antiX-forum

For those that want to try the much hyped fluxbuntu (look where it is on distrowatch even though it hadn't released anything for about a year) it is finally available from here:

http://releases.fluxbuntu.org/7.10/rc/

but not as a livecd (yet).

Here is the fluxbuntu site:
http://fluxbuntu.org/js.html

My impression ...........................................................will come after others. LOL

anticapitalista wrote:
My impression ...........................................................will come after others. LOL

If it is "non-free apps not included" like Ubuntu, then it can't hold a candle to antiX & Mepis. There is a reason I'm not using Ubuntu, after all.

I might download and install on the this laptop while I want for antiX final ... but only because I know that antiX will be an easy re-install. Will post comments if I "get stupid" and do that later today. Won't be the first time that I "got stupid" out of curiousity.[/u]

dieselbenz wrote:

anticapitalista wrote:
My impression ...........................................................will come after others. LOL

I might download and install on the this laptop while I want for antiX final ... but only because I know that antiX will be an easy re-install. Will post comments if I "get stupid" and do that later today. Won't be the first time that I "got stupid" out of curiousity.

Holy cow, took over two hours (approaching three) to install. No GUI to help setup the wireless card via NDISWrapper, all done at command line. (There might have been a GUI available thru apt-get or Synaptic but didn't look too hard.)

The only thing I saw that I preferred over antiX was (1) a more sexy login screen and (2) some icons on the desktop (good for a newbie). Both, of course, eat up RAM.

Just in case you are wondering, I have antiX RC-2 (previously had RC-1) loading up on the computer now. One afternoon with fluxbuntu was enough to convince me that antiX is far superior.

Don

dieselbenz wrote:some icons on the desktop (good for a newbie)

What icons? Please elaborate ...

(I'm in the process of delievering a slightly customized system based on AntiX 7 to such a newbie ... maybe some additional entries to the main menu would replace those icons in a useful manner.)

UnicornRider wrote:

dieselbenz wrote:some icons on the desktop (good for a newbie)

What icons? Please elaborate ...

Good screenshot of what I mean can be seen at http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2007/10/15 ... reenshots/

Now ... personally, I like the nice, clean look of an icon-free wallpaper (with the exception of having Conky there, of course). I am sure one could fire up icewm and get the fluxbuntu sort of icon arrangement w/out much effort.

hmm, they use konsole, interesting...

I posted this on K.Mandla's site. He had done a review of antiX Spartacus and now has a review of fluxbuntu.
http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2007/10/28 ... 6-2-256mb/


This is what I wrote:

I wouldn’t say that the criticisms you make are ‘terribly minor’ points. For a distro that claims to be light and fast for old boxes with low RAM, there are major problems with fluxbuntu as it is.

I tried fluxbuntu in VirtualBox set to 128MB RAM and it took absolutely ages to install, well over 2 hours. (not impressed)

I also had the same problems as K.Mandla ie boot up was very slow, well over 3 minutes.(again not impressed)

Once into the desktop, apps worked very well and fast (impressed)

Fluxbuntu does look very nice and it has a nice, pleasant and consistent theme. (impressed)

Overall, once it is actually on your box/VirtualBox and to desktop, it works very nicely. But getting it on an old box is………… a bit painful.

I prefer my own distro


antiX also has a lot more apps than fluxbuntu (though slightly smaller), is already a livecd, audio/video work as is (apart from encrypted dvd of course), flash and mozilla-mplayer work out-of-the-box and it is much easier and faster to install.

dieselbenz wrote:I like the nice, clean look of an icon-free wallpaper

Me too - I've removed them even from my KDE environment(s)

dieselbenz wrote:with the exception of having Conky there, of course

Yep (!).

dieselbenz wrote:get the fluxbuntu sort of icon arrangement w/out much effort

I have no intention to do so; I'd rather rewrite the main menu ... actually, I was just wondering what icons (read: shortcuts) you consider "newbie-friendly"

Adrian wrote:hmm, they use konsole, interesting...

