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Feature: Dreamlinux
Dreamy Dreamlinux
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CommentsDreamlinux is a Debian-based distribution that offers you a choice of GNOME or Xfce window managers as well as an extremely simple installation and scripts to install popular programs not found in the Debian repositories. With included programs for communication, graphics, and music, plus OpenOffice.org, it covers most general desktop needs, and installation and configuration are a breeze. Besides a few minor bugs that didn't cause any problems, my experience with Dreamlinux was entirely positive.
From the bootloader onward Dreamlinux displays impressive graphics. A lot of time seems to have been spent customizing the artwork and themes so they work well together. At boot I selected Xfce over GNOME for the live CD, thinking that using Xfce would lower memory overhead for the install. If you don't wish to install Linux, the live CD is fully functional at this point (except for drivers you may need for Compiz) so you can test things out first.
To install Dreamlinux on your hard drive you can run the install shortcut on the desktop. The installer is very simple, with only a single well-laid-out form. It wasn't without a few problems, however, although nothing was serious. The first problem I noticed was that there was no option to add a partition mount point without formatting it (I have a separate /home that I didn't want wiped), but that was easy enough to add manually. A bug I noticed was that if you checked the "format" box before selecting the filesystem type and mount point, the installer wouldn't let you add the partition until you unchecked and rechecked the box.
After the installation I wanted to test the two available desktop environments with their default settings, but I was unable to select GNOME at the graphical login screen -- only Xfce was available. I thought perhaps I had missed something during the install, so I reinstalled everything. However, I didn't find any option to include GNOME, and it still wasn't available. I reinstalled a second time, except this time I selected GNOME while booting to the live CD. After installation this time, only GNOME was available. I found no information on the Dreamlinux site on how to install both GNOME and Xfce.
Even without being able to use the installer to get both GNOME and Xfce on my hard drive at one time, I could tell from using them both at separate times that Dreamlinux was successful in making both environments look essentially the same. Although each environment still offers its own basic functionality, both were themed to look like the same environment.
Easy-Install is Dreamlinux's solution to licensing problems that can keep programs out of the Debian repositories. Applications such as Azureus, Skype, Google Desktop, Opera, and extra multimedia codecs are all available through Easy-Install. Dreamlinux does come with most common multimedia formats included, but those which aren't are available through Easy-Install: WMA, WMV, RM, and RMVB. Besides that, you may also install Nvidia graphics drivers through Easy-Install.
One of the advertised features of Dreamlinux is a 3-D environment, so I attempted to activate Compiz after installing the Nvidia drivers. Compiz performed wonderfully. If you haven't tried it yet and your system supports it, you really should. You get added eye candy without taking away from basic functionality.
In addition to the lovely Compiz, MPlayer and Gxine were available to handle all my movies, with Rhythmbox for audio. If you're feeling creative you can edit your videos with Avidemux, then burn them to CD or DVD with Brasero. Dreamlinux covers email, Web browsing, file transfer, and instant messaging needs by including Thunderbird, Firefox, gFTP, and Pidgin, respectively. In the office category the OpenOffice.org suite is included for spreadsheet, publishing, presentation, and word processing needs. I use the included GIMPShop and Inkscape to handle bitmap and vector graphics, but if you're just the viewing type then it's an easy one-click transfer of photos from a digital camera, after which you can use gThumb to browse them.
If the wide variety of installed programs fails to meet your needs, you can use Synaptic to install more. Dreamlinux is based on Debian testing and uses said repository along with Dreamlinux's own, so you have a wide array of programs at your fingertips. If it suits your fancy to use Dreamlinux as a live CD, you can still have your custom installed programs available to you by using the MkDistro suite to remaster the ISO. You can also customize settings for the remaster, so people like me who use custom layouts (Dvorak in my case) won't need to swap them at every boot.
If you're new to Dreamlinux, you can find several tutorials in the documentation section of the distro's Web site. For further support there are also active forums and a Dreamlinux wiki with more tutorials and a working hardware list.
Now that I've tried out this distro, when a non Linux user asks me what distribution I recommend they try, I think I'll start suggesting Dreamlinux. It is extremely simple, it covers a broad ranges of requirements, and it is a beautiful desktop system.
Comments
on Dreamy DreamlinuxNote: Comments are owned by the poster. We are not responsible for their content.
By the way, the article didn't mention the lightning speed of Dreamlinux, even with Gnome. It absolutely blows Ubuntu away.
Dreamlinux isn't without it's faults, but it is an up and coming community built distro that will certainly prove a few points in the next few months. Talking of Ubuntu, shouldn't it be getting better seeing as it is backed by Canonical and has paid developers? What do those devs do all day? Ubuntu is being trounced by small community distros every day.
Mint has shown how they could do it, Dreamlinux will show you the power and ease of Debian but without becoming bloated and slow, which is what has happened to Ubuntu.
