Other Distros

[cimarron]

Just discovered Manjaro-OpenRC yesterday. James C posted about it recently, but I didn't realize OpenRC meant "without systemd, at all" (it's the default init in systemd-free Gentoo).

Really nice looking and fast. Xfce desktop uses only 150M RAM on my old P4 laptop (Openbox desktop also available at 110MB). Based on Arch, which I never tried before, but am very impressed with now. Rolling release, so no major upgrades and always up to date. The "stable" version of Manjaro is just two weeks behind cutting-edge Arch. I found Palemoon, Avidemux, and Skype in the repository, which are all unavailable in Debian repositories. And no problem running as root (except for the warnings...) Very well done distro.

Edit: Manjaro-OpenRC also worked on my old Inspiron 8200, which hasn't been able to get to the desktop with anything newer than Ubuntu Precise. Runs nice.

Manjaro-OpenRC available here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/manjaro-openrc/

Feature comparison with systemd: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Comparison_of_init_systems

[nitehawk]

hmm... I never heard of Refracta before. How long has it been around for?

Several years now,...
I can remember that a Debian forum member started it back when I was a regular there. Hmmm,..think that was about 2009 or so.

There was a LOT of concern then about some of the Debian devs working on Ubuntu also,...(and vice versa). The fear was that Debian would become more "Ubuntu-like" (amonst other things)..and not pure Debian. Forgot the name of the forum member,..but he later changed his username to "Refracta" as well. ( Ahhhh, such trivia I can remember.)

EDIT: Ah yes,...the fellow's forum name was "meandean" (before he went with "Refracta" for awhile). Just went to Refracta's site and saw the name,..jogged the ol' memory.

Since I'm having some trouble with my install of pure Debian,...might just try this out for now. Looks like fun.

[James C]

Still running Tiny Core Pure 64......

http://www.tinycorelinux.net/

[Billtoo]

I installed Slackware 14.2 rc2:

Operating System
Version
Kernel Linux 4.4.7 (x86_64)
Compiled #2 SMP Tue Apr 12 15:45:52 CDT 2016
C Library Unknown
Default C Compiler GNU C Compiler version 5.3.0 (GCC)
Distribution Slackware 14.2
Current Session
Desktop Environment XFCE 4

No problems so far.

[Burn_IT]

Beam me up scottie!!!

[Colonel Panic]

I installed Slackware 14.2 rc2:

Operating System
Version
Kernel Linux 4.4.7 (x86_64)
Compiled #2 SMP Tue Apr 12 15:45:52 CDT 2016
C Library Unknown
Default C Compiler GNU C Compiler version 5.3.0 (GCC)
Distribution Slackware 14.2
Current Session
Desktop Environment XFCE 4

No problems so far.

Great, but it seems like I'm the only person here who has a problem setting up the network in Slackware (14.2, anyway - 14.1 was fine).

I've just installed Black Lab 8.0 beta (which is based on Ubuntu) and it's fine except that the buttons aren't where you'd expect them to be and I kept closing the window when I was trying to minimise it. Also, LibreOffice 5 is slow to respond or do anything but that's nothing new.

[nitehawk]

Great, but it seems like I'm the only person here who has a problem setting up the network in Slackware (14.2, anyway - 14.1 was fine).
.

Nooooooo,...yer not the only one. I had to give up on it, and just installed PCLinuxOS instead. At least it always seems to get my network up and going right away,...
(That, and MX-15 does too).

[Colonel Panic]

Great, but it seems like I'm the only person here who has a problem setting up the network in Slackware (14.2, anyway - 14.1 was fine).
.

Nooooooo,...yer not the only one. I had to give up on it, and just installed PCLinuxOS instead. At least it always seems to get my network up and going right away,...
(That, and MX-15 does too).

Thanks nitie, that's good to know! I've installed the latest testing version of Vector 7.2 recently and that one works just fine, so I know it's not just my computer.

All the Debian-based distros I've used recently seem to set the network up without a hitch, not just MX-15 (although I agree that's a good distro).

[James C]

Booted up my Devuan Jessie (no systemd) install. Still working well,pretty darn solid for a test release.

