another spin on mx-14

Dedoimedo reviews MX-14 in AntiX MX-14 review - Antics and tantrums

He didn't like it very much, but I'm not surprised. Still, he provides lots of useful information about the release, as always. Many readers might find enough there to make them want to take MX-14 for a spin.

sen looks at mx-14

A review of MX-14, done by Arindam Sen: http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.com/2014/04/antix-mx-14-symbiosis-review-truly.html

mx-14 "symbiosis"

MX-14 has been released. I used Unetbootin to set it up on a flash drive, and I'm running it with home persistence enabled. Here's a screenshot taken after I tweaked the desktop a bit:

Very nice release, from what I've seen so far. One of the nicest Xfce distros I've ever tried.


The release announcement, as copied from here:

24 March 2014

MX-14 "Symbiosis" available

So, what is MX-14?

"MX-14 "Symbiosis" is a special version of antiX developed in full collaboration with the Mepis Community and using the best tools and talents from each distro. It is a midweight OS designed to combine an elegant and efficient desktop with simple configuration, high stability, solid performance and medium-sized footprint.

The base depends on the excellent upstream work by Linux, Debian, and Xfce. MX-14 also incorporates the independent and innovative development products Whisker Menu, simsu and gottet, QupZilla Browser, smxi and inxi."

We think you will enjoy it!

MX-14 is based on Debian 7 "Wheezy" and enhanced with more up to date applications from debian-backports and MEPIS Community repository.

Includes:

- Linux kernel 3.12 pae 32 bit
- Xfce 4.10
- Qupzilla browser
- Libreoffice - full featured office suite
- VLC - multimedia player and streamer
- Clementine - modern music player and library organizer
- Synaptic - package manager
- MX-Flash - Adobe Flash (tm) plugin manager
- MX-User - user manager
- MX-Codecs - restricted codecs installer
- MX-Apt-notifier - tray applet to notify of system and application updates
- MX-Checkaptgpg - check and add missing GPG keys needed by apt
- XChat - IRC client
- Network Manager
- xfburn - cd/dvd burning
- Lightdm - desktop manager
- Leafpad - text editor
- File-roller - archive manager
- Snapshot - tool to make a live.iso of your installed system
- Luckybackup - backup tool using rsync
- Live persistence and remastering
- Samba
- Transmission - torrent client
- Xscreensaver
- Metapackage-installer - simple way to install popular applications.
- Firmware
- Printer drivers
- Bleachbit - cleanup utility
- Catfish file search tool
- Games - chromium-bsu, gottet, lbreakout2, simsu
- claws-mail email client and some plugins
- disk-manager - graphical filesystem configurator
- galculator
- gdebi - tool to install deb files
- gnome-ppp - modem internet connection tool
- grub-customizer - graphical Grub2/BURG configuration application
- grub2
- minitube - watch youtube videos outside the browser
- mirage - image viewer
- orage - calendar
- pacpl - multi-purpose audio converter/ripper/tagger script
- pdfshuffler - merge, split and re-arrange pages from PDF documents
- qpdfview - tabbed document viewer
- simple-scan - Simple Scanning Utility
- Thunar - File Manager for Xfce
- Unetbootin - install linux iso to a partition or USB drive
- hybrid iso

... and it all fits on a cd!

For more information, see the webpage here:

http://www.mepiscommunity.org/mx

and video here - Introducing MX-14:

http://www.mepiscommunity.org/introducing-mx14

Enjoy!

Available here:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/antix-linux/files/Final/MX-14/

Torrent here: http://linuxtracker.org/?page=torrent-details&id=1be9c6fc36be825153afdd475be46b23db89995f

and from MEPIS mirrors here:
http://www.mepis.org/mirrors
md5sum: 8bb53e4b5d15e44b635cca66168f9afb MX-14.iso

Post feedback here:
http://forum.mepiscommunity.org/viewforum.php?f=91

Post bugs and feature requests here:
http://forum.mepiscommunity.org/viewforum.php?f=97

Enjoy!

anticapitalista, Thessaloniki, 24 March 2014.


The ISO is also available via Google Drive; see http://www.mepiscommunity.org/node/67.

mx-14 rc2

MX-14 RC2 is now available for testing: http://www.mepiscommunity.org/mx

Again, Mepis forum member "Stevo" has mirrored the ISO on Google Drive: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1UMhse3gjfPSEpoemRHWmIyMFE/edit

mx-14 rc1

The first release candidate of MX-14 is now available for download. For more information, see: http://www.mepiscommunity.org/mx

Mepis forum member "Stevo" has mirrored the ISO on Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1UMhse3gjfPakdNSmNqaHoyTzg/edit?usp=sharing

I used Google Drive for the download, and used Unetbootin in Debian Wheezy to create a bootable flash drive. In the live session, I set up home persistence with the RemasterCC GUI; everything's looking good here, so far.

