Parsix Linux - The "Prince of Persia" (Page 1 of 1)
Written by
Steve Lawson
Posted on: Mar 14, 2008 at 12:53pm
Section:
Reviews
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PARSIX 1.0 is a Persian Linux distribution, created by a team in Iran and built on a
Debian base. It comes as a live CD in which the default languages – ironically, I
have to say, given the prickly relationship between the leaders of Iran and America –
are Persian and American English. I always have some initial concerns about using Linux
distributions whose first language is not my own, simply because of my own linguistic
limitations. However, I had read good things about Parsix so I cast aside my doubts and
dived in.
I first tried Parsix 1.0 as a live CD on my 3.4GHz, Pentium 4 desktop PC with 1GB of
RAM. Some of Parsix's basic system specifications include the 2.6.23 kernel, Xorg 7.2 and
GCC 4.23. Once into the live desktop I found networking was automatically configured (the
machine had hard-wired ethernet). At the time I ran the live CD, the PC was dual booting
between Windows XP and Debian Etch (it's now Debian and DesktopBSD 1.6 – see my
earlier post The Day I Closed The Windows). Both hard disk partitions were detected by the
Parsix live CD: Windows was not mounted but the Debian partition was.
However, another Windows machine on my network was accessible through the Nautilus file
browser, so Samba must be installed and configured by default – it worked flawlessly
and I was able to drag and drop files from a separate Windows machine into my Parsix live
desktop. Further, I was able to browse through my home folder on the Debian installation
and select some MP3 files to play: Exaile, the default Parsix music player, not only
played the tracks but pulled in the artwork for the album. Remember, this is in live CD
mode. I was further surprised at being able to play a video equally as easily in VLC, the
default video program.
No codec hell, no fuss – all in a live environment. Now we come to the look of
Parsix, something which seems to have received a mixed response. While one review I read
remarked that Parsix made Gnome (2.20.3) look better than ever before, comments posted on
the review were far from complimentary. Take a look at the screenshots and decide for
yourselves, but I think Parsix looks stunning. The dark theme is carried out consistently
throughout the distribution – even OpenOffice pages have been set up to match, so you
get very pale blue text on a mid-grey background, set in a window bordered in dark grey
and blue.
It's a striking combination, particularly when partnered with the default orange icon
theme. A great deal of care has gone into how Gnome looks and, for once, I shan't be
changing the default settings for my own theme any time soon. On the applications front,
Parsix comes with some well-chosen applications. Iceweasel, OpenOffice, Synaptic package
manager, Balsa email client, Pidgin for messaging, BitTornado for torrents, gFTP, GIMP,
Inkscape, Brasero for burning CDs and DVDs, VLC, Exaile, Gnome games and the Firestarter
desktop firewell program. As Parsix is Debian based – and the Debian testing
repositories are enabled by default – there are a staggering 18,000 packages
available, just a short 'apt-get' away.
This was looking very, very promising indeed – time to try out Parsix on a
different machine, my Dell Latitude X1 laptop. The X1 is a modest machine – a 1.4GHz
processor with 512MB of RAM, a 30GB hard disk and 1024x768 screen resolution – so I
wasn't expecting blistering performance from the live CD. No, this was primarily an
exercise to see if Parsix would do two things well: Set the correct widescreen resolution
(it did) and work with the Intel/Pro wireless card in the laptop (it did). Given my recent
decision to ditch Microsoft Windows from my desktop machines, you can probably guess where
this is heading.
Yes, I had decided it was time my beloved little laptop was Open Source-only, and I was
convinced I had found the right candidate. Here was a distribution built on the rock-solid
foundations of Debian, with a sleek, modern style and a wealth of software available. Time
to try out that live CD desktop installer, which has been taken from Kanotix and tweaked
to suit by the Parsix team. Before you begin the install routine the installer directs you
to Gparted, from where you're expected to partition your drive in readiness for the
installation. I like Gparted, it's a simple tool for what can be a daunting job for new
users.
But I have one slight concern in the way Parsix uses it – you are not given the
option of creating a separate Home partition, which could catch a few people out. Once the
old Windows partition had been cleared and reformatted as an ext3 slice, and a Linux swap
partition created, I was ready to go. Parsix asks for all your user/root information
before it actually starts copying files to your drive; it's not a problem, it's just
unusual. There's not much to report on the installation: It did what it's supposed to do
quite quickly, installed GRUB in the MBR and told me to reboot – all in about 15
minutes.
Once I'd logged in to that lovely Gnome desktop (and remember, I'm primarily a KDE
man!), I set about configuring a few things. First on the list was my wireless connection.
Parsix comes with a small number of configuration utilities, to be found under their own
'Parsix' menu and, although I only used the Networking tool, I have to say it worked like
a dream. Once all the necessary information was entered I was online – a couple of
minutes, tops! The Debian multimedia repository is already included in your
/etc/apt/sources.lst so I fired up Synaptic and set about grabbing all the multimedia
plugins and codecs I could find. I haven't actually added a great deal in the way of
applications – I haven't needed to – although I'm not yet sure whether I'll
stick with the default email program, Balsa, or replace it with Claws or Thunderbird.
And that pretty much brings me to the present. I'm writing this review in Parsix, using
OpenOffice.org Writer, and I'm about as happy as I could be with my shiny new system. It's
surprisingly quick, stable, packed with great software, and as stylish as anything I've
seen. The fact that it's all sitting on a Debian base is hugely reassuring, and my initial
concerns about using a system primarily designed for Persian users – with all the
language-based implications that brings – have been completely erased. Parsix 1.0
comes very highly recommended.
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