Ubuntu to Mepis, why?
 

I currently use ubuntu, and enjoy it..but ive heard SO much bout how good mepis is.. and how many have switched from ubuntu to mepis, anyone here reading this go from ubuntu to mepis? if so why and did you have ubuntu working well and besides just "working" what reason(s) did you switch??

Ubuntu to Mepis, why?
It is a question that only you can answer. My transition would be debian to debian :-), don't ask me why.

If ubuntu is working why do you want to change? Remember that if there were a "unique, best" distro, everybody would be using it if they could! Kde will still be kde, gnome will still be gnome, synaptic will stay synaptic :-) whichever distro you use. To convince yourself, have a look at other distros screenshots. what is different, the theme, the wallpaper, a kind of control center added?

The only thing i value/evaluate on a distro is the package management, after all they are still linux(slackware,gentoo, fedora,etc.)

Bit simplistic. May be true for you, but what if you had to setup a system for a *nix novice - say your mum, Grandpa, aunt Mable, whoever. ???.
Then the whole aggregate (and how it works together) is what matters.

I installed Ubuntu for such a novice, but I needed a root account.
It's just the way I work. Could have added one, but by the time I figured that out, I was sudo'ing for damn near everything I needed to do.
It got ditched for Mepis - picked up everything (wifi and all), and I could use cups for print setup without dicking around.

She complains of it being slow, so Arch is a definite option, but for now it's Mepis.

When i install a Linux distribution for someone, it is usually their choice(heart this, heard that..., usually mandrake fedora, suse). I have setup lots of debian desktops and servers.

Once it is setup(doesn't really take much time for me to do so) to install new software(because it is usually a problem for novices), i just tell the folks to use synaptic to install/remove/update anything. This is why i value the package management for them and me.

Installing any distro is not tough when the cd is able to boot correctly but maintaining/using/customizing it can be.

syg00, why dont you do this?
Works for me. And I also value package management and stability over time more than flashy first time installation. With that it's just one solution for me: Debian.

But everyone has there own values.

The REAL question is: If you want a to use a Debian distro, then why not just use Debian?
"Reasons to Choose Debian" http://www.es.debian.org/intro/why_debian

It is a time tested and stable distro. If you want bleeding edge software just use the Testing and Unstable repositories.

Before I installed Sid I played around with Xandros, Linspire, Ubuntu, Kubuntu and a few other Debian based distros.

I found that Debian was the best way to go. The others either tweaked the environment especially Xandros and Linspire, or like Ubuntu/Kubuntu they are using packages that are not straight Debian.

Not trying to bash any other distro, I think they are good in their own way. Good newbie Debian based distros are Ubuntu, Xandros, Mepis and Linspire. But if you want to tweak your system and really learn GNU/Linux going Debian is the way to go.

That said using whatever distro you are comfortable using that fits your needs is the important thing.

Using Sid with the repositories in my source list I have access to over 20k packages. I can do everything that I could running Windows other than play a few games.

Plus my software is always up to date, take for example Firefox; two days after the "official" Mozilla release of version 1.0.4 it was in the repositories. Since then it has even had an update.

Just my 2cents. :)

What I like about Mepis and what I don't like about Ubuntu is that Mepis does not see it's mission to create a new set of repositories. Yes, they do have a few 'special' Mepis programs, such as their OS Center, but Mepis has committed itself to be 'debian'. From what I can see with k/ubuntu, it looks as if they are on the road to creating their own set of packages.

This is fine. But I know for a fact that there are a gazillion people who use the Debian (unstable) packages and there is also a group of experienced Debian packagers. Thus when I install a Debian-packaged application (like MySQL, or Jpilot, or GIMP) I'm pretty sure it has been created by someone who knows what they are doing and that it has been tested by a heck of a lot of people before I get it. I can't say that with assurance from something coming out of the K/Ubuntu repos.

I WOULD go with 'straight' Debian, but after fighting with Slackware for two years, I'm older and just tired of it all. I don't want to spend the time editing text files to get the sound and video to work. Mepis and Kanotix and K/Ubuntu work great out of the box with hardly any messing around.

Al

I used Kubuntu for a week. All the sudo'ing was scrambling my brain. I like a root account to go in, do what I need to, and get back to user-mode again.

Other reasons for the switch? I was having problems with installing some software in Kubuntu that just worked in Mepis. Other's say Mepis picks up their hardware better, some say K/Ubuntu do. Kubuntu was being weird with my digital camera too ... so was Mepis, but it was an easy fstab fix. It all really comes down to what works for YOU on YOUR computer.

