I first demoed Versora Progression Desktop at LinuxWorld Boston in February of 2005, and was impressed by what it could do. Basically it takes all of your essential data and program settings (and even some decidedly nonessential settings) and transfers them to GNU/Linux. I hadn’t heard much from the company since then — until Linspire announced a partnership with them recently. The deal is, Progression Desktop will move you from Windows to Linspire without any hassle. Read on for the full review.

Versora overview

Versora specializes in migration software. You can migrate databases, servers, and other programs from Microsoft-centric platforms to GNU/Linux-based solutions. Progression Desktop is their consumer-grade product. It’s usually priced at US $30, but if you get it through Linspire it’s half that price, or a quarter the price if you’re a Click N Run Gold member.

So what does Progression Desktop do? Basically it moves all of the superficial settings and user data from a Windows system to GNU/Linux. This includes desktop theme, wallpaper, desktop icons, screen saver, keyboard and mouse settings, sound scheme, email, contacts, Web bookmarks, default home page, and documents that you’ve created with various programs.

Linspire overview

Linspire (formerly known as LindowsOS) is an easy to install and easy to use Debian-based GNU/Linux distribution (click here for my review of version 5.0). It’s kind of like the America Online of GNU/Linux; while it’s perfect for beginners, it’s expensive compared to other competing solutions and you can grow out of it quickly if you have a mind for more advanced systems.

Linspire includes an unusual number of proprietary extras: ATI and Nvidia video drivers, the Java Runtime Environment, Flash and PDF browser plugins, and the capability of legally adding DVD playback capabilities. It’s a tight, polished, well-designed desktop operating system package. The only downside is, to achieve full functionality you have to buy a software subscription. The base operating system cost is US $50 — and that includes many programs right off the bat — but if you want access to the Linspire Click N Run (CNR) database, you have to pay another $20 (or $50 for a Gold membership with more benefits) per year.

Putting it to the test

Click here for a screen shot of Versora Progresssion Desktop in action.

I downloaded the Versora Progression Desktop ISO that Linspire provides through CNR, and wrote it to a blank CD. The version I tested was 1.2.2, and I also downloaded the most recent Linspire release — 5.0.59. I already had an updated and fully configured version of Windows XP Professional on its own hard drive, but just to make the utility work a little harder, I customized the desktop theme and menu. I also added Microsoft Outlook XP, OpenOffice.org 2.01, Corel WordPerfect Office 12, Mozilla Firefox, and I dumped a DVD full of articles (in HTML format), pictures, and various other projects (in WordPerfect, MS Word, OpenOffice.org/StarOffice, and plain text format) into the My Documents directory. In other words, it’s like a normal Windows installation, complete with software and data. I also made sure that I had hundreds of email messages in Outlook, along with a few saved contacts and appointments. Internet Explorer and Firefox both had saved bookmarks in them.

I put in the Versora CD and installed Progression Desktop. The install took only a couple of minutes. Selecting data for migration was easy — applicable programs were detected and data was correctly recognized. Progression Desktop heaped all of my data and settings into one 283MB file, which I put onto a CD-R disc. I wondered, though, what I would do if I’d had so much data that the file wouldn’t fit onto a CD. I guess I’d have to move up to a DVD-R, or maybe transfer it to my laptop computer over the network. I could also have left it on the drive, since I was installing Linspire on a separate hard drive. So if you have a lot of data, be prepared for a large file and plan ahead for getting it to your new OS.

Screen shots: Linspire before importing settings and Linspire after.

On the Linspire side, I installed Progression Desktop through CNR after the operating system was installed and updated. I put the CD with the backup file and navigated to it through the Progression Desktop file dialogue. It was a little difficult to find the CD in the filesystem hierarchy; if I’d had no GNU/Linux experience, I could have spent an hour looking for the right location.

One the file was selected and loaded, I was given the option of selecting multiple valid migration options if I had several programs installed. I could selectively restore data in case I didn’t want some of it, and I chose, for instance, to move all of my Outlook data to Evolution instead of putting all of my email in KMail and my contacts and calendar entries in some other program. I also chose Mozilla Firefox over Konqueror for my bookmarks and default homepage transfer.

