I’m making the shift now from Ubuntu to SimplyMEPIS to branch out and experience other Linux distros. I was originally playing around with Ubuntu (Gnome) for about 6 months and then shifted over to Kubuntu. I really was starting to like the sleak UI of KDE. Even though some things seemed a little too Windows-like, it’s a fairly solid and intuitive user experience. Gnome is more Mac-like, but without the whiz-bang cool effects.
I’m going to take MEPIS (Managerial, Educational, and Personal Information Systems) for a spin and see how I like it. First off what I really like is that it comes with a default install of Skype. I have had problems installing and getting Skype to play nice with Ubuntu. I always had sound issues where I could make one or two calls and then Skype would complain about sound (/dev/dsp) issues. So far I’ve used Skype a handful of types in MEPIS and no problems (or at least not as frequent as Ubuntu).
What I also like about MEPIS is out of the box, the samba shares seem to work cleanly, so I am able to browse the Windows file sharing network in the office. Not bad.
The KDA interface is the same as Kubuntu except for the MEPIS OS control center which lets you control several high-level settings (monitor type, network controllers, etc).
I’m still a huge Ubuntu fan, but seeing as they are both offshoots of Debian, MEPIS may be a strong contender.
Update—2/11: Fixed CPU throttling issue
The one problem I was having the MEPIS was the constant spinning of my fan an the laptop was running extra hot. I found the solution after a bit of Googling . Apparently this is an issue a few others are having running MEPIS on a Centrino laptop. I’m currently running it on an HP zt3000 with a 1.5 Pentium M processor. To sum it up, here are the steps I took to fix the extremely hot laptop.
- modprobe -v cpufreq-userspace
- modprobe -v speedstep-centrino
- apt-get install powernowd
- add cpufreq-userspace and speedstep-centrino to /etc/modules so they are loaded up each time you boot the machine
For more on this issue check here
Another Update—2/13: Font Installation
I noticed that a lot of basic fonts were not installed with MEPIS, so all I had to do to fix this was copy all the .ttf files from my Windows box in C:\WINDOWS\Fonts to my linux box and then use the Control Center to install all those fonts on my MEPIS box. Note, that this required a restart of any application to see the new fonts.