Manjaro 0.8 XFCE Review: Pretty good new distro

Linux world is getting exciting every day. Almost every week, very good new distros are being launched, not only from the established names but from all quarters. So, we had Ubuntu upgrading 12.04 LTS to 12.04.1 LTS with Ubuntu cloud integrated apart from other incremental additions. I came across in distrowatch, the launch of Manjaro XFCE. It comes from the lead Chakra Linux developer Philip

Snowlinux 3 Crystal XFCE Review: Good but could have been better

On 19th Aug 2012, Lars Torben Kremer announced the release of Snowlinux 3 Crystal XFCE, based on Debian Squeeze. The distro is supported till Feb 2014. Given my good experience with Snowlinux Gnome and XFCE being one of my favorite desktop environment for its low resource consumption, I was quick to download the 656 MB ISO from Snowlinux site. I downloaded the 64-bit version.


From Snowlinux 3

SolusOS 1.2 Review: Now Mint has got serious competition

I guess SolusOS is to Debian what Linux Mint is to Ubuntu. Plus, the lead developer of SolusOS contributes a lot to Linux Mint. All these information actually hyped up my expectations of SolusOS before I began my testing with Solus. And that commonality shows, those who are familiar with Linux Mint, will feel at home in SolusOS. Only difference may be that Solus is still using Gnome 2 whereas

Crunchbang 11 20120806 Review: Minimalistic but highly functional

If you need a cutting edge Linux OS but you have a very very low resource computer, what would you do? You download Crunchbang and your computer will start performing blazing fast and amazingly stable. Now Crunchbang 11 Waldorf is in the testing stage, based on Debian Wheezy (it's also testing till date). I guess once Wheezy is released as a stable distribution, we will have the Crunchbang

ROSA 2012 Marathon LXDE Review: Refined, good looking and LTS distro with LXDE

In my last post, I reviewed ROSA 2012 Marathon Gnome version. There I mentioned about very good feedback on the LXDE version and finally yesterday I managed to download and use it. ROSA LXDE is based on Mandriva and has Linux kernel 3.0.28 LTS.

I download the 830 MB ISO from the download mirror. It is considerably heavier than the other LXDE distros I have used like Peppermint or Lubuntu.

ROSA Marathon 2012 Gnome Review: Complete but may not be as fresh as a dew

Honestly, I missed the ROSA 2012 LXDE announcement, which critics say is quite good. So, I decided to download the ROSA 2012 Gnome release which came in early August. Those who follow the Linux news, would know that all is not well with Mandriva. Having used Mandriva earlier, before shifting to Ubuntu, I decided to test Rosa 2012 Gnome which is a fork of Mandriva Linux.

I downloaded the 1.3

Peppermint 3 Review: A good replacement of Lubuntu

I have used Lubuntu and lets be honest, the LXDE sister of Ubuntu, is not that catchy to look at. So, if you want to have a good replacement of Lubuntu, without compromising on the performance (lower resource usage) or functionality, and at the same time looking really good, here is Peppermint Linux for you.



From Peppermint Linux 3

I downloaded the 32-bit ISO from Peppermint site. The 560 MB

Snowlinux 3 Crystal Review: With LTS Linux Kernel and Gnome 2 desktop

True that Linux world is going through a rapid change. There are three types of Gnome based distros I see:

1. Distros which are using Gnome 3 as such
2. Distros which have Gnome 3 but have their own modification as well, like Unity in Ubuntu, Cinnamon in Linux Mint, etc.
3. Distros which still prefer Gnome 2 or Gnome 2 derivative like Linux Mint Mate, Scientific Linux.

Snowlinux 3 Crystal too

Linux Mint 13 KDE Review: Most complete KDE I've seen

Earlier I reviewed Linux Mint 13 "Maya" XFCE and Mate 1.2. Only piece left was the KDE spin. Last week I downloaded the 32-bit KDE Linux Mint from its website. The 960 MB ISO is considerably lighter than the Linux Distros you get to see these days.



