.
Things I liked:
Reasonably fast server brings in 937 Mb iso in 10-15 min.
Universal LiveUSB installer easily makes LiveUSB.
ALL my laptop hardware recognized and drivers provided
....except for internal closed-source wifi.
Easily sets up open-source external wifi.
Xfce desktop neat, intuitive & responsive.
Uses Ubuntu whisker menu and includes a LibreMenu menu editor.
Network mgr working well, given wifi drivers.
FF is 25; LO is 4.2; amd64 kernel is 3.13.
Boots to browser on-line in ~60 sec; shut-down < 5 sec.
GUI makes it easy to disable my touchpad which disrupts typing.
Things I didn't like:
Inefficient choices in initial 937 Mb base configuration.
937 Mb iso doesn't include closed-source ttf-mscorefonts, Broadcom drivers & flash;
....also doesn't include open-source LibreOffice, Geany & tzdata.
Configuring 2 Gb of persistence took a really long time.
LibreOffice took a long time to bring in as well.
*Apt-get needed to install tzdata; ntp updates desktop to local time on reboot.
Mousepad editor poorer than leafpad, much poorer than gedit IMO.
Bug 1: whisker menu editor doesn't save (or properly display) liveUSB favorites;
....Mint 16 doesn't have this problem with favorites panel display
Bug 2: does not recognize closed-source drivers brought in
....nor indicate correct status of devices using closed-source drivers.
LibreMenu requires a wholesale upgrade of gtk+ and python3 infrastructure.
Things I don't understand:
Why screensaver set only to blank screen.
Why Ubuntu Software Center rather than Synaptic.
*Maybe because I didn't understand Ubuntu Software Center usage as root.
WD 2TB Certified Refurbished Elements, External Hard Drive - RWDBU6Y0020BBK-WESN
$49.99
Seagate Exos X16 ST14000NM001G 14TB 512E SATA 6Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Hard Drive
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Seagate Exos X22 ST20000NM004E 20TB 512E SATA 6Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Hard Drive
$268.99
WD 16TB Elements Desktop, Certified Refurbished Hard Drive - RWDBWLG0160HBK-NESN
$174.99
HGST Ultrastar DC HC520 12TB SATA 6Gb 256MB 3.5" Enterprise HDD- HUH721212ALE601
$82.99
Seagate Exos 7E10 ST2000NM000B 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
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HGST Ultrastar HE10 HUH721010ALE600 10TB SATA 6Gb/s 7200RPM 3.5" Enterprise HDD
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8TB Seagate Archive SATA 3.5" HDD Hard Drive 100% Healthy 200MB/s ST8000AS0002
$36.42
WD 4TB Certified Refurbished Elements, External Hard Drive - RWDBU6Y0040BBK-WESN
$69.99
2 PACK Seagate ST1000LM035 Mobile HDD 1TB 2.5" SATA III Laptop Hard Drive
$26.85