SolusOS - Page 3

MidnightCowboy · 12. May 2012, 09:18 AM

MidnightCowboy · 13. May 2012, 08:45 AM

I took the opportunity yesterday to really give this distro some stick. At one point I was editing pages on the site, had a movie running in the background, a torrent in full swing and was copying 9G of music files across from my external drive. Solus handled all of this ease. I also installed Google Earth and Dropbox which both function correctly except for the fonts in Google Earth, but this is a known issue with Debian. The GUI is easy enough to read but if you do a search, all you'll end up with is a bunch of squares in the search box. The characters you type do enter correctly though so the result will be as expected. Another way round this if you're not happy typing in bunches of squares is to use a text editor first and then copy/paste your query into the search box. There are some suggested fixes for this font issue if you Google for them, but on my system they do not work.

The one and only single issue I've had with the final version of Solus is an occasional crash with flash. So far it hasn't broken during use, but only when first trying to open. Simply refreshing the page opens the media so this is not a big deal. This is already noted in their forum so hopefully a permanent fix will be forthcoming.

Updates are also coming through and installing without issue.

MidnightCowboy · 14. May 2012, 07:39 PM

Good review of Solus here.

http://kbd-thinkingoutloud.blogspot....-everyone.html

"I think the success of SolusOS is written in stone if the developers will keep this great distro alive and the community gives it support. I can usually find at least two or three things wrong with an operating system out of the box, but right now I'm not seeing any".

wdhpr · 14. May 2012, 09:25 PM

KBD Thinking Out Loud

Quote:

True, Gnome 2 has been discontinued, but I'm perfectly happy to live with it through its final glory days on SolusOS. Yet it will be interesting to see what the next desktop iteration will be once the new Debian Stable arrives. From what I've seen so far, I am confident SolusOS will offer us a fine desktop in the future.

This is the essence of what concerns me. Will SolusOS end up using a hybrid of sorts such as Mate, and Cinnamon? Will SolusOS provide that niche for unhappy Microsoft users that are running away from Win8? Will it compete with Zorin in that way? Its going to be a tough sell convincing a large number of people to switch to SolusOS. With that said, every good distro had to start somewhere. I have great respect for Debian, which is what Mepis was built on and it was my first good experience with linux as a usable OS. It appears the author of this article does not share my concerns and is confident that it has a future. I'm downloading SolusOS while writing this post and will be saying goodbye to Zorin after I make a image of it first

MidnightCowboy · 15. May 2012, 08:06 AM

We've been in a situation for some time now whereby the majority of operations, and pretty much everything for average use, can be achieved as good as or better than Windows, and certainly faster with Linux. The main advantage, for most distros, is the ability to have everything you need for average use installed and ready to run within 10-20 minutes of firing up the CD. The three main stumbling blocks were installation, network configuration, customisation and system errors.

Taking these one at a time, installation is now pretty straightforward. There are ample distros to choose from that provide intuitive GUI installs, even for dual boot scenarios.

Networking still provides a challenge for anyone wishing to use KDE. As I've found out, different distros are very system specific when it comes to recognising network cards, and particularly mobile broadband dongles. The new Mageia2 for instance still does not recognise either of the two most widely used modems in Brazil. Gnome has never suffered from this and is dead easy to set up although I appreciate that a first time Linux user may need to download some screenshots of the various settings options beforehand.

Customisation is something we all love to do. Some items such as backgrounds and themes are easier to do than Windows but others require more work, and of course more time because where they are and what to do with them needs researching first. Nevertheless, the customising options for Linux are light years ahead of what can be achieved with Windows.