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james@nosystemd:~$ inxi -Fxx
System:    Host: nosystemd Kernel: 3.16.0-4-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.4) 
           Desktop: N/A dm: lightdm Distro: Devuan GNU/Linux 1 
Machine:   Mobo: ASRock model: N68-S UCC
           Bios: American Megatrends v: P1.70 date: 03/03/2011
CPU:       Dual core AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 svm) bmips: 10849 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 2712 MHz 2: 2712 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GT218 [GeForce 210] bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0a65
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: nouveau (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1440x900@59.89hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NVA8
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.3.2 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 NVIDIA MCP61 High Definition Audio 
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:05.0 chip-ID: 10de:03f0 
           Card-2 NVIDIA High Definition Audio Controller 
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 02:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0be3 
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.16.0-4-amd64
Network:   Card: NVIDIA MCP61 Ethernet
           driver: forcedeth port: d480 bus-ID: 00:07.0 chip-ID: 10de:03ef
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full 
           mac: 00:25:22:61:55:fc
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1250.3GB (0.3% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB serial: WD-WCC1S6306549
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: ST3250318AS size: 250.1GB serial: 9VMALT2B
Partition: ID-1: / size: 49G used: 3.0G (7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda15 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 32.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 34.0 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 144 Uptime: 36 min Memory: 423.2/3963.5MB 
           Init: SysVinit v: 2.88 runlevel: 2 default: 2 Gcc sys: 4.9.2 
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.301 running in xfce4-terminal) inxi: 2.1.28 

Code: Select all

james@nosystemd:~$ free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:       4058656    1626096    2432560       3016      66480    1132644
-/+ buffers/cache:     426972    3631684
Swap:       262140          0     262140
james@nosystemd:~$ 

[James C]

New Manjaro Open-RC JWM dev release. Should be lighter than the XFCE version.

Running live,think I'll try an install tomorrow.

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Welcome to Manjaro JWM OpenRC Community Edition!

┌─[Thu Apr 21][manjaro@manjaro-jwm:~]
└─> inxi -Fxx
System:    Host: manjaro-jwm Kernel: 4.4.6-1-MANJARO x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.3.0)
           Desktop: JWM 2.3.5 dm: lightdm Distro: ManjaroLinux 16.dev Daniella
Machine:   Mobo: ASRock model: N68-S UCC
           Bios: American Megatrends v: P1.70 date: 03/03/2011
CPU:       Dual core AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 svm) bmips: 10853
           clock speeds: max: 2712 MHz 1: 2712 MHz 2: 2712 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GT218 [GeForce 210] bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0a65
           Display Server: X.Org 1.17.4 driver: nouveau
           Resolution: 1440x900@59.89hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NVA8
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.1.2 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 NVIDIA MCP61 High Definition Audio
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:05.0 chip-ID: 10de:03f0
           Card-2 NVIDIA High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 02:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0be3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.6-1-MANJARO
Network:   Card: NVIDIA MCP61 Ethernet
           driver: forcedeth port: d480 bus-ID: 00:07.0 chip-ID: 10de:03ef
           IF: enp0s7 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full
           mac: 00:25:22:61:55:fc
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1281.7GB (1.2% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB serial: WD-WCC1S6306549
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: ST3250318AS size: 250.1GB serial: 9VMALT2B
           ID-3: USB /dev/sdg model: Cruzer size: 31.4GB serial: 20043212431B0DE03E55-0:0
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 33.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 34.0
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 160 Uptime: 18 min Memory: 462.1/3956.6MB
           Init: SysVinit v: 2.88 rc: OpenRC v: 0.20.5 runlevel: default default: 3
           Gcc sys: 5.3.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.421 running in sakura) inxi: 2.2.36 

Code: Select all

┌─[Thu Apr 21][manjaro@manjaro-jwm:~]
└─> free
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           3956         394        2940          45         621        3460
Swap:             0           0           0
┌─[Thu Apr 21][manjaro@manjaro-jwm:~]
└─> 

[Moat]

New Manjaro Open-RC JWM dev release.

Wow - stunning, gorgeous... like no JWM I've seen. Compositing/window drop shadow, even!?! Being a fan of olive/sand desktop color shades, they hit the mark with the theming. Hmmm... studying overall Manjaro reviews ATM...

https://forum.manjaro.org/index.php?topic=33049.0

Bob

[Colonel Panic]

Just installed the latest version of AntiX; 16beta1. It's working well so far and I have managed to install a few essential (for me) programs such as Osmo, IceDove (the Debian version of Thunderbird) and PortaBase.

[James C]

Fresh install of Devuan 1.0 Beta.
https://devuan.org/

Devuan GNU+Linux is a fork of Debian without systemd. Its Beta release marks an important milestone towards the sustainability and the continuation of Devuan as a universal base distribution.

