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Yet Another Debian-based Distro: Mepis
emgarf writes "Today, on the first anniversary of the MEPIS Project, MEPIS LLC announced the release of MEPIS Linux 2003.10 for Pentium processors. MEPIS Linux is a desktop Linux that is designed for both personal and business users. MEPIS Linux offers a live/installation/recovery CD, advanced automatic hardware configuration, XP/NTFS support, ACPI power management, WiFi support, personal firewall, KDE 3.1.4, OpenOffice 1.1, Mozilla 1.5, and much more."
At last a versioning scheme unaffected by marketing! "2003.10" is actually informative!
"advanced automatic hardware configuration." open office. mozilla. will this be a new contender for the everyman business desktop?
Ballmer was interrupted today while eating an entire turkey in order to address the emergency strategy for dealing with the new desktop threat of Mepis Linux.
I've long told my friend eric that what linux needed more than anything was an easy to install (think redhat or mandrake) debian based distro. Is this the first distro like that? I wish mandrake would stop using rpms and use debian's apt repository to handle software installing/updating, but alas it seems impossible for Mandrake developers to pull their head out of their ass and realize that rpms are not the way to go.
- tristan
I do, so there! [sticks out tongue]
I've been swashdotted -- Elmer Fudd
What I'd really like to see is someone taking advantage of the capabilities of distros like Knoppix to create a bootable disk management tool.
I'd love to see a distro that I could boot with drive imaging software (local, network, with support for almost any kind of media,) partition editing (with support for non-destructive resizing of all filesystems including NTFS.)
Preferrably it would have both command line and good GUI based utilities (I find partitioning a disk to be easier when I see things in a bar or pie graph, as opposed to 2048byte blocks.)
Sorta like a blend of Ghost and Partition Magic, except more powerful and free. This came to mind after trying to use Norton Ghost to image out to a firewire hard drive, and trying to image with dd. Ghost "supports" firewire but includes no drivers for any devices, and dd would have worked, but I was trying to stick it on a FAT32 partition (didn't feel like making a 5GB ext2 partition just to have windows bugging me to let it destroy the thing.)
Anyone know of a project like this?
I don't see why anyone would have anything against another Linux distro. That is what the Linux community is based on isn't it? Choice?
Do you know why you think RPMs are a bad idea,
/some/file/somewhere
or rather
do you know what makes debians apt-get better than RPM?
As a heavy RPM user I somehow have the opposite opinion and find the apt tools very lacking;
Lets swap knowledge and educate eachother:
rpm -qf
tells me which package an installed file belongs to, very useful.
What can apt-get do?
blog.sam.liddicott.com
The only problem with that is that Gentoo takes ages to install, even on modern equipment.
Try Crux instead.
It's always good to see another distribution from a research/development standpoint. Rolling your own distro builds more who are familiar with the landscape.
/. worthy? I think it'd be better suited on distrowatch. Posting each new distribution won't help Linux, but rather it gives the impression of being a little desperate.
But why is this here? What defining feature of Mepis make it
I'm not trolling or trying to start a flamewar (I'm a Debian user myself), but Linux needs to push the envelope for creative code hacking.
Ruby on Rails Screencast
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind - I'm sure. But does anybody know a list, that is complete as possible? I know only a list of CD-Live-distros at knoppix.net .
Whereas I'm all for more linux distro's, I'm not convinced that it's a /. item.. maybe a freshmeat announcement.
:-)
On the other hand, well done boys, you've just got a whole load more exposure - hope your server is up to it
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
The trend seems to be towards two standard meta-distros:
- Debian for installations
- Knoppix for live-cds
Ceci n'est pas une signature
apt-file search /some/file/somewhere
Your turn!
nerds care? slashdot is news for nerds you know. and while you might not want to(or be able to) use that linux based piano you can very well download this and use it.
if you don't care about these things please go and make msn your homepage. or make linux things not show up your slashdot(from prefs).
i care as well, i guess i'm a nerd. the reason why i read slashdot is because things like this do get mentioned and i can remember what they are when somebody speaks of them or asks if such a thing exists. now i know that there's yet another debian based distro out there that i should check out and maybe recommend when somebody asks what they should install on their system when they want to check out this 'linux' thing.
-
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
And another Linux user comes out of the closet
my personal favourite though still remains the rpm-based yum. truly, a package management system for the lazy!
