WHAT a refreshing change, a Linux distribution with a well-chosen, meaningful name.
But just having a good name isn't enough, is it?
Nor is saying you're going to do something, then not following through.
Here's a precis of what the Foresight Linux team have to say about their operating system on their website (http://www.foresightlinux.org/)
"Foresight is a desktop operating system featuring an intuitive user interface and a showcase of the latest desktop software, giving users convenient and enjoyable access to their music, photos, videos, documents, and Internet resources.
...Foresight sets itself apart by eliminating the need for the user to be familiar with Linux, combining a user-focused desktop environment on top of Conary.
...Conary ensures that users can efficiently search, install, and manage all the software on the Foresight system, including bringing in the latest features and fixes without waiting for a major release."
Bold claims, indeed, but I'm here to tell you that the Foresight developers have delivered on their promises... mostly.
Firstly, let's deal with Conary.
Conary (http://wiki.rpath.com/wiki/Conary) is a package management system developed by rPath (http://www.rpath.com/corp/), a venture capital-backed outfit from North Carolina who specialise in the software appliance approach to application distribution and management.
Ken VanDine, the driving force behind Foresight Linux, is a lead engineer at rPath but, as Ken points out in an in-depth interview here, Foresight Linux is not run by rPath.
You may wonder why the Linux world needs another package management system when we already have dpkg, apt, YAST and yum.
It's a fair point, but what makes Conary stand out, what makes it such an elegant way to manage a system, is the way it handles package updates and patches.
It uses networked repositories, just like the others, and can be run from the commandline or a gui (PackageKit, of which more later), just like the others.
It handles dependencies, too – though this is where Conary starts to do things differently.
Let's say you're running a system update command.
Instead of ripping out complete old packages and their dependencies and replacing them with new ones, Conary is able to drill down to the file level within packages and replace only those components and dependencies which need updating, whether it be lib files, man documentation... whatever.
The relationship between Conary and Foresight is a crucial, defining one; whether Conary gains wider acceptance will depend to a large extent on whether Foresight makes ground as a user-friendly desktop system.
Foresight currently occupies the no. 26 slot in the Distrowatch page-hit rankings, which is highly respectable, though no real indication of how widely it is being used.
A more accurate picture, I often find, can be gained by checking out a distribution's user forum, and you'll see that Foresight's (http://forum.foresightlinux.org/index.php) isn't that heavily populated, yet.
And so, by way of a rather long preamble – hey, let's call it a pre-ramble – I get to my Foresight 2.0 installation and review.
Foresight comes as a DVD-sized download (get it here) of a hefty 1,164MB which, given the amount of software included - a fairly standard GNOME install selection - is slightly puzzling.
I installed Foresight 2.0 into a VirtualBox virtual machine with an 8GB dynamic hard disk, 256MB of RAM, and support for USB, Alsa audio and shared folders.
One of the new features of Foresight 2.0 is that it uses a tar installer, which makes things nip along at a cracking pace – 15 minutes from start to finish.
It also uses Anaconda so anyone familiar with RedHat or Fedora will feel right at home – it's a lovely installer that strikes just the right balance between ease-of-use and customisation options, making it perfect for new users and veterans alike.
Although you get the option to use GRUB as your bootloader, Foresight defaults to SYSLINUX, which worked fine on my system.So, a totally fuss-free, rapid install later, I was staring at Foresight's rather nice but shockingly bright green default GNOME 2.22 desktop.
I've stated in the past that I prefer KDE to GNOME but I must say Foresight 2.0 does GNOME very nicely - once you turn down the brightness on your monitor!
The new features in GNOME 2.22 are already well documented here so I don't propose to go into great detail.
However, I would like to point out one particularly useful new feature, GNOME-Do, a panel search applet which allows you to do deep system searches, through files, Firefox bookmarks, applications, audio, emails – even Pidgin buddy list – and perform basic command actions such as 'run', 'open', 'email' and 'edit' on them.
In its Foresight 2.0 incarnation, 2.22 offers pretty much everything a new user could wish for in terms of ease of use and functionality.
Now let's look in more detail at what Foresight itself offers.
Firstly, a click on the System menu reveals an entry for the Foresight User Guide – and what a user guide! It is jam-packed with the most useful, practical advice I've ever seen in a Linux system.
