Mandrake/Mandriva was one of my favourite distros. The simplicity of it's installation and usage were a refreshing change from what other distros offered - waaay back.
I recently picked up Mandriva 2009 Free ( from zyxware.com ) to see if it could do the tango with the Canon printer.
What struck me, hard, like a slap, was the oversimplified installation procedure. NO PACKAGE SELECTION. Just a screen that shows three desktop screenshots of KDE, GNOME and another one. Once selected, the installation continues with no interaction.
Post installation, the flatfootedness of KDE4 dooms Mandriva. But not before I get to see a functional implementation of a proper desktop. The only KDE4 installation (including Opensuse 11.1) I tested so far that allows shortcuts to be created on the desktop. Ofcourse, there seems to be no intuitive way to recreate this "desktop space", once it is deleted.
Mandriva joined Slackware in oblivion soon after.
Mandriva 2009 Free is notable for one reason, it rightfully reflects the spotlight on to Opensuse. As a regular user of Opera 7.54 (under Wine) I see considerable similarities between the thoughfulness that went behind creating these excellent pieces of code. Yes, there are more popular choices, but with half a brain one can appreciate the profusion of practical, thoughful options offered by these two products that are glaringly absent in the others. Options are important, very important.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Mandriva 2009 Free - simply inane
Schizo Slackware
I never could bring myself to try out Slackware so far, and I am not sure why.
Recently, I had the opportunity to try out Slackware 12. Well, actually had the DVD burnt at zyxware.com.
Slackware shows the classic schizoid behaviour - a split personality. The installation procedure brought back memories of days long gone by when I first ventured into Linux territory by trying out Red Hat (the free one, before it was FC). The absolute absence of any progress in this part of the Slackware experience was indeed a disappointment. What is Slackware trying to convey by not having a proper GUI driven installation procedure? The VGA screens and the absence of mouse control are pardonable, but the inability to create a Linux partition during the setup process is not. There are other similar areas where a user will need some familiarity with installation routines to successfully complete the installation. The app package selection is also quite difficult to use, even if it's uselessness is temporarily ignored.
Once a user bravely goes through the steps to get to the desktop, Slackware suddenly becomes an entirely different creature. The harsh taskmaster during the installation procedure, now becomes an overprotective mommy. So, there is no way a user can now access any real system admin tools - no "Control Panel" access. Sure one can change the way the dumb KDE4 behaves, but real access to underlying hardware is prevented.
Slackware was unceremoniously dumped soon after.
What Slackware DID show was the Opensuse remains one of the most well organised and planned distro in DVD. The Canon printer episode is just one major hinderace why I cannot use it.
Monday, July 20, 2009
KDE4 : the impossibility of it's existence
Most users of KDE4 would have found it to be irritatingly dumb.
A regular OS GUI user would appreciate the importance of the desktop. The benefit of a shortcut on the desktop can be realised only if a folder has to be opened to access a file in it. The sheer number of clicks that can be saved as a result of this shortcut leads to significant savings in time and resources. KDE4 completely makes it impossible to drop shortcuts on to the desktop, edit properties of existing desktop shortcuts and in anyway use the desktop productively. No useful menu pops up when right clicking on the desktop. The more one uses it, the more irritatingly dumb it seems. I tried KDE4 in Opensuse 11.1, and the default file manager is Dophin. Compared to Konqueror, this is a pretty obtuse application. Simple tasks like being able to set all folders to show ownership details of files is a mind boggling task which I haven't managed to complete. Then there is the issue of being able to manage the default view, it seems that Dolphin will by default only show folder contents as icons, not as detailed list. And there seems to be no way to modify this default behaviour, and manually setting the detailed list view in one folder isn't carried on to it's subfolder even.
How could something so obviously crippled be the outcome of a community? One of the core arguments in favour of the opensource movement is that problems in code are rectfied faster that in closed source apps, since there are many peers reviewing the app and the source. If Vista is a failure, it can be explained by the limited access the target market had to the beta version. But KDE4 cannot use this fig leaf.
One finds it hard to believe that the final product after so many peer reviews still managed to reduce the desktop to just a place holder for the wallpaper. It is just impossible that such a piece of code could see the light of the day. And yet, KDE4 is here, impossibe. Luckily, opensuse 11.1 thoughtfully bundled KDE 3.5 as well, which though also tweaked with, retained most of it's productivity features.
The loss of functionality is a big shame on the Linux community. It will have long term ramifications, since most new users will find KDE just too inefficient to bother with Linux. This is sad indeed.
PCLinuxOS to the rescue
Finally got the Canon 2900 printer working, without having to put up with the dumb GUI of KDE4. PCLinuxOS 2009 was the answer. The printer driver was installed as per manual - through command line with rpm command, and not the hardware tool in Control Center.
Used the live cd of PCQL for the job. It is sad indeed that PCQL doesn't come in a DVD format, which would have been so much more convenient. Now, every package needs to be downloaded.
PCQL hasn't changed much since the last time I used it. The Install to USB option, and the Remaster CD option were two things that stood out. Being able to save the present installation is a great idea.