Everything that I had elected to backup on Windows was properly restored on Linspire — even Windows desktop icons for programs that I didn’t have on Linspire. The only hassle I ran into was the default location for depositing documents saved from Windows. Progression Desktop saves them to your current user’s home directory, but Linspire doesn’t give direct access to that location through its My Computer desktop icon — you have to navigate to it in a more roundabout fashion.

Conclusions and developer recommendations

Overall, the product worked exactly as advertised. Everything that means anything to me in Windows was transferred to Linspire with the least possible effort. The only complaint I have is that Progression Desktop should have built-in functionality for restoring the data file from a CD or DVD; the user shouldn’t have to go on an expedition through the archaic Linspire directory hierarchy to find their optical drive.

Is this a good way to move from Windows to GNU/Linux? Absolutely — in fact I’d say that Versora Progression Desktop is easily the quickest and best way to migrate to GNU/Linux, even if you’re a total pro who knows where every file and setting is and how to export and import it.

Here’s what I’d like to see in the next version of Progression Desktop on Linspire:

• Better default destinations for files. Linspire has a unique way of managing the “My Computer” feature, and it doesn’t match up with other GNU/Linux distributions. While non-Linspire users will have no trouble navigating to their home directory, Linspire users will have a tough time finding their transferred files if they stay with Progression Desktop’s default settings. This should be customized for Linspire, and implementing such changes should be extremely easy.
• Make it easier to get to the CD/DVD drive. Why not have a button that automatically looks for the Progression Desktop backup file on the optical drive? Realistically this is the place where most people will be restoring their data and settings from, and it’s not easy to find when navigating Linspire’s filesystem by hand.
• Integration with CrossOver Office. Some Linspire users have CrossOver Office installed. This program allows GNU/Linux users to run many Windows programs without needing a copy of Windows. Internet Explorer and MS Office are both capable of working with CrossOver Office, so there should be an option in Progression Desktop to restore Windows data to them.

Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.

Purpose	Migration tool
Manufacturer	Versora and Linspire
Architectures	x86
License	Proprietary
Market	Desktop users migrating from Windows to GNU/Linux, especially those moving to Linspire
Price (retail)	US $15 through Linspire, or $7 for Click N Run Gold members
Previous version	N/A
Product Web site	Click here

Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

Device overview

This section will describe what the MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 does. If you’re already familiar with the first generation of this device, you may want to skip down to the next section.

The Neuros MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 is a digital audio and video recording device that outputs to any display that has RCA jacks, and stores video and audio files on Compact Flash (CF) and Memory Stick Duo (MS Duo) flash memory cards. Since memory cards of this type are currently limited to 1GB in size (exception: Hitachi makes a 6GB microdrive with a CF interface that will work with the MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2), there is an obviously lower video capacity than more expensive disk-based DVRs like the TiVo.

The Video Recorder 2 is capable of playing back more formats than it can record. For music, the MP3 and WMA formats are supported. For video, the Video Recorder 2 can play back QuickTime (MPEG-4 AAC-LC); and ASF and AVI (MPEG-4 MP3) files. For still pictures, JPEG, BMP, and GIF file formats are supported.

The built-in software on the MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 is easy to navigate and use for manipulating the media files it supports.

As for video recording, the device uses three different resolutions: 320×240 (QVGA), 368×208 (WQVGA), and 640×480 (VGA). The recording format is MPEG-4 SP with AAC-LC audio at 30 frames per second. This file format is supported by the PlayStation Portable, the Apple iPod, and the Neuros 442 video players, and can also be played with the Apple QuickTime movie player on a PC or Apple computer.

There are four levels of recording quality for video: economic, normal, fine, and superfine. The higher the quality, the more storage space the video file will require. The QVGA and WQVGA formats can only record in economic or normal quality, which means that longer videos are possible. On a 1GB memory card, you can record almost two and a half hours of video at normal quality — that’s enough time for most Hollywood movies.

Although required for recording, the Neuros MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 does not come with any memory cards. It does come with a small remote, a DC5V power supply, and two RCA-to-stereo cables for audio/video input and output. You can have both a CF and an MS Duo card plugged in at the same time, but there is no function for combining their space for extended recording.

New for version 2

Click here for a photo of the Neuros MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2.

