New to open source? Some fine sources of information are here, here, here, and here.
Today we'll be looking at another Linux distribution that comes with everything ready to go out of the box; Flash, mp3s, video, based on PCLinuxOS, with the option to use the KDE desktop environment, or the lightweight Xfce4 environment.
As with PCLinuxOS, the boot screen has you configure everything before you reach the desktop: country, keyboard, timezone, connection type (Ethernet, etc.), a nice time-saver for those eager to get up and surfing quickly.
Granular offers a visually stunning KDE, certainly the nicest implementation of it in any distro I've yet reviewed; once everything is configured, you enter an alabaster screen that loads all the modules necessary to run the liveCD.
This is a distro that wants a lot of ram in the KDE desktop environment; using 768M allowed it to run, but it was not as smooth as I would have liked; upwards of 1G would be a better bet.
The applications menu is a far cry from the usual KDE kludge (sorry KDE fans, not my cup of tea); somewhat reminiscent of the Slab menu found in the more recent iteration of OpenSuse, with bright colors, and clearly organized into the various categories on the left and right brackets with the menu appearing in the larger middle section for easy scrolling--no menu upon sub-menu stretching across the screen, but nice and compact, with a brief description by each app or tool.
All of the KDE familiars are there in the menu, with the inclusion of VLC media uber-player; everything for ripping/burning/listening to mp3s, image and video viewing tools, torrent client Ktorrent, Kword, Kspread, and Kpresent for your office needs, all part of Koffice.
Though it's only version .90, Granular was impressive in all it included, with Beryl/Compiz and Emerald (3D managers and themes), both in the KDE and the Xfce environments.
Perhaps it's because I've been using Xfce so much as my desktop of choice, or the fact that I've been reviewing so many distros that feature it by default, but the more I use it, the more fond of it I become, and Granular's implementation of the Xfce desktop did not let down in that regard.
Offering nearly all the features of the KDE desktop, minus the lag and the Slab menu, the Xfce environment ran very smoothly under 512M ram, and the choice of fonts, inclusion of Beryl/Emerald/Compiz, lovely wallpapers and a nice dock at the bottom of the screen, all left a very favorable impression.
The KDE version has a dock as well, though it does need a bit of work; the auto hiding feature's responsiveness to moving the mouse to the bottom of the screen left a bit to be desired, though of course the OS X magnify effect was very well done indeed.
Granular is one of those distros that are so well done you are torn whether to run it in all its ram-hungry KDE fullness (provided you have it) or in the much lighter and responsive Xfce desktop. A nice quandary to be in, and a testament to the true craftsmanship and artistic flair that the developers brought to this Linux distribution.
It's a product of India, and a bit of a sleeper, not currently appearing in a prominent position on the Distrowatch list; though reading through some of the various major distro forums, you constantly hear Granular as one of the distributions that people want to try out; perhaps word of mouth (web) is more influential than Distrowatch, and in this case it's easy to see why this may well be true.
When looking at various distros (and I've seen more than a few), there are the obvious things to check such as what applications are included, how out of the box user-ready it is, the simplicity of the setup procedure, more superficial aspects such as the 3D managers, wallpapers, and fonts, and then there is a final element that lets you know that it really is a wonderful distribution--something hard to describe with any exactitude, but a feeling of how all the parts fit together as you use the system, and in that category (as with all the others), Granular Linux 0.90 gets top marks. One to watch and try out as it nears 1.0, squashing the few minor complaints that still exist (and truly minor they are). While reviewing it I just wanted to stop looking for faults and use it, so pleasant is the experience.
If you are looking for a very visually appealing distribution that is ready to rock for general everyday use, a distribution that requires few choices but offers many options (though admittedly the KDE desktop requires a bit of ram), then this is one you'll appreciate. Highly recommended.
Well, a quick perusal of the open source news sites does not disappoint; the news just keeps getting better and better for Linux/*BSD and open source with the passing of every single day; and the awful news just keeps pouring in for The Monopoly, like a deluge of bilgewater from numerous directions all at once; in an article titled Open Source take-up Booming in APAC, there is this bit:
Vista sparks interest
Maarten Koster, president of Novell Asia-Pacific, said that the release of Windows Vista has given companies in less-developed markets a reason to consider open source alternatives.
Probably not the kind of interest they were trying to spark, one would expect.
While SAMBA is adopting the GPLv3, there won't be any love for those who have turned their backs on the community for 30 pieces of silver, nor Microsoft either; what were they thinking?
On the 'inter-operability' front, Microsoft's attempt to strong arm the existing open standard has led to some major headaches, not to mention the fact that their own standard is simply broken--the spreadsheet formulas have some serious flaws and could (will) lead to mistakes and instability. Talk about a standard. Nice work, guys. Apart from the snark (sorry about that, couldn't help myself), this is important because there is an open standard currently called ODF, which stands for the Open Document Format; from wikipedia:
based upon the XML format originally created and implemented by the OpenOffice.org office suite
This standard is coming perilously close (from Microsoft's viewpoint) the worldwide standard. While there are criticisms of the ODF, generally valid (yet also reparable, in large part),they are nothing like the ones presented if Microsoft has their OOXML standard certified by the international standardization organization--if that happens (and they are pushing many States and the EU to do so), then consumers and computer users are again left at the mercy of a company that refuses to play nice with the open source community, locking everything away in proprietary land that most other formats simply cannot operate together with, sans Microsoft's approval, most times in the form of some agreement with joining them in inter-interoperability agreements that lands the Linux company some huge cash, and further credence to Microsoft's claim that Linux is infringing on 235 of its patents, claims that they have never backed up with any specificity, but scaring business managers, and allowing Microsoft to continue to turn out shoddy products (such as Vista) while remaining unaccountable to consumers that made them the monopoly they are today.
There already is a standard, and that standard is the ODF--it's completely open source, so if Microsoft wanted to make their system inter operable with it, they could download the freely available source code, and tell their developers to put something feasible together. The fact that their spreadsheet 'standard' is broken is the reason that the Free Software Foundation has a website called 'BadVista', and the reason that they call Microsoft's attempts to use Digital Rights (Restrictions) Management to help Hollywood what consumers can do with their own hardware, software, and data 'defective by design'. They have a website for that as well (just tack on an .org).
The new computer models now rolling out in Asia (many, but not all, just the top end ones) have something called the Trusted Platform Module built into the computer's hardware--this is an attempt to cut off users' rights and to have DRM, something that cannot be bypassed by the average user, all at the behest of the RIAA, MPAA, and Hollywood.
Ironically, since the Trusted Platform Module is installed in only the top end of computers, it may spell the demise of all their plans, just as Microsoft bending over to ensure that you can only play RIAA/MPAA/Hollywood/Microsoft approved files in their newest OS release Vista--people don't want it, and as soon as it gets out how this stuff cripples their computing abilities and makes their systems insecure and more vulnerable to spyware, viruses and other malware, they are going to form a line as far as the eye can see to return these rotten boxes of hardware-enabled spyware. Hubristic Greed will do that to you sometimes. Mwahahahahaha.
More and more business managers are simply letting their software assurance deals with Microsoft expire, notable because of the hundreds of managers that researchers talked to, 86% of those will have their contracts up for renewal this year. Yowch.
And it really is no wonder, particularly when considering that they refuse to talk about customers on error reporting--wonder how widespread that is?
Good news for those who love FreeBSD (and if you use PC-BSD, that counts!); 7.0 is well onto its final release cycle, and the project is nearly halfway to their goal of raising $250,000 for the year; the ports are being overhauled; KVM from Linux is being ported over; the move to Xorg 7.2, and so much more. Just an amazing assortment of achievements in this year alone.
The iPhone is going to do what Linux/*BSDs and open source alone
could not; it's going to force the telcos to make way for wifi phones, keep the 700Mhz wireless spectrum neutral, and pave the way for more consumer choices and technological innovation, something The Monopoly/telcos/**AA's so don't want to happen. Openleft has this absolutely fascinating article (and interview) on the subject. Tim Berners-Lee jumps in with his views here. Open source is such a nice place to be right now.