2 1337 4 u!
Click Here for the reason this distribution is called MEPIS.
I just gotta say, that's the most obscure, and possibly one of the dumbest distro names ever. Okay, Yggdrasil was slightly more obscure, but in a cool way.
Regards, WPostma/Franciscan
apt is a dependancy resolution tool for dpkg. dpkg has all the abilities of RPM and more.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
true. but it takes days to install and my mother would never be able to set her own USE flags. i think mepis is looking to provide maximum customization while still being "end user friendly"
2 1337 4 u!
I had the opportunity to meet Warren and participate in a 2 hour interactive demo of the then latest build of Mepis a couple months ago right here in Parkersburg, WV at a Mid Ohio Valley Linux Users Group meeting. I was VERY impressed both with the distro, and with Warren's EXCELLENT ability to continue adding "Oh yeah!" features that you wish you could find in most Linux distros (For example, the ability to use the CD as a portable graphical partition manager, internet terminal, etc) along the lines of Knoppix. At that time, the "next major feature" he was hammering out was the ability to store your home directory and such on thumbdrives (Does Knoppix do this now?).
Although Mepis looked pretty damned solid and useful, what grabbed me the most was Warren's willingness and outright enthusiasm regarding feedback. This guy is SERIOUS about trying to listen to EVERYBODY regarding the project in order to improve it and make it something that everybody wants to use. He not only is producing the distro to achieve personal goals, but he genuinely is in it for "the people", programmers and users alike.
If you've ever wanted to really make a difference in the development of a growing and powerful distro, this is a good one to check out.
What other distro teams or people have you all had exceptional interactive experiences with?
With all the Gnome propoganda coming from Redhat, Sun and Novell, its good to see a decent KDE distro. I personally don't think gnome will be ready for prime time until they fix their file dialog (which they keep promising, but they don't), design their configuration dialog properly so options aren't hidden in gconf-editor and make it less crash prone.
KDE 3.2 will be out soon, so it will be interesting to see how many people will switch from Gnome, because the Rudi beta is already excellent, and is developing at a phenominal rate.
while gentoo has it's uses it certainly isn't at this stage the desktop replacement for mum. this thing isn't trying to be a gentoo killer in customability, rather an easy way to get that desktop running and running well.
.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Now I know that there are plenty of tools out there that use rpms and give you similar functionality to programs like apt-get or dselect, but I think people just like the fact that in Debian they install these things by default and are built specifically with them in mind.
Anyways though, for a new distro that's just come out, it seems like it wouldn't really matter whether it's Debian Based or Red Hat based. You can get the same functionality with either package format, it just depends on what tools you include with your distro.
Oh my god. How am I supposed to cook my food without an AMD processor. I can't run this distro with my overclocked K6. :(
Also Gnome rules because it was designed by Mexicans that know technology. Damn those KDE guys.
Have a good day!
Knowledge gives you control, not the distro. Gentoo does make certain advanced administration techniques available to intermediate users, Gentoo itself can't do anything any other distro can.
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
I think the problem is that everyone is completely sick of every Linux story being commented on about how Gentoo is best! I think every balanced person out there agrees that when it comes to operating systems it's horses for courses. I for one though certainly do not see a source based distribution as how desktop linux should be, at least not a source based distribution to the end user! What I don't enderstand is why Gentoo didn't in itself become a Debian meta-distribution? Write their ports system within the existing debian development structure and then develop their own apt sources. The aims of the two projects are very similar in many ways, and if Gentoo had been at all sucessful in this, they could have seen their work being picked up by debian and then could have become an alternate debian experimental tree, or perhaps they could have even been in charge of producing the binary release packages, deciding optimisations and creating branches where they feel neccessary. I guess I'm asking what is Gentoo's raison d'etre, why is it a completely seperate distribution on it's own and not a collaborative partner with some other distribution? What does Gentoo bring to FOSS apart from someway to divert people who can use source code from using the same system that the people who can't use it, and take some of the faster machines which just might be helping out with development and instead have them (mainly uselessly) compiling code? Does it not just show an elite group who wish to work off on their own and not share their work with those less able?
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
Having seen the screenshots available for this distro, I'm not terribly impressed with the user interfaces for the configuration screens. It's nice to have a GUI for a lot of those things, but the Mandrake control center and SuSE YaST seem to do it in a friendlier way.