So I run (happily) Mepis now, after a year or so on Xandros. Kubuntu was nice ... I liked it a lot, but it was giving me troubles that I didn't need. So insert next CD in stack and try a new distro. Mepis works for me.

Kanotix is great. Thats is how I installed Debian Sid. Everything worked right from the first boot.

The cool thing about Kanotix is the fact that there is a desktop and a laptop version. Plus the fact that the kernel on Kanotix is compiled for 686 . 2.6.11-k7 i686 GNU/Linux

Why I use Mepis
 

Although many Debian users might recoil at the thought, I use Mepis because I find it to be a great user's version of Debian. Mepis recognizes hardware very well, sets up the system nicely, and comes with some 'non-free' software completely integrated that I use quite a bit (realplayer, adobe acrobat, nvidia drivers). My mepis installs have always went better than straight debian installations. I am not an expert, andmaybe that is the reason for my fondness for mepis.

Although it does not yet compare to the configuration controlsfor Mandriva, the Mepis OS Center works well. I think it has more polish than Kanotix, although that is an example of another 'distro' which really acts as an extpert twist on debian. Very few other systems can offer the base that debian can. Unfortunately, debian has the feel that it is winding down over time. I am worried that the main project has not absorbed any of the good ideas swirling around it, such as the hardware recognition of Mepis and Knoppix.

Bryan

Wow, this room was built, and posted before i could even blink!!

Mind you, having a distro _war_ isn't all that uncommon... though not necessary here ;)

We at MEPIS strive for the use/understandability of LINUX, not any one distro, or window manager (but we all know that XFce rules :cool: )

If anyone needs a hand, be sure to ask, cause someone will reply.

If you need a faster reply, try #mepis on freenode.org

L.F.

I have an old Gateway Essential computer and no distro has installed the sound - not even Mepis3.3. But the new one, 3.3.1 nailed it! Everything on this computer works for the first time since WinME years ago. The only thing I was disappointed about was I couldn't fine MSTTcorefonts - so I copied and installed them (the whole shebang) from my windows fonts folder and now I'm a happy SimplyMepis camper. The webpages are fantastic - not a jagged font to be found, plus it's so new there were only 2 updates to be had. Ubuntu is good, SuSE is good, all of them are good, but this one is the best!

CouchMaster, going by what you said about not finding MSTTcorefonts and only having two upgrades I believe you need to update your apt sources list. In 3.3.1, only the Mepis repositories are "turned on" and all others are commented out. There has been a many discussion on why this was and I am not going into that here.

You need to either modify your sources.lst file (uncomment the other deb sources) or do like I did and open up synaptic>settings>repositories and check the boxes of the other sources and reload. You will find afterwards there are PLENTY of updates--did mine yesterday and it was over 210Mb--plus MSTTcorefonts.

BTW, I like your sig! :D

Thanks Midway - I just installed 3.3.1 2 days ago and will try your suggestions - I knew there had to be a better way and was thinking 'surely there has to be more' but didn't know how to go about it.

Midway - I did as you suggested and changed repositories...worked great! I found and installed Quanta, saw the msttcorefonts etc. Thanks again.

Nah, Mepis is good, it has potential, but if you use ubuntu 5.04, KEEP IT, it has more packages in apt for some reason, and it uses Xorg, which is not in mepis, or it's apt.

Actually Ubuntu doesn't have more packages, it only appears that way. I was advised to do this (open up synaptic>settings>repositories and check the boxes of the other sources and reload.) And when I did hunderds of new Mepis packages appeared.

Since Mepis is Debian based can it use the repositories from apt-get.org: Unofficial APT repositories
http://www.apt-get.org/ ? If so there are thousands of packages/programs available for it.


Another fun and easy way to get programs is klik - point-and-klik software
http://klik.atekon.de/ simple and easy way to play around with programs without the hassle of installing them. The site says Simply MEPIS 2004.4 is supported so I would assume the newest version is as well.

craig, yes, it does use Debian based repo's

That is one of the majour benefits of MEPIS, compatability :)

You're welcome, CouchMaster :) That is the ONLY thing I didn't like about 3.3.1. I mean it is not a big thing to change this--I just wished it was announced beforehand.

