Test Driving Mepis 6.50 Live CD

[sakiZ]

Hello Knoppixers,

I've been test driving the new Mepis 6.50 live CD and my impressions are very favorable. I am more impressed with it than I was the Suse 10.1 live DVD I tried out recently.

If any Knoppix users out there are looking for a Debian based distro to replace an aging OS, you should give this one a look.

First, it found ALL my hardware including my Mad Dog extrernal 7-in-1 DVDrw, my Sandisk USB card reader/drive, my Epson 1650 scanner, and even my serial mouse (using the cheat code "smouse") on boot up.

It saw all my partitions, even my SATA drive.

I was also impressed with the software included on the CD. I got a look at Amarok which looks pretty cool. It sports the latest K3B burner software.

For web surfing and email it uses Firefox and T'Bird respectively. It sports some Open Office apps: Writer, Calc, and Impress.

There are even some admin tools like Qparted, a new version that looks great. Package management is a breeze with Synaptic..

It will even read/write to NTFS drives!!

My only beef so far is that it can't find my serial modem. This is a serial port conflct of some kind with the serial mouse. I switched to USB mouse for testing and Mepis dials out, but so far I can't connect.

Will I install it? I am debating that. My Knoppix 3.7 HD install is aged and tweaked to perfection. I even have it working with my Seagate SATA drive (using a 3Ware controller). I recently installed Cross Over Office 6.01 and have additional Windows functionality. While the kernal is vintage 2.4.27 and KDE is updated to v. 3.3.2 Sarge, all the underlying innards are Debian testing. It is VERY stable. Well, that's my internal debate no one elses I guess.

Anyway, I recommend a serious look at Mepis 6.50. It's a nice package.

If I install it, I will let you all know.

SakiZ

[sakiZ]

Well, I just had to post. I obviously got my modem working in Mepis. My modem requires the /etc/ppp/options file to use not use modem lines and to use "local" instead. The live CD let me modify the options file, and bingo I can dial out.

I switched the mouse to a Microsoft USB mouse so I have no more serial mouse/serial modem conficts.

At this point this Mepis live CD is the 1st 100% fully functional one I have ever used. Everything works at this point.

And........it is SO similar to what I am already familiar with. It's Debian roots are very evident. I like that.

Linux keeps getting better and better!!

sakiZ

[sakiZ]

While Mepis 6.50 is pretty cool, it is not without a few shortcomings that I have not been able to surmount:

1. There are some programs, non-KDE ones, that have incredibly tiny fonts in their menus. I have not been able to correct this. T'Bird and Firefox are affected as well as some other apps that are not from Mozilla.

2. Mepis does not automount anything on my system. Attempts to modify fstab are futile. It keeps getting refreshed with "noauto" on every line. Arrrgh.

So....it will not become a replacement for me.

I see Knoppix 5.2 is due out soon. Dare I break all the rules and install it to the HD?

sakiZ