"thumbs up" to the mepis community

 I continue to be impressed by the efforts of the Mepis Community -- still one of the best (although far from being one of the largest) Linux communities out there! For a look at what they've been doing over there, check out http://www.mepiscommunity.org/.

Great job, folks!

second beta

I tried the MX-14 beta 2 in a live session, again from a flash drive created with UNetbootin. It's shaping up to be a very interesting little distro. This second beta was put up this past week, and members of the Mepis Community are busy testing it out.

For the second beta release (I posted a little about the first one in "mx-14 beta 1"), they've switched to the QupZilla web browser; Midori shipped with the first beta. Among other things, MX-14 includes: the LibreOffice office suite, GParted, Grub Customizer, Thunar file manager, Htop, Galculator, luckyBackup, Mirage image viewer, Synaptic package manager, UNetbootin, BleachBit, Catfish file search, the Claws Mail email client, VLC music player, and some goodies like the Whisker Menu, smxi and inxi, and the MX User Assistant. There are tools for live persistence. There's a metapackage installer for easily installing various apps. Restricted codecs can be easily added as well.

Another nice touch: the "Help" document, accessible from the panel, which includes a "Quickstart" guide and info about the default web browser, customization, file management, GRUB, smxi, persistence, and remastering.

I like QupZilla, but not as much as Chromium, so for the heck of it, I decided to try the metapackage installer to add Chromium in the live session. That seemed to work fine.

The Mepis Community website (http://www.mepiscommunity.org/) is undergoing a renovation process; seems that it's becoming more of a site for MX than for Mepis. Interesting, as the Debian-Stable based Mepis release seems to be stuck in a holding pattern, still in beta stage.

For my purposes, MX-14 seems to be excellent to use for live sessions; the system runs quite nicely from a flash drive, and all of the tools I usually need in a live session are present. I'm not planning on doing an installation -- I've got too many distros installed here already, including the Xfce spin of Debian Wheezy -- but I think MX-14 will turn out to be excellent for everyday use as an installed system. Great job so far!

A couple more screenshots:

mx-14 beta 1

The first beta for MX-14 is up. This is a Mepis/antiX collaboration; comes with Xfce, and it's based on Debian Wheezy. Looks very nice in the live session. I used Unetbootin to put it on a flash drive. Info here: http://www.mepiscommunity.org/mx14

four point ten

I've been using KDE 4.10 in Chakra for about a month and in Sabayon for a little more than a week. Yesterday, I was surprised to see updates available in Fedora 17 for KDE 4.10.1, so I brought 'em in.

KDE4 is looking very good these days, and 4.10 seems like a very nice step forward from what's come before -- more polished, and faster.

Looks like Debian Wheezy will have KDE 4.8.4 when it finally becomes Debian Stable; Mepis will probably stick with what's in the Wheezy repos. I think that'll be fine for most Mepis users; I'm still using KDE 4.8.5 in openSUSE 12.2, with no complaints. But most distros are more up-to-date with KDE than Debian is, so the next Mepis release might be a tough sell for KDE-lovers -- unless rock-solid, Debian-ish stability is a primary concern, or unless the user is a devoted Mepis fan already. KDE 4.10 is already available via PPAs in Kubuntu, and the next Kubuntu release (in April) will come with it by default. openSUSE 12.3 comes with 4.10.0. Even PCLinuxOS is already at 4.9.5, I think.

But whether it's 4.8.x or 4.10.x, good times for KDE users.

m12 development

Mepis 12 has been on hold while developer Warren Woodford looks into making Mepis work with UEFI-only hardware. Jerry3904 recently posted some some of Mr. Woodford's responses to comments/concerns from members in this Mepis forums thread. Here's what was communicated in the email message from Mr. Woodford to Jerry3904, for those who are interested and want to know what's up (and who don't want to have to dig through the entire thread):

On Saturday, November 10, 2012 02:07:15 PM you wrote: 

> Hi Warren -- 

>

> Doubt if you have been paying any attention to that thread, so here is a

> summary of the Community's reaction to your request:

>

> 1) not a single person currently owns the hardware needed for testing.

Actually,I have been reading the thread and that was my impression. 

> 2) most people believe that it is not actually a show-stopping problem at

> this point, and that an update later could handle what comes 

Go to Best Buy, see all the new computers that are EFI only. The problem
arises when people buy or get a new computer this christmas and then want to
put MEPIS on it. 

> 3) many felt that we should not try to duplicate what Debian itself is

> doing, whose installer (as that link I sent stated) has apparently made

> significant progress 

I agree. MEPIS and Debian have always had different philosophies regarding
installation. It's unlikely that what works for them will easily integrate
with the MEPIS installer. 

Eventually the MEPIS installer will have to be expanded to recognize at least
3 or 4 different installation scenarios. It can be done, but only if testing
is available. 

> 4) a certain number said they would rather see you put your development

> time at this point into getting KDE fully functional so we can get to a

> beta stage.

