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The Karmic Koala Makes Its Debut: Ubuntu 9.10 Now Available

Bart Salisbury — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:25:26 -0500

Making good on its promise, Canonical is right now pushing out the door version 9.10 of Ubuntu, the infamous “Karmic Koala.” Ubuntu is one of the more popular renditions of open source Linux, that small, but dedicated, niche in the operating system universe that follows the path less taken.

And quite the path it is. Renai LeMay, of Cnet News, judged the current version, 9.04, to be “as slick and beautiful as Mac OS X and Windows 7.” Version 9.10 builds on this, adding faster boot times, a better driver for Intel integrated graphics, build in cloud storage, and a Software Centre that permits better management of applications. Ubuntu offers a suite of office applications, plus games, music, video, photo, email and chat software. And, naturally, includes Mozilla’s Firefox 3.5 for browsing the web.

Ubuntu is at home on PC or Mac hardware, and comes in 32-bit. Ubuntu also comes in a server edition. And a netbook version, Kubuntu, is also available. Get everything you need to know about Ubuntu 9.10 from our guide.

Image Credit: Canonical

Everything You Need To Know about Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)

Will Kraft — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:30:00 -0500

On October 29, Canonical is set to release Ubuntu 9.10 (codenamed “Karmic Koala”), the newest installment in the Ubuntu product line. In anticipation of this release, we took the release candidate (RC) for a test drive. Ubuntu 9.10 RC comes on a LiveCD just like its predecessors and allows you to test a fully-functional installation of the operating system without installing it. The boot process looks very different from previous versions, especially since the old progress bar has been replaced with one that just moves from left to right while providing very little useful boot progress information. However, the boot process is still extremely fast compared to many other distros and you always have the option of disabling the boot splash screen if you want to see detailed boot information.

Additionally, the installation process now automatically sets your system time from an online time server and now includes a slideshow to introduce you to the features of Ubuntu as the system installs. And for the first time, Ubuntu now allows you to encrypt your home directory out of the box by providing a new option for it during the setup process.

A New Linux Kernel and GNOME

Ubuntu 9.04 comes with Linux kernel 2.6.31 and GNOME 2.28. There are lots of other under-the-hood changes that may not be immediately obvious. HAL (hardware extraction layer) is in the process of being deprecated, so this functionality is now handled by DeviceKit and Udev. The Intel graphics driver has been modified to fix some of the reported problems it had in 9.04.

AppArmor security software has been improved, and GRUB 2 is now the default bootloader for new installations. Existing installations will continue to use legacy GRUB since replacing the bootloader is risky business From 9.10 onward, ext4 will be the new default filesystem in new installations instead of ext3. Existing ext3-based installations will remain unchanged if you decide to upgrade from 9.04 since changing the filesystem would require a complete reformat.

Appearance Changes

Ubuntu 9.10 features significant appearance changes. The login screen has been drastically updated; names of users are now shown in a small box in the middle of the screen that is very similar to the OS X login screen. Those who prefer the old-style login screens will be disappointed to know that there is currently no easy way to replace the new login screen in the RC with themes similar to the ones found in previous versions of Ubuntu.

Ubuntu's standard brown “human” theme has also been modified, giving it a purplish tint and darkening it considerably from the bright pumpkin-orange appearance found in previous releases over the past few years. Ubuntu 9.10 uses new minimalistic icons in the system tray that look much better and are more consistent than the old ones (new icons are also found in the home directory). There are rumors that the default Ubuntu theme is going to get a makeover in 10.04 (the next long-term support release coming out next year) so 9.10 is probably the last version that will use the classic Ubuntu brown theme by default.

New Utilites

Furthermore, Ubuntu 9.10 includes several new utilities. One of the most prominent changes is Palimpsest, the new GNOME disk utility. It allows you to work with your hard disks and partitions in an easy-to-use interface similar to the Disk Utility found in OS X. It seems like GNOME in general is borrowing heavily from OS X these days, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Palimpsest is very powerful and more user-friendly than the Gparted utility which has been standard issue in Ubuntu for a long time.

9.10 also implements Ubuntu One and IBus (Intelligent Input Bus). Ubuntu One is a cloud computing solution from Canonical that offers 2GB of online storage for free and 50GB for US$10 per month. In addition to that, Ubuntu One allows you to synchronize your documents on the online service between one or more computers. Some Linux purists may not like a proprietary utility like Ubuntu One, but using it is entirely optional. IBus is a framework that makes it easier to work with different languages other than English. Ubuntu's old Add/Remove programs tool has been replaced with the Ubuntu Software Center, (previously called Ubuntu Software Store) a tool that splits available software into categories and provides detailed information about each program you may want to install.

In summary, current and prospective Ubuntu users should definitely upgrade to or check out 9.10.

Ubuntu and IBM Join Forces against Windows 7

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:17:00 -0500

IBM is hoping its latest war cry can somehow pierce the din that Windows 7 seems to be generating. In September, the company struck a partnership with Canonical, the UK-based sponsor of Ubuntu, which resulted in the launch of an Ubuntu-based desktop bundle in Africa.

The cloud- and Ubuntu-based software package, which is part of IBM’s Smart Work Initiative, will soon be debuting in the States. The Ubuntu-based desktop package includes IBM’s free Lotus Symphony productivity suite and Lotus Notes, which is a business email and collaboration solution.

The IBM Client for Smart Work will only arrive in the U.S. in 2010 despite IBM positioning it to rival Windows 7 – on the brink of launch - in the enterprise market. It will be available both as a run-of-the-mill desktop and as a virtualized desktop.

"If a company is a 'Windows shop,' at some point it will need to evaluate the significant costs of migrating its base to Microsoft's next desktop," said Bob Picciano, General Manager, IBM Lotus Software. IBM and chums are clearly targeting those businesses that are not too keen on Windows 7.

Maximum PC Primer: Lightweight Netbook Computing with Linux

Will Kraft — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:00:00 -0500

These days, netbooks have become a very popular alternative to conventional notebooks for mobile computing. Netbooks are lightweight, have great battery life, and are relatively inexpensive compared to full-sized notebooks. This makes them ideal for students or people on a budget. Of course, the lower cost and extended battery life does not come without a trade-off—many netbooks have lower system specs as well, which means that they are not designed for heavy-computing applications.

Although many netbooks now run Windows XP because of Microsoft's hurried entry into that market, many earlier models were built to run Linux. (For instance, the Asus Eee 700 Series ran Xandros, and the current models are offered with either Linux or Windows) And although most current netbooks are x86-based (running the Intel Atom CPU), the usage of ARM-based CPU chips is likely to increase in the future since ARM offers far superior energy efficiency over x86 and battery life has always been a major factor in mobile computing. ARM chips have been used successfully for some time in smartphones and music players, including the newest Zune HD. Since ARM is a different CPU architecture than x86, Windows will not work on ARM. Earlier this year, Microsoft's Steve Guggenheim said that the company currently has no plans to port Windows 7 to the ARM architecture. Therefore, any new wave of ARM-based netbooks will run Linux once again. Unlike Windows, most Linux distros can be compiled for ARM if you have the requisite skills for doing so.

Linux is an ideal choice for netbooks for multiple reasons in addition to CPU architecture. Netbooks generally have lower specs than most full-size notebooks (not to mention desktops) so they are ideal for lightweight applications like web browsing, document preparation, etc. Linux does these tasks very well without the bloat that Windows systems have to deal with from anti-malware utilities. This primer will help you set up and optimize Linux for your netbook.

The Operating System

While any Linux distro will work for your netbook with some degree of success, it is better to use one that is explicitly designed for that purpose. Many specialized distros (optimized for a specific hardware configuration) have sprung up for models like the Acer Aspire One, The Asus Eee, and several others while more generalized distros exist for all netbooks. Most netbook distros are based on Ubuntu, since Ubuntu is very well developed and has enjoyed unparalleled success on more conventional systems.