That said, there's something nice about elegant simplicity, too. There don't appear to be that many bells and whistles, and each utility appears to do exactly what it describes, no more and no less. That's something I find attractive in a configuration tool.
From what I've seen, it's not enough to make me switch distros (I'm a Mandrake and SuSE fan, personally), but I think this sort of thing has real potential for the crowd that thinks of themselves as power users, who nevertheless want a simple method to do a lot of the otherwise time-consuming busy work.
The idea that the chosen defaults for RH, Mandrake, etc. take away control is absurd. You can still logon to root and hack them into a debian box, or even Gentoo. You just have to know how. You can build all your packages from source with "l33t" compiling options (however much they actually erode performance), as well as install within a chroot environment, as per LFS.
Really, Gentoo users often perceive that Gentoo is giving them control, when actually Gentoo is just making easier the same advanced tasks that you can do on any other distribution.
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
I already did that before asking.
http://slashdot.org/search.pl?query=piano
Nothing about a linux piano there.
blog.sam.liddicott.com
and more....
hmmm
up2date is the dependancy resolution tool for RPM.
The only advantage apt or dpkg have over RPM is that by default it allows you to specify more than one repository for software.
Sam
blog.sam.liddicott.com
And how do you extract files, without being root?
I tried this once (to use SDL on machine to which I didn't have administrative rights), and I ended up copying the files from my own Debian box.
Lets swap knowledge and educate eachother:
/some/file/somewhere
/some/file/somewhere
rpm -qf
tells me which package an installed file belongs to, very useful.
dpkg -S
Very basic simple functionality.
It appears to be this which, as your search results suggest, is not a piano per-se, merely a device with a piano-like keyboard.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
It's apples to oranges. dpkg and rpm are comparable, as are urpmi and apt-get. I personally really like RPM too.
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
Use the experimental x86 livecds with GNOME, KDE, and fluxbox, and you can have a complete desktop while installing Gentoo. On modern machines the process only takes about a day or two to get into your own system if you don't want to just stay on the livecd until you have your favorite desktop installed (KDE will take quite some time longer). Besides, USE flags are not the only thing that enables customization in Gentoo. Pick and choosing what you install is real nice, even if it's not as fine-tuned as making use of the, well, USE flags. :)
"We invented personal computing." - Bill Gates
Oh by the way you can get the livecds here. I recommend the one named livecd-2.4.21-kde-gnome-distcc-07-15-2003.iso.
"We invented personal computing." - Bill Gates
Gentoo gives you total control, like no other linux distro.
true. but it takes days to install and my mother would never be able to set her own USE flags. i think mepis is looking to provide maximum customization while still being "end user friendly"
I wasnt speaking for people like your mother, I was speaking for the linux hacker who likes to tweak and hack. The person who tries more than one distro, or even has a ppc/sparc box. The ones who like to bang the metal, code demos, have a little bit of the artist hacker in them.
Gentoo isnt the distro for your mother. Gentoo is like the turbo charger you bolt on, or the even the custom paint job for your car. Its the way you want, exactly. And that customization takes knowledge and experience with building a src based linux setup. Yes it takes time to compile, just as building a plane in your garage takes time.
I wouldnt ever recommend Gentoo (except live cd's). Knoppix/SuSE or Mandrake are much better choices. SuSE has better end-user tools, Knoppix provides the best visual (out of the box) experience. Mandrake is popular and easy to find support. Just as there are different cars, there are different linux distros. Pick the one for the right job.
I've been using Mepis for a while now, definitely more than a month. It has the strengths of Debian, and is an easy install. Sure, the name of the distro is silly, but a lot of distros have silly names. It is KDE-based, but it's a breeze to install GNOME with apt-get. More than anything, Mepis is useful as a way to get Debian on your system without going through the somewhat arduous Debian install.
While its nice people are working on making debian ( the one last hold out of common sence and anti-commercialism ), why does it have to include everyting + the kitchen sink?
What about a distro that just has what the average person needs.. no bloat, no extra crap.
