There are a few Linux News sites that I frequently check out. One day, after reading yet another “Top 5” blog posts, I asked myself, why do I still go here? I am not going to answer that question here, but what I will be doing is going over some of the issues I have with the majority of Linux related blogs and news sites.
There are to many “Top 5” or “10 Must Have” posts that showcase programs that, really, anyone who has been using Linux for even 6 months should already be familiar with. Just looking at the front page of lxer.com, they have 4 such blog posts.
12 killer apps for linux
11 of the Best Free Linux Chemistry Tools
5 Useful Unity Lenses You Can Install Right Now!
5 Links for Developers and IT Pros
Out of those 4, the only one that is rather legitimate is the one for Free Chemistry Tools. This is a list that linuxlinks.com does from time to time where they showcase some of the best of the best of various free software and once in a while, commercial-ware. All of the other ones are either just the author trying to cater to people who have just started using Linux yesterday or someone just compiling a list of links for people to check out. And I feel that these types of posts are useless.
Here are a list of other links from the front page of lxer.com, take a guess at what they all have in common.
Wineskin Pro 2.3 released
Why I Love Bodhi Linux
Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), Reviewed In Depth
Sabayon 5.5 Xfce Review
Review: Pinuy OS 11.04 Mini
Firefox 5 Release: new speed, same illness
Kde 4.6.4 has been released! With installation instructions for Ubuntu
Wine 1.3.22 Released
Peppermint OS Two Review
KDE SC 4.6.4 Is Available for Download
And there are a few more, I got bored continueing on with this list.
So, what do the all have in common? If you said that they are either reviews about a distribution or that they are press releases of the latest version of some piece of software, you are correct. I, for one, do not care of either of those. I will pick a distribution and use it, if I don’t like it, I will try something else. I do not need a review to tell me to try something. Furthermore, newly released software only matters to me if I do not follow releases of said programs on their project pages and I compile everything myself. For example, I wouldn’t have known of Firefox 5 being released because I don’t follow their releases page, but I also don’t care because when my distribution adds it to their repository is when I will upgrade. If I was compiling all of my software from source, then I would care deeply, but if I cared that deeply, I would be subscribed to their mailing list, apply the patches myself and compile everything on my own. To me, this is just wasted space on the internet.
The last group of sites that I have a large problem with are those that really cater to people new to Linux. I have been using Linux for 7 years now and I work with Linux professionally as a Sys Admin. I do not need How-Tos on installing Chrome 12 or how to change my wallpaper. I need posts that go over things like building your own lenses in Unity or setting up your own software repository for Debian or CentOS.
This was one of the reasons why I started my blog, because this kind of information is hard to find. I wanted to make my blog catered more towards those that have been using Linux for a while, but may not know a lot about one particular area, much like my posts on IPTables. I showed a collegue of mine the post on dropping brute force packets with IPTables and was really impressed with it. So much so that he implemented it on his machine. The reason I showed him that was because he was looking at alternative solutions that worked by blacklisting on the software level and not on the hardware level. But, I digress.
The point of this post was more of a rant on the current state of Linux related blogs and news agrigators. I want to see more detailed and technical posts and less posts to hold the hands of people new to Linux.
And before anyone points out the hypocracy of this post considering I made a post about gaming in Linux, I just want to say, that post was more of a rant on those that claim there are no games on Linux and that many of the bigger named development companies are wrong in their thinking.