementary logo removed this distro's individuality.. also you have forgot to give the link to kororaa website.. i do not know why you are reluctant to give a link to the websites.. its disgusting.."

Tech Support via CLI

Commenter T_Beermonster said, "And of course lets not forget that it's fairly trivial to set up ssh and screen. That way not only could you administer the system remotely but you can both attach to a shared screen session and he can learn from what you are doing. Much easier to do with cli apps than via x-forwarding", later adding in response to my response to that original comment, "It's often system administration even if you don't think of it as such. Getting a wireless card to work - sysadmin. Upgrading packages - sysadmin. etc. etc. ad nauseam. You aren't limited to sysadmin though - there is something slightly awesome about being able to set get-iplayer to download a TV programme at a relatives house. Or anything else you prefer to do."
Reader scan suggested, "You may want to give Teamviewer a try, it is free to use for non-commercial. It is super simple to use for both sides http://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/index.aspx?os=linux"
Commenter Linuxrich had this to say: "The command line is an awesome tool. As you rightly point out it makes a lot of tasks so much easier if you are willing to put aside anti cli prejudices. Not only can you cut and paste commands but it's often easier to describe how to do something on he command line as opposed to trying to explain which button to click..."
Supporting that, an anonymous reader said, "Hah exactly.. Im in IT Support (windows mostly sadly) and if I want to ask a user for the IP address of there machine should I a) try to describe how to click through parts of the GUI that the user has never used probably or b) start --> run -- type cmd --> type ipconfig.. read out IP please. CLI is awesome also for documentation as well.. a GUI tutorial or how-to is a million pages long with screen shots.. CLI is one page"

Review: Pinguy OS 11.04 Mini

Commenter Andy Prough said, "You make some good points about the different software options that come with Pinguy vs. Mint, but as you point out, either distro is easy to configure in terms of adding software. What I would like to see is a reviewer who is willing to take the devs for Pinguy, Mint, and even Ubuntu to task for failing to actually develop tools that would help users configure their distribution. For example, openSUSE has the YaST2 control panel, Mandriva and Mageia are using the Mandrake Control Center, and even Windows has a Control Center, but for all the Ubuntu clones and derivatives, you still don't have access to adequate tools to control the distribution. Instead, if you want to change something, you've got to wade through hundreds of thousands of pieces of very questionable advice from the Ubuntu user forums or other user forums. I would like to see all these "devs" actually "develop" something - namely, an intuitive way to interact with and configure their distros, backed up by rock-solid documentation. Until then, I don't consider any of them anything more than window-dressing on top of Debian."
An anonymous reader had this tip: "I think Ubuntu Control Center is on it's way! Check out OMGUbuntu, they've a full post dedicated to it along with PPA."
Commenter Daeng Bo countered to a previous comment, "Andy, As a user of Red Hat, SUSE, and Mandrake from the beginning of last decade, I'd have to say that Ubuntu, Mint, and Pinguy have the same things that these older distros have, though the tools lie in a menu instead of one giant tool."
Reader Linux said, "As usual, Pinguy Rocks!!"

Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. I don't have anything in particular planned for this coming week, but I'm sure I'll find something to write about. Remember, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing to, commenting on, and sharing these posts!

Review: Pinguy OS 11.04 Mini

Main Screen + Global Menu

Upon the advice of a commenter in one of my previous posts, I am reviewing Pinguy OS 11.04 Mini today. That commenter asked that I test Pinguy OS 11.04, and mentioned the existence of a Mini edition, so I became intrigued, because Pinguy OS is more known for being an "everything-and-the-kitchen-sink" distribution than anything else, so I thought it would be cool to see what the Mini edition would have in store.

For those who don't know, Pinguy OS is, it's an Ubuntu derivative that tries to improve upon the user interface and bring in as many useful applications as possible. Then again, the Mini edition seems to eschew that last goal.

I tested Pinguy OS using a live USB made with UnetBootin. I didn't test the installation because, well, it's yet another Ubuntu derivative, and I don't think there's going to be any huge surprises. Follow the jump to see what it's like.

Comparison Test: Linux Mint 10 "Julia" GNOME vs. Pinguy OS 10.10 (on Tech Drive-in)

Yay! I scored my second guest post! This one is a comparison between Linux Mint 10 "Julia" GNOME and Pinguy OS 10.10, two featured-packed newbie-friendly Ubuntu-based GNOME distributions. Here's a short tidbit from the article, which has been published on Tech Drive-in:

[...] First, some history. Linux Mint was started in 2006 with the release of version 1 "Ada", based on Kubuntu 6.06 LTS "Dapper Drake". Though that release was KDE-based and unstable then and was seen as Kubuntu with a few extra goodies, it has since been developed into a mature, feature-filled, GNOME-based distribution in its own right. On the other hand, Pinguy OS is a much newer project, having started in 2010 with the release of version 10.04 (based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx"). It too is a feature-filled GNOME-based distribution, so it's only fair that it go head-to-head with Linux Mint. [...]

Please do read the rest of the article here. Enjoy!