Before I go on with my review, here's a summary of the most important new features/enhancements for this release (an extract from the Official Pardus 2011 Release ANNOUNCEMENT)
Kernel - The latest Linux kernel 2.6.37 provides an up-to-date hardware
support together with a thousand of bug fixes.
Plymouth - The bootsplash technology used in Pardus 2009.2 is completely
dropped and replaced by the new Plymouth engine.
YALI - YALI, the installer of Pardus, gained LVM/RAID and UUID support.
KDE SC - Pardus 2011 comes with the latest KDE Software Compilation, KDE SC
4.5.5. The base packages also contains numerous backports and fixes which will
improve the stability of your desktop experience significantly.
Kaptan - Kaptan, the desktop customization tool of Pardus, now optionally
captures your picture and sets it as your avatar in KDE.
NetworkManager - GNOME NetworkManager 0.8.2 is now the default networking
backend in Pardus 2011. Users are now able to set up their HSPA/CDMA/VPN
networks together with the already supported Ethernet and 802.11 WLAN
networks.
GTK Oxygen style - All GTK applications are now rendered with Oxygen style
thanks to the oxygen-gtk project. This brings a huge improvement to the user
interface consistency.
LibreOffice - LibreOffice, an Open Source personal productivity suite
sponsored by the Document Foundation, is now the default Office Suite in
Pardus 2011.
Firefox - Pardus 2011 comes with Mozilla Firefox 4.0 Beta9 as the default web
browser application. New features of this Firefox release include Firefox
Panorama, application tabs, a redesigned extension manager, Jetpack extensions
support, integration with Firefox Sync, and support for multitouch displays.
An impressive list of features it is, no doubt, but how do they do in practical terms? As far as I am concerned, I like that Pardus developers chose to stick with KDE 4.5 series, specially with its latest patch, as opposed to choosing KDE 4.6 RC. The latter would have probably got more attention from people wanting to get the latest from the K Desktop, but it would have certainly brought lots of instability with it as well. Including the GNOME network manager is a master move, much needed because the network manager in previous releases of Pardus simply didn't cut it. Its integration within the KDE environment is as smooth as it gets, which is also appreciated. Talking about integration, including the fabulous work from the Oxygen-GTK project is also a great thing: Finally a KDE distro that looks consistent regardless of whether the application is native KDE or not. Last but not least, I like to see Pardus embracing LibreOffice, a wise move that others distros (including Ubuntu) are following as well.
INSTALLATION
When I first used Pardus back several months ago, the installation process was one of the things that impressed me the most. I thought it was beautifully put together, good looking, consistent in branding and very easy and intuitive. This time around I was expecting that same quality, but perhaps with a few exciting new features. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed because there was not much to be excited about. Don't get me wrong, YALI is still one of the best installers I have seen in Linux, specially for a KDE distro, but I guess I was expecting better. (By the way, totally subjective, but I think Pardus 2009 Look&Feel and branding was more attractive.)
An interesting (mis)behavior I found when installing Pardus is that it won't install on a USB drive. I tried several times with different devices and under different versions (Beta, RC and Final Release), but it always failed. I am not sure what exactly was not working, because error messages were inconsistent or not even happening. Some may not find this a problem, but with all the testing I do for reviews, having to install a distro on an internal hard drive is a pain. In fact, if it wasn't because I loved Pardus 2009 so much, I probably wouldn't have installed it at all. On a similar note, I don't like how Pardus offers installation media separately from the LiveCD, I find it quite inconvenient.
THE PARDUS DESKTOP
Pardus 2011 is a good customization of the KDE desktop, including own branding, wallpapers, splash screens, KDM themes, even its own set of icons. The latter is a bit incomplete, unfortunately, so users will see applications inside menus that use default Oxygen icons instead of Pardus ones. Considering Pardus developers customized the application catalog, I find this a bit disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I like the Pardus icon set, it adds a bold, original twist to how KDE looks, but I believe consistency is very important.
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PISI is the package installer, this time around including new features and a lot more packages available for download than the previous version. Activating extra repositories is not required this time around, so users will get most of their favorite apps available for download out of the box.
