Caldera OpenLinux Power Bundle

Wilson Lee writes "Caldera Systems would like to announce the release of Caldera's OpenLinux Power Bundle which includes Caldera OpenLinux 1.3 and PowerQuest's PartitionMagic 4.0. The OpenLinux Power Bundle includes complete software and documentation for both products, at a special bundle price of $89. For additional information on the OpenLinux Power Bundle or to purchase it, please go to Caldera Systems' website" Sounds like a rather useful bundle, especially for converting those last few holdouts in the neighborhood. What would really be neat would be PM integrated into the install like BeOS, but that is probably just wishful thinking...

OpenLinux ad at CompUSA

[iota]

Pick up this weeks CompUSA ad and look on page 12 for OpenLinux; listed as a Windows CD :)

jason

Anyone ever use Caldera?

[gavinhall]

Posted by [e-mail]:

yup, my preferred distro. not as cutting edge as redhat but more stable and appeals to my clients more.

Caldera - we need some marketing hype

[Daverz]

Some people won't use Linux without it. Caldera definitely has an important niche.

You can create a DOS (actually OpenDOS) boot disk.

[Richard Steiner]

Partition Magic has included a graphical DOS version of the utility since v1.x, and while I can't speak for v3.x or v4.x (I still use v2.x at home), that DOS version (on diskette) would be quite useful for Linux users.
--
-Rich (OS/2, Linux, Mac, NT, Solaris, FreeBSD, and OS2200 user in Bloomington MN)

Caldera and RPM

[tbird]

Caldera paid RedHat money to develop a package manager. RedHat later produced RPM. These facts are pretty much uncontested. However, RedHat and Caldera disagree over whether the money paid to RedHat was used to produce RPM. Caldera shipped RedHat's distribution (with Caldera customizations) in the Fall of 1995, at the same time RedHat was shipping it's first releases with RPM. Since then, Caldera and RedHat have parted ways, and Caldera has had its own distribution for a few years now.

Caldera derives from the Corsair project at Novell, which originated in 1993, which I believe predates RedHat by some years.

Tim Bird

Caldera vs. Debian

[tbird]

I have no intention of starting a flamewar, but it's exactly this type of holier-than-thou attitude that keeps the majority of the Linux
distributions from converting to dpkg. Caldera VERY seriously considered switching to dpkg several times, but members of the Debian project
have historically been too inflexible in their
release schedules for a downstream vendor to
count on making their own targeted ship dates.

This inflexibility is done in the name of technical excellence, and maybe it achieves that goal (excepting of course for dselect - sorry, couldn't help it :) I'm sure that Debian is an excellent distribution. However, their desire for purity conflicts with the type of pragmatism that is essential to running a distribution company as a business. Different strokes for different folks.

If you want you can add the features that you like in dpkg to RPM if you want. Then the vast majority of Linux users could benefit from them.

Tim Bird

Partition Magic for Linux?

[Tet]

The implication from this announcement is that it includes PM4 for Linux. However, as far as I know, PM4 is only for Windows (the PowerQuest site makes no mention of a Linux version), so I assume that is what's actually being bundled.

Now a real native Linux version of PM4 would be very useful. However, a Windows version budled with a Linux distribution has limited potential, particularly as Caldera are primarily targeting commercial organisations who would be unlikely to dual boot anyway...

Anyone ever use Caldera?

[Frostking]

I bought Caldera 1.2, because I wanted the Netware support and the StarOffice cd. I had a few things that I didn't like.
a) A soon found out that the netware client didn't have a graphical interface in the standard edition and the documentation left much to be desired, which caused me to spend quite a few hours fidgeting with those textfiles before I actually got it to work.
b) As a relative newbie at the time (and probably still :-) I like to use RPM's to install my software, but as I soon discovered most RPM's out there is made for RedHat and Libc6 so I ended up having to compile everything myself. Unlike SUSE they hadn't bothered to set up their system to enable the use of most RedHat packages.
c) I found LISA, the Caldera setup tool, troublesome to use, as far as I remember LISA didn't even allow me to set norwegian keyboard. I admit that since I had gotten used to RedHat before I started using Caldera I might be predisposed, but then again when testing SUSE later on I thought YAST was very good.
d) At that time I didn't think about it, but later I have come to question wether Caldera actually want to participate in making free software like Linux a success or just leech the work of others. Both RedHat and Suse I see contributing to free software projects like Xfree86 and Gnome, but all software comming from Caldera is closed-sourced or under special licenses. The few exceptions seems to be a few patches to the IPX support. The only "high" profile contribution from Caldera seems to be the COAS project, but it seems that it has all but stopped due to the fact thar Caldera again expected everybody else to do the hard work so that they could reap the benefits.

