Before I get into this review, I wanted to note the ongoing server problems DLR has been having. Please accept my apologies if you’ve been trying to access DLR or the DLR forum. DLR is growing and the additional traffic has caused some server overloads. My hosting company will be moving DLR to a more robust server (hopefully this week) and that might help. I have also installed the WP Supercache plugin. I thank all of you for your patience while we get the server/bandwidth issues worked out.

Please note also that I have added another page navigation plugin that will let you easily move between pages. Each page has a title so you can skip the parts of the review that don’t interest you. Just look below the regular numbered page links at the top and bottom of each review and you’ll see a handy dropdown menu. I hope it provides some value and makes navigation easier and more comfortable.

I have also added the Sociable plugin to make sharing DLR content easier. You’ll see icons for Facebook, Digg and other social networking sites right at the bottom of each article. Hope that helps for those who wish to share content that the enjoy here on DLR.

Okay, with that said, onto to the rest of the review.

What’s New In This Release
There’s a lot of great new stuff in this release. Here’s a list of some of what you’ll find in this release:

KDE 4.3
Social Networking Features (Various Widgets)
OpenOffice.org Integration
Ayatana Integration
New Look for Installer
Amarok 2.2
KPackageKit
Userconfig Returns
Enhanced Network Manager
GTK+ Integration
Firefox Installer

Some folks might not enjoy the social networking features included in this release but I liked them a lot. I have a Facebook and Twitter account so I find apps that let me access those two services to be quite useful and I’m glad to see them in Kubuntu 9.10. Note that if you are on Facebook you can become a fan of Desktop Linux Reviews.

The latest version of Kubuntu comes with social networking desktop widgets.

The OpenOffice.org integration is nice but really didn’t matter too much to me. I use OO relatively sparingly these days as I write my columns for ExtremeTech using Google Docs most of the time and I write these reviews in WordPress. But I always like to have OO available just in case and it’s nice that it’s better integrated with KDE this time around.

The slicked up installed looked good too though I didn’t notice any significant change in terms of speed or ease of the install.

I’m happy to note that Ubuntu Linux has hit version 9.10 and has some nifty new features that make it worth reviewing here.

Please note that for this review I used Release Candidate 1. I recommend waiting for the final release to come out before you download Ubuntu Linux and install it to your system or before you upgrade any existing Ubuntu Linux computers. The final release should be out soon.

What’s New In This Release
There’s some juicy stuff in this upgrade and here’s some of what you’ll find:

Gnome 2.28
Upstart (Faster Booting)
Empathy IM (Replaces Pidgin)
New Login Manager
Quickly (Easier Application Development)
Ubuntu One (Cloud Based Sharing & Storage)
Linux Kernel 2.6.31
Changes to Power Management
New Intel Video Driver Architecture
Ext4 File System Default
Grub 2 Default

That’s just a sample of the new features in this release. Be sure to check out the full list of new stuff.

Ubuntu 9.10's desktop is clean and clutter-free.

Just what the heck is Easy Peasy? And why should you care? Well it’s essentially a modified version of Ubuntu geared toward netbook users. The interface has been redesigned to work better for netbook users that might not need or want a more traditional desktop interface.

Before you read any further please take note that Easy Peasy should not be considered a desktop version of Linux. It’s designed for netbooks so if you don’t have any interest in that you should stop reading now and skip the rest of this review. If you’re bored and looking for something to read, head over to my opinion column site instead. That will keep you busy for a while as there are quite a few things to read there.

For those of you looking for an offbeat version of Linux to play with, read on!

Easy Peasy has a unique netbook-oriented interface.

What’s New In This Release
Here’s a list of what’s new in the 1.5 release of Easy Peasy:

# New visual look by Lasse Sætre and Mark Basset
# Awesome Linux kernel (2.6.30) optimized for netbooks with faster startup built by Martin Bammer
# Support for more netbooks
# Hybrid image (both .img and .iso at the same time) by Phil Howard

* This makes it possible to move the image to the usb stick with unetbootin or dd etc. Which means it’s now possible to intall from a Mac

# Many bug fixes [1]
# Upgraded software (Picasa, OpenOffice 3.1 etc.)
# Built off Ubuntu 9.04
# Smaller harddrive footprint
# Uses the new ext4 filesystem as default
# UXA by default

* The first distro to deliver real composite desktop which means it’s possible to run 3D in 3D (ie. the netbook interface and desktop effects)

# Banshee as default music player instead of Songbird
# Lots of clever solutions when it comes to upgrades through repositories

* Ubuntu security upgrades are available to easypeasy users as fast as they’re released, while easypeasy isn’t overwritten by Ubuntu

When I first launched DLR I had no idea how well the blog would be received or if it would really amount to anything. Well 30 reviews later here we are and I’m happy to see how things turned out and it’s fun to be able to take a look at another version of the first DLR review.

