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MEPIS This forum is for the discussion of MEPIS Linux.

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View Poll Results: Which distro is best?
Kubuntu/Ubuntu 25 25.51%
Mepis (2004.06,3.3.x) 73 74.49%
Voters: 98. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 05-20-2005, 02:32 PM   #1
xbaez
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Registered: Mar 2004
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Mepis vs Ubuntu/Kubuntu


MEPIS:
Pros: I would say near 100% Debian compatible, it even uses debian repositories, I really like that. Nice 2.4 and 2.6 kernel support, all the programs work well in Mepis (Wine, Crossover, VMware Workstation - full HD support)
Cons: A one man based distro, there are not many Mepis users, small community. Warren is a genius of Linux but I'd rather be part of a big community.

KUBUNTU:
Pros: Really nice distro, awesome job, it's a whole community behind the distros
Cons: I really dislike the idea of using a distro that does not users Debian repositories. For instance, I searched for "klineak" and I didn't got any result in Synaptic (I enabled all the repositories)

So, I will appreciate any opinions about my post, I'm really undecided. I want to use a Distro that has a good community, and I want to be able to access the Debian repositories, which are HUGE and are the main reason I'm behind Ubuntu/Kubuntu and Mepis

I was using Mepis, but then the new Mepis was released. From what I know, the new Mepis is based on Debian/unstable, and the 2004.06 Mepis was based on Debian/stable. So there wasn't an upgrade option.

From what I read in the Ubuntulinux.org site, this distro is/always be free of charge, based on debian, 6 month release perior, and it offers upgrades between distros.

I read the reviews at linuxquestions.org, and nobody talked bad about Ubuntu.

And I already knew that Ubuntu had some 'extra' repositories just for Ubuntu. But after I instaleld Ubuntu at the office PC, I noticed that it doesn't uses the 'Debian' repositories.

Can anybody tell me were can I read about Ubuntu/Kubuntu?
Which distro is it based on?
is it really compatible with the Debian repositories?
that is the main reason I switched to Debian based distros
 
Old 05-20-2005, 02:36 PM   #2
xbaez
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What about the latest release from Debian?
I am so confused now, I was a happy Mepis user. The only problems I had was upgrading kernels, and Parallel Port detection.

Then I installed Kubuntu, and it looks very nice until now. However, I really don't know much about the main idea behind not using Debian repositories.

And in the new Mepis 3.3 I can't find the Mepis utilities that came with version 2004.06, the only thing that I found was the Mepis OS Center
 
Old 05-20-2005, 04:25 PM   #3
mhl
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Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Scottish exile in England
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Quote:
there are not many Mepis users, small community. Warren is a genius of Linux but I'd rather be part of a big community
This comment doesn't stack up against Mepis' position well up the distrowatch.org league table. The Mepis community and support at www.mepislovers.org is second to none.

Quote:
And in the new Mepis 3.3 I can't find the Mepis utilities that came with version 2004.06, the only thing that I found was the Mepis OS Center
It's in exactly the same place in 3.3 .... KMenu >> Utilities
 
Old 05-20-2005, 04:32 PM   #4
mos
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the MEPIS OScenter is a combination of the old sytem center and user center, there was no real need to have two tools so he combined them into one.

---mos
 
Old 05-20-2005, 04:49 PM   #5
DigitaLink
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Ontario, Canada
Distribution: SimplyMEPIS 3.3
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Used both, Kubuntu lasted a week before it annoyed me, Mepis is still running smoothly. Still having some problems getting VMWare installed, but I'm sure I'll get it eventually.
 
Old 05-20-2005, 05:23 PM   #6
hippyhenge
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Registered: Nov 2004
Distribution: slackware
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For me I also really dislike the idea of using a distro that does not users Debian repositories, but really my main reason is a bit likehaving a favourite shirt or jeans trainers etc mepis just feels and looks right and suits my needs
 
Old 05-20-2005, 05:30 PM   #7
sharkee
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Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Australia
Distribution: Kubuntu 5.10 Ubuntu Dapper
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Pleased to Have Mepis on my favourite forum.
I think both Mepis & Ubuntu are great distros.
The main difference i found is Mepis has full multimedia support out of the box where with Ubuntu you have to add codecs & such.
I use Mepis with the Debian Repositories.
I just changed the apt sources list
Regards
Sharke
 
Old 05-20-2005, 05:44 PM   #8
mrbass
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Registered: Jul 2004
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I like both....currently running Ubuntu more. Regardless you should definitely try both as their my top two favorite distros out of all others.
 
