KDE Plasma used to produce The Desolation of Smaug movie

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was one of the top grossing films of last year. It did huge box office numbers around the world as audiences packed theaters to see it. Softpedia reports that KDE Plasma has been seen in a short YouTube video about the making of the film.

According to Softpedia: A video posted on YouTube from the Weta Digital studio shows the team working on special effects for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second movie in the series. This is the famous scene where the dwarfs tumble down a river, in barrels, and they are followed by a group of orcs. It’s unclear what Linux distribution they are using, but the KDE interface can be clearly seen. More at Softpedia

The phrase “Linux is everywhere” keeps popping into my mind when I see stuff like this and it really is true. It’s great that such a high-budget, prominent movie is actually using open source software for production purposes. As far as the film itself goes, I enjoyed it but it’s definitely Peter Jackson’s version of The Hobbit and not J.R.R. Tolkien’s original story. It’s a fun popcorn movie but if you want the real story be sure to read the book. Here’s the video about the making of the film:

Testing rolling-release distributions

DistroWatch has started an interesting experiment by putting rolling-release distributions to the test to see how well they perform in terms of reliability.

According to DistroWatch: I recently began an experiment where I would install, run and evaluate five rolling-release operating systems to see which ones were the most reliable. I usually shy away from life on the cutting edge, preferring to stick with fixed releases with long support cycles. These days I want most of my computers to be predictable and reliable and the cutting edge does not appeal to me. However, the idea of an evolving operating system — one that does not need to be re-installed, one that does not have a fixed end of life — does hold an appeal. I do like playing with new features and new applications when I’m not working and so rolling-release distributions are interesting to me. Whenever the subject of rolling-release distributions comes up, some people report having poor experiences where their systems broke after a short time. Others report running the same installation for years without serious setbacks. I decided to try running several rolling-release operating systems to see how they performed for me. PCLinuxOS 2014.08 PC-BSD 10.0.3 openSUSE “Factory” Debian GNU/Linux “Sid” Arch Linux 2014.09.03 More at DistroWatch

I’ll be very interested in seeing the final results of this experiment. Rolling-release distributions can be a great alternative to fixed releases for many people, but they are not without their own challenges at times. If I had to pick the potential winner in this I’d probably go with Debian, but one of the other options might surprise all of us and take the crown. We shall see soon enough which one proves the most reliable. The inclusion of PC-BSD 10.0.3 adds a neat wrinkle to this experiment, and it should be fun to see how well it performs compared to the Linux distributions. I installed it last week for a slideshow and hand no problems with the install or with using it.

Cylon Linux 12.04.1 review

LinuxInsider has a review of Cylon Linux and thinks it might be a good option for those who like Ubuntu but who want a different user experience.

According to LinuxInsider: Cylon is a classic Linux distro preconfigured with lots of tweaks — kind of a Unity-less Ubuntu with bling. If you fancy the solid Ubuntu infrastructure but want something a lot different in user experience, give Cylon Linux a try. The visual effects are impressive and the system is preconfigured to work as installed. Cylon Linux offers numerous features to make it worthy of consideration. Perhaps one of the most impressive features is the well-stocked installed software. Most menu categories are stuffed with a dozen or more applications. In many cases, the list includes four or five options for the same types of programs. In nearly all cases, users will have little or no need to go to the Software manager to find more titles. More at LinuxInsider

You can get more information on the Cylon Linux site, including , downloads, and technical details. Note that the Cylon Linux ISO file weighs in at 2.5GB so bear that in mind if you are on a slower connection. What’s your take on all this? Tell me in the comments below.