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I have to admit I was expecting better from PISI, at least on the GUI department. We are seeing amazing stuff coming from Ubuntu and Linux Mint, installers that include screenshots, long and informative package descriptions, ratings and some other great ideas inspired on other famous application stores out there. PISI still follows more of an old scholl approach in that sense, offering an interface that looks cluttered at a glance. On the bright side, they introduced ratings on this release, but considering the size of Pardus user community and the fact that ratings are merely informational (it's not a field you can order by, for example), I doubt they will add much value.
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The left column includes package categories, but there are perhaps
too many to make sense out of it. I think this menu would benefit from some restructuring, limiting the top categories to just a handful, then adding subcategories behind them. For example, new Pardus users will probably have a hard time understanding what is inside categories like "Other", "Other Desktops" or "Electronics", to name just a few. I think top categories like "Productivity" or "Entertainment & Games" would probably prove more meaningful and make browsing simpler. Along the same lines, it would help if icons were application related, instead of showing the same package image time and again.
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I love the look of that installation progress on top, informative and modern looking. Unfortunately, it feels a bit out of place compared to the rest of the interface.
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All in all, PISI works well and does what it is supposed to do. Coupled with the fact that Pardus repositories now include most popular apps out there, Pardus users will certainly welcome its new features. Personally, I have to admit I was expecting better, perhaps a more radical set of improvements over the previous version of PISI.
One of the most exciting (and much needed) new features in Pardus is the work that has been done around Network management and its corresponding applet. Pardus 2009 suffered from weak Network management, and given how important it is today to go online, that was a major miss. This time around, developers came up with a very ingenious solution: Use the best from GNOME Network Manager, including its support for HSPA/CDMA/VPN devices and networks, then seamlessly integrate it inside the KDE desktop. Fedora KDE implementations have used GNOME Network manager for years, but integration with KDE was horrible. Fortunately for them, Pardus users will not see anything alien on their desktop.
Click on image to enlarge.
LibreOffice makes its debut on Pardus 2011 as the productivity suite of choice, substituting OpenOffice. I believe this is the right move, not only because it guarantees less dependency on whatever ORACLE does with OpenOffice, but also because Pardus users will be able to benefit from the exciting features that will soon come to LibreOffice. For example, many different UI mockups have seen the light lately, giving us an idea of how LibreOffice will look like not long from now. Aside from potentially improving usability, these mockups hint at finally implementing features that have long been missing in OpenOffice, such as native integration with window, control and icon themes. Along with GTK Oxygen project efforts, we should probably enjoy LibreOffice looking like a native application inside KDE and consequently Pardus.
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Other interesting application changes include ShowFoto instead of the more typically available Gwenview. In this case, I am not sure I understand the driver behind this decision, as ShowFoto does not seem to include many relevant improvements over Gwenview.
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GIMP returns as the image manipulation application of choice, also showing a custom splash screen. I have to admit I love those custom splash screens, they convey a feeling of something consistent and carefully put together with attention to detail. Unfortunately, they only show up for a few applications.
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All in all, Pardus comes loaded with a number of attractive applications, quite extensive hardware support and an attractive Look&Feel, all of which translates into a high quality KDE distro release. If you ask me, this is the best release they have ever put together.
Nothing is perfect, though, and betting all your chips on a single hand, KDE in this case, has its low points. KDE is certainly improving lately, but as I mentioned on my recent KDE SC 4.6 REVIEW, it still has some basic areas that are not getting the attention they deserve. As an example, I checked if bluetooth was working fine (I have only seen it happen in Kubuntu 10.10 so far) and I got the good old failure when I was trying to browse my mobile.
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As you can see from the screenshot above, I wasn't able to browse my mobile contents using Bluetooth, something that has worked reliably in GNOME for ages.
FINAL WORDS
Pardus 2011 is an interesting release with many great things about it. Given the terrific work that was put in place for Pardus 2009, I must admit I was expecting even better. I guess I was expecting tighter branding integration, more modern features in PISI and YALI and a more solid and consistent customization of the KDE desktop.
That's just my opinion, of course, so don't be afraid to give Pardus 2011 a go, I am sure you will like what you see.
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