Sabayon Linux

Sabayon Linux

Sabayon Linux 19.03 withGNOME 3
Developer	Fabio Erculiani and Team
OS family	Linux(Unix-like)
Working state	Discontinued
Source model	Mixed
Initial release	28 November 2005(2005-11-28)
Latest release	(Rolling release) 19.03/ 31 March 2019(31 March 2019)
Update method	Entropy (Equo, Rigo) /Emerge
Package manager	Entropy (Equo, Rigo) /Portage
Platforms	x86-64,previously alsoIA-32
Kerneltype	Monolithic kernel(Linux)
Userland	GNU
Default user interface	GNOME, KDE, Xfce, MATE,Fluxbox
License	Various; MainlyGPL
Official website	www.sabayon.org(dead link,archive)

Sabayon LinuxorSabayon(formerlyRR4 LinuxandRR64 Linux), was an ItalianGentoo-basedLinux distributioncreated by Fabio Erculiani and the Sabayon development team. Sabayon followed the "out of the box"philosophy, aiming to give the user a wide number of applications ready to use and a self-configured operating system.

Sabayon Linux featured arolling releasecycle, its ownsoftware repositoryand apackage management systemcalled Entropy. Sabayon was available in bothx86andAMD64distributions and there was support forARMv7in development for theBeagleBone.

It was named after an Italian dessert,zabaione,which is made from eggs.Sabayon's logo was an impression of achickenfoot.In November 2020 it was announced that future Sabayon Linux versions would base onFuntooinstead of Gentoo Linux.Sabayon Linux would hence be rebranded to MocaccinoOS.

Editions

Since version 4.1, Sabayon had been released in two different flavors featuring either theGNOMEorKDEdesktop environments, with the ultralightFluxboxenvironment included as well. (In the previous versions all three environments were included in a DVDISO image).

Since Sabayon's initial release, additional versions of Sabayon have added otherXenvironments, includingXfceandLXDE.A CoreCD edition which featured a minimal install of Sabayon was released to allow the creation of spins of the Sabayon operating system;however, this was later discontinued and replaced by CoreCDX (fluxbox window manager) and Spinbase (no X environment) first and by "Sabayon Minimal" later.A ServerBase edition was released which featured a server-optimized kernel and a small footprint, but this was later discontinued and integrated into the "Sabayon Minimal".

Daily build images were available to Sabayon testers, but were released weekly to the public on the system mirrors containing stable releases. Official releases were simply DAILY versions which had received deeper testing. The adoption of Moleculeled the team to change the naming system for releases.

Currently available versions are:

Name	Architecture	Desktop Environment	Availability
Sabayon GNOME	64 Bit	GNOME 3	DAILY and stable
Sabayon KDE		KDE
Sabayon LXDE		LXDE	No longer developed
Sabayon XFCE		Xfce	DAILY and stable
Sabayon MATE		MATE
Sabayon Minimal		None

Derivatives

Name	Desktop Environment	Availability
Sabayon Forensics	Xfce	DAILY

Name	Architecture	Desktop Environment	Availability
Sabayon for ARM	ARM	Kodi Media Manager	MONTHLY

Additional X window managers could also be installed from the Sabayon repositories, such asCinnamonandRazor-qt.

Configuration

Sabayon used the same core components as theGentoo Linuxdistribution and usedsystemd.All of the Gentoo configuration tools, such asetc-updateandeselectwere fully functional. Sabayon also included additional tools for automatic configuration of various system components such asOpenGL.Sabayon provided proprietary video drivers for bothnVidiaandATIhardware.These are enabled if compatible hardware is found; otherwise, the default open-source drivers are used. Because of the automatic driver configuration, thecompositing window managerCompiz FusionandKWinwere used for theGNOMEand KDE editions, respectively. The discovery and configuration of network cards, wireless cards, and webcams was similarly automatic. Most printers were detected automatically but required specific manual configuration through theCUPSinterface.

