As anyone with a bit of background in Linux use can say, the release of another Linux distro is generally not earthshaking news. But every now and again, something really good shows up and starts demanding attention. And SolusOS is that very distro.

To give you a bit of background, SolusOS has been developed by Ikey Doherty, who was the driving force behind Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE).   I installed LMDE when it was first released, as I was anticipating the stability of Debian, but with all the goodness of Linux Mint.  And LMDE was every bit of that and more.

As time went by, Ikey was showing LMDE users that he was all about creating a top-of-the-line Linux distro and that nothing was going to get between him and achieving that goal.  In spite of all the work Ikey was putting into LMDE, he always had time for the LMDE users on the Mint forums and all of us were appreciative of his willingness to help us.

Quite some time back, Ikey decided to strike out on his own.  There’s been speculation as to what caused his split with LMDE, but I prefer to leave speculation to others.  The fact of the matter is Ikey decided it was time to set up his own Linux distro, under his own name, and driven by his own hard-working efforts.  And that is where SolusOS comes into the picture.

Anyone who has spent any time on this blog knows I have found Linux Mint to be a very friendly distro.  I have always liked Mint because it never fails to work and I want to have operating systems I can use, rather than operating systems I need to be constantly working on, in an effort to get all of my hardware recognized and working.  I cut my Linux teeth on the GNOME desktop environment and the concept of GNOME 3 wasn’t that attractive to me.  I’ve given KDE a try, but I really like GNOME 2 much more.  When the Mint team released the Cinnamon desktop sessions for Mint 12, I happily installed Mint 12 Lisa on a machine and quickly grew comfortable with using Cinnamon.  But I still have a machine running LMDE, which was always billed as a rolling release.  But the so-called rolling release has been jokingly identified as a strolling release, instead.  I don’t mind having LMDE being solid and stable, but with the new Update Pack concept being used in LMDE, it’s been some 5 or 6 months since the last update.  Which means some of the software packages are starting to grow beards as they are not being replaced by updated versions.

What Ikey has decided to do is to provide a rock-solid foundation for SolusOS, which is based on Debian Squeeze.  And instead of trying to bring in new desktop environments, SolusOS is using GNOME 2.30, which gives everyone a familiar GNOME 2 environment that is also very stable.  But where SolusOS really shines is how it provides a steady foundation, but uses current releases of software packages.  So everyone using SOLUSOS is getting the best of both worlds — a very stable distro that offers current and fresh applications.

My install of SolusOS was smooth as silk.  The installer ran without a hitch and, as expected, all of my hardware works just as it should.  I installed SolusOS on a machine alongside LMDE, but the longer I look at SolusOS, the more I am thinking it might be time to move on and away from LMDE.  I’ve been eagerly looking forward to the LMDE Update Pack 4, which would bring GNOME 3 and Cinnamon into LMDE.  But things are happening so quickly with the main Mint GNOME and KDE releases, it’s becoming clear LMDE is not getting as much attention as some us would like to see.  Which means the release of SolusOS is coming at a very good time for a lot of people.

Ikey, on the other hand, is driven to provide a distro so many people are looking to find.  If you want a stable distro, SolusOS is your answer.  If you want a distro that allows you to use current software applications, SolusOS is your answer.  If you want a distro developed by someone who just refuses to settle for anything less than top-notch, SolusOS is your answer.  Be sure to stop by and check out the SolusOS forum community, which is really starting to grow and already boasts a very friendly and helpful batch of participants.

The audio in his interview is a bit choppy, but you can listen to the mintCast interview of Ikey Doherty here.

As many of you will know, I use Linux as much as possible. I’m yet to find anything I like about OS X and Windows is… Well, it’s Windows. I appreciate the freedom of using Linux. A little over a year ago, I decided to accept a challenge I had noticed on the Ubuntu forums that no one could ever manage to remove Windows and not go back to it. Well, I’m here to tell you it can be accomplished. I have Windows 7 on one desktop and on my laptop, because my employer requires me to use a Firefox extension that will only run in Windows versions of Firefox. But they both have Linux installed on them, as well. Another desktop dual boots two Linux distros and my iMac is now running Linux Mint 12.

And let me say Linux Mint 12 is one of the most impressive Linux distros I’ve ever tried.

I’ve always been a fan of the GNOME desktop environment, but I have to admit the GNOME 3 concept is one I’ve not been real happy about.  GNOME 2 is what I’ve been accustomed to using and the idea of having to adapt to GNOME 3 just hasn’t been real exciting to me.  I particularly enjoy using Linux Mint Debian Edition, which allows me to run a Mint-version of Debian.  GNOME 3 has been moved into Debian Sid, so it’s inevitable the next LMDE update will contain GNOME 3.

When the team at Linux Mint released Mint 12, code-named “Lisa”, with the GNOME Shell, I decided I would leave two of my machines on Mint 11 “Katya”, so I could avoid running the new desktop environment.  My iMac was running Ubuntu 11.04 and I’ve been waiting for the new LMDE release, to switch it over.  I decided to go ahead and install Mint 12 on it, to see if I cold start getting used to the GNOME Shell.

The team at Linux Mint released Mint 12 with MGSE and MATE.  MGSE (Mint GNOME Shell Extensions) allows users to use GNOME 3 in a more traditional manner.  And it is a pretty fair way to start acclimating to the future.  Mint 12 also has MATE, which is a fork of GNOME 2, allowing a system to be run on both versions of GNOME.  It’s a little buggy around the edges, but it was certainly Mint 12 with something close to GNOME 2.

The good news is the Mint team has released Cinnamon, which is forked from GNOME Shell and is based on Mutter and GNOME 3.  And Cinnamon takes Mint 12 clear over the top.  It puts things back into familiar places and makes them easier to use.  It is an extension of the Mint 12 philosophy, which is to make an operating system that works well and looks elegant whilst doing it.

As you can see, the Mint 12 Cinnamon desktop looks just like previous releases of Mint 12.  There is only the one panel, located at the bottom, as in previous versions.  The GNOME 3 icon is located in the upper right corner and allows access to the GNOME 3 menus.

But tapping the Command (or Windows) key now opens the Mint menu, which is looking particularly rich in this new release.

After running Mint 12 on the iMac for an afternoon, I went ahead and installed it on my Windows desktop.  And now it is time to update my laptop with it, as well.  Using Cinnamon sessions makes Mint 12 an incredible release.  And the best part about Cinnamon is that Clem and the Mint team have announced Cinnamon will be worked into LMDE, as soon as GNOME 3.2 is moved into Debian Testing.

And to think I was dreading new releases, because of GNOME 3.  Now, I’m really anxious to get the next LMDE update, so I can get this running on my LMDE machine.

After spending the last 12 months watching the statistics on my Invision Power Board sites tank, I decided it was time to make some changes.

I sold the forum license for one site and gave the database to Lisa, over at AdminExtra. Two other sites died a miserable death. A fourth site is barely hanging on and is likely going to be closed down. But on Thanksgiving Day, I converted the T-Bucket Forums from IPB over to XenForo.

A year ago, had you suggested I might be running XenForo software, I would have laughed. I had taken a look at the early releases and didn’t much care for what I saw, to be honest. This was prior to the absolutely dreadful IP.Board 3.1.3 release that absolutely sucked the life out of my sites. I refer to that release as IP.Board Ostrich, for when I tried to give Invision my recorded data on just how terribly it was performing on all my sites, they denied accountability and buried their heads in the sand.

At some point in early-October, I saw Lisa had converted AdminExtra from IP.Board over to XenForo. She has put together a really beautiful style for that site, to replace the rather unappealing default XenForo style, and I found myself spending a lot more time there. More time than I had ever spent when it was running on the Invision software.

After a month, I decided it was time to cut Invision loose. I had upgraded into their IP.Board 3.2 branch and my Google Analytics numbers were worsening by the day. I went ahead with the purchase of a XenForo forum license and set up a test site. I granted some members of the T-Bucket Forums access to the test site and their response was overwhelming. My original plan was to continue with a XenForo test forum until after the first of the new year, but every one of the members who saw it was begging for me to move forward with the conversion.

Early Thanksgiving morning, I closed down the Invision forum for the final time, uploaded the XenForo files and began the database import. After just 34 minutes, the import was finished and I was able to start checking permissions, in order to get the site opened back up.  The great designers at Xenique have a really great-looking DXF-Red style that simply works with our tried-and-true forum logo, so I immediately installed it.

After nearly three weeks on XenForo, my forum members are all happy with the change. No more grumbling about the Invision software. I am extremely pleased with how easily I adapted to the XenForo Admin Control Panel and how simply I can make changes to the forums. My Analytic numbers are all being resurrected from the dead, our daily active member numbers are better than they have ever been and our average daily post count has doubled. My miserable bounce rate numbers are dropping, the average time on site number continues to climb, my search engine visits are better than they have been in well over a year and my search longtail is finally headed in the right direction. My ad revenue is nothing short of incredible. In just 12 days of December, I am already double what I earned during the month of November.

I want to thank Lisa for all her help and advice during this conversion.  When I was up to my backside in alligators, she always stepped in to remind me I was to be about draining the swamp.  When I was confused with how XenForo handled certain functions, she was always there to point me in the right direction.  When I was looking for ways to display site information, she showed me just how easily I could set up custom pages in XenForo.  She took XenForo’s gentle learning curve and made it flat for me.  Lisa, I owe you.  Big style.  And I thank you for all of your help.  For anyone looking for a friendly community for blog and forum administrators, I cannot recommend AdminExtra enough.

And now, I see Invision is touting yet another second-point release of IP.Board. And can you imagine, they are talking about all their new SEO improvements. Yes, this is the same Invision who assured me, in December 2010, their software had no SEO shortcomings or issues.  If anyone at Invision is wondering where my license renewal fees are, come take a look at the T-Bucket Forums and you will see where the money was spent.  And well-spent, I might add.

With XenForo, I’ve rediscovered the ability to operate a successful forum community.

Anyone who knows me well is aware that I use Linux on my computers. I use Linux, I enjoy Linux and I promote Linux. But anyone who has used some flavor of Linux will have one question come to mind.

What flavor of Linux do I use, enjoy and promote?

One of the joys about using Linux is the ability to change and modify it to do what you want it to do. And many people have modified one Linux distribution or another to such an extent that they end up releasing it as their own distro. Which is great and remains within the spirit of what Linux is all about. But it also means there are hundreds of Linux distros to choose from.

Over the last 4+ years, I’ve installed and used several different Linux distros. Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian, Mandriva, Zorin, PCLinuxOS, etc. Most Linux distros are available as free downloads and once you have burned the download to a CD or DVD, you can actually boot your computer up from that disk and run what is known as a Live environment. So at the expense of a few minutes downloading time and a blank disc, I’ve tried a lot of other distros, like Fedora and OpenSUSE.

Currently, there are four computers around here. An iMac dual booting OS X and Ubuntu, a Dell laptop dual booting Windows 7 and Linux Mint, a Dell desktop triple booting Windows 7, Linux Mint and PCLinuxOS, as well as this Dell desktop dual booting Linux Mint Debian Edition and PCLinuxOS.

See the beauty of Linux? If you find a distro you like, it takes mere minutes to install it and use it. I wanted to see what OpenSUSE was like, so I tried it in a Live environment. When it came down to it, i didn’t much care for it. So I logged out of it and tossed the disc onto the mounting stack of Linux discs on my shelf. Currently, I am primarily using Linux Mint Debian Edition and Linux Mint as my operating systems of choice. PCLinuxOS isn’t bad, so I keep it around. But the longer I use LMDE, the longer I stay away from PCLinuxOS. One of these days, I’ll get sick of that Ubuntu install on the iMac and will replace it with something Mint-flavored, most likely.

Linux is all about choice. Buy a computer with Windows installed and you’re stuck with what Microsoft wants you to use. Buy an Apple and you’re stuck with what OS X has to offer. Install a Linux distro and if you want something different, then install a different distro.

But when I see Linux users talking about how Linux is going to end up at the top of the operating system heap, I have to chuckle. The incredible choice and flexibility of various Linux distros is exactly what will prevent Linux from ever becoming the number one operating system.

Show someone that banner with the four, differently-colored squares and that person will immediately recognize the Microsoft logo.

Show someone the outline of an apple with a bite missing and that person will immediately recognize the Apple logo.

Show someone a picture of Tux and they might put the penguin together with Linux. But with the wide array of Linux offerings, their various logos never get a chance to stand out and be noticed. The financing Ubuntu receives from Canonical helps them gain a lot more exposure than other distros. But I am one of those people who was really happy to leave Ubuntu behind. And how many people recognize the Linux Mint logo, appearing over there in that first sidebar?

A really good online friend has chided me for favoring Linux as I have. But as I have continued remarking on the advantages of using Linux, she has decided she would like to give it a try. I’m recommending she try Linux Mint, but if she decides she really enjoys using it, I’ll encourage her to switch over to Linux Mint Debian Edition. But the most important part is that Linux will gain another user and she’ll be free to install whatever distro she likes.

And isn’t being free one of the supporting pillars of Linux?

I’ve been considering the possibility of setting up a general street rod/hot rod forum for well over a year. I’ve been very fortunate with The T-Bucket Forums and have watched them grow beyond my wildest expectations. I’ve felt if I set up a general hot rod forum site and ran it with the same principles as the T-bucket site, we might see lightning strike twice.

A week ago today, the Rod Refuge Forums were born.

I gave the site a lot of consideration, but I also gave the forum software a lot of consideration.  I have a couple of unused Invision Power Board licenses and IP.Content licenses, but I also had four unused vBulletin 3.8 licenses, a couple of vBSEO licenses and a couple of GARS licenses.

I figured I could set the site up on Invision software, which would lead to hassles trying to get technical articles appearing in IP.Content and would also be a royal pain trying to get the allegedly integrated Invision sitemap generator they refer to as IP.SEO working.

Or, I could set things up with vBulletin, vBSEO and GARS.  And, as you can see, I went with the latter option.

GARS can be added to a vBulletin forum in a matter of minutes and forums can be configured into Article, Review or Tutorial forums with a single mouse click.  Which beats the pants off the several months I spent trying to get IP.Content to work as a simple articles library on the T-Bucket site.

vBSEO and the vBSEO Sitemap Generator are installed in a matter of minutes are are both highly-customizable.  I was able to configure the URL structure I wanted with a single mouse click, rather than having to edit core files, as I would have had to do with Invision Power Board.  And my GARS forums share a similiar URL structure, without any extra work.  The vBSEO Sitemap Generator simply works, right out of the tin, quite unlike the IP.SEO application developed by the Invision coders.

Yes, vBulletin 3.8 is at End Of Life.  Which means that fork of the tree is drying up.  But I know of one, rather popular automotive forum that is still running on vBulletin 3.0.7, so I think I can keep a copy of 3.8 running for a while.  And the latest and greatest Invision software works about as well as a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.  I have one forum running IP.Board 3.2.2 and IP.SEO 1.5.0, but they only work together after TWO Invision coders worked on the IP.SEO script.  Another forum is succesfully running IP.Board 3.2.1 and IP.SEO 1.5.0 Beta.  And they only integrate and work properly after an Invision coder worked on the IP.SEO script.  I would like to upgrade, but that same Invision coder has yet to make the fixes to the IP.SEO package, so I would be upgrading into another version of Invision Hell.

If new Invision software wants to play up, I’ve absolutely no problem using older and EOL vBulletin software I know will work.  If the conversion back from IP.Board to vBulletin didn’t involve a lot of user-password trauma, I would have tossed Invision into the bin 10 months ago.  But I do know one thing is certain.  If I set up any new forum sites, Invision will be my absolute last choice for forum software.  I’ll use MyBB or SMF software before I ever spend another nickel on Invision licenses.

After a lot of tests, trials and experimentation, it looks as if I’ve come full circle and found myself back where I was several months ago.

If you’ve read here for very long, you’ll know I am a big fan of running Linux, as an alternative to Windows. I’ve used Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Linux Mint Debian Edition, Debian, Mandriva, PCLinuxOS and have finally come back home to Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). I installed PCLinuxOS 4–5 weeks ago and was really enjoying it, after getting over the initial shock of using KDE. I think if a Windows user is looking for an easy entry into using Linux, PCLinuxOS is a very good candidate.

But after years of using the GNOME desktop environment, trying to adapt to KDE was huge for me. I had PCLinuxOS set up on one-half of this machine’s hard drive and Linux Mint 11 Katya set up on the other half. A few days back, I booted into Mint and was really realizing how much I was missing GNOME. This morning, I updated the Mint install on my laptop to Katya. I visited the Mint forums to see what was going on over there and maybe I should have stayed away. I saw there was a Release Candidate version of LMDE 201108 available and just had to give it a test-drive.

PCLinuxOS is still residing on one-half of this hard drive. But Mint 11 Katya had to go, to make room for LMDE. I formatted the root partition and installed LMDE in just under 10 minutes time. (Let’s see you Windows users install an operating system in anything under 2 or 3 hours.) LMDE picked right up where Mint 11 Katya had left off and has been purring like a kitten ever since. In typical Mint fashion, everything worked, straight out of the tin.

PCLinuxOS, I didn’t kick you to the curb.  But there is just something about Debian stability with Mint styling and functionality, that just keeps pulling me back.  I keep saying I want to be finished with all the distro-hopping and maybe that will now happen.  Both PCLOS and LMDE are rolling distributions, so there’s really no reason to ever leave them for anything else.  With the pair, I get both KDE and GNOME, so what else is there that could ever catch my eye again?

I figure all I need now is another computer, so I can play with other Linux distros, without having to wipe PCLOS or LMDE from this machine.  It’s fun to see how other distros do things and when they are free for the downloading, it’s really hard for me to walk away without giving them a look-see.  OK, who has an old computer they are getting ready to toss out?  I need a test box.  Have any of you seen Liquid Lemur Linux, yet?

It never ends…

What has likely been the best part of a year ago, a former Invision Power Service employee created a new add-on for Invision Power Board, released as IP.SEO. I received a copy of the script fairly early on in the testing procedure and installed it.

My initial reaction was positive. I questioned (and still do) the name of the application, because the script is actually little more than an over-glorified sitemap generator for Invision forums. I removed the sitemap generator I had been using with great success and installed IP.SEO in it’s place.

For the biggest part, IP.SEO has been doing a fair job. Since it is little more than a sitemap generator, I can say it has been generating sitemaps as advertised.

Invision felt the application was worthy enough to be included as one of their official applications, which I found surprising, since they were already claiming how well their code had already been optimized. Why should such optimized code require any SEO add-ons? Nonetheless, as they began rolling closer to the release of IP.Board 3.2.0 they started asking for suggestions on how to improve the IP.SEO application.

I submitted a rather lengthy list, based on my experiences with using vBSEO on my vBulletin forums. Which was met with line-by line responses such as, “I don’t see how this will help”, “I’m not sure how we can implement this function” and “This seems to run counter to what I feel are good SEO practices”.

Apparently, someone at IPS was unaware of how detailed my records are on my sites. I watch several specific items in Google Analytics and make daily records of the data. I can see what works and what doesn’t. Why would I have wasted my time asking for features and functions i knew were not going to add any benefits to my sites?

Ah, well, so much for seeing any added functionality in IP.SEO.

With the release of IP.Board 3.2.0 came the release of IP.SEO 1.4.0. I upgraded a small forum and immediately noticed several issues with IP.SEO. Functions that had been working a treat in IP.SEO 1.3.2 were suddenly creating errors. I submitted a detailed description of what I was seeing to the Invision Support Tracker on 21 July. The following day, I noticed my submission had been marked as being fixed. Hallelujah, now I could get things working as intended. I opened the report and there was zero explanation as to what had been fixed, how it had been fixed or what I could do to apply this alleged fix to my site. I replied to the report, asking the IPS employee if he could possibly elaborate.

That was one week ago. I still await an answer.

I log onto the Invision community forums a couple times each day, to see if another forum admin has possibly found the answers I’m looking for, but no hope to this point.

Invision, let’s call IP.SEO the cock-up it is.

A fluffed-up sitemap generator is released as IP.SEO, rather than IP.Sitemaps? Do you realize how many unknowing IPB admins jumped all over this application, thinking they were getting a script capable of adding all the benefits that vBSEO brought to vBulletin?

The instructions from the IPS site say:

The installation process for IP.SEO is simple, here’s what you need to do:

- Upload all of the files from the ZIP file you’ve downloaded, to where you have IP.Board installed.
— Make sure you make the sitemap.xml file writeable (CHMOD 777)
— Log into your Admin CP, and go to “Manage Applications and Modules“
— Scroll down to the bottom of the page and find “IPS Add On / IP.SEO“
— Click install and let it run through the installation process.

Which works really well, when you actually include the sitemap.xml file in the download package, as you have for every IP.SEO release prior to 1.4.0. Was its omission for a specific reason? First time users of the application are all wondering where their sitemap.xml file is, since they cannot find it. How difficult or time-consuming would it have been to added a simple readme.txt file to the package, advising new users how to create the file themselves?

By adding the ability to set friendly URLs via the IP.SEO control panel, many forum admins were suddenly changing URL structures and then wondering why their sites were plummeting on the search engine results pages.  Many of those admins felt changing URL structure was required to use IP.SEO and have brought themselves a lot of grief, simply because there was no adequate documentation provided with IP.SEO. Those of us who work in the SEO industry know just how dangerous it can be to change URLs on well-indexed and well-established sites. But no one at Invision ever took a few minutes to explain how devastating URL changes can be.

If running the IP.SEO sitemap generator manually will not work and will result in errors most forum admins cannot understand, why have you made that an option? We’re going to add a function that will make you think you can test sitemap generation, with the added surprise that it will not work and it will also give you an error you cannot correct.

I recognize the peer support forums are just that, but when IPS staff members can crack wise in discussions on other peer support forums, why is the IP.SEO support forum treated like a red-headed, freckle-faced stepchild?

For that matter, why is the application treated that way? And while we’re on the topic, since Mark is now heading up development of IP.SEO, might I ask what Mark’s SEO background actually is? Or do we simply have a coder trying to ensure IP.SEO 1.4.0 will work with IP.Board 3.2.0, without benefit of any SEO background?

And the pity of it all is that the previous sitemap generator I used worked quite well. Without any of the so-called and utterly useless, added functionality of IP.SEO. Yet that developer dropped his script, seeing it was no longer going to be needed, what with you elbowing your way up to the bar.

Why is a detailed report in the Tracker simply marked “Fixed”, with no explanation forthcoming? What has been fixed? Does the current download package contain improved code to eliminate the problems I detailed?

No one will deny I have always been willing to laud Invision for things they have done well. But this time around, Invision gets a failing score. IP.SEO is a train wreck and Invision is apparently doing nothing to improve things. Shame on you, Invision.

Hardly a day goes by I don’t get some sort of advertisement for new computers. I must admit there are some attractive deals out there, but when I sit back and look at the big picture, I question what people are really thinking.

Windows computers are, without question, the market leaders. But look at how things are going. We are at a point where 6GB of RAM and a single 1TB hard drive are minimalistic systems. Perhaps if Windows had been written to do a bit of housekeeping as it runs, we wouldn’t need systems this large. Windows programs are notorious for bloat, both in terms of hard drive space and memory usage.

And then you have those people who have larger wallets and want to use Apple computers. A tip of the hat to the Jobs crew, who have created their own hardware and software, because they have all that working quite well. But when you set an iMac alongside a comparably-equipped PC, take a look at the price differences. Wow!

Seventeen days ago, this six year-old Dell Core 2 Duo, with a 240GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM had two operating systems on it. Debian Wheezy and Linux Mint 11 Katya. Two weeks ago, I had wiped the Debian partition and installed Mandriva in its place. Three days later, Mandriva was gone and PCLinuxOS had replaced it. Total cost involved in all those operating systems came to an even $00.00. At the current rate of exchange, that comes to £00.00.

How many of you just paid $29.99 for a copy of OS X Lion for your iMac? How many of you have paid $100 to upgrade your version of Windows? And for you Windows users, how much does that anti-virus / firewall combination cost you each year? Have you priced a copy of Microsoft Office lately?

PCLinuxOS is what is known as a rolling Linux distribution. Once a week, I click a couple buttons and if there are any updates to the operating system, or to my installed programs, they are downloaded and installed. For $00.00. I have the entire LibreOffice Suite installed on this machine, which is compatible with MS Office files. The price tag on LibreOffice comes to $00.00. Anti-virus programs? I don’t use them, because they are unnecessary. And they don’t slow my machine down as they are running and downloading updates to themselves in the background.  Linux maintains files in a much more orderly arrangement and there is no need to defrag my hard drive.  I don’t need software to check my registry for malware, because there is no registry in Linux architecture.

Why are you people spending all that money? This old machine runs like a well-oiled machine and it’s running not one, but two, state-of-the-art operating systems.  You don’t need 8GB of RAM and dual 1TB hard drives, you just need a more efficiently coded operating system.  And there go two more computer ads into the bin.

The last few days have be filled with Linux, Linux and more Linux. Several members of the T-Bucket Forums have expressed an interest in finding kinder and more gentle ways to start trying to use Linux, rather than Windows. So I have been trying LiveCD versions of several Linux distributions, trying to get a sense of what would feel the most natural to someone converting from Windows.

The Dell XPS-410 I am typing this one has been a dual-boot machine for over four years. I have had a lot of Linux installs on this machine over those years, too. I was introduced to Ubuntu Linux, back in the days of Feisty Fawn. I have used Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon, Hardy Heron, Jaunty Jackalope, Karmic Koala, Lucid Lynx and Maverick Meerkat on this machine and a few others. About a year ago, I installed Linux Mint on this machine and have been pretty happy with it. I tried the Linux Mint Debian Edition for a while, but gravitated back to standard Mint.

A couple weeks ago, I realized I hadn’t booted this machine into Windows for nearly two years, so I wiped Windows off the machine and installed Debian Wheezy in its place. The machine is now dual-booting Debian Wheezy and Linux Mint 11 Katya. The elitism on the Debian support forums is nearly enough to make me gag, but I have managed to get Debian running quite well and without much difficulty. Which is saying a lot, since Wheezy is Debian’s current Testing version. Ubuntu may be a fork of Debian, but I am of the opinion Canonical is headed in the wrong direction with it.

Sitting alongside this machine is a Dell XPS-8100. The day it arrived, I booted it up, got Windows 7 all registered and working and then started repartitioning the drive for a Linux Mint 10 install. So that machine has always been a dual-boot machine, from Day One.

Over the course of the last couple weeks, I’ve tested openSUSE 11.4, Fedora 15, Zorin OS 5 and Mandriva 2010.2. The XPS-8100 actually gave up its Mint partitions to Zorin for a couple days. When I got to Mandriva, something about it reached out and grabbed me. So, I set out to do a triple-boot installation, using Win 7, Linux Mint 11 and Mandriva 2010.2.

The installation kicked me around the block a few times, but I finally gave up trying to get GRUB and GRUB2 to play nicely with one another and set everything up to use the Windows Boot Manager.

Coming from a GNOME / Debian-based background, Mandriva has proven to be a bit of a challenge to me. KDE feels extremely foreign and it took me a while to sort out that I needed to add media sources, in order to install additional software. I was used to adding repositories in Ubuntu, Mint and Debian. Getting Mandriva to recognize there was even a printer located in the same area code was almost enough to get me to dump off the distro. Printer set-up was not kind, nor was it gentle. But I managed to get it working.

I still think the GNOME environment in Linux Mint is a much cleaner and simpler system to adapt to, but then again, GNOME is all I have ever used up until now.  I can find my way around Mint much easier, but that may be down to my familiarity with it.  I struggle to find things in Mandriva that I can just navigate to in Mint without so much as a second thought.

Yet there is something about Mandriva that keeps pulling me back to it.  I am going to try to stop my distro-hopping long enough to become familiar with KDE.  Maybe there is something there I have yet to discover, something that will win me over to KDE, once and for all.

As for the experimentation I’ve done for those forum members?  If you are currently using Windows and want to ease yourself into using Linux, I recommend Zorin OS to you.  It has a lot of the Windows look and feel about it.  Actually, menus can be configured to appear like Windows XP or Windows 7 with a couple clicks of the mouse.

If you’re a bit more open to the idea of using a new operating system, then Linux Mint is the way forward for you.

And I have to admit, there is something about Mandriva…

There are times when we really have to put on our game faces and go to work. But there are other times when you can continue working and have a few laughs at the same time. As that section of Reader’s Digest magazine always pointed out, laughter is the best medicine.

Several months ago, an online pal and I started joking about him dressing up (or would that be down?) as Dog the Bounty Hunter for Halloween. That has led to the two of us referring to one another as “Brah”, whenever we bump into one another.  As you can see, Joe wears his hair short, so rumor has it he’s now looking into extensions, so he might be the better enabled to pull off the Bounty Hunter look.

I met Joe a few years back when he was employed at Crawlability, the company that created the vBSEO script for vBulletin forums.  Although he is considerably younger and much more intelligent than myself, we share a bit common ground in our career backgrounds.  If you need to market a product, Joe is your man, as I have witnessed him selling ice-makers to polar bears.

To get to the point, Joe is one of the co-founders and CEO of Viral Age, the company currently developing Launch.forum, a very interesting and exciting new forum script.  Joe is active on Twitter, where many of us will help our followers discover new friends, by using the Follow Friday hashtag.  Joe is never one to be real excited about marching to the same, old beat of the same,old drum, so he and the team at Viral Age came up with Waving Wednesday, which also promotes followers on Twitter, but in video form.

Back in late January, this Waving Wednesday video appeared on YouTube -

As you can imagine, our Follow Friday technique just doesn’t seem the same, since Joe, V-Gor (that’s him in the background of the video), the girls and everyone at Viral Age introduced Waving Wednesdays.

After first seeing Launch.forum, I have to admit I am very impressed by what this new software has to offer.  Viral Age is proving there are ways to develop forum sites without having to wade, hip-deep, in a frustrating Admin Control Panel.  This feature alone is going to become a major selling point for Launch.forum.  I’ve made no secret that I am growing increasingly frustrated with the forum package I am currently using, so I imagine I will be at the head of the queue when Viral Age puts Launch.forum on the open market.  A couple of my most recent blog submissions have been showcasing some of what Launch.forum has to offer.

What I forgot, whilst submitting those posts, is that Joe is a fellow who just isn’t exactly real shy when demonstrating his appreciation for something.  So, here is this week’s Waving Wednesday from Viral Age -

Hey, little Sis!  We really enjoy what you and Carolina have to offer us each Wednesday, so keep ‘em coming!

As for the rest of you, get on over to Launch.forum and check out what the future looks like for forum scripts.  You can also follow Viral Age and Launch.forum on Twitter.  Viral Age is also on Facebook, so you can try to keep up with all the excitement there, as well.