[sf-lug] PCLinux OS release

[Bobbie Sellers]

On 04/11/2013 09:07 AM, Rick Moen wrote:

Well this went out by accident.
Maybe only to Rick and I apologize for cluttering your
inbox.

> Quoting Bobbie Sellers (bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com):
>
>> Please note that i am using the KDE 4.10.1 version as indicated in the
>> file name title.
> Ah, right, thanks.
>
>> The latest Gnome has a fallback choice of Classic mode but I am not
>> eager to try it as I ran Gnome 2.3 or however high they took it under
>> Mandriva for several weeks to see the differences from KDE 4.x and
>> I went back to KDE.

> Online accounts say that the GNOME developers have eliminated Fallback
> Mode entirely, as of GNOME 3.8.  This is in fact one of the more recent
> things that have motivated discontent with upstream GNOME generally (and
> towards the MATE and Cinnamon variants).
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversy_over_GNOME_3#Fallback_Mode

 From Linux Planet:
   Gnome 3.8 returns choice of Classic Desktop to the user.
<http://www.linuxplanet.com/news/gnome-3.8-debuts-new-open-source-linux-desktop.html>
Sounds better than what they have had out lately but read the story to 
get a better idea of the Classic Desktop look and feel capabilities.

>
>> I found even the old version of Gnome not to
>> be as easy to use as KDE 4.x and that says a lot about the Gnome Desktop
>> environment.

	But next to Gnome 3.x that I have tried briefly 2.3 was light
and fast, but the tools were not too reliable and I refer to CD/DVD 
writing specifically.

> Among the problems to watch for:
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/lpm/201202/201202.htm#_Steve_You_Sound_Angry

	Yes well I don't see the same problems but the early version of
KDE 4.x were not wonderful at all.  Still I used them and using them
inspired me to try the Gnome 2.3.  You can see it made me less happy
even than KDE 4.x.

>
>> I was told 9 months was the schedule.
> Well, they've consistently done May or June every year, once a year, so
> far.
	But so far is only a couple of years.
	Still they are doing better than Mandriva or whatever they
will call the organization.  2011 is their last release and it
was very bad for me.  I paid for the PWP version with the proprietary
tools and codecs and could not install it in a way that would let me
use the tools.
	They have produced products for the professional server market in the 
meantime so I know they still have an organisation.

>
> The notion of having 'problems gettting a release out' should be
> considered in context.  The release manager of a distribution had to
> manage the elimination of release-critical bugs until he/she judges the
> distribution ready to go out.  You cannot speed up the process by
> throwing more personnel at the problem:  In fact, that reliably makes it
> take _longer_ (Brooks's Law).  So, rationally, the release manager has
> to allow the process to take as long as it needs to take.

	Of course.
>
> You _can_ try to force the process by insisting that you're going to
> make a ship date come hell or high water.  Canonical, Ltd. does that
> with Ubuntu Linux, for example, and the quality consequences have often
> been dire.  On balance, it's just not a smart thing to do.

     I generally agree about the release timing but I think that a 
"rolling release" as PCLinux is doing may be better in the long run.

	If I had enough energy to deal with the multiple Beta Mageia
versions they have produced I might wait for them but i simply
do not have that time and energy to spare from the tasks of every
day life.
	
	Bobbie