New releases of Damn Small Linux, Sabayon Professional ... and Fedora anticipation

A quick look at Distrowatch today tells me that Damn Small Linux has released its landmark 4.0 release, and the business version of Sabayon has its 1.1 version ready for download.

If you have older hardware, Damn Small Linux very well could be the way to go, especially if you want to run a live CD or a "frugal" install (in which two or three large files act pretty much as a live-CD environment, but are stored on the hard drive). I've generally preferred Puppy Linux, but depending on your hardware and what you want to do, DSL might be a better choice. Go here for a detailed list of changes to DSL. A bonus for users of DSL is the new book, "The Official Damn Small Linux Book: The Tiny Adaptable Linux That Runs on Anything." I've definitely had a lot of fun with DSL. If it had a better image-editing program (i.e. I want MtPaint), I'd be a bigger fan. But otherwise, it runs better than Puppy on low-ram systems -- especially my 64-MB laptop.

I've tried Sabayon before, and it's a very nice KDE implementation. The "Professional" edition is the one you want because it includes OpenOffice. Among other things, Sabayon handles auto-configuration very well. Check the release notes.

I'm also eager to take a look at Fedora 8 when it comes out. Now that I have a laptop that will boot it, I'm anxious to see how Fedora handles hardware detection (including suspend/resume and wireless) and how quick (or slow) the distro is. Here's where the release stands now at the "test 3" stage.

For me, hardware detection is the live-and-die test that Linux (or BSD or anything else, for that matter) must pass in order to gain traction. The easier a distro makes it for you to have the proper monitor resolution, mouse settings, wireless settings (including encryption), power management and USB detection, the better.