A few months ago I posted about a Linux distro called gOS, the Google-Linux distro. To refresh things, gOS is based on the most widely acclaimed Ubuntu Linux and integrates all Google services like GMail, Google News, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Maps, YouTube and Blogger into the distro for one-click access. Back then, gOS was based on the Enlightenment E17 window manager, with no support for KDE or Gnome. Now gOS is available in three different versions - gOS Rocket E, which is the Enlightenment based version, gOS Rocket G which is based on Gnome and another fresh one called gOS Space which includes MySpace applications for photos, music, movies, TV etc.

Jack Wallen on TechRepublic writes:

gOS Space uses a combination of GNOME, Compiz Fusion, the Avant Window Navigator, and a bit of Enlightenment E17 code. This combination makes for a very interesting user experience that, as far as I know, is unique only to Space. Unfortunately this combination causes the minimum requirements to mimic that of the latest Ubuntu.

The most exiting feature in Space is the Stack, which is something like a collapsible folder that sits on the Dock. When you click on the folder in the dock, the Stack extends vertically. Everything except the expanded folders is transparent so you do not see the expandable menu popping up.

A more detailed review can be read at TechRepublic

After you download any Linux distro from the internet, you have to burn it to a DVD, CD or a number of CDs to install it. That CD or DVD is generally used only once after which it lies unused , and worse, almost every Linux distro comes up with a new release every 6 months. So if you are in the habit of upgrading to every new version, you must have dozens of CDs lying at the bottom of your drawer. What a wastage of CDs! But with a little trick you can install any Linux directly from the hard disk without burning a single CD or DVD. The prerequisite of this trick is to have an operating system already installed on your computer. This is obvious because unless you are able to boot into your machine, you can't install anything; and we are not going to boot from the Linux disk because we aren't burning any. Here I'm going to focus on Microsoft Windows as the pre installed operating system.

Almost all Linux installers uses two files to boot the computer: a Linux kernel, and an initial root file system containing a minimal set of directories that is mounted prior to when the real root file system is available. This initial root file system is also called Ram disk (initrd). We will use these two files to boot our PC. Now lets get to the actual procedure.

1. The first thing you will have to do is copy the ISO file(s) of the Linux to your hard disk (ofcourse, you already have it). Make sure that the partition is FAT32 unless the distro you are installing has native NTFS read/write support. Some distros require you to copy the ISO file(s) to the root of the partition. If you keep it inside a folder, the setup might not be able to detect it.

2. Use Winrar to open the ISO file (you need not need to extract it). Now you will have to extract the two files I talked about earlier. The files are usually found inside a directory called isolinux. Different distros might place the files in different location; you just have to search for it, but it isn't hard to locate. These two files are also named differently in different distros. The files that you will need to search and extract are: (the kernel file is shown in green and the Ram disk is shown in red)

Fedora: vmlinuz and initrd.img

Suse: linux and initrd

Mandriva: vmlinuz and all.rdz

Ubuntu: vmlinuz and initrd.gz

Gentoo: gentoo and gentoo.igz

Knoppix: vmlinuz and initrd.img

Slackware: bzImage and initrd.img

Debian: vmlinuz and initrd.gz

3. After you have extracted the two files, copy them to c:\boot (you will need to create the folder "boot")

4. Now download the file called grub4dos from here. (Note: the new versions of grub4dos i.e. 0.4.2 and 0.4.3 does not work. So download the earlier version 0.4.1. Direct download link) Extract the folder "boot" and the file "grldr" from the downloaded zip file. Inside the folder "boot" is another folder called "grub"; copy the folder "grub" to c:\boot. Copy the file "grldr" to c:\

5. Open c:\boot\grub\menu.lst and add these following lines. (Notice that hd0 refers to the first hard drive. If you have more than one hard drive, they will be named hd1, hd2 etc. Replace hd0 with the proper hard drive number incase you have windows installed on another drive.) Replace Linux_kernel and Ram_disk

with the appropriate file names below. (the ones you copied to c:\boot)

title Install Linux kernel (hd0,0)/boot/Linux_kernel initrd (hd0,0)/boot/Ram_disk

6. Now you have to add grub to your c:\boot.ini file. You can open boot.ini by clicking on Start>Run and typing c:\boot.ini. If Windows does not allow the file to be modified, then go to Control Panel>System and click on the Advanced tab. Now under Startup and Recovery click Settings and then under System Startup click Edit. Open boot.ini and add this line in the end.