If you missed the first review, here’s a snippet that explains what Parsix Linux is:

Parsix Linux is a Gnome-centric distribution created in Iran and based on KANOTIX and Debian. I downloaded it a while back but never quite had time to get a review done for ExtremeTech while I was working there. Distrowatch had a good interview with him recently where he talks about why and how Parsix Linux was born and how it differs from KANOTIX. The developer of Parsix is Alan Baghumian, a native Iranian.

What’s New In This Release
There’s some good stuff in this release and here’s some of what you’ll find:

GNOME 2.26.3
Brand new kernel based on Linux 2.6.29.6 with extra patches and drivers
Updated installer system that supports separate /home partition
ext4 file system
GRUB 2
NetworkManager is finally default networking stack
AuFS and UnionFS support
SquashFS+Lzma compression for live-CD
GNU Iceweasel 3.5.3
GParted 0.4.6
Pidgin 2.6.2
OpenOffice.org 3.1.1
Compiz-Fusion 0.8.2

Parsix Linux features a somewhat bland but very functional Gnome desktop.

Kahel OS is a remastered version of Arch Linux. Arch Linux has a bit of a reputation as not being particularly friendly to average desktop users. Kahel OS is an effort to change that perception and make it easier for people to use Arch Linux.

Kahel OS uses a “rolling release” model which essentially means that you never really have to upgrade it in the traditional sense. You simply update your packages and when you do that you have the latest release automatically. There is no grand jump from one version to the next as there is with other distributions.

Note that there was some controversy in the Arch Linux forums about Kahel OS. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from the thread itself.

What’s New In This Release
Given that Kahel OS operates on the rolling release model, there isn’t a list of “what’s new” along the lines of what you’d find for Ubuntu or one of the other distributions. I poked around the Kahel OS site just in case to see if there was anything useful to include in this section but I didn’t come across anything.

The login screen has the familiar orange coloring of the desktop.

Absolute Linux can be considered a more light-weight version of Linux since you won’t find the beautiful but bloated KDE or Gnome desktop environments on it. Instead you’ll find IceWM, a very fast and light-weight window manager. If you’ve never used IceWM before please keep an open mind about it. It may not be as pretty as KDE or Gnome but it more than makes up for it by keeping the distros that offer it very fast (even on older hardware).

What’s New In This Release
Here’s a list of what’s new in this release:

Gtk themes in, K3B and KDE libs out:

Brasero has replaced K3B and kdelibs, kdemultimedia and arts have all been removed. Gtk themes have been implimented and are changeable via customized gtk-chtheme utility. While we are staying away from the heavy integrated environments, we can still get our lightweight apps to look good and coordinate with each other… changing Gtk theme also changes icewm theme, desktop background (in pcmanfm) and window background for ROX-Filer.

So far there are themes of clearlooks, warm, gray and black. Any contribs most welcome. For background info, check out the /usr/local/bin/settheme script. It is called from gtk-chtheme and the script lets you know exactly what files are being used.

For a more in-depth list of what’s new in this release, see the forum announcement thread.

Absolute Linux features a well organized but rather bland looking desktop.

Gentoo, as you may already be aware, has long had a reputation for not being particularly friendly to folks new to it. Although it has shined as a distribution for Linux power users, it has sometimes scared away less tech-savvy users that might have found it somewhat intimidating to deal with.

Sabayon Linux aims to tame Gentoo and make it more accessible to non-power users and it largely succeeds at this goal in this release.

Note that Sabayon Linux is available in Gnome or KDE. For this review I went with the Gnome version.

