Thank you as well for such an excellent and detailed review. I know it may sound harsh, but don't forget that Foresight IS trying to project itself into the consumer market. If it's going to offer a mildly-tweaked Gnome with an experimental package management system that doesn't even look half-ready, then it's undoubtedly going to come across FAR more disparaging comments unless it doesn't live up to its own claims.
I was going to purchase a Shuttle KPC, but opted for the stronger K4500 instead for the extra power. I received it yesterday, played around with Foresight, and strangely enough had the same experience as you had.
As if the Gnome environment didn't feel just a tad bit stifling enough, I most certainly was not happy trying to figure out where everything was hidden, from locating the command line (as you say, mentioned a lot in the manual, but never a mention of WHERE to find it), to editing the menu.
On paper, the Conary package management system has great potential -- in practice, the GUIs look only like half-baked supplements to the CLI (assuming you can find/work with it). Only PackageKit Updates give you a file listing with details that remotely approaches Synaptic -- and while the manual DOES direct you to a website giving you a comprehensive listing of available software, it's a poor substitute. What if I wanted to see what software I have available? How can I search by categories (video editors, cursors, etc?). How do I use that cool rollback feature?
And speaking of questions, I've frankly written far better user manuals than the one supplied on the desktop. The presentation is bland, boring, uninteresting, and not as comprehensive as the other review makes it sound. For one thing, would it have killed them to add some pictures?
About the only good thing that came with the Shuttle-tweaked Foresight is that it comes with a good assortment of applications (including GIMP!), and it has Compiz Fusion enabled. However, Compiz on a relatively bland and uninspired Gnome system is akin to the old adage of "lipstick on a pig". This, in addition to the fact that the feel of the system, despite the 2G of RAM, seems sluggish and jittery.
The enclosed Foresight live media were,... yep , you guessed it,... install disks only, and unable to detect the proper resolution at that (try using the Foresight installer in 640x480 resolution,... it's annoying!).
And to add insult to injury, it seems it uses hard drive encryption as well, as no other Linux distro can view the contents of its install partition.
After about 2 hours or so, I had had enough. I wasn't a big fan of Gnome anyway, but at least systems like Ubuntu, gOS, Mint, and Fedora Core make the effort to be usable as well as unique. Like with the AsusOS on the EeePC, Foresight is positioning itself as a gateway to Linux by stripping off some of the greatest strengths that 90% of all Linux distros have to offer. And in doing so, it ends up embarrassing us, and putting my work and that of countless other volunteers to shame.
FYI, I installed MiniME 2008 (a precursor to PCLinuxOS 2008), and I couldn't be happier. With the exception of the Ethernet which simply needed a quick activation through the PCLinuxOS Control Center, everything was detected and set up easily, and (after wiping out the drive using GParted) installation took no more than THREE minutes. Once I booted back in, it took another 10 minutes to select and install all the applications needed to turn it into my dream system, and now I'm happy enough to cry. The system has MORE applications, MORE eyecandy, MORE cusomtization options, and is all-around far MORE usable, yet is also faster and apparently a lot kinder to the K4500's fan.
Spending $300 for THIS system would not only be a bargain, it would be a complete revolution! Perhaps that's the reason why Linux PCs with "caveats" are sold instead,... there's just too much risk in rocking the boat.
Submitted by Foresight in K4500 (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 19:42.
Thank you as well for such an excellent and detailed review. I know it may sound harsh, but don't forget that Foresight IS trying to project itself into the consumer market. If it's going to offer a mildly-tweaked Gnome with an experimental package management system that doesn't even look half-ready, then it's undoubtedly going to come across FAR more disparaging comments unless it doesn't live up to its own claims.
I was going to purchase a Shuttle KPC, but opted for the stronger K4500 instead for the extra power. I received it yesterday, played around with Foresight, and strangely enough had the same experience as you had.
As if the Gnome environment didn't feel just a tad bit stifling enough, I most certainly was not happy trying to figure out where everything was hidden, from locating the command line (as you say, mentioned a lot in the manual, but never a mention of WHERE to find it), to editing the menu.
On paper, the Conary package management system has great potential -- in practice, the GUIs look only like half-baked supplements to the CLI (assuming you can find/work with it). Only PackageKit Updates give you a file listing with details that remotely approaches Synaptic -- and while the manual DOES direct you to a website giving you a comprehensive listing of available software, it's a poor substitute. What if I wanted to see what software I have available? How can I search by categories (video editors, cursors, etc?). How do I use that cool rollback feature?
And speaking of questions, I've frankly written far better user manuals than the one supplied on the desktop. The presentation is bland, boring, uninteresting, and not as comprehensive as the other review makes it sound. For one thing, would it have killed them to add some pictures?
About the only good thing that came with the Shuttle-tweaked Foresight is that it comes with a good assortment of applications (including GIMP!), and it has Compiz Fusion enabled. However, Compiz on a relatively bland and uninspired Gnome system is akin to the old adage of "lipstick on a pig". This, in addition to the fact that the feel of the system, despite the 2G of RAM, seems sluggish and jittery.
The enclosed Foresight live media were,... yep , you guessed it,... install disks only, and unable to detect the proper resolution at that (try using the Foresight installer in 640x480 resolution,... it's annoying!).
And to add insult to injury, it seems it uses hard drive encryption as well, as no other Linux distro can view the contents of its install partition.
After about 2 hours or so, I had had enough. I wasn't a big fan of Gnome anyway, but at least systems like Ubuntu, gOS, Mint, and Fedora Core make the effort to be usable as well as unique. Like with the AsusOS on the EeePC, Foresight is positioning itself as a gateway to Linux by stripping off some of the greatest strengths that 90% of all Linux distros have to offer. And in doing so, it ends up embarrassing us, and putting my work and that of countless other volunteers to shame.
FYI, I installed MiniME 2008 (a precursor to PCLinuxOS 2008), and I couldn't be happier. With the exception of the Ethernet which simply needed a quick activation through the PCLinuxOS Control Center, everything was detected and set up easily, and (after wiping out the drive using GParted) installation took no more than THREE minutes. Once I booted back in, it took another 10 minutes to select and install all the applications needed to turn it into my dream system, and now I'm happy enough to cry. The system has MORE applications, MORE eyecandy, MORE cusomtization options, and is all-around far MORE usable, yet is also faster and apparently a lot kinder to the K4500's fan.
Spending $300 for THIS system would not only be a bargain, it would be a complete revolution! Perhaps that's the reason why Linux PCs with "caveats" are sold instead,... there's just too much risk in rocking the boat.
Submitted by Foresight in K4500 (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 19:42.