( sort of like what FBSD does.. but make it more friendly to the new user )
Sure, give them the OPTION of 12000 packages once they 'grow up', but dont shove them down the users throat from the start..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
*shrug* Of course you are correct that Debian and LFS are just as customizable in choosing what you install, but Debian only offers what's in the apt repositories unless you know how to compile/install/manage your own packages. LFS is like Gentoo in that it's great and source-based, but really, if someone's turned off by Gentoo's source-based system, they're really going to hate doing things by hand in LFS. I don't know, the USE flags never really posed much of a hurdle for me, but then again, I've been using computers for 8+ years now. Things are getting easier though, and the Gentoo community is quickly moving to accommodate newcomers with little experience. There's already one or two USE flag editor programs in the portage tree that make it a little easier to manage the whole thing.
"We invented personal computing." - Bill Gates
No, you're not wrong. Redhat is primarily a gnome distro. In order to make bluecurve work, they've modified both kde and gnome to look very similar, in effect creating a 'middle ground' that is uniquely redhat, i.e. bluecurve.
It has to be said, they broke a lot more kde than they did gnome, but then, they have a lot more experience with it than kde.
If you want a commercial kde based distro, go with SuSE. They are very much backers of kde, and will do it right. Gnome on suse though is *shudder*
Mandrake, is fairly agnostic, in that it provides a pretty much unmodified gnome and kde, with the mandrake extra config tools on top, and a galaxy theme that is pretty similar on both.
Gentoo provides kde and gnome 'as is' without giving you any gui tools at all on top.
Fraid I don't use any other distros, so can't comment on their policies.
Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
Why would anyone want that??
This message was brought to you from the troll to troll network.
Mandrake's developers have really done a great job with their rpm system. Urpmi can be used just like apt-get, but it works with rpm's instead. You can configure multiple sources and run it with their great looking gui (rpmdrake) or their command like app urpmi. So on my multimedia system I can install the basics then run (after configuring urpmi as described at plf.zarb.org and thacs): urpmi mythtv, then have a nice functioning PVR to record my episodes of The Shield on.
The apt/rpm arguments are pretty dated, dependancies used to be a real nightmare with rpm systems, but I've been using Mandrake for years without trouble. Not to gush, but its nice to have something that actually makes my life easier, I can see why you debian users love it so much.
Quack, quack.
Debian did have the advantage of coming out with improvements after the RPM format was used for a while.
DROS - Open-Source Robot Software
I concur. I would much rather hear what else is a feature in this release (other than 'newness' and possibly 'redundancy').
Wrong! up2date is a dependency resolution tool for RPM. There is also apt4rpm, apt-rpm, urpmi, redcarpet, and yum. In my experience, redcarpet rug cli is the fastest of these.
Also, dpkg has an advantage over RPM in that it allows the packager to specify suggested packages for each package, so somebody who is installing software via apt will not only see the dependencies, but suggested additional software.
ntfs support as in both read AND WRITE support?
my blog
I've been using yum on my Fedora system for a while now, and overall, I like it. The only real problem I have with it is that I have a long list of yum repositories in my yum.conf, and if any one of them happens to be down, yum itself becomes useless. It won't be able to perform any actions, because not being able to connect to a given repository will make the whole app die.
Also, it's quite slow with so many repositories, since it has to connect to all of them to see if there are any new headers, before it will let me do anything, even if I'm just trying to remove a package.
You can get apt for RPMs from freshrpms.net. Works very well as far as I can tell.
Certainly does work well. I'm running Redhat, but I have apt-get installed and it works fine. It has a source list full of RPM sites, and it just pulls down RPMs instead of .debs.
Works like a charm.
What can apt-get do?
./configure) requires editing a template control file, providing a list of configuration files, and editing the template rules file (which is just a makefile), unlike redhat, where you have to create a .spec file listing all of your patches and all of the steps for compilation, with variables and other syntax specific to rpm.
apt-get install foo: locate foo, download foo and its dependencies, install foo and its dependencies, uninstalls conflicting packages (yes, it tells you what its going to do before it does anything)
apt-get dist-upgrade: upgrade your debian distribution.
apt-cache search foo: regular expression search for "foo" in package name and description.
