Distributions

A look at Gentoo 2004.2

Gentoo 2004.2 was released last week. As a relative Gentoo newbie, this writer decided this would be as good a time as any to slap Gentoo onto his Toshiba laptop for further study.

Gentoo's installation process is, to put it mildly, different from most Linux distributions. Gentoo does not really offer an installer as such, but does have a process for installation that is well-documented.

At first glance, the quick install instructions for x86 machines gave the impression that it would be an extremely tedious process. In actuality, the install process for Gentoo was reasonably simple as long as the user is able to follow the directions and is willing to perform an install that requires more than point and click skills.

This writer wouldn't recommend installing Gentoo for anyone new (or newish) to Linux, but for Linux users with a decent amount of experience under their belt, installing Gentoo is no major feat. It's a bit time-consuming compared to other distributions, so be prepared to set aside a few hours to perform a Gentoo install from start to finish. Depending on the speed of your machine, and which stage you choose to begin from, the installation can easily consume a workday.

One of the things that was particularly nice about Gentoo's install was the ability to set up the SSH daemon after just a few steps, and log into the Gentoo system from my main desktop and finish the install from there -- allowing me to work on another project while doing the Gentoo install from an xterm, and to simply cut and paste most of the commands necessary to install Gentoo, rather than typing them.

One thing that did not endear me to Gentoo's installation process initially was the lack of a Vi-like editor by default. To install Gentoo, one needs to edit a few files in the process and the only available editor seems to be GNU nano. While having nano available is a good thing for users who aren't used to a Vi-like editor, most experienced Linux users expect a Vi-like editor to be present on almost any running Linux system.

For current Gentoo users, there's no need to go through the installation once again to reach 2004.2. Users who are on Gentoo 1.4, 2004.0 or 2004.1 can simply sync their Portage tree and run "emerge --update world."

The Portage system and Gentoo's management tools are what set Gentoo apart from other Linux distributions, and it takes a bit to get used to for those of us reared on package-based distributions like Slackware, Red Hat and Debian. (Ladislav Bodnar contributed a nice overview of Portage back in June.) Having only briefly toyed with Gentoo in the past, this writer spent quite a bit of time getting used to Portage. It is something of an acquired taste, but it works well and it's easy to see why so many Linux users are using Gentoo.

In fact, the Portage system actually came to the rescue about mid-way through the install. While editing the system's /etc/fstab, this writer became quite frustrated with trying to think in nano while editing the file. Instead of finishing the install with nano, a quick "emerge vim" made it possible to use Vim for the remainder of the install process.

Changes in the 2004.2 release are mostly incremental. One major change in this release is the inclusion of X.org-X11 as the default XServer for licensing reasons. This release also includes GNOME 2.6, KDE 3.2.2 and XFce 4.0.5. According to this week's Gentoo Linux Newsletter, GNOME 2.6.2, KDE 3.2.3 have been marked stable in the Portage tree, and XFce 4.0.6 will be there soon.

In all, Gentoo 2004.2 isn't a radical departure from previous versions of Gentoo. It's a good starting point for users who have been interested in using Gentoo, but haven't yet stepped up to the plate. For users who like to tweak things and get to know Linux in-depth, Gentoo is a user's paradise. For users who want something to work with minimal fuss, Gentoo is not the best way to go. That's not a criticism of the distribution, but a simple acknowledgment that Gentoo method is not a quick and easy way to install Linux.

The distribution is quite solid, and well-documented. In fact, Gentoo's documentation may be some of the best on the "market" -- it's easy to follow, and the Gentoo project has done a particularly good job at providing complete documentation for the installation and use of the system. While it is taking some time to get used to, this writer plans to continue using Gentoo on his laptop for some time to come.

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Debian GNU/Linux

The Debian Weekly News for August 3, 2004 is out. Topics this week include Debian Birthday parties, sarge package removals, OSCON talks, and more.

A long message sent to debian-devel by sarge release manager Steve Langasek gives a timeline for a Debian sarge release on September 15. It also breaks the news that Steve Langasek and Colin Watson are the release managers - it seems that A.J. Towns finally got fed up and stepped down from that position. The base and standard packages have gone into a hard freeze now, with a goal of having zero release-critical bugs (down from just under 300 now) by September 12.

Igor Genibel has announced a new version of the Debian Developer Packages Overview.

Frank Lichtenheld presents Bits from the WNPP with an explanation of the new RFH (Request For Help) tag that has been added to the Work-needing packages report.

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Fedora Core

The Fedora News Updates is back. Issue #14 has a lengthy discussion of how Fedora packages the kernel source, along with articles on upgrading from FC1, translations, and more.

The Fedora schedule has been updated, now showing a one-week slip. The Test 2 freeze is now scheduled for September 1, with a test 2 release set for September 13.