Note to all developers: THIS IS HOW YOU SHOULD BE DOING IT.
There are sections covering the use of the 'sudo' command, HOWTOs for PackageKit, getting multimedia codecs, installing binary drivers for ATI and Nvidia graphics cards, configuring Compiz and 3D, wireless networking and Wi-Fi, working with the GNOME panel.
The user guide is so good I'd recommend Foresight 2.0 to a Linux newbie just for the guide alone.
Now, moving on to the default applications, we find the usual GNOME-based distribution suspects: Evolution (email/contacts), Firefox (web), Banshee (music), Brasero (burning), OpenOffice, Pidgin (IM client), Transmission (bittorrent), PulseAudio (sound management) and GIMP (image editor)... wait a minute, no GIMP?
This is the first time I've ever run a GNOME distro and GIMP wasn't loaded by default. Odd.
Still, it gave me the chance to move on to my next post-install task: Installing software and updating the system.
As I mentioned earlier, Conary can be used from the commandline (there's a handy, quick reference guide here) or from a gui, PackageKit.
Only, it's not actually called PackageKit anywhere in the menu structure – oddly, there's just one entry for handling software, and it's called 'Installing/Removing Software'.
I launched PackageKit expecting to see something along the lines of Synaptic – but I was disappointed.
Unlike Synaptic, which has a hugely useful browse capability with programs listed in sensible sections, PackageKit is merely a search tool.
I knew what I wanted, so this wasn't much of a problem (it found GIMP quickly), but how is a new user to know how to find software if this is all he or she has to go on?
This was my one major disappointment in Foresight 2.0.
Another issue I have with PackageKit is that it launches a plain terminal window once you begin the install procedure – but doesn't show anything in it.
Instead of detailed feedback, all you get is a single line of ticker tape-style read-out along the bottom of the window, which isn't very informative or reassuring.
Still, those criticisms aside, PackageKit does what it is supposed to do.
To get the multimedia codecs required for playing my MP3s and videos, I thought I'd try the commandline approach.
The user guide explains it's as easy as entering: [sudo conary update group-codecs] and, guess what – it is.
Conary grabbed codecs, including mplayer, libdvdread, faac, some gst plugins and others and installed them for me. Excellent!
I'm only a few days into my Foresight system but already I'm starting to feel right at home (yes, me, a KDE lover, enjoying GNOME!).
I mentioned earlier the way that Conary handles updates, and I should mention that, once into my default desktop, the panel update icon informed me there were 19 updates pending – and a subsequent reboot a few days later reported six more.
This is reassuring, particularly for Windows converts used to that dreadful Automatic Updates tool – you get the latest software on a system that's patched up-to-date.
So would I recommend Foresight 2.0 to new or experienced users?
Does it meet the standard set by the Foresight developers themselves in that introductory statement?
"Foresight is a desktop operating system featuring an intuitive user interface and a showcase of the latest desktop software, giving users convenient and enjoyable access to their music, photos, videos, documents, and Internet resources."
That's a 'yes'. The user guide is the jewel in the Foresight crown.
"...Foresight sets itself apart by eliminating the need for the user to be familiar with Linux, combining a user-focused desktop environment on top of Conary."
Hmmm. That's not a clear-cut one. Conary is excellent, no doubting, but you need some familiarity with Linux to understand the way packages are built, installed and managed.
"...Conary ensures that users can efficiently search, install, and manage all the software on the Foresight system, including bringing in the latest features and fixes without waiting for a major release."
And that's a 'no'. Conary does its job very well, but there's still too much improving to be done with PackageKit to make software management idiot-proof user-friendly.
Shorn of Conary (sorry, couldn't resist that) Foresight Linux would be just another fresh-faced, well-formed Linux distribution, and there are already lots of those, whether they be based on Debian, Slackware, RedHat or Ubuntu.
But, it's Conary that makes Foresight special, and it's Foresight that could – one day – make Conary special.
There's still work to be done by the Foresight team, but with wider acceptance of Conary, a greatly improved gui for PackageKit and the very latest GNOME... well, there's no telling how far they can go.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
An Eye On The Prize: A Detailed Look At Foresight Linux 2.0
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18 comments:
A note on PackageKit, it does support group browsing for packages. However, we haven't implemented that in the conary backend yet. Everything we need is there, we just need the time to implement it. So expect to see that in an upcoming update.