In truth, apt and rpm do not compete. Apt is a mechanism for retrieving updates in an orderly fashion, and rpm is a package manager. This is why you can get versions of apt for redhat/mandrake/etc. that use RPMs. Apt really competes with redhat's up2date software (assuming you subscribed to it).
dpkg is debian's competitor to RPM. There are a lot of things that dpkg handles better than RPM, but there are a lot of things that RPM handles better than dpkg. For instance, I'm not sure dpkg handles relocatable packages like rpm can. However, building a package for debian (as long as your program "plays nice" and uses
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
What I like about Gentoo is that it wasn't "branded" in any way. Sure, they had to make a decision on exactly how the start-up and shutdown process would work so that everything can co-exist, but beyond that, things aren't customized for you. When you run KDE on a default install of RedHat it acts like RedHat wants it to. Same with most other distros. It's true that you can strip away the changes, but Gentoo lets you start from the defaults and add to it. When you work with Gentoo, you get nothing more than what you want. My limited experience with Debian seemed like you could do this for the most part, although I recall that it was still visbily a Debian box when you were done. I'd rather start with a generic system and do my own customization.
It's not like you can't build from source on any other distribution.
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
It hardly seems fair to say it has NTFS support when what it really means is it can use NTFS read-only. Like Gentoo, Knoppix, Mandrake, and God only knows how many other distros.
yum -c /etc/yum-SomeSingleRepository.conf command
********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
Now gentoo has reached 1.4, they provide livecds for a variety of different processors architectures. Each livecd has binary packages for the common and big ebuilds, thus allowing you to install a complete system from scratch quickly with binaries built for your system. You can even build a complete desktop distro with no network connection from the CD.
The advantage is that you get a quickly installed system, compiled specifically for your processor, will all the flexibility and power of ebuilds for later updates.
Admittedly, the install is still more complex than say, redhat, but it's a lot easier to maintain and upgrade your system later. I got so sick of reinstalling from scratch after a major version upgrade on the binary-only distros butchered the system.
Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
Actually, people use debian because, among other things, dependencies are rigorously checked.
The packages themselves are maintained well.
Apt-get helps,
so does the format,
but it is the package maintainers that make debian rock.
Now, I know I'll be marked as "flamebait" for saying "dimwitted," but really. Why is the assumption that when something offers desktop apps, the entire system must be so simple that the user doesn't have to learn anything.
If someone can manage to meet the average "not ready for my mother" /. requirements, they'd have a system that would make Windows and MacOS look hopelessly complex. Is that really a good thing?
Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
Hey guys,
:( and will put up one myself if I have to. When will these distros learn from Slackware (The Great!)? :)
We really need to get it together and distribute these ISOs on BitTorrent. I checked and no one had one available. I am downloading it now over a 56k link
KangarooBox - We make IT simple!
I'm gonna get flames for this, but oh well... I've tried out many distributions. Anyone who knows me will say that until about six months ago they'd catch me every third weekend or so repartitioning a hard drive to try out some new distro. I've used straight RPM, apt-rpm, urpmi, and various GUI frontends for these from Synaptic to Kpackage. I have no idea how many distro's I've used, but the best guess I can give is "more than ten." I finally settled on Gentoo and I run several boxes with it. The reason for that is none of those ditributions were quite what I wanted. Gentoo is not the way desktop Linux should go for everybody. Probably not even most geeks. But Gentoo doesn't call itself "Linux for Everybody," it's for people who like to do things their way and don't care about how long it takes. I learned more in a week of using Gentoo than in a month with Mandrake, and for that alone I like it. Windows XP isn't going to force anyone to learn the DOS-based CLI and a pretty KDE with every conceivably useful piece of software already configured, installed and running isn't going to teach anyone how to tinker with the nuts and bolts of Linux. Gentoo definitely has its zealots, just like the Mac (Although we're supposed to like the Mac zealots - oops, sorry) but the fact is it's got its place. Everyone should at least install Gentoo once. It's like a boot camp, making you learn things you might have never questioned before. And NO other distribution ever made me want to compile my own kernel, but after I did it once I find myself compiling new kernels just to see what certain things will do. Had I used an "everything-just-works" Redhat kernel I'd have never learned how to make weird hardware work, and I'd have never even known I can take out support for gear I don't have, modularize certain things, compile-in others, and generally tune it for my machines. I'm even using 2.6 kernels now and loving the performance increase. Until Gentoo, the idea of compiling my own kernel and screwing around with my bootloader was a pretty scary idea that I didn't see any benefit to. Yes. Most people don't want to do that. But most popular desktop distributions don't make that neccecssary. That's great, and that's the direction desktop Linux should go, but if we don't have a Gentoo then people like me who've only been at this for a year or two aren't going to learn the things that some of you old hands consider basic skills.