The list of improvements since the first generation of this device is huge in terms of software capabilities, but actually reduced as far as hardware is concerned. Here are the improvements:

• More formats supported for playback: WMA audio and AVI video.
• A higher resolution video recording mode: 640×480. This makes recordings watchable on a PC or television.
• A larger, more featured remote control; it has twice as many buttons as its predecessor, and seems to have a better operational range as well.
• Support for the MS Duo memory card.
• Improved menu software. It’s much easier to use and navigate.

The MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 does not have a USB port like its predecessor, so it is no longer able to act as a card reader for a PC. In fact, the Video Recorder 2 is not meant for PCs at all — you won’t find the Ulead Video Toolbox software or any drivers included with it like the first generation recorder had. Since you can’t connect the device to a PC, such programs would be useless anyway.

While there is now support for Memory Stick Duo cards, it comes at the expense of Secure Digital (SD) cards, which are no longer supported.

One gotcha for those who are upgrading from the first-gen recorder: the device must now be “turned on” in order to get a display. Previously the device powered itself on and went straight to the root menu. The MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 has a power button on the remote (but not on the recorder, so don’t lose that remote!) that must be activated in order to get any kind of display at all. I found it best to leave the device on at all times — all I had to do was get out of the menu system and I could watch TV normally. To get back to the menu, you press a button on the remote.

Putting it to the test

Hooking up the Neuros MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 is easy — you plug it into the wall, plug the input into your input source (cable box, DVD player, whatever) and the output into your television, and you’re ready to go.

The menu system, as I’ve said already, is easy to navigate. If your memory card contains pictures, you go to the Picture tab; for music, go to the Music tab, etc. Setup is also a breeze. Without having to consult the manual, I set the time and date and the preferred recording quality and screen resolution in a matter of minutes.

Recording a show is also very simple — just press the record button and the on-screen display (which does not show up in the recording) shows you how much space you have and how much recording time has elapsed.

Transferring the MS Duo memory card to your PSP is easy — the PSP has a slot for it, so you just plug the card in and your video is right there, ready to play. Transferring to a Video iPod is a little trickier. Since the iPod does not have a memory card reader built in (and I’m not aware of any accessories that have one), you will have to have either a CF or MS Duo card reader for your computer. They aren’t expensive and are now standard equipment on a lot of computers, but that’s not the point — the point is, it’s much more difficult to get your video file from the Neuros device to the iPod because you have to go through a third party (your computer). A Neuros representative told me that the design specifications for the MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 were already complete by the time the Video iPod came out, so the device was made specifically for the PSP. Neuros provides instructions for transferring video files from the MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 to the Video iPod. The process is a bit of a runaround, but hey — now at least you can get your favorite TV shows to your iPod or other handheld device without paying the Apple Tax for them.

The only software included is The Core Pocket Media Player, which is designed for PalmOS, Windows Mobile, and Windows CE. If you check out that link, you might notice something missing: support for the AAC audio format. That means that, while videos created on the MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 will play on TCPMP, you will not be able to hear the sound.

Conclusions and developer recommendations

The Neuros MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 is a step in the right direction in some ways, and a step backwards in other, less significant ways. Most of the device’s value has been added not by its own features or improvements, but by the explosive growth of the handheld video player market. In other words, what the recorder does at its most basic level — record videos formatted for small screens — has become a more important function, so the device itself has more intrinsic value.

Taking out the USB port and the ability to use the MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 as a card reader was a mistake. There needs to be some kind of connectivity with devices that do not have card readers. A Neuros representative told me that the company plans to bundle a card reader with the MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 soon, along with an improved version of TCPMP (or a different, similar player) which will have AAC codec support. Where does that leave early adopters, though?

I’m left with a similar feeling as the first generation of this device: it’s a great idea, but Neuros hasn’t quite figured out what needs to go into it yet. It works great with the PlayStation Portable and the Neuros 442, but it’s harder to get video from it onto other devices. Here are some suggestions for future versions of the MPEG-4 Video Recorder:

• OGG/Vorbis audio support. Well, in general I’d like to see more file formats supported (like MPEG-2, for starters), but it’s a real disappointment to see that the open source OGG audio format has been omitted. It’s easy to implement — it’s an open, royalty-free standard. Neuros’ digital music player — the Neuros II — plays OGG/Vorbis files, and that’s part of what makes it a cut above the iPod. Why doesn’t the Neuros MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 have it too?
• Connectivity. It doesn’t have to be USB, but that would probably be best. One way or the other, it has to be easier for the MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 to connect to devices that do not have CF or MS Duo card readers.
• The ability to record onto two memory cards. I think it would be cool if you could combine the space on an MS Duo and a CF card for one recording, then concatenate the two files using some kind of software.
• Internal storage. If this device had, say, 5GB of internal storage, it could record and store several files without having to switch cards. If you wanted to record two consecutive television shows, you’d have to have two memory cards to do it. Internal storage would eliminate that need while still allowing file portability through the memory card slots.

Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.

Device	Digital video recorder
Manufacturer	Neuros
Device support	Compact Flash (CF) and Memory Stick Duo (MS Duo) memory cards. Will output to the MPEG-4 AAC media format, which is compatible with the Apple Video iPod and the Sony PlayStation Portable. Will connect to any audio or video device that has RCA jacks.
Market	Handheld video device owners
Price (retail)	US ~$150 Buy it now from Amazon.com
Previous version	Neuros MPEG-4 Video Recorder version 1
Product Web site	Click here

Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

VMware overview

If you’re already familiar with VMware Workstation and want to see what’s new in version 5.5, skip down to the next section.

VMware Workstation is a versatile virtual machine program that allows several operating systems to run inside of either a Windows or GNU/Linux host. This allows you to run a full, valid copy of Windows, Solaris, *BSD, or other GNU/Linux distributions inside of a standard GNU/Linux installation (or all of those OSes inside of Windows). This is especially useful for software testers who need to work with multiple platforms or different versions of the same OS, but don’t want to repeatedly restart their computer or have multiple machines on their desk. It’s also useful for help desk personnel who need to provide support on different operating systems. Lastly, to a lesser extent VMware could be useful for people who want to switch to GNU/Linux but can’t do without Windows software that hasn’t been ported to GNU/Linux and can’t be run through API emulators like CrossOver Office.

New in version 5.5

Here are the most significant new features and enhancements made since version 5.0:

• 64-bit guest OS support
• Virtual SMP for two processors
• Import capabilities for Microsoft Virtual Machine and Symantec LiveState Recovery images
• The VMware Player application
• Wider host and guest OS support for 32-bit and 64-bit OSes

Before you get too excited about 64-bit guest OS support, you should be aware of the catch: only certain processors are supported. My Sun Java Workstation w2100z (dual Opteron 252), for instance, was not supported. If you want to find out if your system is supported, VMware provides a free analysis tool (Windows version here) that you can download and run.

The virtual SMP capabilities support dual-core, dual-CPU, and single- or multiple-CPU systems that have Hyper-Threading Technology enabled. The latter, however, was not designed as a replacement for dual-core or dual-CPU systems, and will probably have very poor performance if you try to assign a virtual CPU to a virtual machine.

The VMware Player is a separate application that can be downloaded for free from the VMware Web site. It runs virtual machines created by VMware, which is handy for people who need to show a virtual machine to several other people who do not have VMware Workstation licenses.

Putting it to the test

Click here for a screen shot of VMware 5.5.

For me, the biggest improvement in VMware Workstation 5.5 is the wireless networking support in GNU/Linux. With version 5.0, I was unable to bridge a wireless network connection to a virtual machine, which pretty much robbed the guest OSes of networking capabilities. Bridged wireless networking now works flawlessly in GNU/Linux.

VMware claims that there is better device autodetection, but ever since the first version of VMware I tested — 4.0 — I have not had any trouble with internally installed hardware being detected and used in a virtual machine. What I have had trouble with was USB devices that are plugged in while the virtual machine was in use. Version 5.0 had trouble interacting with the Linux USB drivers and wouldn’t connect to any USB devices; this has been fixed somewhat in Workstation 5.5. While a popup window still appeared and told me that there were problems with the Linux USB modules, I could click through it and have access to the USB device in the guest OS.

Unfortunately, devices that are not supported in the host operating system will also not be supported in the guest.

Conclusions and developer recommendations

Version 5.5 of VMware’s most well-known product is an improvement over 5.0 in terms of operating system support and networking capabilities, but it may not be a must-have upgrade for existing customers. If you’re happy with VMware Workstation as it is now, version 5.5 won’t give you much more than 64-bit guest OS support — but if that’s your goal, make sure you check your system for compatibility first. Upgrading can’t hurt, though — it’s free for existing VMware Workstation 5.0 customers.

