By
Bradley Walker
Editor, modemnet.net
August 24, 2002, 11:26 PM EST
Since being
developed as a pet project by Linus Torvalds in the
early nineties, the Linux operating system has been
gaining enormous popularity among IT professionals and
others alike
everywhere. But the one place that Linux has
failed to develop is that of being the average users
desktop
operating system.
When Linux was developed, it was created to be an
alternative solution to the popular and costly Unix operating
system, which ran most of the servers at that time.
Since then Linux has become the second most popular
server operating system (OS) behind Windows NT/2000 as
well as now being used to power everything from PDA's
to internet appliances. But amidst the recent
Linux explosion many people have wondered where does
Linux fit into the desktop market.
The answer to that is unclear. From its roots
as a Unix clone, it seemed Linux was destined just to
be another server operating system confined only to
the uses of network administrators and IT
professionals. But with the technology boom in
recent years all of that has changed. Linux has
taken on different roles and directions due to its low
cost and open source features. In all of this growth, Linux seems to
have been left out of the desktop market or at least
confined to the PC's of Linux hobbyists and
enthusiasts.
That seems to be changing with the most recent release
of Lycoris
Desktop/LX. Lycoris Desktop/LX, formerly
known as Redmond Linux, has seemingly done what all
other Linux distributions have tried for years to
accomplish. To create a reliable desktop
operating system that is unbelievably easy to use and
includes a wide array of software to accomplish any
task you might have. Other distributions have
tried this but failed in their attempts by not keeping
the user in mind, and not remembering the simplicity
and easiness that normal everyday users need.
My experience with Lycoris Desktop/LX has thus far been
the best of all Linux or Unix distributions I've
used. After downloading the
512MB ISO file from a Lycoris mirror
website, I burned a CD and proceeded to install
Desktop/LX on my trusty 800mhz Athlon test PC. I
have equipped this system with some pretty standard
components such as the Asus A7V133 motherboard with
320MB of PC133 SDRam and a Maxtor 20GB
hard drive.
It's not designed to be the fastest gaming machine there
is, but
rather to be the equivalent of what most home and
office PC users have.
I booted from my burned CD and was presented
with a colorfully interactive menu to either begin
the install or to probe my video card. Gone are
the days of having a hundred lines of cryptic text
scroll down the screen during the initial boot before
being prompted to start the installation.
Several other distributions of Linux have done this so
it appears that there is a growing trend in the Linux
community as a whole to try and make it simpler
install and use.
Once the installation was under way,
I was startled to see that the installation process of
Desktop/LX actually made good on its promise of
having a simple and painless installation. My
previous experiences with Linux installs were never
easy or truly user friendly.
The installation of Desktop/LX can be compared to that
of Microsoft Windows in it's ease of use and by the
amount of user interaction that is required.
Lycoris has put a tremendous amount of effort into
simplifying what was once a daunting task of getting a
Linux operating system installed, never the less
working effectively and flawlessly.
The
hardware in my test machine is fairly standard, using
a nVidia GeForce2 video adapter, Realtek RTL8139
network card, and a Asus motherboard with AC`97
onboard sound. Unfortunately at the time of
testing I did not have any additional devices such as
a DVD-Rom, CD-RW, or USB device installed to test with
Desktop/LX.
Amazingly, Desktop/LX auto detected the hardware
devices and installed the appropriate drivers. I
wasn't fully convinced that Desktop/LX did a good job
until I booted the first time and heard that orchestra
style chime coming from my speakers. Along
with the sound, the video was properly configured with
the correct resolution and refresh rate giving a clear
and crisp picture.
The only issue I noted was that Desktop/LX hadn't
properly detected my onboard Promise PDC20265 IDE/RAID
controller. I am not sure if this was an
improper BIOS or jumper setting, so users with onboard
IDE controllers may want to check with Lycoris or the
hardware manufacturer to make sure these devices are
fully supported.
What left a large impression on me was the driver
database. Lycoris has given Desktop/LX an
extraordinarily large driver database covering just
about every hardware manufacturer I've heard of and
then some. I don't see why there is no reason
that Desktop/LX shouldn't work on at least 98% of home
desktop PC's today. Even the ones that are
several years old should have no problem running
Desktop/LX. Hopefully other
Linux distributions will see what Lycoris has done and
follow them adding large driver databases to their own
versions of Linux.
Added to the setup process is an optional feature that most people
will find enjoyable. Once all of the
installation options are set and Desktop/LX begins to
install, the setup process offered me ability to play
as many games of Solitaire that I wanted while the
installation completed. This goes away from the
normal trend of operating systems flashing screens of
their features and advertisements while you sit there
and wait. It is
definitely a welcomed change by me considering I have
sat behind numerous monitors doing nothing but
spinning CD's to pass the time
while the installation finished.
Upon the completion of the install and reboot, I
checked the time and noticed it had only taken a
mere 20 minutes for the entire installation of Lycoris
Desktop/LX. I had began the installation at 6:27pm
and was logged in to the desktop by
6:47pm. I barely had enough time to refill my
Dr. Pepper, sort a few papers, and figure out where
that mysterious cup on my desk came from before the
install was finished and ready to go. In my
opinion the Desktop/LX installation performed
flawlessly and outperforms other major operating
systems in speed and effectiveness. To compare
Lycoris to Windows XP, XP took over 40 minutes on my Athlon 1.4ghz
processor.