On that note... we are always interested in new contributors to help :)
Hi Ken,
Firstly, thanks very much for taking the trouble to read my review, and for the fantastic work you and the Foresight team are doing.
Re your point, I hear what you say, but I would point out that I was commenting on the lack of opportunities to browse package lists, rather than search a repository for them.
Being able to search is of little use to a new user if they don't know which packages are in which groups, whereas being able to browse through packages in sections, as you can in Synaptic-based systems, is much easier.
All good and well, but what about doing a review on a funny named Linux version I found at Distrowatch called Teenpup 2008.
It comes with alot of codecs and apps and runs sweet on my old Pentium III PC.
This is just another reason why linux will never be a mainstream desktop enviro. Linux is just so watered down with everyone's little "tweak" distro. Everyone needs ot concentrate on 3 or 4 main distros, then and only then will the market start to shift.
"This is just another reason why linux will never be a mainstream desktop enviro."
Sorry Jason, what is another reason? If you mean the fact that Conary is yet another package management system among many, then I suppose there's some truth in that. But the whole point about Linux is that you're free to choose - unlike those closed-source OSes, Windows and Apple - which, personally, I think is Linux's strength, rather than its weakness.
Heck, you're free to choose Windows, if that's what you prefer - but that shouldn't stop the development of good alternatives.
And thanks very much for taking the trouble to read my blog and comment on it - it's much appreciated!
Actually I was saying PackageKit does support browsing for software. We just need to do a little coding to take advantage of it. I do hope to have that done soon. Checkout this screenshot.
http://packagekit.org/img/pk-application-groups.png
That is a little outdated, I think it is a bit cleaner looking now. But it should give you an idea.
"This is just another reason why linux will never be a mainstream desktop enviro."
Take a look at the beginnings of Linux, hundreds of people all of the world hacking away at a small piece of code that had been posted on what then passed as the internet, it was choice that brought Linux to where it is today. Take a look at the European scene, Linux is making huge inroads into the desktop market, especially into the government market. Major companies will choose, and have already chosen, a small range of distros to concentrate on , but there will always be room for the backroom distros, and it is often these that feed the big boys with the ideas and applications that sets Linux apart from Windows. More power to Foresight and the dozens of small distros!
"More power to Foresight and the dozens of small distros!"
Here! Here!
Hi Ken,
Thanks for clarifying that re PackageKit. Please don't think I'm down on it, or Foresight in general - I think it's an excellent distro with a really positive future. I'm merely focusing on what I think could be a possible improvement for the future. Keep up the excellent work, for all our sakes!
As a Linux user/contributer since 1996, I have to say that, while some of the comments are a bit of a stretch, my opinion is that there be one, yes 1, main distro. Linus, a committee, whoever can head it and have a clear vision with strict rules and standards. Then have as many fringe distro's based on its core as you want. The "too cool for school" types won't use the main distro but the general populace would and no one is hurt in the process... only helped. Choice is great, chaos can be great, freedom surely is, but let's get the foundation rock solid before trying to build a few hundred stories on top of it, Linux is more than a kernel and it needs to be approached that way.
you may not have noticed that PackageKit is not a conary specific application. it has multiple backends for deb, rpm and also conary. the conary backend is very new and was added as the foresight developers decided to not create their own conary gui but instead make a conary backend for PackageKit.
when ken says that PackageKit does support groups then that means it should work with rpm and deb (have not used it, so i can't be sure, but that's my guess anyways) while the conary part of that is still in the works.
the advantage off all that is that hopefully sometime in the future more linux distributions will use PackageKit and then we have a common gui that is package manager agnostic. this should really be a win for everybody.
and since PackageKit is not part of conary this also affects your comment on: ...Conary ensures that users can efficiently search, install, and manage all the software on the Foresight system, including bringing in the latest features and fixes without waiting for a major release."
this comment is not a statement on the quality of PackageKit, but of course since PackageKit is presented as a conary gui it is only natural to come to your conclusion.
unfortunately conary itself does not even support search at all, (you need to know the package name) so your assessment remains accurate. fortunately PackageKit has a commandline interface as well, so it allows me to think of doing for conary what apt-get search does for dpkg.
greetings, eMBee.
