Criteria for defining suitability of Linux Distributions

 
Friday, July 22, 2011
Criteria for defining suitability of Linux Distributions
22-07-2011

With Gnome 3 and Kernel 3 in the horizon and tablet on the market and Ubuntu making a radical changes to desktop with Unity already arrived, I have decided to award a point scheme for all the distributions active now and write an update for all the Linux distributions, I have downloaded so far.
 
That means moment I post an update on a distribution, my old writing here probably become obsolete and would be taken out without any notice.
 

I would be grateful if you post any errors of omission or commission on those post already here.
 

That means future posting will be slow to come and try my best avoid any errors.

I will keep the point scheme close to my heart and won't publish them here but on a future date if necessary may do that for completeness sake.
 

Points are given on quantitative as well as qualitative reasons.
 

Lowest mark is 10 and the highest mark is 300.
For an example I give 10 marks if it is only in French and 100 marks for multi-language capability.
 
I will give 300 marks if it includes Sinhala and multi-language capability.

Similarly Ubuntu Unity gets 300 for its innovative approach and as a teaser for loyal fans who hate the new approach. 

 

I would include the total points for the old version as well as the new version.
 

This analysis is with desktop users in mind and server editions won't get any additional mark but I would state that server is available.
 
I will start with Linux Mint, since it has O.E.M version, codecs version with minimal multimedia support and almost pure without any software infringements and full version with additional software.
It is a complete desktop and laptop friendly and it is currently is the top most downloaded  at www.distrowatch.com.
 
 It has both 32 and 64 bit versions.
 

I am going to stop stating that PCLinux is the Gold Standard of live CD to eliminate my personnel bias on that distribution but have a Hypothetical Gold Standard defined by criteria below and with a point award of 2500.
 
So anything that approaches 2200 for CD version and above is potential Gold Standard and you are free to try it.
 
Nobody will get 100% assuming that no distribution has reached its peak and would be trying to achieve that gold with constant improvement an bug fixes.

For DVD the point award is 3500 points and anything that tops 3000 is a good value with 90% to 95% of all software.
 
I am a believer that "small is beautiful" and would figure out a way to award points and my guess is Puppy will come on top but there are equally good small utilities like SliTaz, 4MLinux, gParted and  pMagic.
 
You are welcome to critically analyze my future writing with feedback but there is no attempt to compare with Microsoft and Apple Mac and in the next 5 to 10 years Linux will be way ahead of both of these distributions and I am not the one who need any pep commercial talks. 
 

In this period of course Linux guys and girls have to make 1000 and 1000 of tiny games and blockbuster games to invade the market in style. 
 
They are already there on mobile phones and they have to mature with the hardware specially tablets in mind.


Criteria
A. Use
1. Live CD installable
2. Light Weight
3. Mini to LXDE to Standard

B. Internet  
4. Easy Access to Internet
5. Automatically Configure Internet
6. Browser (ideally Firefox) Capability
7. Other browsers- 5 for each additional browser
8. Email Capability-Thunderbird
9. Google gadgets but not essential
10. Torrent Down Loader
11. Skype or alternative
12. Cloud-Dropbox
13. Cloud - Other

C. Productivity
14.Office Package -Abiword
15.Office Package -Others- Open Office
16.Office Package -PDF Reader
17. Scribus
18. CD burner (ideally K3B-50)
19. CD burner (10 others)
20. LightScribe/LaCie (100)

LightScribe is an optical disc recording technology that was created by the Hewlett-Packard Company. It uses specially coated recordable CD and DVD media to produce laser-etched labels with text or graphics, as opposed to stick-on labels and printable discs. Although HP is no longer developing the technology, it is still maintained and supported by a number of independent enthusiasts.^{[not in body]}

The LightScribe method uses the laser in a way similar to when plain data are written to the disc; a greyscale image of the label is etched onto the upper side of the disc using a laser. The discs were initially available only in a sepia color but later became available in many monochromatic hues.

The purpose of LightScribe is to allow users to create direct-to-disc labels (as opposed to stick-on labels) using their optical disc writer. Special discs and a compatible disc writer are required. Before or after burning data to the read-side of the disc, the user turns the disc over and inserts it with the label side down. The drive's laser then burns the label side in such a way that an image is produced.

D.Graphic
21. GIMP
22. Blender
23. Inkscape
24. Digicam
25. Tuxpaint
26. Special Graphics
27. Others

E. Audio
28. Mixer
29. Alsa
30. Others

F. Video
31. Imagination
32. VLC Player
33. Miro Internet TV
34. Cheese
35. TV Card
36. Others
37. Media Players including ability play itunes and divx  

G. Essential Utilities
38. Stable Grub Configuration
39. Partitioning tool is essential(ideally Gparted)
40.Ability to clean up the temporary file at boot up
41. Updates and Package management

H. Archiving
42. Ark
43. File Roller

I. For Children
44. Light Weight Games
45. Children Version (150)
46. Gcompris

 J. Subjective
47. Reliability (most of them are)
48. Speed at start up (most of them are slow except YOPER)
49. Quick installation
50. Portability
51. Type of Desktops (Genome/KDE)
52. Down loader that start from where one has left / stopped earlier
53. On line updates
54. Infrequent Cycles of Change
55. Downloads available for LibreOffice, Open Office, Skype (25 for each)
56.Speed at Start Up

K. Linux Fundamentals
57. Separate administrator in addition to normal user
58. Reliable Package Manager
59. Multi-Language in addition to English (5 for each Language-Total-100)
60. Sinhala Language Capability  (200)
61. Terminal  

L. USB Boot Up
62. UnetBootIn
63. USB Creator
64. Live CD creator

M. Emulators
65. DOS
66. Wine
67. Oracle VM
68. Apple Emulation

N. Games
69. Light Weight
70. Advanced Games (25 for Each)

O. Educational
71. Google Map
72. Tux Guitar
73. Tux Maths

P. Special and Development Utilities
74. Gambas
75. Web editor
76. PHP Admin
77. Scientific packages like statistics

Q. Access to Information
78. Home Web Site
79. Essential information including installation password etc
80. The facility for registration and writing reviews

R. Special Attributes
81. Less than 50 MB
82. Less than 200 MB
83. Less then 500 MB
84. Innovative approach GOBO and YOPER

S. Finances and Printing
85. Gnumeric
86. GnuCash
87. Printing

S. Very Special
88. Religion
89. Language
90. Kernel Version
91. Version Number
92. New Desktop Type
93. Innovative Changes
94. 32 bits only
95. Both 32 and 64 bits
96. O.E.M.Version
97. ORCAS - Visually Handicapped
98
99
100