The first distro we should address is Ubuntu Netbook Remix, which is a trimmed-down variant of Ubuntu designed for netbooks. It is compatible with most netbooks makes and models on both x86 and ARM architecture. (mainline Ubuntu support for ARM is coming soon)

Easy Peasy is another Ubuntu-derived distro that ships with a few proprietary applications. (Skype instead of Ekiga)

Crunchbang is a scaled-down variant of Ubuntu that is especially good since it packs in plenty of software and has a very small memory footprint compared to standard Ubuntu. Crunchbang uses the OpenBox window manager; like on Fluxbox, most activity is done through right-clicking.

Eeebuntu is an Ubuntu derivative that has been designed specifically for the Asus EEE. Unlike Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Easy Peasy, CrunchBang, and Eeebuntu only support x86 at this time.

Standard Xubuntu is also a good choice for low-spec systems, including netbooks.

If you prefer a lightweight distro that is not based on Ubuntu, Slax is also an excellent choice to use on a netbook due to its small footprint; memory usage is seldom over 256 MB at any given time, so you will experience minimal swapping. (in fact, you can run Slax entirely in RAM—just watch your memory usage while doing so!) Based on conventional Slackware, Slax offers a nice slimmed-down KDE 3.5 and a nice modular package management design if you need to add more stuff.

Instead of the heavy OpenOffice.org office suite, Slax includes parts of the Koffice suite: Kword (not to be confused with kwrite, a lightweight text editor) Kspread, and Kpresent. These are excellent lightweight alternatives to OpenOffice.org, but are not practical for most lightweight netbook distros since you have to install most of KDE to make them work. However, they work quite well in this situation since KDE is already included in the distro.

Media is also handled quite well with Juk and Kplayer handling audio and video, respectively. However, you may want to add a more powerful player like VLC that can do both. This is not as painful as it sounds, since you can easily custom-build your own Slax remix by using a rather unique tool before you even download it. If you choose to build your own Slax, just keep your netbook's limitations in mind and don't get too carried away with adding packages since having more applications create a heavier system.

Although Slax is designed as a pure LiveCD distro like Knoppix, it is possible to install it. The process involves copying the Slax files to your netbook's hard drive and running the bootinst.sh script in Slax's /boot folder. If you run into snags while installing Slax, there are online guides that can help you get things sorted out. Once you install Slax, you may have to do some tinkering (installing firmware or ndiswrapper) to make certain wireless devices and webcams work properly. Also, you may need to make sure that your bootloader is configured correctly.

If you really want to go lightweight, you should check out Damn Small Linux. This miniature 50MB operating system packs in a full Linux experience in a footprint that is about as tiny as a full-featured Linux distro can get these days. DSL is a Live CD distro but can also be installed in accordance with the same precautions as Slax. In both cases, preparing Slax and DSL for netbook use is best left to more experienced users rather than beginners.

Conventional full-size distros like Debian and Mandriva have been known to work well on Netbooks as well. If you go that route, try to keep a small installation and memory footprint to minimize the burden on your system.

Regardless of the operating system you use, a major priority should be to reduce disk activity, especially swapping. (swap is the Linux equivalent to the Windows paging file) On solid state disks, swapping is actually detrimental; SSDs have a finite number of “writes” before they begin to lose data integrity and swapping is a very write-intensive process. The number of write cycles may range anywhere between 100,000 to five million writes. This may sound like a lot, (especially on USB flash drives that don't get written to very often) but it really isn't if you use your netbook on a regular basis. Therefore, it is imperative that you minimize swapping as much as possible to avoid artificially shortening the life of your SSD. If you disable swapping altogether, your system will spontaneously crash if you run out of memory, so it is best to set aside only a small permanent buffer of swap space to keep this from happening. (additional swap can be added at a moment’s notice through swap files) With that said, you can also use Linux successfully without any type of swap at all if you keep a vigilant eye on your RAM usage at all times.

This situation does not apply to the few netbooks that use conventional hard drives; since there is no finite number of writes with that technology, you are able to swap normally to your heart's content. However, excessive disk activity can drain the battery rather quickly whereas RAM usage does not, so it still pays to run as much of the system in memory as possible.

Preparing the Operating System

Since many netbooks lack optical drives, the usual method of downloading an ISO of your favorite distro and burning it to a CD/DVD to create the installation medium will not work. Instead, the best choice is to use a USB flash drive as your installation media. Since the ISO can't be “burned” to a USB stick the same way it can be burned to a disk, you will need to convert it.

UNetbootin is a nice utility for Windows and Linux that can take a conventional ISO image and install it to a USB flash drive. Alternatively, it can download and prepare a distro for you automatically. Once this has been done, you will be able to boot from the flash drive and install the operating system as you normally would. Using a flash drive has the added bonus of being more efficient; since you can overwrite the contents of the flash drive as needed, you won't eventually end up with a big pile of obsolete installation discs.

Lightweight Starter Software

Since the best course of action is to stay within the confines of your netbook's physical memory regardless of the type of disk you are using, it is best to use lightweight applications that have a smaller disk and memory footprint. Regardless of the hard drive type used, most netbooks have a fairly low amount of disk space compared to full-size notebooks or desktops. For instance, most models have an 8GB or 16GB SSD or a 160GB hard drive, which isn't very big compared to the 500 GB and 1TB (or larger) drives found on today's desktops and some high-end notebooks. Likewise, many netbooks have only 512 MB to 1GB memory. Therefore, it is best to regard your netbook as simply being a low-power system, much like an older computer. Because of this, it is often essential to use lightweight software that works well on such systems.

Choosing the right desktop environment can be a huge factor in the performance of your netbook. Conventional desktops like GNOME or KDE may overtax the system (unless they have been modified to be more lightweight than the standard build) and leave little free memory left for other applications. Most of the Ubuntu-based netbook operating systems like Easy Peasy, Ubuntu Netbook Remix, and Eeebuntu have a simplified launcher system that is easier to read and navigate on small compact screens. This special launcher has large icons and a tabbed interface system that turns the entire desktop into a program selection menu. The rationale behind this design is that display space is a premium on small netbook displays and it is pointless to waste most of the desktop space on a wallpaper image while forcing the user to navigate small menus.

If you prefer a more conventional interface, lightweight desktop environments like XFCE (used by Xubuntu) and LXDE (used by Knoppix 6 and one variant of EeeBuntu) are ideal for netbook systems and low-spec systems in general. Fluxbox and similar window managers also fit the netbook niche very well.

Smaller, lighter applications can often get the job done just as well as heavier ones. Since netbooks are frequently used as a companion to more powerful computers, you should load them with only as much software as you really need on a regular basis. For instance, many people only need a word processor and perhaps a spreadsheet for day-to-day use. Therefore, it makes sense to install only a word processor and spreadsheet as standalone programs if you only need those things instead of carrying around a full office suite that has things you may not need regularly (like presentation, drawing, and database software).

Abiword is an ideal lightweight word processor that supports OpenDocument Text, Word 2007, “classic” Microsoft Word DOC format, and much more. Its interface greatly resembles that of OpenOffice Writer or pre-2007 MS Word, so users familiar with those programs should not have a difficult time using Abiword. Abiword has passive (red underline) and active spellcheck. In addition to that, Abiword has a passive grammar check option, (suspected grammar errors are underlined in green) a feature that Writer lacks altogether. GNUmeric is a standalone spreadsheet that has some resemblance to Excel. It can import/write many different spreadsheet formats and even has support for graphs.

For more information on running Linux and lightweight computing, refer to our previous guides on the topic.

How to Run Windows Software (and Games) on Linux with Wine

Will Kraft — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Although the various Linux distributions have a wide variety of software available, you may have a few Windows programs that you may not be willing or able to part with. Although many people dual-boot or use virtual machines to get around this problem, there is yet another potential option that many people new to Linux may not have considered--- Wine. Wine stands out from the other options because it does not require a separate Windows license.

Wine Overview

Wine is a program that allows you to run Microsoft Windows programs on Linux. Although it is emulator-like in appearance and by observation, Wine is not an emulator; in fact, the very name of Wine is an acronym for Wine is not an Emulator. A true emulator can emulate CPU architecture in addition to the actual software it is running. For instance, a program that could execute Intel x86-based Windows software on SPARC-based systems running the Solaris operating system would be a true emulator. However, Wine is actually a compatibility layer since both Windows and Wine run natively on x86 and no hardware emulation is required.

