Debian on Steroids III: Libranet 3.0

Libranet 3.0 started beta testing at the end of December 2004 and
emerged early in April 2005. Why the long wait? For one thing,
Libranet 3.0 is the first release from the Vancouver, BC, company
to be based on the 2.6 kernel. The beta started with kernel
2.6.9 and finished with 2.6.11. This was done because the developers wanted to field
an up-to-date distribution that carries on the Libranet record of
easy to install, configure and use desktop operating systems.

The heavyweight classification I give this latest Libranet
comes from its distribution size--five CDs or one DVD--and its
comprehensive list of included applications. Although a
number of Debian-based distributions are available at less or no
cost, none include as many programs as Libranet 3.0 does. This is of
primary interest to me and other Linux users who lack broadband
or simply don't want to spend their time downloading packages in
order to get the functionality we want.

Libranet 3.0 does not move like a heavyweight once installed, however.
Compared to another 2.6 distro (SuSE) I tried, things happen much
more snappily with Libranet 3.0. Performance on a 500MHz K6-III+
system was impressively good. On a 1GHz Celeron machine,
applications started about as quickly as they did under SuSE
9.1 running on my 2.2GHz P4. Even my P1 233 ran tolerably,
although installation and KDE startup can wear a bit on
one's patience.

This review is from the perspective of a desktop user. I am
interested in a desktop that gets my work done. I am not a
sysadmin, I do not network and I do not update my system every day. I also
make do with hardware that is not bleeding edge. From my first
encounter with Libranet 1.9.0 to this latest release, I have found that
the Libranet system, support and community fit my needs as well
as grow to provide new capabilities.
Round One: Installation
Libranet 3.0 starts either as a download of one DVD or five CD
ISOs. Upon booting, Libranet offers to test the integrity of
the media. I highly recommend taking the time to do so; most
problems relating to installation failure have been traced to bad
burns. For people like me who don't have high-speed download
capability, Libranet can mail a five-CD package. No decision has
been made yet to provide a DVD.

After testing the disc(s), the installer offers the option to
switch CD drives for the rest of the installation. If your
system is configured with the CD or DVD burner as master, I would
suggest switching to the slave. Later on you are presented with the
option to burn a bootable CD, so it is convenient to keep the burner
free for that job.

Setting up X is the next step. If the hardware is amenable, the installer
switches to graphical mode. On my test systems, using ATI Mach 64,
Radeon 7000 and NVIDIA TNT2 M64 graphics cards, I was greeted by
an impressive test screen. NVIDIA users are offered the
accelerated driver; it worked perfectly with my old card. At
this point, even though X appears to be correct, I recommend
clicking the Adjust Configuration button on the test screen to
make sure the monitor sync frequencies match those of your monitor.
You also can change the display resolution to suit your taste.

My old Panasonic S70 monitor does not report its specs, and the
default settings the installer chose were extremely conservative.
This resulted in very ugly display fonts and distortion when
scrolling. Manually setting the frequencies in Adminmenu,
Libranet's system administration tool, fixed this immediately.
I since have placed little gummed labels on my monitors that list
the sync frequencies.

With the display set up, the graphic Install Manager appears.
First up is keyboard selection, followed by hard drive set up.
If space must be made available by shrinking other partitions,
Libranet provides GParted and QTParted, which are accessed by
clicking on Partitioning Tools under the Menu button. Both tools
are provided to deal with all of the filesystems a user may want
to adjust. In addition, these tools now are graphical as of this
release, making them easier for a beginner to use than the previous
text-mode utility.

Once free space has been made, the partition tool provides the
options of overwriting the entire drive, using all available free
space or custom partitioning. Some nice touches have gone
into the design of this critical tool; for example, in custom
partitioning a slider can be used to set partition size.

With the drive layout completed, selecting boot options follows.
Libranet always installs GRUB data in / or /boot, regardless of
the selection, so starting Libranet if the MBR accidentally is
erased or overwritten is not a problem.

New in Libranet 3.0 is the option to include other OSes in its
boot menu list. It detects and displays Windows and other
Linuxes. The tool automatically writes the appropriate
chainloader stanza for each one, and it also lets you edit the
titles.

Missing in Libranet 3.0's installer, however, is the option to mount a
Windows partition and make it user accessible. Libranet 2.8.x
included this option but lacked the boot menu configuration tool. It's
a trade-off. I find the OS boot tool to be more useful myself. Adding a
line to /etc/fstab and creating a mount point for Windows is not
difficult, but newcomers may find this step bothersome.

After installing the base system, kernel, modules and, finally,
the boot loader, the user creates a root password and sets up
user accounts. Next, come hostname selection, the default is
Libranet; time zone selection; and network configuration.

Although I don't network, some of my systems have NICs; Libranet
identified all of them except for one in a vintage Compaq
Presario. Dial-up users now can set up their accounts. I would
suggest, however, skipping this part until after the installation
is completed, because there is a bug that results in the dial-up
password being saved incorrectly. Setting up the dial-up in Adminmenu
later is easy and works correctly. One thing I do not like is
that the password is masked, that is, displayed as asterisks, even
with root access. I had a hard time troubleshooting my
connection because I could not verify that my password was
correctly entered--I am a terrible typist.