What I’d like to see in the next version:

• Better video modes. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get a reasonably decent monitor refresh rate in a Windows XP guest OS. VMware Tools allows better video modes than the default, but it’s still not good enough to keep my eyes from hurting.
• Improved performance. I’m not sure there’s much that can be done about this, short of using a microkernel-based OS as the host. Even on fast machines, you can’t get good enough performance out of your guest OSes to test programs that render 3D objects or high-definition sound.
• A “home” version. Even though it’s come down in price over the past two years, VMware Workstation is still out of most people’s price range for home use. Businesses save money with VMware by reducing hardware costs, but I know a lot of regular home desktop users that would love to use VMware on a non-commercial basis. How about an edition of VMware for non-commercial use at a substantially lower price?
• Better GNU/Linux integration. It can be a real bear to get “unsupported” GNU/Linux distros to work with VMware Workstation, both as guests and hosts. GNU/Linux support has improved markedly over the past few releases, but it’s still not as easy to work with as Windows is.

Purpose	Virtual machine
Manufacturer	VMware Inc.
Architectures	x86, AMD64/EM64T (some processors will not work with 64-bit guest OSes)
License	Proprietary, restrictive
Market	Support centers, multi-platform software developers
Price (retail)	US $200 for the retail box edition, $190 for the download edition. Upgrades from VMware 4.X are $130 for the retail box, and $100 for the download edition. VMware Workstation 5.0 users are entitled to a free upgrade.
Previous version	VMware Workstation 5.0
Product Web site	Click here

Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.

Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

What Is GNU/Linux?

GNU/Linux is a modular operating system that looks and acts like a more intelligently programmed, up-to-date Unix. The term itself — GNU/Linux — is extremely vague and doesn’t exist in the literal sense. You don’t go to the store and buy GNU/Linux; instead you buy a software distribution (or distro for short) that uses GNU/Linux as its basis. So while you can’t buy “Linux” at the store, you can buy SUSE Linux or Linspire.

Distributions can fundamentally differ in several ways:

• Base operating system
• Software management and updating
• Hardware management
• Desktop environment and theme
• Proprietary extras

The sections below will cover each of these topics in depth. If there is one particular area that you are confused about, feel free to skip down to the appropriate section. The next topic will cover how GNU/Linux differs from Unix and other Unix-like operating systems.

BSD, Unix, OS X, Linux?

There are many Unix-like operating systems and derivatives. Which ones are which?

GNU/Linux is only one possible combination of the GNU operating system with a separate kernel. GNU’s own kernel is HURD, but it’s been in development for a long time and is nowhere near ready for production. GNU/BSD and GNU/Mach exist, but more for experimental purposes than anything else. So in effect, GNU/Linux is the only GNU-based operating system that matters. Theoretically, you could use the operating system components from BSD and eliminate GNU entirely (or almost entirely) from GNU/Linux, but that would, again, be purely an academic pursuit.

Of the above-listed operating systems, only GNU/Linux has a variety of software distributions. The others are software distributions in themselves. The one exception is Solaris, which is based on code from the OpenSolaris project. There is at least one other OpenSolaris-based distribution aside from Solaris, and others are probably in development.

Most of these operating systems are similar in superficial ways. All are command line-based at heart, even if many of them default to graphical interfaces. Most of them share the majority of their terminal commands — or have commands that have largely similar functionality and syntax — so if you know one system very well, it is not difficult to learn a different one. GNU’s userland utilities were improved replacements of Unix commands; BSD was originally developed from Unix source code, so its userland utilities started out as clones of Unix commands and have evolved from there. Some of these OSes can use the same software programs if properly configured. Some are restricted to specific hardware architectures, while others are extraordinarily versatile in terms of what computers they can operate on.

The amount of code- and program-sharing among all of these operating systems varies. All of them are guaranteed to have either BSD code integrated somewhere, or at least one GNU utility (usually the GNU Compiler Collection, the BASH terminal program, or the Emacs text editor, among many others) included by default.

Base operating system differences

Among GNU/Linux distributions, there can be many variances in the base operating system (kernel and userland utilities). Some have unique methods of managing startup scripts; others mimic BSD or Unix. You can know everything there is to know about creating and modifying init scripts on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, then be totally lost when trying to implement the same changes on Gentoo Linux.

