Beautiful Looking Linux Desktop

Vista vs. Leopard vs. Linux: Different Strokes for Different Folks

The great OS debate has been going on for a long time, and those on both sides often display an almost religious fervor when it comes to defending their operating system choices. It's interesting - and a little amusing - to see how emotional some people get about it. I have my own preference, which is obvious to anyone who takes a look at the names of the newsletters I edit and the books I've written, but I certainly don't get offended (as some people seem to) because someone else chooses to use a different OS.We live in a time and place where "tolerance" is supposed to reign supreme, but sometimes I think people are becoming more intolerant of differences instead of the other way around. For most of my life, I didn't know or care which of my friends belonged to which political party, and neither did they. Now it seems that many people won't even associate with others who are on the "wrong" side of the political aisle, much less call them friends. And it extends beyond politics.Dog lovers vs. cat lovers, Canon owners vs. Nikon owners, American vs. foreign car drivers, "middle class" vs. "rich," country folk vs. city slickers, and yes - Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux users: folks are becoming divided over the silliest things. I actually heard a Windows techie say once that he could never get serious about a certain girl he'd dated because she uses a Mac.The truth is: there is no perfect operating system, just there is no perfect political candidate or perfect place to live or perfect anything else. We each make choices that we believe are best for us. Those who refuse to concede that different choices might be best for others are destined to lead very self- restricted lives. Recently a friend of my son offered an analogy over dinner that I liked and later expanded upon. My version goes like this: Using a Mac is like living in a downtown penthouse. You have everything done for you and it all looks very slick, but you pay a high price. You have a doorman to pamper you and somebody else takes care of the maintenance, but you can't make a lot of changes to the property.Using Windows is like living in the suburbs. You get more square footage for your dollar but you have to mow your own lawn and when something goes wrong, you have to fix it yourself or pay someone extra to do it. You can make changes to your property but you might have to deal with deed restrictions or city ordinances or homeowner association rules.Using Linux is like living out in the country. Compared to the other options, property is dirt cheap and you can do whatever you want to it without having to follow codes and get inspections. But you'll probably have to do a lot more of the work yourself and you need a lot of building expertise or else you may get yourself into big trouble and find your house falling down all around you because you didn't do it correctly.The point is: for some people, city living is the only way to go and others would be miserable in the urban environment. Some love the rugged rural lifestyle and others prefer the 'burbs. None of the three choices is "right" or "wrong" in general; different choices are right for different people. And it's the same way with computer operating systems.When you really think about it, the three top OS choices have more in common than they ever have before. The interfaces are now similar; all use keyboards and pointing devices (and in some cases microphones) to input data and display the output through monitors, printers and speakers. All use clickable icons and menus. Choosing between them is more like choosing between a Ford, Toyota and Volkswagon than choosing between a bicycle, car and airplane. If you can drive one, you can (with a little study and practice) operate the others.So what are the real differences between Microsoft's latest operating system (Vista), Apple's newest big cat (Leopard) and one of the currently most popular Linux distros (Ubuntu)? Most of the comparison articles you'll find on the web are written by biased authors who have a clear preference for one over the others. Those that appear to be objective usually end up with the same conclusion: Each OS has strengths and each has weaknesses. It all depends on how you want to use your computer.Here's a feature chart that compares Vista and Leopard, comparing some of the top "out of the box" features. The main thing it proves is that both of these operating systems have some great features. Need tablet/touchscreen features? Vista is the clear choice. Want virtual desktops (without third party software)? Here, kitty, kitty. Longing to use your computer as a home entertainment hub to record TV programs, stream HDTV and so forth? Media Center takes the cake. Concentrating on photo display and editing? iPhoto wins over Windows Photo Gallery. And so on. http://www.vistanews.com/080612-Vista-vs-Leopard. How about Linux? Once upon a time, only true techies dared to go there. Many PC users who tried installing it on their desktops ran screaming back to Windows, traumatized by the need to write their own drivers, compile kernels and otherwise become overnight IT pros. But new distributions of Linux have greatly increased the user-friendliness of the OS. The desktop looks more Windows-like and navigation is more intuitive. And of course, the price is right (you just can't beat free). This article compares Vista and Ubuntu Linux: http://www.vistanews.com/080612-Vista-vs-Ubuntu Tell us what you think. Do most of the people you know take their operating system choice way too seriously? Can you still be friends with someone who uses a different OS? Might you consider using more than one operating system, either in a multi-boot configuration or in different computers, for different purposes? Do you think there's really less difference between the alternative operating systems than the fanboys would have you think? Let us know your opinions and experiences at