I would love to do that. And if I stop selling CDs, then it's less of an
issue, if MEPIS doesn't work with EFI. I don't sell enough to matter anyway. 

>
> This comment by a long-standing member is a good summary of the discussion:

>
> "From initial investigations I would say that the UEFI obstacle is

> something that presently will only affect a handful of people (who wish to

> try Mepis/other non m$ OS). No doubt in a year's time it will affect some

> more people, when say some OEM manufacturers ship a load of pre locked

> PCs. Even so, for UEFI to be an issue, secure mode has to be enabled

> already during windows install. It is gonna be pretty easy to disable this

> by either entering the BIOS and doing so there, or using a windows utility

> (cmndlets?!) to help with this.

A lot of new PCs are EFI only. At this time, MEPIS does not support EFI boot
at all. Anyone with EFI only, is out of luck right now with MEPIS.

And even if the PC can be put in BIOS mode, if someone wants to dual boot,
that may not work because their Win install may refuse to work with BIOS mode.
Secure boot just makes it worse. 

> The tricky bit is if you wish to dual boot

> windows and Linux using UEFI as far as I can tell.

Definitely. 

> Not for me but some people might prefer this? It looks like simply wiping

> the disk and reformatting the boot partition should resolve most issues.

>
> Bottom line is we will have to deal with this as it happens as the Linux

> tools to automate disabling of secure boot aren't out there (yet?), so I'd

> say carry on with M12(3?) regardless and lets deal with any UEFI issues as

> they occur."

>
> Another knowledgeable member agreed:

>
> "Full UEFI implementation will only be required for a very small number of

> brand spanking new hardware sets, all OEM preloads of Windows. The MEPIS

> "market" is much larger than that. For now, we (Warren) should play to our

> strengths; we can deal with the edge cases on down the line when the

> tools/solutions become more widely available." 

I see three possible paths: 

1. Ignore EFI and proceed toward beta. 

2. Get an EFI computer and at least get basic EFI install working. 

3. Do 1 for now and resolve 2 after Christmas when prices are lower.
I have never before gone to Beta with such a big issue unresolved.

But I guess the best path is #3. Move toward Beta and resolve EFI before
final. 

Thanks to everyone for their input! 

Best, 

Warren

alphabetical order?

In my post just a few tweaks (August 11, 2012), I showed the contents of my (then) current ~/.fluxbox/init file. Later, I wondered if it wouldn't be easier find things in that file if the lines were put in alphabetical order. Why aren't they in alphabetical order in the first place? What would happen if I did it?

So I made a back-up copy of my init file, and then I sorted it. By the way, you can do something like this quickly by using the sort command (see man sort).

So, I haven't seen where sorting it causes any problems. Yet. Anyway, here's my new ~/.fluxbox/init file from Mepis 11 (I did move a few lines around after sorting):


session.screen0.allowRemoteActions: false
session.screen0.autoRaise: true
session.screen0.clickRaises: true
session.screen0.clientMenu.usePixmap: true
session.screen0.colPlacementDirection: TopToBottom
session.screen0.defaultDeco: NORMAL
session.screen0.demandsAttentionTimeout: 500
session.screen0.edgeSnapThreshold: 10
session.screen0.focusModel: ClickFocus
session.screen0.focusNewWindows: true
session.screen0.followModel: SemiFollow
session.screen0.fullMaximization: false
session.screen0.iconbar.alignment: Left
session.screen0.iconbar.iconTextPadding: 10l
session.screen0.iconbar.iconWidth: 70
session.screen0.iconbar.mode: {static groups}
session.screen0.iconbar.usePixmap: true
session.screen0.maxDisableMove: false
session.screen0.maxDisableResize: false
session.screen0.maxIgnoreIncrement: true
session.screen0.menu.alpha: 200
session.screen0.menuDelay: 200
session.screen0.menuDelayClose: 200
session.screen0.menuMode: Delay
session.screen0.noFocusWhileTypingDelay: 0l
session.screen0.opaqueMove: true
session.screen0.overlay.capStyle: CapNotLast
session.screen0.overlay.joinStyle: JoinMiter
session.screen0.overlay.lineStyle: LineSolid
session.screen0.overlay.lineWidth: 1
session.screen0.rootCommand: ~/.fluxbox/autostart.sh
session.screen0.rowPlacementDirection: LeftToRight
session.screen0.showwindowposition: true
session.screen0.slit.acceptKdeDockapps: true
session.screen0.slit.alpha: 255
session.screen0.slit.autoHide: false
session.screen0.slit.layer: Dock
session.screen0.slit.maxOver: false
session.screen0.slit.onhead: 0
session.screen0.slit.placement: RightBottom
session.screen0.strftimeFormat: %a %b %d  %R
session.screen0.tab.placement: TopLeft
session.screen0.tab.width: 64
session.screen0.tabFocusModel: ClickToTabFocus
session.screen0.tabs.intitlebar: true
session.screen0.tabs.maxOver: false
session.screen0.tabs.usePixmap: true
session.screen0.titlebar.left: Stick
session.screen0.titlebar.right: Minimize Maximize Close
session.screen0.toolbar.alpha: 255
session.screen0.toolbar.autoHide: false
session.screen0.toolbar.height: 0
session.screen0.toolbar.layer: Dock
session.screen0.toolbar.maxOver: false
session.screen0.toolbar.onhead: 0
session.screen0.toolbar.placement: BottomCenter
session.screen0.toolbar.tools: prevworkspace, workspacename, nextworkspace, iconbar, prevwindow, nextwindow, systemtray, clock
session.screen0.toolbar.visible: true
session.screen0.toolbar.widthPercent: 90
session.screen0.tooltipDelay: 500
session.screen0.userFollowModel: SemiFollow
session.screen0.window.focus.alpha: 255
session.screen0.window.unfocus.alpha: 200
session.screen0.windowMenu: /home/steve/.fluxbox/windowmenu
session.screen0.windowPlacement: RowMinOverlapPlacement
session.screen0.workspaces: 4
session.screen0.workspaceNames: one,two,three,four,
session.screen0.workspacewarping: true
session.appsFile: ~/.fluxbox/apps
session.autoRaiseDelay: 250
session.cacheLife: 5l
session.cacheMax: 200l
session.colorsPerChannel: 4
session.configVersion: 10
session.doubleClickInterval: 250
session.forcePseudoTransparency: true
session.ignoreBorder: false
session.keyFile: ~/.fluxbox/keys
session.menuFile: ~/.fluxbox/menu
session.slitlistFile: /home/steve/.fluxbox/slitlist
session.styleFile: /home/steve/.fluxbox/styles/Steve-BlueNight
session.styleOverlay: ~/.fluxbox/overlay
session.tabsAttachArea: Window
session.tabPadding: 0

