Linpus Linux 9.6 review:

2009-10-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

You might say what Linux! Yes it is not as well known as Fedora, OpenSuse or Mandriva. I don't have much experience in Linux but Linpus Linux 9.6 don't matter how unknown it is, is one of the most stable operating systems I've ever came across. The story goes like this. I've obtained an Acer Aspire One A110L computer. This model does come with a 1.6Ghz Intel Atom N270 processor with 512Mb Ram and 8Gb SSD.

As an operating system it came with Linpus Linux Lite. Now the Lite say everything, it only come with a few applications, and it is very hard to load any other applications. The desktop was also very simple, too simple; it did not feel like a P.C. at all when you use it. So I decided to obtain a different operating system. At the back of the reboot software, that came with the computer was a contact e-mail address for Linpus Technologies. I send an e-mail to ask them how I should go on to get the full Linpus Linux 9.6 system. A guy with the name of Jeffrey answered back. He told me that he will send me a copy via airmail. He did not really know what the minimum hard disk requirements are for this product; he said that 20Gb will do the trick. The Linpus Technologies website only said that it will run on any x86 platform.

Meanwhile I installed another 1Gb of RAM on my computer, with the hope that it will now fit the minimum requirements, which is nowhere really documented. After I received the Linpus Linux 9.6 DVD I've installed it on the machine. The reboot program asks me which applications I need, and I've unmarked the server box, because it will never be used as a server, but all the other applications were still marked. It told me that it will use 5.1Gb of hard disk space when the rebooting process was finished. I was happy about this because when Linpus Linux Lite was on the computer it told me that there was 6.5Gb of useable space on the disk, so it will fit with 1.4Gb of free space. It started to reboot with Linpus Linux 9.6, and this was a long process. When I've began it, it said to me that it will only take 45min, then after a while it gone to 99min. After that I've gone to visit a friend and when I came back after three hours it said that it will still be busy for 82min. That 82min was again about two hours. But the moral of my story is that it took a long time to install!

After that the computer restarts. When it was finished doing that, it ask all the questions about what the password is going to be, the time and things like that. After which it opened an interesting landscape desktop. I've discovered that the desktop picture also changed from day to night as night falls in the real world. I remember this feature from; I think Windows NT or one of the other early Windows versions. But when I click on the computer icon (which looks if it belongs with the other icons in Windows 3.1 and 3.11) it show me that there is only 20Mb hard disk space left. Can this be? All the programs run perfectly. I always understand that a full hard disk will make everything so slow that nothing can be opened, and here everything is working fine. Is this because of the fact that the computer is equipped with a solid state disk or is it because of a great operating system? All problem it experienced was that it took 4min every time when you put it on to boot until it asks your username, but the shut downs were faster than my Intel Celeron desktop with Windows XP Pro, and that took about 45sec.

But why did it take up so much space on the hard disk in the first place? Well when it reformatted the disk again there was this tine only 5.8Gb available space, and the system also took up more space as it has estimated.

The good news is that this system is pack with a lot of games and educational stuff that can be deleted, with a lot of other stuff that I will never use. There is a lot of use full tools for video and picture editing, and a full range of internet applications. All downside to the system is that it runs OpenOffice 2.4 which is quite old. But if you have limited hardware, just not as limited as I, you just need about one to two Gb more hard disk space, Linpus Linux is for you.

Christiaan

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Other interesting blog by the same person:

http://huaweik3520.blogspot.com/

http://aircraft-registration-country-codes.blogspot.com/

Linpus Linux 9.6 (full edition) - Software Review of a OS with screenshots

Linpus Linux 9.6 review: