CentOS-12

Coming from Redhat base has committed the same offence of not keeping pace with the Desktop Community.

It has scored the worse possible scenario.
Less than 400 points out of 750.

Live CD version is one I would not recommend to anybody.

It has a long way to go. Unfortunately it is heavy on the RAM not light weight.

Only good thing and the positive comment is for its ability to detect hardware easily.

I hope it will do a good job next time around and take a cue from PCLinux's Zen Mini Me and start from there.

PCLinux which comes Mandriva is basically Redhat derivative.

They should go back to the drawing board.

Fortunately they have produced 6 CD version and I have only downloaded 2 CDs currently.

I would edit this page once the job of downloading is completed which is painfully slow in Sri-Lanka.

I am sorry guys / girls I am harsh on you.

Take it in good spirit!Linux guys are good at that perhaps not girls!

BerryLinux-11

Berry linux is like a red cherry to me.

It is one of the little distributions that I have in my laptop and desktop for show off.

It is pretty and cute.

Coming from Japan it has a English version unlike Vine and the little known and commercial version of TurboLinux (Japanese).

It seems some Japanese guys are suavy (Linux Guys / Girls) entering the global market in style like Chinese.

It gets over 800 points above my solid base line of 750.

Incidentally this was the first distribution I wanted to write about but for some unknown reason I started with Linux Mint.

Thank God for my lapses that it has had two new releases and today I saw it's mini version.

Currently I am downloading it and the time I am waiting for it to be downloaded is used for this piece of writing.

The extra 50 points above the 750 points that I awarded was for this reason alone even without testing it.

I am pretty sure it is going to be good (not scientific? who cares?) even without seeing it.

It has wine which is an added bonus.

It is light and fast but only hitch was it's Grub file which is unstable coming from Fedora base.

It cannot detect other multiple distributions efficiently.
Therefore one needs to install it first before other Linux distributions.In another few minutes it will be downloaded (mini Version) and let me sign off now.
If need be, I will edit this page soon.
I tested the Mini it boots up well in Japanese but hangs up and goes into a reboot cycle.
I suppose one needs to edit the mistakes in English that goes to a "go to cycle" instead of next line of command and activity.
English is a funny Language!

CrunchBang-10

This gets a whopping 1000 points well above the standard 750, a distributions get with my scheme, simple because of its resource pool.

It is Debian based, light weight, OpenBox and has synaptic Package Manger which gets you even blender and many games and scientific software.

Internet access is easy and gets you both to CrunchBang and OpenBox Home Page in addition to the resource pool of software.

I wonder why I did not know about it till now.

Probably wise and hard working Linux People do not boast or start Flame Wars.

Hats off to guys and girls at CrunchBang and it goes without saying that the distribution goes with a bang.

They do not need a bandwagon!

ArchBang-09

ArchBang come with a bang, Based on openbox it is sleek and fast.

Live CD detects the graphic card and make a query before configuring.

It has Google chromium and connects to the Internet super fast indeed.

It has packages for monitoring the users as well as the RAM and CPU use.

It is fantastic.

For its 450 MB throughput it gets whopping 725 out 0f 750.
It has gparted and installation is Debian base bit like Yoper.

Mind you it is not only live it can be installed too.

It has basic graphic and multimedia capability but lacks a CD writer utility.

What I really like about is it has Abiword light.This Mickey Mouse can do things (Abiword Light) what Microsoft (Word 2007) Gorilla in the dinner party does in a fraction of a second.

Hope they will add a CD burner in their next release.

It is an excellent light weight (not coming from LXDE) distribution.

Granular-08

Live CD scores 750 out of 750 and is a excellent live CD. It boots up fast and have lot of multimedia and audio software. CD burner is although an old version is K3B.
Desktop is sleek but little difficult to manipulate due large number of software included in the CD (should not consider as a weakness).

Packaging a lot in a CD is no easy task.

The departure from Abiword and Open Office and using K office is a good idea.

It has Skype and Adobe Reader with the DVD (heavy) version.

The DVD version even though heavy in content has blender and get over 1300 points.

I am going to install the DVD version and test the Blender and Adobe.

It is a good additional companion distribution to be installed with your favorite Linux.

Chakra-07

Chakra has come of age.

It gets 740 out of 750.

It is light weight and has light weight Document Viewer instead of Abiword and Open office.

This change is a revelation for me having criticized both Open Office and Office 7.

I hear there is a light weight AbiWord too.

It has Skype, K3B and many attractions and has Arch base which is fast and efficient.

