As I've announced elsewhere, the next version of Swift Linux will be based on Linux Mint Debian Edition instead of antiX Linux. However, not only will the spirit of antiX Linux remain, so will much of the look and feel. Yes, that includes the IceWM window manager, ROX pinboard desktop environment, and Conky display.
Linux Mint reminds me of those early Lexus commercials, especially the ad with the wine glasses stacked on the hood even as the engine raced at the equivalent of 145 mph and the ad demonstrating the tight tolerances with the ball bearing test. In my opinion, Linux Mint is the BEST distro for first-time Linux users. And it's no surprise to me that Linux Mint was #6 on DistroWatch in 2007 (even though it only began in 2006) and has recently pulled ahead of Ubuntu even at the 12-month level. Linux Mint is the distro that sets the standards against which other distros should be judged.
I'm currently using LMDE with GNOME as my main distro, and it has won me over. DVDs play out-of-the-box, and LMDE has the same feel and user-friendliness of the classic Ubuntu-based Mint without the overhead of the Ubuntu base. LMDE is ready for prime time.
I started Swift Linux just over a year ago. Target markets include users of Windows XP, Ubuntu, and Puppy Linux. The idea is to provide the unique combination of user-friendliness, a LARGE repository (which Puppy Linux lacks), and lightweight performance (which Ubuntu and the Ubuntu-based Mint lack). So far, Swift Linux been based on antiX Linux, a lightweight version of MEPIS. Both MEPIS and LMDE are Debian-derived and are marketed as user-friendly. MEPIS is good, but LMDE blows it away. LMDE has accomplished far more in 1 year than MEPIS has in 8.
As a result, I have decided that the next version of Swift Linux (0.2.0) will be based on LMDE instead of antiX Linux. antiX/MEPIS has served well as the basis of Swift Linux, but LMDE has emerged as a better alternative. Given that everyone working on the upstream distros is indirectly working on Swift Linux, I want the LMDE team working on the under-the-hood stuff that I can't do.
Swift Linux will retain the spirit of antiX Linux. antiX Linux proves that it's possible to lighten a heavier distro and compete with Puppy Linux on lightweight performance. I'm going on a similar mission but with LMDE instead of MEPIS as a base. The new Swift Linux will offer most of the benefits of LMDE in a lighter package that fits onto a CD and works on 10-year-old computers just as well as antiX Linux and Puppy Linux do. Obviously, I'll be replacing the login manager, GNOME desktop, web browser, and many LMDE applications with lighter alternatives. I'll also be cutting redundant packages and packages that I think only a small percentage of my target market uses. I still intend to offer Diet Swift Linux (no LibreOffice), Regular Swift Linux (with some but not all LibreOffice apps), and special editions (Regular + special wallpaper + special startup sound clip).
When the new Swift Linux is ready, you'll still see many similarities to antiX Linux: IceWM, ROX, Conky, the shutdown/reboot/logout scripts, and more. The user interface will look much more like antiX Linux than LMDE in spite of the switch from the former to the latter as the parent distro. In other words, the changes under the hood will be much more substantial than the changes in the look and feel.
anticapitalista, you and your team have done a great job with antiX Linux. antiX Linux is user-friendly and gets as many speeding tickets as Puppy Linux but has a MUCH larger software repository due to its Debian/MEPIS base. Just as I consider Linux Mint to be the best overall distro for newer computers, I consider antiX Linux to be the best overall distro for the 10-year-old clunkers. When it comes to the software repository, antiX Linux leaves Puppy Linux, SliTaz Linux, and TinyCore Linux in the dust. While SliTaz Linux and TinyCore are much lighter and faster, they're not as user-friendly. I'm expecting Lubuntu to lose its lightweight edge simply because its parent distro Ubuntu keeps growing larger.
Swift Linux: new LMDE base, same antiX spirit
3 posts
• Page 1 of 1
- Posts: 51 swiftlinuxcreator
- Joined: 15 Nov 2010
- Posts: 1,028 SamK
- Joined: 21 Aug 2011
#2
An interesting and intriguing announcement that raised my curiosity.
Would it be possible to give more detail on this?swiftlinuxcreator wrote:LMDE has accomplished far more in 1 year than MEPIS has in 8.
Using a hypothetical comparison of Swift v antiX, are you able to give an indication of the differences in relative levels of performance you expect and in what areas you foresee the greatest differences?swiftlinuxcreator wrote: The new Swift Linux will offer most of the benefits of LMDE in a lighter package that fits onto a CD and works on 10-year-old computers just as well as antiX Linux and Puppy Linux do.
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In other words, the changes under the hood will be much more substantial than the changes in the look and feel.
- masinick
- Joined: 26 Apr 2008
#3
Regarding the early days of MEPIS, I'm pretty sure that before Ubuntu came out, MEPIS was in the top ten, maybe even in the top five distros in 2004, and that was when SimplyMEPIS came out and Robin Miller wrote a book about easy to use Linux systems and featured SimplyMEPIS in it.
I don't see a lot of difference between SimplyMEPIS and Mint, other than MEPIS is lighter, faster, and more stable, even with KDE. Mint comes with a few more"non-free" packages; Warren, being US-based, is subject to more scrutiny on such things than Clement is with Mint. Warren is a quieter kind of person; Clement is outgoing, and as such, Mint has attracted more interest. But MEPIS completely outperforms Mint any day of the week when it comes to stability and reliability, and I feel that it performs better too, because it doesn't have as many Python-based GUI programs to slow it down.
All the more so with antiX. It may not be quite as user friendly to install for the novice; I feel that antiX, MEPIS, and Mint are all installable by any reasonably astute individual, but Mint is arguably a bit easier to swallow for those who don't want to tinker much, if at all. Nevertheless, I want to counter those"ease of use" claims. How many of you can say that an eighty four year old woman, who only uses the computer once or twice a week, usually to read Email, do a quick search, and is usually on a computer less than an hour a week, can use a Linux-based system?
Well, I've taught my mother, who fits that description, to use four different Linux distributions to perform those simple tasks, and I finally installed antiX-base M12.0 Pre Final on an aging Dell Dimension 3000, set it up to auto login, set the window manager to JWM, and put a browser icon with ROX on the desktop, then showed her how to use it, set up two tabs and a search widget, showed her the browser icon, the shutdown icon, and a few other things, showed her the power button, etc., and she's been able to use HER OWN antiX-base M12.0 system.
My mother is intelligent, but she is not very computer-literate. But I'm telling you that Linux is just as easy, maybe easier, than starting with Windows XP. She was using that, but since she didn't have a lot invested in it, switching to something else was pretty easy. When it's 90% Web based, it is all pretty much the same anyway, and that's how I was able to get her into antiX so easily. Don't count out antiX, especially antiX-base. It's easy to set up and configure any way you like it.
I don't see a lot of difference between SimplyMEPIS and Mint, other than MEPIS is lighter, faster, and more stable, even with KDE. Mint comes with a few more"non-free" packages; Warren, being US-based, is subject to more scrutiny on such things than Clement is with Mint. Warren is a quieter kind of person; Clement is outgoing, and as such, Mint has attracted more interest. But MEPIS completely outperforms Mint any day of the week when it comes to stability and reliability, and I feel that it performs better too, because it doesn't have as many Python-based GUI programs to slow it down.
All the more so with antiX. It may not be quite as user friendly to install for the novice; I feel that antiX, MEPIS, and Mint are all installable by any reasonably astute individual, but Mint is arguably a bit easier to swallow for those who don't want to tinker much, if at all. Nevertheless, I want to counter those"ease of use" claims. How many of you can say that an eighty four year old woman, who only uses the computer once or twice a week, usually to read Email, do a quick search, and is usually on a computer less than an hour a week, can use a Linux-based system?
Well, I've taught my mother, who fits that description, to use four different Linux distributions to perform those simple tasks, and I finally installed antiX-base M12.0 Pre Final on an aging Dell Dimension 3000, set it up to auto login, set the window manager to JWM, and put a browser icon with ROX on the desktop, then showed her how to use it, set up two tabs and a search widget, showed her the browser icon, the shutdown icon, and a few other things, showed her the power button, etc., and she's been able to use HER OWN antiX-base M12.0 system.
My mother is intelligent, but she is not very computer-literate. But I'm telling you that Linux is just as easy, maybe easier, than starting with Windows XP. She was using that, but since she didn't have a lot invested in it, switching to something else was pretty easy. When it's 90% Web based, it is all pretty much the same anyway, and that's how I was able to get her into antiX so easily. Don't count out antiX, especially antiX-base. It's easy to set up and configure any way you like it.