Which of the following is the most important reason you would choose to financially support a Linux distro?

I appreciate the effort that people (Warren in this case) put into products they offer for free. People that do this should be rewarded somehow and should have the conditions to continue to develop the product.

I voted for "other" but "it works the way I want an OS to work" is also valid in my case.

Also contributed small amount of money to: Wikipedia, PCLinuxOS, Freenode, and Azureus. Same reasons, a way to say that I appreciate the efforts and want people that take care of those projects to continue to do what they do.

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Post questions on www.mepislovers.org too.
Check out our wiki: www.mepislovers-wiki.org

I like the "taste" of the distro maintainer (thanks, Warren!). Most applications that I want are there, the cruft I don't wan't isn't there, the defaults are configured more or less as I would have done myself.

I repay about once a yr because it operates the way I want an os to
and the plug-ins are already setup.

To this very day 3.3.1-1 stable works great
One can only hope soon 3.4 will "stabilize" thru add-ins

tnx Warren

It works the way I want it to work. 'Nuff said!

I want Mepis to succeed so it will continue to develop and I can benefit from that development.

Rich

Well, I see I'm in good company so far with "works the way I want it". For me it was initially a matter of hardware detection. MEPIS was the distro that was easiest for me as a newbie to get operational on my PC.

Now that other distros have shown some promise it seems to be mostly a matter of familiarity, features as well as function. I've tried others but always come back to MEPIS.

BigM555
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We're all musicians, still searching for our roots.

You don't give this as an option, and perhaps it's a variation on "I want Mepis to succeed". I like the "try before you buy" philosophy of Linux. I tried Mepis for a couple months on different machines, bought an "official" copy of the CD and then bought an annual subscription.

Just 'cause software is freely available, doesn't mean it's freely maintainable. Cost of creating/maintaining software costs in passion, time and money. Keep up the good work Warren and all the other folks who help you out

Jon

When I first started using Red Hat, the boxed version included live support. Sometimes it would be easier to call or email someone for an answer. I would be in favor in some form of support based fee.Maybe you could offer support on a per question basis? This is especially good for noobs... The latest distro solved my soft modem issue, I'm full-time Mepis user now. Keep it up! -Jude

I've paid for/financially supported several distros. Like Jon, I basically feel that people should be rewarded for good work but I also feel responsible to "pay my way".

The bottom line is that I want Warren and crew to continue to develop this product because it is useful and important to me. I wish everyone that actually used it would "pay their way" because that will encourage distro and linux application developers alike to do more of what they do best.

Darrell

I too have the same opinion as AdrianTM, as I like to support people who offer their hardwork for free, and by supporting them financially albeit it in a smallway, it will act as incentive for them to develop their products further, and to say that their work is highly appreciated.

Julz

I support it not only because it works the way I want it to, but because it can offer so much more that Windows can't. I also find the Mepis community to be very friendly and helpful. Without them, I would have given up long ago.

MEPIS has done a better job of detecting and configuring hardware AUTOMATICALLY than any other distro I've tried (SUSE 10, Knoppix, Fedora, Mandrake, PCLinuxOS, XANDROS, and several others).

I also appreciate the fact that MEPIS connects to and CAN USE the 18,000+ application Debian repository via Synaptic. PCLinuxOS has only 4,000 apps, SUSE basically has what is on its CDs, unless you want to navigate the RPM hell of individual installs from RPM BONE.
One advantage of being able to connect to the Debian repository is that the MEPIS ISO doesn't have to be any bigger than what can fit on a single CD, with the essentials being OpenOffice, FireFox and as many wireless connections as possible. All else can be downloaded and installed.

The one area where MEPIS doesn't rise to its normal detection /configuration /install standards is ADSL connections. The PPPoE app just doesn't cut it. I had to revert a friend's PC back to SUSE when MEPIS wouldn't configure/install an adsl modem connected via an eth0 card.

Keeping on top of the various wireless chips and PCI cards is a biggie too.

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GreyGeek

First, let me state that while I haven't donated to Mepis as of yet, I will be donating what I can (whether it be in small or large increments) in the near future when my banking situation gets taken care of.

That's the most important thing, right?

I voted for "There is a friendly, helpful community." because I feel it's my primary factor in loving Mepis. On joining the Mepislovers forums, I noticed immediately the care and concern of Mepis users over many other distros, Ubuntu included (and I'm not debunking Ubuntu -- it's a great distro.) Many in Linux have this authority figure problem so I've noticed -- they're l33t, they're too good to explain such and such to you, etc., and the users of Mepis in general (certainly more than most) don't have this attitude, and I fully appreciate this.

I'm not using Linux to be l33t, nor to push some agenda. I'm simply using it because it's a viable alternative to Microsoft Windows, and it can't get much simpler than that. Because Mepis is free and support is based soley on it's volunteers (by forums or developer[s]), it has one thing Microsoft can't touch - the love of it's close-knit userbase and the caring of it's developers/shapers (Warren and team) to listen to the userbase, especially in situations such as this. Microsoft has became quite big-headed in recent years, and because of this I believe they've totally lost touch with the users of their OS.