As for Gentoo vs. Debian and whatnot... Well, for every Gentoo zealot I've seen on here making blanket statements about how it's the best, I must have seen three or four slightly more subdued Debian zealots who simply assume everyone already knows that Debian's the One True Linux. (Similarly, I don't see Mac zealots getting flamed every time they open their mouths with one of the three or four pre-recorded phrases they've been taught how to say.) I like Debian. I really do. For a server I'd probably use Debian before Gentoo. For a desktop, I can't imagine using Debian and liking it as much as Gentoo. People say Gentoo is "bleeding-edge" like it's a bad thing, but I want to try new software and Debian really doesn't make that easy. I can change one variable in make.conf and it's not so "bleeding-edge" anymore, but even then I don't have to wait years before someone decides a package is "stable." Some may say that I can live on the edge with Debian too by using the more-uunstable-than-testing, guaranteed-to-smoke-your-box Sid, but even that's sometimes old and inconsistent. I installed Sarge (testing) recently and was kinda pleased to see a 2.5 kernel, (would have rather seen 2.6, as testing a 2.5 isn't helping anyone) but I was shocked to find Mozilla 1.0 in there. That's the difference to me. Even if Gentoo were binary-only I'd use it over Debian. I appreciate Debian's stability but for me it's got its price. In half a year of running four Gentoo machines, their only fuckups have been ones I've caused, so like every operating system there is, it's as stable as I let it be.
dpkg -S
You are comparing apples and oranges. For an rpm system to utilize the functionality of apt you simply install one of those apt tools made for your rpm based distro. dpkg is the tool more comparable to rpm. As far as arguing for the superiority of one or the other lets just say that I used RedHat and Mandrake before tackling Debian and would never go back to an RPM based distribution. I wouldn't argue that RPMs are bad in some way, only that the packages themselves and the toolchain to manage them can't do anything that can't be done just as easily in the Debian manner. What makes me prefer it is that dpkg has a more granular, modular approach to the problems of package management that reflects Debian's distributed development. The author of alien has a good package management comparison table here.With the addition of apt you get a comprehensive approach to OSS. If it's out there, it's got a unique place in Debian's package namespace. The only technical point I can think of offhand that I would like to change about Debian is the use of foo-x.y.z.orig.tar.gz for the upstream sources. The distro could distribute that aspect of the source archive by changing the foo-x.y.z-r.diff.gz to reference the original source tarball out there on it's own mirror system for many packages.
But:
It takes about a hour, possibly two, to sync your portage tree.
Even after your "quick install," you will need to recompile everything again as it's all outdated.
You lose the whole "advantage" of Gentoo with the precompiled packages because they don't use your USE flags to compile.
Of course, your USE flags don't change much except compile-time dependancies. Which is not any different from what you can get from Crux or Arch or any distro just custom-compiling the few packages you want special settings on.
I both disagree and agree. Making something easier to do (doing certain advanced tasks in this case) may not confer more control per se, but it does confer more power precisely because it makes certain things easier. In the case of Gentoo, I think the extra power it grants is a little overrated. You have to know a helluva lot to make it work only incrementally faster on your hardware than many less sexy distros. That's not a bad thing, but I think the famous Gentoo zealotry has much more to do with the idea of Gentoo than the way it goes more often than not in actual practice.
In other news, MEPIS looks cool. In general, LiveCD distros are nice because they let Linux-phobes try out Linux without utterly rearranging their technological lives right away--I think my girlfriend is going to make the switch after I gave her a Knoppix disk, and choice in LiveCDs, as choice always does, has its advantages and disadvantages.
Online citizen journalism from the inner city: The View From The Ground
On my P4 1.3 it's good enough, but I run Gentoo on my 266 laptop, and it's extremely slow. I'm considering just reformating and going with Debian, because emerging anything takes at least an entire night, more if it's halfway complex. My vote: Gentoo on the fast stuff, Debian for the slow.
This page was generated by a Flock of Attack Kittens for you.
that is a pretty BIG advantage.
up2date locks you into ONE repository. with apt, I can get new sources that might have software I want and get it.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Stage 3 install, 2-3 hours on any relatively modern machine while still retaining all the config goodness.
That's not an attribute?
Of those, Partimagelooks the most promising to me, though I still haven't had the chance to try it.