If you are fed up with heavy SuSe and Mandriva this is the one which fits your needs.

Its black background at installation is not suitable for an old man like me (I can put up with it, though) but this is probably a way to free RAM at installation.

I found it difficult to locate flash buttons and click buttons and they should improve on this in the next version.

ArchOne for Acer-06

ArchOne gets 905 well above the 750 points but not a light weight CD. 
It is a DVD around 1.1 GB and has open office and Skype and Google inputs, 
It is for Acer laptop but may work for other laptops.
I checked it on my laptop.
It is better than the previous version which I had problem with booting on my desktop.
It's a K-desktop is elegant.
Have fun and Arch flavour is going to last.

Ubuntu Family

Ubuntu

I am currently downloading Chackra for testing, since the previous version had some glitches with the Grub and partitioning. It is going to take more than one hour for the last 100 MB on a holiday evening (Tamil and Sinhala New Year) in Sri-Lanka (we have a super highway, electronically speaking, thanks to Telecom). While waiting is painful on a holiday after dinner, let me pen down few thoughts about Ubuntu in general and few specifics about Debian Linux.
Debian is the God Father of Linux. its latest 504 has 35 CDS for download and first CD I downloaded has a corrupt file unfortunately.

You can get my point, even a Linux Addict like me get put off by simple incorrigible inconveniences like slow speed and corrupt files.
So me trying to convert you to Debian is simply improper but remember it is the God Father.
If you want to enter the Inner Circle of Linux, you must have at least the first 7 of the 35 CDS available for download.

Remember that Debian spawned the Ubuntu Flavour to Linux.

My grouse with Ubuntu is and was that the desktop version does not have the Root Permission at install.

Coming from Redhat lineage this put me off completely when Ubuntu came to the scene. It did not have a server version too.

I was vocal then and this has been rectified now.

Beauty of Ubuntu is that it spawned numerous other beauties like gOS.3.1-gadgets, Linux Mint and Super OS.

I will be writing on Super OS soon.

So all what I write about the three mentioned above applies to Ububtu barring few missing software like Skype and Flash.

There is another problem with Ubuntu.

Since many are accessing their site the download speed is slow. I downloaded the version 10 but had trouble with version 9.

I had to resort to the inevitable for asking a copy form their home site.

They promptly did that including a copy of server and Kububtu.

Kububtu is superb!

Thanks to all the guys and girls at Ububtu for all what they do for the Linux Community.

Tiny Me-05

This distribution of only 200 MB got 645 marks and boots up fast and installable.
It has features similar to Damn Small Linux with gparted for hard disk partitioning,

Unlike the previous version it detects hardware fast.
Even though my favorite is DSL for its utility role this has everything for an emergency including editor and abiword and fits in your shirt pocket (a Live mini CD like DSL).
However it has no CD writer but it can create a live CD.

PC/OS-04

PC OS
This distribution got 640 points out of 750 for its less than 700 MB content.
Based on Ubuntu it detects hardware easily but web edition is poor in detection of LCD diplays and boots up quickly. 

Its partitioning tool is gParted.
It comes closely behind Linux Mint.
It has Skype and Microsoft mail facility.

Its desktop is Xfce and the graphics are not impressive coming from Xfce but it is a good utility Linux distribution

Try it for fun!

Unfortunately it does not link up with its home page with Live CD.

They should improve the web edition with links to home page and some addition of Google gadgets like gOS instead of promoting Microsoft.

BeatriX-03

It is the Beatrix Potter type of distribution.

It is no wonder this little distribution got 545 points out of 750 for its less than 200 MB content.

Based on Knoppix it detects old hardware easily and boots up quickly.

Its partitioning is basic for old computer with less than 20 GB.

I use it as a demonstration Mini CD.

Compared to Damn Small Linux (DSL) it can be used on a daily basis and has open office 1.1.

It even detected a LCD but with a warning screen for possible incompatibility.

If you have an old computer in the garage this will make it “born again”.

Try it for fun!

Unfortunately nobody seems to maintain it.

Somebody should activate it and include some children games with Disney mentality

gOS-02

gOS-3.1-gadgets scores 740 out of 750 points and for a young newbie who spends most of the time browsing there is nothing to compare with.

All Google gadgets are displaced with an apple look and feel.

It is an excellent distribution which boots up fast unlike the previous gOS, has sound effects too.

If one wants to go dizzy in space he can go and download gOS space, which has excellent graphic effects. 

My graphic card could barely manage its effects.

One should have a good graphic card if one is using it.

It is excellent if you are going for utility rather than Linux savvy!