best tool for the job

No matter what distro I'm using, it's common for me to use applications that are not native to that distro's desktop environment.

Right now, I'm logged into Mepis 11. The default environment is KDE, but I'm logged into a Fluxbox session. Here, I prefer to use xfce4-terminal instead of Konsole because Fluxbox's transparency works with xfce4-terminal, but not with Konsole.

Mepis 11 comes with Firefox. I prefer to use Chromium, but the version from the repos is still at 13.0.782.220, so I installed google-chrome-stable (now at version 21.0.1180.75)  from outside of the repos, and I use that instead.

KWrite is the default text editor, but I prefer to use Geany.

For file management, KDE has Dolphin, which I use most of the time, and Konqueror. But I also have Thunar (from Xfce) and PCManFM (from LXDE) installed.

I don't use either of those very much, though.

Gwenview is the native image viewer, but I also like Geeqie and Mirage.

The idea is to use what you feel is the best available tool for the job. Linux gives you tons of choices; you don't have to only use applications that come with your distro's default desktop environment.

Unless you really want to.

just a few tweaks

Playing around this morning with Fluxbox in Mepis 11, making a few tweaks.

I didn't like how, by default, the application icons take up the whole iconbar on the toolbar, so I made the application icons look more like buttons by going to the ~/.fluxbox/init file and finding the following line:

session.screen0.iconbar.alignment: Relative

I changed this to:

session.screen0.iconbar.alignment: Left


I thought the workspace names were taking up too much space, so I changed

session.screen0.workspaceNames: Workspace 1,Workspace 2,Workspace 3,Workspace 4,

to

session.screen0.workspaceNames: one,two,three,four,


I gave myself some transparency: Fluxbox menu > Configuration > Transparency > Force Pseudo-Transparency. Then I set "Unfocused Window Alpha" and "Menu Alpha" to 200.

For toolbar transparency, I set the alpha to 200 under Configuration > Toolbar.

I thought the workspace name, and the text in the clock, were crowded too far over to the left. After digging around for awhile, I revised the current style ("BlueNight") under /usr/share/fluxbox/styles. In the "BlueNight-revised," I changed

toolbar.justify:                     Left

to

toolbar.justify:                     Center

Then I selected "BlueNight-revised" as my style, instead of "BlueNight."

Here's my Fluxbox desktop with the application windows minimized, showing the menu opened to "Styles":

It's helpful, sometimes, to see examples of configuration files that other people are using in Fluxbox, so here's the contents of my current ~/.fluxbox/init file:

session.screen0.menu.alpha: 200
session.screen0.tab.placement: TopLeft
session.screen0.tab.width: 64
session.screen0.titlebar.left: Stick
session.screen0.titlebar.right: Minimize Maximize Close
session.screen0.window.focus.alpha: 255
session.screen0.window.unfocus.alpha: 200
session.screen0.clientMenu.usePixmap: true
session.screen0.iconbar.mode: {static groups}
session.screen0.iconbar.alignment: Left
session.screen0.iconbar.iconWidth: 70
session.screen0.iconbar.usePixmap: true
session.screen0.iconbar.iconTextPadding: 10l
session.screen0.tabs.usePixmap: true
session.screen0.tabs.maxOver: false
session.screen0.tabs.intitlebar: true
session.screen0.overlay.lineWidth: 1
session.screen0.overlay.lineStyle: LineSolid
session.screen0.overlay.joinStyle: JoinMiter
session.screen0.overlay.capStyle: CapNotLast
session.screen0.slit.layer: Dock
session.screen0.slit.autoHide: false
session.screen0.slit.alpha: 255
session.screen0.slit.placement: RightBottom
session.screen0.slit.acceptKdeDockapps: true
session.screen0.slit.onhead: 0
session.screen0.slit.maxOver: false
session.screen0.toolbar.layer: Dock
session.screen0.toolbar.alpha: 200
session.screen0.toolbar.height: 0
session.screen0.toolbar.widthPercent: 90
session.screen0.toolbar.maxOver: false
session.screen0.toolbar.visible: true
session.screen0.toolbar.autoHide: false
session.screen0.toolbar.placement: BottomCenter
session.screen0.toolbar.tools: prevworkspace, workspacename, nextworkspace, iconbar, prevwindow, nextwindow, systemtray, clock
session.screen0.toolbar.onhead: 0
session.screen0.windowPlacement: RowMinOverlapPlacement
session.screen0.menuMode: Delay
session.screen0.strftimeFormat: %a %b %d  %R
session.screen0.workspaces: 4
session.screen0.tooltipDelay: 500
session.screen0.focusModel: ClickFocus
session.screen0.edgeSnapThreshold: 10
session.screen0.maxIgnoreIncrement: true
session.screen0.opaqueMove: true
session.screen0.tabFocusModel: ClickToTabFocus
session.screen0.allowRemoteActions: false
session.screen0.workspacewarping: true
session.screen0.maxDisableMove: false
session.screen0.windowMenu: /home/steve/.fluxbox/windowmenu
session.screen0.workspaceNames: one,two,three,four,
session.screen0.showwindowposition: true
session.screen0.menuDelay: 200
session.screen0.colPlacementDirection: TopToBottom
session.screen0.rowPlacementDirection: LeftToRight
session.screen0.rootCommand: ~/.fluxbox/autostart.sh
session.screen0.defaultDeco: NORMAL
session.screen0.autoRaise: true
session.screen0.maxDisableResize: false
session.screen0.clickRaises: true
session.screen0.menuDelayClose: 200
session.screen0.followModel: SemiFollow
session.screen0.fullMaximization: false
session.screen0.focusNewWindows: true
session.screen0.userFollowModel: SemiFollow
session.screen0.noFocusWhileTypingDelay: 0l
session.styleOverlay: ~/.fluxbox/overlay
session.colorsPerChannel: 4
session.doubleClickInterval: 250
session.cacheMax: 200l
session.tabPadding: 0
session.appsFile: ~/.fluxbox/apps
session.forcePseudoTransparency: true
session.tabsAttachArea: Window
session.keyFile: ~/.fluxbox/keys
session.ignoreBorder: false
session.autoRaiseDelay: 250
session.cacheLife: 5l
session.menuFile: ~/.fluxbox/menu
session.slitlistFile: /home/steve/.fluxbox/slitlist
session.styleFile: /usr/share/fluxbox/styles/BlueNight-revised
session.configVersion: 10

my kde installations

I'm running KDE in five different distros here: Mepis, PCLinuxOS, openSUSE, Fedora, and Sabayon. Each distro is excellent.

Mepis ships with only KDE.

According to DistroWatch, openSUSE's default desktop is KDE, Sabayon's is "GNOME/KDE," and Fedora's is GNOME; but all three of those distros have other spins.

In Mepis 11, I'm using KDE 4.5.3. The Mepis Community has stepped forward with ways to upgrade to newer KDE versions, but I've stayed with the "old" one in Mepis because it works fine, and because I have newer versions running in other distros here. The Mepis 12 "alpha" is about to be released, and I think that might be coming with KDE 4.8.4, which is in the Debian Testing repos.

PCLinuxOS 2012.02 (fully upgraded here from the original 2010.07 installation) is at KDE 4.6.5. The next "quarterly" release (right now, they're working on the 2012.06 "trial release") will have KDE 4.8.3. Users who do not wish to do a fresh installation will be able to upgrade KDE from 4.6.5 to 4.8.3 by running a script that will be provided.

openSUSE 12.1 has KDE 4.7.2.

Fedora 17 and Sabayon 9 ship with KDE 4.8.3, but last weekend I pulled in an update to 4.8.4 in Sabayon, so that's the most up-to-date distro here as far as KDE is concerned.

openSUSE and Fedora have shorter release cycles than the other three distros (approximately 8 and 6 months, respectively), and I don't expect to see newer KDE versions in either openSUSE 12.1 or Fedora 17.

