Red Hat Linux 8.0 Personal

Other products by Red Hat

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006LS9B
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 18, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,569 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #29 in	Software > Operating Systems > Linux & Unix
  #34 in	Software > Linux > Operating Systems & Utilities

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review
Red Hat Linux 8.0 Personal breaks with earlier Red Hat (and all other) Linux releases with the unification of the Gnome and KDE desktops. In effect, Red Hat has made the two almost indistinguishable in a production environment.

This unification is achieved by creating a theme--an add-on look and feel--called Bluecurve, which uses identical icons and other eye candy for similar features in each, and creates similar Gnome and KDE menus. These menus now sport a limited range of well-chosen programs with simple descriptions of what the program does. This is a change from the earlier approach, where users were offered all the browsers (now you just get Mozilla), six text editors, and so on, all with nondescriptive names to confuse new users.

Much of this effort can be bypassed by most new users, as the default is now to install only Gnome 2, but then, Red Hat Linux 8.0 Personal is really aimed at businesses looking for a low-cost, reliable production desktop to replace Windows.

Which brings us to OpenOffice.org, the public domain version of StarOffice 5.2, released by Sun and heavily reworked into a fairly decent replacement for Microsoft Office--though currently without an integrated database. OpenOffice.org ditches the old StarOffice desktop (as Sun has done with the commercial StarOffice 6.0), loses some copyrighted modules, and gains open-source replacements. It's on the menu under Office and you can run the components separately.

On the downside, multimedia support for home users is weak, with MP3 support missing (there's a link to the XMMS add-in for it, though), as is any way to burn a CD. Oddly, Red Hat Linux 8.0 Personal doesn't include Real's RealOne Player either, which you'll have to download and install yourself if you want it. Again, this might be a deliberate pitch for business acceptance.

Hardware detection is better than ever and networking and Internet setup are as easy as filling in a few dialog boxes. Red Hat Linux 8.0 Personal even installs security in the form of a network firewall for Net users. It also handles dual booting with Windows for those who just want to dabble.

Red Hat Linux 8.0 Personal comes on three installation CDs, with two source CDs, a documentation CD, and a multimedia and office applications CD. The paper documentation is limited to an installation guide.

Overall, and despite the caveats, this is the most innovative and easiest to understand Linux distribution to appear yet. You really can install it and be using it to write documents, listen to CDs, watch TV or video, and use the Net within minutes of finishing the installation. Impressive, and a great introduction to Linux for new users. --Steve Patient, Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com Product Description
Red Hat Linux 8.0 Personal blends a polished new look with leading-edge technologies to create a rich personal-productivity environment. The Red Hat Bluecurve interface is an easy-to-use, organized desktop that makes finding applications less complicated. Desktop settings are simple to adjust and customize. Red Hat Linux 8.0 Personal also includes Ximian Evolution and OpenOffice. With 30 days of installation support and an installation guide, Red Hat Linux 8.0 Personal users will be up and running in no time.

The Red Hat Linux installation program now features a tool for selecting package groups. Select the packages that best support your individual workload. Setup Agent offers step-by-step guidance for setting up date and time, sound card testing, registering for Red Hat Network, and installing additional software. Conveniently organized menus make finding applications and tools simple with fewer clicks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Closer and Closer, October 19, 2002

By	TLR (LA, CA) - See all my reviews

Red Hat's 8.0 release has the features to move Linux closer to the mainstream acceptance it has been deserving for years. The old features such as stability, security and more included applications than can be listed in this 1,000 word max review. With the Bluecurve desktop configuration, a uniform look and feel for both Gnome 2 and KDE 3 new users will find desktops similar and should cut down on people getting confused by the choices. Both are still completely customizable, giving long-time users the independence they have always enjoyed. Installation can be either a simple point and click to accept the defaults, or customizable down to individual packages. There is a lot of discussion about Red Hat removing support for the MP3 format, support can be added by simply downloading a module and installing it, but, in my opinion that is a bit like trying to get your DVD player to play the old Laser Disks, the included OGG format offer better compression and sound quality. I first upgraded my development server from RH 7.3, I was then so impressed that I just finished upgrading all of my companies machines. This review was written on a Dell Inspiron 4100 running RH 8.0

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It works for me, February 7, 2003

By	Ronald E. Jones (Mount Juliet, TN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Let me qualify my remarks by stating up front that I am not a linux guru by any stretch of the imagination and know nothing about programming. I'm a network engineer with a Cisco background. In August 2002 I installed Red Hat 7.3; no sooner had I done so when 8.0 came out and I promptly migrated (It's inexpensive enough for me to afford the "latest and greatest"). Since then, I have thoroughly enjoyed running Linux on my desktop at home. In early January 2003, I began using Red Hat almost exclusively (I have to keep Win2k around to be able to open Visio diagrams).

OpenOffice has handled every single Microsift file that I have given it (with the exception of the aforementioned Visio diagrams); surprisingly, two days ago, I even opened a PowerPoint presentation in OpenOffice.org Impress. I'm told that if you write/run complex macros in Excel, OpenOffice Calc won't handle some of those, but that doesn't apply to me as my usage typically includes creating hardware & services quotes for customers.

As most reviewers have mentioned, 8.0 doesn't come with support for the mp3 file format. However, even as new as I am, it didn't take long at all to figure out that anything I need is on the internet at FreshRPMs dot net, RPMfind dot net, and other places. the mp3 plugin for xmms is a no-brainer to install, as is Ogle, the dvd player. The other change that I made was to upgrade to Evolution version 1.2 from the native 1.0 (I had some printing problems with Evolution 1.0). Having Red Hat 8.0 allows me to "tinker" just like some guys do with a '69 Camaro (except I don't get my hands dirty).

I'm not going to bash Microsoft Windows. Windows 2000 works just fine. However, using conservative estimates ..., you would pay approximately $3100 for a 5 user office with a server. I can get the same thing from Red Hat (including a year of free upgrades) for [less]; Don't tell me about "TOC," I know enough right now to set that up and I'm a newbie. It's just not that difficult. Microsoft's claims to a lower TOC are just that...Marketing Claims.

Go forth and enjoy yourself! :)

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Apocalypse is near!, January 8, 2003

By	Kip Perkins (Mt Juliet, TN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My Dad called me the other day to ask for help in installing RedHat 8 on his laptop to dual boot with Windows2000. I thought the end of time must be near for my Dad to want to try Linux.
However, this is the first Distribution that I would feel comfortable for someone who is not computer litterate/competant. The main move by RH was to make Gnome and KDE much more "alike" in looks, thus not confusing the newbie. The cut and paste interoperability between KDE and Gnome apps has been greatly enhanced.
However, there is one big gotcha for a desktop user: mp3 support has been remnoved. Why is it not enabled? Licensing issues.<...
This is a great distribution and anyone already familier with RH should feel right at home. For those who are not familier with Linux, this is a great place to start.