What new version of MEPIS would you $upport?

Actually Simply on a usb key would be really cool, but I voted 'other' as I would really like to see MepisLite(er) with Koffice and less 'bloat' (I have remastered Mepis 6 to about 350MB with Koffice, other K apps, though not KDE, but fluxbox and Icewm) and also a MepisUltraLite which could be on a USB stick at 256MB, but with very light apps for 128MB RAM or less boxes. (I have a remastered Mepis6 Ultra, though not for usb as I don't know how to do that)

What I would really like to see is a framework for more "active" input from the community, where members could work on developing and submitting for downloading various types of Mepis - a bit like with (K)/(X)/(Flux)Ubuntu and the various Slax, Puppy derivatives, but within the Mepis framework.

Regards,

anticapitalista

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

I would support any live, installable version of Simply MEPIS (especially a DVD version) which had an installer that would allow us to install only the files we wish to use. I have been supporting SimplyMEPIS for about three years now and will continue to do so in the future as long as Warren and the gang keep putting out such a fine distribution. I think that a version like this would appeal to quit a few users. It should be set up to do a general install, like it does now, or a custom install for those that want it. I would also like to be able to have more mount points instead of just swap, /, and /home. I know how to edit fstab in order to accomplish this but I think it would be better to set them up upon installation.

I voted for Mepis on a usb key but as anticapitalista, I would like to have MepisLite updated to have it on my old computer (128Mo RAM)...

I prefer KDE for its simplicity but if IceWM or Fluxbox are well configured they are quite user friendly (well, enough).

I would enjoy to have my desktop on a usb because when I travel I suffer from Windows on others computers (and I suffer a lot).

Thank you Warren and staff for providing us such a simple, solid, and easy-to-use operating system !

Mepis powaaaaaaaaa !!!!

Hi Anticapitalista,

Thanks for your work on an UltraLite!

Please be patient. We're working right now to get the framework in place.

Matt will be setting up the project management module very soon. Then we will get some policies in place and tweak everything as we get feedback from the community.

Best,

Warren

Warren, I voted for PPC, but if you have more pressing matters, well just don't worry about PPC as Debian sarge is running just fine and I should be seeing a new version of Debian around x-mas time. Warren thank you for all that you have done, not that long ago Hackers ruled Linux and now Newbies rule, thanks to you.

regards,
Jimmy
SimplyMEPIS 6.0 - kernel 2.6.15-26-686-SMP - KDE 3.5.3

Hi Warren

Great news!

There are lots of Mepis users out there that have a lot of talent to offer to the Mepis project (much more than me) and a framework to tap into that is invaluable not only for the further development of Mepis, but also for free software in general.

Regards,

anticapitalista

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

I voted for SoHo because I really liked what I saw with the "old" one but dumped it because I wanted to run the Mepis 6.0 version. I will probably send some $$$ out of a sense of morality, if for no other reason, regardless of what is done. Plus, as a WV native (born in Fairmont, now living in the midwest) I think it is "so cool" seeing something like this come out of Morgantown. And to think that these Iowa State folks think _they_ are the center of the computer universe!

Ditto on the MepisLite. Something that runs slick on old hardware.

Mepis is a beautiful thing. Warren, if you were a woman, I'd have to ask you to marry me.

1) Improve SimplyMepis. The livecd is still a little stale. Add unionfs.

2) MepisLite. Something that runs in the 128-256MB. Flux would be OK. Option to load unionfs. Only start minimal number of processes. Add a Mepis util to turn on common services to make it simple for beginners.

I'd like to see Mepis on my AMD 64 computer. I already have kubuntu and Ubuntu 64 (6.06-1) on my computer. But would like to change one of them out for Mepis. With all of the latest KDE software.

I think Simply Mepis has improved in leaps and bounds in the last couple of years and to deter from it's course would be a mistake. Keep the momentum going while it is one of the best distros in the universe, just keep making it better. I've been using it on my main system as my main OS for a couple of years and just this week installed it on my Toshiba Satellite laptop and it works like a charm. Also this year l bought a subscription to help support financially because it is such a great project. Keep it going!

Wayne Whalen

I did vote for "AMD64 -- Before Christmas and before Vista ships!", but on second thoughts "Keep Improving SimplyMEPIS" would have been better..

After voting I realized that you probably meant to say before Christmas 2007 (I don't expect Vista to ship in 2006)....

Just keep on improving SimplyMEPIS. I'll keep on $upporting.

Regards, Ko

Ko Bros

Like others I'd put in a plug for an updated MepisLite. I'd been updating all my systems to 6.0 until the modem on one of them wouldn't connect. It had worked fine with previous Mepis versions, so I just popped in a MepisLite disk I happened to have on hand and, *boing*, everything worked fine.

Installing MepisLite was supposed to be a temporary fix, but everything runs zippier on this system and I'm getting to like Koffice, especially Kword (which runs very very fast on this setup). With some slight updating, I'd keep MepisLite running all the time, at least on a secondary system.

--Malanrich

I have tons of old legacy boxes 256/128/64 running p200's/k6's
etc....

Not happy not acceptable to use

Xubuntu (no gui printer setup at all)
Puppy (Doesnt recognize network cards on some)
DSL (Too big a pain setting up desktop icons, extremely awkward for windoze switchers...)

Mepislite has been neglected waaaay tooo loooong

Bring us uptodate Warren.....let's get a Mepislite 6.0
with something that can run with say 64 - 128 meg
and has some iconable desktop....tnx

my 2 cents

I'd pay
I'd pay

For myself I would like to see an AMD_64 version as I have just built a dual core toy. BUT! I work on a lot of window boxes and know there are going to be a lot of un-happy campers in about 2 1/2 years when a lot of xp owners are going to find out their OS is no longer suported and their hardware is not really up to running Vista. I think Mepis will be a good fit on many of those boxes.

I voted USB as well. I carry around a DamnSmallLinux on a bootable USB, and would rather have the same distro as at home.

I'm amazed to read so many thinking so small about USB configurations - you can hardly find 256MB keys anymore, and 4GB is now common.

A current LiveCD usually packs 2GB of files into 700MB compressed, and the decompressing is a big part of the ungodly slow performance of LiveCD boots and operation.

Now-cheap USB keys are the full 2GB, so they could carry a no-compromise MEPIS, uncompressed.

But, as that seems to be losing to "better MEPIS", the improvements I vote for are about system administration. Install is now as dead-easy as they can get, please do the same with upgrades.

For a clean upgrade, lots prefer to reformat everything but /home and install from scratch - but then you have to re-install all your favourite non-MEPIS apps. Something to automate all that ("MyMEPIS" ? ...sorry) would be terrific.

I think all the other options on the list are great too!

BUT... I spend a lot of time making the 6.0 a LAMP (plus other stuff) server and I always feel I've hacked something up some where. I had the old version of SOHO installed but I'm still mostly green I'm not too confident in my abilities to keep it up to date.

Also... It would be great to see a new default theme. AND USB MEPIS would be cool too, especialy if it would support writing changes, files created (like in an word program), etc... to the USB drive by default.

After reading all of the posts to this question I think that most of the posters would be happiest with a DVD version (or if they have a fast pipe a CD version) that would install a base version on a hard drive or on a usb key drive and let them pick a choose which other files they need to make them happy. I think the comments about improving SimplyMEPIS in any way are things that you are working on anyway. As for the 64 bit and dual core version I'm sure that if anyone wants to donate a machine (or if you get enough donations to afford one) that has these features, a version for it would be short-comming. I'll be happy to do my part as always.

Before Xmas

what I would like to see is Warren doing what he does that nobody else can, SimplyMepis and perhaps when time, 64 bit Amd Mepis. Although I do not think the 64bit would be that useful at this point. We need easy remastering tools included in SimplyMepis, or available in the repo's. I also like the usb idea to be included as an option, if possible.

I voted other, because of all the old hardware out there that windows users insist that they first try Linux on. I feel that the community could help Warren by making lite, ultralite, and soho versions by remastering the base SimplyMepis 6. And by releasing it thru Warren's site Mepis.org it will free Warren to work on new releases and further the goals of Mepis. Mepis is at heart Warren's baby, and only he knows how to setup the kernels to make them truely Mepis. But there are those in the community with knownledge to enhance the Mepis lineup, thereby making Mepis a little more atractive to new and different types of users. Not to mention, that community distro's judged to be of value could also be annouced thru distro watch, thereby raising the hit count. During this actually helps to get more people interested and downloading the main product too.

