1. New design for the installer.
2. Live upgrade
3. Moblin desktop
4. Guest accounts
5. 3G features request
6. Better wireless support
7. Easier wifi key setup
8. Better boot time
9. Better rpmdrake start up speed
10. Urpmi media auto configuration
11. Better user information in rpmdrake
12. Better Drakguard
13. Better krandr
14. OpenOffice.org 3.1 and KDE 4 integration
15. gcc 4.4
16. Improved diskdrake
17. GNOME 2.28
18. KDE 4.3.2
19. Nepomuk integration
20. Plymouth boot splash

I really liked it that the installer of Mandrake give us users the freedom to choose the kind of desktop environment we want. Looks like they still give users the option and they even included Moblin for good measure, to keep up with netbook users. I think this will be interesting to test eventually. Moblin offers users an interesting layout for netbook users so that the space is maximized. There’s also the improvement of the tools users use to manage things like disk partitioning. After all, this is one of the things which would be tedious on the command line and could be tricky and scary for users who are not used to the command line interface.

All in all, it does look like Mandriva is going to improve everything to make it usable to users. If you’re a user who’d like the fancy stuff of KDE, it might be an advantage too since there are improvements in krandr (for easy management of the resolution of your monitor, etc.) and then there’s also the OpenOffice.org integration with KDE. GNOME fans also have something to look forward to because GNOME 2.28 is the basis of GNOME 3.0!

Mandriva is looking mighty tempting. But I am really thinking about this well because of the comfort level I currently have with Ubuntu. Ah well, who knows? I might go back to where I started if things keep looking this good. : )

Post from: New Linux User

Sounds like an infomercial, doesn’t it? ;  )  But thinking about what defaults you might possibly have, there’s gotta be something better.  And I might be biased but there really are other things better on netbooks compared to Windows.  Whether you believe it or not, that’s what I personally think.  Windows looks too cluttered for me even though it’s not as sluggish as I thought it would be.

Anyway, no need to freak out that your netbook isn’t quite as fantastic as you thought it should be. Some changes in the latest version of Easy Peasy:

• It has a new look!
• It uses kernel 2.6.30 that’s been optimized for netbooks so that startup’s faster.
• Support for more netbooks! Hooray!
• An image which could possibly be installed from a Mac.
• Upgraded software like Picasa and OpenOffice.org.
• It uses Ext4 as a file system by default.

Easy Peasy. Logo from the Easy Peasy website.

I am waiting for my download of EasyPeasy to get done so I could blog about my first impressions too. As much as I am excited to try it out because of Ext4 and the latest kernel that’s optimized for netbooks, Ubuntu Karmic Koala’s just around the corner. Hrmm. I don’t know.

But yeah, those who are new netbook owners could benefit from distros whose teams are always seeking ways to make it easier for newbies to use Linux. They make sure that the applications that users will look for are there. Like Picasa or Skype.

And it’s really great that the Easy Peasy team has gone beyond supporting Asus EEE PC so other netbook owners could enjoy the benefits of this distro.

Just wait for me to check it out and I’d post my screenshots and write my impressions of this version of Easy Peasy. I already have the image and so I just need to put it on a USB flashdrive for a review later.

Post from: New Linux User

• Lite ISO: Small CD image (700MB)
  
  This has games suitable for children and older computers. You just burn it on a CD with your favorite CD-writing tool.
• Lite USB
  
  This has the same games as the Lite ISO version but it is made for USB keys and USB sticks (requires minimum of 1GB USB device).
  
  You could use:
  sudo dd bs=8M if=/path/to/lg-live-0.9.5-i686-lite.usb of=/dev/your_usb_device

  
  Or: use the Flashnul utility. You could also refer to this guide to using Flashnul.
• Big ISO
  
  Big DVD image (4.7GB) with the full games selection for adults and more recent computers.
• Big USB
  
  This has the same contents as the Big ISO but this is meant for USB drives. So yes, your USB drive must have as much capacity or you can’t write this on it. Writing method could be the same as the Lite USB version.

For the complete list of games, check this page.

I would probably get a copy of the lite versions so that I could give it to my co-workers who have children. Some of them do allow their children to use their computers but having the USB with a distro with games will probably limit their young ones so that they won’t be able to just click on anything just because it’s on the browser. I see that a lot of their children go online to play games so this will give them another option.

Post from: New Linux User

So, yeah, I think it would be cool if Moblin and Ubuntu joined forces and have an Ubuntu Moblin Remix. Turns out that there will be one such experiment which we will see when Karmic Koala or Ubuntu 9.10 is released this October. You could even check the wiki page about Mobile Karmic Moblin Remix.

