I've been using MEPIS 11"exclusively" for over a year now on my primary desktop machine (WinXP is still installed, but I haven't booted into it since mid-2013), and ran it on an occasional basis alongside Windows for a year before that. With Debian Squeeze having transitioned to"oldstable", and even in"stable" having been short on package upgrades (to the point I've had to learn a lot about installing things without the help of a package manager, which I don't mind; I'll need that knowledge), I'm looking for a replacement. I have a few desiderata, qualities that I'm looking for now that I know my way around Linux well enough to have reasonable odds of success with a potentially less"noob friendly" distribution.

First, I want a rolling distribution (which, with Debian, pretty much means using testing repos, which seems to mean having a lot of stuff not quite work for a period every time a new version transitions from testing to stable, as Wheezy has recently done; obviously an undesirable side effect), so I don't have to shop around for a new distro every two or three years in order to be able to have up to date software packages available. Second, I need to be able to run a very current version of Wine (I have a couple Windows programs that had broken features -- like the installer, which is critical since the updater still doesn't work -- in most of the 1.7.x generation and have only recently started working well again in 1.7.19). Third, relative to Wine, I need to be able to install Pipelight to give modern Flash capability to a browser (Firefox or SeaMonkey) that can also use Java (at present, I have Flash 14 with Firefox for Windows, but can't get Java to work in that, and of course there's no current Flash for Linux -- and Chrome won't install in MEPIS 11, and, at least in Linux, won't use Java anyway). Fourth, I'd like a KDE/Plasma desktop, though I don't demand it be identical to the one in MEPIS 11 (which is, IMO, the nicest computer desktop I've ever used in any OS); I've briefly tried XFCE in MX14 and don't think it's an improvement (I'm aware that most distros can be converted, hence this being almost the last on the list). Last, I don't want to get into another distribution that'll be abandoned a couple years down the line, so I'd prefer to avoid single-creator distros (no intention to disparage Warren, but the fact that MEPIS isn't on version 14 by now is the problem I'm referring to; life comes ahead of Linux, but that doesn't help users left hanging).

I've got plenty of horsepower available; not a bleeding edge system, but Core2Quad 2.7 GHz with 4 GiB RAM ought to run pretty much any distro, and upgrading my video is an option I'll explore if I find I need more there. I'd prefer either 64-bit or PAE kernel, since the half gigabyte of RAM that non-PAE kernels ignores makes a difference in a few things (GIMP editing large images, one of my Windows games, or opening multiple programs); there's little performance difference, and if 32-bit PAE will give better compatibility with Wine I'll go that way.

My most recent candidate has failed me; antiX 13.2 64-bit with testing repos has too much stuff that simply won't work or won't install after the recent transition of Wheezy to stable. I can't get Wine (from MEPIS 11 or MEPIS 12 repos) to install at all due to dozens of broken dependencies. An option I'm already considering is antiX 13.2 32-bit with a PAE kernel (I've got some experience upgrading kernels in antiX; I'm running 3.14.4 on the antiX on this machine, and 3.14-0.bpo-i486 on my Pentium II laptop, and I've seen PAE kernels available in the repos); that should at least resolve the architecture conflicts that keep Wine from installing in the 64-bit version. What I don't know is how much (if any) better function I'll get with other stuff running the testing repos in 32-bit vs. 64-bit -- and at present I'm finding neither Chrome nor Firefox (nor SeaMonkey) works very well in 64-bit testing antiX, though I don't have any way to tell if this is due to the recent transition of testing repos from"almost-stable" Wheezy to"barely better than Sid" Jessie, or an issue with architecture conflicts (given Chrome, at least, is a 32-bit-only browser).