They use uxterm, not konsole.

actually, I was just wondering what icons (read: shortcuts) you consider "newbie-friendly"

For a brand new user to "like it" right out of the box, I'd suggest home, email (I prefer Thunderbird/IceDove myself but defer to Anti on his default choice), web browser (IceWeasel), Pidgin, and Streamtuner. Maybe Abiword.

If you are making a custom distro and know their exact needs, I'd remove everything from the menu that you know they won't be needing (i.e., PPP) to clean things up and avoid his/her being overwhelmed with choices.

But remember: I absolutely LOVE the look and feel of antiX, so this should not be read as a complaint or a suggestion for a future release. Instead, it it an alternative to the "right click the mouse and select what you want" environment for someone transitioning from Windows.

anticapitalista wrote:

Adrian wrote:hmm, they use konsole, interesting...

They use uxterm, not konsole.

I was judging from the screenshot:
http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs320&d=07421&f=f ... nshot3.png

dieselbenz wrote:If you are making a custom distro and know their exact needs, I'd remove everything from the menu that you know they won't be needing to clean things up and avoid his/her being overwhelmed with choices.

I won't call it a "distro", more a "hack to save install / setup time" (as well as a customized environment to test the code I'm developing in).

dieselbenz wrote:But remember: I absolutely LOVE the look and feel of antiX, so this should not be read as a complaint or a suggestion for a future release.

Neither should my attempt to remaster the work of (Warren and) "Anti" be mistaken as such - I love AntiX (based on Mepis based on Debian - to be fair ...) as a platform to code for an work upon. That said, I simply prefer applications and presettings different from the given ones - but that's only me

I really liked antiX, but I have a bit of 'buntu bias. I think the 'buntu community has done some nice things to make all Debian distros more usable. Some prefer Mepis, some Debian, some 'buntus, whatever. Choice is good.

I had tried the previous version of Fluxbuntu and thought there was promise. I had also tested antiX and was quite pleased, but Warren was moving back from 'buntu to Debian. So, I had to give the new Fluxbuntu a try.

Well, I've become an antiX convert. Here's some of the things that bother me about the Fluxbuntu RC --
- Can't boot the CD, and I'm not alone. Shows inadequate testing.
- Used Smart Boot Manger floppy to boot and install from CD.
- Painfully slow install
- Painfully slow boot
- Odd/eclectic menu structure
- Kazehakase web browser won't cut it for me. "Work in progress"
- Another user reports Firefox won't install
- OpenOffice not best choice for lightweight box
- Automounting doesn't work
- Lacks GUI tools for configuration that antiX gets from Mepis
- Feels "rushed"; not well tested with multiple releases (unlike antiX)
- Not comfortable with developer/user communications
- Does not (yet) have a solid user community

For a lot of users, Firefox/IceWeasel has to be a choice, even if not default. Too many of us have dependencies on it.

I hope that Fluxbuntu will improve over time & develop a strong user community. At this point, however, antiX is a far more mature distro.

One thing that Fluxbuntu did better than my previous antiX tests -- video hardware detection. I had to boot/install antiX with the video set for the most primitive mode, as it couldn't automatically set mode correctly. This used to be a problem with the 'buntus, but has been significantly improved in Gutsy/7.10. I haven't tried antiX 7 RC2, yet.

To my mind, anticapitalista's willingness to offer release after release, while encouraging comments from the testers was key to improving the distro. I also think that helped to build the strong antiX user community. As a former developer, I feel that anti is more oriented to satisfying his user base, while Fluxbuntu devs are into the visuals and the needs of the dev team.

Just my 2 cents; YMMV.

ive tried fluxbuntu and after a 2hour install i wasnt impressed.i test alot of distros,especially ones for old computers.antix has blown them away so far.the only other one i found descent enough if pclinux os tiny me.

acidburned wrote:ive tried fluxbuntu and after a 2hour install i wasnt impressed.

Well, Fluxbundu artwork is awful...
Installintime is lonnnnnnnng!
Bootingtime is looooong too.
There is only 1 awfull wallpaper, and you must edit some fluxboxfile to change it.
Default browser is not so nice- Kaze- something. And Dillo too? No firefox, no Opera...


That´s few mainpoints, so dont even think to change to Fluxbuntu...

Higgins