Announcement

**bsniadajewski** · Jul 03, 2011, 11:34 AM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

I don't believe you can have anything that is perfect for everyone. What one person may want, another may not care for.

I do like your list of desired features, though. However, I would not have PackageKit as a backend as I like to purge, rather than just remove, packages that I don't use or want. Plus, reading the bug report and the responses, not using PK would take care of the bug you are referring to. I am not using KPackegeKit but Muon and I hafven't had that problem.

**woodsmoke** · Jul 03, 2011, 12:02 PM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

Ummm ok, i'll comment.

a) Klikit

There once was a distro called Klikit. For some reason the developer just walked off one day and never came back.

However, there is still a core of users that have absolutely no problem with the distro at all, hands down that is it.

I run it on my "game machine" because it is so stable, fast, responsive and lean while still being full featured.

b) RevolutionLinuxOS.

Many of the people involved with Klikit are now working on RevolutionLinuxOS, unfortunately, many of them are older and, to tell the truth, kind of tired of the whole "Linux thing" in terms of getting it "perfect". The main developer also has grave medical problems and that is slowing things down also.

I have a RevLinux hard drive that I use regularly and it does bluetooth with a phone. I have installed it on two different laptops also.

The only "problem" it has is the same problem that ALL Linuxs will have, or do have, and that is hardware and software manufacturers who do not choose to release their code.

It was originally intended to be a "social desktop", but due to the massive innovations of the online social stuff that is rather on the back burner, but still being worked on, but when it is finally finished it will "just work". One of the coders is a major player in the background of Linux.

c) SuperOS. It just works, simple as that hands down. However, it is a "classic" Ubuntu and if one is wanting "bleeding edge innovation" then it is not for them, but it just works, simple as that. However, again, unless the developers do "something" to keep the classic interface then it will go the way of Unity, so I will probably do a Remastersys and never update it except for security stuff or whatever.

d) Kubuntu Natty, Again, it just works, but.... one has to accept the whole paradigm of the Plasma interface, which I have completely moved to after spending several years using Compiz on both Klikit and Rev.

I am all about "gee whiz that works". Compiz was the first big "leap" for me in terms of increasing efficiency and also being "kewl". The whole plasma thing was just not workable for me for several years but it is now extremely stable, I have not had a single crash and the develpers have done "something" what it is, I do not know and they say that they have done anything ( I don't believe them for one minute) that integrates Koffice into the distro is some really smooth way to where it "just works".

The only "sore spot" for me is not anything that Kubuntu has control over and that is KolourPaint, which I have to run from terminal, but I have to do that in other distros also.

The whole "raster graphics " thing, for me at least has speeded up the distro SO MUCH that it has now "lost" some of the "liquidity" of the opening of folders etc. but it is fast, fast, fast.

Again, both SuperOS and Kubuntu Maverick ran/run Bluetooth that integrates with a phone, which was the largest bugaboo for a long time. Both of them do "wifi" as do Revlinux OS and also even Klikit. Now that is using a "plain vanilla" atheros card, but my wife and I drove across three states, her driving about half the time, and we had a laptop running the whole time running.....

Klikit......and then Rev....and it just "hopped" from wifi to wifi, this was a toshinba satellite about five years old. The problem, to me at least, is not "wifi" it is the drivers for the latest and greatest chipset. And again NO Linux has access to the code so it cannot be considered a Linux problem.

So, I think, that in terms of what the "most" users "need" not "want" we already have several distros that are fully functional. Many small businesses could run any of them although they could not, of course, run a trillion dollar CAD program but then most of that stuff is hand coded anyway....

The rest of it relies on people's "tastes" as bsn said.

So....just my thoughts.

woodsmoke

**woodsmoke** · Jul 03, 2011, 12:29 PM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

I'd mention one other point. I've been "using" not "coding" Linux since about the middle of 2004. My youngest boy is a big time astronomer, Sloan Sky project,dark matter, gravitic "lensing" and all that stuff.