Asoka with Linux

Linux Mint-LXDE-01

With much thought I have formulated a marking scheme for all Linux distributions from LXDE, to Live CD to DVD and special dedicated distributions for kids, education and science.


For a Live LXDE I give 750 points.

For a good Live, stable and installable CD I give 1000 points.

My gold standard is PC Linux 2009.2 which gets 1200 well above the 1000 marks.

For a comprehensive DVD the minimum is 3000 but could go up to 4000 points on its needs.

I just tabulated Linux Mint 8 LXDE and got a score of 705 out of 750.

It has no games even for a light evening.

Taking from Ubuntu it major weakness is not having an administrator.

No Skype and K3B.

Otherwise it is sleek, beautiful and elegant.

I would like to give it a newbee.

Linux-100-Criteria

I have over 200 distributions and images stored all over my hard disks and CDs and DVDs and I continue to download at least a few more of them a week to test.

My search for (looking for) best hundred has being of no avail.

It is time for me to do it myself for the benefit of Linux fans and newbies.

Internet has being immensely helpful.
First of all I must thank the guys / girls of the following non-commercial sources and few commercial sources.

Number one goes to www.Distromania.com since they keep a catalog of old distributions and and also list the new and latest distributions.

www.Distrowatch.com also doing a good job of it but unfortunately they seem to miss some of the old ones.

Softpedia com has enormous number of pages and like Distrowatch.com do not keep a repository of old distribution images and their links.

Linux online also list distribution in their site.

Linux Live CD list is the only one which list the distributions according to to the types, education, games. desktop, multimedia. science, medicine etc.

I recommend this site for anybody who is choosy for a particular type say for kids, education.

Elive for at least releasing the development version free.

There are many more and thanks to all of them.

Couple of years ago the story was different one had to browse or read a Linux Bible to gather information, Now these guys who write books do not bother to update them since the task is extremely difficult due to the pace at which Linux is moving.

Only a rocket scientist can keep pace with.

My attempt is to fill this void.

I thought of using somewhat scientific approach using my own criteria.

My criteria are based the practical difficulties we face in this country due to poor (comparatively better compared to India but no where near the capabilities of Singapore) Internet service and download speed.

It is practically impossible to download a DVD more than 1 GB. 

It takes ages even for that.

So I have concentrated on CD rather than DVDs.

My impression, it is better for us to have number of CDS rather than DVDs.

I used to download up to 7 Debian CDS in the past when we had only Redhat and Mandriva.

To decide my 100 Linux distributions of choice I will use many criteria.

1. Live CD which can be installed on hard disk 25 points

2. Easy access to Internet 20 points

3. Automatically Configure Internet 30 points

4. Browser (ideally FireFox) Capability 10 points

5. Other browsers 05 points
6. Google gadgets but not essential 10 points
7. Skype 15 points
8. Office Package (Abiword or Open office) 15 points
9. Light Weight (very important) 30 points
10. CD burner, very important(ideally K3B) 20 for K3B and 5 for others
11. Stable Grub configuration 30 points
12. Partitioning tool is essential(ideally Gparted) 30 points
13. Light weight games 20 points
14. Ability to clean up the temporary file at boot up 50 points
15. Updates and Package management 10 points
16. Reliability (most of them are) 50 points
17. Many versions form Mini to LXDE to Standard and Children's 25 points for each
18. Speed at start up (most of them are slow except YOPER) 100 points
19. Quick installation 20 points
20. Multi-Language in addition to English 25 points
21. Separate administrator in addition to normal user 50 points
22. Digikam and Gimp 20 points
23. Media Players including ability play itunes and divx 30 points
24. Type of Desktops (Genome / KDE/ Fluxbox) 25 points
25. Down loader that start from where one has left / stopped earlier 50 points
26. Infrequent Cycles of Change (new distributions) but frequent updates 50 points
27. USB boot op 30 points
28. Live CD creator 20 points
29. Wine (window emulation) 20 points
30. Apple Emulation 30 points
31. Innovative approach like GOBO and YOPER 100 points

32. Home web site and the facility for registration and writing reviews 100 points
33, Scientific packages like statistics 100 points

34. Blender (Maya equivalent) 200 points

35. Children Educational packages with games 300 points

I will start with Linux Mint, gos 3.1 gadgets and Berry to begin with, which is a cute one. 
Children educational packages I have given bonus marks since they should be developed as separate distributions such as youknow4kids, Knoppix for kids and sugar.
Asoka

