A Comprehensive Review of Lycoris Software

A funny point that I noted about a month ago is that "if" I had purchased all of the same capabilities from Microsoft, there is no way I could have afforded to. In the Lycoris Store, I spent significantly less than 20% of what it would have cost to purchase the comparable products from Microsoft. This includes all updates, Lycoris Direct, and the incentive sales I participated in. Not only are Lycoris products MUCH less expensive, they work & perform MUCH better than Microsoft's, in my opinion.

Over the last decade, I’ve used a wide variety of flavors of Linux. These include, but are not limited to the following: Slackware, Mandrake, SuSE, Red Hat, Turbolinux, Corel, LindowsOS, Xandros, Fedora, Peanut, and, of course, Desktop/LX.

At the time of this writing, Lycoris Desktop/LX is my primary operating system. As you’ll immediately discover, I’m quite fond of Desktop/LX and the manner in which Lycoris operates as well as continually proving their commitment to their users. After being a Linux user since 1994 and a Unix Administrator from 1993 to 1998, I’ve found a complete platform that anyone can use with ease and freedom.

Thanks for taking the time to read this editorial. As always, comments & opinions are welcome.

Lawrence Pellegrini

-Lycoris Desktop/LX User,

-Contributor/Moderator, Greenhouse Community Forum

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100 Days With Desktop/LX

November 12, 2003

After using Desktop/LX for the last 100 days, I must say that after doing some legwork & poking, I'm glad I purchased it.

My experience with Desktop/LX began when I received it August 4, 2003. I ordered & received Update 2. After installing it on my system, I began the journey of setting up my dial-up connection, tweaking the desktop settings and getting to know the system.

My initial impressions were extremely high. Here was a Linux system with an ultra-clean desktop and a ready-to-go GUI (KDE 2.2.2). Navigating through the system was simple and smooth. There were enough programs installed where a full range of functionality was present. Many basic apps were present, such as koffice, games, irc & browsers, imaging utilities, and many other programs optimized for Desktop/LX.

The only initial drawback I encountered was regarding the firewall. Following installation the default firewall setting was set to "disabled." I found this to be inconsistent as the initial install screens displayed comments stating that Desktop/LX was designed to enable users to connect & surf the web with relative ease. I subsequently suggested to a staff member to change and "enable," the firewall at installation or place a notification screen in the install routine informing users how to enable the firewall, and what a firewall does.

The above is the biggest drawback or flaw I've encountered with Desktop/LX. Oh, there were a few minor things, but there were no true showstoppers. Nothing that prevented work from getting done, and nothing stopping fun!

Wow! The firewall setting was the biggest drawback? Yup. I'd poked around the Greenhouse and read many of the threads, so I feel I was an 'informed purchaser,' prior to ordering Desktop/LX. I saw that there were minor things to be smoothed out, a glitch here & there, and I was aware of the majority when I ordered it.

In short, I feel that Desktop/LX works as advertised and it works as it was designed to.

Another notable item was that following installation of Build 46, only 9.6 Megabytes of updates were needed to bring the system up to current standards. Please note that this is ONLY regarding Build 46 and prior to the September 19th release of Update 3; no beta editions were used. Only 9.6 megs of updates? That was pretty amazing. Everything worked, and it worked better with the updated glibc pkg from the Update Wizard.

I'm now running three machines (yep, with licenses for all!) with Desktop/LX. Two are up to Update 3 (build 138....), and one has ProductivityPak.

The ProductivityPak Office Suite is a very slick package. I've found the enhancements to OpenOffice.org 1.0.1 in ProductivityPak to be wonderful when compared to other Linux companies who simply have OOo available with very little or no enhancements/customizations for their version of Linux. In addition, the apps for Palm Sync worked flawlessly with my Handspring Visor Prism. ProductivityPak is a great Office Suite and I would recommend it without hesitation.

Desktop/LX, in my opinion is a fantastic OS. While many other Linux companies may be playing "keep up with the Jones's," Lycoris is using what WORKS! The OS works, and it works consistently.

