LWN: Comments on "Sabayon Linux 4"

Sabayon Linux 4

balliet — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:46:10 +0000

I have been using the various versions of Sabayon for about two years. With capable hardware SL is a pleasure to use. The desktop that I presently use is Gnome with Compiz-fusion, a wallpaper changer (over 1000 wallpapers), Avant Window Navigator, and various Screenlets. With all this the desktop is impressive on a 37 inch 1080p HDTV. The Samba problem was quickly fixed once the Sabayon team was told of the problem (it was only on the KDE side--SAMBA worked fine on the Gnome side). Every OS is a work in progress, and Sabayon is no exception, but given the variety of hardware out there, SL is so good. There are so many programs availblae to you through the Entropy/Spritz package management that you can get almost anything you want in one form or another. For those with less capable hardware, there is Sabayon MCELite which is great for inexpensive laptops. To get SL setup to meet ALL your desires, I think you need a moderate amount of confidence in your computer operating knowledge. Given that caveat, you will love it.

Sabayon Linux 4

PaulWay — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:59:45 +0000

One can only hope it doesn't suffer the fate of Kororaa - another binary-packaged Gentoo distro with Compiz and binary-only graphics drivers. Kororaa died after some self-righteous kernel developer told Kororaa's packager Chris Smart that he'd personally offended the entire kernel development team.

Best of luck,

Paul

Distro reviews becoming a bit pointless

dirtyepic — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:32:26 +0000

considering it's based on Gentoo, a graphical installer is noteworthy. i was specifically wondering about that.

Sabayon Linux 4

sobdk — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:12:21 +0000

You obviously never used earlier versions of Sabayon. I don't recall which version it was but there was an old theme that was bright red/orange and nearly blinded me. It was a total pain to obliterate all the last bits of red on my system. I'm glad to hear they have shifted to a more eye pleasing theme.

Sabayon Linux 4

Trou.fr — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:01:43 +0000

This review sounds so commercial to me.

"The professional quality graphics feature gray tones with royal blue accents and is very easy on the eyes. This new theme reflects the maturity of the distribution and its developers."

Come on, this is a LWN featured article, not a press release !

Distro reviews becoming a bit pointless

epa — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:06:16 +0000

In a review of a Linux distribution is it really worth the space to say that it includes the GIMP? Almost every distribution provides almost every major application. It's only worth comment if there is something unusual. The same goes for saying that the installer can run in graphics mode or that you can choose between GNOME and KDE.

Choosing a distro these days is more about picking something with staying power: one that you expect will release security updates on time, respond to bug reports and release new versions with a smooth upgrade path. It would be good if reviews would focus more on that.