Thanks for the article, I will take a look to Foresight. Just want to say that Mepis, also, have an excellent user guide.
Hey Ken,
That screenshot looked to me as though it's right on target. I've just grabbed the 64bit version of Foresight and hope to try it on an Inspiron 1501 w/2G and, of course, an AMD 64 x 2.
Red Devil... thanks for the review. Good job.
Nice review.
As for the multiplicity of distros argument, it's irrelevant to the success of Linux on the desktop. That is because ninety five percent of new users of Linux have never heard of and will never hear of ninety five percent of the distros out there. They will only hear of the "Big Three" (Red Hat, Ubuntu, Suse) or the "Big Five" or the "Big-pick-your-number" - but that number will always be very much smaller than the number of "niche" distros.
For most people, they'll either pick a distro recommended by someone else who knows Linux, or they'll get one on a Dell PC, or something.
Microsoft has the real problem! They have only seven versions of Vista - and people still can't pick the right one for corporate use, ending up with Vista Home - which can't join a domain.
By contrast, only Linux geeks know that there are more than maybe two or three Linux distros. Most people have only heard of Red hat, Ubuntu, maybe Novell or Linspire or Mandriva - maybe Debian. Rarely has anybody heard of Slackware or PCLinuxOS or others.
Which is actually a bit unfortunate because some of the best distros are those, like PCLinuxOS, that start off with a large, well-known, reasonably well maintained distro like Mandriva - and then polish the rough edges and make it better and easier to use for new users.
Not to start a distro flame war, but I've never felt that Ubuntu or Kubuntu were suited for new Linux users. The reason is Canonical tends to put software in the distro that is not ready for prime time - too many bugs or usability issues. Their quality control isn't as good as, say, Red Hat or Novell or Mandriva. So the new user gets a distro that is ninety-five percent cool - but that last five percent is frustrating and generates negative feelings about Linux.
Honestly, please don't use the package-kit interface until it is less, em hopeless, less 1995?
Take a look at Ubuntu's add/remove.
That's the interface I would want my mom to use.
I don't really understand why the gnome guys had to reinvent that, but then poorly. It's open code, couldn't it be adapted to packagekit's backend?
Usability issues with package-kit
- search in a different tab (seriously, why?)
- install button not in screen all the time (usability 101: basic use-case should be immideately appearant)
- it doesn't show which apps are already installed (try a checkbox!)
- the groups should mimick the default menu structure. This reinforces confidence where they will be able to find the apps (where does my app go?)
- already installed apps should be on top of the list.
- it should not contain localization, libraries, command-line-tools, etc. Unless they impact a desktop-application, in which case they should be renamed to 'xxx Support' (stop scaring my MOM)
- it should use the application name from the .desktop file, not the package-name. (stop scaring my MOM)
- it should not try to replace a synaptic-like tool. it should compliment it. Keep it low-entry. No fucky stuff. (stop scaring my MOM)
Perhaps i'm just spoiled.
Perhaps this interface was just hacked up.
But it has no place on a modern desktop in its current shape. It lacks too many features to replace a synaptics-like tool, it is too ugly, scary and clumsy to be an add/remove type tool.
Oh, last thing. About that screenshot:
What the hell is localization doing there?
That part should be unified with the localization preferences.
It's also confusing because, the application calls itself: "ADD/REMOVE SOFTWARE", not "ADD/REMOVE STUFF"
Hi,
I have been reading about Linux in past 6 months and very enthusiastic about using it practically. I am a basic Vista user who knows a bit more than common usres.
I am very excited about foresight linux 2.0 but am afraid that my laptop is already running Vista and foresight has to be installed on harddisk so can it create any problem? Does it offer to repartition hard drive or change the size of existing partition?
Can you plz help?
Thanks.
@ DKC
Yes, Foresight (and pretty much every major distro) will resize your Vista or XP partition to make room for itself - if that's what you want it to do. I've done this many times with many dsitros and never yet had any problems doing it. It will also detect your Vista partition and add an entry to its boot menu, giving you the option to dual boot - Vista or linux. This is common to nearly all the Linux distros worth mentioning, so take your courage in your hands and dive in!
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