Package management

Sabayon Linux relied on twopackage managers.Portagewas inherited from Gentoo, while Entropy was developed for Sabayon by Fabio Erculiani and others. Portage downloadedsource-codeand compiled it specifically for the target system, whereas Entropy managed binary files from servers. The binarytarballpackages were precompiled using theGentoo Linuxunstable tree. Entropy clients then pulled these tarballs and performed the various post- and pre-compilation calls of the Gentooebuildto set up a package correctly. This means the system was completely binary-compatible with a Gentoo system using the same build configuration. The adoption of two package managers allowed expert users to access the full flexibility of the Gentoo system and others to easily and quickly manage software applications and updates. The Entropy software featured the ability of allowing users to help generate relevant content by voting and by attaching images, files and web links to a package.

The Rigo application browser was aGUIfront-end to Entropy that was the successor to Sulfur (aka Entropy Store).Taking on a "less is more" approach, Rigo was designed to be simple and fast. During an interview with Fabio Erculiani he described Rigo as a” Google-like” Applications Management UI.Rigo handled system updates, package searching, install/removal of packages, up/down voting of packages, and many other common Entropy tasks.

Applications

The number of applications installed by default was higher for DVD editions than for editions small enough to fit on a CD. Their selection was also tailored to the choice between GNOME, KDE, Xfce, and MATE. TheXBMCenvironment could be run without loading the full desktop environment.

The following table summarizes the software included in GNOME, KDE, Xfce, and MATE versions:

Type of Program	GNOME Version	KDE Version	Xfce Version	MATE Version
BitTorrentClient	Transmission	–	Transmission
E-mailClient	Evolution	KMail	–	–
IRCClient	HexChat	Konversation	HexChat
Compositing window manager	Mutter	KWin	Xfwm	Marco
Drop down terminal	Guake	Yakuake	–	–
Text editor	gedit	KWrite	Leafpad	Pluma
Image processing	GIMP	–	GIMP	–
Archive tool	Archive Manager	Ark	Archive Manager	Engrampa
Photo manager	Shotwell	Gwenview	Shotwell	Eye of MATE
Browser	Chromium		Midori
Burning program	Brasero	K3b	–	–
Media Center	Kodi		–	–
Media player	Totem	VLC media player	Totem	–
Instant messaging	Empathy	Kopete	Pidgin	–
Network Manager	NM Applet	KNetworkManager	NM Applet	NM Applet
Music Player	Exaile	Amarok	Exaile	Audacious
Office suite	LibreOffice			–
Virtual terminal	GNOME Terminal	Konsole	Terminal	MATE Terminal
Portable Document Formatviewer	Evince	Okular	ePDFView	Atril

Considerable software was also available in the main repository.

ManyMicrosoft Windowsexecutables were automatically run inWine.

Other applications includedAdobe Reader,Audacity,Clementine,aMSN,Celestia,Eclipse,FileZilla,GnuCash,Google Earth,Inkscape,Kdenlive,Mozilla Firefox,Mozilla Sunbird,Mozilla Thunderbird,Nero Burning ROM,Opera,Picasa,Skype,Teamviewer,VirtualBox,VuzeandWireshark.

Games (open-source and proprietary) includedDoom 3,Eternal Lands,Nexuiz,OpenArena,Quake,Quake 2,Quake 3,Quake 4,Sauerbraten,The Battle for Wesnoth,Tremulous,Unreal,Unreal Tournament,Urban Terror,Vendetta Online,Warsow,Warzone 2100,Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory,World of PadmanandXonotic.

Installation

Gentoo's installation was generally not recommended for beginners because its package management system required users to compile source code to install packages (most distributions rely on precompiledbinaries). Compiling larger programs and the base operating system could take several hours. Sabayon was considered easier to install than "pure Gentoo" because it used both the Portage package management system and its own Entropy package management, which allowed the user the option of using precompiled binary files during installation.