Applications

Linux is available in several formats, called distributions. Each distribution has its own set of features and functionality that makes it unique -- some distributions are available for download at no charge, others are provided on CD or floppy disk and have a (usually) nominal charge associated with them. In each section below, you'll find not only a list of applications, tools, and utilities, but links to web sites providing support, reviews, and other useful information.

Additional Information

If you're interested in learning about Linux, need help with some aspect of its use or are enthusiastic about it and want to help foster its adoption, you may want to get in touch with a Linux User Group in your area. There are groups in practically every country, region and city in the world, so there is likely to be one near you.Each day, Linux use is increasing in every sector of our society. We have nformation about Linux deployments in government, industry and the arts. Linux has an official mascot, Tux, the Linux penguin, which was selected by Linus Torvalds to represent the image he associates with the operating system. Tux was created by Larry Ewing and Larry has generously given it to the community to be freely used to promote Linux. More information on use of the image can be found on his webpage. More links to variations on the image and alternative logos can be found on our logo page Many people are not sure of the pronunciation of the word Linux. Although many variations of the word exist, often due to native language factors, it is normally pronounced with a short " i " and with the first syllable stressed, as in LIH-nucks. You can hear how Linux creator Linus Torvalds pronounces the word in Swedish and in english . More information on Linus Torvalds, can be found on our short biography page. if you're interested in the history of Linux, we have a timeline page that features important milestones in the development of the operating system.

What is linux

Linux is a free Unix-type operating system originally created by Linus Torvalds with the assistance of developers around the world. Developed under the GNU General Public License , the source code for Linux is freely available to everyone. Click on the link below to find out more about the operating system that is causing a revolution in the world of computers.

Intel won't touch Vista

ACCORDING TO A memo circulating a few weeks ago, it looks like Intel is taking a wise decision and avoiding the Broken OS entirely. Yes, Intel is not going to use Vista on its corporate machines... ever.When a company as tech savvy as Intel, with full source code access and having written several large chunks of the OS, says get stuffed, you know you have a problem. Well, everyone knows MS has a problem, but it is nice to see it codified in such a black and white way though. Reassuring, like a warm cup of tea, or a public kick to the corporate crown jewels.The real question is what are they going to use? The official answer is 'nothing yet', the one where they try not to offend is 'likely Windows 7', delivered with a pained smile. Since that is shaping up to be Me II SP1a, I am not sure Intel will bite there either unless they suddenly develop a GPU that can run it in that time frame.So that leaves two other choices, Linux and Mac. Linux is a distinct possibility, they already have an in-house distro that causes employees look nervously around the room when you talk about it. Although it is not a desktop variant, there is no reason that they could not roll one given two years.The other one is the big white horse in the corner, Mac OS. If there was ever a company that is loyal to Intel, it is Apple. If there was ever a company that could make MacOS work internally, it is Intel. While any marriage with the turtlenecked sociopath is a match made in hell, don't count this one out either. In the end, you have Intel flipping MS the bird, and telling them what they already know, Vista in undeployable by anyone with a grain of common sense. The impressive thing is that it just might lead to a waving off of MS entirely, they are the underdog for the next round of upgrades.