Wine works by recreating a miniature Windows installation in your home folder, (the .wine directory) complete with a virtual C:\ (drive_c) and registry. Contained within drive_c is a Program Files folder and a Windows folder complete with a system32 folder that has the most important Windows system files in it. Please note that these files are recreations of the Windows files of the same name rather than being the actual files that are included in a real Windows installation. In other words, the user32.dll file that comes with Wine is not the same file as the user32.dll that can be found in a real 32-bit Windows installation. Instead, each of the dll files in a Wine environment has been painstakingly reverse-engineered to match the functionality of the original as much as possible. Wine can also use actual Windows drivers if need be, but you must supply these yourself. Furthermore, Wine has its own implementation of the Windows registry with a knock-off of Regedit to configure it.

A compatibility layer like Wine is capable of translating Windows system calls to Linux system calls. Although it works as a translation layer, Wine runs in userland like any other program on Linux and has nothing to do with the Linux kernel. Everything a Windows binary does when you run it is funneled through Wine before being passed through to the rest of the Linux system. If the libraries needed by a Windows program are installed, this functionality allows the Windows software to run on Linux to some extent. This ultimately allows Wine to re-create the Windows API in a state that is somewhat similar to Windows XP. Some programs work better than others, but Wine is constantly improving and the list of fully compatible programs is always getting bigger. While Wine may run some programs adequately enough for production use, this will not be the case for every program you may need to use.

Although Wine strives to work as well as possible, it is not always a perfect solution for every problem. Wine's functionality is still determined on a per-program basis, and this may fluctuate drastically when you factor in certain variables that are determined based on your system configuration. WineHQ (the Wine developers' website) has a database of programs, with each entry assigned a rating based on how well it works on Wine. The ratings run from Platinum (works perfectly with no configuration required) on the high end to “Garbage” (does not work at all) on the low end. This rating may change from distro to distro, and may even fluctuate between distro versions; for instance, a hypothetical program may have a “Platinum” rating on Ubuntu 9.04, a “Gold” rating on Ubuntu 8.10, “Silver” on Gentoo, and a “Garbage” rating on any version of Mandriva. If the program you want to run has a “Garbage” rating, your only real choice is to dual-boot or use a virtual machine to run it. The good news is that once a program is in a usable state, it will probably stay that way in future versions of Wine unless you do something to break it.

Acquiring Wine

There are several ways to acquire Wine for any Linux distro. While most distros include a Wine binary somewhere in the main software repositories, the binary in question may be quite old and will not offer the best possible performance. With Wine, you should always use the latest version. Therefore, the best option is to acquire a Wine binary directly from WineHQ. For instance, Ubuntu users are able to add the WineHQ repository to their sources.list file. Binaries from WineHQ are updated regularly and are usually the latest stable version. However, not all distros have a separate WineHQ build. If your distro has a separate WineHQ repository, you should definitely use it, since this method allows you to keep your Wine installation up-to-date with the latest stable version without having to download and install packages manually every time there is an update.

For Ubuntu, add “deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt $version main”. ($version should be the nickname of your Ubuntu version, like hardy, intrepid, jaunty, karmic, etc) to your /etc/apt/sources.list file. (you need to use sudo or root for this) Next, add the GPG key for the repository: “wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -” Finally, run “sudo apt-get update” and then “sudo apt-get install wine”.

For OpenSUSE, (We assume you are using 11.1) add the following repository through YaST's Repository Management tool: “http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators:/Wine/openSUSE_11.1/” YaST will verify the repository and then install the key. Open the software installation tool in YaST and search for Wine. Choose the wine-snapshot package (make sure it comes from the WineHQ repository) and then install it.

Fedora users should just run “yum install wine” as root since that distro has no special repository for cutting-edge releases.
Likewise, Mandriva users should install the most recent version of Wine from the Mandriva software management tool.
Alternatively, you can always download the source from WineHQ and compile your own Wine binary-- you have to do it that way if you need to hack in extra functionality that does not come in the stock binaries. However, this is generally a last-resort option and is not beginner-friendly. If you customize Wine too much just to get one program running, it will probably break support for other programs. Furthermore, this method will not auto-update, so you will need to repeat the process every time a new version you want to update to comes out. Fortunately, the Wine build process follows the standard “./configure && make && make install” recipe, although it takes forever to compile.

Configuring Wine

Wine includes a powerful tool called winecfg that allows you to control how the system behaves. Winecfg appears as a Windows-style tabbed configuration window with options that allow you to to tweak the behaviors for Wine, including:

Drives -- this allows the drive system that Windows uses (e.g. C:\) to be bound to the appropriate directories in your Linux filesystem. (the drive_c directory) Windows software is then able to access the fake Windows installation in drive_c, which is often required for proper function.
Audio – This allows you to set and configure the audio driver that Wine should use.
Applications – Wine is able to mimic specific versions of Windows on a per-application basis. (useful for legacy software that does not work well under NT)
Libraries – This allows you to provide overrides for specific DLLs. You can choose to use to use the real Windows DLL (you must provide it yourself) or use the built-in Wine counterpart.
Graphics – This allows you to turn on Wine desktop, prevent mouse escaping in DirectX applications, and define hardware-provided shader support.
Desktop Integration – This allows you to install themes and control how specific user interface elements look.

Using Wine

Traditionally, Wine is invoked through a command-line interface. This is done by opening a terminal, navigating to the directory the executable file you wish to run is in, and then by invoking the executable by running “wine program.exe” (where program.exe is the name of the program you wish to run) As with everything else on Linux, Wine is case-sensitive, so Program.exe is not the same thing as “program.exe”. The terminal will then produce output that shows what Wine is doing while the program is running. This output is often critical for working around problems.

Furthermore, Wine has extensions that allow Windows binaries to be launched by double-clicking on them in Nautilus, just like in Windows. Although this is more convenient, it does not produce any helpful output like the more conventional method does.

Although Wine can mimic native Linux window decorations on Windows applications to make them look like the rest of your native Linux programs, some applications tend to work improperly when you run them in this way. (for instance, they can take over your display, change the screen resolution, and then fail to change it back when you exit) To limit how much a Windows program can affect the rest of the system, you can bind it to a floating virtual desktop in winecfg. When the Wine Desktop setting is enabled, all Wine programs you launch are confined to a Wine desktop window and cannot escape. They are then forced to run at a resolution you define (1024x768 is good, since the default 800x600 is a little too small) and have a plain Windows 9x-style window decoration. Wine is very good at keeping the Wine Desktop separate from everything else and even has countermeasures to keep the pointer from escaping when the desktop window has focus. Although the Wine desktop can be cumbersome for regular applications, it is often essential for games.

Gaming With Wine

Although recent versions of Wine work reasonably well with most general-purpose software, Wine is still very experimental when it comes to gaming. We cannot stress that enough. During our tests, we noticed that there is quite a bit of lag time between when a game first comes out and the time when Wine supports it well. (Wine is usually several years behind the curve) Therefore, Wine is great for occasional gamers who don't mind playing older titles, but those who want to play the newest and most demanding games when they first come out are much better off dual-booting if they want to play them on the PC instead of a console. Does this mean that Wine is bad or useless? Not at all. We're amazed that it works as well as it does, considering that everything that Wine can do has been painstakingly reverse-engineered by volunteers. In Wine's defense, support for DirectX and gaming in general is much better than it used to be. However, this is often not enough to play the latest titles.

We should also mention that there is an alternative to Wine called Cedega that is also designed to play Linux games. Wine and Cedega were originally the same project, but Cedega (then called WineX) split from Wine before Wine adopted the LGPL. This allowed Cedega to remain proprietary, and for a long time it offered better game support than Wine did. (Today, they are roughly equal in terms of DirectX support) However, Cedega still has better support for game copy protection mechanisms than Wine does. Cedega is technically open source in that a rather crippled version of the source code is available through CVS, but it is not free in the same sense that Wine is. In the same vein, another proprietary derivative of Wine called Crossover was specifically designed to run software like Microsoft Office, even though regular Wine can do this too.