As far as Mepis not using X.org, here is Warren's take on the subject:

"Because of our commitment to remain as Debian compatible as possible, we will switch to X.org, OpenOffice 2.0, and KDE 3.4, only when Debian releases those packages." [These will be included in the next Mepis version, 3.4]

Warren chose not to use programs from the experimental repositories and I can see why. Last week knowing that the imminent release of 3.3.1 was coming and a reinstall was near, I decided to try out a distro with KDE 3.4 just to see what it was like. Since I never tried Kanotix before, I downloaded it and installed it (I installed Ubuntu back in January and it hosed my XP partition--only one other distro out of about 20 done that, Suse--and I just can't trust Ubuntu/Kubuntu right now). 3.4 did look a lot "prettier" but it was "clunky" on my 3GHz system. For some reason I lost the programs in the task bar but after tinkering around I was able to get them back. I decided then I will just stick with 3.3.2 until 3.4 matures and moves out of experimental. Good things come to those who wait! :)

[By the way, Kanotix was ok but I could not get my Nvidia driver to work. I guess I am now used to checking a box in the Mepis installation to use the Nvidia driver--very simple]

I originally went from Mepis to Ubuntu... I've not regretted it.

I would have liked to try Ubuntu/kbuntu but I was never able to get grub installed in the / partition. I tried the last two versions too.

Kanotix is awesome. Tried the amd64 version and it rocks. Easy to get nvidia up and running thanks to Kano's scripts.

Mepis is the ONE! I can play tuxracer immediately and everything works. A great selection of programs included in the install. All I needed to do was add my favourite Opera browser. Mepis is a slick, attractive, and ready for the masses desktop operating system.

I tried a Gentoo offspring - Vidalinux. Now this gentoo stuff is a joke. 50 minutes to install a browser. What's with that? Tried upgrading a few programs and my whole system went down because of dependancy problems emerge is not capable of dealing with. Why gentoo has any kind of following just baffles me.

The point being, Debian rules and Mepis does debian the best.

These Debian based distro's are so unoriginal and full of bloated crap, i installed MEPIS on my test computer only to find it bloated with stupid weather control things and a lot of useless unneeded stuff. MEPIS does NOT give you choice it more or less forces you to install KDE by default, linux is meant to be all about choice, MEPIS destroys that.

I'm now going to tell you why, Debian itself is much better than these ripoffs. I can completely customize my debian install, if i want to install just X and fluxbox i can do that, if i want to install just X and XFCE i can do that. The debian net install let's you customize everything how YOU want it, it gives you the choice to install what YOU want. Debian is completely free, you don't need to pay extra money to get the latest features. In my opinion Debian is the most stable distro around. I could go on all day about how much better Debian is than these bloated clones, but i have better things to do than argue with you arrogant people.

...nice to see there are still distro wars. NOT!!!

What was that all about? :tisk:
This room is here to help people who use MEPIS. This is NOT a room for arguments. Why do people still battle over what distro is better? I use what I WANT to use, not what is forced upon me.

If you really _need_ to argue over distros, go to a room that really cares.

Unfortunately it was symptomatic of why so many people dislike Debian - the attitude of it's adherents.

Your one person, there is a lot more people here. This thread was just asking to be ripped wide open, you do realize when you compare distro's your going to get someone who feels it's wrong (Like i do). I wouldn't post here at all, but if your going to compare distro's, i'll make sure i'm here to prove Debian is better.

MEPIS is about making it simple for new users to switch to linux, Debian is anything BUT simple for a new user. Debian is great for a power user but not for a windows to linux convert. there is room enough in linux for both so lets all play nice.

It appears that you, Lowe, have completely missed the Big Picture. This is not about which distro is better, which distro is more bloated, etc. This is about getting more people to use Linux. Distros such as Mepis, Ubuntu/Kubuntu, Xandros, Libranet and others were designed for one purpose—to help people move away from Windows. Who cares what is included with these packages? I took Kweather off with a couple of mouse clicks. How hard was that? Some people like Kweather but since I am on dial-up it isn't much use to me. With a couple of more clicks I can install whatever windows manager I want. I use KDE mainly because since I am a long time Windows user I am more comfortable with it and I like some of the apps that come with it. And that was the main point in Mepis and others by providing some familiarity to ex-Windows users and when these people become more proficient with Linux, they can customize their Linux machine however they want. You mention freedom but first you must have the knowledge to become free. I may myself someday move on to pure Debian and I would have Mepis to thank for that.

Please don't go shooting our own feet with all this “distro-bashing” (what I mean by “our” is the collective Debian community).

Hi folks,

First of all: It's great, that MEPIS find its way to this forum!


to you, Lowe:
I don't think anyone here is arguing against DEBIAN and, as midway wrote, al those Kanotix, K/Ubuntu, Mepis, etc. have one main thing for all "switchers", they just run out of the cd.

Just an example, i gave the MEPIS CD and a 2 year old PC to my doughter having her to install it and it just worked. Sure, she dind't really know what she was doing, but she was able to write some homework and chat and so on... Since that day, she is very proud of her own PC. This, for sure, will never work with Debian.

I'm using Mepis now for 2 years since i switched from WIN2K. I installed a lot of things from Debian and www.apt-get.org. I'm using wine an VMWare and QEMU. It just works for me. It does not look like Mepis these days. It is configured to my needs and expectations. I would not claim to be a Linux expert, i'm feeling at home now. When i desided to try Linux round about 3 years ago, i tried a lot of distros, even Debian Woody. I was not able to install Mandrake, Suse don't want to install, the Debian setup was too difficult to me. My first succes was with the Mepis 2003 and i stayed with it. During this period i installed the apps i want to have. I made the updates i want and so on.

So, for me Mepis was the right stuff. For others there are other distros the right way - i don't think this does matter in any case. As someone wrote here, when you get down to it - all the distros are "just" Linux!

The Debian apt is great, but, to be honest, i can't compare it, cause i never used Redhat, Suse or other resources. If i want to have some app which i cant find for Debian, well then i get the sources an compile them myself - just like all the others do here.

Cheers!

... but very daunting to a newbie..
So why not take the most advanced and stable package system out there and
put some polish on it an already awesome distro... to "hide" all
that incredible power.. so the newbies don't get scared away..

Warren has done that.. IMHO..

This is all an evil plot to let the world know there ARE alternatives
to M$.. hmmm sounds fun.. I'll play.. :-)

Because I am very much a newbie to any flavor of Linux I acquired Linspire, Mepis (with the book "Point and Click Linux") and Ubuntu to see which I preferred.

Linspire is too restrictive for me. I dislike being locked in, for a charge, to a particular system. Compared to the other two it comes with a minimum amount of software.

Except for not being able to access all of my information, if I were running only Linux I could probably be happy with Ubuntu. I have 15+ years under my belt with DOS and Windows systems and am not afraid to experiment. But I'm no programmer by any means.

Of the three only Mepis gives me immediate and easy access to both of my hard drives. Were it not for Mepis I would have lost ALL of the information on my big (160 gig) drive. Thanks to Mepis listing all my partitions, and with the built-in CD burner I was able to back up the drive before I had to reformat it.

Both Linspire and Ubuntu dual boot with no problem, but Mepis rufuses to dual boot with Windows 2000 Pro. I've tried it both on my small (40 gig) hard drive and on a partition on the big drive. It loads beautifully, including GRUB, but only boots to Mepis with no option to boot to Windows.

With Ubuntu and Linspire it may be possible to see partitions other than the ones they are loaded on but I could not find a way to do it.

So Mepis, if I can get it to dual boot with Win2K, will be my Linux of choice.

well you might wanna consider upgrading your version first, the version that came with the book is almost a year and a half old and was rushed to meet publication deadlines, then after you do that and have mepis installed show us your /boot/grub/menu.lst file

Thank you!

I will try that.

I have had pretty good success dual-booting with XP using this method (except with Ubuntu and Suse). Instead of using QParted, I use Partition Magic to create a Linux partition and then install Mepis into there. I feel more comfortable using a Windows program to resize a Windows partition. I install GRUB into MBR and Mepis and XP get along pretty good.

Thanks Mitch.

Because I have two hard drives I would like to dedicate the smaller one to Mepis and still dual boot. Is this possible?

P.S. I just ordered the new Mepis CD. Should have it in two or three days.

I know there is a way to do it but I do not know how. It involves modifying your GRUB if I remember correctly. Maybe someone that knows this method can shed light on this subject.

I have two hard drives too, but I installed XP and Mepis on the first one (40MB each) and on the second one I made three partitions-- one a Ghost backup for XP, one to back up My Docs from XP (this is backed up more regularly than the whole system), and a FAT32 XP/Linux "share" plus Home backup partition.

BTW, when I first installed Mepis I only allocated 10MB of my first hard drive to it. Over time and mulitple installs it has grown larger and larger. One of these days it will push XP off the HD, lol.

Try this thread on MepisLovers--link

go down to the last post by mhl and read it.

Mmmm - wonder if there is an issue here. I've been in another thread where Mepis wouldn't install as hoped in a dual disk environment.
Grub is not the problem - if there is an issue it is with the Mepis installer.
If Mepis installs to the second disk, and installs grub to the MBR (of the current XP disk), there is no need swap the boot order in the BIOS nor use the "map" directives in the grub conf. Something like the following added to menu.lst should sufffice;You might need (hd0,1) if you have a manufacturers "recovery" partition on the Windows drive.

I have only installed Mepis on a single drive box, built for the purpose. I hate GUI installers with a passion and wouldn't allow one on my normal PC's. I have a need to build another test box, so I might try a Mepis install like the above to see what it does.