The latest internal build of Windows Vista is REALLY GOOD

It's a significant improvement over the last Community Technology Preview (CTP) - i.e. that which is available to MSDN & TechNet subscribers. It's not had the same level of testing hence it's not suitable for you to play with and we're getting really close to Release Candidate stage.For those of you who are desparate for news and may have wondered about the performance of the CTPs I can assure you that the most recent version wizzes along compared to anything you've seen.It's quite strange @ Microsoft at the moment as many of the technical people I work with in the UK seem obsessed with which build version of both Windows Vista and 2007 Office System they're running. We quote build numbers at each other all the time. This reminds me on the odd day that I wonder whether I'm really a true geek that in fact I'll never truely fit in "on the outside"!I'm running build 5536 of Windows Vista - it's so much better than previous builds - 5520 was noticably better than before, 5536 is even better.The Technical Refresh of 2007 Office System Beta 2 looks good too.

Lightweight, Linux-compatible browser evolves

eight-year-old Dillo project has released version 2.0 of its Linux-compatible, ultra-lightweight HTML browser for embedded systems, antiquated PCs, and other low-powered devices. Dillo 2 adds support for anti-aliased text, multiple languages, and tabbed browsing, while improving table rendering and lowering memory usage, says the project.(Click for larger view of dillo 2 screen capture)Dillo is a very lightweight browser that loads web pages fast enough to poke your eye out, almost, even on the humblest hardware. It supports a subset of HTML, CGI forms, SSL, and cookies (which it denies, by default, with per-site opt-in). Traditionally, it has not been very practical for browsing the modern Internet, due to missing support for Javascript, frames, and HTTPS, among other things. However, since it supports CGI forms, it has been suitable for survey kiosks and other closed, "walled garden" applications. Dillo has also been popular with web developers due to its concise HTML error reporting, available as a right-click menu option. And, through the years, Dillo has been tapped by a long list of "ultra-light" Linux distributions, including Damn Samll Linux, Antix (a MEPIS derivative), Mustang Linux (fork of Buffalo Linux), and VectorLinux (Slackware-based).

Vista 'more secure than OS X and Linux'

Microsoft has boasted in a new study that Windows Vista has needed fewer security patches than any other recently released desktop operating system. "Windows Vista has an improved security vulnerability profile over its predecessor and a significantly better profile to comparable modern competitive operating systems," stated Jeff Jones, director of the Trustworthy Computing initiative at Microsoft's Security Business Unit. The Windows Vista 6-month Vulnerability Report (PDF) compared the number of flaws during the 90 days after the application's launch for Windows Vista, Windows XP, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (RHEL4) Workstation, Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (SLED10) and Apple Mac OS X. (Also see table on page two) Vista beat the other operating systems on nearly all fronts, according to the report, logging the fewest fixed vulnerabilities and the fewest repairs with a severity rating of 'high'.Microsoft's operating system ranked second in the number of unpatched flaws after 90 days, trailing behind only Windows XP.Apple's OS X ranked third behind the two Windows versions, followed by Ubuntu, SLED10 and RHEL4.Comparing the number of patched and disclosed vulnerabilities is a controversial method of comparing the security between products. Different operating systems have different features, offering attackers diverse ways to hit the software.Jones attempted to pre-empt criticism over features by including a tweaked version of the three Linux distributions in his test.The adapted version had been stripped of bundled applications that are not found in Windows or OS X, such as the OpenOffice productivity suite, as well as graphics and developer tools.The number of fixes also failed to consider the popularity with attackers and security researchers. Because Windows is the predominant operating system, users run a greater risk of getting hit.But this has also caused the software to be closely scrutinised by Microsoft and independent security researchers as they attempt to protect their clients.

Advance Linux Operationg System

Why does Microsoft constantly fall on its face when it comes to operating system deadlines, while Linux continues to cruise along popping out one release after another? While Microsoft fans prefer to ignore that question, Microsoft's recent admission that it won't be able to make its latest Vista deadline of the 2006 holiday season makes this question unavoidable. Indeed, I find it hard to see how anyone can believe in Microsoft's latest Vista deadlines. How can Microsoft get usable volume-licensed versions of Vista out by November 2006, while the consumer retail versions won't be ready until January 2007?Yes, there are no fewer than six major Vista releases, but it's all the same core code-base, isn't it? Well, isn't it? Could it be that the consumer releases are just being held up because of such home-centric functionality as media playback? It would be nice to think that, but the real problems cover the entire Vista line. Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's Platforms & Services Division and head Vista honcho, said that Vista's quality problems are in
performance, drivers, testing, and security.That's damning. These are the fundamentals for any operating system, used at home or at work. No one in their right mind should buy a Vista-equipped PC this November or December for production office use.And, what do we see over in Linux? Yes, we sometimes see delays. For example, the next release of the popular Ubuntu is going to be six-weeks later then expected. The reasons? "Additional validation, certification, localization, and polish," according to Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu's father.Hmmm... Microsoft is still having trouble with "performance, drivers, testing, and security," so Vista's now going to be more than two years late.And this, I might add, is despite the fact that Microsoft began gutting Vista's feature set back in 2004 in order to make the 2006 deadline. How does Linux do it? How did Torvalds & Company manage to release the latest release of Linux, version 2.6.16, after not quite three months of development?Easy. The open-source market development model works better than the traditional cathedral model that Microsoft adheres to. Eric Raymond spelled it all out almost ten years ago in his seminal open-source essay, The Cathedral and the Bazaar.I won't bother rehashing his arguments. If you're in the development business and you don't know them by now, you've got no business being in development.If you still don't buy into open-source being the best way to develop software. I've got a few words for you: Apache, Firefox, and MySQL. If that doesn't convince, consider that Borland, a company that was built on proprietary software development tools, has recently abandoned that business for open-source tools. Think, for a moment, about how Oracle recently bought Sleepycat, an open-source DBMS company. I could go on and on, but the point is that the software revolution has already happened, and open-source has won.Another factor is that open-source, by its nature, is constantly evolving its software. By making small improvements all the time, Linux and the other open-source projects can take huge programs and make them better. Linux 2.6.16 isn't a giant improvement over 2.6.14, but it does include a new clustering file-system, improved power management, and a host of other small improvements. Version 2.6.16 is,however, much better than version 2.6.0, which came out in December 2003.

A Vista vs. Linux Matchup

Last time around, I described the HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7360n that I'm using for my Vista vs. Linux shootout. Getting the PC was the easy part. Getting Linux and Vista to live together on the same machine turned out to be a bit harder.On XP and earlier Windows PCs, making Windows and Linux live together was almost automatic.Any of the major distributions made it easy. With Vista, things have changed.Microsoft has deep-sixed its old boot.ini bootloader in favor of a new bootloader.The new bootloader, BCD (Boot Configuration Data), is designed to be firmware-independent. It also comes with a new boot option editing tool, BCDEdit.exe, which isn't so much user-friendly as user-hostile. I'm not, by the way, talking here as someone whose chief concern is dual-booting Linux. BCDEdit is a pain to work with no matter how you're modifying Vista's boot behavior. Unfortunately, though, you're going to have to work with Vista bootloader, because Vista doesn't deal well with being installed on a system that already has an operating system on it that you mean to keep.

In my case, I had already decided to blow away my system's existing Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Update Rollup 2 operating system. I could have "upgraded" this system to Vista, but I really do want to give Vista its best chance to shine, and upgrading an existing Windows system appears to be an almost sure way to find
trouble.

Unless you have a lot of time on your hands, you don't mind running into incompatibility problems, and you know exactly what you're doing, do not "upgrade" to Vista. Do a clean install, instead.

