Name of Site: IceWalkers
URL:
www.icewalkers.com
Load Time: Normal
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: The first thing you should know about this site is that no, icewalkers is (unfortunately) not a site paying homage to those awesome empirical robots from the Empire Strikes Back, it is in fact a reference to penguins, of the Linux variety. Icewalkers.com is actually a highly usable, easily navigable Linux software site with close to 2000 applications ready for download. With all of them organised into two levels of categories, you'll easily find what you're looking for. You can also find all your favourite distributions as well as a few oddities like Gentoo and the fast growing Peanut Linux. If like me, you haven't a clue what you're doing then there is access to a few hundred HOWTO's and 'man' pages available too... In fact it seems that these penguins really do have similar powers to the star wars robots, after all the Icewalker tag line reads 'Nothing Can Stop Them'! - SS
Name of Site: Linux Australia
URL:
Linux.org.au
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: The Linux Australia site appears to be something of a historical site, I say this because it looks like it was designed a decade ago! Luckily there's a fair bit of useful content like job postings, competitions, user groups, an (empty) event calendar, conferences and plenty of helpful information on Linux. Linux Australia is in fact a non-profit organisation of volunteers seeking to promote Linux and all things said and done, is doing a pretty good job. So if you're passionate about your OS, or just want to find like-minded people, this is the site for you, just don't hold out for the eye candy. - SS
Name of Site: Just Linux
URL:
www.justLinux.com
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: Although I think it would have been really amusing if Just Linux had been a site dedicated to Bill Gates and his crew, it really is just about Linux, which - my need for constant amusement aside - is probably a good thing. The two main features of this site are a huge forum - and I mean HUGE (there was one user who had single-handedly made 28,000 posts!) - and a collection of help files. The forum is powered by vBulletin and is well organised into relevant categories with a combination of 50,000 users and some very active moderators keeping the boards alive. The help files in turn are not just the usual HOWTO or 'man' pages, but in fact are a collection of pages written by users in a fairly friendly, narrative sort of way, excellent for the newbie or veteran in difficult times. - SS
Name of Site: LinuxSucks.org
URL:
www.Linuxsucks.org
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: Linux Sucks is run by a man who uses Linux regularly and has done so right back to the 5 1/4" MINIX 1.5 distribution! So what is a Linux devotee doing registering a URL like LinuxSucks.org? Well as he mentions, while Linux may be the best thing since sliced bread, it does still fall short of the perfect operating system in a number of categories, and it's those flaws that are up for discussion on the forums at LinuxSucks.org. While many of the discussion threads seem to degenerate into mud slinging it is still interesting to see a site that doesn't worship Linus Torvalds for once. - SS
Name of Site: Desktop Linux
URL:
www.desktopLinux.com
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: Desktop Linux's mission is to accelerate the transition from M$ Windows to more open operating systems across the board. To this end they have constantly updated news, a well used forum, polls and a directory of Linux links. But perhaps their best feature is a huge collection of Linux related articles, including a few 'how to get started with Linux' and other introduction articles, which are perfect for the tentative convert. So if you're thinking of joining the "revolution", get out your horn-rimmed spectacles and log on to this site. - SS
Name of Site: Fresh Meat
URL:
freshmeat.net
Load Time: Normal
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: The interesting thing about switching to open-source is the sheer abundance of software available. And if it's available at all, it's probably listed at Freshmeat, where the programs are still warm and the bugs are no doubt often still breeding! Unfortunately the types of software available can be a bit lop-sided, as more than one person has pointed out while Linux is without a good movie player or sound recording program, at least there are more than 385 text editors available! Nonetheless Freshmeat is a good place to find not just software, but articles, reviews, tutorials and editorials on everything Linux, and if that's not enough they even maintain an IRC channel, where I'm told the fun never stops! - SS
Name of Site: A Complete History of Tux
URL:
www.sjbaker.org/tux
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: For those of you who are in the dark about who or what Tux is, he is the adorably cute and rather fat penguin mascot of the Linux operating system. This site contains, as the name suggests, a complete history from Linus Torvald's original email - "...it has either just gotten laid, or it's stuffed on herring..., we don't really want to be associated with a randy penguin (well, we do, but it's not politic, so we won't), so we should be looking at the 'stuffed to its brim with herring' angle here" - to how the character was created, the naming of Tux and for those real Linux geeks, ascii representations of Tux *shiver*. - SS
Name of Site: OSDN's Linux.com
URL:
www.Linux.com
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Singposted
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: Linux.com, like Freshmeat.net is part of the Open Source Development Network (OSDN) of sites that it is claimed is the cornerstone of the Open Source community. One should note that the OSDN delivers some 150 million page views a month and in conjunction with NewsForge Linux.com provides a good portion of these with a constantly updating section of news feeds. Above and beyond this Linux.com also provides polls and a large collection of Linux documentation. Most importantly however Linux.com is a portal into the OSDN family of sites that include everything from software sites (such as Freshmeat), Development channels (including hardware, web services, development tools) and of course newsfeeds. So if you're looking for a new home page for your browser this is probably it. - SS
Name of Site: Red Hat
URL:
www.redhat.com
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: While the core of Linux is something called the kernel (sort of like corn really), what you actually download is called a distribution, which is basically a packaged version of the OS with documentation and support. Red Hat Linux is one of the most famous and common versions of Linux, it's applications are fairly broad and even include enterprise level versions. The site correspondingly caters to developers, administrators and the corporate sector. For the home-user you can purchase and download your copy of Red Hat here on the site as well as get documentation, support, news and training. The site is slick and well presented which believe me is not a common occurrence for a Linux-related site! - SS
Name of Site: Eternal Lands
URL:
www.eternal-lands.com
Load Time: Normal
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: One of the downsides of using Linux is the void that is called Linux Gaming. One step to filling this hole is the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG - try saying that ten times quickly), "Eternal Lands". This game hopes to eventually be similar to such mainstream titles as Ultima Online and Everquest in its scope and size. While currently still in Alpha release, it is already attracting a following, and with the amount of work and dedication going into it, it looks promising. So if you're an early adopter or just a geek in the know, head down to this site and download the alpha release to get in on the fun. - SS
Comment on this page
0 comment(s) |