In closing, I look forward what the future of Mepis brings. It's surely a bright one, and there's no looking back now. Thanks everyone for making Mepis what it is. I wonder -- are those CDs in the store updated for 3.4.3 yet?

I sent in a Steak and Lobster donation about the first time I tried Mepis. It was great. I subsequently ordered two or three CD's as they came out. Mepis CD's have always been very reasonably priced and the speed of the service is almost unbelievable. I want very much for Mepis to succeed, but I'm very disappointed with the 3.4 release. Any distro has too not only work, but be user friendly. In my opinion something happened to the Debian repositories that messed Mepis up. It seems to me if you are going to create and sell a distribution, you can't rely on someone else's repository, because in the long term it's going to come back to bite you. I don't use Windows, neither does my wife. We need a computer system we can count on. Even though I used Mepis for the past two years, and never had any problem with it, I now find myself forced to switch to SuSE 10.

#1 SuSE's implementation of udev does work on my machine,
#2.It has good release specific repositories, and a good article posted on the Internet on how to make it fully multimedia ready.
#3 SuSE 10.0 prints, scans, plays KPOJ, and video clips from CNN.com.

Do I like it as much as I did Mepis, No.

#1 I like live CD's They provide a sense of security in that you can always use the live CD of the HD installation goes south.
#2 The Installation of the Mepis was much faster. I could install Mepis in about 13 minutes while surfing the web from the live CD at the same time.
#3 Mepis was more fun. I could make my own custom graphics for it and really create something very personal. SuSE is next to impossible to modify because it's basically very non standard.

I feel the actual Mepis forum has been somewhat deficient in regards to keeping users up to speed in regards to the Debian repositories.

I'm willing to pay for a distribution that actually works with my proven hardware. I'm willing to pay for an annual subscription for a repository that actually matches the distribution I'm running. There has to be instructions on how to get the system fully multimedia operational.

Xandros is good, but too reliant on Xcrossover office to handle tasks that Linux can actually do.

Perhaps Warren could build a distribution based on the SuSE repositories. I don't know, but right now Mepis is no longer both up to date and genuinely functional.

Please don't kill the messenger. You asked what it would take for financial support, and I'm telling you.

I like the business values, and you have done little things that other distro's have done, namely the pre-configured ndiswrapper system, this is great. Other than that I like you business values, I also find it to be quite stable on both of my machines, thank you.

I like the way the entire distrobution works. I did try others but found that things like changeing fonts and haveing the settings stay dont always work. Mepis has not had that problem, or I should say I do not have that problem.

I have purchased a few CD'S and now the annual download subscription.
I think people who have decided to use Mepis should at least be willing to purchase a CD everyonce in awhile or one of the subscription options.

FRANK D. HUBENY

This is a great question. I'm not sure my answer is what anyone wants to hear though...

I've purchased Suse and Xandros. I did this mostly to support my education in weaning myself off Windows. These distros have substantial and useful documentation for newbs.

Xandros got my nod because the price included Crossover Office and support for Novell servers in addition to customer support that seemed tuned to people migrating to Linux a the corporate level.

I purchased both with an academic discount that was pretty substantial. ( I work in a University)

All that being said - things change.

I'd probably NOT purchase another distro again - at least for me personally. Been there, done that and I"m past it. Mepis really meets my needs for 2 solid reasons:

1: Great design, right out of the gate
2: An active support community

I don't really need the things that boxed distros provide anymore as my sophistication (even limited) has passed the need for that much hand holding. Plus, the BBS' really answer every question thant needs much resolution.

So what does a great distro like Mepis do to generate cash?

1: Maybe a Newbie boxed distro that really gives great documentation and phone / email support.

2. Take a tip from online radio stations etc. that offer "free" services and have a membership drive or fundraising drive. I see right now that radioparadise is raising 50-60k this month from such an effort.

3. take a tip from Xandros and partner with product that makes purchase more appealing (like Crossover).

In short, with great "free" distros available, I don't see the need to buy packages, but understand the need to generate operating revenue in order to propagate the creation of the great "free" distros. A vicious cycle.

I originally chose to support Mepis when I ran across a discussion of Warren giving CDs to military families. I am not military or ex-military, but I thought that deserved support. At the time I was just starting in Linux and trying to switch from Windows because of cost. I really never planned on using Mepis, but after I got the CD I tried it and have used it ever since.

At this point I would support a Linux distribution because it works for my office needs and I can know that in advance. The one thing I would really be willing to pay for is a ???just works??? fax/answering machine application. That is the first thing I really miss from Windows (Symantec's Talkworks never confused voice with fax and got every call and fax flawlessly). Yes, I know mgetty and vgetty can do this, but I don't have the time to figure them out. And while we are dreaming why not a preconfigured Qemu and the new, free VMware product to run my old Win98 license for those specialized Window applications? I run Win4Lin98 on Mepis 3.3.1-1, but it won't run on the new release and to continue with Mepis I will have to figure something out. Nothing like asking for the world On the negative side, I have been concerned about the long term future of Mepis with respect to the problems apparently associated with 3.4.3 (I have not installed it yet).

