.
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 HDD Ultrastar DC HC520 HUH721212AL4205 12TB 3.5" SAS Server Hard Disk Drive
$45.36
Seagate Exos 7E10 ST2000NM000B 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
$29.99
Western Digital WD4000FYYZ RE 4TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
$28.53
WD 16TB Elements Desktop, Certified Refurbished Hard Drive - RWDBWLG0160HBK-NESN
$209.99
HGST Ultrastar DC HC520 12TB SATA 6Gb 256MB 3.5" Enterprise HDD- HUH721212ALE601
$82.99
HP 4TB 3.5" 12Gb/s 7.2K SAS Hard Drive P/N: 793674-001 / 803634-001 / 695597-004
$13.99
HGST Ultrastar HE10 HUH721010ALE600 10TB SATA 6Gb/s 7200RPM 3.5" Enterprise HDD
$78.99
Seagate Exos X14 12TB SATA6Gb/s 7200RPM 3.5" Enterprise Hard Drive ST12000NM0558
$109.95
HDD 3.5" SATA Hard Drive with Windows 7/Win 10 Installed Legacy
$35.99
Seagate ST8000NM0055 8TB 7200RPM 256MB SATA 6.0 Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Hard Drive
$44.63