What’s New In This Release
Here’s a list of the new stuff in this release:

Less than 2GB size (1.6GB for Sabayon5 GNOME x86)
Based on new GCC 4.4.1 and Glibc 2.10
Shipped with Desktop-optimized Linux kernel 2.6.31
Providing extra Server-optimized and OpenVZ-enabled kernels in repositories
Installer now available in multiple languages
Complete Ext4 filesystem support (used by default)
Complete Encrypted filesystems support (via dmcrypt, available in the Installer)
Featuring X.Org 7.5 and up-to-date FLOSS, NVIDIA, AMD video drivers
Containing GNOME 2.26 (2.28 ready) and KDE 4.3.1
Outstanding 3D Desktop applications (Compiz, Compiz Fusion and KWin) working out of the box
Bringing Entropy Framework (Package Manager) 0.99.3
Shipped with OpenOffice 3.1 productivity suite, Multimedia applications
Transform Sabayon into an full-featured HTPC Operating System (Media Center) using XBMC
Shipped with World of Goo Demo – best 2D game ever!
Sexiest Skin ever! (Ian Whyman rocks)

Black is beautiful and the Sabayon Linux desktop is bathed in black.

Puppy Linux is one of the better known distributions when it comes to Linux portability. Puppy has been around for a long time and version 4.3 was recently released. Compared to some of the desktop distributions, Puppy is incredibly lightweight and weighs in at a tiny 105MB when you go to download it. Yep, that’s it. 105MB.

But don’t let the file size of the Puppy Linux download fool you. There’s a lot of value packed into Puppy Linux as you’ll find out in this review.

What’s New In This Release
There’s quite a bit of new stuff in this version of Puppy Linux including a new system for building Puppy called Woof and a new package manager called, appropriately enough, Puppy Package Manager.

Here’s a sample of some of the other stuff that’s new in this release.

2.6.30.4 Linux Kernel
Dialup Modem Drivers
Pstreamvid
CPU Scaling
JWM Theme Maker
Psync
Mscw
pCD
QUISP
SQLiteManager
Hiawatha
Linux-dvb-apps
Screenshot Utility
Aqualung
Crop Background for Widescreen
NicoEdit
Ext4 Support

There’s quite a bit more so be sure to review the full list at the release announcement link above.

Puppy Linux has a cute (albeit a bit bland) desktop wallpaper.

Here’s some background from Wikipedia about Trisquel Linux including an explanation of where its name comes from:

“Trisquel GNU/Linux is a version of the GNU operating system using the Linux kernel. The main goals of the project are the production of a fully free as in speech system that must be easy to use, complete, and with good language support including translations for for the English (default), Basque, Catalonian, Chinese, French, Galician, Hindi, Portuguese and Spanish languages.

Trisquel’s name comes from the Celtic symbol triskelion, or triskele in English, consisting of three interlocked spirals. The project’s logo depicts a triskelion made of the union of three Debian swirls as a sign of recognition to the project on which it is based.

The project hosts its own repositories which are derivatives of Ubuntu’s main and universe components, but with all proprietary software removed. The differences include the removal of all non-free packages, the substitution of the original Linux kernel with the blob-free version linux-libre, and the addition of several packages.“

What’s New In This Release
This release of Trisquel has been split into two editions, the standard desktop and the lightweight version better suited for netbooks and old computers. For this review I downloaded the standard desktop version of Trisquel.

Here’s a sample of some of what’s new in this release of Trisquel Linux:

Linux-libre 2.6.28
Gnome 2.26
OpenOffice.org 3.0
GIMP 2.6
Trisquel Web Browser 3.0 (Based on Mozilla)

Trisquel features a clean but rather bland desktop.

There are two versions of moonOS, the Main Edition and the LXDE Edition. The Main Edition uses Enlightenment DR17 and the LXDE Edition uses LXDE. The LXDE version is geared toward older, less powerful computers. For this review I downloaded the Main Edition.

moonOS 3 has one of the…er…most unique mottos I’ve seen. It’s motto is “Light of Free Operating System.” Hmmm…I’m not exactly sure what to think of it but it sort of fits in with the beauty of moonOS. Anyway, it sounds cool so I’ll go with it.

What’s New In This Release
Here’s a list of the new stuff in this release of moonOS:

Based on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
Linux Kernel 2.6.28-15
Firefox 3.5
Pidgin 2.6
Xorg 7.4
Security Updates
moonControl Improvements (new interface, change font sizes)
moonGrub Improvements (new interface, new theme creation feature)
moonSoftware (browse offline, view screenshots, sort by various criteria)
EFL Keys Added (Virtual Keyboard)
Firefox Comes With Moonlight Plugin and Silverlight Support
OpenOffice.org 3.1.1
XMPP Video and Voice for Pidgin
Enlightenment 0.16.999.60

As you can tell there’s quite a bit of good stuff in this upgrade of moonOS.

moonOS 3 features a stunningly beautiful desktop theme.