C:\grldr=”Start GRUB”

7. You are now ready to install Linux. Restart your PC and from the boot screen select "Start GRUB". This will load GRUB. From the grub screen select "Install Linux". During the setup you will be asked the source of installation. Choose hard disk and then select the hard drive partition where you copied the ISO files. Sometimes you might have to type the whole path of the partition and the exact name of the ISO. So write it down before you begin.

I have personally tested this with Fedora, Suse and Mandriva and it works without problem. I have no doubt it will work for others too.

Update: dougfractal adds that this is possible from Linux too. The method as he describes is:

From the terminal enter these commands

sudo mkdir /distro
sudo chmod `whoami`:`whoami`
cp MYLINUX.iso /distro/distro.iso

Now extract Linux_kernel & Ram_disk to /distro#

Open /boot/grub/menu.lst

#ADD NEW ENTRY#
title Install Linux
root (hdX,X)
kernel /distro/Linux_kernel
initrd /distro/Ram_disk

Reboot and select "Install Linux" from grub.

This is a theme for migrating Linux users who feel they are more comfortable with the Windows interface. LXP is a project that provides Linux/Unix users with a desktop that has a Microsoft Windows XP "look & feel" that is nearly identical to the real thing.

The LXP project has achieved this by collecting and modifying different pieces of the Open Source GNU software such as icewm, idesk, xfe, and others.

The LXP theme has been tested on the following distributions:
Fedora Core 3, 4, 5 and 6
Open Suse 10.1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
Ubuntu 6.06, 6.10
Xubuntu 6.06, 6.10
Kubuntu 6.06, 6.10
Debian Testing (Etch)







Download and installation instructions

WALTHAM, Mass., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Enabling customers to run their time-critical business applications faster, and with more reliability and predictability, Novell today announced SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise Real Time 10 is now certified on select IBM BladeCenter hardware and supported by IBM WebSphere Real Time middleware. Utilizing best-of-breed products, Novell's
real-time operating system and IBM's real-time Java hardware together ensure enterprises running latency-sensitive applications have the highest possible performance and availability across their entire solution stack.


"IBM and Novell are leveraging their strengths to deliver complete Linux-based solutions for customers looking for ways to reduce latency and increase the availability of their time-sensitive applications by running them on a certified and supported open source-based solution stack," said Inna
Kuznetsova, director of Linux at IBM. "Real-time Linux enables customers to prioritize processes and allows for a predictable period of completion on many time-sensitive projects, including critical tasks such as derivatives trading."


Companies are increasingly standardizing on Java for its portability and time to market advantages. Until recently, however, enterprises running time-critical Java applications could not guarantee they would meet necessary time constraints and quality of service metrics. Combining IBM BladeCenter
hardware and IBM WebSphere Real Time with SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 10 from Novell(R) ensures time-sensitive Java workloads will deliver predictable performance, each and every time. This means mission critical enterprises, such as financial services organizations, are able to meet their external and internal customer commitments.


"SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time from Novell is fully supported with WebSphere Real Time and certified on select IBM BladeCenter hardware," said Roger Levy, senior vice president and general manager of Open Platform Solutions at Novell. "Enterprises that require their Java applications to meet strict deadlines now have access to an integrated, tested and optimized development and run-time environment for time-critical Java workloads."



Pricing and Availability


SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 10 is available for a suggested $2,500 annual subscription. More information on pricing and availability can be found at http://www.novell.com/realtime.


SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 10 inherits the strengths of the SUSE Linux Enterprise platform. The next-generation platform for the open enterprise, SUSE Linux Enterprise is the best-engineered and most interoperable platform for mission-critical computing, from the desktop to the data center. SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time is fully integrated with ZENworks(R) Orchestrator, Novell's solution for scalable management of heterogeneous resources. Together, the two products extend low-latency
benefits beyond applications and into the data center. For more information on SUSE Linux Enterprise offerings from Novell, visit
http://www.novell.com/linux.


About Novell


Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers the best engineered, most interoperable Linux* platform and a portfolio of integrated IT management software that helps customers around the world reduce cost, complexity and risk. With our infrastructure software and ecosystem of partnerships, Novell harmoniously integrates mixed IT environments, allowing people and technology to work as one. For more information, visit http://www.novell.com.



Novell, SUSE and ZENworks are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.



SOURCE Novell, Inc.