Caldera is probably a ok choice from a technical viewpoint if you are setting up a server for a small office or something, but as a system for use on a home system I can't say i want to recommend it. Due to my questions about Caldera's principal views on software licenses and free software I recommend that people look elsewhere in anycase.

Anyone ever use Caldera? yep

[NatePuri]

I was a fervent Caldera user for some time. I then used RH5.x. I chose and now use Debian 2.0 because the need to upgrade specific packages is much easier. I found that in RH and Caldera the dependency problems forced one as a practical matter to wait for the next version release. I concluded that this was a marketing ploy, and the fact that debian allows one to upgrade any part or the whole in an easy way (apt-get install n) is very satisfying. Debian has its own subculture in IRC, and that in and of itself is a pleasure. Debian is not as easy to install, but if you have installed Caldera and RH or other distros, you know your hardware configuration by heart by now, and you should have no problem setting up debian. If you have problems irc.debian.org #debian is an excellent resource for installation troubleshooting.

I was a user... so your comment is null

[NatePuri]

I've purchased version 1.2 and 1.3. I had trouble upgrading individual packages. So when you say "our users have no trouble with individual package upgrades using RPM" you are wrong. I was a user, and I had problems. RPMs are inferior to .DEBs. It is my opinion, and my opinion comes from my experience with both. I am no conspiracy theorist. It is obvious you would defend Caldera since you work there. I think Caldera is a good system overall. For KDE fans it is preferable. I simply prefer debian; thus, I will use what I prefer. RPMs my tell one what dependencies are needed, but do not always give a means of obtaining the dependencies. Debian does. You can defend all you want, but the fact is I was a Caldera user and now I'm not. Rather than react defensively, your company should pay heed to the reason why I left. Don't you care about maintaining a user base? Be that as it may... debian is a superior distribution by my estimation. Perhaps if you tried debian you would like it too Mr. Ratcliffe.

If RPM is not a marketing issue, then it is an inferior technical choice. Caldera is not married to RedHat standards, what is to prevent Caldera from using apt and dpkg? Nothing. Except it is not kosher for a company to switch gears like that because it gives the perception of misjudgment. Marketing is everthing to a companies bottom line. Marketing is not a conspiracy; it is a reality. The odd thing about Linux is that it thrives by users who take pleasure in using it more than by marketing. In my opinion RH is #1 because its install is the easiest. Debian is the #2 distribution because it is so good.

PM in install

[tab]

I don't know how BeOS has anything integrated (having never used it) but getting PM in on the scene should be a snap...SuSE 5.2 has a setup.exe file for running the install via DOS and running up PM shouldn't be a problem from there. If you're booting straight off the CD you're probably not likely to be installing from a DOS partition.

But don't " me on that.

Anyone ever use Caldera?

[NetDudeFL]

I have been using Caldera for the last 4 months and really like it (except for the fact that it is Libc5).

The built-in Novell networking and Palm Pilot application and development tools are what really impressed me.

I would compare it to RH as far as ease of use. It is good for newbies since it has KDE pre-installed, although I use WindowMaker myslef (of course using 5.0 WITH KDE support)..Thanks WM!

Had High Hopes for Caldera DOS/Linux Integration

[TeaRDroP™]

I think the same..

Dosemu are pretty cool and works.

But, about the OpenDos... I don't know....

I don't have a god reason to remake the system again, and, I don't think Bill have brain to do this...... So, keep using linux, and Dosemu. Like they say in my country:" Em time que esta ganhando nao se mexe", or - Don't make modifications when your team is wining........