Almost all distros make their own small, custom changes to the Linux kernel in order to accommodate other changes or additions that the distribution maintainers want to make. This makes each distro’s kernel unique, and probably incompatible with other distributions. Commercial desktop GNU/Linux distros usually have extensively hacked kernels that support proprietary programs like Win4Lin, VMware, and proprietary hardware drivers.

place holder

GNU/Linux distributions are generally binary compatible with each other. That means that a program that will work on SUSE Linux will also work on Xandros and Linspire and any other distribution of the same generation and hardware architecture. Like all other operating systems, programs that are compiled for one architecture will not work on others. The only exception is 32-bit x86 binaries, which will work with most 64-bit AMD64 and Intel EM64T computers that are running a 64-bit operating system with a 32-bit binary compatibility layer. Every 64-bit desktop GNU/Linux distribution in existence offers a 32-bit binary compatibility layer by default, and it’s so transparent that you can’t tell the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit applications under all but the most extreme conditions.

Software management and updating

Chances are, if you’ve selected the right GNU/Linux distribution for your needs, you won’t have to add any extra software to it. If you do, most distros have software repositories that contain thousands of extra software packages that have been certified to work with your configuration. All you have to do is figure out which programs you want, select them from a list, and everything is installed for you. It’s much like using Windows Update.

Also like Windows Update, all major GNU/Linux distributions come equipped with a software update framework. Unlike Windows Update, however, GNU/Linux updaters will find patches and bug fixes for all of the software on your computer — not just the basic operating system. Each distribution has its own specialized update tools, but they are all generally easy to use.

On a more basic level, GNU/Linux distributions install software in one of two ways: by compiling from source code, or — more commonly — by installing precompiled binary packages.

Source-based distributions like Gentoo and Arch still have a software management framework like the big fancy commercial distros, but you have extra options. You can add in compiler flags to make programs a little faster or use less memory, or you can build applications with hooks to other programs so that your software is more interoperable. Binary distributions make guesses as to what your needs will be, and try to cover all of the bases by compiling everything in. In the real world, you’re not going to notice much of a difference by adding compiler optimizations and other options, but if you like tinkering with your computer, you’ll enjoy the experience.

Source-based distros will take a lot longer to manage because it takes time to compile large programs. You can use binary packages to get started, but updates are applied by compiling from source code. A binary installation of the KDE desktop environment takes only slightly longer than the time consumed downloading the binaries from the Internet, but compiling the full KDE system from source can literally take days. The same can be said of such behemoths as OpenOffice.org, GNOME, and Mozilla.

Binary distributions almost exclusively use two package formats for programs: RPM (a recursive acronym for RPM Package Manager), and DEB (short for Debian, a GNU/Linux distribution that is commonly used as a basis for others). In the old days, you may have had to go searching for RPMs or DEBs of programs that you wanted. In this day and age, however, you use your package manager to find and retrieve them for you. In the event that you must install one of these packages by hand, there are graphical alternatives to the standard command line tools for installing them. There are even tools available to use DEB packages on RPM-based distros, and vice-versa. Usually programs are packaged in both formats, though.

Red Hat (and Fedora Core), SUSE, and Mandriva are three well-known distributions that use RPM packages. Linspire, Xandros, Debian, Ubuntu, and Mepis are some of the most popular DEB-based distributions. Both package formats are heavily entrenched in these and other distributions; neither seeks to replace the other.

Occasionally you might see someone on a message forum or mailing list complaining about RPMs and “dependency hell.” This is because individual packages usually depend on other packages, and that means tracking down several RPMs to install one program, then doing some command line kung-fu to install them in the right order. Again, this is the old way of doing things — nowadays you let your package manager do the work for you.

Popular package managers include:

• YUM
• APT
• Smart
• Synaptic
• Click N Run
• Xandros Networks
• YaST

Hardware management

Commercial GNU/Linux distributions include software that automatically detects and installs the proper drivers for all of your computer hardware and peripherals. Usually it works perfectly without any user intervention necessary. Sometimes it encounters unsupported hardware, or hardware that requires a newer kernel or driver. Some distros share the same autodetection and hardware management code, some have a totally unique hardware management framework.