Old games that use variants of the Quake 3 engine run flawlessly on Wine with no tweaking or configuration needed, games that came out a few years ago (like Half Life 2/other source engine games and Painkiller) work with some minor tweaking, but new releases (Like Fallout 3 or Crysis) may have significant problems or not work at all.

One of the largest problems that relate to gaming on Wine is that practically all games today enforce a CD-check mechanism that may not work properly. Wine supports SecuROM, but Safedisc and other measures have not been fully implemented. Once the CD-check problem has been dealt with, Wine is capable of running many (but not all) modern games that use DirectX 9.

Fortunately, there is a legitimate workaround to this problem. Valve's Steam distribution system works flawlessly with Wine. (a Gecko-based rendering engine replaces the Steam components that require Internet Explorer on Windows) Since the games on Steam do not come on physical discs and therefore lack CD-check mechanisms, quite a few of them will work to some extent if launched through the Steam interface. (however, this is not universally true, since the standalone version of a game may work whereas the steam version will not) Most video cards will work on Linux, (either through the NIVDIA or the ATI Catalyst drivers) and Wine is able to use them. Keep in mind that an inadequate video card can keep programs that would otherwise work from running properly. Onboard video is not a substitute for a decent graphics card in either Wine or Windows.

To test Steam's capabilities on Wine, we acquired and tested Half Life 2 (and other Source-engine Games) and Fallout 3 from Steam in addition to a standalone boxed version of Painkiller that we had available for testing. Here are the specs for the test machine we used:

64-bit AMD Phenom Triple-Core CPU running at 2.3 GHZ
4 GB system RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS with 512 MB of RAM (Driver Version 180)
Dual-boot Ubuntu 8.10 and Windows Vista
Wine 1.1.26

To minimize problems, we downloaded all Steam games and components (including the Steam client itself) to the Ubuntu partition so everything would be running on a native ext3 filesystem. We did this because FUSE utilities like ntfs-3g caused problems with Wine-related gaming in our early tests when we tried using the Wine installation that was already on the Vista partition. We later concluded that these problems were caused by issues in the games (Half-Life 2, specifically) rather than due to a deficiency in Wine, since many other applications from the Vista partition usually work well in Wine. We also disabled PulseAudio (for the entire system, not just for Wine) since many games do not work well with it; we had the sound drop off suddenly in many Source-engine based games when PulseAudio was in use. Instead, we recommend using ALSA (best choice) or even the legacy OSS driver.

Painkiller functioned beautifully, and we were able to crank the settings up as high as they would go. Everything worked, including the Bloom and HDR lighting effects. Game performance was very fluid and we did not experience any frame rate lag whatsoever. The only problem we encountered was that the boss maps took much longer to load than the others, but they worked just as well when they did.

Half Life 2 worked very well once we tweaked the game settings to optimize it for Wine. We chose to confine it to a Wine desktop (many games misbehave somewhat if you run them full screen) and we also disabled intro videos and allocated 512MB of extra swap space. Once we fixed the Pulseaudio bug, game performance was silky smooth, even with the settings maxed and 6x anti-aliasing enabled. The only bug we could find is that the flashlight caused flat white areas to appear on NPCs (non-player characters like zombies, combine soldiers, etc.) and various objects (crates, barrels, saw blades, etc.) when it shone on them, but this did not pose any real problem as far as gameplay was concerned.

We tested other source engine games (the various HL2 episodes and Portal) and they all worked. Half Life 2: Episode 1 ran as smooth as glass with Full HDR, even though there was no anti-aliasing support. The only glitch we could find was some strange static effects on the citadel core. (see screenshot) Episode 2 (the most demanding of the series in terms of system requirements) ran with minor frame rate issues and the cursor tended to wander off the screen a little bit. Although HL2:E2's bloom and HDR functions worked, we could not get any anti-aliasing here either. Lastly, we had to launch the game from a desktop shortcut to make it work properly. Portal had jerky gameplay, but the bloom and HDR functionality worked well and the game was playable. (no anti-aliasing)

Our experience with Fallout 3 was the complete opposite and was really frustrating. While it is possible to get Fallout 3 running on Linux at this time, (several people have done it, based on the screenshots at WineHQ and several Youtube videos) the methods to do so are not completely reliable. Furthermore, we can attest that these methods do not work with the Steam version, but might work on the standalone boxed version. At the moment, the most successful way to get Fallout 3 working is to download the Wine source code, patch better DirectX 9c support into it, and then recompile it. (Beware... replacing the standard Wine binary with this patched version can temporarily break other games that do work until the standard version is replaced) Unfortunately, our first attempt based on this method was unsuccessful.

Next, we tried PlayOnWine, which is an add-on for Wine that installs games and other applications via automated scripts, thereby eliminating much of the guesswork. Although this method allowed us to adapt the Steam version of Fallout 3 that we had, went on to patch Wine for us, installed DirectX 9c, and resolved many other dependencies, (like Microsoft's Windows Live Gaming system) Fallout 3 still wouldn't work. We spent two full days tinkering with Wine and Fallout 3, and we were not able to get past the main launcher interface to play the actual game. (Wine would crash every time we tried) Because of this experience, we must re-emphasize that gaming on Wine is still highly experimental and that games will only work if all of the multiple variables related to system configuration are set properly. In short, Wine has come a long way yet should still be regarded as being an alternative (not necessarily a replacement) for dual-booting or virtualization.

Penguin Bootable Linux USB Drive Loads Ubuntu and Benefits World Wildlife Fund

Paul Lilly — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:30:10 -0500

Active Media Products, makers of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Penguin and Panda USB drives, has added to its Penguin line with a bootable Linux USB (BLU) drive that the company says is compatible with Windows 7.

"These bootable Linux USB drives are handy for users who need flexibility in an OS, and will be an invaluable tool for disaster recovery and system maintenance," Active Media stated in a press release.

Designed in the likeness of an emperor penguin with "exacting detail," the new drives come in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB capacities, each one pre-loaded with the full installation of Ubuntu Linux 9.0.4., which occupies about 700MB of space.

The drives are available now ranging in price from $13 (1GB) to $44 (16GB), with 5 percent of the retail price donated to World Wildlife Fund.

Image Credit: Active Media Products

Windows 7 vs Linux: What's the Best OS for Your Netbook?

John Brandon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:30:00 -0500

That shiny new netbook is light and portable, plays music and movies, and cost less than an iPhone (with service). Problem is: you might be ready to chuck it off a bridge. Running the Intel Atom processor at only 1.60GHz, netbooks are a bit on the clunky side when it comes to actual data processing. No one is going to play World of Warcraft on one of these thin machines, but it sure would be great if OpenOffice, a music player, and Mozilla Firefox could run a little faster.

The answer to the netbook dilemma is: find an alternative operating system. Of course, this is a time-consuming proposition, considering you have to download the OS, burn it to a CD or USB key, load the OS, and then configure it. To find out which OS will actually add pep to your Sony P – or any number of low-cost, Atom-based netbooks – we loaded six different options on the same machine and performed a series of tests – looking at the interface, networking features, the browser and built-in apps, and how much customization you can do and ended up picking a clear winner.

For testing, we used the Acer Aspire One AOD250. It uses the Atom N270 processor running at 1.60GHz, has a 533MHz front side bus, and a 512KB L2 cache. The unit ships with Windows XP, which made our baseline testing a hair easier. It has a 10.1-inch 1020x600 screen, runs on the Intel 945GSE graphics chipset, has 1GB of DDR2 533MHz DRAM, a 160GB 5400RPM hard disk, built-in 802.11g Wi-Fi, three USB ports, and a slim form factor – all for about $298. We picked it because it is so common, but also because it supported the most operating systems. We also did a sanity check on the Lenovo S10, HP Mini 1100, and the Asus Eee 1000HE with each OS. In a few cases (e.g., with Moblin on the Lenovo S10), the OS just did not load right. We had the best success with the Acer.