4^th April, 2010

Paradox-03

Geopolitics is changing
And especially so
In Sri-Lankan terms
And its demographic
Activities and outcomes


I fail to understand
Why the so called
Political pundits
Educated only in Sinhala
Especially the journalist and media
Have failed to recognize
The fact of life
Of current politics


Nearly 4 million voters
Have not utilized
The franchise
This time around
Which is nearly 30%
Who have no trust
On the system
Or the system has failed
To recognize
Their need to participate
As living souls


If I break this down
Further
1.5 million
Which is 75%
Of the Tamil vote
Disowned
And turned a blind eye
To their aspirations


That is 15%
Of the total population


Nearly 50%
Of the Muslim community
Which add up to
Half a million
Abstained from voting


In other words
Nearly 20%
Of the ethnic minority
Did not engage
In participatory democracy



Why is this indifference
In our 5 Star democracy?


2 millions
Of the Sinhala majority
Especially the young
And the first time voters
For some reason or the other
Have not participated
In this activity
In spite of the
Freedom gained from
The ruthless conflict
Of violence


Abstained
And no true participation!


When we add
The little over 4 million
Who voted against
The ruling majority
Staggering figure
Of 8 million
Which is almost
60% of the total
Have no leader or leaders


This is an aberration
Which the Professor Edward De Bone
Highlights in his new wisdom book
"Think before it is too late"
Meant for the new millennium
Of geopolitics


A lateral thinking
In true practice


The fact of the matter
Of our democracy is
That the 40%
Of the vociferous extremists
Of the ruling elite
Run the show
Disregarding
The silent majority


My guess is that,
Come the Sinhala and Tamil New Year
Another 1 million
Will not vote
Adding the number
Of disenchanted mass
To over 5 million
Of the total electorate
Which is staggering 40%


In actual fact
Over 6 million (43%)
Twice as much
As my forecast
Did not participate
But doing shopping
For the New Year
Instead of polling

Edited on the 10th of April

Paradox-02

Many moons ago
When we got together
On a social occasion
With spirits high
Both in verbosity
And alcohol content
We had analyzed
("I" eliminated on copyright basis)
The undergraduates
Who would take up
Politics
Instead academic
And intellectual activities

On a case by case basis
In the yesteryear scenario
The analysis
Would emerge like this

There was a guy
Who was not handsome
And unable to get hitched
To to suitable element
Of the opposite
Take respite
On the unthinkable



Another guy
Not so smart in physique
Unable to compete
Or take part
In any sport
Including rugger
Becomes an instant
Socialist


Then there was a guy
Who could not crack a joke
Or enjoy a flash
Of irrelevancy
In good spirit
Or take part in
The Sing Song Band
Or the "Gonpart Army"
Just like the "Barmy Army"
Take up
The Marxist ideology


Then there was a guy
Not eloquent in "Kaduwa"
But had all
The vulgarity
In his mother tongue
Ingrained in his system
And the life style
Paste and posted
All the "Kela Paththara"
On the walls


Then there was
A shadowy guy
Who frequented the
Unauthorized quarters
Especially at night
Lot to hide
But little to show
In character
Was the most vociferous


Unfortunately
These guys
Even though few in number
In our times
Repeatedly
Failed their examinations
And were the unwanted
In their own backyards
Ended up as
"Permanent Gajayas"
Existing on the
Union money
Use politics of the extremes
To regain
Some sort of identity


And there was
No other way
In this democratic society
Of ours
For the these guys
To survive
Other than parasites
In the vague politics
Of little substance
Or relevance


Fortunately
In our times
These guys were
Extremely intelligent
Who did come
On merits
Not on area basis
Realized their fallacious
And out of the fray activity
By the time
They failed the examination
For the third time
Rehabilitated
Out of politics
In good time
And never entered
The august assembly
Or the legislature


But strangely enough
When I analyze
The current situ
And the state of affairs
Of our modern society
There is striking coincidence
That the very same type
Of guys without rehabilitation
End up in our parliament
Who fail in our
Free
School Education System
Some of them
Even as Ministers
Holding important portfolios
Providing instant jokes
To the Media
And the Masses


For them
It is their very
Survival that matters
But not the welfare
Of the voter
Who voted them in
In the day to day
Affairs of our democracy


If that
Is not a wonder
What would be
The paradox
Of our times?

Paradox-01

In democracy
It is the voter
That matters.

But not so
In our democracy.


It is the elected
That matters.

That also the highest!

The lowest of all
The House of
Not so commoners
Does matter
As mouth pieces
Of democracy
But subservient
To the dictates
Of the party boss