:-)
I have been using partimage for over a year now. I use it at the primary school of my daughter where I do most of the computer stuff as volunteer. I burned a rescue cd from timo's rescue cd with a few minor changes (root password and simple script to connect to network).
Once on the network there I made some simple scripts that can partition the disk, restore a MBR, and then restore a image for each partition using partimage. The scripts can use simple partition and image information from a specified directory. Works like a charm, especially the possibility to script it in total and restore individual partitions. We had a guy on internship who went "Linux, that sound scary", but when he restored his first image he said "is it that simple?".
As for NTFS support of partimage, I use it all the time without any problems.
One of the partitions, that is restored by partimage contains a small debian install. It is hidden by LILO which immediatly boots windows 2000, and not really used at the moment. I plan to use it in future to make a simple image restore possible even for teachers. Always nice to know there is some real Linux power hidden on these 80 desktops.
Are the md5 sums posted here incorrect?
They say
790f1ccf98ef5b5ef8f266483c9e4d74 mepis-2003.10.cd1.iso
2c240df396828e90e88dc77b784f12db mepis-2003.10.cd2.iso
But I get these
[rob@kate rob]$ md5sum mepis-2003.10.cd1.iso
6cc4bb826d7305ebb549b19219a5a1c4 mepis-2003.10.cd1.iso
[rob@kate rob]$ md5sum mepis-2003.10.cd2.iso
c96cea5c97028b13e353a7a9f37264df mepis-2003.10.cd2.iso
DD copies from or to a stream, which can be a file.
Has the 'mepis - yucrap' joke been made allready?
That is what the Linux community is based on isn't it? Choice?
Aside from EMACS vs vi/GNOME vs KDE/ insert favorite flamewar here?
What are we based on? I don't think it is choice. I think that we are based on the desire to learn more about the OS and contribute if we can. Diversity is healthy but not an end unto itself.
BTW I think that it is good that people are marketing their distros as having support for NTFS. This is good and will only mean that we will get much better NTFS support if Mepis does reasonably well.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
The difference as I understand it is this:
An rpm package will have a dependancy list consisting of various items that are found in other rpm packages.
A deb package will have a dependacy list consisting of other deb packages.
Both systems can work, but the rpm one is a little more work to manage and is more prone to dependancy conflicts. However, most of the extra hassle will be on the shoulder's of the package maintainers, so if they stay on the ball, then to the user there's not going to be much difference.
Aw crap, ninjas!
That's why it's called Slashdot. If it doesn't appeal, why not try ForwardSlash DotExe instead??
Hmmm, maybe because Slashdot is forward slash - Windows uses backslash.
I mean how hard is it to know the difference between forward slash (AKA just slash) and backslash.
...to astronomers, anyway. they're used to decimal fractions of years, and 2003.10 ended sometime in march; we're into 2003.9 by now.
You could always use checkinstall if you're lazy.
Actually, apt/dpkg still has a number of advantages over apt/RPM or yum/RPM.
1) APT uses a text database, unlike RPM which uses a binary database. This makes fixing errors much easier, and also makes it harder to corrupt the database. For example, recently, one of the xfce libraries refused to uninstall in Debian sid. I was able to just go to the apt directory, and modify the appropriate removeal script so the package uninstalled cleanly. Doing this in RedHat would be much harder. Also, I've had my RPM database corrupted once or twice (--rebuild fixed it both times, though), while I've never had a Debian database corruption.
2) Its closely tied to the configuration system Debconf. That means that packages that require extra configuration (XFree, font packages, etc) have one integrated configuration system.
3)Dpkg allows the packager to specify recommended packages.
4) There are a lot of nice developer tools for Dpkg that let you write policy-compliant packages more easily.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
At that time, the "next major feature" he was hammering out was the ability to store your home directory and such on thumbdrives (Does Knoppix do this now?).
Yes! You can keep a persistent home directory anywhere you like, in a directory on a Windows system, or on an external drive. So you can carry "your own system" around with you, in the form of a Knoppix CD and a thumb drive, which you can put into any computer as needed. Very slick.