For the test criteria, we wanted to cover a wide gamut. We first tested install time and boot time. Those are important for saving time initially (hey, maybe you are not going to like the new OS) but also for every single time you power on the machine. We also tested the interface and for extra features, software support, customization and personalization, RAM usage, and speed. Since there are no benchmarks we know of that work with all of the OSes we tested, the speed test was a manual grunt test – we timed browser load speed, how quickly a photo opens, PDF load time, and document load time. We also just used the system as we normally would and formed an overall impression.

The operating system options are expanding all of the time. The latest and greatest alternative to Windows XP is Moblin (www.moblin.org), which shows a lot of promise but is a bit rough around the edges. We also tried Slax, a Linux distro that is light and fast. We used Ubuntu for Netbooks Remix, and also tested Windows 7 – which was surprisingly nimble but not our first choice.

Windows XP

Our baseline test was with Windows XP. Everyone has their own opinion about this age-old OS, but we have to state first off that using it feels like a time warp back to 2003. One way you can get around the time-warp factor of Windows XP is to run a cloud-based OS such as iCloud or EyeOS, which at least seem aware of the trends in computing related to social networking and Twitter. Windows XP is a solid OS that works reliably, but our main problem with it is that we are just bored by the interface, and the idea of using an OS that thinks you still have a floppy disk drive installed is just wrong. The latest service packs take care of most networking issues (such as support for 802.11n), but Windows XP is just showing its age and is not exactly inspiring in terms of computing in 2009.

Load and Boot

One of the main complaints about both Windows XP and Windows Vista is that they take quite some time to install. On the Acer Aspire One, the install time was compounded by the fact that the machine we used for testing would not even let us install Windows XP Professional from a non-OEM DVD disc at first. The model we used came with Windows XP running already, so to do the installation we had to use a different DVD (actually, the one that came with the Asus Eee 1000HE) and performed a restore. This loads the OS install files onto the hard disk so you can run the installer. We used a Plextor PX-610U USB drive, and the total install time was 22 minutes including the restore time. That's the longest of any of the OSes we tested, including Windows 7, and one clear reason to avoid XP.

This is one issue that netbook users will face – there are no models we've found that provide a built-in DVD drive, so the assumption is that you will live with the installed OS. Fortunately, most Linux distros let you install from a USB key. Boot time for Windows XP was 35 seconds, which is one of the longer boot times we experienced compared to the other operating systems.

Interface and Extra Features

Windows XP is a known quantity, so we won't dwell on any specifics here other than to say that the OS now seems excruciatingly dull and woefully out of touch with modern computing. There are no signs of being able to update your Twitter status from within the OS (as you can from Moblin).

Network options have matured steadily, thanks to service packs.

The familiar control panel in Windows XP is yawn-inducing but functional.

Software Support

The built-in software options included with Windows XP are actually quite limited when you consider that Linux distros typically come with a productivity suite (usually OpenOffice), a full featured mail client (Evolution is most common), and a modern browser (such as Mozilla Firefox). Adding all of these components just adds to the total installation time. The Asus installer we used for Windows XP does add some handy extras, and that's typical with most netbooks and notebooks. For example, we were able to open PDF files and Internet Explorer support Flash out of the box.

Our install of Windows XP supported Adobe Flash in IE without having to do an extra install

Thanks to the OEM version of Win XP we used, the OS supported PDF out of the box

Customization and Personalization

Windows XP is fairly easy to customize, and supports a bevy of extra utilities such as Unsanity WindowShade X and many other tools. The main issue with Windows XP themes, color treatments, and desktop wallpapers is that we have seen them for so many years they just seem outdated. For power users who run a single-color background, turn off the screensaver, and live with the basic blue colors of Windows XP, this is not a major problem, but it is still a detriment.

Windows XP is easy to personalize, even if it seems as though you are taking a time warp.

RAM Usage

Windows XP falls somewhere between a light OS such as Ubuntu for Netbooks Remix or Moblin, and a memory hog like Windows Vista. Using the Performance Monitor in Windows XP, we noted that RAM usage stayed right around 30% with a browser and a few small apps running. However, when we ran Windows Live Mail, StarOffice Writer (included with the Asus OEM version of Windows XP) plus IE and other small apps, memory usage spiked to 100% frequently. This meant the Aspire One would slow down whenever we started a new app, using up all of the 1GB of RAM. However, once the apps were running, Windows XPO felt nimble enough, although we never tried a more performance-hungry app such as Adobe Photoshop, which is not really intended for a netbook.

RAM usage -- shown here in yellow – spiked repeatedly when we started new apps.

Speed

Okay, the rubber meets the road. Windows XP runs fast on netbooks, which is why it is the OS of choice for companies like Asus, Acer, and Lenovo. See the graph for all of the details on speed testing all of the alternative operating systems, but Windows XP took 8 seconds to open an MSN page, two seconds to open a large word processing document, and 10 seconds to open a PDF. That's a few seconds faster, in total, than Windows 7, but still slower than the Slax distro.

MSN.com loaded in 8 seconds, which is just a hair faster than Ubuntu for Netbooks Remix.

A long document opened quickly – just two seconds – in Wordpad.

This 5MB photo loaded incredibly fast in the Windows XP preview app – just two seconds.

Conclusion

We ended up viewing Windows XP as a “live with it, not like it” OS for netbooks, something you use if you can't stand any of the other more updated OSes, such as Ubuntu or Moblin. It's just not that exciting to think you will go back in time and use an OS that has worn out its welcome.

Windows 7

Ask Microsoft about their view on Windows 7 running on a netbook and their first answer will be: what is a netbook? The company has gone on record saying they view the category as “mini notebooks” instead of a distinct segment worth a specific OS version. Still, we had to find out if Windows 7 RC would run adequately on the Acer Aspire One. The short answer is that: it runs okay.

The boot time was a rather disappointing 57 seconds, despite how Microsoft has stated that boot times will be lightening fast (apparently, not on a netbook running a slow processor). To double-check our results with Windows 7, we tried installing the OS on an Asus Eee 1000HE, and it would not boot up at all after the installation. And, there were other problems: no Flash support, no PDF support, and mediocre games meant more time installing those add-ons after the install.

Load and Boot

Windows 7 took 20 minutes to install on the Acer Aspire One netbook – only Windows XP took longer to install. Boot up time was 57 seconds, which is much longer than we expected. Windows 7 has this annoying tendency to look like it has crashed during install, but if you look closely, you can see tiny dots moving from left to right as the OS copies files over. These annoyances might be fixed for the final release when Windows 7 ships some time this fall.

Interface and Extra Features

Windows 7 is essentially a root level fix for Vista, solving some of the most common complaints. On a netbook, it is more power than anyone would likely need for a machine that is intended for the 30-minutes-of-use window (compared to 3 hours for a notebook and 3 minutes for a smartphone). Still, at least Windows 7 has features designed for the current era of computing. There's a built-in search that actually works – it finds documents quickly and accurately, for example. The games are not exactly stellar, a mild improvement over Windows Vista and XP. (Someday, Microsoft will decide to include a real shooter with every copy of Windows just to showcase the OS gaming power.) Moblin is much better when it comes to social networking features – such as updating Twitter form within the OS.

There are no built-in features for updating your Twitter status, which makes it a bit outdated.

Windows 7 just presents the goods for configuring the OS without a lot of fanfare.

Windows 7 found all of our network-attached storage drives easily enough.

Searching in Windows 7 actually works fast and reliably – unlike Windows Vista search

Games in Windows 7 are similar to what you find in Windows Vista – nothing too special.

Software Support

Windows 7 RC is just the barebones OS – when it debuts on systems this fall, the OEM version will likely include PDF and Flash support. As it stands now, the RC does not support PDF files or Flash, so you have to install those extras yourself. Or, not. We were not able to find an Adobe Flash that works with Windows 7. We did find a version of Adobe Reader for Windows 7.