Old 05-20-2005, 07:59 PM   #9
aveteam
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Thumbs up

I used to be a steadfast Mandrake user until I gave Mepis a try back in December. Now that's all I use, although I would probably be reasonably comfortable using any Debian-based distribution. I used to always be swapping hard drives around, trying different distros, but I have found a home here. Being compatible with the Debian repositories is a definite plus. At one time or another I've tried out just about everything that showed up on Distrowatch, and keep coming back to Mepis. It does what I want it to, and is easy to configure & maintain. But isn't that what makes any distro a person's favorite?
I think Warren and the other developers have done a stellar job with Mepis. It may be a one-man show, but if a project doesn't have some sort of leadership or direction, it will tend to wander all over the place aimlessly, and accomplish nothing. There is a balance between leading a project and accepting input from users, and from what I've seen, it's happening here.
All this is meant not to put down or berate any other distro, Heaven knows we don't need any more distro wars, but merely to state why I have chosen Mepis. That's the beauty of Linux and Open Source, to choose what works for you.
 
Old 05-20-2005, 08:02 PM   #10
reddazz
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Mepis seems to be a lot more polished than Kubuntu and there are a lot more apps available for power users.
 
Old 05-21-2005, 01:32 AM   #11
xbaez
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ok and what about the Kubuntu repositories?

the ONLY thing that I don't like about Kubuntu so far is that it uses their own repositories, so I'll not be part of the huge Debian apt-get repositories (I really love it)

For instance, I wasn't able to find Eclipse, Net-Beans

Regarging to Mepis, what is Mepis philosophy?
Will it always be free? or will there be a PRO version (like most distros have) that will cost me?

I think that if I have to pay for Linux, I'd rather use Window$, and a free Linux, all I need is Raid support really, but I hate Window$, makes your laptop/computer REALLY SLOW



Regards
 
Old 05-21-2005, 01:43 AM   #12
DeusExLinux
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I've used both Mepis and Ubuntu (my brother uses Kubuntu).

While ubuntu doesn't use the Debain repositories, you could add them to your sources.lst (I think that's the file name, I switched to Arch so it's been a bit since i've been rooting around in a Debian based distro). It's slightly unwise to do that with Ubuntu, as the kernel is missing some mods and whatnot, but for the most part it won't cause you any heartache.

Yes, K/Ubuntu is based of Debian (unstable, I think) . I would go to their respective webpages and forums and you can really find out tons about the distros.

I do think that SimplyMepis had more packages in the "standard" list of repos, which is useful to newbie users, and really, if there's ever something that isn't in the repositories, you can always either make your own package, or just install the beast from source.

I know a lot of the "veteran" Linux users disagree with me on this, but when it comes down to it, Linux is Linux. There are some fancier packages on some distros, and new package management on others. But when it comes down to it, the only differences lie in ease of configurability (some are easier than others, but that's a personal choice), hardware detection (some distros don't even come with hardware detection), and finally package management. There are other mintue differences here and there, but honestly, most of those differences can be fixed with a simple recomiple or installiation of some software or another.. after all, Linux is modular, the best thing about it, imho.

But, back to where I was saying. Ububntu and Mepis really aren't that much different (I'm gonna catch flak for that). Ubuntu uses sudo, instead of su to root. If you love sudo, you can install it in Mepis. IMO Mepis' hardware detection is superior, and it comes with more media support "out of the box".


and, from what I know, there were plans to make a "pro" version of Mepis, but those were abandoned, in light of the competition with Ubuntu (super-free all the time).

personally, I was thinking about buying a mac, but decided against it cause I don't ever want to buy another operating system when I can get one for free!

Last edited by DeusExLinux; 05-21-2005 at 01:49 AM.
 
Old 05-21-2005, 10:19 AM   #13
CouchMaster
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Registered: Mar 2005
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Kubuntu has a few bugs. It pauses/freezes occasionally and to this day I can't get the screen savers to work (KDE) - Have not encountered a single problem like that with Mepis.
 
Old 05-21-2005, 03:31 PM   #14
jnev
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i used to use mepis, now i use kubuntu. the main reason i switched was because of the subpar hardware support in mepis. it couldn't detect my monitor resolution (easy fix however), didn't detect my onboard sound (kubuntu didn't either and i'm STILL trying to get it working), and finally no matter how hard i tried (asked at 5 different message boards) i couldn't get the damn nvidia drivers installed. otherwise it was a good os. it had better reposatories then ubuntu (although i added them myself) and auto-mounted everything, which was really nice for a noob like me. right now i'm thinking of switching away from debian however...
 
Old 05-21-2005, 03:40 PM   #15
CoffeeMonster
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Ive tried both, Ubuntu was better overall, but MEPIS had a better look and feel.
 
  


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