Although the distribution was aLiveDVD(or aLiveCDfor LXDE, CoreCDX, SpinBase and ServerBase) it could be installed on a hard disk once the system was fully booted. Sabayon Linux used theCalamaresinstaller. In previous releases,Anacondaand the Gentoo Linux Installer were used.Installation was designed to be simpler than is typical for Gentoo, which required more extensive knowledge of the operating system (particularly for the compilation of theLinux kernel). Installation took up to 30 minutes depending on the speed of the DVD drive. Those without a DVD drive could install the GNOME and KDE versions through a USB drive, which could be created withUnetbootin.A program played music during the boot process.

System requirements

• i686-compatible processor (ex.IntelPentium II,Pentium III,Celeron,AMDAthlon,AMDDuron)
• 512 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended)
• OpenGLcapable3D graphics card(mostlyNvidia,ATI (brand),Intel GMA,VIA Technologies)
• Display Data Channelcapable Monitor
• Mouse and Keyboard
• DVD Drive or USB flash drive for installation
• Internet Connection Recommended
• Minimum of 12 GB of free hard disk space for KDE and GNOME. Minimum of 5 GB for the others. Recommended at least 40 GB for KDE or GNOME installations, and 15 GB for the others.

Releases

Version	Desktop Environment	Release Date	Notes
3.0RC1b	miniEdition	1 July 2006
3.0RC2		16 August 2006	Distribution name switch from RR4 to Sabayon
	miniEdition	24 August 2006
3.0		14 September 2006
	miniEdition	26 September 2006
3.05		4 October 2006
3.1		10 October 2006
	miniEdition	9 October 2006
3.2		27 November 2006
	miniEdition	11 December 2006
3.25		2 January 2007
3.26		8 January 2007
3.3		16 March 2007
	miniEdition	25 March 2007
3.4 Loop 1		13 April 2007
3.4 Loop 2		18 May 2007
3.4 Loop 3		26 June 2007
1.0 "Business Edition" RE		15 July 2007
3.4		24 July 2007
3.4 Revision E		6 August 2007
3.4	miniEdition	23 September 2007
3.4 Revision F		7 September 2007
1.1	Professional Edition	23 October 2007
3.5 Loop 1		24 December 2007	First release including Entropy
3.5 Loop 2		17 March 2008
3.5 Loop 3		15 May 2008
3.5		1 July 2008	First stable release including entropy
Pod 3.5		11 July 2008
3.5.1		9 November 2008
4 Revision 1		25 December 2008
4	LiteMCE	4 January 2009
4.1	GNOME	13 April 2009	KDE and GNOME versions split off. ISO size changes from 4.7GB to 1.5-2GB.
	KDE	29 April 2009
4.2	GNOME	30 June 2009
	KDE	6 July 2009
coreCD 4.2		25 July 2009
5.0	GNOME/KDE	2 October 2009
5.1	GNOME/KDE	12 December 2009
CoreCD 5.1		20 December 2009
5.1	x86 GAMING EDITION	25 December 2009	Special Christmas versions containing only games
5.2	GNOME/KDE	26 March 2010
5.3	GNOME/KDE	5 June 2010
	SpinBase	18 June 2010	Replaces the CoreCD
	CoreCDX		CoreCD with X and Fluxbox
	LXDE/Xfce	19 July 2010	First stable version featuring LXDE/Xfce
	SpinBase/OpenVZ Templates		First stable version featuring ready to useOpenVZtemplates
5.4	GNOME/KDE	30 September 2010
5.5		27 January 2011
6		23 June 2011
7	GNOME/KDE/Xfce	11 October 2011
8		7 February 2012
9		8 June 2012
10	GNOME/KDE/Xfce/MATE	13 September 2012	First stable version featuring a MATE edition
11		15 February 2013
13.04		30 April 2013
13.08		12 August 2013	systemd adopted as default init system, GNOME 3.8
14.01	Gnome/KDE/Xfce/Mate	20 December 2013	Big Steam, Parallel Entropy,Long Term Stableversions
16.07		28 June 2016	Alpha Stage of LXQt spin, Anaconda installer,Rolling Releaseversions
16.11	Gnome/KDE/Xfce/Mate/Fluxbox	28 October 2016	New Anaconda version, kernel 4.8, Latest KDE-Plasma version, New Greeter!, Improvements and fixes to Entropy, New supported ARM devices!, Also new website,Rolling Releaseversions extra. Desktop, Server, and Cloud versions available
19.03 DESKTOP		21 January 2018	Unknown Changes
19.03 SERVER	Minimal Install
19.03 CLOUD	DockerHub/VagrantImage/(LXD/LXC)

