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GoboLinux

GoboLinux is an alternative distribution that redefines the entire filesystem hierarchy. The distribution joined the LWN Distributions List in late October 2003 at version 007. Now at version 014, the project has made quite a bit of headway. The website has been translated into several major languages, along with much of the documentation.

An early article written by GoboLinux creator Hisham Muhammad explains how the distribution evolved from a custom Linux From Scratch installation, and the motivation for changing the directory structure.

I downloaded the 014 release and stuck the CD into my ancient Sony Vaio laptop. After booting I was first prompted for my preferred language and keyboard settings and then taken to a console screen with text advising me to "run startx to run the live CD or you can install from here." I ran startx and soon was looking at a familiar KDE desktop. This release features KDE 3.5.8, Glibc 2.5 and Xorg 7.2. From here you'll find a desktop icon for GParted and another to install GoboLinux, so you can easily create a separate partition for GoboLinux before an installation.

I ran it as live CD and brought up a Konsole so I poke about the filesystem hierarchy. The home directory looks much like any other Linux system, but a cd /, followed by ls -al reveals something else entirely. There are only six subdirectories here: Depot, Files, Mount, Programs, System, and Users. Depot proved to be empty, but the other directories have their own subdirectories, which branch further as necessary. For example, I found everything need to compile the linux kernel for a variety of architectures under /Files/Compile/Sources/linux-2.6.23.8/ (the version used by this release). To see all the installed programs just look at /Programs where each package has it's own subdirectory. Different versions of the packages can also be easily installed without conflict, since the directory structure includes the version number, e.g. /Programs/Xorg/7.2/.

The home directory for users is under /Users instead of /home, but it works just the same. As a long time Unix/Linux user I'm used to the old hierarchy, with cryptic names like /etc and /bin. I thought I might have a hard time getting used to GoboLinux. Instead, I found it intuitive and easy to work with. Next time you are looking for something different in a desktop, give GoboLinux a try.

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New Releases

gOS 2.0 "Rocket", the Second Major Release of the Friendly Linux OS

Good OS has announced the release of gOS 2.0 "Rocket". "gOS Rocket introduces gBooth, the first of many web apps to come specially customized for gOS. gBooth is powered by gOS spin-off, meebooth, a browser-based web cam application that makes it fun and easy to capture photos, add special effects, and share across Facebook, YouTube and other web services. To introduce a gOS compatible web cam, gOS and meebooth partnered with leading web cam manufacturer Ezonics to create the "gCam," a web cam compatible with gOS and gBooth."

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Announcing Fedora Directory Server 1.1.0

A new version of the Fedora Directory Server is out, with some new features and improvements. Click below for an overview.

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Distribution News

Mandriva Linux

Mandriva CEO on 2007

Mandriva CEO François Bancilhon takes a look at what Mandriva accomplished in the 2007, with a look forward to 2008. "We drastically changed our traditional Linux distribution business: the product line was simplified, a strong focus was put on our free products (Mandriva Linux One and Mandriva Linux Free) and on their easy download, prices were drastically reduced, Mandriva Club membership became free, we invested a lot in improving our relationship with the community and our contributors and a complete new web site was put in place. We got a globally warm response to all these changes."

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SUSE Linux and openSUSE

SUSE Linux 10.0 has reached End of Life

SUSE Linux 10.0 was released begin of October 2005, and now it has received the last update and support has been discontinued.

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Other distributions

Happy birthday and Elive Plans

Elive, a Debian based distribution featuring the Enlightenment window manager, has some plans for 2008. "Elive is 5 years old. We have decided to count the age of Elive from the real development instead of the releases with the name "Elive". The first system made was a livecd called Tezcatlipotix based on Knoppix 3.1 lite. A desktop livecd for personal use with Enlightenment in the same spirit as Elive. After that, the decision to make this system for the public was made. The name was changed to Elive and a project was then hosted on debianitas.net, which soon switched to it's own server and project."

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Distribution Newsletters

Fedora Weekly News Issue 114

The Fedora Weekly News for December 31, 2007 looks at "FUDCon Raleigh 2008", "Fedora Unity announces Fedora 8 Re-Spin", Planet Fedora articles "Red Hat's New CEO", "bugz.fedoraproject.org" and "Fedora Xfce Spin", and much more.

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openSUSE Weekly News, Issue 4

The fourth issue of the openSUSE Weekly News covers all things during the Christmas holidays, including A look at openSUSE's accomplishments in 2007, openSUSE 11.0 now Scheduled, openSUSE Education goes Gold, and Jeff Jaffe, Novell CTO, on the openSUSE Project.

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Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #72

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter for December 30 through January 5th covers Alpha 3 Freeze, Kubuntu Tutorials Day, Ubuntu Live Conference videos, a new Kubuntu member, the success of Inkscape with Launchpad, Ubuntu Forum News, Ubuntu Tutorial of the Week, and much more.

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DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 234

The DistroWatch Weekly for January 7, 2008 is out. "Yes, this is the first full week of 2008, which means that in just a few days the long-awaited KDE 4.0 should be out and ready. Although the initial release might not be as stable and functional as the current KDE 3.5 series, it will lay down foundations for a truly modern desktop environment that could power many computers into the next decade. But how many of us will be using it by the end of 2008? Only time will tell. In the news section, Red Hat appoints a new Chief Executive Officer, Canonical drops long-term support goal in Kubuntu 8.04, PCLinuxOS announces new low-cost desktop computer and start of a 2008 release cycle, and Linux Mint and Elive promise new editions of their respective products. Finally, don't miss the feature story of this week's issue - a report about your DistroWatch maintainer's visit to the Mandriva headquarters and a brief meeting with Gaël Duval, the founder of Mandrake Linux."

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Distribution reviews

The Linux Project: Gentoo revisited (OpEdNews)

OpEdNews looks at Gentoo. "Gentoo Linux is more than a computer operating system, it's an experience. From the time you first boot that CD, until the time you finally declare your system in the state which you desire, you will learn more about Linux than you ever thought you could."

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Ubuntu Linux: Built-in apps get an "A", wireless support an "F" (CNET)

Dennis O'Reilly reviews Ubuntu 7.10. "It didn't take long after installing Canonical Ltd.'s Ubuntu 7.10 version of Linux for me to decide I liked what I saw. A quick tour of the Applications, Places, and System menus indicated that converting from Windows to Linux would be relatively seemless. The only fly in the ointment was my inability to get any of three wireless adapters to work with the OS."

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