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| DistroWatch + TuxReports | November 2, 2002 | |
by , 2 March, 2002
The persuasive factor of Peanut Linux, is it's small size. In fact it's the first focused-on-being-lightweight Linux distribution (other than floppy-based distributions, and ZipSlack) I had ever come across. I recall a number of years back a press release boasting of a fully-fledged Linux distribution, and only 70Mb in size.
Needless to say, I was curious and checked it out, but until now, with the release of Peanut Linux 9.2 on the 8th February 2002, it's the first time I've tried it out. My interest lies in comparing it to the other two attempting-to-be-lightweight distributions I'm aware of, CRUX, and Vector Linux.
By lightweight I mean, preferably less than 200Mb, and yes it must have X for desktop use. Generally, folk that set-up servers get paid for (hopefully) knowing what they're doing, and can custom install any Linux distribution with only the minimum software required, and have the incentive to do so--in order to keep their job. (Imagine a security breach due to a piece of software that the company had absolutely no need for.) Certainly more incentive and often more knowledge than the average Joe/Joan, who just wants to insert the CD and pretty much select a default install, or the all-enticing, "install everything, and be damned," option. Whether this be 200Mb or 2Gb, the average user doesn't care that much, despite what some might tell you. "I want it all, and I want it now." "Better safe than sorry." and "How am I expected to know what all this stuff does?" That sort of thing. He/she just wants to surf the Web, and other net-related antics, listen to music, type the occasional document, and play some games. And besides, some may argue that even the server guy/gal has a far smaller package list to sift through with a smaller distribution, and less risk of installing something he/she shouldn't have.
Irrespective of a distribution's size, there's always something missing. This is inevitable. No distribution can specifically tailor for a user, but at least there's not dozens of software titles you'll never ever use.
Whilst I like the all-singing multi-CD Linux distributions as much as the next person, (a fellow Linuxdot columnist) and myself care about choice, and have made it a mission of sorts, to publisize the lesser known distributions, and currently the lightweight distributions. It's a shame these and other, so-called "minor" distributions don't receive more attention. But to be fair, as Linux matures, things are starting to improve in this department. Folk like NewsForge, DesktopLinux, Linux Weekly News, Linux Journal, and TuxReports are doing their bit to help promote the non-Mandrake / Red Hat / SuSE / Slackware / Debian distributions. Not that there's anything wrong with these, the five main distributions, mind. It's just Linux as an operating system offers so much more. With source code and software free for anyone to play with, many talented people are customising Linux distributions to their liking. By not hearing about them time and time again, until you're curious enough to try them out, you could be missing out on that distribution most tailored to your needs. Surely with Linux attempting to change the rules with this, that and the other, and valuing choice so highly, this can't be right, right?
Naturally it's not realistic to say all distributions should have an equal (or anywhere close) percent of users. That just doesn't happen. And wouldn't sit well with those corporate-types. But it seems a shame that for instance the creator of Vector Linux, who has naturally put thousands and thousands of hours into his distribution, replied to Bill in an email saying few had tested the latest beta.
This irritated Bill (partly because it's his favourite distro), and promptly he wrote a first-look article on Vector Linux 2.5 beta, and mentioned the need for help with beta testing and the creation of documentation. He's even helping with the documentation himself, and is going out of his way to test it to death and report back on what he's found. Bill's by no means a Linux expert, and neither am I. We're just two people passionate about Linux, doing our bit to help out in any way we can. Maybe you could help out in some small way?
Kudos go to Ladislav Bodnar at DistroWatch. His entire site focuses around news and features lists in table format for most Linux distributions. He too shares the belief that many more Linux distributions should receive their deserved attention, along with the main distributions, talked about to death on the big IT sites. I even read a food-for-thought reply (see below) to a recent post he made, on TuxReports. (The fact that it refers to a review of CRUX 0.9.2 I did is purely coincidental.)
Anonymous: Are you going to do a review on Crux too? And how about ROCK Linux? You update almost everyday but the reviews database is almost empty. You guys should do more reviews !!
Ladislav: Your comment begs a simple question: "Why don't you do some reviews?" Why is that others should do more reviews while you sit in your comfy chair, complaining that there aren't enough of them? So start installing ROCK Linux, take some notes about it and write a story. Many sites will be more than happy to publish it.
No one is saying you should try all distributions, just so long as you know, there's more to Linux than the main distributions, and everyone into Linux should help out in some way. One way to help is to try out some lesser-known distributions (remember you can install multiple distributions on the one hard drive), provide feedback, suggest improvements, help out in some way, lend the CD to a friend, or upload a review to your personal web site. And please when you include distribution links on your links page, include a "Beehive" or "Linux From Scratch" somewhere in that list. Someone will thank you for it.
Bill Turner, a fellow Linuxdot columnist, reviewed Peanut Linux 9.1, but prefers Vector Linux (about to move out of beta, with the immenent release of 2.5 final). He's yet to try CRUX, so which is currently best, or best in a certain department in his opinion, is still unknown.
With myself now having tried all three, I'll review Peanut Linux 9.2, whilst at the same time comparing it to the latest CRUX and Vector Linux offerings.
Of interest is the fact that Peanut Linux 9.1 was 99Mb, and now 9.2 is 159Mb. That's one hell of a step-up for a point one release, and over double its initial 70Mb size. That's not to say it's a bad thing mind. After all it comes with KDE 2.1, and CRUX 0.9.2 has gone to great measures to slim down to just 196Mb (binaries are stripped, no info pages are included, no /usr/doc/* files, no GNOME or KDE, just the much leaner WindowMaker, and a wise-choice of packages). Interesting also how the homepage used to say 99Mb and now says 150Mb. At 9Mbs out and much closer to 160Mb, are the Peanut developers also more than conscious of the hefty size increase? :)
By the way, CRUX is larger, because it includes the all-important (and huge) GCC, something not included with Peanut Linux.
Just so you know, Peanut Linux 9.2 comes in two versions. The main version (small.iso), reviewed here. And the 687Mb version, aptly named large.iso, including an optional 148Mb, extra.iso.
The installation program is text-based, and is adequate, although nothing impressive, and not recommended for beginners. Configuration is done from a menu with the same program used by Vector Linux, and welcome to me, a long-time Red Hat user, is that after installation, this menu can be brought back up, by entering: setup
Like Vector Linux and unlike CRUX, no package selection takes place. And even though the site's home page has this to say:
The entire system when installed is less than 400 Mb!
In actual fact it takes 405Mb. :)
Choices of file systems, are Ext2, and the journalling file systems, Ext3 and ReiserFS. I went with the recommended (and my favourite), ReiserFS.
I had a few problems with installation, but nothing major. Before long, I was logged-in at the console. And typing startx booted KDE 2.1, introducing me to a very welcome surprise...
Damn you Peanut! How could you? Rick Dangerous, the "dangerously" addictive game that stole many many hours of my life on an Amiga 500 Plus, lurks dormant in an innocent looking Xgames desktop folder. Ready to pounce on its next victim, and suck them dry of less productive things, like actual work.
Oh and by the way, press 1 for full-screen, use the cursor keys to move, hold down space and then press up to shoot, or hold down space and press down for dynamite. :) Go on, you know you want to. (At the moment I'm just getting garbage come through my speakers for xrick, so you may need to switch them off.) Rick Dangerous, an Indianna Jones type platformer, may irritate you that you are killed by a trap you had no way of knowing about, or fell onto spikes, that at the time you couldn't see because they were off-screen, but that the fun and dangerous addictiveness of it. It's all about memorising how to get past each of the four massive levels, screen by screen.
There's also the far less addictive, but still cool, TuxPuck 0.7.7, in which you play Puck (two bats and a ball, in which you hit the puck "into" the screen with the mouse) against Homer (easy), Cartman (normal), or Tux (hard). (As of the latest version, 0.7.9, the author removed Cartman and Homer for legal reasons. Other characters will take their place place soon.)
Other games include Chromium B.S.U. (a vertical scrolling shoot-em-up), IceBreaker (a Jezzball clone), Maelstrom (an Asteroids clone), and the full compliment of KDE games.
A quirky choice of kernel, obviously selected for its cool factor, is 2.5.0. This being the kernel also used for the previous version of Peanut Linux. Ok so loosely on the surface this seems cutting-edge, but then it's just the 2.4.15 kernel with a name change, prior to any development work. So any distribution that uses 2.4.16 or over in the stable tree, is more state-of-the-art than Peanut. Still, it's different. And there's nothing wrong with different.
On to the important bit. Software. I've already mentioned it comes with KDE 2.1. It also comes with Enlightenment 0.16.5, and features the new XFree86 4.2.0 (very likely the first distribution to include it).
For your internet needs there's Netscape Communicator 4.79. Since the more than capable KMail is included, I think it would have been better just to include Netscape Navigator, like CRUX does, to help reduce overall size. (And for a news reader, there's the included KNode.) Perhaps even done without Netscape, since Konqueror is included. Also, a horrible Web browser called Dillo (0.6.4) is included, as is a hideous Web browser called Gzilla (0.3.9). Both small, and proof that small doesn't necessarily mean good. Sorry guys, the Links browser rocks, and these I'd need my head read if I used. They really are that bad.
Not including the text-only Web browser Lynx, which should be included with all distributions (although Links is loads better and a lot smaller), that's four Web browsers on a so-called lightweight distribution! (Points given to CRUX and Vector.)
Again on the important point made above, both IglooFTP 1.0.1 (the best FTP client there is, but this version is ancient--the latest being 1.2.1) and gFTP 2.0.11 are included. That's two more than capable FTP clients when one would have been fine. Are you sensing a theme here? Either a distribution is lightweight, or it's not. Peanut Linux may be small, but that doesn't equate to lightweight. Just a distribution that includes less than another larger distribution. That's an important distinction.
There's even a CD-writing frontend. No wait... there's two. There's Noah's Ark... and um, gcombust 0.1.48, and KreateCD 1.1.0.
Other Internet software includes RealPlayer 8, X-Chat 1.8.7, Licq 1.1.0, gaim 0.51 (an AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, MSN, IRC, Jabber, Napster, Zephyr, and Gadu-Gadu client), Gnapster 1.5.0, and GK Dial 1.5.14.
The last one being an interesting choice. It's the first time I've used GK Dial and can report it's superb, and ridiculously simple to make a connection with.
On the office front there's the KOffice crew, showing their age in Peanut Linux 9.2 though. Purely for comparitive purposes, I've shown in square brackets in the following the versions that come with Red Hat Linux 7.2.
For browsing files there's plenty choice, and in this area it's fine to have a few choices, since many are fond of Midnight Commander, and of course the already mentioned Konqueror, is a fine example of a file browser. Peanut Linux also includes Krusader 0.79, a nice graphical Midnight Commander. The presence of a fourth file browser, emelFM 0.9.2 though, is a little too much.
For viewing images, there's the nice CompuPic 5.1, but again there's no reason why Konqueror can't do the job. Especially since the Linux version of CompuPic hasn't been updated for nineteen months. Seemingly abandoned, whilst work continues on the three 6.1 Windows versions, updated just eleven days ago.
For playing music, there's the latest version of XMMS, 1.2.6, with five extra skins to choose from. This being the first time I've seen extra skins included with a distribution, however the default skin used, "Gen-ver-3", is horrible with the XMMS buttons difficult to make out. Beginners may take a while to notice the Skin Browser option.
All other software worth mentioning being GVim, gnotepad+ 1.3.3, and Nmap Front End 0.2.54beta30 (a nice looking Port Scanner to aid securing your system, or network).
Ok so some criticism of Peanut Linux, but one thing I do like is the four great 3D rendered backdrops activated by default, one for each of KDE's desktops. The first time I've seen this, and I like what I see.
A strange icon on the desktop is the "aterm" icon, used to open a terminal window. Ok, yes it's a great looking icon, but two networked Microsoft Windows machines?
Fans of Midnight Commander will appreciate the Midnight Commander icon already set-up on the KDE startbar (Kicker).
An icon I find strangely present on the desktop is for the horrible XPaint. Gee, I'd far prefer to use that to the tens times better, Krayon. :)
I've had good things to say, I've had bad things to say. CRUX 0.9.2 I had absolutely nothing bad to say because there's a distribution put perfectly together, and truly is lightweight. Not only that, it's fully i686 optimised, with a contributed i586 optimised version, also available. Vector Linux I had some quibbles with (no Vi text editor being the main one) but then likely less quibbles that Peanut Linux. Which of the two I recommend is difficult to say. Vector comes with the IceWM window manager, and the XFce desktop environment, whilst Peanut comes with the heavier-weight, but more functional KDE desktop environment, and the Enlightenment window manager. With a good look at Vector Linux 2.5 final when it's released and a good think I can form a better opinion. Clearly though for me, CRUX wins the contest. It may be more hands on, more for the experienced user, and not RPM-based like the other two, but it's polished till it shines, and has that rock-solid feel. Both Vector and Peanut need some more work, Peanut more so.
If it's not designed to be truly lightweight then so be it, but then the 70Mb version mentioned years ago in a press release, and its up until February message of "look at me, I'm only 99Mb," and even its current 159Mb says otherwise. I think for 0.9.3 instead of stepping up 60Mb (160% of its previous size), it should considerably reduce its size.
Thanks to Peanut Linux, I now know about the excellent xrick and GK Dial, and that's something at least.
And yes I know this column is wrought with contradictions. "Choice is good. But Peanut you could have done so much more with less choice." And Peanut could justify they've gone for a balance between small and catering for more users needs. But frankly the two don't sit well in my opinion. A sort of, you can't have your cake and eat it. And I had the niggling feeling Vector Linux suffered from this as well, although less noticeably so, with its two window managers, when one, like with CRUX, would have been fine.
Still, if these distributions feel two, three, or four is better than one, then so be it. Just so long as they know, that makes CRUX the only true lightweight Linux distribution. Embedded Linux aside. :) In future reviews I'll likely not belabour the point, done to death in this column. If anything it'll likely seem I'm more favourable towards them. :)
Kudos to Vector Linux though for now providing a base console-only install, an XFree86 3.3.6 version, and an XFree86 4.x.x version. So that folk like Bill can get their older graphics working that refuse to work with the now ubiquitous XFree86 4.x.x.
I wish Peanut all the best with Peanut Linux 9.3, which I'll try when it's released. There's certainly room for improvement.
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