The next step is making a boot floppy or CD. This is optional
and can be done later in Adminmenu. Laptop users take heed: if
you are installing from your burner, make sure you remove the
installer CD or DVD and replace it with a blank disc before
proceeding to burn a CD. There is no warning to do so, and the
system hangs and is unrecoverable after trying unsuccessfully to
burn a boot CD with the installation CD #1 or DVD in the drive.

The last stage of installation is package selection. Here
Libranet's design team has come up with a elegant tool.
You can select from several installation profiles: standard desktop,
standard laptop, server system, minimal and custom. Each of the profiles
can be customized by clicking Edit Package Selection. The package
manager lists and describes all of the available programs and indicates which are default.

If you forgot to reinsert your install disc after burning a boot
CD, you are reminded to insert it. During package
installation, a bar graph reports progress as a percentage of
completion.

A matter of particular importance to me is that Libranet 3.0
retains support for my favorite word processor, WordPerfect 8.1.
The compatibility package group is at the bottom of the list and
can be added either during installation or anytime later by using
the Adminmenu package tool.
Round Two: The Desktop
Upon rebooting, the user is presented with a login screen.
Libranet's default windows manager is a modified IceWM. It opens
with basic functions configured; Firefox and Thunderbird are on
the task bar. GNOME icons for file browsing, using Nautilus, and
devices--Computer--already are configured. Clicking on
Computer makes the CD/DVD drive(s), other mounted partitions
and floppy available. Plugging in a USB memory stick makes
an icon appear after a few seconds; no tinkering with configuration
files is required. All in all, this is a very functional desktop for slower systems.

For KDE 3.3.2 users some housekeeping is necessary at this point.
First, a few edits must be made in /etc/fstab. Your USB memory stick can be
mounted by adding this line:

/dev/sda1 /usbstick auto defaults,noauto,user,noatime 0 0

Of course, you need to create the mount point. For this
example, use the command mkdir /usbstick .

If you have a Windows XP partition and want to access it, you
will need to add something like:

/dev/hda1 /windows ntfs defaults,ro,gid=windows,umask=002 0 0 .

Then, create the mount point in a terminal with mkdir
/windows. Run the command mount -a
to reread the /etc/fstab.

Next, to populate the desktop with device icons, open Control
Center -> Desktop -> Behavior -> Device Icons. You have to
clear all of the checked boxes and click Apply. Then, check the
devices you want displayed, both mounted and unmounted, and click
Apply again. It's a bit of KDE goofiness to have devices checked
off here by default and not have them appear without going
through this little procedure.

If you don't like desktop clutter, you can add Kdiskfree to the
task bar and set its properties to open a browser upon mounting.
When you need to use a drive, click on the Kdiskfree button,
right-click the desired device and then select Open in File
Manager.

There is a bug in KDE that prevents ejecting a disc from a CD-ROM
or DVD as a user. This appears to be related to a KDE process, namely,
kio_audiocd. It affects only those drives connected to system sound
with an audio cable. There are a couple of workarounds, however. As
root, check setuid in the permissions of /usr/bin/eject.
If you don't want to use setuid, you simply can kill the errant
process, either with Ksystemguard or with a script like this:

#! /bin/bash
killall kio_audiocd
eject /dev/hdc (or /dev/hdd as appropriate)

Save as xcd.sh or xdvd.sh in /usr/bin and give it the proper user
permissions with chmod 755. I like this script;
set up an icon to run it, use a red X from
the actions list, and you can eject a disc with one mouse action
instead of three.

The above faults I found in KDE 3.3.2 are mitigated by the ease
of using a USB scanner. I simply plugged in my Epson 1650, started
Xsane without any of the file tinkering of yore and scanned. Of
course, your scanner must be one supported by SANE.

Libranet 3.0 also installs GNOME 2.8. I am not a GNOME fan, but
this version is good enough to tempt me away from KDE. It loads
fast and everything works out of the box. I just don't like
double-clicking. Other windows managers include Xfce, Afterstep, Blackbox,
Openbox and Fvwm.
Round Three: Adminmenu
Next, set up the printer. For this, you need to use Libranet's
Adminmenu, which gives you an opportunity to explore Adminmenu and its
functions.

A detailed description of Libranet's new Adminmenu would justify
a separate report. One feature, however, warrants particular
notice. Libranet is the only Linux distribution I know of that makes
compiling a kernel safe and easy. The entire process is point
and click. If for some reason the recompiled kernel does not
boot, the original kernel still is available and listed in the
boot menu and will start Libranet up for another try if needed.
By itself Adminmenu, with its unique kernel tool, gives Libranet
its knockout punch.
The Decision
Libranet 3.0's KDE 3.3.2 is a bit out of shape. The previously
mentioned CD/DVD ejection bug and the lack of plug-n-play USB
flash memory device recognition are more annoying than
crippling, but they do detract from the usual polished Libranet feel.
Offsetting this, USB scanners are now truly plug-n-play, and
GNOME 2.8 is a commendable choice for first-time user.

For Windows users, Libranet's default kernel comes
prepatched and configured for Win4Lin 9x. You simply install
Win4Lin; no kernel recompiling is needed. The install media also
includes a trial version of CrossOver Office.

This distribution provides a huge selection of applications, a
generous choice of desktop windows managers, convenient system
management with Adminmenu and good performance even on
older systems. The desktop user should find plenty of capabilities
in Libranet 3.0 without needing either the fastest CPU available
or advanced hacking skills. I'd call it a Debian technical
knockout.