IBM Tuesday marked its 10 years of participation in Linux and open source by introducing new software, upgrades to existing platforms and an open source code contribution focused on supercomputing.

The announcements were made at the LinuxWorld/Next Generation Data Center conference that opened Monday. (Disclosure: The conference is run by Network World’s parent company IDG.)

The company also introduced a software appliance toolkit and announced it would pre-load Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 in Lotus Foundations to battle Microsoft Small Business Server.

IBM also said it would expand its real-time Linux initiative and it introduced version 5.4 of z/VM, its virtualization platform.

IBM plans to marry its Lotus Foundations, hardware and software pre-configured into a bundle, with Novell’s Linux operating system. IBM already has users testing an appliance made up of Domino mail/collaboration, file management, directory services, firewall, back-up, recovery and the Lotus Symphony productivity applications.

The company hopes to challenge Microsoft’s Small Business Server, a bundle of infrastructure software designed for small and midsized businesses. IBM also unveiled an ISV Software Appliance Initiative to help ISVs deliver their applications on an appliance.

“We will push Foundations as a head-to-head competitor with Small Business Server,” said Jeff Smith, vice president of open source and Linux middleware. “We think it is a very compelling alternative and brings openness to the world of small businesses.”

IBM also said it would work with Canonical/Ubuntu, Novell and Red Hat and a number of hardware partners it did not name to deliver in 2009 “Microsoft-free” PCs with Lotus Notes and Symphony.

The company said integration between Linux and Microsoft desktops and the proliferation of client computing devices such as the Smartphone would provide the opportunity to finally make a noticeable dent in Microsoft’s stranglehold on the desktop.

IBM said its supercomputing code donation would be housed at the University of Illinois, and announced it is adding support for Novell’s SuSE Linux Enterprise Real Time on some of its BladeCenter servers and with WebSphere Real Time.

Red Hat and project contributors have released alpha code for Fedora 10, the next version of the community-sponsored, free and open source Linux distribution that will include enhancements to the audio, security and wireless-connection features of the operating system.

Red Hat explained new features of the Fedora 10 alpha release in a blog entry Tuesday. The test release can also be downloaded from the Fedora site.

and project contributors have released alpha code for Fedora 10, the next version of the community-sponsored, free and open source Linux distribution that will include enhancements to the audio, security and wireless-connection features of the operating system.

Red Hat explained new features of the Fedora 10 alpha release in a blog entry Tuesday. The test release can also be downloaded from the Fedora site.

Enhancements to Fedora 10 that developers can test-drive in the alpha release include the addition of timer-based scheduling for the PulseAudio stack of the operating system, which serves audio from multiple sources on the server to multiple client destinations simultaneously, said Paul Frields, Fedora project leader, via e-mail.

Timer-based scheduling "is a techno-geeky way to say, 'flexible, glitch-free audio," he said. "The redesigned PulseAudio automatically adjusts the way it feeds audio data, to accommodate system load and ensure the audio data is always ready when needed."

This is in contrast to the older version of PulseAudio, which used "interrupt-based scheduling," which Frields described as a "somewhat one-size-fits-all design that was not nearly as flexible." In the old system, "the way audio data flowed could be affected to a much greater degree by particular hardware devices or audio software applications," he said.

Fedora 10 also will feature a new security-auditing and intrusion-detection system called SecTool that includes both text and graphical front ends, according to the blog post.

The framework "allows the administrator of a system to use either a command line or a graphical interface to select any of a number of different tests that detect misconfigurations or anomalies on a given system," Frields said.

SecTool also will let network administrators set configurable groups for adjusting test runs, and allow for the easy creation of new tests in "any of a number of scripting languages, such as the bash shell, Python or Perl, making it completely extensible," Frields said.

Leading Distributions

Leading distributions have usually been around for a while and are well-established. They will support several architectures from low-end x86 versions to high-end versions for IBM mainframes and the latest 64-bit technology. Some come from companies that supply service and support contracts for their products, others are community projects. Leading distributions usually support many languages.

