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Follow UsWhat is different about this year's PCQlinux?
The most visible difference is definitely the Lite and XtraLite desktops.
But there is definitely more in this release than just Lite and Xtralite. When
we first started seriously looking at the new release, we tried to identify what
are the issues that are at the top of our readers' minds. All the feedback we
got pointed to four key directions.
Infrastructure and datacenter issues were at the top of the
list, but quite a large number amongst you wanted more on the workstation
desktop. And then there was this strong feedback we were getting about the Linux
that was shipping with the sub-10k PCs that was hardly useable. As our own tests
showed, OO.org for example, took ages to even start up on these machines. So, we
took up these four areas to work with, with this year's release of PCQLinux.
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Lite and XtraLite are a result of the last of the four
inputs listed. The other options grew out of the other feedback we got.
How good is PCQLinux 2006? Obviously, there are many
shortcomings. Some key applications had to be removed at the last minute because
of un-resolvable installation or dependency issues, even as we struggled to get
the CDs out to manufacture. In fact, we had to stop production midway and create
fresh CDs, because of a show stopper bug that was identified after we sent the
CDs to production.
Where can you use PCQLinux? Our effort is not to compete
with commercial distributions or other operating systems. PCQLinux is not
something we recommend for production use, nor can we guarantee support for it.
The philosophy of PCQLinux
We are not out to produce a production-class, system. That is for the
commercial distributions out there; we are a magazine, primarily. Our aim is to
produce a distro that exposes our readers to the potentials of the platform, and
more importantly, let you experiment with some of the stuff that they would
otherwise only hear about.
So, while we may provide proven software like Apache and
Postgres, we do not expect our distribution to be used in a 'production'
environment. That said, we do test our distribution exhaustively, to ensure that
it works on almost all common platforms.
We would like to provide as many different types of
software as possible, so that you can experience them. That is why we try to
limit the number of choices within a genre (eg. Media players) to a maximum of
two (mostly one, Mplayer in the current example of media players), unless there
are exceptional cases (like say, browsers).
Given the spirit of experimentation, we try to add stuff
that is commonly not done, that is commonly not available elsewhere, out of the
box. A good example of this is the clustering and grid solutions we add
currently, and the earlier Oscar, which PCQLinux was perhaps the only Linux
distribution to have ever carried.
Our primary focus is the desktop. So, we try to provide the
maximum options there. The second focus is the workgroup server. On the desktop,
we try to provide equal focus to the developer and to productivity usage. This
year, seeing the market penetration of low priced PCs, we have tried to make
Linux works well on such platforms. KDE or Gnome? Frankly we are not taking
sides. Currently we carry both.
What is PCQLinux based on? Earlier, we used to be based on
Fedora Core. But this time around, all we can claim is that this is an RPM based
distro. Software has been added from and Updates have happened from repositories
all over.
On the articles front, there have been complaints that we
have dummied down the configuration part by using webmin and that we should have
continued with the command line based method instead.
We believe that webmin makes it easy to do the
configurations and the management. Our objective is to make the
"experimentation" that I spoke of earlier, easier, not esotheric and
of limited use. Ideally I would like the entire installation and configuration
to be done from a GUI.
PCQLinux 2006 is dedicated to all of you who have helped us
put it together, with inputs, encouragement, suggestions and reminders; to you
who will use this distribution to understand and even challenge the
possibilities that technology offers; and finally to you, who will participate
in discussions about this and will support each other at the PCQuest forums.
| PEOPLE SPEAK |
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Ours is Performance Engineers Our We have Shiva_IITM (The |
Anindya Roy,
Krishna
Kumar, Sanjay Majumder, Shekhar Govindarajan, Vijay Chauhan and Vinod Unny