[Smaug] UCSC Linux Install Bash!

[cerise@armory.com]

On Thu, Feb 23, 2006 at 05:35:31PM -0800, Meg McRoberts wrote:
> Whoops -- I'm actually running Mandriva -- you'd think I could
> get the name right!  ;-)

   Mandriva, Mandrake.  Same difference ; )
 
> Has anyone played with Linspire?  I have a friend who likes to play
> with different distros.  She tried this out soon after it first came
> out, prepared to scoff at it, and was actually quite impressed -- she
> had one piece of esoteric hardware and Linspire installed smoothly on
> it when several other distros did not...  She said it was a very stripped-
> down distro but had a very nice utility for downloading additional
> features.

   I played with it briefly.  I have a free copy of one of their CDs from when
they were still Lindows.  It seemed OK, but I didn't play around with it much.
   When I think of easy Linuces, I usually recommend Xandros.  Xandros is a
commercial distro, though they have an open circulation edition.  It's built 
from Corel Linux which was built on Debian.
   Shoot, it works on guide (a P-150 laptop), though starting X is a bit on
the laggy side as one might expect.
 
> Anyhow, that's why I asked what the purpose of this InstallFest is.  Are
> you saying that it's only to look at non-commercial distros?  

   Most people don't like to hear that the bright shiny new OS that you just
put on their system is commercial.  ; )
   It's probably not a bad idea to stick to the free stuff, IMHO. 
 
> I'd love to hear how the day goes -- I don't think I can make it, alas...

   Yeah, Thursday's a tough day to make admittedly.  We typically held them on
the weekend.  It's kind of a tradeoff between visibility and availability.
Alternatively a tradeoff between visibility and having-a-life-outside-of-school.
   I didn't notice when I first responded -- such is the hazard of enthusiasm.
I'll see what I can do to get off of work, but no promises.  =/

-Phil/CERisE