CapnKirby: Ark Linux 2005.2-RC3 [Review]

"Installing Ark is almost too easy, particularly when selecting 'System Install.' In this mode, you simply select your language and location, click System Install, and play Tetris until you are told that the installation is done. Now of course, nothing is completely this easy, if you chose this method, any and all of your drives will be used for Ark, and there is no choice about it. There is an 'Expert Mode' available which gives you Qparted to select and manipulate your partitions to your liking. However, there is a bug in the Expert Install that creates frame buffer errors with some graphics cards (mostly Nvidia's and I810's from what I found in the forums) and the install cannot get past the Qparted screens. The solution for me was to remove my primary drive and let it take over my secondary drive which is where all my testing Distros go anyway.

"One oddity with the install process, when it is done, it asks you to remove the CD and power and hit the reset button on your pc, no reboot sequence. Now, while I expect that the installer simply un-mounts the drives when it is done, this is a rather disconcerting suggestion in my mind. However, it does work..."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• DesktopOS.com: Interview With Two Ark Linux Development Team Members(Apr 07, 2004)
• ExtremeTech: Review: Ark Linux 1.0 Alpha 10.1(Jan 26, 2004)
• Tux Reports: Libranet to Ark Linux: An Experiment in Migrating from One Distribution to Another(Oct 21, 2003)