System errors in Linux are still a major issue, although not so for those of us who have lived with these for some time and are pretty much clued up about what to do. As highlighted in the Solus article I linked to, the reviewer states that he mostly finds at least two or three things in a distro that either do not work at the outset or break later. System updates can also be the cause of a lot of anguish as users frequently see their sound, video or network disappear. Windows of course is not immune to this, but mostly it is third party programs that cause all the problems. Sticking with genuine system errors though, these are few and far between with Windows, and are usually fixed pretty quickly, or at least the information about how to do a DIY repair is readily available. With Linux too, things are fixed even quicker (mostly) than Windows but by this time a newbie may have lost connectivity or be required to take additional actions which are not as straightforward as with Windows. The big downside for Linux here is that many breakages are very system specific so finding a tailored solution often takes some time and effort. Some of the Linux forums are still far from newbie friendly and the condescending manner of the replies must have driven many a convert straight back to Windows.

This then is where we come to the big v little support debate. You can always find exceptions wherever you look and the data to back up one argument against another, but in general, the small team or one-man-band distros are often ahead of the major distros when it comes to support. Kororaa, Bodhi, and Zorin for instance are prime examples that have risen to the top of their own genre pile. Solus would appear to be another and the fact that nothing breaks when you switch it on (or off)

already gives it a head start. Certainly the dedication appears to be in place to support Solus but I guess this will be influenced ultimately by how many folks adopt it as a system. This then largely comes down to the mainstream reviewers, including Dedoimedo

and what they think to it. Us happy but average Joe's might already be missing something that these guys pick up, but so far it looks to be one of the most promising releases for a long time.

Panzer · 15. May 2012, 11:45 AM

My first try with Solus on laptop: working well, after restart Windows frooze during initialisation - had to reboot
Second try on fast PC: after a couple of minutes I couldn't access menu anymore -> CTRL+Alt+Delete --> shut down --> comp crashed --> unplugg/plugg the cable --> restart

right click on .htm file --> open with FF --> it couldn't open it, but opened a lot of other web pages (links from the page I wanted to open?)

Very nice lightweight distro though ...

MidnightCowboy · 15. May 2012, 01:22 PM

Strange that because this morning, having been impressed with Solus on my desktop, I also installed in on my Samsung RV415 laptop. Again this was a dual boot with Windows 7 and again smooth install, no errors and everything working. Firefox and Thunderbird (+Firetray) both setup. Swapped file manager for Dolphin, UFW for Firestarter as personal preferences. Also added LM-Sensors and Screenlets, Audacious, Deluge, Streamtuner, custom Equinox themes, Faenza icons, Google Earth and some KDE game variants which I prefer the look of over their Gnome equivalents.

wdhpr · 15. May 2012, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MC

The big downside for Linux here is that many breakages are very system specific so finding a tailored solution often takes some time and effort. Some of the Linux forums are still far from newbie friendly and the condescending manner of the replies must have driven many a convert straight back to Windows.

Totally agree... Because of my video card the last 4 distro's I've tried, when booted did not show the grub boot menu. The first time it happened it created considerable anxiety but with linux experience I knew how to look for the solution. When I say how, I mean what forums to go to and how to ask the right questions. Most newbies probably would have panicked and given up.
I believe it was Dedoimedo that said its about perception in that those with experience perceive problems differently and that could explain the condescending attitudes found at linux forums. Still don't make it right though

MidnightCowboy · 16. May 2012, 06:09 AM

A more detailed review with an equally positive conclusion has now appeared here:

http://www.linuxandlife.com/2012/05/...me-debian.html

"And in my personal opinion, SolusOS is even better than the old versions of Ubuntu that used Gnome2 as the desktop environment, not only in the look and feel but also in the performance".

MidnightCowboy · 16. May 2012, 11:43 AM

If you check out the Distrowatch rankings, Solus has gone from nowhere to #11 in the last 30 days. In the last 7 days, it's ranked at #4!

http://distrowatch.com/index.php?dataspan=4

That is an amazing achievement and IMO proof they are delivering what folks want to see from Linux.