Probably the biggest appeal to Desktop/LX is that it does not intimidate the casual, novice or new user. The clean desktop and straightforward approach is refreshing and easy to figure out. My 9 year old daughter buzzes right through it on her system and loves Desktop/LX.

When compared to other Linux systems, users going into Desktop/LX don't have to worry about making a ton of choices to use it. Desktop/LX uses one desktop (KDE 2.2.2). two browsers (Mozilla & konqueror), one office suite (koffice), one irc app (kSirc), several games and many other applications that enable Desktop/LX users a very powerful, ‘out-of-the-box’ experience. Additional applications are available for installation from The Iris Software Gallery should the user want to install them. The Iris Software Gallery is a free benefit provided by Lycoris to Desktop/LX users. There is no annual subscription fee and the gallery content has quite a lot to offer.

By removing many of the common redundant applications that many companies include, I feel that Lycoris did the user a favor. They simply allowed the user to install the OS and get to work! While some may see this as a disadvantage, I don't. I have personally known folks who have tried to use some other flavor of Linux and gave up; they became totally frustrated with the cluttered desktops and some were unable to figure out the vast program trees. Some were casual users and some were very well versed in the realms of computing technology.

Desktop/LX is simple to use and powerful. The casual/novice user will experience relative ease going in and doing what they want.

Lycoris, as a company, has impressed me with their products as well as their attitude. Here is a company that has continuously shown their users that their desire is to provide quality products at reasonable prices.

That's my 'quick' reflection of my first 100 days with Desktop/LX.

Review: Lycoris Direct:

November 30, 2003

I decided to give Lycoris Direct a try last week. After seeing the number of updates in the Update Wizard, some quick math showed more than 8 hours were needed to update my system via dial-up.
In the forums, the latest chatter was about using the Update Wizard to update to Build 142. I ordered the CD, specifying Build 142 based on information in the various threads.

To my surprise, the next day I received an e-mail from one of the Lycoris Staff, stating that the updates had gone beyond Build 142 and was inquiring if it would be "okay" to send me the updated content.

My chin was on the floor while reading this e-mail. I responded stating the additional updates would be terrific and thanked the person for taking the time to ask.

I received the CD today with the latest content. It's actually a FULL working version of Update 3 with all the latest stuff. I put the CD in my system and a dialog appeared stating the CD has, "a newer version of Desktop/LX, " and asked if I would like to upgrade. I chose the upgrade option & rebooted per instructions when completed. Everything worked fine and the system content was brought up to currency.

Lycoris Direct is the EASIEST way for folks with dial-up internet access to keep their system current.

Additionally, even those with high-speed access may wish to consider using the Lycoris Direct program. The updated CDs are full, working versions. If you have to re-install Desktop/LX, why install an old version and have to go through the Update Wizard for all the updates when you could install the updated CD and only have to install a minimal set from the Update Wizard?

The various levels of programs that are offered has something for everyone's needs.

Lycoris Direct is a fantastic program that is worth utilizing, and the pricing is extremely fair. I know I'll be using Lycoris Direct again. And again...... And again....... And........

Review: Lycoris Solitaire Ace:

November 30, 2003

When Solitaire Ace was first announced, I thought it would just be another in the long tradition of single-player solitaire games. Those were my initial thoughts.

Boy, was I off base... WAY off!

When I ordered Solitaire Ace, I ordered it out of pure curiosity. After experiencing what Lycoris had already accomplished with Desktop/LX and ProductivityPak, I wanted to see how the folks at Lycoris would 'Lycorize" Solitaire Ace and what it would turn out to be.

Lycoris has done it again with Solitaire Ace! This is the absolute best solitaire suite I've ever used.

After receiving Solitaire Ace in the mail this afternoon, I immediately noted it wasn't in a bulky box. It was in a padded CD Envelope and the CD was tucked into the nicest looking collectable tin you could imagine.