Everything you say about Gentoo is true! It's the distribution of choice for the "Linux Guru", "The Linux Hobbyist" and anyone who wants to really know Linux. Until Gentoo, Slackware probably filled that role. I think that MEPIS is targeted at a different audience, altogether. So comparing MEPIS with Gentoo is like comparing "Apples" and "Dogs". MEPIS can be fairly judged in comparison with Distro's like Knoppix (also Debian Based) or PCLinuxOS (Mandrake based[?]), that are Distros aimed at Linux newbies, and tailored for easy trial and easy installation. I wouldn't suggest Gentoo to someone who's only a computer user (doesn't care about platform or technology -- just wants to get work done -- word processing, e-mail, spreadsheets etc..).
I've been using GNU software since the 1980s and Linux software since 1995. About two years ago now, I started experimenting with the Debian packaging. My first experience was a bit rough, it seemed to take a bit of work to get the base software installed and configured, at least two years ago.
A few vendors have done much to improve the situation, and even the base Debian software is finally showing signs of improvement. In the past year or so, though, several small projects have emerged that make installing Linux a snap, and they use Debian GNU/Linux packaging, which makes ongoing maintenance as easy as the initial installation.
Mepis is one such project. Based on Knoppix, Mepis utilizes some of the great innovations found in Knoppix that improve hardware detection and boot times directly from a Live CD image. Mepis goes a bit further, lightens up and speeds up the interface, and simplifies installation to disk.
The result is a very usable system that you can carry with you and use from Live CD, but is also a complete system that can be easily installed to disk. I personally have found Mepis to be the best Live CD implementation I've found yet, and also a very complete system in its own right.
People considering Linux software ought to take a close look at this software. You can try it out without having to replace anything, yet you can also install it on your system quite simply and easily. The software is current, fairly well tested out (even though it uses some software from the "unstable" Debian software tree), and it boots up quickly, even from CD. I'm usually booted up and running within two minutes when I run from CD, and I can install the software and even download additional software onto my disk in well under an hour (including config. time). I recommend this software.
Brian Masinick, masinick at yahoo dot com Linux
here is why i personally come to mepis : i wanted a debian distribution (i really like debian mentality - and i used to be pleased with a woody installed on an old desktop that is enough old to permit me to install it quite as-is with a stable debian...) but i wasn't able to compile and do all this blessing things for a newbie when you just start - so i give mepis a try and you know what it worked OFF-THE-BOX on my brand new cutting-edge technology thinkpad t40p (the kind of notebook a newbie like me would have lost many many nights to make it work with a debian but also that real nerds still fight to have a fully supported system - just check http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo /linux-thinkpad). This first successful try was with mepis 2003.08. It worked but had things to improve (hardware support like WiFi and others).
then i contacted Warren, nothing more to say that this guy is absolutely marvellous, he listened, provided help and advices, took comments into account. And finally he helped me to have a fully supported linux notebook and greetings/regards to him for that. i really think notebook users should give mepis a try and even more if they are newbies to linux.
i agree there are improvements that should be done, mepis is still young (maybe just come and help?) even if this 2003.10 is excellent. But i do believe mepis has its own place as a linux distribution, at first this could be seen like a good livecd or even an easy step to debian but then you will see it is a real distribution.
about the fact that team mepis should better help debian or linux community, well, at least for me, looks like it is already done : they
helped me to switch to a debian based distribution but also convinced me to help them to translate it to french (mepis was at least for me an invitation to get involvled).
btw you should also know that Warren worked on mepis only since 1 year , and that 'team mepis' is only one month old : yes, mepis is young, and perfectible but constructive comments are really welcome!
about the mepis name, well, this could be seen like a funny or silly name but what it's named isn't as important as what it does; and how one pronounces the name is a personal choice, but it's meant to be pronounced the same as if it were spelled meppis or mehpis. Also it seems i had read something apout being an acronym for 'Managerial Educational and Personal Information Systems'. (see http://www.mepis.com)
that were my 0.2 cents d'euro.
MacOS or mac computer? If MacOS then - tell me how can I get MacOs on my x86 computer?
but it is the package maintainers that make debian rock
Not only them. It's the users who submit bug reports, the people who patch code and packages, the community who support each other to iron out problems.
Man, it brings a tear to my eye just to think of it, and to know I'm a (admittedly small) part of that community.
Debian always had that going for it. Mandrake has mirrored its success here as well with the multiple branches Main, Contrib, Update, Testing, Club and of course a few independant archives as well (PLF, Thacs, TexStar). Its not a Debian replacement, but for the lazier of us it really works!
Quack, quack.