12. May 2012, 09:18 AM	#21 (permalink)
MidnightCowboy Site Manager Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: South American Banana Republic, third bunch from the left Posts: 15,190	Many of the panel image options around will also work perfectly with Solus, requiring no other actions other than to select the image. Here's a small selection that I happen to like. The second lot of links are to the VirusTotal scan results. All the images are 100% clean. Just save the images to a folder location on your own computer and then select them as a panel from there. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/78976885/Panels/Faenza.svg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/78976885/Pan...eyness3way.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/78976885/Pan...o%20Faenza.svg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/78976885/Panels/Metalic.svg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/78976885/Panels/Raptor.svg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/78976885/Panels/Stealth.svg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/78976885/Panels/TECH-Dark.svg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/78976885/Panels/TECH.svg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/78976885/Pan...keNO-TRANS.png https://www.virustotal.com/file/7cee...is/1336806869/ https://www.virustotal.com/file/1bf6...is/1336806931/ https://www.virustotal.com/file/4a74...is/1336806997/ https://www.virustotal.com/file/3169...is/1336807071/ https://www.virustotal.com/file/6685...is/1336807134/ https://www.virustotal.com/file/f335...is/1336807225/ https://www.virustotal.com/file/0385...is/1336807313/ https://www.virustotal.com/file/335a...is/1336807373/ https://www.virustotal.com/file/535a...is/1336809382/ __________________ Buy a Hoover and prove technology sucks.

13. May 2012, 08:45 AM	#22 (permalink)
MidnightCowboy Site Manager Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: South American Banana Republic, third bunch from the left Posts: 15,190	I took the opportunity yesterday to really give this distro some stick. At one point I was editing pages on the site, had a movie running in the background, a torrent in full swing and was copying 9G of music files across from my external drive. Solus handled all of this ease. I also installed Google Earth and Dropbox which both function correctly except for the fonts in Google Earth, but this is a known issue with Debian. The GUI is easy enough to read but if you do a search, all you'll end up with is a bunch of squares in the search box. The characters you type do enter correctly though so the result will be as expected. Another way round this if you're not happy typing in bunches of squares is to use a text editor first and then copy/paste your query into the search box. There are some suggested fixes for this font issue if you Google for them, but on my system they do not work. The one and only single issue I've had with the final version of Solus is an occasional crash with flash. So far it hasn't broken during use, but only when first trying to open. Simply refreshing the page opens the media so this is not a big deal. This is already noted in their forum so hopefully a permanent fix will be forthcoming. Updates are also coming through and installing without issue. __________________ Buy a Hoover and prove technology sucks.

14. May 2012, 07:39 PM	#23 (permalink)
MidnightCowboy Site Manager Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: South American Banana Republic, third bunch from the left Posts: 15,190	Good review of Solus here. http://kbd-thinkingoutloud.blogspot....-everyone.html "I think the success of SolusOS is written in stone if the developers will keep this great distro alive and the community gives it support. I can usually find at least two or three things wrong with an operating system out of the box, but right now I'm not seeing any". __________________ Buy a Hoover and prove technology sucks.

