[CS-FSLUG] ELive Linux

[Chris Brault]

I was perusing distrowatch.org,

I read the hype about AsiaLinux and the disappointing
review of aLinux (formerly peanut). Although aLinux
has every app, codec and font you could ever want,
updating and installation are near impossible and it's
a drag on the system. I then read about ELive Linux.

Supposedly, it is enlightenment (0.16 and 0.17
experimental) with a pure debian backend + cool apps
and codecs missing from most debian distros. 

What bugged me: 
- It doesn't have xine or audacity (come on folks).
- There were only about a dozen fonts installed.
- OO.o 2.0 beta ... what the ... can you say "old"?
- The games max out the processor ... and that's about
it. No game ... not even a flicker. Just a background
process eating up the processor.
- e 0.17 is a bit unstable and lacking features ...
but that if forgiven due to it's alpha/pre-alpha
state.
- General gripe about enlightenments method of
handling configuration ... give a million options and
guess which one you're actually looking for.

What I liked:
- Small foot print.
- It's blazing fast (even for Firefox).
- Eye candy out the wazoo.
- Thinking ahead.
- The "E" apps, such as Entice, Eclain and Evidence.
- Using a debian back end ... smart.
- Synaptic installed by default with good repos.

Generally, the Evidence file browser was rocking.
Hovering gives you a darkened background and a really
cool popup with all the file info you could ever need.
Plus, the mp3's, it uses cddb to find cover art for
the mp3 icons (rockin' dude when I saw a tobyMac CD
cover and the Afters cover art). Personally, if I
could figure out how the tabs work (I'm lost right
now) I'd vote it the best minimal file manager ever.
ELive also comes with XFE (check out who made their
web site ... hint: it was me).

Elive also comes with a menu editor that works with
0.16 and 0.17 (about time). It also has it's own
rendering libraries for images and audio. Someone is
working very, very hard.

Anyway, there are my comments.

Gabe Ginorio

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