One of the issues though is that Moblin uses RPM packages and not DEBs. So how now, right? And there are no migration plans for those who want to use Ubuntu Moblin Remix. This is a release that’s made for demonstration purposes. Oh well. I’d still like to try out anyway! Especially when I saw the screenshot on the internetnews.com blog. Of course the screenshot had the usual brown Human theme of Ubuntu, that’s why I am hoping for the best!

Maybe it’s time for a new desktop environment geared towards netbook users. There are a lot of combinations of window managers and docking apps but wouldn’t it be easier if by default, there is an easy to use interface for newbies who happen to be netbook users? Ubuntu Moblin Remix might show that a new interface might be better and this could be the beginning of an awesome netbook future ahead of us.

Post from: New Linux User

Nifty features:

• 20-second boot-up. How much faster could boot-up times go? But a 20-second boot-up would be nice.
• Automatic fonts and Mime installer. If you’re not familiar with the file format, it’s ok. You could try opening it and you will be prompted if you want to search for the application that will open it. If you’re opening a file in a word processor or something, you will be prompted that the application will install the appropriate fonts.
• GNOME 2.26 – You could get the latest version of GNOME with Fedora 11. And if you’re not a GNOME user, there’s always…
• KDE 4.2 which has PolicyKit-KDE, Network Manager plasma applet among others.
• Invidia graphics cards will use Nouveau as the default driver.
• Access your Microsoft Exchange inbox using OpenChange. You could use Evolution or kdepim with Exchange using OpenChange.

All those features and more are available in Fedora 11. If you’re dying to see some screenshots, you could view h-online.com’s slideshow of Fedora 11 screenshots.

Post from: New Linux User

Fedora

PlanetOSS even has a review of Fedora 11’s pre-release. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols listed down Fedora’s 5 best features even.

On the best features list, I saw that the fast boot up time was included. I saw that on one of the tweets of one person I’m following. The list includes Fedora using Ext4 by default, better graphics because of X.server 1.6, as well as improvements with Synaptics to the point that it made him appreciate touchpads more. Another one is the extra security provided by DNSSEC.

The PlanetOSS review has more screenshots in case you are curious and it gave a more detailed writeup of his user experience with Fedora 11. That includes the good and the bad. Although as other commenters have pointed out, not everything that was mentioned was the same for them. Some agreed to having difficulties with the graphical package manager though.

For me, package managers are critical because users who are new to Linux must be guided about instaling packages. They might get the usual exe files and other such installers online without knowing that they won’t work. So where do they turn to for their favorite kinds of applications, right?

I like that the PlanetOSS also included a lot of screenshots for those who are not familiar with Fedora, like me. The review also mentioned other stuff like Palimpsest which might be a replacement for Gparted.

Post from: New Linux User

So what’s to expect in Jaunty Jackalope

Some things that I don’t quite look forward to all involve Intel graphic cards and the wifi issues. Most of us at work are using Acer laptops with Intel graphics cards. ~_~  Oh well, we’d see.  I think one of us has started using Jaunty Jackalope so it’s better to ask him first.

In terms of apps, there’s no doubt I am looking forward to things like Brasero and a better user interface for those who want to configure their extended screens.

Post from: New Linux User

• FreeIPA – for managing identities and authentication
• support for resizing ext2, ext3 and NTFS partitions during install
• support for creating and installing to encrypted file systems
• unified installer of packages via PackageKit

Desktop environments such as GNOME 2.22 and KDE4 are available so you could choose either.

I guess that for people who are dual-booting or have other types of file systems on other partitions the best thing in the release is the ability to resize partitions. I’ve encountered people who have had difficulties resizing the partitions on their hard drives and so they have to boot into the other OS in order to do some resizing.

Admins will have even better ways of managing users with FreeIPA — single sign-on for many services is said to be a feature and I’d probably mention that to our sys ads. Single sign-on would be beneficial for users. It’s such a pain sometimes to keep logging on the various services which we are using.

Get your copy of Fedora 9 so you could start fiddling around with it and let us know how it goes! (I am sorry but I am loyal to Debian and Ubuntu… but still! I can’t help but be curious about other Linuxen.)

Post from: New Linux User

So use the mirrors, ok?

If you need a cheatsheet on the commands you might need, you could check out yesterday’s post and if you want to think about how you should partition and mount your Windows partition if you’re dual booting Ubuntu and Windows XP, you could read more about it.

Happy downloading and enjoy the goodness of Ubuntu Hardy Heron!

Post from: New Linux User