15. May 2012, 08:06 AM	#25 (permalink)
MidnightCowboy Site Manager Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: South American Banana Republic, third bunch from the left Posts: 15,190	We've been in a situation for some time now whereby the majority of operations, and pretty much everything for average use, can be achieved as good as or better than Windows, and certainly faster with Linux. The main advantage, for most distros, is the ability to have everything you need for average use installed and ready to run within 10-20 minutes of firing up the CD. The three main stumbling blocks were installation, network configuration, customisation and system errors. Taking these one at a time, installation is now pretty straightforward. There are ample distros to choose from that provide intuitive GUI installs, even for dual boot scenarios. Networking still provides a challenge for anyone wishing to use KDE. As I've found out, different distros are very system specific when it comes to recognising network cards, and particularly mobile broadband dongles. The new Mageia2 for instance still does not recognise either of the two most widely used modems in Brazil. Gnome has never suffered from this and is dead easy to set up although I appreciate that a first time Linux user may need to download some screenshots of the various settings options beforehand. Customisation is something we all love to do. Some items such as backgrounds and themes are easier to do than Windows but others require more work, and of course more time because where they are and what to do with them needs researching first. Nevertheless, the customising options for Linux are light years ahead of what can be achieved with Windows. System errors in Linux are still a major issue, although not so for those of us who have lived with these for some time and are pretty much clued up about what to do. As highlighted in the Solus article I linked to, the reviewer states that he mostly finds at least two or three things in a distro that either do not work at the outset or break later. System updates can also be the cause of a lot of anguish as users frequently see their sound, video or network disappear. Windows of course is not immune to this, but mostly it is third party programs that cause all the problems. Sticking with genuine system errors though, these are few and far between with Windows, and are usually fixed pretty quickly, or at least the information about how to do a DIY repair is readily available. With Linux too, things are fixed even quicker (mostly) than Windows but by this time a newbie may have lost connectivity or be required to take additional actions which are not as straightforward as with Windows. The big downside for Linux here is that many breakages are very system specific so finding a tailored solution often takes some time and effort. Some of the Linux forums are still far from newbie friendly and the condescending manner of the replies must have driven many a convert straight back to Windows. This then is where we come to the big v little support debate. You can always find exceptions wherever you look and the data to back up one argument against another, but in general, the small team or one-man-band distros are often ahead of the major distros when it comes to support. Kororaa, Bodhi, and Zorin for instance are prime examples that have risen to the top of their own genre pile. Solus would appear to be another and the fact that nothing breaks when you switch it on (or off) already gives it a head start. Certainly the dedication appears to be in place to support Solus but I guess this will be influenced ultimately by how many folks adopt it as a system. This then largely comes down to the mainstream reviewers, including Dedoimedo and what they think to it. Us happy but average Joe's might already be missing something that these guys pick up, but so far it looks to be one of the most promising releases for a long time. __________________ Buy a Hoover and prove technology sucks.

15. May 2012, 11:45 AM	#26 (permalink)
Panzer Editor Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 686	My first try with Solus on laptop: working well, after restart Windows frooze during initialisation - had to reboot Second try on fast PC: after a couple of minutes I couldn't access menu anymore -> CTRL+Alt+Delete --> shut down --> comp crashed --> unplugg/plugg the cable --> restart right click on .htm file --> open with FF --> it couldn't open it, but opened a lot of other web pages (links from the page I wanted to open?) Very nice lightweight distro though ... Last edited by Panzer; 15. May 2012 at 11:54 AM.

15. May 2012, 01:22 PM	#27 (permalink)
MidnightCowboy Site Manager Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: South American Banana Republic, third bunch from the left Posts: 15,190	Strange that because this morning, having been impressed with Solus on my desktop, I also installed in on my Samsung RV415 laptop. Again this was a dual boot with Windows 7 and again smooth install, no errors and everything working. Firefox and Thunderbird (+Firetray) both setup. Swapped file manager for Dolphin, UFW for Firestarter as personal preferences. Also added LM-Sensors and Screenlets, Audacious, Deluge, Streamtuner, custom Equinox themes, Faenza icons, Google Earth and some KDE game variants which I prefer the look of over their Gnome equivalents. __________________ Buy a Hoover and prove technology sucks.

16. May 2012, 06:09 AM	#29 (permalink)
MidnightCowboy Site Manager Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: South American Banana Republic, third bunch from the left Posts: 15,190	A more detailed review with an equally positive conclusion has now appeared here: http://www.linuxandlife.com/2012/05/...me-debian.html "And in my personal opinion, SolusOS is even better than the old versions of Ubuntu that used Gnome2 as the desktop environment, not only in the look and feel but also in the performance". __________________ Buy a Hoover and prove technology sucks.

16. May 2012, 11:43 AM	#30 (permalink)
MidnightCowboy Site Manager Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: South American Banana Republic, third bunch from the left Posts: 15,190	If you check out the Distrowatch rankings, Solus has gone from nowhere to #11 in the last 30 days. In the last 7 days, it's ranked at #4! http://distrowatch.com/index.php?dataspan=4 That is an amazing achievement and IMO proof they are delivering what folks want to see from Linux. __________________ Buy a Hoover and prove technology sucks.

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