Non-commercial distros are usually good at detecting hardware, but never contain proprietary drivers for ATI and Nvidia video cards, some kinds of wireless network chips, RAID cards, and video capture cards. Drivers for these devices require licensing and distribution agreements that non-commercial distribution developers are generally unwilling to negotiate, agree to, or pay for. This means that if you want to take full advantage of your 3D graphics card, you will have to download and install a proprietary video driver. A simple Google search will usually yield installation instructions. Again, this is best done by adding software repository sources to your package manager instead of installing them by hand.

All GNU/Linux distributions of the same era (released within 6 months of each other) will have similar or identical support for computer hardware and peripheral devices, with the above-listed exception that commercial distros often have extra proprietary drivers. Commercial distros make it easy to configure your hardware — assuming you even have to. Free-of-charge distros can be just as easy in some ways, and much more difficult in others.

Desktop environments and themes

The two primary desktop environments in the world of GNU/Linux are GNOME and KDE. Most distros support both, and usually default to one or the other. There are also window managers, which don’t have the large number of integrated programs, but are usually considered to be more responsive and efficient on slower computers. Which one you should use is entirely a matter of preference.

Aside from desktop environment, each distribution has its own special color, icon, login, desktop, and menu theme. You can change the theme — there are several dozen good themes available, and more coming out every week — so don’t let the default look and feel of the desktop discourage you. You can make KDE look almost exactly like Windows XP, and you can make GNOME look almost exactly like Apple OS X. Window managers are even more customizable, but often require you to edit configuration files by hand.

If you’re coming from Windows, you’ll find KDE easier to adjust to because it has the same basic graphical layout. If you prefer something that is a little different and possibly more efficient in terms of mouse movements and menu navigation, try GNOME instead. Most desktop distros standardize on KDE, but allow GNOME as well; most “enterprise” distributions (made for business use) standardize on GNOME, but allow KDE as well. In the old days, some popular distros shut out all but the developers’ favorite desktop environment, but this is rare or nonexistent nowadays.

Proprietary extras

In addition to the proprietary hardware drivers mentioned previously, there are also proprietary software extras that are an important complement to the desktop computing experience. Most people will, at one time or another, need to access a PDF, Java applet, Flash animation, or video file on the World Wide Web. And when they need to see those files, they need browser plugins to do it. Unfortunately, all of the most functional plugins for these technologies are not free-as-in-rights, and won’t be included with the majority of GNU/Linux distributions. If you want them, you have to either choose a commercial distro (there are some recommendations in a section below), or add them by hand. As I’ve said before, adding them by hand is not necessarily difficult, but it will take some reading and research to get everything working perfectly. If you are not prepared to do this, do not choose a GNU/Linux distro that does not include these extras.

Recommendations

If you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t choose distributions that require a lot of legwork to configure basic services or install extra software. If you are new to GNU/Linux and want a great desktop experience, I recommend trying these distros (listed in no specific order):

• Linspire
• Xandros
• SUSE Linux
• Mandriva

All of these distros will cost you something — usually under US $100. A lot of experienced GNU/Linux enthusiasts will recommend non-commercial distributions like Ubuntu, Fedora Core, or Debian. These are good distros and are available free of charge, but require that you add proprietary video drivers and Web browser plugins by hand, and don’t have the same kind of automatic hardware management that the four distros I listed above have. That means that you could end up rather frustrated by your GNU/Linux experience. Also stay away from the open source edition of SUSE Linux — that is also missing many of the proprietary extras that you’re used to in Windows or OS X (the commercial version of SUSE does have plugins for Java, Flash, and PDF). It’s not tough to add them if you follow this guide, but many people are not prepared to get that technical with their software.

If you’re looking for a distro that is more suited to server use, try these:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
• Mandriva Corporate Server

Again, people will argue that other distros or Unix-like OSes are better, but the above-mentioned distributions are easy to install, configure, and manage, and come with extensive documentation and commercial support. You will have a much easier time with them, and you’re better off going with one of these if you’re new to GNU/Linux or Unix-like operating systems in general. You can make virtually any GNU/Linux distribution into a server of any kind; it’s just a matter of how much work you have to do to prepare and maintain it. If you don’t want to do a lot of work, choose one of the above distros.