Sabayon and PCLinuxOS are rolling-release distros; usually, all you have to do is keep your system updated and you'll be "current." But Sabayon is currently more of a "cutting-edge" distro than PCLinuxOS.

At the end of a Mepis release cycle, a fresh installation is recommended (if not required) to move to the next version. Fedora provides an upgrade path (called "Preupgrade" -- I hear it's good, but I haven't tried it), as does openSUSE.

All of these different distros have done well with their respective KDE implementations, and all are quite pleasant to use, but each one might appeal to different types of users. Folks who love Mepis don't care about having the "latest and greatest" stuff; stability is the priority. Fedora and Sabayon users might want to be closer to the cutting edge. openSUSE and Fedora users might not be keen on using a "one-man distro."

But each of these distros has many happy users in its camp, and I'm sure that any one of the five would be quite suitable for anyone who wants to stick with only one distro over a long period of time.

misc.

 It never ceases to amaze me that so many Linux folks go on and on and on about all the things they hate about Ubuntu, about Unity, about GNOME Shell, about... Here's an idea: If you don't like it, don't use it. Problem solved.

...

For the most part, the GNOME Shell Extensions concept seems like a good idea, especially for folks who feel that they need to add tools to make GNOME Shell more like a "traditional" desktop. Still, I prefer to stick pretty close to the default set-up in GNOME Shell, and have no problems with using that to get around the desktop and get my work done. The only extensions I use are Alternative Status Menu and Quit Button.

If you go to the GNOME Shell Extensions site, currently you'll find 12 pages of extensions. The site could use a little organization; you can sort the extensions by popularity, name, recent additions, or downloads (I'm assuming that the difference between "downloads" and "popularity" is that the latter represents how many people actually have a particular extension turned on, but I'm not sure about that). It would be helpful if the extensions were categorized in some way.

I've tried out a handful of the extensions; usually, I end up feeling like they just add clutter to my desktop and don't really make things any easier for me. Seems like a lot of them are buggy.

Some of them come close to being something I'd want without being exactly what I'd want. For example, I'd like to have the Panel-Docklet extension simply show me icons for each running application. Nothing else. I messed around with the extension's settings for a long time, but couldn't find a way to get it to do just that. It gives me an icon for the running apps on the current workspace; I can set it to show running apps from other workspaces when the mouse cursor is hovering over the extension, but that isn't what I want.

Seems like it would be better to just add xfce4-panel with only the icon box on the panel, set to show icons from all workspaces. But with GNOME Shell's Activities overview, I feel like I don't need to bother with adding something like that. Keep it clean, use it like it was designed, I'm fine.

...

Fedora 17 was released today. I currently have F15 (KDE) and F16 (GNOME) installed; I'll be replacing the former with F17 (KDE). I like having both of the two most recent Fedora releases running here, and I've been happy with what they do with both KDE and GNOME, so I'll just continue going with KDE for the odd-numbered releases and GNOME for the even-numbered ones.

...

I use SalineOS, which comes with Xfce; one of my Debian Stable installations is the Xfce version; and, I've added Xfce to Mepis 11 to use sometimes as an alternative to the default KDE.

There's plenty to love about Xfce. I often wonder why folks who hate the never environments (KDE4, GNOME Shell, Unity) don't simply switch to it and get on with their lives.

I add a few things to Xfce to make things more pleasant for me: Dolphin and KSnapshot from KDE (better than Thunar and Screenshot), the Geany text editor (better than Mousepad), and Desktopnova for automatic wallpaper changing.

When using Xfce, the only things I can think of that I miss: Some kind of screen edges/hot corners action; a desktop/workspace grid; and a nice, simple menu editor.

But Xfce is so light and easy to configure that it's no surprise that many people don't want or need any other DE. For my money, it has the best panel in the business (it's my panel of choice for Openbox, by the way). Seems like there's no need to worry about any dramatic changes coming in the future. Kinda seems like the ideal default DE.

...

The distros installed here include Mepis, SalineOS, PCLinuxOS, and Semplice Linux. All of these are either based on or spun from "larger," more established distros. All of them fall under the "one-man distro" category. And all of them are nice distros.

I played around with the idea of dropping all of them and just sticking with the "big boys" that I run -- Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, and openSUSE -- but I finally decided that I enjoy using those spin-offs and following the projects over time, enough that I'll probably keep them all (not sure about Semplice -- Debian Sid or anything based on it is too much of a hassle for my tastes). But going forward, I don't think I'll be adding any more of those types of distros to my lineup.

Overall, I think "major" distros are a lot better. Their documentation is better; and, they're more likey to be around five years from now, pretty much sticking with the same philosophies. On balance, I feel that the "spin-offs" don't offer that much in the way of advantages over the "major" distros, while the idiosyncrasies of the spin-off distros and their (lone or few) devs can be quite irritating at times.