From Linux Mint 13 KDE

Boot up in virtualbox was quick. KDE took a bit of time to start, which it normally takes. The desktop is really an

Chakra Linux 2012.07 Archimedes Review: For those who prefer pure KDE

To be honest, I am more into Gnome than KDE. However, as these days a lot of Linux dsitros are preferring KDE over Gnome 3, gradually I am developing a taste for KDE as well. I really liked OpenSUSE & Linux Mint KDE. Chakra is another KDE distro, derived from Arch Linux, with the latest KDE softwares. In July 2012, Chakra Linux came up with the Archimedes update.





From Chakra Linux 2012.07

Pear Linux 5 Review: Best Mac OS X look alike distro in Linux world

Many Linux purists might get offended with distros like LuninuX or Pear. But, the fact is that both these distros look really beautiful while retaining the functionality of Ubuntu. I have a preference for Pear Linux, as I myself is using it for last 3-4 weeks or so.



From Pear Linux 5

I downloaded Pear Linux from its website. I replaced Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with Ultimate OS and Ultimate OS was

Damn Small Linux (DSL) 4.11: Can run only on 64 MB RAM as well!!!!!

The last version (4.4) of DSL came, I guess in 2008. Hence, in my article on lightweight Linux distros, I didn't include DSL. But, now I have to include it. DSL 4.11 is here and boy! What a lightweight OS it is! I couldn't imagine a fully functional distro with graphical desktop taking only 18-20 MB of RAM! Incredible!



From Damn Small Linux 4.11

To test, in virtualbox, I booted it up

Scientific Linux 6.3 Review: Simply outstanding

Yesterday, 8th Aug., Connie Sieh announced the release of Scientific Linux 6.3, an enterprise-class distribution built from source package for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3: "Scientific Linux 6.3 i386/x86_64 is now available.

Last week, I reviewed the beta1 version. Simply outstanding distro, especially meant for power users. Further, it is feature packed and offers a wide range of applications

How to install Android 4.0 ICS in Virtualbox? Step by step installation guide

Finally day before yesterday I managed to install Android ICS with active ethernet and functional play store inside Virtualbox (which is inside Ubuntu 12.04). It took me 3-4 attempts with different ISOs. And to my rescue came the blog Android x86. I am heavily indebted to it, though I tweaked a few things here and there to make it work for me.



From Android 4.0 ICS


To begin, you need to

Review of Calculate Linux 12: KDE with a twist!

I wanted to try out some Linux distros which are not Fedora or Ubuntu based. So, in came Calculate Linux 12 Desktop version and I liked what they have done with KDE here. The KDE ISO is big (2.3 GB) and I downloaded it from the calculate linux site. Just a day before Calculate Linux, I tried out Scientific Linux - given similarity in names and a large ISO size, my expectations were really high!

Scientific Linux 6.3 Beta 1 Review: Simply outstanding but why on older linux kernel & Gnome shell?

Scientific Linux 6.3 Beta1

I have heard a lot of good words about this distro, though never personally tried it before. So, once I came to know of the release from Distrowatch, I was curious to know and downloaded the 3.5 GB ISO from it's site. It is basically sourced from Red Hat Enterprise Linux and enhanced with extra applications useful for academics, co-developed by Fermi National

Kororaa 17: User-friendly KDE spin of Fedora 17

I really liked Fedora though it feels a bit geekier than Ubuntu. Ubuntu is absolutely more user-friendly and you don't need to be a Linux expert to use it. But, Kororaa changed my view - it is definitely user friendly and offers a more complete out-of-the-box distro than Fedora with the usual smoothness that characterizes Fedora.


From Distrowatch, I came to know of the latest release and

LuninuX OS 12 LTS: Mac flavored Ubuntu For those who hate Unity!

What I like about Linux is the plethora of options available to choose your favorite distro. Say, if you hate Unity, but love the stability and abundance of apps in Ubuntu Precise, Luninux 12 can be a very good option for you along with Pinguy OS, Bodhi, Pear OS 5 among other and of course, Linux Mint Maya!

Luninux 12 32-bit ISO is slightly on the heavier side (~1.3 GB) and I downloaded it