Well I'm not too pleased with mepis going over to ubuntu.I've tried ubuntu a couple of times, had it on a spare drive to check it out--and never liked it
Back in the day when I was shopping around for a distro to stick with I came across mepis,based on debian, I really liked the ease of set-up and the learning curve was aided by the great support on the forums there.I think I'll stay with my 3.4 for a while-it's almost completely pure debian by now anyway (after all my updating )
That's the final rub though-the ubuntu repo's are not so completely in sync with the debian ones so you miss out on a great deal of packages available there. I'm sure that given the talent of Warren he'll make his distro work the way ubuntu/kubuntu only wishes it could!

Don't forget, Mepis is not becoming Ubuntu, it's just using the pools.


You can always add repositories to fix that.

Suspect (hope) you're right. My 3.4.3 now defaults to debian etch, if I understand my sources.list correctly

I was aware of the ubuntu factor. Still think the future of mepis is in good hands.

I just installed Mepis 6 beta 4, seems great to me. I like Mepis, & I'm sure I always will, it is a complete, easy to use package.

Commenting on the fish is, after all, useless. It's a two click thing to remove. Other interface issues are the same sort of thing.
I've not had a problem with the repositories available with the 6 beta versions finding anything that I needed.
Hardware issues (especially ones that worked with previous versions) need to go to the dev@mepis.org for consideration.
I've installed every version of MEPIS since 2003.10.2 with steady improvements.
6.0 Beta4 is as fast as anything similar I've put on my disks.
Since 'preferences' have been raised as an issue. I really don't like the ugly brown that ubuntu ships with.... Gnome has a way to go to reach the functionality that KDE has.
If I ever use anything else, it will be a much lighter WM because of the very old hardware that I run.
Right now I have no issues with 3.5.2 and MEPIS 6 due to speed or usage/features.

Running a one gig coppermine celeron with 384 meg RAM on a BX Intel motherboard and an 8500 LE ATI video card.

I think you have to acknowledge that Libranet is on the list as it's main force passed on and the successor unable to work it alone.

No, it is not "useless". The fish indicate something about the priorities and thinking of the developer(s). And I for one think the fish represent a deviation from the priorities and thinking represented by older versions of Mepis.

jimbo

So the KAquarium is only a recent addition?

So care to enlighten us on the changes in priorities in your opinion?
I always thought that number 1 priority for Mepis was to produce a distro that particularly appeals to new linux users coming from windoze.

So what does the fish have to do with appealing to new users? And anyway, the criticism is not the fish, but why anyone would waste time on something like a fish when there are much bigger issues involved.

I hope I am wrong because as I said earlier, I like Mepis. It was my first successful use of Linux. But I am concerned about recent developments.

jimbo

Well, after three installations and three attempts at productivity with it, I don't like MEPIS (SimplyMEPIS) much at all, having found it curiously inept in more than one function.

Getting Konqueror to look in my Windows partition is, in MEPIS, like pulling teeth: if I look in the partition through /mnt, it keeps saying there is nothing in it, and after an indeterminate amount of time (I would say about five minutes), finds everything. Konqueror does not do this in other distros.

The other problem is that I found both of the package managers to be useless for my purposes, for different reasons. I tried to install the latest Ndiswrapper, but KPackage could produce only error messages (which I did not understand, but can reprint on request) in response. I tried to use the Synaptic package manager, but it would not install the Ndiswrapper either, saying something about kernel build files being missing, or something thereabouts. I thought perhaps I could find the kernel build thingy on the CD, so I went to one of the menus (Edit, I think) and selected Add CD-ROM. A bizarre thing happened: I got an error message indicating either that there was no CD in the drive or that it could not be mounted. I looked briefly for an option to mount it, but there wasn't one. I tried this over again, but Synaptic kept refusing to acknowledge the CD.

I suppose this was my fault, because I got on a tangent by trying to update the Ndiswrapper when I should have been playing with the KwiFI wireless manager as someone suggested I do.

jimbo,

You still haven't said what your concerns are, nor what changes you have seen in Mepis's priorities.

I use Mepis 3.4.3 and tried Mepis 6 beta 2 for a few hours, removed it and installed Debian. I didn't remove Mepis 6 because of any "problems" with it, but because I prefer the Mepis Debian way. Is that what you mean by being "concerned about reent developments?"

In my opinion, nothing can beat Xandros in looking like a Windows clone. Not that Xandros has anything else going for it.

Xandros was my first real foray into linux as my primary o/s (though I did dabble with others for years as a curiosity on a secondary drive) It's both easy to set up and was the first distro to completely configure my hardware so I could actually use it! I got tired of using their download site (where you pay for most useful programs-just like Lindows) and broke my system-a few times by using the Debian repo's. But for a complete newb it's a great option to ease users from Windows-it even has Crossover so you can use your Windows Office programs.It's based on Debian stable so it's now a bit out of date, and you have to pay for it

Yes, and the other good thing about Xandros that I forgot to mention--the only other good thing I know--is that it runs my wireless network smoothly. In other aspects, it's unimpressive. Its applications run fairly slow, and crash frequently. I'm thinking about going back to it for a third time, but only because I weary of hopping distros in search for one that my network will run on. My lesson to be learned: Stick with what works, and quit looking for perfection.