Non-commercial desktop distributions of note include:

• Ubuntu
• SUSE Linux OSS
• Fedora Core

If you would prefer more of a challenge, as either a server or a desktop OS, try these distros:

• Gentoo
• Debian
• Slackware
• Arch

Lastly, if you would like to see what a GNU/Linux desktop can look like, you can download Knoppix, a distro that runs entirely from a CD. You write the ISO file to a blank CD-R disc, then restart your computer with the disc in the CD drive. You’ll run a whole distribution right from the CD. When you’re done playing around, just select the Shutdown menu option, remove the CD from the drive, and restart — nothing will be written to your hard drive.

Is this not what you expected to read?

This article is meant to help you understand the basic, fundamental differences between GNU/Linux distributions. If you want an in-depth comparison of several distros, your best bet is to find individual reviews of the ones you’re interested in and decide for yourself — don’t let others decide for you. Go to Distrowatch, then find the sections for the distros you want to research. Distrowatch provides links to all of the online reviews of each version of every distro that it tracks — it’s an excellent resource for getting a variety of perspectives on many different GNU/Linux distributions.

Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.

Copyright 2005 Jem Matzan.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

Writing analysis

The general trend of Just Say No to Microsoft is to bash Microsoft and all of its software products, and push competing Apple products. Much of the claims made by Bove are not cited, so readers can’t really tell whether he’s offering his opinions or repeating facts. Much of the Microsoft history he relates would be better served with some sources listed.

There are several factual errors in this book, and many things that the author has misinterpreted or misunderstood. The first and most egregious is the author’s amateurish lack of understanding of the terms “open source” and “free software,” which is strange considering both the Open Source Initiative and the Free Software Foundation offer very clear, detailed, quotable, and easy to find definitions of these terms. In the book, the author claims that open source software is given away for free and maintained by volunteers, both of which are untrue as statements of fact. Two of the largest open source programs in the world — the Linux kernel and the OpenOffice.org suite — are maintained at the top by professional, full-time programmers who are paid to work on them. The largest open source software vendors — Red Hat and Sun Microsystems — profitably charge for open source and open source-based software. This basic misrepresentation of free software and the GNU/Linux operating system ruins the author’s credibility throughout the rest of the book. How can readers trust Tony Bove to recommend alternative solutions when he has such an elementary misunderstanding of what can reasonably be said to be the top Microsoft Windows and Office replacements?

All of the non-Windows example screen shots are clearly taken on a Macintosh computer, and the author consistently pushes Apple systems as the primary alternative to Microsoft Windows-based computers, leaving GNU/Linux as an afterthought despite the fact that it works on the same hardware that Windows does. He says at one point that “Only the brave might try Linux on the desktop,” without providing clear reasons as to why a user must be brave; he then goes on to say that Apple computers are easier to use, again without providing any evidence. The only screen shots of GNU/Linux that readers see are of ancient versions of the GNOME and KDE desktop environments with blocky and unattractive themes — almost as if to show that the only attractive desktop environment in the author’s world is OS X. The book also misrepresents KDE by getting its acronym wrong. Microsoft-bashing aside, I’d say that Just Say No to Microsoft is less of a book about Microsoft alternatives and more of a volunteer advertisement for buying Apple computers. There’s nothing wrong with that if it is the stated purpose of the book, but Just Say No to Microsoft claims to present alternatives to Windows and Office, and it doesn’t objectively do that. Instead it offers opinion interspersed with occasional cited fact, misrepresentation of GNU/Linux, and information that is just plain incorrect. Where were Tony Bove’s editors?

Putting the book to the test

The gist of Just Say No to Microsoft is to switch to Apple, or if you are “brave,” to switch to GNU/Linux; and to switch from MS Office to OpenOffice.org or AbiWord. There are other books by No Starch Press and competing publishers that better accomplish the task of helping readers migrate data and program settings from Windows to either GNU/Linux or OS X. Just Say No to Microsoft is light on migration details and heavy on anti-Microsoft fervor. That Microsoft has done unethical things is provable and undeniable, but the book makes many allegations that aren’t backed up by verifiable facts. Someday I hope to see a good biography on Microsoft, but Just Say No to Microsoft isn’t it.

Title	Just Say No to Microsoft
Publisher	No Starch Press
Author	Tony Bove
ISBN	159327064X
Pages	Paperback, 264 pages
Rating	1 out of 10
Summary	How to ditch Microsoft and why it’s not as hard as you think
Price (retail)	U.S. $25. Buy it from Amazon.com

Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.