He wanted me to do Linux somewhat before that, and as I remember installed a copy of Suse, may be wrong, on an HD, He knew that I am all about "freedom", not stupidity, but "freedom" and I said, as I remember: "When linux does not need a command prompt and when a word processor looks somewhat more sophisticated than WordPerfect, I might use it, but until then no."

He doesn't use Arch he builds his from scratch he is that good. We wouldn't even recognize what he uses "as" Linux if all you were doing is looking at the screen.

So...for me..... about half of the "Linuxs" are AT LEAST as modern as Vista and many are post modern. #! comes to mind, AfterStep is another. Kubuntu... any distro that uses compiz, LXDE, etc.

And, love 'em or hate 'em you gotta give props to the devs of Unity and Gnome3.

I, personally, developed a javascript that completely replaces the desktop menu with the little gold floaty thing that was rather like "Q" of Star Trek fame, but, unfortunately, the powers that be couldn't see the use of it. However......one cell phone company in Europe tried to implement it and apparently, a LOT of Chineese coders tried to implement it!

So....as to a "modern" desktop, again, I would suggest that Linux is now "post modern".

**saurav** · Jul 03, 2011, 03:04 PM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

Thanks for the comments.

@bsniadajewski: I didn't know that not using KPackageKit will prevent the bug from appearing. I'll definitely check it out. Thanks.

@woodsmoke: -
Of course, the components of Linux-based systems are all post-modern now, no doubt about that. What I'm looking for specifically is something that brings all the post-moderns together and functions correctly. In particular, Ubuntu is notorious in this aspect. Up to Lucid/Maverick, installing the driver for my Broadcom BCM4312 Wi-fi chip using Jockey created no problems. However, in Natty, if I use Jockey to install the driver I get a kernel panic, BUT, if I install the driver manually through Synaptic it works perfectly!

Also, there is no problem with Jockey on Kubuntu Natty. It is inconsistencies and errors of this kind that I'm especially desirous of seeing ironed out.

I know about SuperOS but to me it appears too overloaded with software. That's another thing that bugs me about the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink distros. However, I didn't know about Klikit and RevolutionLinuxOS. I'll surely check them out and report my opinion here.

**woodsmoke** · Jul 03, 2011, 05:35 PM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

Hi
As to the wireless, yes, but, again, a "middle of the road" wireless almost "always" works, as far as I have been able to see by just watching the net, so again, the situation with the wireless is not the "fault" of "Linux" so much as it is a moving set of code by the hardware manufacturer which "Linux" may or may not be able to play catchup with in the short term.

It might be assumed, not a lock in, but assumed that in the "next" thing in Linux that the code for that particular wireless would work, but again, the "middle of the road" wireless seems to work for most people, I may be wrong on that.

SuperOs is yes, filled with a LOT of stuff, but that is where the power of synaptic comes to one's rescue, one merely needs to UNinstall what one does not want in terms of "applications".....the rest of the underlying stuff that is not in a menu might be let lie....letting sleeping dogs lie is sometimes a good thing.

It would seem to me that possibly you might look at IQunix.

http://iqunix.sourceforge.net/

it is all of the "bones" and the "guts" but little skin and few appedices. In other words none of the office apps, or the video apps or any of that stuff is there but it does do Bluetooth and it does do YouTube out of the box.

Basically, it is SuperOS without the stuff that a person may or may not want in terms of applications.

I built my own custom linux with it, and also made it into a "social" distribution, however I don't have a server to host it or anything so it will probably just sit on the desk.

And, also, there is little in the way of a forum, because when one gets to the stage of making a distro one usually does not need a forum or has a forum where one can ask questions.

I have my "social desktop' on it and also compiz but not "plasma".

So.... you might give it a look.

woodsmoke

**bsniadajewski** · Jul 03, 2011, 06:46 PM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

@saurav

Who knows. Maybe that bug will be fixed in KDE SC 4.7 and Qt 4.8 once it rolls in a few weeks.