I've heard the Dreamlinux community is pretty cool too, whereas Ubuntuforums bans it's own moderators for being creative, or members who dare question a staff decision. Ubuntu is getting too Microsoft and corporate. It will fall very soon.
My comment about DreamLinux was purely related to UI. That I don't like, and I have a right to my own opinion. I'm not commenting about speed, performance, etc on DreamLinux, as I haven't used it, however, from the screenshots, I don't see anything that amazing about it, yet everybody yammers on about impressive/beautiful graphics. At least Ubuntu does try to have it's own style, as ugly as some people think it is. DreamLinux prefers to ape the Mac. Some like it. I don't.
As regards your comment on the Ubuntuforums, I was a moderator on those forums, and I left of my own free will to cope with school issues. Your comment about the banning the moderators for being creative or members who dare question a staff decision is uncalled far, and definitely not true.
No amount of looking at screenshots will give you a feel of the distro.
There's no boring grey 'top panel' that cannot be customised to your liking, including transparency settings. Change it yourself :)
I hope you do find the time to try Dream.
anyway whatever the distro is as long is it is linux it's COOL enough :p
Zaheer.
they're still very rough around the edges in terms of eyecandy and, well, everything relly.
I do like the panel ala Mac, but there's something aboutit that jus tdoens't fit.
and my god the installer is _HORRIBLE_, it's overly simple that it makes it confusing.
root and ordinary usernames and passwords were a bit tricky if you don't have a level of savvyness,
same goes for which HDD to install,
the bootloader part gave me the most headache - imagine my horror when I couldn't load into Windows or any other OS.
the progress bar was 'stuck' at some point, then I head on over to their forums and that was 'normal', in fact if I didn't notice my HDD light blinking I would have thought the thing froze on me.
and lastly, I didn't do anything to my PC for like two hours then I noticed this one-liner text at the very bottom of the installation saying the install was complete, a pop up would have been nice.
as it is a debian based system, I was a little excited to use it, but after seeing that my other OSS wouldn't load, the thing didn't last an hour on my PC...
Marketing Dream to PowerPC owners
Posted by: Anonymous [ip: 72.204.223.246] on May 18, 2008 02:42 AMDebian is one of the few *nixes supporting PowerPC, and Ubuntu dropped the platform a year or two ago. At least "officially" anyway. And of course most PowerPCs run Mac OS.
So, suggestion: leverage Debian to deploy Dream on PowerPC, there are very few distros out there doing PowerPC right now. This niche is ripe for the plucking by some Mac-alike Linux.
For example, the comment "The first problem I noticed was that there was no option to add a partition mount point without formatting it (I have a separate /home that I didn't want wiped), but that was easy enough to add manually. A bug I noticed was that if you checked the "format" box before selecting the filesystem type and mount point, the installer wouldn't let you add the partition until you unchecked and rechecked the box." This would likely scare a Windows user - it did me! - what is a "partition mount point"? Not something that the average Windows user - or re-installer - would encounter.
And I think that's a big reason for all the good words about Ubuntu, esp. the Wubi installer, which lets a Windows user test drive Linux.
The appearance of the desktop is cool, but most users run applications, rather than spending a lot of time looking at the desktop, regardless of operating system. The OS is in the background, doing what the user can't do. Regardless of flavor, Linux has big advantages here over Windows, in security and footprint. But the learning curve is steep, esp. if one wants to run Windows apps in Linux. Wine helps, but there are still issues here.
Until Linux is as easy as Windows to use for the average user, it will lack traction. And Windows machines can be well protected - I've used XP now since 2002, and have not been infected or compromised. And I can run most anything I need without a lot of heartache. Linux has a way to go there, but at least it's moving in the right direction.
The user interface is definintely "pretty" but I found on the previous version that the repos were often broken. Perhaps I'll have to give it a try again.
I don't understand why for surfing the internet and doing a few emails and some casual use of word processing (represented by the majority of users in the world), someone is forced to buy the latest quad core hardware with all the bling bling.!! to go down the street to the convenience store, you don't need a n airplane, you could just walk or use your bike... get my point ?
going forward we should start judging any distro, by how much they can do with or cram into, the minimum hardware . It's such a wasteful philosophy whereby consumers are being squeezed and forced to buy new hardware with every new release of an os. think about all the ewaste generated and the adverse impact to the environment?
should the developers not have a responsibility to the environment as well ? I should add that I take my hats off to a lot of the distros and their developers as they are already doing this today.
that's my 2 cents
Dream forums couldn't solve the problem. If anyone here has ideas, I'd love to hear them because I'd like to try & get this installed.
Dreamy Dreamlinux
Posted by: Anonymous [ip: 80.254.84.207] on May 15, 2008 09:31 PMOh give me a break. They're trying to copy Apple's interface, and failing utterly. I'd take Ubuntu's brown any day over this pseudo-apple interface. Even the top panel isn't skinned, it just looks the default gray!
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