This really is a great thing but I wonder why the default "xfce look-alike" setup. Not complaining, just curious.

I still think Zenwalk is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Based on Slackware, huge choice of applications through the package manager (yeah yeah, not as many as Debian or Gentoo, use the source Obiwan!) and now a default gnome desktop offering! Brilliant!
I think I was one of very few that was sad to see Gnome leave Slackware. I can understand it being a huge pain to prep for developers so this is even bigger to me. Thanks for putting in the hard work, it is greatly appreciated!
Sure, *buntu has a huge community. You can thank marketing and all the blogs afire with switch campaigns during the time of Vista being released. Maybe once more people open their eyes a little more and explore other offerings Zenwalk will get more of the recognition it deserves as the amazing Desktop system it really is! Or maybe its the dolphin theme throwing everyone off LOL. It's like I tell everyone who is curios about it. Don't let the name and dolphin theme fool you, it's a powerhouse.
My girlfriend resurrected her old PIII Latitude laptop and it screams! I run it 32-bit on my AMDX2 and nothing compares besides maybe Slack and Arch.
I'm sorry, just a bit excited. It's like someone built a distro just for me... Maybe I should be making myself a tinfoil hat...

Keep up the great work!!!!
Do everything you can to get the word out, this distribution deserves all the user base it can get!

I tried it in a Virtual Machine. No problems so far.

Zenwalk is my favorite Linux distrobution. Clean and stable, just the way I like it.

I've been a Zenwalk user for a couple years, until just recently (ie. a couple days ago) when I switched to another distro hoping to get away from all the bugs I've been having in Zenwalk that remain unfixed and as annoying as ever. But that's another story.

Anyway, I have to wonder... why make Gnome look so Xfce-like? I could've swore you posted the wrong pics or something, because that looks practically *identical* to regular Xfce-based Zenwalk. I installed in a VM and... I'll be damned, it really is Gnome dressed up as Xfce. That's a feat in itself (congrats), I didn't even know it was possible to emulate Xfce that closely with Gnome.

On the other hand... with it practically identical to its parent distro looks- and functionality-wise, does it really have a purpose? What would honestly get someone to choose Gnome over Xfce, given Gnome lost its most characteristic features (ie. layout) and is now an Xfce clone? It would seem that the Gnome variant should contain something special to set it apart, because its UI layout sure doesn't do the job. I'm having a hard time trying to figure this out myself. People like Gnome because it's... well, Gnome. I would guess that if they were Xfce fans, they'd just use Xfce.

If I were still a Zenwalk user, I don't see what would make me want to use the Gnome variant over the original. I can only imagine the level of confusion of people who don't know much about the desktop environments to begin with... but I guess with both of them being so similar, maybe that doesn't matter that much? I guess as was previously said, Zenwalk is Zenwalk... maybe that is enough. But I just foresee problems trying to emulate one DE with another... especially so closely to where they're hardly distinguishable.

Pardon me making a damn newbie question.

In zenwalk zenlive cd I have both wmlinuz and initrd.gz
while in the gnome cd I only have initrd.img and seems to
have only LILO things available. Does that mean that the Gnome
release is an install only cd and not a "Live" cd at all?

I'm too noob to really get such things.

I've done frugal install of zenlive using this cheat code in grup menu.lst

It fails to save but that is because me a noob but
it boots and that allow me to use the dvd to something else in the meantime.

So now when I want to test zen Gnome will it go directly to partitioning and install
or is it a regular "Live CD"?

Well, I agree that I am surprised to see that the Gnome version is designed to look like the XFCE version.
When I boot the Gnome version I forget that I am in Gnome and try to right click the desktop to get to my normal XFCE menus..
I'll be sticking with the standard XFCE version, if I want a true gnome experience I'll just use Fedora or Ubuntu.

Lots of posts! I'll try to answer one by one.


Not here. I've installed in 6 different PCs by now, with different setups. If it isn't a corrupt download/installation it could be a problem with your graphics card. Can you provide details about it and what drivers you're using? Also install mplayer with netpkg and try with that.


Thanks, I got it by now!
What I still fail to understand is why SOHO=KDE. Or why Zenwalk does not meet requirements for SOHO...



OK, lets clear this. The looks are not xfce-like, they are Zenwalk-like. The way xfce looks in Zenwalk is far from the default xfce looks in the first place. Even the screenshots in the xfce homepage don't have a single layout/theme: http://www.xfce.org/about/screenshots
So the way we see it, is not that Zenwalk has an xfce look, but that xfce in Zenwalk has a Zenwalk look! And gnome in Zenwalk has a Zenwalk look too! We have chosen that layout for xfce and gnome because we believe that it's the best layout for a desktop PC.


There are more things telling xfce and gnome apart than their default panel layouts! You could certainly make xfce match the default gnome layout, but that wouldn't make it gnome. One main difference is the file manager, you get nautilus instead of thunar and nautilus has a lot more features than thunar. Also, in my opinion the spatial mode of nautilus is the best way to manage/navigate your files by far! Another main difference is the way the desktop metaphor works in xfce and gnome and I really prefer the gnome way.


Thinking your way, what would make Zenwalk stand out from other gnome distros then and why should they prefer Zenwalk over any of them, if they all shared the same layout?
And wouldn't Zenwalk users be confused if they saw a completely different layout than the one they are used to?


I think you're covered from what I wrote above. Anyway, to close this story, the default layout has been decided to be the way it is and it won't change.

Really, if someone doesn't like it, it's very easy to change.


This is not a live CD. It is an installation CD, so yes, you go directly to partitioning and install.

The Zenwalk Gnome release is an install CD, not a live CD.

paul.

as Gapan said, to be very short:
A layout isn't part of a DE, and that's also true the other way around.

The Zenwalk Gnome release is an install CD, not a live CD.

paul.


Ah I get it. Sad though. But I manage without gnome.

swing-and-a-miss

A for effort though.

Hi,

for a reason I don't understand, ZG5.2 beta would not install in a VBox VM ... I tried twice with no luck, though I checked the md5 of my download (twice it stalled on "installing package "icon-theme-....).
I successfully set it up in a VMWare VM though ..

Good work George

Emmanuel

Son|c, I have installed this under virtualbox and as far as I know so has laprjns, so I think there's probably some virtualbox option that isn't quite right in your setup. When I created the VM, I set the OS type to be "Other/Unknown". Maybe that's it?

And thanks!

New review out.

http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/29476

Just a bit curious: Is it possible to copy the Zenwalk install cd on a usb-stick/drive, to start the computer with the usb-stick/drive plugged in and then to install Zenwalk 5.2 directly from usb-stick/drive on the computer? It was not possible with the previous version of Zenwalk. Ubuntu uses a special kernel module (hd-media) in order to enable the installation directly from usb-stick/drive. Is there a plan to implement this option (beside the one described in the Zenwalk wiki) in this release? It would be great anyway for people like me who don't have any cd-drive at hand. Thanks for your great job, great release in view.

alu

That is a very positive review...
I think you're right in keeping the Zenwalk look...
Nice one gapan...