Igelle DSV: A New Fast Lightweight Linux - page 2

Igelle DSV Takes a Shot at Simplicity

Igelle takes a unique approach to application packaging and distribution. They use a method of bundling all dependencies together into a single file using a tool they call sjapp. Creating a package for an existing application is fairly straight forward and documented in their SJAPP manual. This is definitely something a novice user would never attempt but hopefully won't have to.

Installing applications

One of the benefits of this approach is the ability to run applications as read-only images. In this scenario a single application image is mounted in much the same way that you would mount a device such as a USB key. This makes for a much cleaner installation and un-installation process. It also makes it possible to support graphical installation from a remote repository in a similar fashion as Moblin and Jolicloud.

Bottom Line

We found Igelle DSV fairly stable for a 1.0 release. While it stands on the shoulders of other distributions and open source projects, it does bring a number of new features to the table. Browsing the user forums reveals more than a few folks having difficulties getting the distro up and running. It also reveals a relatively low number of posts although that could just be due to the newness of the release.

All things considered, it's worth a look if you've been searching for a Linux distro for your favorite computer-challenged relative.