Contd:: Evaluation of Distro\’s

2010-05-17 4 min read Linux

<a href="www.foresightlinux.org/" target="_blank">Foresight

Foresight is a desktop operating system featuring an intuitive user interface and a showcase of the latest desktop software, giving users convenient and enjoyable access to their music, photos, videos, documents, and Internet resources.

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-270" title="Foresight" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/1-300x225.jpg" alt="Foresight" width="300" height="225" />

I liked their logo. Quite simple and intutive.

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/2.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-271" title="Foresight Foreground" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/2-300x225.jpg" alt="Foresight Foreground" width="300" height="225" />

Logo goes quite well with the Foreground image. Both are same in color and hence it gives you a feeling of theme and not just ramdomly selected foreground.

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/3.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-272" title="Foresight Desktop" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/3-300x225.jpg" alt="Foresight Desktop" width="300" height="225" />

And definately their Desktop is quite impressive. Very different and elegnant. Worth a look. It definately meets the promise as on their website —

As a Linux distribution, Foresight sets itself apart by eliminating the need for the user to be familiar with Linux, combining a user-focused desktop environment on top of Conary. As the most technically innovative software management system available today, Conary ensures that users can efficiently search, install, and manage all the software on the Foresight system, including bringing in the latest features and fixes without waiting for a major release. Thanks to Conary, Foresight developers can provide those features and fixes through rolling releases, allowing updates to be pushed out as soon as they are available. The latest version of Foresight is 2.0.5 which contains an up to date snapshot of the Foresight respository.

<a href="http://byzgl.sourceforge.net/ " target="_blank">Byzantine

ByzanineOS is a software <a class="external text" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_appliance" rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_appliance">internet appliance with a home entertainment bias. It is based on a networked <a class="external text" title="http://www.kernel.org/" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kernel.org/">Linux distribution/bootable system with <a class="external text" title="http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/">Mozilla providing access to a range of services and applications.

ByzanineOS fits in 32MB (or 48MB) of media and should work on any <a class="external text" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86" rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86">x86 based PC.

Simple to use OS with most of the applications supported on Mozilla. Quite different again.

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/byzantine-1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-274" title="Byzantine Startup" src="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/byzantine-1-300x225.jpg" alt="Byzantine Startup" width="300" height="225" />

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/byzantine-2.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-275" title="Byzantine Desktop" src="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/byzantine-2-300x225.jpg" alt="Byzantine Desktop" width="300" height="225" />

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/byzantine-3.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-276" title="Byzantine Game" src="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/byzantine-3-300x225.jpg" alt="Byzantine Game" width="300" height="225" />

<a href="http://www.learnfreenas.com/" target="_blank">FreeNAS

Liked the concept that you really don&#8217;t need a X window if you really don&#8217;t want to do anything on the system. It runs a webserver and mostly all configuration needs to be done from the web interface. You don&#8217;t get a shell to work on. You just have a menu with 4-5 options to set a few things and all other things and montitoring needs to be done from the Web Interface.

So what is it? It is network attached Storage OS.

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/freenas-1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-280" title="FreeNAS Booting" src="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/freenas-1-300x166.jpg" alt="FreeNAS Booting" width="300" height="166" />

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/freenaslocal_-_diagnostics_logs_smart_1225958754721.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-281" title="FreeNAS Diagnostics" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/freenaslocal_-_diagnostics_logs_smart_1225958754721-300x179.jpg" alt="FreeNAS Diagnostics" width="300" height="179" />

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/freenaslocal_-_disks_management_1225958337766.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-282" title="FreeNAS Disks management" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/freenaslocal_-_disks_management_1225958337766-300x179.jpg" alt="FreeNAS Disks management" width="300" height="179" />

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/freenaslocal_-_disks_mount_point_management_1225958558362.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-283" title="FreeNAS Disks Mount Point Management" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/freenaslocal_-_disks_mount_point_management_1225958558362-300x179.jpg" alt="FreeNAS Disks Mount Point Management" width="300" height="179" />

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/freenaslocal_-_system_advanced_email_1225958122414.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-284" title="FreeNAS Advanced Email" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/freenaslocal_-_system_advanced_email_1225958122414-300x172.jpg" alt="FreeNAS Advanced Email" width="300" height="172" />

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/freenaslocal_-_system_general_setup_1225958038537.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-285" title="FreeNAS System General Setup" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/freenaslocal_-_system_general_setup_1225958038537-300x181.jpg" alt="FreeNAS System General Setup" width="300" height="181" />

DSL

It did not detect my mouse and I could not do much without the mouse. But I was running it on the QEMU so might be that is the issue. I just got one screenshot. Will try again later with different settings to see if I can get it working.

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsl-1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-277" title="DSL" src="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsl-1-300x225.jpg" alt="DSL" width="300" height="225" />

Linux Mint

It did not come up completely. But I was running it on the QEMU so might be that is the issue. I just got one screenshot. Will try again later with different settings to see if I can get it working.

<a href="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/linux-mint-1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-278" title="Linux mint" src="http://amit-agarwal.co.in/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/linux-mint-1-300x225.jpg" alt="Linux mint" width="300" height="225" />

Do let me know what you think of these various distro&#8217;s.

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