Savoring Flavors of Linux: DSL-N

DSL-N
This is another ultra-light weight Linux Distro that is a close relative of the fames DSL distro. While DSL strives to keep the distro size to under 50MB, DSL does not promise this restriction. However, as it is made by the same created by the makers of DSL, the size of DSL-n is not going to be much bigger that 50 MB.

Do not let the small size fool you. This distro can run on a 486 with 16 MB of RAM. It packs in it a a newer kernel than DSL. It has many applications, including the Mozilla suite,an internet browser, a word processor, media player. a handful of networking tools, a paint utility and much more. There are also a bunch of screen savers to choose from. DSL-n can be run off a hard drive, Live CD or from a flash drive.

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Savoring Flavors of Linux: gOS

gOS
Here is another OS that can revive that old P3, collecting dust in your basement or closet. gOS, or Good OS is one of the most creative of ideas when it comes to delivering a desktop. If you want a powerful system with all the latest, greatest Linux tools, gOS may not be the system for you.

On the other hand, if you want a basic system and prefer to do all your work online or are a big fan of Google and the tools Google offers, this may be the system for you.Do not confuse gOS with the Google Chrome OS which Google plans to deliver next year.

Though years behind in simplicity, the philosophy of gOS is,(believe it no not,) similar to that of that of the forthcoming Chrome OS. Keep the machine uncluttered by doing all your work in the 'Cloud'. This means do your work online with online tools.
gOS comes with Firefox, Skype,icons linked to Google docs, Blogger, youtube, gmail,Google calendar, Google Finance, Google maps.,etc. Clicking on an icon brings up the respective application in the Firefox browser.
gOS is simple and functional.

The desktop may be best described as a mashup of Goofle widgets and a basic linux system. Walmart, a few years ago offered a $300 PC which ran gOS.

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Savoring Flavors of Linux: LinuxMint

Linux Mint

LinuxMint is another Ubuntu/Debian based distribution of Linux and has a large user community. The latest version Helena is build off Ubuntu's latest version, Karmic Koala. I tried playing around with the Live CD. While it offers great eye candy and some good applications, it did not provide any strong reason to switch over from Ubuntu or Kubuntu. Having said that, it does make a decent desktop.

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