Debian GNU/Linux
http://www.debian.org/
http://freshmeat.net/projects/debian/

The Debian Project is one of the oldest distributions and is currently the largest volunteer based distribution provider. The distribution supports many languages and hardware platforms, for example the Etch release supports i386, amd64, powerpc, alpha, arm, hppa, ia64, mips/mipsel, sparc and s390. Several architectures offer a choice between 32-bit and 64-bits kernel.. The old stable version (still supported) is Debian 3.1 (sarge) - initial release June 6, 2005 - now at revision 8 released April 13, 2008. The current stable version 4.0 (etch) was released April 8, 2007 - now at revision 4 released July 26, 2008. Debian users who want a more current desktop distribution are encouraged to use the testing branch, which is where the next stable release (currently codenamed Lenny) is prepared and which should normally be quite stable. Debian Developers and users who want to live on the bleeding edge can run the unstable branch (Sid) or even try packages from experimental.

Fedora
http://fedoraproject.org/
Fedora Project wiki
http://freshmeat.net/projects/fedora_project/

The Fedora Project is Red Hat's community distribution. It is intended to be a fast-paced distribution for those that like to stay on the leading edge of technology. It is also a test-bed for Red Hat's Enterprise Linux products. The Fedora contains all the packages necessary to run a functional desktop or small server. The first Fedora Core release was dated November 5, 2003. Fedora strives for a new release every 6 months and releases will be supported for 13 months. The old stable version is Fedora 8, released November 8, 2007. The current stable version is Fedora 9, released May 13, 2008.

Gentoo Linux
http://www.gentoo.org/

Gentoo Linux is a source-based distribution that can be optimized and customized for just about any application or need. Gentoo offers extreme performance, configurability and a top-notch user and developer community. Users keep their systems up-to-date using Portage, which is based on BSD Ports. Gentoo is a meta-distribution with a large number of packages available (nearly 11,000 as of April 2006). Gentoo Linux 2005.1 is currently available for Alpha, AMD64, PPC, PPC64, SPARC, X86, IA64 and SPARC32. Gentoo Linux 2006.0 was released February 27, 2006. Gentoo Linux 2006.1 was released August 30, 2006. Gentoo Linux 2007.0 was released May 7, 2007. Gentoo Linux 2008.0 was released July 6, 2008. Gentoo 2008.0-r1 fixes some live CD issues.

Mandriva Linux
http://www.mandrivalinux.com/
Mandriva
Mandriva Brazil

Mandriva is a new name for two popular distribution companies resulting from the merger of the French company Mandrakesoft and the Brazilian company Conectiva. Mandriva has also acquired Lycoris assets and hired Lycoris founder and CEO, Joesph Cheek on June 15, 2005. Mandriva Linux 2006 merged technology from MandrakeSoft, Conectiva and Lycoris. This version became generally available on October 13, 2005 and reached an end of support on April 13, 2007. Mandriva Linux One is a combined live and install CD, first released in March 2006. The Mandriva Corporate Server 4.0 was released September 19, 2006. Mandriva Corporate Desktop 4.0 was released June 21, 2007. Mandriva Linux 2008 was released October 9, 2007. ML 2008.1 was released April 9, 2008. ML 2008.1 Xfce edition was released May 1, 2008. Mandriva Linux 2009 Beta 1 was released July 29, 2008.

Red Hat Enterprise
http://www.redhat.com/

Red Hat, Inc. provides one of the the best known distributions in the world. In 2003 the company announced its decision to drop its popular Red Hat Linux in order to concentrate on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux line. The Fedora Project (see above) has replaced the Red Hat Linux line for the home user or small business. Red Hat Linux 9 was released April 7, 2003, and official Red Hat support ended on May 1, 2004. Red Hat Enterprise Linux comes with service and support contracts for those Red Hat customers who require a stable, supported system. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 was released October 22, 2003. The seventh update for RHEL 3 was released March 15, 2006. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (Nahant) was released February 15, 2005. The sixth update for RHEL 4 was released November 15, 2007. Version 4.7 was released July 24, 2008. RHEL 5 was released March 14, 2007. RHEL 5.1 was released November 7, 2007. Version 5.2 was released May 21, 2008.

Slackware Linux

http://www.slackware.com/
Slackware German forum: http://www.slackforum.de/
Slackware (Italian style) http://www.slack.z00.it/slack/slack.html
http://freshmeat.net/projects/slackware/
The Slackware project is headed by Patrick J. Volkerding, with a cast of volunteers and a loyal following. It is the oldest active Linux distribution with the first release dated July 16, 1993. The official Slackware project supports only x86 platforms, however others have made ports to other platforms. Slackware 10.2 was released September 14, 2005. Slackware 11.0 was released October 3, 2006. Slackware 12.0 was released July 1, 2007. Slackware 12.1 was released May 2, 2008.

