Gentoo Needs to Focus on Distros We'll Never See
Today's tiptoe through the newsfeeds found a list of distributions we'll never see. Elsewhere, Phoronix.com said Fedora leadership is still planning releasing version 22 on time. Bruce Byfield has the advantages and disadvantages of popular Linux desktops and Jon maddog Hall shares his road to Open Source success. Over in Gentooland developer Donnie Berkholz says Gentoo needs focus to stay relevant and Andreas Hüttel has started a new blog series highlighting Gentoo derivatives.
For folks thinking of switching desktops Bruce Byfield today offered the pros and cons of each popular desktop. For example, Cinnamon is a classic desktop lacking drop and drag according to Byfield. The main advantage to GNOME is it's "seemingly endless choice of desktop configurations," but:
GNOME consists of two modes: one in which you work, and an overview in which you launch applications and position them on virtual desktops. This arrangement might work on a phone, where the screen is small, but it is a nuisance on a laptop or workstation, especially since you can only launch one application at a time from the overview.
Byfield also said KDE is innovative but the desktop configuration is convoluted and confusing. He also looked at Xfce, Unity, and MATE, so check that out.
Gentoo was once at the top of popularity charts and polls, but the last ten years or so haven't been as exciting. Today Gentoo developer Donnie Berkholz said, "If we want to have any relevance, we need to have focus. Everything for everybody is a guarantee that you'll be nothing for nobody." He thinks three core areas are the ones to focus on. These are the developer, those requiring flexibility, and those who wish to learn how Linux works. He concluded, "We've gotten overly deadened to how people want to use Linux, and this is my proposal as to how we could regain it."
In related news, Andreas Hüttel today launched a new blog series highlighting "Gentoo-derived products." He began his series with one of his personal favorites SystemRescueCD. Hüttel said SystemRescueCD is "the Swiss army knife" of Linux distros.
Ever needed a powerful Linux boot CD with all possible tools available to fix your system? You switched hardware and now your kernel hangs on boot? You want to shrink your Microsoft Windows installation to the absolute minimum to have more space for your penguin picture collection? Your Microsoft Windows stopped booting but you still need to get your half-finished PhD thesis off the hard drive? Or maybe you just want to install the latest and greatest Gentoo Linux on your new machine?
The best post today has to be Larry Cafiero's Linux Distros We’ll Never See. First up is William Shatner Linux, based on Arch with recent codenames Kirk, Denny Craine, and Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaan. It overperforms sometimes and is very stiff at times. It's motto? "You. Need this. Operating. System."
Another distro I guess we'll never see is Bill and Ted’s Excellent Linux whose motto is "Whoa!" and was recently released under the codename "Royal Ugly Dudes." The motto of Samuel L. Jackson Linux is... well, I bet you can guess.
In other news:
* What did maddog study for a career in computer science?
* FESCo Makes A Bold Move To Try To Release Fedora 22 On Time
* Allwinner Accused of Breaking Linux License Rules
* Deepin Linux: A Polished Distro That's Easy to Install and Use