So, even though I'm reading all kinds of wonderful things about Linux Mint 13, Crunchbang, and SolusOS, among others, I think I'll pass.

m8 -- end of life

I still have Mepis 8 installed here even though I have the current version, Mepis 11, as well. Since around '06 when I first started using Mepis, I've been using its grub to boot any other systems installed on the same computer. So, whenever a new version comes out, I usually keep the old one, at least for awhile, just to have something there that I know I can count on while I check out the new version. I think I started doing this back with Mepis 3.4-3 and 6.0.

Mepis started out based on Debian Stable. They went to an Ubuntu base for 6.0 and 6.5, then switched back to a Debian base after that.

Mepis 8 is based on Debian 5 (codename "Lenny"). Debian 6 ("Squeeze") is the current "Stable" version. Lenny reached its "end-of-life" on February 6th, when its security support was terminated; this, of course, affects Mepis 8.

The Debian "oldstable" distribution was moved from the main archive to the archive.debian.org repository after March 24th 2012 (see http://www.debian.org/distrib/archive). Accordingly, the "official" Mepis 8 sources.list was changed to reflect this (see http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=Sources.list_MEPIS_8.0).

I'm probably gonna keep Mepis 8 running until the next Mepis version comes out. It's working just fine, and it's the only Linux installation I have here that still has the old KDE 3.5. So, I edited my Mepis 8 sources.list to reflect the "official" one, although I've commented out some of the repos that I don't use:

# See sources.list(5) for more information

# This file should be edited through synaptic

# MEPIS improvements, overrides and updates--the MEPIS magic
deb ftp://mepis.mirrorcatalogs.com/mepis/packages/mepis/ mepis-8.0 main 
# MEPIS master pools, please use only if mirror is slow or down
# deb ftp://ftp.mepis.com/mepis/ mepis-8.0 main

deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free 
# deb-src ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free

deb http://archive.debian.org/debian-security/ lenny/updates main contrib non-free

# deb http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile/ lenny/volatile main contrib non-free

# Some Debian Multimedia software might be illegal in some jurisdictions
# deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ lenny main

Kind of sad to see Mepis 8's "end-of-life." It's been one of the most solid, stable Linux installations I've had. I don't log into it much anymore, though, and I've found that I really don't miss KDE 3.5 at all (I'm actually typing this from Xfce in Mepis 8). But I'll still feel comfortable using it every now and then, even without the security updates.

Mepis is a great distro; I love Debian Stable, but it's nice to have something else around based on Stable that comes with a live CD or DVD, and that's quicker and easier to install than Debian. It's also nice to see some other distros coming out recently that are like that, such as SalineOS and Crunchbang. My only complaint about Mepis has always been the lack of communication coming from its developer, Warren Woodford. He doesn't participate at the forums, and you rarely hear anything about what he has planned, or what he's up to. But he always seems to churn out good, solid releases, so I've found that I don't mind the lack of communication too much.

xfce in mepis 11

Finally got around to installing Xfce in Mepis 11. Had a lot of fun setting it up and tweaking it.

I added Desktopnova to handle timed, automatic wallpaper changing. When I sat down to the computer this morning, this was the view on my desktop:

That's a shot of the Rio Grande in Albuquerque during the Balloon Fiesta. Magnificent!

present windows - all desktops

In Mepis 11, I have KDE4's screen edges set so that I can move the cursor to the bottom right corner to bring up the desktop grid. This is quite useful for taking a look at what's on each virtual desktop and moving quick to a different desktop.

But I have the top left corner set to "Present Windows - All Desktops." This one gives me a look at all open application windows, and of course I can click on any one of them to go to that window.

That's just a tool to use in addition to the desktop grid and the panel's Task Manager. Here's the Screen Edges GUI used to set it up (System Settings > Window Behavior > Screen Edges):

long live mepis

Warren Woodford came out with the Debian Stable-based Mepis before Ubuntu existed. It wasn't the first Linux live CD, but Woodford's creation gave us a live/installation CD -- a complete, easy-to-use system that could be run from the CD or used to install Linux to the hard drive.

I've been using Mepis since early 2006. During that time, I've also used several other distros, but Mepis continues to be the one distro that I fall back on. The live CD (and now, the live DVD) has been convenient to have around, and I know I can count on Woodford to turn out quality releases.

So, why hasn't Mepis become more popular than it is now?

Being based on Debian Stable means that Mepis doesn't come with the latest and greatest packages. (By the way, for a short time, Mepis was based on Ubuntu; the experiment didn't last, and Mepis moved back to a Debian Stable base.) Mepis users can acquire more up-to-date packages the Debian way -- by creating a "mixed system" and pulling things in from the Testing or Unstable repos, or by compiling packages on their own. They can also get newer stuff from Mepis' Community Repos. But those aren't always good solutions for people who want things a bit more "cutting edge" out of the box.