Mepis, Kubuntu, use whatever works for you. They are more similarities than differences when you actually use them. Both have all the packages that most people wil need. Ubuntu is definitely more cutting edge if that is what you are after including many packages that haven't made it into debian Sid yet.

I think that over time, people that have cut their linux teeth with either Ubuntu or Mepis will gradually migrate over to pure debian. Once you get the hang of it, configuring debian is not that difficult but it is quite a jump for most newbies. If you can afford a couple of gigs of hd space, a parallel install of either Mepis or Ubuntu and a small "learning" partition for debian is a good way to learn. If you get stuck on configuring something, you can always find the comparable script/.conf file in Mepis and see how it is done.

Sounds interesting, and I certainly have the drive space.

As I said earlier, I chose Mepis because it easily accessed ALL of my partitions on both drives, and allowed to me to back them up, saving me hours of grief and tears.

Later this afternoon I'll be trying syg00's suggestion for getting Mepis to dual boot.

Thanks much for all your help.

A huge THANKS! for the bit of code. It did not run as written the first time I tried it, but I may not have typed it correctly. I reloaded Ubuntu and looked at the file there and it said "Windows 2000 Professional." So I went back to Mepis and typed it in that way.

Now all I need is a proper modem and I'm off and running!

Worked a charm!

Again, many thanks!

Enjoy! ;)

Happy to help - if only all problems were that easy to resolve.
Maybe you should report the install issue back to Mepis.

As for the modem, been many years since I last dialled up, but I can't believe Mepis doesn't have that covered.
It found my PCI WiFi card without any input from me.

I'm not worried about finding a modem. From what others have said it's not all that hard. I just have to get off my behinder and do it.

I'm glad I had a bit of experience with DOS batch files years ago. I think it helped me with this.

My big problem was not knowing where to look for the files.

You've probably not seen the last of me now that I'm up and running. I tend to ask lots of questions.

Enjoy!

It does actually, but many modems just arent compatable with linux, these are called winmodems, MEPIS provides ndiswrapper for those but it can be hit and miss with ndis...

I understand about winmodems not working with Linux. I've done some research and all I have to do is get off my behinder and order one that does work with Linux.

Thanks so much for your help.

ndiswrapper is for wireless cards.

As far as the whole "which distro and why" discussion, it all boils down to "use what works for you".

My distro of choice is Slackware, not because it's inherently "better" but because it's better for me. I could spout off all of the reasons why I prefer Slack but they would realy only mean anything to me. They may or may not apply to you.

While I find Mepis (and Debian in general) to be a bit sluggish, Mepis is an excellently thought out and packaged distro. Warren and Co. are are shooting for an easy to install, easy to use distro for people migrating from windoze to Linux and they've done a superb job of it.

My perception of the "sluggishness" is due primarily to the fact that I use custom compiled software and configurations, not because of any problem with Mepis or Debian itself.

I like Mepis for what it is. I didn't care for Ubuntu when I tried it. As with all things "distro" it's just my personal impressions and opinions. I think my signature sums it up.

Mason,

I agree with you wholeheartedly. But by reading what others have to say about the different distros helps one make the big decision of which to try first. I, for one, enjoy reading what others think about the distros and why they chose the one they did.

Mepis and Ubuntu both work fine for me. What convinced me to install an Ubuntu partition over Mepis was the philosophy behind the distro. One wasn't inherently better than the other but Ubuntu has pledged to be always free, has newer packages, and actively contributes to debian because many of the developers are current debian contributors.

Go to the Mepis website and the Ubuntu website and read what the developers are trying to accomplish with their variation of linux. Make your own decision on which distro to use based on your own beliefs, experiences and objectives.

Good advice.

The reason there are so many distros is that differnt people want different things in the one they use.

My problem with Ubuntu is that I cannot seem to access any partition other than the one it is installed on.

This one thing is why I chose Mepis. If someone can get me over this hurdle with Ubuntu I'll be more than glad to give it another try.

Hi
I use Mepis because:
I like it.
It's easy to install.
It's easy to update.
It's easy to upgrade.
All my hardware works.
It's KDE.
It allows me to dual boot with XP.
And last but not lest, it's pretty.

I have tried to install Kubuntu, but as I am dyslectic (I am writing this in Open Office) I just can't work out the installer, it just makes no sense at all to me, and as I need to keep my Windows partition, I will not install it on the whole of my hard drive.
Maybe if they sort out the installer, I will try it on the computer I keep for playing with, until then it's Mepis for me.

Regards Jim