Installation was a snap! You enter the Product ID from the card that was included in the tin, and installation takes just a couple of minutes. After installation, a Solitaire Ace icon appeared in the "Games & Puzzle" menu. Clicking on it brought up the program and the default card game is Klondike (or classic solitaire).

The graphics are truly smart & clean. A beautiful job on the appearance & look of Solitaire Ace. The user can change card decks, card backgrounds, the table color, and many other customizable items.
However, the biggest surprise came about 5 seconds after Solitaire Ace started up. Music started playing in the background! At first, I thought I'd left an instrumental CD in my system. Nope! Solitaire Ace has the most amazing & soothing high-quality background instrumental music you could imagine. I thought that the music may be a distraction during a game, but I was wrong again. With the volume adjusted to a comfortable level, I found the music actually proving helpful in concentration and aided in my game-play.

The amount of games that are available for play is truly mind-boggling. It seems that nearly every variation of single-player card games ever conceived is wrapped into Solitaire Ace. I can't imagine how much work went into the compiling all the games & rules-of-play to make Solitaire Ace the amazing suite that it is. It's immediately obvious that a LOT of hard work and effort went into this product, and it shows!

If you've been holding back on purchasing Solitaire Ace because you're stuck in the mindset that, "solitaire is wicked boring," then it's time to update your paradigms!!!

If all you ever do is play some of the available games & game styles, you'll quickly find that Solitaire Ace was very much worth the price.

Again, Lycoris has added another jewel to their growing list of achievements!

Review: Lycoris GamePak

December 24, 2003

I received GamePak the other day. I actually ordered it on a whim. I was curious as to what it had to offer. In addition to Desktop/LX, I had already purchased ProductivityPak and Solitaire Ace. I'd had nothing but positive experiences with the Lycoris products.

All three products actually surprised the heck out of me. Now it seemed time to try out the last of the Lycoris (Consumer) Product Line. GamePak.

My initial thoughts & impression after running the games in GamePak were, WOW, Oh, WOW, and Oh, Boy! Holy Cow!

GamePak actually had a few surprises in it. During the installation, a pallet snoop was performed to ensure that the video card & screen resolution were at optimal.

What a great idea! I've never seen a prog/pkg installation do this DURING installation. Usually, you get a notice about video or monitor resolution when you attempt to run the program AFTER installation. What the folks at Lycoris have done is to integrate this check into the installation process. Very nice touch...

After the installation was completed, I immediately went to the auto race! This one rocked on my system....

Now here's the REAL reason I'm so excited after using GamePak for a few days. My system hardware is at the low end of the spectrum. Here are the basic specs:

CPU: Intel Celeron 400MHz
RAM: 384 MB
VIDEO: PNY NVIDIA TNT2 Mach 64 w/32MB
MON: Mitsubishi Diamond Scan 20

With the above system, GamePak was quick, responsive and the video was ultra clear & crisp!

I'm very impressed with GamePak. Even though many think the games are old, consider the work & effort to get them to work as fast & quick as they did on my system.

I see a pattern here. A pattern of commitment & hard work by the folks at Lycoris. I'm extremely impressed with the integration of the software packages. In my opinion, Lycoris is a company that delivers on its promises & commitment to their users. Even with an out-dated system such as mine, all of the four s/w pkgs from Lycoris work exceptionally well. I've been impressed with Lycoris & it's products since I first received Desktop/LX back in August '03.

I can now say that I've used Desktop/LX, ProductivityPak, Solitaire Ace and GamePak.

There are opinions that differ from mine, and each opinion is unique and worthy of respect. My opinions & comments are based on personal needs & experiences with Desktop/LX and the additional products & offerings from Lycoris.

Since I started using products from Lycoris, I've yet to experience any negative aspects. My system is fast, efficient & does what I need it to do WHEN I need to do it.

200 Days With Desktop/LX

February 19, 2004

As of today, February 19, 2004, it's been 200 days of fun & enjoyable computing with Desktop/LX.