All of us would like to download and try Anti's Mepislites. Puppy does not seem to work for me for a very long time now. DSL-N works, but adding software in is very very limited, and I have not figured out how to get synaptic in it. PCLinuxOS minime 93A with IceWM & fluxbox installed seems to work the best for old hardware so far, but would prefer a Mepis 6 ultralite.

It might be fairly easy (but I would not have any idea how to do it) to add support for Intel Macs to the main SimplyMepis distro.

See this link;

http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=03653#0

Sabayon Linux 3.0 RC2 has added A20 Gate patches to GRUB to run correctly on Intel Macs. Perhaps it can be done for Mepis too.

Not that I have or never plan on buying a Mac.

A new version of the SOHO would be a big shot in the arm for my efforts here!! One with options for kernels, server, and desktop enviroments, many busnesses use legacy equpment untill it blows up in a mushroom cloud! Along those lines a "mini" version with support for antiques would be appreciated, there are still bunches of win 95 and nt machines slaving away out there, ripe pickings for meaningfull upgrades!

One more thing about having a Mepis SoHo based on 6.0 rather than 3.x flavor.

As stated above I blew away any SoHo (wasn't a major hosting enterprise, just something I was playing with at home) because 6.0 promised LTS (Long Term Support).

So ... if were in the position of having a production system that demanded reliability (as opposed to my own situation, where I am hosting a couple of web pages as a hobby) and a long life cycle, then "long term support" would be of paramount concern. And thus Mepis 6.0, which along with Ubuntu 6.0 promises a "long term support" model.

I have voted other. I would support anything that let my laptop computer connect to a wep our wpa network without editing configfiles. With my laptop i move around a lot and need to connect to different spots and WPA gives me the biggest problem. None of the tools let me do it easly. If this is possible i will drop XP totaly.

Wifi with easy WPA our WEP and you make me happy.

Of course most of these options are loaded - like the 64bit option - only people with 64bit (the slight minority) are likely to choose that option. As for IntelMac - how many Mepis users have one of those??!!

I would absolutely love to see a 64 bit version of Mepis on this brand new Athlon X2. Mepis is great anyway and I can only imagine how it would be in 64bit.

I also vote for the 64bit. It would be nice to have a 64bit Linux that works flawlessly. Actually the problem is not 64bit Linux but the rest of the programs: Flash. Opera, etc. that don't have 64bit versions, so much so that it's not worthy the hassle to run Linux in 64bit mode.

--
Check out Mepis wiki: www.mepis.org/docs
Community site: www.mepislovers.com/forums

Because "it just works."

But if you are looking for a diversion, I have some older biege boxes that would like to be of some service again someday. I jumped the fence for a little while and tried Xubuntu, but it just wasn't Mepis.

Thanks,
The Tramp.

I would love to get my hands on a version of Mepis that is used for forensics and security. There was an anouncment a while back about this type of release, but I didn't hear anything else about it. I am currently a grad student whose research has focused mainly on security and forensics involving computer and information sciences. I have played with Knoppix STD, Penguin Sleuth Kit, Helix, and many more offerings from the Linux world.

During my first computer forensics course a FBI agent was a guest speaker and informed us that Linux was used extensively for imaging and other forensics tasks. They also use Windows based applicaitons to review images, but for the most part Linux is the go-to OS and software base. I understand that I can easily install Mepis and then download any applicaiton I need, but for on-the-fly, forensics use in the real world or in a class room enviroment it is best to have something that runs from CD-ROM. I will not get into explaining things such as needing a forensic copy of a drive, and the need to ensure that the original drive is not changed, etc., but this explains the need for something that runs from CD-ROM, that is stable and reliable. I think the Mepis team could create something powerful, reliable, and stable for use in the forensics world. I think this is something Warren and the Mepis team should take a more serious look at.

Joe Pearce

The student is not above the teacher
The servant is not above the master
The student shares the teacher's fate
The servant shares the master's

Home Page:http://www.joepearce.com

Bio and Resume: http://resume.joepearce.com

I get tired of hearing (reading) all the negative comments about 64bit systems. True the support is now just starting to happen, but this should be no deterrent to upping to a 64bit system. The sooner the 64bit pool expands then the sooner developers will support the apps needed to open up this new frontier.
Come on people grow with the flow.
64bit is here and promises to blow our socks off.
First we need a push to get the support to make it happen.
The bigger the market the faster it will happen.
Rally to the front lads.