At present, I'm even willing to drop back down the learning curve to a distro based on another core flavor, like an Ubuntu derivative or something else. I won't be starting over as a Windows user lost in a sea of strangeness, I'll just be translating what I've already learned into a new system's layout and command structure. What I need, though, is some experience-based suggestions for where to look --"dig through DistroWatch" isn't much help, since I don't have an unlimited supply of blank DVDs (at present, don't even have a DVD-ROM on this machine, never mind a burner -- but I can boot from USB for tests and installation, so that's only a minor handicap) and, more telling, free time to test distros. There seems a veritable paucity of rolling distros based on Debian -- what else should I be looking at?

Well, I never tried it. But since KDE. Maybe give Netrunner or Mint KDE a spin.

I am KDE dyslexic so I am really the worst at this.

I think that the debian"stable" (currently wheezy) rolls into the next stable. wheezy became stable last year, so I'm not sure I would call it recent. I would agree that testing is going through a huge transition right now, with the systemd changes and a host of other things going on. my antix 13.2 64 bit build with wheezy (stable) repos is rock solid. although getting the latest packages can be a tradeoff with debian, the backports system alleviates this somewhat.

I know the mepis community repo has a wine build that is pretty recent and works in mx (it backs the mcr version of netflix desktop and I think is its own package as well) ...I guess I don't know about 64 bit since mx is 32 bit only. the wine build seems ok to me, but I only use it for netflix.

I don't know much about KDE, but I know the mepiscommunity guys have a dedicated area for mx modified with KDE, so I there is support there. and there is a KDE package in the mx-package-installer.

D.O., I guess I missed the transition announcement (part of having limited free time is not being able to spend hours and hours reading multiple forums looking for things I don't know I'm looking for). Yes, I've been informed by multiple folks that the MEPIS 12 build of Wine works fine in anitX stable/Wheezy -- but since I'd have to reinstall to get to Wheezy, and then have to deal with installing fresh every couple years (because if I have Wheezy repos, I don't get an automatic upgrade to Jessie when it goes stable, as I understand it -- Squeeze certainly didn't automagically upgrade in MEPIS when Wheezy went stable), I'm trying to get it right this time, and get a distro that does everything I want/need. If that doesn't exist, I'll have to decide between MEPIS 12 (still in a beta state two years after it should have gone gold), antix 13.2 plus KDE (which I'm running now and works pretty well except for the testing issues, and as you say, the MEPIS 12 version of Wine reportedly works fine on Wheezy and supports Pipelight, or can be made to) and 32- vs. 64-bit, or something along the lines of MX.

There's a theoretically rolling Debian-based distro out of Brazil, but it's 32-bit only, so I hadn't considered it until recently -- I can upgrade it to a PAE kernel and, if necessary, convert to KDE if I go that way -- and SolydK, also 32-bit only, but if I'm going to make a big change, I might as well leave things open for another base flavor if there's one that's capable of supporting a true rolling distro and doesn't/won't have the issues we're seeing with Debian testing these days.

And if I don't find anything better than antiX, I'll reinstall antiX (but in 32-bit, to avoid architecture conflicts), upgrade to KDE and install a PAE kernel, and try upgrading to testing after Wine is installed and working (as I understand it, that shouldn't break an existing package, because dependencies for installed packages won't be removed, and an upgrade that would break due to dependencies won't install). I should be able to test that in a weekend, and it won't be any worse when I'm done than what I have now...

I thought if you left your repos to say"stable" then debian would roll. I'm going to look into that. I've never tried it. The good news is that debian now extends support for several years, so security fixes will continue for a long time.

reading a bit of the debian info here:
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It looks like if you use"stable" instead of"wheezy" in the repo definitions, then debian will in fact roll over to jessie when jessie becomes stable. I don't think I would try that with distros based on stable, but it looks like this is what debian intends for the base debian distro.

so maybe that would work for what you intend.

dolphin_oracle wrote:reading a bit of the debian info here:
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It looks like if you use"stable" instead of"wheezy" in the repo definitions, then debian will in fact roll over to jessie when jessie becomes stable. I don't think I would try that with distros based on stable, but it looks like this is what debian intends for the base debian distro.

so maybe that would work for what you intend.