In the case of a dual-boot system, you're almost certainly going to need to do a clean install, anyway. You see, if you "upgrade" a system, you have to do it from within Windows XP or 2000. And, if you do that, you can't repartition or reformat any of the hard drive. The only way you can work on your drive fundamentals at the start of a Vista install is if you boot from the Vista DVD. So, unless you already have a big enough partition on your drive for another operating system, you're better off with a clean install.

With all that in mind, I did a clean install of Vista Ultimate on my system. I divided my system's 300GB SATA hard drive into two equal partitions. On the Vista side, I had the option of using BitLocker Drive Encryption, but I decided not to use it.

BitLocker actually makes a good deal of sense. In particular, if I was planning to lug around a Vista-only laptop, I'd like knowing that if anyone swiped it, they wouldn't be able to easily get at my data.

For me, though, that has two problems. The first is that it requires a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 1.1 chip or a USB drive. While the HP doesn't have a TPM chip, it does have six USB 2.0 ports. But, if I use a USB drive to keep my BitLocker encryption key on, isn't it always going to be on my machine anyway? Now, this doesn't really matter with this hefty tower system, but if I were using a notebook, anyone who grabbed my laptop bag would also be likely to get my USB BitLocker key at the same time.

The real problem for dual-booting with BitLocker is that it blocks Linux from accessing any data in that partition. Security guru Bruce Schneier thinks "You could look at BitLocker as anti-Linux because it frustrates dual boot," but I don't think it does. Even with BitLocker installed, Vista still needs an unencrypted partition to boot from, so dual-booting should still work. It's just that getting at data on the BitLocker-protected NTFS partition will be close to impossible for Linux users.

One final thought on BitLocker before I go. Microsoft has only made it available on its Enterprise and Ultimate editions. Enterprise is only available to volume buyers, and Ultimate's the most expensive Vista of them all. I find it more than a little annoying that small business users will have to upgrade to Ultimate to get what I think of as one of Vista's best points for business users.

As for Linux and disk encryption, this functionality has been baked into Linux using the CryptoAPI since version 2.6.0 first appeared several years ago. For detailed instructions on how to use CryptoAPI, see, A Structured Approach to Hard Disk Encryption. If you don't want to get your hands dirty with this do-it-yourself approach, you can use a GUI-enabled open-source program, TrueCrypt to get the job done.

Now, I started to install Vista. One of Vista's better points is that it will alert you when it runs into hardware that it hasn't a clue on how to handle. On the down side, it will also, like all operating systems, run hardware that it thinks it knows how to run, but it doesn't really have a clue.

With the m7360n, I quickly found that neither Vista nor Ubuntu nor MEPIS could run all of the system's hardware. I found one component that Vista couldn't deal with at all, and several that required some work with MEPIS before I could get them operational.

I'm going to save those stories for the next installment where I talk about hardware compatibility, so I can continue talking about making Vista and Linux dual-bootable. Before I do this, though, let me make one thing clear. People are always talking about how Linux has problems with devices. And, that's true. Vista, however, at this point in its development anyway, also has a goodly number of hardware problems.

For the most part, both the Vista and MEPIS installations went without any problems. Both operating systems come on DVDs and once you boot the system up and start installing them, your "hardest" job will be setting the proper time.

In the case of Vista, though. I did have one of those "What the heck?" moments. If you look at the Windows setup screen you'll see that it lists both Home and Business as choices, but there's really no difference between them. Or, if there is, you sure can't tell it from this display. I do have to wonder for a moment, too, about anyone who's not sure if they're at home or in the office, but I'll let that pass.

Advanced Vista Forensics

"The Project tested free and commercial forensic tools against Microsoft Windows
Vista for compatibility and system impact issues. Both Live Response and Dead Analysis tools will be tested against a 32-bit and 64-bit system. Once testing is complete, a detailed guide outlining steps on how to complete a forensic investigation on a computer system with the Windows Vista operating system will be created. The guide will be complete with a Live Response methodology, scripts, and a forensic toolkit."