Devuan Jessie provides continuity as a safe upgrade path from Wheezy and a flawless switch from Jessie that ensures the right to Init Freedom and avoids entanglement.

Code: Select all

james@devuan:~$ inxi -Fxx
System:    Host: devuan Kernel: 3.16.0-4-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.4) 
           Desktop: N/A dm: slim Distro: Devuan GNU/Linux 1 
Machine:   Mobo: ASUSTeK model: M5A97 LE R2.0 v: Rev 1.xx
           Bios: American Megatrends v: 2601 date: 03/24/2015
CPU:       Hexa core AMD FX-6300 Six-Core (-MCP-) cache: 12288 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm) bmips: 42142 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 2000 MHz 2: 1400 MHz 3: 1400 MHz 4: 1400 MHz
           5: 1400 MHz 6: 3000 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GT218 [GeForce 210] bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0a65
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: nouveau (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1440x900@59.89hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NVA8
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.3.2 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 NVIDIA High Definition Audio Controller 
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0be3 
           Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) 
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2 chip-ID: 1002:4383 
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.16.0-4-amd64
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000
           bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full 
           mac: 1c:87:2c:5a:bb:e2
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1120.2GB (0.2% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: KINGSTON_SV300S3 size: 120.0GB serial: 50026B7256076A16
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB serial: WD-WCC3F6XAKRLY
Partition: ID-1: / size: 34G used: 2.6G (8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb9 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 16.2C mobo: N/A gpu: 35.0 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 155 Uptime: 26 min Memory: 415.0/15987.9MB 
           Init: SysVinit v: N/A runlevel: 2 default: 2 Gcc sys: N/A 
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.301 running in xfce4-terminal) inxi: 2.1.28 
james@devuan:~$ 

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james@devuan:~$ free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:      16371628     589612   15782016       2732      21072     215068
-/+ buffers/cache:     353472   16018156
Swap:      8396796          0    8396796
james@devuan:~$ 

[James C]

Still running regular Arch too.....

https://www.archlinux.org/

Code: Select all

[james@evo ~]$ inxi -Fxx
Resuming in non X mode: xdpyinfo not found. For package install advice run: inxi --recommends
System:    Host: evo Kernel: 4.5.1-1-ARCH x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.3.0)
           Desktop: MATE 1.12.1 (Gtk 3.20.3) dm: lxdm Distro: Arch Linux
Machine:   Mobo: ASRock model: N68-S UCC
           Bios: American Megatrends v: P1.70 date: 03/03/2011
CPU:       Dual core AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 svm) bmips: 10853
           clock speeds: max: 2712 MHz 1: 2712 MHz 2: 2712 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GT218 [GeForce 210] bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0a65
           Display Server: N/A driver: nvidia Resolution: 80x24
Audio:     Card-1 NVIDIA MCP61 High Definition Audio
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:05.0 chip-ID: 10de:03f0
           Card-2 NVIDIA High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 02:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0be3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.5.1-1-ARCH
Network:   Card: NVIDIA MCP61 Ethernet
           driver: forcedeth port: d480 bus-ID: 00:07.0 chip-ID: 10de:03ef
           IF: enp0s7 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full
           mac: 00:25:22:61:55:fc
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1250.3GB (1.3% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB serial: WD-WCC1S6306549
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: ST3250318AS size: 250.1GB serial: 9VMALT2B
Partition: ID-1: / size: 49G used: 7.3G (16%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda12
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.49GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 35.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:34C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 134 Uptime: 4 min Memory: 780.8/3956.5MB
           Init: systemd v: 229 Gcc sys: 5.3.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.421 running in mate-terminal) inxi: 2.2.38 

Code: Select all

[james@evo ~]$ free
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:        4051424      700440     2893468       24916      457516     3256304
Swap:       8294396           0     8294396

[Colonel Panic]

I've just installed PiSi Linux 2.0, a Turkish distribution forked from the old excellent Pardus distro and developed by many of the same people who worked on Pardus, and am posting from it now. It uses KDE as its default desktop, and has customised it quite tastefully.

It works well as long as you're happy with the installed software but as an admitted newbie to this distro I'm finding it difficult to install even commonplace programs such as geeqie and chromium; also, IMO the devs really need to change the name for the English-speaking market (say it out loud and you'll see what I mean).

[nitehawk]

IMO the devs really need to change the name for the English-speaking market (say it out loud and you'll see what I mean).

