Antix for brand new computer?

Pacopag · posted: 2011-05-28 18:37

Hi. I absolutely love that antix has brought my old laptop back to life. Definitely, hands down, the best OS for an older computer. But I just bought a brand new desktop with all the latest technology. My question is, is AntiX a good OS choice for a shiny NEW computer. Or will I benefit more from all the bells and whistles that something like Ubuntu has to offer?

Does Antix have a 64-bit version?

oldhoghead · posted: 2011-05-28 18:54

Pacopag,

Yes it should work fine on a new rig, no 64bit, though there are not many applications that really utilize the 64bit capability, so you can run 32 bit with no problems.

As far as should you use another distro, really that is up to you. There are many choices available, but in the long run, do you want to run kde, gnome, etc. You can run anitX on the bleeding edge, or as some have done they used antiX base or antiX core, and upgrade it to a full blown current KDE, and it runs blazing fast, for a full list of applications included check this link out.

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page"
linktext was:"http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page"
====================================

and scroll to the very bottom and you can then click on the links for applications included.
Another thing to consider is the support you get with each distro, I personally use antiX and Mepis, both forums are really good and people are courteous and helpful, you won't find that same level of helpfulness on some other forums. I use antiX for my day to day computing needs and when I get a new rig I will beef it up to include the other apps I use occasionally, like LibreOffice Spreadsheet ,video editing and web tools.

cheers,
ohh

Pacopag · posted: 2011-05-28 19:05

Cool. Thanks.

rokytnji · posted: 2011-05-28 19:31

To elaborate on OHH post. I have successfully booted and ran my AntiX persistent USB on My Wifes Acer 5534 Laptop and all ram was recognized and AntiX ran like a raped ape on it (did this on the sly).

Everything worked OOTB as far as Sound, Mousepad Tap, Screen Resoution, no problemo what so ever.

If I had gobs of gigs of ram. I would install PAE kernel in 32bit.

Dave · posted: 2011-05-28 20:11

@ rokytnji
I have a new laptop with gobs of ram, 6 gig. Installed the PAE kernel, but I am not sure if it incorrectly installed as conky, inxi, and hardinfo still refer to the amount of ram being approx 2.5 gig. As well as the the kernel still registering the mepis one. Never looked into this before, so I am walking on new land here.

inxi -F readout

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System:    Host dave-laptop Kernel 2.6.36-1-mepis-smp i686 (32 bit) 
           Desktop Fluxbox 1.3.1 Distro antiX-M11-686 Jayaben Desai 25 April 2011
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i3 370 (-HT-MCP-) cache 3072 KB flags (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips 9575.86 
           Clock Speeds: (1) 933.00 MHz (2) 933.00 MHz (3) 933.00 MHz (4) 933.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: nVidia GT218 [GeForce 310M] bus-ID: 01:00.0 
           X.org 1.9.5 drivers intel (loaded) nvidia (loaded) tty size 79x23 Advanced Data: N/A for root 
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio driver HDA Intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-2 nVidia High Definition Audio Controller driver HDA Intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.23
Network:   Card-1 Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) driver ath9k bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 5c:ac:4c:48:b0:7e
           Card-2 Atheros AR8151 v1.0 Gigabit Ethernet driver atl1c v: 1.0.1.0-NAPI port 2000 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down speed: 65535 Mbps duplex: full mac: c8:0a:a9:ec:98:92
Disks:     HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (2.4% used) 1: /dev/sda FUJITSU_MHZ2320B 320.1GB 37C 
Partition: ID:/ size: 292G used: 7.2G (3%) fs: ext3 ID:swap-1 size: 2.17GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 33.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:37C 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes 124 Uptime 5 min Memory 173.9/2523.7MB Runlevel 5 Client Shell inxi 1.5.5

rokytnji · posted: 2011-05-28 20:29

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Kernel 2.6.36-1-mepis-smp i686

well right in your inxi readout. You are not booted into a pae kernel yet. Did you do a

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update-grub

after installing your pae kerne so it would show in grub menu?

On this laptop which has only 512 MB of ram I am running

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@Biker:~$ uname -r
2.6.38-7.dmz.1-liquorix-686

Found this in synaptic on my core install though if I wanted to run pae kernel

Debugging infos for Linux 2.6.38-2-686-bigmem

This package provides the binary debug image and pre-built debug loadable
modules for Linux kernel 2.6.38 on PCs with 4-64GB RAM, using PAE
(Physical Address Extension) machines.

This package depends on the latest Linux kernel and modules for use on PCs
with 4-64GB RAM, using PAE (Physical Address Extension).

This kernel also runs on a Xen hypervisor. It supports only unprivileged
(domU) operation.

So the stuff is there in apt. Just need to find it I guess. I used pae in synaptic search. My sources list is

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~$ inxi -r
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list
           deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
           deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
           deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org testing main non-free
           deb http://apt.progchild.de stable main
           deb http://liquorix.net/debian/ sid main
           deb http://ftp.belnet.be/mirror/liquorix.net/debian sid main

plvera · posted: 2011-05-28 20:52

In my opinion, the answer to your question is a resounding yes. I think one shortcoming of the approach to marketing AntiX is that it focuses too much on how useful it is for old computers. It is. No doubt about that. However, it is incredibly fast and efficient on new computers as well. So, I install it in all my boxes, old and new.

Good luck.

Pedro

Dave · posted: 2011-05-28 22:10

Thanks rokytnji,
had not ran a grub update, neglected to do that. Should have caught that __{{emoticon}}__

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2011-05-29 00:03

I've run antix on newer machines,even one a I built last year. I always think I'm going to use the flashier desktop environments available, but I always end up back at fluxbox. If you want to try the other desktop environments, they are available and will benefit from the newer computers resources.

Another way to look at it is that if antix is fast on your old hardware, then it should be really fast on the new! More ram for those ram-hungry projects instead of powering the desktop environment.

Cuttlefish · posted: 2011-05-30 02:02

pacopag,

antiX is by far my favorite Linux OS. It is highly configurable, well thought out and has worked extremely well on all the computers that I have thrown at it. I have tried many other distros and I always come back to antiX as my main OS. I have no doubt that it will work fine on your newer hardware.

I am currently running antiX on an HP dm4 laptop, an HP dv5 laptop and a Compaq SR5610F desktop. The dm4 is the newest of the bunch, and has an intel i5 processor. All the cores (2 actual and 2 virtual), show up. It is a very fast machine...especially with antiX 11.

anti, has also chosen a fine assortment of applications to really round out the OS. I really enjoy using ceni, streamtuner, iceape,and Advert Blocker to name only a few. The forum is great too. Respectful and patient.

Besides antiX, I also use a 64 bit CrunchBang XFCE. I really can't say I feel any performance difference between the two. I have found that I enjoy using antiX more.

Sorry about being so verbose. I just like this distro and its people.

Dave