Championing Mepis
An Opinion
In the Beginning:
Like a lot of Windows users. I wanted a change I wanted freedom from viruses, spy ware, proprietary software, licensing issues, limited software choices, and the feeling that big brother is watching me. Personally I don’t believe that my operating system should care about what I am doing. If this does not bother you do a Google search for “TCPA” and view what Microsoft has in store for its future operating systems and how this will effect you. Also Windows in my opinion is bloated, slow, unresponsive, and unstable. Yes even XP, which replaced the blue screen of death with random reboots, and total system lock ups, to mask the root issue of poorly constructed software.
Linux the Conqueror:
Let me say one thing up front I am not a Linux Guru. Infact, before now I was 100 percent Windows and I was scared to switch, how difficult was it going to be? Could I dual boot? Could I figure it out? Was it even worth the hassle? The first thing I had to decide was what distribution of Linux should I use? According to
www.distrowatch.com there seemed to be more than 100 different distributions, Ubuntu, Mandrake, Mepis, Xandros, Debian, Gentoo, Suse, Fedora, and on and on and on. I was confused and kind of irritated that there is so many to choose from. What to do? First I decided to join a community a forum of Linux users at
www.linuxquestions.org. There I asked the infamous and hated newbie question, what Linux distribution should I choose? I received a lot of responses that stated that each person has different needs, and that I should try out various distributions in till I found one I liked. However, a few kind souls understood and took pity on my plight and assisted me.
The Challengers:
The General consensus seemed to place mandrake as the friendliest for beginners. I tried Mandrake but quickly learned about dependency hell. Then moved to Gentoo and decided it was too much of a pain to maintain. I switched to Ubuntu and found out about its unstable sound issues.
Throwing In The Towel:
Almost ready to give up I discovered Mepis a Debian based distribution. It is my opinion that the creator of Mepis looked at the other distributions and created an operating system that combined some of the best features of each distribution as well as improvements based on his own sheer talent.
Its Alive:
Mepis is a single downloadable live CD that also performs as an install disk, and rescue disk. The live CD portion of Mepis allows you to insert the CD-ROM and simply start your computer it will boot off the disk and automatically configure all of your hardware and devices. Seriously in less than 3 minutes I had a fully operational, portable operating system. Loaded with all the necessary software to do almost any task. The only downside to the Live CD is that it is kind of slow. CD-ROMs simply are not as fast as hard drives, but the live CD gives you the ability to basically take your home computer anywhere you go.
The Installation:
This brings me to Mepis’s hard drive installation procedure. This could not be easier, simply insert the Live CD into your CD-ROM and start the computer after you are at the desktop you will see an icon at the lower left of the screen that says “Install me” double click that and the Mepis installation menu will appear. It will ask you some very basic questions, such as choosing a hard drive or partitioning one (necessary if you want to dual boot and have a Windows/Linux system). It will ask you to name your computer, for a user name and password, for a root password, and to set the time. Mepis will then install itself and in about 20 minutes you will have completed the installation, you will have not only an operating system but also more software than most people will ever need! Not only that but you still have a Live CD that grants you the magic of portability, and functions as a rescue disk should you get into some trouble.
Pre-Installed Applications:
Mepis comes pre-installed with some amazing software for starters there is Open Office to put it simply it is an office suite that is compatible with Microsoft formats and is by far more powerful and feature rich, while maintaining its ease of use. It also comes with a PhotoShop rival named Gimp, the now infamous Firefox browser with the MPlayer plugin for viewing online video, Kmail (email), Guard Dog (firewall), K3B (CD, DVD burner), Kino (movie maker), DigiKam (digital camera manager), games, utilities and more. So very much more and if that’s not enough…
Enter Synaptic:
Synaptic is a Debian based package manager that can remove and install software as well as update all the software that is already on your system. Synaptic has a search engine built in for finding files quickly, it will also display information about the item you are considering installing or removing. Synaptic was also designed with ease of use in mind for instance, I wanted to remove Guard Dog and install Firestarter, which in my opinion is a better firewall choice. First I ran synaptic and clicked search, typed in Guard Dog and hit enter. Within seconds Synaptic found Guard dog and the check box next to it was filled in with a green color telling me that this item was indeed installed on my computer. I right clicked on it and instructed it to remove Guard Dog and then clicked on apply, moments later Guard Dog was no more. I then clicked on the Search button and typed in Firestarter then hit enter, almost immediately Firestarter appeared in the results box. I right clicked on it and instructed it to install and then clicked apply. A second or two passed and firestarter was installed. While I had Synaptic up and running I clicked on mark updates and then clicked apply; this causes synaptic to run a check on my software and compare it to the version in the repositories automatically updating any that have new versions available. It is a simple and fast way to update a system.
Mepis Support:
Mepis also has a friendly user based support community at
www.mepislovers.org. This is where I find answers to questions, share ideas, and speak to like minded users. This community is responsive and helpful. I have never seen anyone be rude no matter how dumb my questions may have seemed. I have quickly grown to consider many of them friends and appreciate their assistance.
In The End:
I can’t say enough good things about Mepis. It took a little perseverance on my part to stick with Linux in till I found the right distribution for me, but now that I have, I am here to stay. Mepis is simple, elegant, powerful, fast, responsive, and free of all the negatives that are inherent in Windows. In fact, Mepis can easily be a total Windows replacement. Mepis stays true to its promises and is a dream come true for the Linux beginner.
Written by James Roettger.
Re: What Linux Distro Are The Best For Internet Cafe?
Originally Posted by chagorio
para ninyo bro...unsa man jud ang ultimate choice na i install na linux os
nya dili sad ko nahan na ma close amo cafe......waaaaaaaaa!!!!! 
tabang mga bro... 
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