Reception

Tux Machines reviewed Sabayon Linux in 2005.Tux Machines wrote:

The system starts out really impressive. I booted the livedvd and was given the option of just hitting enter or perusing several booting options. Then the silent boot features a lovely splash that utilizes a kde-like progress of highlighting icons rather than a progress bar and all accented by the lovely gentoo purple color scheme. The verbose boot looks just like my everyday gentoo system booting – a variation on the regular linux boot you've all probably seen many many times. A beautiful desktop greets you and lulls you into a sense of confidence. The desktop appears so polished and refined. The menus are chocked [sic] full of useful applications and tools. The fonts are great looking and performance is amazing (considering it appears built for i386). It features a 2.6.14-r2 kernel and uses a 6.99 of Xorg. The crowning jewel is the installer. It's the whole point.

Dedoimedo wrote post in 2008.Its review of Sabayon Linux:

Sabayon aims at delivering the complete experience out of the box. This means a plethora of programs, audio and video codecs and the sexy Compiz 3D desktop effects. It is also fully compatible with Gentoo, allowing the power users the ability to squeeze the absolute maximum of their operating system.

Linux.com wrote review about Sabayon 3.4:

All the options take a relatively long time to boot – approximately three minutes on my system. During boot, startup music begins playing during the last stages, unless you choose the Start without Music boot option. After the boot process, the first screen to appear will be the Configure Accelerated Desktop options. Sabayon loaded my Nvidia drivers, but neither Compiz Fusion or Metisse would work properly on my machines. I also had trouble shutting down or rebooting Sabayon; it would hang more times than not.

LWN.netreviewed Sabayon 4.0:

Sabayon Linux 4 sports a tasteful new theme that starts at first boot and is consistent throughout. Gone are the gothic tones of 2.x and the gawdy bright blue of 3.x. The professional quality graphics feature gray tones with royal blue accents and is very easy on the eyes. This new theme reflects the maturity of the distribution and its developers.

DistroWatch Weekly reviewed Sabayon Linux in 2009:

The installer is simple and easy-to-use. However, I did have some issues with the partitioner. Having just installed a new hard drive, I needed to set up partitions and thought I'd use the Sabayon installer for that. If memory serves, Sabayon adapted portions of Anaconda for their installer several version back and I thought it would be up to the job. Depending upon your perspective, it may have been. The issue I had with it was its insistence that it knew better than me how to arrange my partitions. I kid you not. I'd set up a few partitions in the order and size I wanted, and then they would just mysteriously rearrange themselves to meet some developer's idea of how they should be ordered. And it would not allow me to set up some unused partitions. It insisted they all have names and filesystems. I messed with it for a while but finally gave up and fired up fdisk. The install proceeded without incident after that. I chose to use the Ext4 filesystem and installed all software. There isn't a complete individual package selection, but broad categories and a few optional packages are listed one can disable. One can set up user accounts and a root password is desired, even though by default the first user account will be set up as the administrator. The GRUB bootloader will be installed if and where you wish and it'll try to detect and include other systems. That part is a bit hit and miss, but most are.

LinuxBSDos wrote post in 2009.Its review of Sabayon 5:

In Nautilus, the file manager, clicking on an image file opens the file in the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). I think when most people click on an image file, they want to view it in a photo viewer, and not in a Photoshop-like application. Note that this seems to be the default configuration of the GNOME desktop environment, and not a Sabayon-specific issue. I made a similar observation in a review of Hymera Open.

External links

• Official website
• Sabayon Linux on DistroWatch