Customization and Personalization

Windows 7 is a functional, practical release this time around – it is meant to address the problems in Windows Vista such as User Account Control and boot-up speed. That said, the customizations options are similar to what you find in Vista. We prefer the more modern UI design in Moblin and Jolicloud. At the smaller 1200x600 screen size of the Acer Aspire One, Windows 7 felt a little bulky with its larger buttons and large-footprint windows for selecting Wi-Fi networks and browsing files.

Windows 7 offers quite a few options for adjusting colors and themes, but they lack the OS does not have the pizzazz of Moblin or Jolicloud.

RAM Usage

While we can't say Windows 7 is a memory hog (in fact, it was quite snappy with just one or two apps running), it is overkill for a netbook because the OS is designed to support robust apps such as Adobe Photoshop or music production software such as ProTools. It's a multi-tasking behemoth that taps in quiet well to the processing power of the Intel dual-core line of processors, and is far from a light OS. In tests during several days with Windows 7, memory problems became a serious problem, – consuming 100% of the 1GB RAM repeatedly when we ran IE, a photo browser, and just one or two other apps. One of the benefits of using a light OS such as Ubuntu for Netbooks Remix is that the OS and the apps are light – the Evolution mail client barely takes up any RAM in Ubuntu.

RAM usage -- shown here in yellow – spiked repeatedly when we started new apps.

Speed

Windows 7 is not as fast as Windows XP, but we already knew that. In the photo load test, Windows 7 took 10 seconds to open a 5MB file, over twice as long as Windows XP. Windows 7 took 5 seconds to load our multi-page document and 6 seconds to load MSN.com in IE8. Overall, Windows 7 did feel sluggish compared to Ubuntu for Netbooks Remix and Slax when we ran multiple apps, while other OSes breathed life into the Acer Aspire One and made it a more usable system.

MSN.com took a couple seconds longer to load than Windows XP, taking ten seconds.

Windows 7 loaded our test document in 6 seconds, the same speedy result as the Slax OS.

We can't explain why, but this 5MB photo took a full ten seconds to open in Win 7.

Conclusion

We didn't really expect Windows 7 to run fast on the Aspire One, but Microsoft may still surprise everyone and release a stripped-down version that runs faster on netbooks. In the end, we were not impressed with the boot time, long install process, and sluggish behavior with multiple apps running.

Ubuntu for Netbooks Remix

The testing results heated up when we started testing Ubuntu for Netbooks Remix, which has a new UI design and runs without some of the overhead of the big brother Ubuntu 9.04, such as extra security protocols and built-in apps meant more for the desktop than mobile use. Ubuntu for Netbooks ended up being our top pick, a nimble OS that made the Aspire One snappy and more useful.

Load and Boot

It all starts with a relatively fast install time – about 14 minutes, compared to 20 minutes for Windows 7 and even longer for Windows XP. It means you can get up and running with your netbook and move on to configuring the system and adding extra software faster. Ubuntu is a great match for netbooks, even for those who do not normally use Linux or understand how it works, because you likely won't need to add your normal stable of apps (just keep using them on your Windows notebook), probably won't use the netbook as a gaming machine, and will likely just use it for e-mail and writing the occasional OpenOffice doc. Ubuntu for Netbooks Remix also had a quick 30-second boot time, a hair slower than Moblin (at 25 seconds) and Slax (at 20 seconds) but still much faster than Windows.

Interface and Extra Features

Ubuntu for Netbooks Remix is remarkably easy to use. The main interface places all common functions and tools on one screen, a stark departure from the blank desktop of Ubuntu 9 and Windows (or a Mac, for that matter). We prefer how Moblin provides easier access to social networks and instant messaging, but the downside with that OS is that it is buggy (in an early beta) and runs slower.

Ubuntu for Netbooks places all the configuration tools in one window.

Ubuntu for Netbooks found all of the attached network drives easily.

Not as fast as the search in Windows 7, but the search results were accurate.

Ubuntu had a problem with an uncompressed MP3 audio file, but otherwise has built-in options for listening to Internet radio, Last.fm (an online radio service), and local music.

Ubuntu for Netbooks provides a few tools for communicating with Internet pals, such as this instant messaging client.

Customization and Personalization

Like any good Linux distro, Ubuntu for Netbooks provides a wealth of color options to change the look of the interface, themes to make quick widespread changes, and a few wallpapers.

Ubuntu for Netbooks recognized the correct size for the Acer Aspire One display, which is a common problem with some distros that do not work with irregularly shaped notebook screens.

Quick theme adjustments mean you don't have to adjust specific colors for the OS and can get a fresh look without spending any extra time. Still, the UI is not quite as slick as Moblin.

RAM Usage

Memory usage stayed right at about 25% running most apps alone, and jumped only a small amount – to 50% or so – when running multiple apps. Ubuntu for Netbooks did the best job of managing apps – there were rarely any slowdowns like there was with Moblin, and apps started up quickly without the lag you might experience with Windows 7 on a netbook.

Ubuntu for Netbooks handles memory chores easily enough, even with only 1GB of RAM.

Speed

We were impressed with Ubuntu for Netbooks and its ability to manage memory and run all open apps smoothly. The slight surprise is that it was not the fastest of all the OSes we tested. The MSN.com test took 11 seconds, opening the 5MB photo took 5 seconds, and the word processing test took 13 seconds (the highest of score on any OS). Still, Ubuntu is faster than Moblin over (which had problems loading Web sites quickly). We also ran a PDF test with a very large document that was about 2MB and Ubuntu for Netbooks opened the file in just two seconds – the fastest score of all the OSes.

It took only two seconds to open this large data sheet from Seagate.

Conclusion

We picked Ubuntu for Netbooks Remix because it runs the fastest with multiple apps open, had some of the best UI features (such as a main screen intended for those unfamiliar with Linux), loaded and booted quickly, and just looks the best compared to all of the other OSes.

Moblin

Moblin is the new netbook operating system developed originally by Intel and now part of the Linux Foundation. The main claim to fame with Moblin is that it is designed to make it easier to access Web 2.0 sites such as Last.fm and Twitter (with built-ion controls right on the taskbar). The OS uses a zone concept where you can place apps in their own zone and then switch quickly between them. During our test period using the build dated June 16, we had a lot of problems getting the distro to work correctly – it crashed when we went to the browser, when we added a Twitter account, etc. Crashes do not freeze the entire system, though, and pop up a dialog box where you can send in the feedback.

Load and Boot

We installed Moblin in 13 minutes, besting the Ubuntu for Netboosk install time by one minutes. (Slax installed in only 10 minutes, however.) the boot time for the OS is 25 seconds, so not quite as fast as Slax but still faster than every other OS. The install process is straightforward enough that you do not need to know anything about Linux to use it and asks only for a username and other info.

Interface and Extra Features

What you sacrifice with Moblin is that it is not equipped as a full distro that includes all the tools you might expect, such as a full word processor. Instead, it is designed to install with a basic set of apps and let you get on with your work. As an early beta, Moblin has a raft of problems, including lack of USB keydrive support (we tried about six of them) and problems playing even basic MP3 files.

The interface is slick and trendy, but requires some learning. The toolbar drops down from the top of the screen, and there are icons for browser, statsus update, zones, applications, and IM. What is refreshing – and unusual – is that Moblin doesn't really look like an OS, and mimics the look and feel of a Web site instead. The extra features for Twitter updates and IM are great, and there are plenty of extra apps such as calculators, schedulers, and a media player, but there are no full word processing apps – and no clear way to add them. (In our tests, the Moblin library for adding apps did not let us install OpenOffice.)

Moblin offers a way to sync your data on the netbook with a service such as Funambol

An unusual feature, you can add your Twitter account and update your status right form the OS toolbar.

We liked the search functions in Moblin, and they worked perfectly, although – if you look closely – you can see that they look almost exactly the same as they do in Ubuntu.

The UI paradigm for holding apps in zones is a common Linux construct, but one that will seem unusual to users who have decided to ditch Windows XP on their netbook.

Moblin had trouble playing even the built-in music files, let alone the uncompressed MP3 we added by sending an e-mail to our own Gmail account (since USB keys did not work).

Moblin found our wireless network just fine, but could not find any network drives.

Software Support

Moblin supported both Flash and PDF without having to install any extra software, which saves time in hunting those tools down and installing them. It's a little surprising, given the fact that the OS does not come with any superfluous software. It meant Moblin was a pick-up-and-go OS that worked without a lot of extra customization, and means you could install it and start using it without extra effort.

Flash support on a Linux netbook is hit or miss, but with Moblin it worked out of the box.

You can open PDF documents as well, using a built-in doc reader that loaded files quickly.

Customization and Personalization

Moblin does not pretend to be a full-featured OS, but that is also what makes it attractive to netbook owners who crave speed and not necessarily extra features. As such, the customization options are quite slim – you can change wallpapers and themes, but there's not the depth of color adjustments and interface tweaks that you will find in Windows or Ubuntu.

You can change themes but not adjust too many colors for the UI.

Like any good Linux distro, there's a way to change default fonts for the OS layer.

RAM Usage

We did not find a utility for testing RAM usage on Moblin, but we can tell you that – as long as you only run one or two apps, the OS is speedy enough. At times, Moblin did seem like it was trying to catch up with our mouse clicks, but we presume that is due to the beta code.

Speed

Moblin either worked extremely fast or had problems with even basic tests. For example, in our MSN test loading the built-in browser, which is essentially a re-designed Firefox, MSN.com loaded in 17 seconds, the slowest of all of our tests. Yet, the 5MB photo loade din just four seconds, and a PDF file appeared in the doc viewer in just two seconds. We couldn't test the document load tiem, since Moblin does not provide a full word processing app and only read our test doc as a TXT file.

Our doc file did not format correctly using this built-in text editor.

MSN loaded in 17 seconds – time enough to visit three site son other netbook OSes.

This photo loaded in four seconds, a hair faster than Ubuntu for Netbooks.

Conclusion

We're big fans of Moblin, it just needs work before it is ready to take up disk space as our netbook OS of choice. Ubuntu for Netbooks has the leg up here, but we do prefer the Moblin look and feel, quick access to Twitter, and the fact that it runs reasonably fast (with occasional stall-outs).

Slax

The main story with Slax (www.slax.org) is that it's a light Linux distro that makes sense for netbooks, with a few weak spots that need to be ironed out before we can fully recommend it.

Load and Boot

The only install we could find was a Live version that loads partially onto the hard disk. As such, the install comparison is not really fair (Slax took 10 minutes to configure in total for the Live version) and there is no comparison for boot time, since each time you use it, the installer kicks in from the CD. That made Slax less flexible, and required that we bring an external DVD drive with us at all times. (We also could not find a USB version of the distro.) Once loaded, Slax ran quickly on the Aspire One.

Interface and Extra Features

Slax looks like the older Linux distros we have used for years, and it uses the KDE desktop environment – which is also not our favorite UI. Slax had several problems running on the Acer Aspire: the music player did not play movies or music at all, and the hardware buttons on the netbook did not work right. For example, while the volume buttons on the netbook worked with the other OSes we tested, it did not work with Slax. We also could not get the Wi-Fi connection to work. Oddly, Slax could find our Netgear router and connect to it, but could not get an IP address. We tried setting it manually, and could still not get the Internet to work on the device. There is probably some trick, but a new user to the distro would likely not know those tricks – it should be easier.

Slax presents the typical offerings for adjusting your desktop settings and configuring a network.

The included games were the least compelling of the OSes we tested.

You can set up instant messaging –we had to use a wired connection – but there are no functions that help you update your status or access social networks quickly.

The search functions work as stated, even if there was a lag in finding documents.

Slax did not play any MP3 files we tested, including this uncompressed audio file.

Software Support

Slax did not support PDF or Flash, a sign that the OS has fallen behind other distros in supporting the latest tools for Web browsing. However, there are plenty of apps included with the distro, including OpenOffice tools and the Evolution mail client.

Customization and Personalization

Slax provides only a few options for personalization – even though there is a theme manager, and the ability to change colors, most of the work involved with customizing the UI falls to the end-user, who has to wade through a lot of options to get the right look and feel. We prefer the fastest theme controls in Windows 7 and in Moblin. In many ways, the controls for personalization in Slax are more like the Linux distros form the last few years and are not as slick or user-friendly as those in, say, Moblin.

There are only two background wallpapers included with Slax.

If you take the time to adjust colors, you can get your own custom look.

RAM Usage

Slax actually used a healthy amount of RAM, about 40% of the 1GB available, which was a lot compared to the roughly 25% usage in other OSes.

Slax uses a lot of RAM for a light distro, more than Ubuntu or Windows 7 in fact.

Speed

Where Slax did shine, though, was with application speed. In fact, the OS scored the best results in our tests. The 5MB photo we used loaded in just five seconds, the document loaded in six seconds, and the PDF file loaded in three seconds (after we installed a PDF viewer). We decided not to include test results for MSN.com in the browser over a wired connection since we tested over Wi-Fi for the other operating systems. (The site actually loaded in four seconds over an Ethernet connection.)

Kword loaded the test document in just six seconds, twice as fast as Ubuntu for Netbooks.

Near-instant photo loading is one perk of using the light Linux OS, Slax.

Conclusion

So, if Slax performed so well in our tests, you might wonder why we did not pick it as the best choice for netbooks. Speed is important, and a main goal was to make the Aspire One run faster. However, we just were not as impressed with the OS overall, especially in terms of customization options, software support, and options for how you install it. You might be able to find a USB install and get Slax running well on a netbook, but one criterion we had was that the download and install process be easy and the OS work well without a lot of tweaking, and Slax falls short.

Is Jolicloud worth your time?

One other option for netbooks is called Jolicloud, a hybrid OS from the creator of the Netvibes.com Web aggregator. Based on the Ubuntu for Netbooks Remix distro, the OS offers some truly innovative features, but for the most part works almost exactly like Ubuntu.

The major new feature is that the OS lets you install software using the same paradigm that you might already known from the iPhone and Google Android. Apps are listed in a dashboard -- which also reports on the latest Jolicloud news and support forum info – with an Install button. When you click Install, a small progress bar appears. The idea is that you can click this option and then perform other tasks, although in the beta we tested, as soon as we left the dashboard, the install would stop. Still, it is a novel idea because it means new users don't have to figure out the relatively complex process of installing applications – a gating factor for new Linux users.

Jolicloud also lets you install links to common Web services, such as Facebook and Twitter. This feature is less interesting because you are really just adding an icon that takes you to the browser and loads the Web site. It would have been much more impressive if Jolicloud actually loaded a custom app for the sites – similar to what you find on the iPhone, the T-Mobile G1, or the Palm Pre. These apps would save time, even if they were truncated versions of the full site, if all you want to do is post your status or view the latest moronic thread about the news topic of the day. It is possible that Jolicloud users will create these apps in the future instead of just relying on links.

Otherwise, once you close the Jolicloud dashboard, the OS operates exactly the same as Ubuntu – there are no discernible differences in terms of the interface, speed results, or apps you can load. Jolicloud shows promise, but for now the actual benefits to netbook users is questionable.

10 Awesome Linux Applications for Your PlayStation 3

Chris Comiskey — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:30:00 -0500

So you’ve installed that shiny Ubuntu distro onto your PlayStation 3 and finagled a couple of cool applications to boot. And yet, there’s still a lot of empty real estate on that newly formatted hard drive, and you’re no doubt pondering what else you can load up on your now living room-friendly PC. Turns out, there are literally thousands of options available; but the task of sorting through the seemingly endless lists and testing each and every app to see if it suits your tastes and jives with the PS3 can be a daunting task. But luckily for you, we’ve done exactly that; we rolled up our sleeves, burned the midnight oil, and muscled the necessary digital elbow grease to whittle down the Ubuntu archives to the top 10 absolute keepers. So what are you waiting for? Plug in your PS3’s keyboard and mouse, fire up Jaunty Jackalope, and read onward to get cracking.