**woodsmoke** · Jul 03, 2011, 09:45 PM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

btw I'd toss into the mix, Bodhi Linux which is a very light...(pun

) implementation of the Enlightenment desktop, according to the developer it is straight from the oven.

Here's the linkys to the distro and forum and a linky to a review with some nice screen shots.

http://bodhilinux.com/

http://www.bodhilinux.com/forums/

http://www.techworld.com.au/article/..._linux_review/

woodsmoke

**ardvark71** · Jul 03, 2011, 10:09 PM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

Originally posted by saurav

Kubuntu Lucid - no KDE 4.5. No mobile broadband out-of-the-box.

Hi...

That's interesting.

I had no problem of any kind with 10.04's wireless networking. It found and set up my chipset perfectly. What was yours?

Regards...

**saurav** · Jul 04, 2011, 06:06 AM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

Thanks for all the interesting distros coming in. I'm still using Kubuntu Maverick as my yardstick. If possible, please also see if you can post something about the repo-strengths. One issue with smaller distros is that there is often no way of knowing what the repos have unless you install it. There's virtualization, of course, but still it's better if we can know beforehand.

@bsniadajewski: I am hoping against hope for it.

@woodsmoke: iQunix seems interesting. Let me see what I can make of it. Also, yes, Bodhi is a good choice for Enlightenment.

@ardvark71: Mobile broadband is not the same as Wi-fi (wireless) and has nothing to do with a chipset. It's basically when you plug in your mobile phone or (in my case) a portable broadband Internet device and use it to connect to the Internet on the computer. Linux systems need a package called modeswitch (usb-modeswitch in *buntu) for this but Lucid does not have it installed out-of-the-box.

**ardvark71** · Jul 04, 2011, 06:11 AM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

Originally posted by saurav

@ardvark71: Mobile broadband is not the same as Wi-fi (wireless) and has nothing to do with a chipset. It's basically when you plug in your mobile phone or (in my case) a portable broadband Internet device and use it to connect to the Internet on the computer. Linux systems need a package called modeswitch (usb-modeswitch in *buntu) for this but Lucid does not have it installed out-of-the-box.

Hi...

Thank you for sharing that with me, I just learned something new this day.

Regards...

**saurav** · Jul 04, 2011, 06:19 AM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

@ardvark71:

Thank you for sharing that with me, I just learned something new this day.

Most welcome. Glad to be of help. Life's all about sharing and learning anyway....

**saurav** · Jul 04, 2011, 11:26 AM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

woodsmoke,

I went through your links on Bodhi, etc. For RevLinuxOS, I couldn't find anything except the one-entry blog. Klikit is based on (K)Ubuntu but I find the 'buntus better. Both Bodhi and iQunix are good. Is there anything similar offering just KDE 4.5? Basically something that is as good as Kubuntu Maverick without its problems. A newer kernel would be welcome. Plus, KPackageKit doesn't cause problems here but it's not as powerful as Synaptic. I still don't know how good the Muon package manager is. Maybe someone who has had experience with it can say something about it here?

However, as bsniadajewski said, if KDE 4.7 becomes (serious) error-free, even if after a few point releases, I think both Kubuntu Oneiric and Fedora 16 will meet the requirements I initially set out here. I'm eagerly looking forward to it.

**GreyGeek** · Jul 04, 2011, 12:13 PM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

Originally posted by saurav

I often wonder if we can ever have a modern, polished and powerful Linux-based desktop OS that always works correctly everywhere and for everyone. .....

No.

There is no such person as a "Perfect" developer (one who never makes a coding mistake).

There is no such thing as a "Perfect" PC, i.e., one without a single technical flaw, and with all the functionality that everyone wants, and none of the functionality that no one wants..

There is no such thing as a "Perfect" Interface, i.e., one which would appeal to everyone.

**saurav** · Jul 04, 2011, 12:17 PM

Re: Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

@GreyGeek: But if you look through the errors which I have talked about here, you'll see that they are things that should simply not plague any distro, whether you call it perfect or not.

Announcement

Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

Can we ever have a perfect distro? A call to the community

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment