Tech Gage reviews SabayonLinux 3.3 Distro

[Babrbarossa]

"Overall I love the latest version. The amount of effort that goes into the distro is undeniable... even the little things are tackled. I took a look in the make.conf file and noticed that the options are set to enable dual core support on the compiler. I am running a Quad-Core machine, so perhaps in future versions, SL could detect that fact and adjust the flags accordingly. All of this can of course be changed after the fact, but many newer users to Gentoo wouldn't know where to look.
Fans of Sabayon will be pleased. Things just keep getting better. For those who have never touched SL, you should give it a try and see what you are missing. Even if you don't plan on changing desktops (like myself), it's one of the best distros to play with, or use as a Live DVD if you are on the road a lot. I had a few people test it out on Apple computers, and it works great there as well. No one is left excluded! Kudos to Fabio and his team for the great work on this latest release."

More from TechGage

[enaberif]

Linux is linux and it doesn't matter what distro it is.

The biggest diff between each is package management and how stale the respositories get.

Debians are old, Gentoos are good and Ubuntus are decent.

[Deathspawner]

Originally Posted by enaberif

Linux is linux and it doesn't matter what distro it is.

The biggest diff between each is package management and how stale the respositories get.

Debians are old, Gentoos are good and Ubuntus are decent.

You really sound like you know what you are talking about.

[Babrbarossa]

It seems like there is can be alot of difference in stability, and compatibility with different peripherals and drivers.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Deathspawner

You really sound like you know what you are talking about.

I've been running linux since the early days of 1994 when slackware was still 1.0 :) I've ran many and tested many different distros and there is no difference except what I said aside from maybe file system layout differences.

Linux uses the same kernel regardless of what distro you use which can be freely downloaded at The Linux Kernel Archives

The major difference between a lot of the distros is how the kernel is compiled for the end user upon the start hence why Ubuntu is so good for.

If anyone is willling to sit down for a few minute with linux you'll find that a good majority of hardware IS compatible with linux but not 100% yet.

[Forge]

I've been giving Linux a try now and again since the mid 90s too but just haven't had any reason to switch from Windows yet. I mostly have a PC to play COD2, half-life2, type games.

Lately Ubuntu and Suse have interested me but still it's a pain in the butt when I have trouble setting up an Nvidia geforce 8800 to run with the Nvidia drivers. I couldn't even get that Wine program to work. Windows is good enough for now, for me that is.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Forge

I've been giving Linux a try now and again since the mid 90s too but just haven't had any reason to switch from Windows yet. I mostly have a PC to play COD2, half-life2, type games.

Lately Ubuntu and Suse have interested me but still it's a pain in the butt when I have trouble setting up an Nvidia geforce 8800 to run with the Nvidia drivers. I couldn't even get that Wine program to work. Windows is good enough for now, for me that is.

Wine isn't good for playing games in linux you have to rely on a 3rd party program which slips my mind right now.

In regards to nvidia and the cards you simply use the nvidia drivers from their site to make things work :) Never had a issue with my 7*** or 6*** series cards.

But yes for some people linux is perfect, for others windows.

[Deathspawner]

Originally Posted by enaberif

I've been running linux since the early days of 1994 when slackware was still 1.0 :)

I'll jump in and say Ubuntu is -way- over glorified. It offers virtually nothing new to the end-user, except an active community and perhaps documentation. The only thing I've ever seen Ubuntu do that was "unique" was the upcoming feature that tells you how to download an application if you type it into the terminal and it doesn't exist.

Between distros, there are far more differences than just the kernel itself:

1) Different software repositories (emerge/apt/updateos/yum/etc)

2) Unique control panels. SUSE's is better than anyones.

3) Amount of control. Gentoo offers far more control in general, when compared to Ubuntu.

4) Pre-installed package selection. Some distros ship with more common software, which is good for those not familiar with Linux.

5) Hardware detection. SuSE is good, as is Ubuntu. Sabayon is excellent.

6) Ease of use. Some distros are designed for the hardcore, others for the complete noobie.

I could go on. I find it hard to believe that you've been using Linux for 13 years and still claim "Linux is Linux". They certainly all use the same core kernel, but each distro have different goals and features, as mentioned above. By the assumption that "Linux is Linux", someone who hates Fedora will probably hate every other distro, which is hardly the case. I dislike SUSE and Ubuntu, but I love Gentoo.

There's a reason there are so many distros in development. With Windows, you are stuck with what you get. With Linux, you have a huge selection which gives you a better chance of finding one you like.

Sorry for the rant. I just don't agree completely with the "Linux is Linux" mentality. Beneath the core, it's Linux. That's where distros similarities end.

[Shadowed]

ok, you caught my interest...
I have been messing with Kubuntu a little on a second hd and was very happy with how well it worked.
Except for some video card driver problems, everything worked very well.
It does everything a $100 os does except some of the gaming.
I would like to try out SL.

I have XPhome on first hd and linux on the second one.
Question about the grub boot loader:
Is it part of my mbr on my main harddrive ?
Will it be confused/messed up with Kubuntu gone?
Or do I need to uninstall it first somehow?

Sorry for the noob questions. I have had a bad experience with multiple os corrupt mbr and would rather avoid it again.

I don't think I will ever be buying another M$ os (vista?) and would like to learn more about linux distros.

Also, is there more problems/issues trying to use the 64bit version ?

Thanks

[Deathspawner]

By default, the installer will put GRUB onto the first hard drive in the boot sequence. So, if your Windows hard drive is the first drive, it will be installed there. Should you want to get rid of Linux later on, booting with the WinXP CD and going to command prompt and typing "fixmbr" will take care of it.

You won't have to uninstall Kubuntu. During the installer for Sabayon, you'll notice that it wants to remove all Linux partitions and recreate them as it feels the need. Just pay attention to the partitioning screen, especially to what partitions it is going to format. It will just overwrite whatever Kubuntu put there, basically.

I haven't run the 64-Bit version of SL, but I believe it will work just fine. Many 64-Bit Linux won't run Flash content on the web, but I believe SL, like SUSE, emulates the 32-Bit version.