3 months with Vector Linux 5.8 SOHO
As I have blogged before, I have been evaluating Vector Linux 5.8 SOHO over the last 3 months or so. As promised, here are my findings

OK, I'll start by outlining what I use the desktop in question for;
  • Coding HTML / CSS , php and SQL
  • fairly simple vector graphic design ~ mainly buttons, backgrounds, widgets, etc for the above
  • photo editing ~ again mainly for web pages
  • surfing, email, instant messaging
  • general office stuff ~ word processing, spreadsheets.
  • playing lots of mp3's to keep me sane during all of the above
  • remote administration of customer machines, both by SSH and RDP

It operates in a mixed *nix / Linux / Windows network, with most of the central storage being handled by a Maxtor Shared Storage NAS box. Because of the Windows clients, this doles out shares using NFS. As mentioned in my original post, the specs of the machine are fairly modest; Sempron 3000+ / 1Gb / 120 Gb SATA /Nvidia 6200LE Turbo.

Now, putting aside it's flaws, Windows XP ran fine on this machine, and could achieve most of the above smoothly, if expensively and somewhat unreliably. Although Linux features quite a lot in out network ( it's on the router firmware, the NAS box firmware, all of our DB, Web and even Application (JBoss) servers), it was notable by it's absence from any of the serious Desktops. We had an IBM thinkpad that ran an older copy of Vector some time ago, and then Damn Small Linux for a while, but that died. Why was Linux shunned thus? Frankly, ease of use and speed. More...

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