Last.FM

If you’re at all serious about home media, you probably have a badass audio system hooked up to your entertainment center. And let’s face it; the best PC speakers out there just can’t compare to the flagships that make up a home theater’s THX configuration. So it’s only natural that you prefer listening to music outside of the setup sitting beside your main computer. Enter Last.FM. It serves as an always-on background radio station, catered and tweaked to stream random audio tracks precisely suited to your personal tastes. Here’s how to grab it:

Open up FireFox and punch in www.last.fm

Next, travel to Applications => Add/Remove Programs. Ensure “All” is selected in the upper left hand corner of the titles column, and also that the “Show” menu reads as “All Available Applications.” In the search field, type out “Last FM” (minus the quotation marks), and then make sure you tick a checkmark to the left of the name.

Then press “Apply Changes.”

(Note: All applications included inside our list will be installed in the exact same way. Simply follow the same instructions above and substitute the corresponding application name in the search field.)

After Last.Fm has installed, you’ll be prompted to fill out some information. Hit “Next” from the beginning, and then enter your user name and password when prompted.

Now hit “Finish” to close the setup.

Navigate back to Applications=>Sound and Video=>Last.FM

At this point, all you have to do is enter a tag or an artist to get the gears moving, crank the volume, and enjoy the music.

Audio CD Extractor

Streaming radio stations with randomized songs are great, but sometimes you just want to kick back your feet, reminisce, and dust off your ancient CD collection (hey, Steppenwolf had some great tracks, after all). But one thing your PS3 is not is a 10-disc CD changer. What to do? Easy. Download Audio CD Extractor and rip all those golden oldies straight to Ubuntu’s default music folder. Find your way back to the Add/Remove section, and throw the app onto Ubuntu.

Once you’ve installed the program, go to Applications=>Sound and Video=>Audio CD Extractor. Now, just slide in your favorite CD, check off each track you’d like to rip, and then hit “Extract.”

Let the program run for a few minutes and you’ll be on your way to tipping back brewskis to a stored digital copy of Magic Carpet Ride in no time flat.

Twitux

Why should twittering be limited to your handheld or primary PC? You’ve already got a mouse and a keyboard in your capable hands anyways- might as well put them to good use and let the world know what wacky hijacks are transpiring under your roof at this very moment. Who says geeks aren’t social? But first we need to acquire the vehicle for our literary public ramblings, so go ahead and install it per the previous instructions and then look to the text below.

After the install, navigate to Applications=>Internet=>Twitux. Log in and connect via the embedded menu.

Now you’re all ready to catch up with your buds, stalk some celebs, and do some typin’ of your own… within the limits of 140 characters of course.

KQ

You liked playing Nintendo. And you know you liked playing the original Final Fantasy. If you didn’t like those things, you’re either hopelessly deprived, or sadly out of touch with the awesomeness that was the 8-bit era. But whether you’re a diehard retro aficionado or a born-again gamer ready to embrace the evolution of the consoles’ past, it’s not too late! KQ is a strangely addicting RPG that more or less clones the gameplay from the first edition of an iconic series. If you loved Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior, but you’re yearning for some new material along the same veins, you’ll adore KQ and its tongue-in-cheek subtle humor. The sound can become a little wonky at times, but it’s a time-killer regardless. Install the app and then continue below.

To run the game, journey to Applications=>Games=>KQ.

Once loaded, press “F1” to get a list of the controls and settings, and get ready for some serious old-school RPG action.

CheckGmail

You have a Gmail account, right? (If not, you really should get one). Just because you’re relaxing or eating a snack within eye-shot of your dormant TV doesn’t mean you should go uniformed of important messages like upcoming TF2 practice sessions. CheckGmail is a useful tool that informs automatically of any new arrivals to your online inbox. Best of all: it’s unobtrusive, elegant, and a cinch to use, just as anything Gmail-related should be. It also looks great on a big-screen LCD. When a new message pops in, a gentle reminder flashes on the screen, notifying you that rather than eating that hamburger, you really should be logging into the TF2 match server as a medic about now. After the usual installation steps, follow along downward.

Click Applications=>Internet=>CheckGmail. Once the app launches, fill in your user name and password. Leave the external commands as they are, and hit “OK.”

CheckGmail will run by default in your taskbar. Configure it to check for email as often as you like, from every five minutes to every hour.

GFTP

If there’s one thing Ubuntu and Linux in general have trouble doing, it’s playing nice network-wise with Windows PCs. In fact, creating a shared folder from Ubuntu to Vista over a wireless connection can be a flat-out nightmare. This can be doubly frustrating if you’d like to swap over existing large media files to your PS3, and you don’t have an enormous backup USB storage solution. However, if you have the option of an FTP alternative, GFTP flies in to the rescue. It more or less copies the functionality and features of Filezilla (which, unfortunately, isn’t compatible with Ubuntu PPC). Still, GFTP is the next best thing. Its transfers are speedy and reliable, and it’s relatively straightforward to operate. Install it and follow below.

Mosey on over to Applications=>Internet=>GFTP. Once GFTP opens up, just fill in the domain name or FTP IP address, your user name and your password, and hit enter. After that, it’s as easy as dragging and dropping.

ScummVM and Beneath a Steel Sky

Sam and Max notwithstanding, the PC’s adventure gaming realm is all but dead. Sadly, the genre went before its time. But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate its life by reliving the classics that once populated the spectrum, and ScummVM is the means to do so. But the app will do little good standing all by its huddled lonesome, so we’ve joined another app that goes together with ScummVM like peanut butter and jelly: Beneath a Steel Sky- one of the pinnacles of the point-and-click adventure medium. Best of all: both of these apps are available for download absolutely free. Trust us, if you fancy yourself a PC gamer, this is an experience you can’t miss (especially on the big screen). Yeah- it’s a classic, so the graphics may not be up to par with that of, say, Crysis, but the gripping narrative yanks Prophet’s fancy nano-suit down around his ankles and calls him Susan. If you enjoy an interactive graphical story and some brilliant puzzles, it just doesn’t come much better than Beneath a Steel Sky. So follow those install steps, taking special note to check off BOTH apps after first searching for ScummVM in the application repositories, and then continue on below.

Go to Applications=>Games=>Beneath a Steel Sky

Note: There’s no need to run ScummVM before launching the game, as Ubuntu already does so automatically.

The controls are fairly basic: right click to examine, left click to interact and move about. To bring up your character’s inventory and in-game menu, hover the mouse pointer on the upper top edge of the screen. And that’s really all there is to it. Now you’re prepared to show your dinner guests what REAL geeks consider classic gaming.

Jokosher

We’ve recommended a few audio-related apps already, and for good reason: everything just sounds better on home speakers, even if they’re the middle of the road variety. But what to do with all those musical tracks sitting on Ubuntu just begging to be mashed together and harassed? Wouldn’t it be nice to edit a long group of singular clips on the robust size of a lavish 46-inch flat screen? In walks Jokosher, a brawny audio editor that contains a plethora of options to tinker with and explore. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, Jokosher is just the right fit. Nab it by reading the installation steps mentioned in the beginning of the list; then afterwards, cast your eyes below.

To open the app, meander your mouse icon over to Applications=>Sound and Video=>Jokosher

Click “Create New Project,” and give the project a name, and press “OK.”

If you’ve tangled with Audacity once or twice, Jokosher should feel eerily familiar. But if you’re still left scratching your head, check out the official site’s user manual located here.

AllTray

AllTray is one of the most elementary apps on this list, but it’s also one of the handiest. The concept is straightforward: you open AllTray, a small pointer takes the place of your mouse, you click on any open window, and then the program or file gets docked into your taskbar as a tray icon, while still remaining 100 percent active (albeit mostly hidden). While it seems rudimentary at first, we found ourselves using this little gem over and over, especially when running multiple programs in concert with each other and wishing to avoid the opened visual clutter and annoyances of minimized horizontal columns. Install the app, and then read below to run it.

Go to Applications=>Accessories=>AllTray

From here, click on any open window, dock, repeat.

Look to the upper right hand corner of your screen to see the new icon associated with your freshly docked app. It’s that easy.

Have any other Linux/Ubuntu apps that you use on your PlayStation 3? Share your favorites in the comments section below!