SimplyMEPIS 6.0 is out

[itsik]

For those of you who used both mepis and kubuntu,
which distro is better in your opinion?

[Fenyx]

Re: Simply mepis 6 is out

I haven't had time to test out MEPIS for a long period, but there's one fundamental thing about MEPIS which makes me think (just think) that it is a better KDE distro than Kubuntu: It's entirely KDE-focused.

Kubuntu isn't really "pure" KDE. There are some stuff, directories, and packages that are not KDE, but GNOME.

I've downloaded SimplyMEPIS 6, and will install it on a separate partition tomorrow.

[aysiu]

Re: SimplyMEPIS 6.0 is out

It's quite the other way around, and that's what I like about Mepis--it's not KDE focused. It mixes and matches to find the best programs. It's not afraid to put Firefox and Synaptic Package Manager in, even though those are Gtk applications. Kubuntu, however, will put in only Qt applications to fit in with the "pure KDE" environment.

[Fenyx]

Re: SimplyMEPIS 6.0 is out

Oh yeah I forgot that about that part. But still, It's KDE plus a few non-KDE stuff. It has a solid KDE base.

On the other hand, Kubuntu is like [(GNOME - GTK) + KDE]. One example that I've personally seen is that Kubuntu depends on a package called app-install-data, which is described as "GNOME Application Installer (data files)". I've also heard that (I'll try to look up where) that some of the directory/folder structure that Kubuntu follows is GNOME's, not KDE's.

Anyway, I'll try MEPIS out to personally see for myself whether my theory is really correct.

Btw, aysiu, you'll be glad that MEPIS didn't include System Settings and Adept.

[aysiu]

Re: SimplyMEPIS 6.0 is out

From a software functionality standpoint, I think Mepis is a better distro than Kubuntu for most end-users (well, apart from the aquarium applet and the Earthlink desktop icon), but I prefer Kubuntu because of the philosophy behind the distro, the community support, and the documentation.

[Fenyx]

Re: SimplyMEPIS 6.0 is out

Yeah I also like Kubuntu's philosophy better. I don't mind having to install codecs and stuff to get some multimedia working. At least I know that I put those in my system, and not somebody else. Although it's also good once in a while just to have everything work.

I can't comment of the community just yet. I haven't even looked at mepislovers.org except for a glance at their front page. I've also been wondering about how much the community influences the development of MEPIS. I mean, I know that it plays a (probably substantial) role. But from an outsider's point of view, MEPIS looks like a one-man team composed of Warren only. And for a big distro, the concept of a one-man team is a bit scary for me.

[LaneLester]

Re: SimplyMEPIS 6.0 is out

I'm coming over to Kubuntu from Mepis 6, at least temporarily. Mepis certainly installs a more complete system of applications. OTOH, I don't get a lot of stuff I won't ever use, and I know how to use Synaptic.

Networking was easier to set up in Mepis, because more of the KDE network-related stuff is installed. I'm still struggling here.

I think Kubuntu has configured my ATI card correctly, something I was not able to accomplish without a lot of trouble in Mepis.

But I like having a 64-bit version for my AMD chip, and I like the clean layout of Kubuntu.

[lingenfr]

Re: SimplyMEPIS 6.0 is out

I came to Kubuntu from MEPIS. I am happy and doubt I will go back. Maybe going from Debian to Ubuntu base fixed my issues, but I doubt it. MEPIS has some proprietary pieces and was very difficult (impossible for me despite many attempts and my forum postings) to set up to compile. So for my unsupported hardware, I had no way to compile drivers and software from scratch. Community support was pretty week. I got tired of waiting for month for a reply to a question on the MEPIS or MEPISLovers forum and just gave up. I am much happier with the way Kubuntu works and will stick with it until it doesn't. If MEPIS fanboys/girls are lurking, please don't waste electrons trying to convince me, this is just my opinion and I am sure I'm an idiot, but I used MEPIS and SimplyMEPIS for several years.

[askrieger]

Re: SimplyMEPIS 6.0 is out

Personally, i use the KDE desktop because I prefer it to Gnome and I use a lot of KDE apps, but I also use some Gnome apps (particularly Synaptic) and some X apps, like Emacs and Xmms, that are desktop independent. I would use the same ensemble of apps whether I was running Kubuntu or Mepis, but I have an AMD64 box and I definitely like the Ubuntu philosophy, so here I am.

[DigitaLink]

Re: SimplyMEPIS 6.0 is out

I used Mepis 3.x after running Xandros2 after running Mandrake 7/8/9 ... then went from Mepis to PCLOS to Mepis 6 RC3 to Kubuntu because of some hard drive detection/permissions issues with RC3. Mepis installs a "more complete" system out of the box. Kubuntu installs a cleaner system that makes the user customize more things because they have to choose what to install. I like a couple of Warren's utilities, but Kubuntu let me install across two hard drives the way I wanted to - and I had no issues with accessing the second drive. With Mepis 6 (RC3, not final), I installed to hda, then to hdb - thinking maybe it was just a drive issue, but I had the exact problem no matter which drive I installed to ... the other drive would work for three, maybe four minutes, then deny me access to it.

I still can't get fglrx to work with Kubuntu and my Radeon 9250, whereas it was working fine with Mepis. And PCLOS before it. After trying fglrx, I now can't play any type of video in Kaffeine. No problems with VLC though. VMWare installed smoothly on Kubuntu as well, which gave me headaches in both Mepis 3.x and PCLOS 0.92. I didn't try it on Mepis 6, but imagine it would go as easily as Kubuntu handled it.

Oh, and if my old memory serves me, wasn't Synaptic created by Texstar for KDE on Madrake systems? Seems to me his apt for rpm efforts are what brougth Synaptic to the limelight back when I was running Mandrake 7 or 8. That was where I first learned of Tex anyway, which was why I tried PCLOS in the first place. I could be wrong, but that's the version of history that's in my brain anyway.

[askrieger]

Re: SimplyMEPIS 6.0 is out

I used Mandrake, up to 10.1. I don't recall ever seeing Synaptic as an rpm package. I thought that the reason that Mandrake bought Connectiva was to get Apt-rpm (and the guys who wrote it). Texstar was certainly a more important figure in the popularity of Mandrake than the parisians ever realized, I was tempted to try PCLos when I was hunting for an AMD64 distro (Debian still doesn't officially support AMD64), but I liked the Debian style and the Ubuntu community concept so I decided to try Kubuntu.