The Debian Stable base, along with the fact that Mepis is a one-man distro, produced, primarily, by a guy who has limited time and resources, means that you don't see Mepis in the news as often as other distros like PCLinuxOS, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Fedora. Woodford puts out one version of Mepis -- it's always just a KDE distro. Other distros have several different versions and release more frequently; Mepis releases come out once a year, at best -- Woodford releases it when it's ready, and usually it takes longer than one year for the next version to come out. So we don't see as many announcements about Mepis at sites like DistroWatch, for example, as we see about other distros.

Most people in the Mepis community don't hear from Woodford much. He doesn't participate at the Mepis forums. He tweets, but not often. He's great at putting out a solid distro, but not so great at selling it to the Linux public. His eccentricities may put off a lot of people, and many people would rather not use a one-man distro as their primary operating system. I mean, what happens if Woodford croaks?

Also, folks have questioned Woodford's commitment to the project. The guy has to work for a living; he's got other things going on in his life, and doesn't say much, if anything, about the long-term direction of the project. Several times, Ive wondered if the current release would be the last. There are no guarantees that Woodford won't bail on the project at any given time. Many people aren't comfortable with things being up in the air like that.

My take on that is that a Debian Stable-based Mepis release is good for a few years -- for the life of the current Stable (a couple of years), and a bit longer if you don't mind not receiving updates for awhile. It should be fine to use for quite some time. After that, it's anybody's guess.

The uncertainty and the lack of popularity don't keep me from sticking with Mepis, though. I decided awhile back to just enjoy the ride. Woodford's release always seem to be a little bit less than perfect; you'll see a few bugs here and there. But Mepis is always solid, stable, and quick and easy to install. No major surprises slap you in the face; from one version to the next, you pretty much know what to expect.

The Mepis community is one of the most knowledgeable, friendly communities out there. They'll bend over backwards to help someone out at the Mepis forums. You're free to discuss other distros at the forums, but distro-bashing is held to a minimum -- forum moderators don't have to step in very often, because, to a large extent, the forum membership polices itself. They know what a good thing they have going there, and they aren't about to let some troll step in and ruin it. Politics, religion, and personal insults are not tolerated.

The documentation is very good, and you can also fall back on the larger body of Debian documentation because so much of it applies to Mepis as well.

As Woodford has found himself more stretched for time, the community has stepped up to the plate, helping out quite a bit with documentation and with testing alpha and beta releases on different hardware and providing Woodford with important feedback. Increasingly, they've contributed artwork, helping to smooth out the rough edges in an area that hasn't been one of Woodford's strengths.

Mepis remains one of the best-kept secrets in the Linux world. I recently joked that it should be named "secretMepis" instead of the official "simplyMepis." Its users swear by it. Even with the relative lack of popularity, Mepis generally seems to have a good reputation among folks who've been around Linux for awhile -- a reputation for quality, consistency, stability, and ease-of-use out of the box.

Anytime another computer falls into my hands, whether it's new or simply "new to me," the first thing I do is try a Mepis live CD (recently, a live DVD) on it. If that works (and it almost always does), the next thing I do is install Mepis. It's got a great track record here, which is why I've contined to use it, and why I'll stay on board and enjoy the ride for as long as Woodford continues to do his thing.

notebook

I prefer using my big, old, clunky pc instead of a laptop, notebook, netbook, or whatever. But I needed a working, spare computer. I was going to just look for a used pc, or even a cheap new pc, but the convenience of a laptop eventually won the day.

The one I found? The HP Compaq Presario CQ56-219WM Notebook from Walmart. $278 bucks. 250 GB drive, 2 GB RAM, CD/DVD drive, 3 USB ports, 15 inch display, Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz.

I tried my Ubuntu Natty live CD on it. Then I tried Natty from a MultiSystem live flash drive (for info, see http://www.pendrivelinux.com/multiboot-create-a-multiboot-usb-from-linux/). Then I tried my Mepis 11 live DVD on it.

Then I used KDE Partition Manager from the Mepis 11 DVD and wiped out Windows from the hard drive. Deleted every partition that was there. Re-partitioned, then installed Mepis 11.

Looks beautiful, runs great.

Because the drives on my main pc are all filled up with other distros, I'm considering adding a Ubuntu Natty installation to the notebook, just to test things out, see how things go. Haven't decided yet; I'm just glad to have something else to get online with when I can use my main pc.

In the past, I was using an old Balance notebook as a spare. It originally came with Linspire, but I have Kubuntu Dapper sitting on it now. But I've been unable to get a broadband connection with it, and installing other distros on it has been, at times, problematic. It was time to retire it, quite simply. It served me well.

M.A.L. has a new MacBook Pro. I joke that I could have gotten 3 or 4 new computers for the price of that MacBook Pro. Actually, it's no joke, and I'm sure I'm as happy running Linux on my Presario as he is running OS-X on his MacBook Pro.

Hopefully, I won't end up regretting this purchase, but $278 wasn't much. Everything looks great so far.