Reviews

VLinux 2.0

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VLinux 1.0

• Bela Tiwari and Dawn Field, The Bioinformatics Playground [PDF] Issue 46, Linux User and Developer

  VLinux contains a good range of bioinformatics software, mostly
  concentrating on sequence manipulation and analysis, and structural viewing
  programs. A main benefit, apart from the range of software available, is
  the provision of graphical menu options for the bioinformatics software on
  the system. This includes a comprehensive listing of packages under the
  EMBOSS system, available both under the bioinformatics menu, and as a
  separate menu listing. Unlike some other distributions listed here, VLinux
  does not include ncbitools, which contains the popular Blast program and
  many other tools from the NCBI, but for new users, it will probably be more
  enticing to run this sort of analysis via the web. This is a good system
  for the new user to consider starting off with. It has an easy interface
  and the inclusion of the categorized EMBOSS graphical menu system is a
  boon.

• Bela Tiwari, Gearing up for Bioinformatics, Canadian Bioinformatics Help Desk Newsletter, March 2005

  This is a good system for the new user to consider starting off with.
  It has an easy interface and the inclusion of the categorized EMBOSS
  graphical menu system is a boon

• Antonia Rana, Linux for bioinformatics: dedicated distributions for processing of biological data – Part 1: Live distributions

  When the system starts, the konqueror KDE browser opens the file
  /cdrom/index.html which displays a web page with information on Vlinux
  and the bioinformatics packages installed on it. In addition, a brief
  description of each package installed is also available in
  /cdrom/KNOPPIX/packages.html. This page is also linked from the
  initial presentation page displayed at system startup. For each
  application a brief description consisting of name, version, usage
  and links to tutorials. Where available, a link to user manuals in
  HTML or PDF is also given. The description page also has an FAQ which
  contains information on how to use the CD. This kind of
  info/presentation is very useful when loading the system for the
  first time as it provides a way to navigate through the possibilities
  offered.
  
  Bioinformatics software can be easily found as it is located in
  /usr/local/bioinfo. Access to the tools is facilitated by the dedicated
  menu item “Bioinformatics” in the KDE menu which includes the
  applications: EMBOSS, which is a submenu giving access to all the
  programs within the EMBOSS suite, Arka, ClustalX, Garlic, Njplot,
  PyMol, Rachmandarn Plot, RasMol, SeaView, XMolCalc. Easy and well
  identified location for the bioinformatics packages as well as the
  documentation provided at startup which also functions as a map of
  the software available are very useful in this distribution, which,
  although not frequently updated, is quite easy to use.

• Andreas Tille and Steffen Möller, Free Software In Biology Using Debian-Med: A Resource For Information Agents and Computational Grids

  Also VLinux is at the time of writing a Live CD based on the same
  outdated Knoppix version 3.3 as Vigyann and includes a slightly
  changed software selection and surely a different background layout.

Mentions

• Dawn Field et. al. Open software for biologists: from famine to feast, Nature Biotechnology 24, 801 – 803 (2006)
• Tobias Kind et.al Software platform virtualization in chemistry research and university teaching, Journal of Cheminformatics 2009, 1:18
• Canadian Bioinformatics Help Desk Newsletter, November 4, 2004
• Tarun Kant, Open Source Bioinformatics Workbench Options for Life Science Researchers, New York Science Journal, Volume 3 – Number 10
• The EMBOSS project
• BioFOSS: a survey of Free/Open Source Software in Bioinformatics