ZenWalk, Slackware Based Operating System

Installation

The first thing I notices when booting up was it’s not a linux live CD, considering I’m used to installing Kubuntu it’s a change from having to wait and I love it no need to wait around booting up a Linux distrobution from your possibly slow CD drive, you just get a simple installation screen, you might say its a bad thing as you don’t get the option to chat on ‘AIM’ or play your games while your installing. It would be nice to see Ubuntu to have the option to install straight off the CD but I can’t see it happening anytime soon unfortunately but its a great way to give people a simple demo before they install the OS.

Vista, well too me it sounds like a load of hot air.

Lets start off from looking at Windows 95/98.

Windows 95: It was a break through in computer operating systems, I still have 95 running on a machine somewhere you compare it to any before that and you will see that it was unbelievable at how good it was it practically lead the way to our more modern operating systems like XP and for this windows will never be forgotten.

Windows 98/SE: I was a user of this for many many years it was very recent that I actually switched to XP maybe a year ago I was still using 98SE fabulous operating system had the 95 feel too it but with a much wider range of usage.

Windows ME: This was pretty much a failure you couldn’t see anything new about it, 98 was still loads better than ME, so nothing else I can put here really.

Windows XP: Now were getting to the big players, XP was simply amazing with its looks and many more features one of the biggest features I can think of now are “plug and play” and this was a large reason why a lot of people switched from 98.

Kubuntu V6.06.1 Review.

Here is my review on Kubuntu.

Lets start with a little bit about Kubuntu, it uses a KDE Desktop Environment which compared to Ubuntu that uses Gnome (very different).

That is the main difference between Kubuntu and Ubuntu you will also find that the programs in Kubuntu are also different but you do have a package manager allowing automatic install for the programs.

The installation: Brill if you compare this to something like Microsoft Windows installation there is a massive difference, with (K)ubuntu it is a Live CD live meaning that you can run it straight from your CD-ROM instead of running it from your hard drive so its kind of like a way of letting people test it before they install it, but with this you can surf the net while your installing (K)ubuntu to your hard drive.

Now comparing this to Windows XP it looks very ugly when installing it, and you can’t do anything at the same time, so you have to sit their for 2 hours or so waiting for it to install.

So the installation i would give 4/5.

Save Your Work From a Knackered Machine.

Well recently I’ve had a couple of people complaining about their pc because windows or something has come up with a error and can’t get access to it.

And most of these times you will find that they will format the hard drive, without burning a CD of all their stuff, which really ticks me off because that means I have to help them getting everything back on their computer.

The answer is backups you can setup a simple backup machine on your LAN easily using things like FreeNAS allowing you to send your files to that machine from another on your LAN.

Or the simple idea is use Linux Live to get your files back, a simple disk like Knoppix or Damn Small Linux will allow you to get access to your partitions allowing you to recover your files without logging onto windows.

Ubuntu (Linux)

Well I’ve been trying out Ubuntu for the past couple of days because I’m looking for a good OS to swap with Windows as I’m beginning to get bored of it, so I ordered a couple of Ubuntu live CD’s which was also a installation CD which I was very chuffed about so I could surf the net while I was installing Ubuntu which I loved.

Connecting to the internet: This was so easy it auto detected my hardware when I put the CD in it didn’t tell me or anything and I was instantly connected to the internet. So I started the installation while I was talking to a couple of my friends using ‘Gaim’ so I thought this is brilliant Microsoft should do something like this!

Configuring you’re settings: this was a really annoying part for me, I was stuck with the default setting I couldn’t go any higher I asked on Ubuntu Forum’s and it wouldn’t work, I tried it several times and I ended up with a blank screen on boot.