The Fedora Steering Committee has proposed to transfer Fedora Core 1 to the Fedora Legacy Project at the point Fedora Core 3 Test 2 is released.

FC2 updates:

• man-pages-ja: updated Japanese man pages fix typo and wrong filename
• gimp: update to v2.0.3
• gnumeric: adds plugins

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Gentoo Weekly Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 31

The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of August 2, 2004 is out. This week's top news is the release of Gentoo Linux 2004.2 for AMD64, HPPA, SPARC and X86.

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UserLinux plans anounced

Bruce Perens has sent out an announcement (click below) regarding a press conference to happen at LinuxWorld. His plans for UserLinux include a "mass beta" starting September 1, tracking the Debian sarge release, and a "pure AMD64" UserLinux release.

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Mandrakelinux

Mandrakelinux has an updated drakxtools package fixing many bugs.

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Slackware Linux

The slackware-current changelog shows just a few changes this week. Automake, binutils and gdb have been upgraded.

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StartCom Linux

StartCom Ltd., a small software house located in Israel, has announced the release of StartCom Enterprise Linux. Based on Red Hat Advanced Server source code, StartCom Linux is meant to offer a free and supported alternative to previous users of Red Hat Linux systems. StartCom plans to release four flavors of StartCom Linux: Enterprise Linux, the MultiMedia Edition, the Office Edition and the Developer Edition. StartCom Linux Enterprise AS-3.0.0 was released August 2, 2004.

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New Mexico Software Releases Santa Fe Desktop Linux

New Mexico Software, Inc. has announced the first release of Santa Fe Desktop Linux. This is a Debian-based, non-technical desktop distribution that can be run from a live CD or installed to hard disk.

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IsaMorph

IsaMorph is a highly specialized GNU/Linux Live CD. It's based on Morphix and features the interactive theorem prover Isabelle, for a complete theorem proving environment. IsaMorph joins the list at version 0.2.1, released July 29, 2004.

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AGNULA/DEMUDI 1.2.0-rc1 is out

AGNULA/DeMuDi 1.2.0-rc1, the Debian-based GNU/Linux distribution for audio/video, has been released. This release candidate sports tighter integration with Debian, using the Sarge Debian Installer and the CDD (Custom Debian Distributions) framework. Click below for more information.

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Devil-Linux v1.2 Beta 2 is available!

Devil-Linux has released v1.2 Beta 2. "The new release fixes all the reported problems from the previous Beta and adds various program updates."

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Linux Netwosix Official Support IRC Channel

Linux Netwosix has announced a new IRC Support Channel for users seeking help with Linux Netwosix.

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Lycoris Announces AI2, New Application Environment for Desktop/LX

Lycoris has announced that AI2, its new application environment for Linux, will be made available exclusively in Desktop/LX 1.4. AI2 (A-I-squared), which stands for Advanced Application Integration Infrastructure.

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Mediainlinux

Mediainlinux, formerly known as Medialinux, has a new web site and a new version 2 release with major feature enhancements. "Changes: Mediainlinux is now OpenMosix enabled, and will be introduced at the Siggraph 2004 in Los Angeles from 10 to 12 of August. Most of the work has been derived from Cluster Knoppix, and all packages are up to date."

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New Quantian release 0.5.9.3 available

Quantian release 0.5.9.3 is available. "Quantian 0.5.9.3 adds over 360 GNU R packages from the CRAN and BioConductor archives, the GNU geda electronics design software, an almost complete debian-med suite, the complete scalapack development suite, atlas3 and lam development packages, fancy GL screensavers, lots of recommended documentation packages as well as a general update of over 300 Debian packages bringing the size of the iso to over 1.5gb corresponding to 4.4gb uncompressed."

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A Linux Desktop for Die-Hard Windows Users (eWeek)

eWeek reviews Xandros Desktop OS Business Edition 2.5. "Xandros comes ready to work with both NT PDC (Primary Domain Controller) domains and W2K and Server 2003 AD (Active Directory) networks. This isn't just hype. I currently run Xandros on my main laptop and a secondary workstation on my hybrid Windows network, and I have no trouble working with NT, W2K and Server 2003 drive and printer resources. You'll have endlessly more trouble trying to get XP Home working with either PDC or AD-style networks."

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Yellow Dog Linux on Power Mac G5

IBM developerWorks installs Yellow Dog Linux on a Power Macintosh G5 machine. "This article explores how to set up a dual-boot environment with Yellow Dog Linux/Y-HPC and OSX on G5 systems, including issues to watch for during installation and configuration. Note that the name of the higher performance distribution we are using is Y-HPC; this refers currently to the beta 64-bit product and will later be used for Terra Soft's production-ready 64-bit product. The company's 32-bit product is known as Yellow Dog Linux (YDL) and, for use on G5 machines, is also considered to be in beta."

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