Review: gNewSense Version 2.2 (Page 1 of 3)
Written by
John James Inkpen
Posted on: May 20, 2009 at 06:15am
Section:
Reviews
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EDIT: See page 3 for corrections and updates.
gNewSense
Version 2.2 (pronounced “guh-new-sense”) Code name DeltaH -
Origin Ireland, started by and continues to be maintained by bbrazil
and ompaul. A
live Distribution. Gnome: 2.22.3 Build Date 2008.07.31 – Debian 5.0
Lenny is 2.22.3 Build Date 2008.09.18. gNewSense is a pure 100% Free
Software Ubuntu base GNU/Linux sponsored by the Free Software
Foundation and it does not contain any proprietary licence code;
therefore it is completely legally distributable. gNewSense is a
great Operating System.
System Requirements: 256 MB RAM 3 GB hard drive
space and 500 Mhz-CPU (x86-compatible)
The gNewSense project today announced version 2.2 of
its free GNU/Linux distribution. This is the second point update to
the release codenamed 'deltah'. We're especially excited to see that,
as a result of the cooperation between SGI and the FSF to relicense
the core 3D library code as free software, today's release
re-introduces GLX. This means that hardware acceleration is enabled
by default, so applications like Compiz and 3D games will work again.
As with 2.1, gNewSense 2.2 is available as a live cd for x86 (i386)
systems, using GNOME as the default desktop environment (others such
as XFCE or KDE are available post installation).
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gNewSense-2.2-released
A Free Software Foundation sponsored project a
Ubuntu-based Linux Operating System without proprietary and non-free
ingredients. Never forget that when you say Ubuntu – you say Grand
Daddy Debian – tested, broken, fixed, examined, chucked in the
Ocean – salted, tossed in the sand and has to come out working
perfectly or it goes back, all done before it is allowed to discover
us. Their gift and I thank-you.
This article will cover the easy install
gNewSense process and reviews some of the application included
with the Operating System which can be downloaded at gnewSense,
help section
here and FAQ's.
As mentioned the entire install process is easy and only took a very
short time. I did not clock the process as I was taking a few screen
shots and playing Chess. I also wanted to review the Operating System
after spending a few days using it. Including installing/updates and
removal using Synaptic, a graphical package manager ( (I prefer
Aptitude) this is day five.
GnewSense is an Linux
Operating System that is free from non-free software (proprietary
software) closed source is guarded software. The notion may be a good
idea but may not be sound because we (sadly) live in a World where
lack of proprietary software in an Operating System will reduce the
functionality of the OS or portions thereof. GnewSense
is not a crippled Operating System it is free from non-free software.
The scope of an Operating System functionality should not be measured
by proprietary software. Unfortunately licensing terms for codecs,
Graphic Drivers and other device drivers do not allow distributions
nor fit in a non-free Operating System. You will need to install it
yourself after you have installed gNewSense
. Fortunately, this is easy enough to do, simply search for search in
the Add/Remove dialog, check the box next to "install",
then press the "Apply Changes" button. You may have to use
Synaptic Package Manger to locate and install these tools. Apt-get
and Aptitude are also available from the command line.
If you select a music/video file and it does not function because
of codecs. gNewsense will search for the correct drivers and offer to
install them, if available. I have only experienced a couple problems
during the last few days, no gnash, icedtea (java) and a speller
checker problem. There has not been any other problems with any of
the programs included in this Linux distro.
Gnash and icetea can be installed with your favorite install
method. If during the installation you selected any language other
than USA English there will be a problem with applications that use a
spell checker. A solution appears below.
I recall reading a gnewSense 2.1 review at Raiden's
Realm so I did not go hunting for others, what the Realm has to
say is good enough for me. The author of that (2.1) review reported a
few problems -
unable to crank up a screen resolution beyond “640x480” -
not a problem now as I'm at “1600x1200”
also reported USB ports not detected – the only USB problem
here is no messages appears when you unmount the device for safe
removal but the desktop icon disappears and inside Nautilus
(2.22.5.1)
no power management or other hardware issues has been
observed
an external hard drive device (NAS) is working well (CAT6
cable connection)
I used the LiveCD long enough to click install, fire up GIMP, take
some screenshots and play a game of On-line chess. Linux ability
“cracks-me-up” doing a major system change (install) taking
photo's saving them to a USB stick and play chess. It's wild eh!
Installation
A simple easy and fast seven step
process depending on if you manually partition the hard drive,
Choose language and click Forward,
Where do you live or want too,
Keyboard Layout selection,
Guided – use entire disk will create root a and swap
partition,
A simple process,
All done – reboot required.
After the installation reboot,
When
the Desktop appeared it pulled in an error with it,
/var/log
May 10 08:51:42 john-desktop
pulseaudio[5866]: alsa-util.c: Device front:0 doesn't support 44100
Hz, changed to 48000 Hz.
May 10 08:51:42 john-desktop
pulseaudio[5866]: alsa-util.c: Device front:0 doesn't support 44100
Hz, changed to 48000 Hz.
Problem
solved as it did not appear again.
Your
New gNewSense Desktop,
Post Desktop
Post-Desktop Test-Security and get
Updates,
Most Linux and BSD Unix Operating
System are secure during a installation but some do recommend
disconnecting from the Internet during installation. Internet
installs do lock down security during the net install period. After
an install a few steps should be completed to add to the existing
security of the Operating System,
Test OS internet ability to be
invisible (STEALTH),
Use the default browser,
GRC (Gibson Research Center) home of
Steve Gibson Shields Up,
Click on the Services Tab and select
Shields Up, click through the windows to start the security test.
A security grade will be assigned -
Pass or fail.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GRC Port Authority Report created on UTC: 2009-05-04 at 19:33:26
Results from scan of ports: 0-1055
0 Ports Open
0 Ports Closed
1056 Ports Stealth
---------------------
1056 Ports Tested
ALL PORTS tested were found to be: STEALTH.
True Stealth: PASSED - ALL tested ports were STEALTH,
- NO unsolicited packets were received,
- NO Ping reply (ICMP Echo) was received.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Another security test site,
Updates,
System – Administration – Software Sources,
Here you select which Repositories to
pull in updates and other Software and download location. You should
check them all but source code is optional.
From the gNewSense Updates Tab,
Security updates is a must and a darn good idea,
Unsupported updates – Not sure if I understand this.
Unsupported Updates arrive into the download repositories and are not
supported by the OS maintainers and or, are included in the
repositories for you to download but no updates to these programs
will come from gNewSense, as opposed to software that is maintained
by the maintainers via their Long Term Support (LTS) Policy which
could be 18 months, 3 or 5 years. Also software that is not included
in the maintainers repositories containers but it can be downloaded
from third-party developers sites providing that such software is
compatible with the OS.
Backports - More recent versions of software are placed
in this container.
GNU icecat (deltah) is a GNU browser with its own
repositories.
Automatic updates
Checking updates options
are Daily, Every two days, weekly and every two weeks. Installation
options to install updates are Install security updates without your
input, download all updates in the background or Only notify about
available upgrades. An update brings your system up to date as
opposed an upgrade which generally replaces software with a new
version or a better version.
Check for updates and only
notify about available updates are the common settings but you have
click to install them. Check daily and install security updates
automatically would be the better option.
Release upgrade, choices here are never, normal
releases or long term support releases only. I assume “never”
would cancel out one or more of the above options and the same for
LTS.
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