Getting the software side of things right took a little more effort. Sugar, the XO’s pre€installed version of Linux, may be a uniquely great operating € system for kids, but it really doesn’t cut it if you’re trying to do workââ¬âwork. Luckily, plenty of XO owners before me seem to have felt the same way. I quickly found some great step-by-step instructions for installing alternative €versions of Linux, including Ubuntu, my choice for this project.
“Contrary to some media reports, it will be a Linux-based XO Laptop that will be offered as part of the global initiative and not a dual-boot machine running both Windows and Linux,” OLPC said in a statement.
During Akademy 2008, we sat down with Fabrizio Montesi who's working on JOLIE integration in KDE (and Plasma in particular). He explained the mechanics of the technology and what it can do for KDE. Read on for the interview.
This is just the tip of the iceberg; there are countless ways to mod Ubuntu - from Grub bootloader themes to GDM, you'll find loads of great stuff over at these sites: -Gnome Look - Eyecandy for your Gnome Desktop -Gnome Art - Another great site -or if you're looking for that complete Mac OS X look, check out this tutorial.
His piece reads like he’s giving Linux a thorough test. If this was his intention, then using the EeePC was a big mistake. However, the fact the WiFi didn’t work in Ubuntu? Very valid and annoying, which is why I still recommend looking up Linux compatibility before making the jump. I guess if this chap had written this anywhere else, I could forgive elements of it. But having pride of place on the BBC website, it is very damaging to Linux’s reputation and misleading to the public. It’s not a review, or look at Linux - it’s a blog of one man’s struggle to make a device (yes, the EeePC is a device) do something it shouldn’t. I’m sure if they had enabled comments on the piece - there would be some angry comments there at the moment. Sigh.
Overall I loved the system. It's dead easy to setup, easy to use, and very flexible and expandable. If you ask which of the three distros I liked best, that would depend on what kind of person was using them (ie, newbie vs. experienced user) and how much they wanted to tinker. For the new user, MythDora is the king all the way. For hackability, tweakability, and just plain old uber geeky fiddling, I'd say MythBuntu. And if you're a pioneer who likes to work with young distros or projects that are just getting off the ground, KnoppMyth would be the one for you.
And that brings us to the end of our roundup, since these are really the only mainstream MythTV distros available right now. There are others, but given none that are classified as actual "distros" just yet, we'll be stopping here. In the future, we'll keep looking at more as soon as they become available.
Comments
Victor Soliz
2008-09-09 03:58:21