SuSE Linux
http://www.novell.com/linux/
openSUSE

Nuremberg based SuSE Linux AG is one of the older Linux distributions. It became the the European UnitedLinux partner, and supplied much of the code base for UnitedLinux and for Sun's Java Desktop System (both now unsupported). SuSE was later acquired by US company Novell (finalized January 12, 2004). SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) supports x86, x86-64, IPF (ia64), POWER (32 & 64bit, ppc & ppc64) and Mainframes (32 & 64bit, s390 & s390x). OpenSUSE is the community distribution beginning with SUSE Linux 10.0, released October 6, 2005. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) are available for enterprise customers. SLES/SLED 10 became generally available July 17, 2006, now at Service Pack 2, released May 21, 2008. openSUSE 10.3 was released October 4, 2007. The 10.3 Live edition is also available. SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 10 was released November 27, 2007. openSUSE 11.0 was released June 19, 2008. openSUSE 11.1 Alpha1 was released July 24, 2008.

Ubuntu
http://www.ubuntu.com/
Kubuntu
Edubuntu
Xubuntu
Mythbuntu
Ubuntu Studio

Supported by Canonical Ltd. and the Ubuntu Foundation. Ubuntu and its close cousins are freely available distributions. Ubuntu takes a snapshot of Debian unstable and then creates a small fork, recompiling and stabilizing the code to get a final stable release. It usually takes 6 months between the snapshot and the release. Ubuntu comes with the GNOME desktop, Kubuntu with the KDE desktop, Xubuntu features XFCE and Edubuntu comes with educational packages. Mythbuntu integrates the MythTV package. Ubuntu Studio integrates packages for multimedia creation. Gobuntu (announced July 10, 2007) aims to be completely free (as defined by the FSF) will be merging with gNewSense. The first Ubuntu release (4.10 Preview released September 15, 2004) supported Intel x86 (IBM-compatible PC), AMD64 (Hammer) and PowerPC (Apple iBook and Powerbook, G4 and G5) architectures. SPARC64 support was added for v6.06 LTS. Supported versions: 6.06 LTS "Dapper Drake", 7.04 "Feisty Fawn", 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" and 8.04 LTS "Hardy Heron". V6.06.2 LTS (the second maintenance release) was made available January 21, 2008. "Hardy Heron" aka v8.04 LTS was released April 24, 2008, available in desktop and server editions. Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS was released July 3, 2008. Edubuntu is now available as an add-on to Ubuntu. Kubuntu 8.04 is available with KDE 3 or KDE 4. Other available 8.04 variants include Xubuntu, UbuntuStudio and Mythbuntu. The next development branch, Intrepid Ibex Alpha 3 was released July 25, 2008.

Also well-known

There is often a fine line between "leading" and "well-known" distributions. Some polls now show that a few of these "well-known" distributions are currently more popular than some of the "leading" distributions.

ASPLinux
http://www.asplinux.ru/en/
http://freshmeat.net/projects/asplinux/

ASPLinux is an RPM-based general purpose Linux distribution. It features an intuitive GUI install with integrated partition resizer (supported types are ext2fs, fat16, fat32, and ntfs) and comprehensive packages set. The distribution provides full compatibility with Red Hat RPMs, and it is available in English, Russian, Korean, and Chinese languages. ASP 7.3 (vostok) was released August 13, 2002. ASPLinux 11 was released March 6, 2006.

MEPIS Linux
http://www.mepis.org/

MEPIS Linux is a Debian-based system for the desktop or as a dedicated server. It is designed for both personal and business purposes. MEPIS is a member of the DCC Alliance. The first official release was version 2003.0, dated May 10, 2003. The live CD allows installation or functions as a recovery CD. SimplyMEPIS 3.4-3 was released February 9, 2006. SimplyMEPIS started using Ubuntu packages starting with 6.0-beta, but with 6.9.51prebeta came another change. SimplyMEPIS will use its own binary packages, compliled from Debian and Ubuntu sources. Also available: MEPISLite 3.3.2. SimplyMEPIS 6.0-1 Linux Bootable DVD was released September 9, 2006. SimplyMEPIS 6.5 was released April 4, 2007. AntiX, an Ultra-Lite MEPIS Derivative. released v6.5 "Spartacus" on July 9, 2007. SimplyMEPIS 7.0 was released December 23, 2007. AntiX 7.2 was released May 14, 2008.

To be continues....