Gallium OS

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-22 04:00

Anyone ever used? I got the chance to get a HP Chromebook 14 ULTRA cheap today, so I of course picked it up (N2940/4G/16G/7260AC+BT4.0/1080p 14") (if you're wondering, $110 no tax). Obviously no "ordinary" distro works correctly (semi-custom audio isn't supported by mainline kernel), so despite that it's based on Ubuntu and my admittedly dislike of said distro, I threw Gallium on here since it's kernel is specifically patched for Chromebooks.

After getting it installed, tested and the onboard audio is working fine (the hdmi audio worked fine on everything, but not the onboard). So add the Kubuntu ppa to get plasma 5.8.8 (lts). Install lightdm and dump lxdm. Bad move, won't boot. Rerinstall, go through everything again, this time just stick with lxdm and change it's config to run /usr/bin/startkde instead of /usr/bin/starxfce, and I'm golden. Get rid of all the Gnome & XFCE cruft, install the apps I like, and it's surprisingly quick given it's extremely limited CPU & ram.

At some point I may try to figure out how to apply the gallium kernel patches to the Debian kernel as I do think q4os would be a MUCH better experience on here, but until I figure out how to do that, this will do.

BTW, if anyone needs a linux loaded chromebook, let me know!! I have absolutely NO USE for this thing, but the chance to play with it and see if I could get linux to work on it was too much for me to pass up.

crosscourt · 2017-11-22 04:11

Last distro I had running on a Chromebook was Ubuntu Mate 16.04 but my distaste for Chromebooks left me wanting and Ive since moved on. Its been awhile though and it certainly wasnt a perfect situation by any means. Never used Gallium OS.

Unlike you I like Ubuntu Mate and Linux Mint and they are both great distros for really any level user.

Right now Im using Mageia 6 KDE and liking it a lot.

Last edited by crosscourt (2017-11-22 04:43)

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-22 04:22

I don't like Mate regardless of the distro. I never liked Gnome 1, Gnome 2, or now Gnome 3, so the various forks I obviously don't like either.

Cinnamon is...tolerable. If it weren't GTK (I massively prefer QT), I'd probably even like it. But it is GTK, so if I want something lighter than KDE Plasma, then I want Trinity.

crosscourt · 2017-11-22 04:29

My first choice of DE is XFCE as it has the best mix of performance, features and overall design. Still like KDE and always enjoyed Gnome 2 with Ubuntu and Mate was a natural. Loved KDE3 so TDE caught my attention and thats how I began using Q4OS. I still run some LXDE distros like WattOS.

Comparing Gnome 2/Mate to Gnome 3 is apples and oranges. Mate is so user friendly with an excellent feature set and a lot of customization. Despise Gnome 3 even though Ubuntu Gnome was barely tolerable. Dont care for Cinnamon either and willing to give LXQT a chance to develop.

My top distros this year are these,
1. Linux Mint 18.2 XFCE
2.Q4OS 2.4 TDE
3.Ubuntu Mate 16.04.3
4.Mageia 6 KDE
5. Linux Lite 3.6 XFCE

Q4OS 2.4 by far is the best lightweight distro Ive used this year.

Last edited by crosscourt (2017-11-22 04:41)

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-22 04:43

Yeah, I just never learned to be able to set up Gnome2/Mate so that I didn't think it looked hideous, and that the menu was oddly set up, the settings were (for me) unintuitive. Always hated it, probably always will. Yes, I will run it before Gnome3, but then, I'll run just FluxBox/OpenBox/fvwm before Gnome3.

Debian has been my top distro for the last 15 years running. I've grown to adore it, and it "just works" on just about everything. I've had hardware that nothing else will load on, but Debian just installs and works. Chromebooks are the ONE thing that wasn't true on, due to the audio (although I had no problems installing on them). My fascination with Chromebooks is mostly because of the price. My first Chromebook was a Toshiba Chromebook 2. 13.3" 1080P dual core celeron w/ 4GB ram and a 16 GB eMMC. But it cost me $140 at the time. This was before the "cloudbooks" existed, and at that price you could get a 6 year old laptop that was even SLOWER than the dual core celeron, or a chromebook. And then this one...quad core and 1080P for just barely over $100...that's a great value IMO. Doubly so while it's not screaming fast, it's fast enough to run a full KDE desktop...and if I could get the chromebook patches on q4os, I bet it would fly with q4os.

Other top distro's changes over the years, but Arch has been there a lot in the 10-15 year ago range, and then again in the last 3-4 years. None in between as they exhausted my patience wiht that distro for quite some time.

Fedora has been in there the last 2-3 years. Basically since Fedora 21, except 26 which I had lots and lots of issues with.

Q4os has now made it's way into the top level this year.

Mageia was for the last 2-3 years, but I've abandoned that with 6, same reason as Fedora 26, I just had too many issues with it and gave up.

My FIRST EVER top distro was called LibraNet Linux. How I miss it. It was released back before Debian was easy to install and configure. Based on Debian, but the developer basically released it as a RHEL type. You got very quick support with it, but you had to pay for it. Was worth it too, first distro I ever got online with (winmodem). And SUPER easy install, lots of stuff to help configure it, just truly a first rate distribution. It was, for YEARS, what I considered a distro should be. But then the developer passed, and his son didn't have the money to keep it going because by then users were starting to migrate to this new distribution that had shown up called Ubuntu, so it was shuttered. That was the first strike in my book against Ubuntu, although by no means the primary reason I dislike it.

crosscourt · 2017-11-22 04:56

I was a Mandrake/Mandriva user which progressed to PCLinuxOS and eventually to Mepis then Ubuntu. Ive bounced back and forth between RPM and DEB for years but deep down I still enjoy the Mandriva forks the most. Sorry you had so many issues with Mageia 6 as its been solid as a rock on two of my systems and a bit more stable than PCLinuxOS.

