Linux Distro Reviews and Screenshots

Linpus Linux Lite 9.4 – Review and Screenshots

Linpus Linux is a Fedora based distro that was designed to support the Asian market with Unicode support.  However, Linpus is available in English, as well as several other languages, from their website.  The Linpus Linux Lite version reviewed here is designed to be a simple to use and low memory usage for the Netbook [...]

Zenwalk 6.01 Live CD Review & Screenshots

Zenwalk 6.01 is a Linux Distro that aims to modern, user-friendly, and fast.
They offer four versions for download on their website:

Standard desktop OS
Core version – for minimal installation.  This can be used as a server, or as a starting point for desktop users to then install whatever packages they need rather than going with a [...]

Xubuntu 9.04 Linux – Official Ubuntu Lite Review, Screenshots & Comparisons

Xubuntu is Ubuntu’s official “Lite” version.  Their tagline “Linux for human beings” sort of makes me chuckle – as if the other flavors of unix are for monkees and aliens?  Xubuntu has set out to do what a number of comparable distros are also vying for, ‘the minimalist’ side of Linux.  They claim that [...]

Mepis 8.0 Linux – Review and Screenshots

Mepis 8.0 Linux is a Linux distro designed for ease of use and suitable even for beginners.
Mepis is built on Debian 5.0 stable core with the 2.6.27 Linux kernel and comes in a 32bit and 64bit version.
You can download from the Mepis mirror sites here.
Their motto is “SimplyMEPIS just works!”   We decided to give it [...]

WattOS – A Fast Energy-Saving Linux Based on Ubuntu – Review & Screenshots

WattOS Beta 3 is a lightweight Linux Distro geared towards running on less energy and for recycled or low power computers without compromising on features or performance that you’d expect from a full power system.
Their motto “Light, Fast, Now” seeks to provide a low-energy full featured Linux distro.

Beta 3 released this week, which includes a [...]

Vector Linux 6.0 Gold – Review and Screenshots

Vector Linux is a popular Linux Distro whose motto is “speed, performance, stability”.
Version 6.0 was released in February 2009.  Their stated goal is to “Keep it simple, keep it small and let the end user decide.”  Having said that, this end user decided to see what was cooking at Vector.
Xfce Desktop – GNOME packages

The modest [...]

Sabayon 4.2 Gnome Linux – Review and Screenshots

Sabayon 4.2 Gnome Linux is the newest release (June 30) from the popular Gentoo-based Linux distro.
Sabayon aims to be a beginner-friendly distribution.   Their motto -”as easy as an abacus, as fast as a segway” offers a lot of promise.    Sabayon is also available in a KDE 4.1 version.
The 1.8 GB file can be downloaded from [...]

Puppy Linux 4.2 – Super Fast Linux – Quick Review and Screenshots

The Fastest Linux Ever?
Puppy Linux is a popular Linux distribution that runs on less than 128MB of Ram.
We reviewed the June 2009 release v.4.2 of Puppy Linux, which comes in a 110 MB file download from their website, or from accepted mirrors.   The iso file is then burnt to CD and runs as a Live [...]

Ultimate Edition Linux 2.2 vs. Ubuntu – Quick Review and Screenshots

Ultimate Edition 2.2 was released on June 17. It’s the latest salvo from TheeMahn, creator of this popular distro of Linux. Ultimate Edition was originally released in late 2007 to be Ubuntu with a “better user experience and with improved usability.” In the releases since, they have broken from Ubuntu and actually [...]

ArtistX Linux 0.7 – An Ubuntu Alternative – Review & Screenshots

ArtistX 0.7 http://www.artistx.org/site2/
ArtistX is touted as a “free multimedia live Gnu/Linux distribution for audio, 2D and 3D graphics and video”.  It’s based on Ubuntu (Intrepid 8.10) with Gnome and KDE desktops and featured literally 2,500 software packages in the media, graphics, and video space.  In fact, ArtistX claims to have included all currently available Linux [...]

Mint Linux 7 Quick Review and Screenshots

Mint Linux 7 (Gloria) http://www.linuxmint.com/
Mint Linux promises to be an elegant and easily updateable distro.  Originating from Ireland, it was launched as a variant to Ubuntu (which is based on Debian) and has quickly become one of the most popular flavors of Linux available.  The two great assets of Mint Linux are that everything [...]

Samurai Linux – Review Screenshots – Web Testing Framework

Samurai Linux – Testing for security, penetration, and reconnaissance
The Samurai distro is available as a Live CD and it comes with the a gob of testing tools for security and applications.  Samurai is Gnome-based and has a pleasant, yet simple, interface.  The real wealth of this distro is in the number of security and testing [...]

Dreamlinux 3.5 Quick Review and Screenshots

Dreamlinux 3.5 is a Debian (Lenny 5.0) based popular Linux distro from Brazil.
Dreamlinux can be run directly from a CD/DVD/USBStick or to a Hard drive. Dreamlinux comes with a selection of the best applications designed to meet most of your daily needs.  Dreamlinux ships with the XFCE desktop, which is pleasant and easy to [...]

Slax 3.5 Minimal Linux KDE – Live CD – Quick Review & Snapshots

Continuing on my search for a Kubuntu replacement as I wrote about in my earlier post.
Slax 3.5 Minimal Live CD
Here’s a nice KDE 3.5 Linux distro with a minimal set of applications and only a 180 MB download. The Live CD took about 5 minutes to fully load and the CD was constantly churning [...]

Open Suse KDE Live CD Quick Review – Snapshots

Looking for a KDE replacement for Kubuntu…
Open Suse KDE with Live CD
Novell has got this baby hopping and it’s a serious contender for the Kubuntu replacement that I’ve been searching. Although it’s running on KDE 4.1, they seem to have put the pieces together nicely.

Plasma Desktop – like it or not
The plasma desktop, [...]

PCLinuxOS Quick Review and Screenshots – Kubuntu Alternative

Continuing in my quest for a replacement to Kubuntu as discussed here in my previous post. We are looking at KDE distros that can replace the Kubuntu 9.x release, which to me still seems like it’s in beta.
PCLinuxOS 2009 KDE
It’s running on KDE 3.5, which is a good start in my opinion. [...]

Knoppix 6.01 Quick Review – KDE Alternative to Kubuntu

I’m reviewing KDE distros of Linux as part of my ongoing series, searching for a replacement to Kubuntu, which I have been running for three years but decided to leave after their upgrade to KDE 4.x
Knoppix 6.01 Live CD
Knoppix 6.01 is running LXDE, that’s a good start in my opinion.  I remember using a much [...]

Mandriva KDE Quick Review & Screenshots (vs. Kubuntu)

As you may have read from my previous posts on leaving Kubuntu after 3 years, I am looking for a better KDE solution. To that aim, I am installing well-respected KDE distros and comparing them to the Kubuntu that I have known and loved, but that has gone to a beta feel in the [...]

Goodbye Kubuntu, I’m Staying With Ubuntu. Here’s why.

Saying Goodbye to Kubuntu
I said goodbye to Kubuntu two weeks ago when I replaced my KDE desktop with Gnome and I haven’t looked back. It feels at the same time invigorating and betraying. Like I’ve left a former love for my new fling.
I had been using Kubuntu as my main OS for over three [...]

Ubuntu vs. Kubuntu – A Linux Lover’s Challenge

For the purpose of this discussion, let’s assume that you’ve already decided on or are using the Ubuntu distribution of Linux.  e.g. There are plenty of linux flavors out there, and this article will only discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Ubuntu and Kubuntu.
First of all, both Ubuntu and Kubuntu are based on the same cannonical distribution [...]