Review: Pardus Linux 2007 Kurulan RC2
I first investigated Pardus in the middle of May where I reviewed Pardus Linux 2007.1. I concluded "the design is tidy, the install obvious and while I couldn't possibly recommend this over a more established distro such as Ubuntu, PCLOS or Mepis I'm definately adding this one to my list of releases to keep an eye on. There's a lot of good in this plucky Turkish release and it has an excellent grounding".
Pardus is a relatively unknown release funded and developed by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey and I was rather impressed with it last time, so let's give it another go and see what improvements have been made. NOTE: I appreciate this is a Release Candidate so it's not a final release, but I'm going to give it a preliminary review anyway.
Aesthetics
Excellent! There are some lovely touches present and I particulary like the "Transparent" theme that offers a PCLOS-esque contemporary KDE feel. It looks and feels like a popular distro should - lovely icon design, professional animations and generally an excellent level of polish. See the below screenshot (click it for a full 1280x1024 desktop screenshot).
Installation
The installation progress was largely the same was it was in 2007.1, rather slow but well explained, clear and unsurprising. It's sometimes clear that the distro's first language isn't English but that doesn't detract away from the clean user experience. It offers a sensible level of information most of the time but sometimes spends a minute or two doing *something* without offering too many hints. Either way, installation was nice and straight forward and shouldn't be a problem for the majority of users.
Network detection was slightly less intuitive than some of the major players (Ubuntu, PCLOS etc) but again, it was clear enough to get through - although it could probably use a little more explanation - the icons were clear and it didn't take much for a technological user to get through.
Applications
The familiar faces are all present, GIMP and OpenOffice to be precise but there really is a full suite of applications available. Suddenly Pardus falls into the "out of the box experience" category that I love so much. So with a full complement of applications available, let's see how it copes with more "out of the box" tasks.
Package Manager
My main gripe is that the Pisi package manager is too hard to find. Normally I like something like Synaptic directly off the menu but Pardus hides it within the "Tasma" configuration utility (more on that in a minute). It's quite easy to use but frustrating in equal measures. Why it loads the "Upgradable Packages" tab by default is beyond me - I'll normally load it up if I'm after something new. Never mind, it works really well - it's just hidden too far away from the user; which is a shame considering it's relative strength.
The Control centre (Tasma) is excellent, picture the configuration utilty in PCLinuxOS and you're mostly there - they are a little different but both are very powerful and helpful in equal measures.
Networking
Picking up the network was nice and fast but it's how it copes with my current Windows network that's important. Crucially it copes beautifully (as it did in 2007.1) and allowed me to pull across an episode of Family Guy to test the preloaded codecs (if it has any).
Media Playback
This actually surprised me and that doesn't happen terribly often while reviewing distros. My DVD-Rip of Family Guy played perfectly in Kaffeine - something that didn't happen last time. While it's not a big deal if it doesn't (given most people should probably download VLC anyway) but it's excellent for "user experience" that things just "work" straight out of the box.
Out of the box media handling is something I really weight highly and Pardus manages wonderfully - surprising but most welcome.
Conclusions
I've suddenly become an advocate for Pardus Linux. I've thoroughly enjoyed playing with this "Kurulan" RC2 release and actually find it as capable as some of the much bigger players that I tend to toy with. It may not have the biggest English community of all the distros but I hope that situation changes because this is actually an excellent release.
Things I recommend changing
The Pisi package manager is a really strong feature - especially for "popular" Linux distros. Regular users will like to see that whatever they want is so quick and simple to obtain and that's hard when the package manger is hidden 2 levels deep inside the powerful control panel.
Pardus Linux is about to be one of the releases I recommend to confident Linux users as something to try. It may not be quite ready to take on the likes of PCLinuxOS or Kubuntu but for a release that sits so far down the Distrowatch popularity list. It's really very usable, user friendly and excellent out of the box - this might just be one release worth watching. Go try Pardus Linux and you really shouldn't be disappointed.
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This has changed in Pardus 2008. In the installation, if u give a user ’administration rights’, he’s no longer able to do some things without password, he’ll be only added to the sudo list. But, if you want, you can check a box: ’remember password’, when installing a package or something, but then you only have acces to that one application, but still don’t have write acces to the / folder or something.
So you want Windows without licence? "Free" Windows...
People seeking "to find" Windows in Linux, hum, I am not sure that be good news for UNIX systems...
"Are you working in MS?"
No, I use GNU/Linux (but not Pardus)
Beginning with Vista, Window’s security architecture doesn’t deliberately blur the distinction between normal user and administrator privileges.
"But then why do you use GNU/Linux? Again if you don’t want UNIX model, don’t use a UNIX system. Use the "real thing", i.e. Windows (And even Microsoft tried to improve the security in Vista)"
Why windows? Goverment pays to Microsoft 600.000 x (Windows License + office licence ...) dolars for every year for totally very simple tasks. Are you working in MS? Pardus is much more than enough and abs-bloody-lutely no need for any WINDOWS for govermantal offices. they will just use firefox.
By the way I made up the total number of computers :)..
Yerli Malı Yurdun Malı Herkes Onu Kullanmalı
yaw keşke meb felan da bunu kullansa
"Yes we can say it Window 98..The users mostly will be Windows 98 users.. So this is good for them..
By the way I am not developer .. I am just user"
And what? According to what you say, you thus want that Pardus behaves like Windows 98? Excuse me but why pervert a system which proved to be reliable to make it resemble another which was everything except protected?
