[ale] Still no flames... :-) (re: PDF & distro hunting)

[Joe Knapka]

I'm pretty impressed with the free version of Xandros
<http://www.xandros.com>. I mostly use Slack and Fedora,
but I've been playing with Xandros on a spare box, and
I think I'm going to convert my wife's machine to Xandros.

-- Joe Knapka

"Greg" <runman at speedfactory.net> writes:

> I think OSPueblo and Libranet might be worth your time to look at.
> 
> Greg 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of aaron
> Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 2:00 PM
> To: ALE
> Subject: Re: [ale] Still no flames... :-) (re: PDF & distro hunting)
> 
> 
> On Tuesday 23 August 2005 21:16, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> > On Tue, 2005-08-23 at 16:36 +0000, aaron wrote:
> > 
> > > Actually, as I understand the workings of OSeX, even if the 
> > > application
> isn't 
> > > directly supporting PDF, every aspect of the display system and user 
> > > interface will be!  :-)  Quite literally, everything one sees on a 
> > > Mac OSeX  screen is rendered PDF.
> > 
> > I thought it was native postscript. PDF is basically compressed 
> > postscript.
> 
> Thank you for the correction. I was forgetting that point of distinction
> between PDF and PostScript.  Still, saving PDF screen shots and publishing
> anything printable as a PDF file are fully integrated into Mac OSeX.
> 
> > So the decompression for each screen update would explain the lag time 
> > on a Mac ?! <ducks for the flame-proof underwear>
> > --
> 
> No flames, but I'll note that I'm currently running test installs with
> several Linux distros in an attempt to find one that even comes _close_ to
> providing the immediate user feedback and interface consistency that I find
> throughout the OSeX environment and applications (commercial, freeware, OSS
> or
> otherwise) accross a range of systems with various CPU speeds .  
> 
> My goal is to find or assemble a Linux distro that addresses the needs of
> Linux newbies and intermediate level users seeking safe harbor from the
> assaults of windblows. The key design requirements are that the install
> provide a suite of common apps and run responsively on slightly older,
> slightly slower hardware, yet present a reasonably consistent and modern
> user experience (ideally with enough interface familiarity that basic system
> management, app launching and interface usage can be explained to an average
> user in a 30 minute video tutorial).
> 
> My observations so far are that KDE and some branches of Gnome have made
> major strides in presenting a more unified GUI and basic application suite
> environment, but even with KDE I'm finding significant inconsistencies in
> responsiveness, preferences, user experience and bug sets between one distro
> and the next.
>  
> Don't get me wrong, because this isn't complaining, just observation. I love
> the flexibility, free beer and freedom that spring from Open Source anarchy,
> but fully understand their are going to be trade offs and extra learning
> efforts.  I really want to prove that Linux is, in every way, ready for the
> desktop, but I don't have unfair expectations that free software should
> provide the same levels of consistency and integration that the more
> regulated design requirements of commercial development can (potentially)
> facilitate. I'm just trying to find or assemble a freely distributable
> packaging of Linux / OSS essentials that does a respectable, consistent  job
> of addressing the needs of the average, present day, desktop internet
> computer users (while avoiding geek treks into lands of shell commands and
> config file editing).
> 
> I've still got a few promising Linux distros to try out, like the Vector
> Linux ISO I'm downloading now, so I'm holding to the belief that the
> solutions are out there.  In my evaluations I'll also need to remember that,
> after a decade and a half of running Amiga's, I'm especially spoiled about
> GUI responsiveness.  The Amiga developer style guidelines specified that
> visual response to user actions occur within 3 seconds (-;  allowing that
> the GURU MEDITATION crash alert sometimes qualified as the visual response
> ;-)  
> 
> peace
> aaron
> 
> 
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