LOL!!!! (I needed a good laugh today).

Maybe that's the distro I need to put on this touchy and cantankerous old laptop I'm trying to revive ( it's just a little on the "pisi' side, itself).

I have Win7 on it,...which makes the graphic card revolt and shut off. (It's one of those old HP Pavilion 2500 laptops, that has a graphic chip problem).
Seems to be doing all right so far with MX-15 dual-booted (with LXDE added on).

Got to find a Puppy to do a frugal install, as well. What's a good, 64 bit Puppy that is fairly lightweight? SlackO seems to be a tad more than what I want on here,..(but may give it a try).

EDIT: Think I'm going to try Barry's new "XERUS 8.0" on here,....
.....OK,..did that. But Xerus won't do frugal installs,..and it didn't detect my network. Hmmmm,..back to the drawing board.

[Colonel Panic]

IMO the devs really need to change the name for the English-speaking market (say it out loud and you'll see what I mean).

LOL!!!! (I needed a good laugh today).

Maybe that's the distro I need to put on this touchy and cantankerous old laptop I'm trying to revive ( it's just a little on the "pisi' side, itself).

I have Win7 on it,...which makes the graphic card revolt and shut off. (It's one of those old HP Pavilion 2500 laptops, that has a graphic chip problem).
Seems to be doing all right so far with MX-15 dual-booted (with LXDE added on).

Got to find a Puppy to do a frugal install, as well. What's a good, 64 bit Puppy that is fairly lightweight? SlackO seems to be a tad more than what I want on here,..(but may give it a try).

EDIT: Think I'm going to try Barry's new "XERUS 8.0" on here,....
.....OK,..did that. But Xerus won't do frugal installs,..and it didn't detect my network. Hmmmm,..back to the drawing board.

Hi Nitie, sorry to hear you've clearly had a bad day . A good laugh always makes things better though, I agree, and am glad I was able to help in that regard.

Of the distros I've tried recently, I think the latest testing version of Vector (A1.2) would probably go well on an old laptop, as would AntiX 16.1 Beta, but I see you've already got a version of AntiX (MX-15) on your machine already (or is that a different machine?).

As for Puppies that do frugal installs, Puppy Carolina is the main one I remember though I haven't used it for a while; on my machine its default resolution is too high for my video card and it doesn't easily reset to a lower one (you may be luckier). It's not current either as its last release was in 2014.

[James C]

IMO the devs really need to change the name for the English-speaking market (say it out loud and you'll see what I mean).

LOL!!!! (I needed a good laugh today).

Maybe that's the distro I need to put on this touchy and cantankerous old laptop I'm trying to revive ( it's just a little on the "pisi' side, itself).

I have Win7 on it,...which makes the graphic card revolt and shut off. (It's one of those old HP Pavilion 2500 laptops, that has a graphic chip problem).
Seems to be doing all right so far with MX-15 dual-booted (with LXDE added on).

Got to find a Puppy to do a frugal install, as well. What's a good, 64 bit Puppy that is fairly lightweight? SlackO seems to be a tad more than what I want on here,..(but may give it a try).

EDIT: Think I'm going to try Barry's new "XERUS 8.0" on here,....
.....OK,..did that. But Xerus won't do frugal installs,..and it didn't detect my network. Hmmmm,..back to the drawing board.

Don't know about the network issue but frugal installs are just like Puppy with quirky Xreus. Either use the installer of manually copy the files to a folder.

By the way, the s.sfs in the screenie is tha save sfs.

Code: Select all

title Quirky Xerus64 8.0 frugal in sdb1 dir xerus64-8.0
  rootnoverify (hd1,0)
  kernel /xerus64-8.0/vmlinuz rootwait rw
  initrd /xerus64-8.0/initrd.q

[linuxcbon]

EDIT: Think I'm going to try Barry's new "XERUS 8.0" on here,....
.....OK,..did that. But Xerus won't do frugal installs,..and it didn't detect my network. Hmmmm,..back to the drawing board.

to have network in xerus, you need to run the network wizzard...it doesn't connect automatically, it's a choice by Barry, I don't know why.
To do a frugal install, it is posible in xerus, for example manually as shown by James C. I think running "installquirky" can do it too.

[nitehawk]

Wow....
thanks for all the good input and info on Xerus,...
I'm going to give it another shot. Only I think I'll try it on my main computer,...it's really nice-looking,...and I always like anything that Barry does personally.