But then why do you use GNU/Linux? Again if you don’t want UNIX model, don’t use a UNIX system. Use the "real thing", i.e. Windows (And even Microsoft tried to improve the security in Vista)
Naturally I defer to your learned expertise.
It will be used in govermantal places.. The users mostly will be Windows 98 users.. So this is good for them..
By the way I am not developer .. I am just user..
Why not just call it Windows 98? If memory serves, that also had a "trusted user" security philosophy.
"If you dont like Pardus use another distro :).."
Yes. But one must also try to help, to explain why such or such thing is good or not. The newbies for example need explanations to understand a new system, “not to swallow anything” and to believe that it is normal and usual, to understand why it is good or not. ;-)
Pardus is otherwise a promising distro, it is a pity really that there is this severe breach in security. This security "relaxation" is outrageously evil, not even other user friendly initiatives, to my knowledge, have not try to "innovate" that much ( and I hope nobody will do it!)
So again: Pardus is a very promising distro but because of the UNIX security perverted, it can’t be recommended.
When one of Pardus’s lead developers boasts about his feckless incompetence ("I remember SMIT in AIX 3.1 did not ask me any passwords for administrative tasks, someone correct me if I’m wroing [sic] - maybe it’s because I was using AIX machine as root.") perhaps it’s not quite the same as the choice between strawberry and vanilla ice-cream.
We dont say Pardus linux.. We say Pardus..
> "Pardus dispenses with conventional UNIX security culture"
>
> That’s one of the reasons this distro is great for the 99% of home users
> who don’t live in a state of paranoia and just use their computers for work,
> communication, knowledge seeking, and entertainment.
>
> To all those UNIX SECURITY junkies - please note: the Cold War is over!
glasiad wrote (elsewhwere):
> Security is a state of mind.
So you don’t think that the years of data currently stored on your PC’s worth protecting from remote and local exploits? To each his own.
> Computers are just mashines [sic]. Easily replaced when defective.
I think I’ll decamp to Wales, it’s obviously a land of unimaginable wealth!
"That’s one of the reasons this distro is great for the 99% of home users who don’t live in a state of paranoia and just use their computers for work, communication, knowledge seeking, and entertainment."
Doesn’t the home user need protection? It is surely for that on Windows for example people use anti-viruses/spyware/maleware/firewall........ They don’t want to be protected, that is just for the fun...
"the Cold War is over! "
hey, no war here! But again If you don’t want UNIX model, security, state of mind etc, don’t use UNIX system.
That’s one of the reasons this distro is great for the 99% of home users who don’t live in a state of paranoia and just use their computers for work, communication, knowledge seeking, and entertainment.
To all those UNIX SECURITY junkies - please note: the Cold War is over!
"This security FUD bores me to hell. Asking passwords again and again won’t make anything secure."
Wow! And this guy is " the head of Pardus security team"? My God! An additional reason not to use Pardus!
KimTjik says:
"However I can’t understand his arguments about security: why on earth should every distro push some proclaimed UNIX culture about security down the throat of every single user of Linux? Why not give users the right to choose?"
If you don’t want UNIX security, don’t use a UNIX system and use Windows rather than seeking to pervert something which proved reliable.
"Pardus is aimed at the typical desktop user who doesn’t protect information of the dignity of national security on his/her system. He/she simply wants a smooth system whether at home, office or school. Pardus delivers a good user experience in this respect."
Again with this state of mind, use Windows, you are not at the good place. And even Microsoft tried to improve the security in Vista and to educate the home user not to use an administrative account, and there is a Linux project trying to do exactly the opposite. I’m sorry but can perform a wide range of administrative tasks (adding/removing packages, starting/stopping services or the firewall, etc.) without being ever asked for a password is a very bad habits to give even for a home users. For the sake of the user’s convenience, basic Linux principles were broken.
Stepelevich says:
"The developers, when questioned about the security implications of their work, are inclined to say "if you don’t like it, use another Linux distribution"."
One must hope that people will not ask from other distributions to provide them with such a feature..........
Pardus is otherwise very promising but because of the UNIX security perverted, it can’t be recommended.
> should every distro push some proclaimed UNIX culture about security
> down the throat of every single user of Linux? Why not give users the right
> to choose?
Because when use of a particular service (such as the package manager) has far-reaching, potentially disastrous consequences to all of a system’s users, the most rudimentary of security considerations dictate that
(i) the service is only available as and when it’s actually required
(ii) the service is accessible only to those with whom it can actually be trusted
Pardus in its default configuration *objectively fails* in respect of both of those requirements.
The question should be: what advantages are to be had deviating from the traditional UNIX security model? None that I can see, for sure.
> He/she simply wants a smooth system whether at home, office or school.
> Pardus delivers a good user experience in this respect.
Well in that case, Windows XP Home Edition would also fit the bill.
pc linux and I hope it continues to be so, I shall be using it more
and maybe replace Ubuntu with Pardus once I have explored it
more.
My main system is Fedora, now 7 64bit, and I suppose Mr. Stepelevich would approve the security policy it’s based on. However I can’t understand his arguments about security: why on earth should every distro push some proclaimed UNIX culture about security down the throat of every single user of Linux? Why not give users the right to choose? A Linux system might of course be modified to perform a bunch of specialized tasks, but as far as I can understand Pardus is aimed at the typical desktop user who doesn’t protect information of the dignity of national security on his/her system. He/she simply wants a smooth system whether at home, office or school. Pardus delivers a good user experience in this respect.