Urs Beyerle has created an updated and improved version of the Scientific Linux 5.3 “mini” LiveCD. As usual, it features the lightweight IceWM, and a number of SL-specific features, including the non-standard (not Anaconda) LiveCD installer, as livecd-install and livecd-install-gui.
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I can’t get no satisfaction, but this is only routine news, right? News from the “Linux on the old Omnibook” front…
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…in IceWM:
That was the “Tile Vertically”, “Tile Horizontally” and “Cascade” set of options present in Microsoft Windows and absent from all the Linux/BSD/Unices window managers… except for IceWM!
Cool. (The screenshot is from AntiX, which is less cool and a mess IMHO, although it’s very functional and rich in preinstalled software.)
P.S.: Of course, the so-called “tiling window managers” would do that too, but they usually do only that, i.e. tiling.
Recently, I have expressed some kind of renewed interest for Linux on my desktop/laptop. This does not mean I am “going back to Linux”, at least not under the current conditions.
What happened is that I managed to make my old HP Omnibook XE3 (Celeron-128k, 850 MHz, 256 MB PC-100, 10 GB HDD 4200rpm) something more usable because of an improved responsiveness, not because it would benefit of more useful software.
But my newer Acer (Celeron M520, 1 GB RAM DDR2-533) is still on XP SP3, and I’m afraid it will stay so for quite some time.
Why is this happening so?
First of all, I’ve tried the WINE version 1.0.1 from EPEL5, and it doesn’t display correctly the Ribbon-like window decorations of Rybka 3 Aquarium, so there is at least one software I’ve bought that can’t be used satisfactorily under Linux. I’m sure there are some others too.
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This is an installed version of SL5.3 (from an unreleased mini_livecd), with a hacked Clearlooks-like IceWM theme, and a few added applications.
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I could not focus very well on the subject, however I wrote a post on scientific-linux-users: SL 5.3 with IceWM from SL 5.2 mini_livecd (long post).
I posted from their web form, and it screwed the lines. A more readable version is here.
We’ll see what gets. I tend to be too “romantic” and impetuous at times…
As my readers must know, I am now basically on Windows XP, especially on the (relatively new and cheap, but OK) laptop, except for some Solaris and Linux at work and with the hosting of this blog. Nevertheless, I am bothered by the old (antiquated?) laptop who refuses to die (except for the battery), and which I refuse to abandon, mostly because it has a keyboard that’s still 1,000% better than any keyboard that you can find today in a laptop, no matter how much would it cost!
So, what do I do with my HP Omnibook XE3 (Celeron-128k at 850 MHz, 256 MB RAM PC-100)? It used to fly with Win98 SE, it was very slow with Win2k, it was bearable win WinXP, it was not fast enough with Debian Sarge and CentOS-4 with GNOME 2.8, etc. etc., and in the end it was put back to WinXP. Still, it’s not fast enough. No version of GNOME is fast enough on it, possibly because nowadays distros are eating CPUs for nothing even in the kernel. XFCE is better, but less than you’d expect (Wolvix 1.1.0 had the best XFCE for it, in terms of speed). As for KDE, only Sidux managed to give me a fast desktop — but I can’t use something that is supposed to break if you keep it updated, just because it’s “unstable”.
I explored some chances to get something Linux back on this 8-y.o. laptop.
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