Over on the MEPIS Lovers Forum, several community developers have created some nice"respins" based on works in MEPIS, including Danum (newer versions with KDE), Marcos (he's shared custom LXDE and Xfce respins over the years), and of course, our own anticapitalista, who was the first that I can recall to offer a respin or alternative based on MEPIS, our very own antiX.

I've not respun images from SimplyMEPIS, but I'm always doing something with it. Most of the time, I keep a stable base system of SimplyMEPIS. My current one is just the standard SimplyMEPIS Version 11.0. Before 11.0 came out, I took the current 8.5 release, changed the repo from Debian stable to Debian testing, put some of the proposed art work that community members were proposing for SimplyMEPIS 11, and I created my own mock up of SimplyMEPIS 11. It wasn't complete, in the sense that I did not write new tools, I did not update the installer, or deal with things that Warren has to deal with. With those"advantages" from a strictly personal point of view, I was able to get my own"pseudo" SimplyMEPIS 11 done months before Warren's work, and I was able to avoid the kernel issues and other things that Warren had to deal with in order to make his system supportable for a much wider audience. But from a"fun" point of view, I had my stuff done sooner, and it suited my exact needs.

Right now, as I alluded to, I have a really nice, stable SimplyMEPIS 11.0 installed. I have not messed around with the kernel because I want to keep a stable image with the stock MEPIS apps installed, so what I did instead was add to it. I installed Xfce, put MEPIS themes around it, and I did the same with fvwm-crystal. That's the one I am using at the moment, the fvwm-crystal desktop with the stable MEPIS system software around it. I've also added several additional Web browsers, most of which I maintain in my own directories.

It compares very favorably to antiX, as you might imagine. I could make antiX and MEPIS nearly identical, but that's not my goal. I like to keep MEPIS around for its rock solid stability, antiX for its lightness and super flexibility, and Debian Sid for its more current software. These three, together, each in their own partition space, makes for a really flexible computing environment! When I don't have time to mess around at all, SimplyMEPIS is perfect. When I am experimenting and thinking about different setups and configurations, then antiX is great, and it's also great when I want a really light footprint. When I want an every day desktop that is current, but still solid enough to use every day, that's when I use Debian Sid, knowing that if it ever does act up (which is seldom), I still have both SimplyMEPIS and antiX as really outstanding alternatives.

Me, I started out with Linux using Mepis back when it was based on Ubuntu. It broke my cherry on computers.
Later. I found AntiX had more going for it on my hardware (ancient) than Mepis did. Most of the Mepis Iso had KDE taking up space with less tools and my old laptops had no dvdrom drive back then, only cdrom drive. So I learned AntiX instead of Mepis instead. Never really got the hang of using KDE either and as KDE moved on to higher system requirements. Well, I guess KDE left me behind.

I tried Trinity in AntiX. It was OK but my comfort zone is Icewm so I left it behind also. Tried Mate also in AntiX. Comfort zone kicked in again plus I hate learning new names for common apps I already know how to use and configure. Getting lazy in my old age I guess.

I don't blame you there one bit, Roky! One of my favorite releases of MEPIS was actually the very first one, and I am not sure, at that point, whether it was considered"a release, per se"; it was more of an investigation at that stage. What I liked about it was back then (May 2003), MEPIS functioned extremely well as a Live CD. It was much lighter at the time than the KNOPPIX of the time was. KNOPPIX was lighter than it is today, too, but it was still a pretty hefty, kitchen sink kind of fix me up, diagnostic, repair type of Live CD. While it's possible to install KNOPPIX, Klaus never really put much time or energy into that; in fact, chances are, it was others in the community that created a rather hacked installation tool.

When Warren did his early work, first of all, I'm pretty sure that he was using Window Managers. If I remember right, it may have even been IceWM. But he was after more of a desktop look and feel, something stable and easy to use that he could use himself, hoping that he may also get a bit of supplemental income from it to smooth out the bumps in the consulting business. To this day, I think that MEPIS brings more attention to his consulting business than it does to generating direct revenue and income for him, which is why he spends relatively little time working on it, but I do feel that he is either the top, or in the top tier, of all the system integrators and packaging experts. He definitely knows what he is doing.

So I definitely like MEPIS and I still appreciate it, but I seldom leave it alone, as is. Therefore, when antiX came around, it was actually even a bit more to my liking, especially after we added Base and Core to the release packaging. I like both and I use all of them, but these days I generally use antiX more. That said, this is a MEPIS day for me; I'm using my own customized version of MEPIS today, with that lighter stuff running on top of a light base system - fvwm by itself is very comparable in image size to IceWM, JWM, and Fluxbox. Adding fvwm-crystal adds no more than 20 MB in image size, making it something that runs lighter and faster than LXDE or Xfce. Moreover, the configuration files are easily editable. That may not sit well with those who just want something right there in place for them, but for those who love to fiddle with their systems, it's ideal.