Maybe. Security fixes are necessary, but not really what I'm mainly concerned about; I'm trying to avoid both creeping obsolescence, which is making my MEPIS 11 install less and less able to do what I need, and the requirement to install a completely new system every so often. I guess I could try installing antiX stable and wait a year or two for Jessie to go stable, then see if I get a monster update when it does -- and ask this question again if not. Then again, if I were interested in waiting a year or more for results, I'd be more interested in wine making and less in home brewing beer (which is ready to drink 4-6 weeks after starting a batch).

dolphin_oracle wrote:I thought if you left your repos to say"stable" then debian would roll. I'm going to look into that. I've never tried it. The good news is that debian now extends support for several years, so security fixes will continue for a long time.

In theory I think you can"roll" from one stable release to another, but it can be a pretty big change.

These are the instructions they had for doing upgrades from Squeeze (Debian 6.0) -> Wheezy (Debian 7.0):
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. And these were some issues to be aware of when transitioning from Squeeze to Wheezy:
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When Jessie gets released as"stable" there'll be some similar documentation.

I think the"roll" is more likely to work without incident with a"pure" Debian install versus a Debian"based" install.

Sid.

nadir wrote:Sid.

Uh, no.

I like stuff to work. Sid isn't for folks like me.

kmathern wrote:These are the instructions they had for doing upgrades from Squeeze (Debian 6.0) -> Wheezy (Debian 7.0):
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. And these were some issues to be aware of when transitioning from Squeeze to Wheezy:
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url was:"https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/release-notes/ch-information.en.html"
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.

When Jessie gets released as"stable" there'll be some similar documentation.

I think the"roll" is more likely to work without incident with a"pure" Debian install versus a Debian"based" install.

Hmm. Maybe I should switch to a straight Debian/KDE, then. I've seen a Debian Live recently, as well as Debian/KDE iso, I think. Of course, multi-DVD install is an issue until I can add a DVD-ROM (got three computers with DVD burners in the house, but this one can't even read 'em), since they don't make it available in one iso for USB installation... __{{emoticon}}__ ...then again, I'd have the same problem in Kubuntu, which has been recommended to me on another forum.

the good news is that you can get a base debian system just from CD 1.

arch/manjaro might be an option too. they"roll" and are a bit more up to date. Manjaro seems to be particularly popular as it has an installer and doesn't have the learning curve of arch.

Based on what I've just read over on the Mepis forum, it looks as if Kubuntu may do the job for me -- it's a little too big for a single CD, but comes in a single ISO that I can put on a USB, and runs live; plus, they offer an upgrade from previous versions (currently they're offering upgrades from 13.10 or 12.04 LTS to 14.04 LTS), which means it isn't a stretch to believe they'll offer upgrades from 14.04 when it starts to get arthritic. It's been around a long time (Ubuntu was one of the first distros I heard about, back when I was still running Win98), it's maintained by a big enough team it isn't likely to stall the way Mepis has, it's one of the more popular distros so there's plenty of user support, and it's Debian based, so it won't be a terribly steep learning curve.

I've downloaded the iso for Kubuntu 14.04 LTS and I'm going to try it live from USB. I hear they do major updates for point releases, but since it took me less than ten minutes to download the image from the primary site (I don't do torrent), I'm not too worried about updates that might be almost as big as the original -- and I can keep an updated copy of the iso from point releases in case of disaster, which is something I've wished for in Mepis and antiX (last time I installed antiX, it took something like five times as long for the upgrade from stable to testing as it did to install from CD -- and I have to do all of that again, every time I install it).

Maybe try LMDE (Linux mint debian edition), I believe it's based on testing, so it'll be somewhat rolling, I guess. I've never used it, but I believe it has a kde version of it. If you're not already aware, you can get pipelight from here
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