In an earlier thread, entitled 100 Days With Desktop/LX. I outlined my experiences with Desktop/LX and how I completely pleased I am with the software and how it works.

After going back and looking at my initial posting, I have to admit that my feelings regarding Desktop/LX have not diminished at all. In fact, they've grown stronger & solidified further.

I was actually found myself becoming concerned that my appreciation for this OS had yet to diminish. I kept thinking, "Okay, any day now, and the novelty will wear off...." I'm sure you know how it is. You get a fancy, new toy. You use it, you use it hard, and you use it rough.

The 'novelty' aspect of Desktop/LX has yet to surface. After 200 days (10 days shy of seven months), I've even purchased additional products. I've taken advantage of Lycoris Direct, the Moving-On Sale, and many of the additional offerings that Lycoris has available in the Store.

Most of the items I've purchased are for the various systems I have for my family and myself. But I've also set two folks up with Desktop/LX.

Number 1: I set my father in-law's system up with Desktop/LX after his Windows box went south. The power supply blew & let the "magic smoke" out of both his motherboard & hard drive. I had enough spare h/w to build him a new system from the ground up. I went to the Lycoris Store to purchase the needed products now he has a system with Desktop/LX and Solitaire Ace. His computer runs without locking up or crashing, and it does what he wants it to do. He couldn't be happier.

Am I out any money regarding my father in-law? Absolutely not! He's FAMILY! If I can't pass my knowledge & share some good stuff with family, that would be wrong & a half!

Number 2: My best friend was getting curious as to what I liked about Desktop/LX. After showing him my system, he was amazed. My system has Desktop/LX Build 143, ProductivityPak, Solitaire Ace and GamePak. He seemed a bit leery, but about that time, my daughter came into my office and powered up her computer, which I also purchased a Desktop/LX license for (her coming in was coincidental; not planned). Once he saw my daughter cruising around the system & playing games, I think that started to hook him. He still seemed a little overly cautious, so 'then' I hit him with everything I had! Remember when Lycoris had their "Moving On" incentive special in November 2003? Well, I took advantage of that, and I passed my buddy a brand new boxed copy of Lycoris Desktop/LX, Update 3. Before I let go of it, I told him, "Now, this is somewhat conditional. If you really like the OS, keep it. Don't give me a dime for it. Just do me a favor and go to the Lycoris Store and purchase ProductivityPak. You wont regret it one bit"

Am I out any money with my friend? No way! He's my BEST FRIEND! We've probably done more for each other than most people would believe. To elaborate, we're both pretty insane with our love of radios & electronics. We're always giving each other various electronic 'stuff.' We drive our wives crazy with this stuff we play with, but I'll save those stories for a future thread. The other day, he told me he was sorry he ever doubted me, and thanked my for the challenge. I'm sure he'll be buying ProductivityPak.

On Friday, January 23, 2004, I jumped on the Amtrak Regional Train from Boston and Went to Linux World in New York City. I was able to meet and talk with Joseph and Rus. While at Linux World, Joseph and Rus really proved that they're a team. A true "Dynamic Duo." Observing how well they worked together was very apparent to myself, as well as to the huge volume of attendees who visited the Lycoris booth.

Lycoris is a company that is truly here for the users. Oh, sure, they'd like to get rich just like anyone else. However, they're not taking any of the shortcuts that many companies or people would (and often do). They want to do it properly. They want to do it with integrity and honor. They want to look at the products and be proud that they do their absolute best to bring past, present & future products to the users. Products that work.

Like it says in part of the Lycoris Store, "Just good software."

It looks like the 'novelty' will not wear off. That's because it ISN'T a novelty.

It's definitely for real.

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Lawrence Pellegrini is a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard with twenty-three years of military service; active duty USAF and ANG. His primary vocations & avocations encompass electronics, computers, computer-controlled systems and tactical/fixed communications encompassing the HF to EHF frequency ranges. He is an experienced Unix System Administrator and has been an active Linux user/enthusiast since 1994.