XavierP,

Good job. I read this forum for information, not BS.

Earl

I have one last thing to say to XavierP (Hahah, I like free distros...)

Fuck You.

Thanks a lot XavierP, you're such a good moderator. I think all of LQ's mods are very good, and they always seem to be very helpful and polite, thanks again! Sorry if I was out of place by saying something to him about his language.

To post something useful to this thread:

I suppose I am slightly biased since I've never used Mepis; but I like Ubuntu. Never used Kubuntu either. Ubuntu has always installed and worked great right off the bat. I don't use it much, but what I have used of it, it works well.

Regarding Ubuntu not using Debian repositories, that doesn't bother me because even though Ubuntu is free, it is backed by a commercial company who wouldn't want to tarnish their name. And most of the packages from the Debian repos are compatible with Ubuntu in my experience. It's also very easy to add those repos if you like.

As I think everyone would encourage you to do.... install them both, desice what you like/dislike about each, and weigh the outcome... If you really like Ubuntu aside from the fact that it doesn't use Debian's official repos, can you live with that?? <This is where I would make a similar comment about Mepis, but alas, I don't know anything about it>??? Maybe good old fashioned straight Debian is what you're looking for?? As always the choice is yours.

On a side note: I have done the Ubuntu free CD shipment thing a few times, and I keep them out on the magazine table at my office. I have had quite a few people take them and they really seemed to like it a lot. These are people coming straight from Windows.. often times still Windows 98 or ME.. and they didn't have too many problems with it... I like the more manual distro's such as Slackware and Arch, but I think Ubuntu is a fantastic get-your-feet-wet distro for anyone. And for a lot, it might be the one they stick with...

I really wanted to like Mepis, and tried it a couple times on some different machines. Something about it just isn't right under the hood. Sound card detection problems, instability, too many services running, etc. Ubuntu has the opposite problem - I don't think they add enough basic apps and their all "free" mindset, while admirable, is annoying. Who doesn't want/need Java, Flash, MP3 support, etc? C'mon!

In the end, I like Ubuntu more, although the latest SUSE 9.3 is great for an RPM system!

Robert

I'll toss my two cents into the hat.

I like Mepis a lot. It's a very good, easy to use "automatic" distro that is reasonably complete in what it includes "out of the box". Whenever someone tells me they want to try out Linux, I always steer them towards Mepis.

I emailed Warren not too long ago regarding a dependency problem with one of the packages, and he had the problem fixed VERY quickly. Realisticly, I'm sure I'm not the only one who contacted him about it, but I was impressed just the same.

I always keep a Mepis CD around. If I am going to buy a new box I take it along to test for Linux compatability as the hardware detection is pretty good.

Ubuntu: It's ok. I know a lot of people seem to like it, and I did check it out. I don't like the fact that it's Debian based but has strayed away from full Debian compatability by creating their own packages and repositories to a much larger extent than Mepis has. But I can also understand why they've gone off in their own direction as Debian has had so many production problems in the past few years.

While the "all free" philosophy is admirable, it isn't realistic as just about everyone needs certain non-free software. The last thing a real newbie needs is to chase down and install additional apps just to have a fully functional OS.

Both have their pros and cons much as all distros do.

Mepis vs Ubuntu isn't even close. Mepis rules.
Ubuntu takes more than twice the time to install and it screws up the Grub bootloader.
And if that isn't bad enough , you cant log in as root, it never gives you a chance to set
up a root password which Mepis gladly does. When i run Linux i run as root, i want
supreme power just like when i use Windows. Chmod 666 is the work of Beelzebub,stick permissions where the sun don't shine.Also stick the konsole/terminal there too.
Where all the distros need to do some major work is the kppp dial-up configuration. That
has cost Linux more users than anything else. Maybe they are just content to wait for
everyone to get broadband and then the problem will disappear.

I'm running Mepis 3.3.1 and lovin it.
See ya

Kppp works fine on all the distros that I have used and I don't really see it as a show stopper that can lose Linux potential users as long as they take time out to RTFM. I don't agree with runnning any system as root but agree with the notion that Ubuntu/Kubuntu needs the option to allow people to choose a root password during installation. You can easily give a password to root, by running "sudo passwd root". I am sure that by giving users the ability to run all the commands on a system using sudo, Ubuntu/Kubutu users are vulnerable to crackers and other security exploits.

Does the manual tell you that the chat script is WRONG!
Does the manual tell you that you dont use lock!
And on and on and on to freakin infinity.
Get real.

I am being very real. Kppp has a very extensive handbook that guides users on how to setup their connection and I am sure most people won't have any problems understanding it. On most distros that I have used, all I have needed were my ISP details and settings and kppp just worked. There is an alternative to kppp called kinternet if kppp is very mind bogling for you.

Hell, KPPP is the ONLY dialer I've ever been able to get working.

Wvdial hates me, but you might wanna check that out if you can't get KPPP to work (it's good, but I think I have an issue with my pppd)

are you people not understanding that root is disabled in Ubuntu?? Ubuntu tells you to just use 'sudo' for everything. It works well, and it doesn't limit anything you can do... You don't set a password because you don't need to.. why would you set a password for an account that isn't activated?? Explained in more detail here: http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/RootSudo

I don't know or care about KPPP or any dial-up...

Well, both use KDE (Actually Kubuntu is running the latest KDE release 3.4, whereas the latest SimplyMepis 3.3.1 release uses 3.3, but its not that significant) so it really isnt an issue with looks as they can always be changed.

IMO one shouldnt choose distros based on looks, i mean most distros use Gnome/KDE/or other Desktop Environment and can be changed to look like one another if desired.

If asked between Kubuntu/Mepis, its hard to say really. Altho Kubuntu doesnt use Debain repositories, they can always be added to the repository list later. Mepis really has an advantage that the same CD is used as a live CD and install CD. The Sudo/Root issue can also be a prob. Actually after using Ubuntu for a year i found myself missing sudo in mepis!

actually, if you use MEPIS and miss sudo just apt-get install sudo then edit /etc/sudoers to allow your user to have access

Thank god Warren is smarter than you guys and realized that you
should have the option to log in as root at the very beginning.
It is wonderful having the power and freedom of Windows while
using Linux. In the unlikely event i screw up bigtime, i dont mind
re-installing Mepis since it is such an easy and fast task.

CHMOD666 over and out

Over and out of your mind, man.... I thought most people that use *nix systems are generally more security conscious than average Windows users... but apparently not...

However I do agree with your sig