For me the switch to Linux was motivated by the increasing cost and hassle of Windows. I would probably consider a reasonable yearly subscription to a distro that met these needs. The only hang up is that in my area dial-up is the only affordable option. I would have paid extra to get the ???extra CD ISOs??? that were announced today when I ordered 3.4.3. As mentioned by others I have appreciated the community support and have financially supported MepisLovers in a small way.

 
Okie2003
Soyo
SY-KT600; Athlon XP2600; 1GB

At the moment my decisions are based on the ability to see TV, have a scanner working and an easy network with MS XP. In fact Xandros does a better work on this, but my CD got corrupted
MEPIS came to the rescue

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Now, hit that gamma-ray burster and let's get out of here.

I need a distro I can recommend to friends and family as easy to use. All the hard configuration is done and for the most part, it just works. I don't want it to deviate from a standard supported code base (Debian) to the point I can't upgrade, compile oddball drivers or otherwise take advantage of the work of the community at large. In my opinion, MEPIS has kept the best balance!

Okie2003,
I think you left a html tag open in your sig line. ??
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Bob L Hunter
bicycle tourist, bookworm, linux newbie
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All of the listed reasons above in addition to the fact that FREEDOM is worth SUPPORT and the Disto that AWARDS me UNLIMITED freedom DESERVES whatever contributions I am able to give to INSURE IT'S CONTINUANCE be it MONEY, TIME, or BOTH. + THAT = A DEBIAN DISTRO

As a vote to support "free" software that works really well.
That is based on GPL & FOSS principals.
The Debian charter says it for me.
NH

I didn't vote for "It works the way I want an operating system to work." If it didn't, I wouldn't be here.

Rather, I voted for the community. It's getting little recognition in the poll and it's a valuable resource. As long as I've been able to formulate questions well (not always the case), answers have been forthcoming from the forums. Additionally, Google inquiries on non-MEPIS topics, on Linux in general, often lead to the MEPIS forums. The same thing happens occasionally with inquiries about programs that run on both Linux and Windows (e.g., Firefox). There's a lot there.

I've used MEPIS for all of my compting tasks except Quicken and Exact Audio Copy (EAC) for a year and a half. I've made a couple of modest contributions.

I'm always trying out other distros but I keep Mepis 3.3.1-1 as my main and stable OS - the one I can rely on. I support it financially because it's good and deserves support. It has probably the best auto-detection and configuration going in any OS (I posting using a wirless network card that Mepis has detected and configured - unlike the two other OS's on this hard disk - Windows Xp that doesn't detect the card and SuSE that detects it but won't configure it - see what I mean?!

Other than the fact that this os works the way I believe a os should,I have enjoyed it immensely.
In order to continue the work that has brought such enjoyment one would be naive to think that such good work could continue without the support of us that use it.

I made a couple of modest donations to Mempis (and some other
distros, too) in the past, and I hope to do so again when I can.

But there's the problem. There are so many good causes that
need support and only so much money in the kitty. I'll restrict
myself to computer issues here, though I, like most people, also
give to other causes (and, again, it all comes out of the same
kitty). What about KDE and OpenOffice, etc.? How are they
supported?

All this "free" software needs some kind of financial support.
It's truly wonderful that it's available for "free", but
*somebody* has to pay the electric bill. I would dearly love to
see some rational and transparent way to support FLOSS in
general.

Is there such a thing?

Andy

For me, MEPIS turned from a great distro into a FANTASIC distro after I upgraded to KDE 3.50. I can play every media I encounter on the Internet, including media player 9. (All it takes is the proper codecs) The usb devices mount automatically when I plug them in. My KODAK DX7630 digital camera works great with Kamera. Sound is wonderful. DVD movies are fantastic. My gateway m675prr and my wife's Acer 3004 Mci both have broadcom internal wireless. My was detected and installed automatically, and I added WEP throught OS Center without problems. I did have to do the ndiswrapper thing for my wife's Acer by hand, though, but it wasn't difficult. I have a Samsung ML-1210 laser conneceted to my Linksys wireless router and both my wife and I print to it via CUPS through network IP. 3D acceleration works great. My grandson loves Tux Racer and Tux gocart. I play with American Army. The only app I don't have installed is WINE. No need for it.

Try upgrading to KDE 3.50 and see how your MEPIS install improves. Search the mepis formum for postings by "Kerry" and "KDE 3.50" (don't do the 3.50-rc1 install).
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GreyGeek

I tried to contribute a while back, but teh store wouldn't accept my donation.

I might try again sometime, but at the moment I'm not happy with 3.4.3

If I try to play sound I get messages like

Apparently the version of ALSA shipped in 3.4.3 is incompatible with the shipped kernel! This seems to be a major bug and should never have got into a release.

There is a fix that involves installing an experimental version of ALSA from source, but I really don't want to go there.

If the ALSA shipped in 3.4.3 is incompatible with the shipped kernel, why isn't this Mepis forum and Mepislovers being bombarded with everyone having sound problems?