Ive been doing distro reviews for years and the number of distros Ive tried is over a thousand during those years.
Im not a huge fan of Debian but lets say I have a healthy respect for it and Mepis was certainly a great distro. Fedora Ive had mixed results and the recent 26 is a mess so dropped that very quickly. I have had some success with Korora 26 as it gives me what I need without the hassles of Fedora. The release cycle of Fedora though is the biggest issue.

Ubuntu Ive really enjoyed over the years and it certainly had a huge impact on the user base in my area over time. Mint is one of the best if not the best distro Ive used/tested and even though the complaints abound, it just works and offers anyone a great out of box experience.

Ive been using DOS and then Windows for years and almost all my work over those years was with the various versions, gaming and graphics card drivers/performance. Im primarily a hardware guy whos gained experience over time with software. Linux was something I played with initially but eventually became a goal to replace Windows.

In regards to Gnome 2 /Mate its fairly intuitive and can be changed hugely to suit pretty much anyone. Its popular among clients as they find it easy to use and their are variants such as the one Mint uses. Gnome 3 to me is hugely unintuitive and frankly Ive hated it from the first time I saw it. Its also very resource hungry and even compared to KDE5. In my tests Mageia 6 uses 465mb but Ubuntu Gnome uses over 850mb with similar settings.

Last edited by crosscourt (2017-11-22 05:09)

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-22 05:09

I've been a distro tester since I started, although I don't generally review because 90% of the modern distro's my review would be:

They took ubuntu, changed the wallpaper, and released it as it's own distro. Why bother calling it a distro?

Once upon a time I tried EVERYTHING, but anymore I only try anything that offers a compelling reason. Such as the budgie desktop (Elementary? Is that who developed that?), Trinity, non-systemd version of Debian (Devuan), truly independent, etc. If all major system components are available in it's source distro, and easily installed, then I won't even look twice anymore (the easily installed being the compelling reason for Devuan, since removing systemd from Debian is doable...but is a LOT of work).

I actually have no preference in .deb vs. .rpm. I happen to agree with your statement on Fedora, the release cycle is just too fast to enjoy it if they don't get it perfect every time. 23-25 they happen to have (IMO) gotten it right. Flawless upgraes, no hardware isuses, etc. Then 26 just derailed with massive hardware problems, instabilities, etc. Most other .rpm distro's simply are missing something that makes me not like them (OpenSuse is slow, and even with packman has issues with many multimedia files, Mageia stated earlier I've had issues with 6, pclos failed to install, etc. etc.), I don't actually prefer debian-based distro's just because of the .deb packages. Just so happens that debian is the only distro that routinely gets it right for my tastes. And I recommend Mint a lot because while I have no reason to use it (Cinnamon is in the Debian repos), I have used it off and on just to keep up with it, and if someone I know barely knows linux, it'll be my first recomendation because yes, they've done an excellent job of making it Windows level easy.

Last edited by tlmiller76 (2017-11-22 05:12)

crosscourt · 2017-11-22 05:17

Budgie was developed by the original developer of Solus. When I refer to deb vs rpm I just use that as a reference to their family of distros as i also dont have any strict preference based on system. Ive always tended to use and enjoy rpm based distros but not all, just as it was with deb based distros.

The control centers so common to rpm based distros I really like and Mageia's works very well. Im still stunned you had issues with both Mageia and PCLOS as ive got them installed on a wide variety of systems of all ages and makes. Fedora and OpenSUSE have been the two that had major issues with my test rig and I didnt continue working with them. Always been disappointed with hardware support with OpenSUSE contrary to reports.

Last edited by crosscourt (2017-11-22 05:20)

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-22 05:22

Solus, ok. I couldn't remember. I just remembered that Elementary had SOMETHING unique they developed...

I was surprised by Mageia. That had become one of my preferred distro's, 5 was truly great.

PCLOS it's been so long since I touched I didn't know what to expect. I think the installer is just...dated. It's really wonky, and I think in UEFI mode when I repartitioned and it wrote the partition table for the onboard drive, I think it also cleared the boot flag from the running USB. That would be the only reason I can think of that the USB that had been booted would suddenly not boot anymore, despite all the files still being there (UEFI is rather strict about only bootable flagged partitions CAN boot). I would never try installing again until the installer is brought up a bit more up to date, creating a 8 GB swap partition when it defaults to taking the entire drive, and you have to set it in MB instead of GB just makes trying it again a huge hassle not worth my time. It's quite possible if I prepped the drive ahead of time it would install fine. I'm just not willing to do that. I always blow away partition table and repartition when installing. If an OS can't handle it, then I don't use the OS.

Last edited by tlmiller76 (2017-11-22 05:27)

crosscourt · 2017-11-22 05:26

Elementary is known for their Pantheon DE based on Gnome shell, but its not one of my favorites, too many problems.

Q4OS Forum

#1 2017-11-22 04:00

Gallium OS

#2 2017-11-22 04:11

Re: Gallium OS

#3 2017-11-22 04:22

Re: Gallium OS

#4 2017-11-22 04:29

Re: Gallium OS

#5 2017-11-22 04:43

Re: Gallium OS

#6 2017-11-22 04:56

Re: Gallium OS

#7 2017-11-22 05:09

Re: Gallium OS

#8 2017-11-22 05:17

Re: Gallium OS

#9 2017-11-22 05:22

Re: Gallium OS

#10 2017-11-22 05:26

Re: Gallium OS

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