How common is it for the developers of a Linux distro to try out other distros?

I'd like to see antiX Linux become a super-distro that replaces or at least is competitive with Ubuntu and Mint in keeping old computers alive. Ubuntu and its Mint are known for being user-friendly and having a superior software repository, but they're bloatware. Either will work well on 5-year-old computers but not on 10-year-old computers. Just think of all the additional computers that would be saved if antiX Linux were the go-to distro for Linux newbies.

I think antiX Linux has more potential than any other distro. No other distro offers the combination of lightweight operation, a superior repository, AND user-friendliness. Puppy Linux is lightweight and user-friendly but has a weak repository. Debian offers a superior repository and the option of lightweight operation, but it's not very user-friendly and requires lots of tweaking. (I'll bet that the option of a superior repository is the reason Debian is more popular as a base than Arch, Slackware, and Gentoo.) Ubuntu and Mint are user-friendly and have a superior repository but are only lightweight when compared to Windoze Vista and 7.

antiX Linux could be the super distro that takes the Linux and Windoze worlds by storm. Ubuntu and Mint will NEVER be as lightweight as antiX Linux. I can't imagine how Puppy Linux can fully address its weak repository. It can't be easy to become fully Debian-compatible or Ubuntu-compatible, or it would already be done. However, I think it is possible for antiX Linux to be as user-friendly as Ubuntu/Mint, and I'm sure there are more efficient ways to offer the same features. Puppy Linux has a desktop with clickable icons by default. antiX Linux and the even lighter Damn Small Linux offer this feature with just a few mouse clicks.

I just bought a newer used computer (HP7600 CMT) that has a 2.4 GHz Pentium D processor, 1 GB of RAM, and a capacity of 4 GB of RAM (almost as big as the 4.3 GB hard drive of my 10-year-old Dell desktop). I will do a multiple-boot installation of not only antiX Linux but also Mint, Ubuntu, MEPIS (our parent distro), and others and discuss here the features in these distros that I think should be in antiX. I'll also try other distros, like DreamLinux, the other versions of Mint (Debian, Fluxbox, LXDE), and perhaps a few others.

Both antiX Linux and Puppy Linux have proven that user-friendliness does NOT require bloat.

Sounds Like a great idea to me jhsu. Keep in mind that some programs are the biggest problem with bloatware. If you would like / do not find it much trouble, you can try out my configuration of antix against these other distributions. Let me know what you like / don't like about it, or if you just don't feel like trying. Either way is fine by me, Have Fun.

Needs to be burned to dvd or made into a bootable usb
Download Link

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url was:"http://daveserver.homelinux.com/my_linux_computer/antiX-M8.5_Daves-Version.iso"
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hi jshu,

I like your topic. May be because I am learning it with multi boot.
After some initial trouble on various installer ( w-XP, w7, Lilo, Grub, Grub2) not cooperating with each other I finally settle for something that I felt is fast for my experimental setup.

Just to describe here

1. New, fast machine, intel i3, Window 7 with 7-8 Linux distros on multi booting, so that I learn on bleeding edge type of distros, often no sound, no display, no internet, crash.. but no surprise!!
But I must have at least two stable distros for rescue..

2. Old Laptop, probably 5-7 years old, still fairly good as it has wired lan, wireless lan, DVD, USB2.0.
Main OS is antiX.. It was really fast, but now it had slower start up, it was scannning for wired LAN that was not connected ( my choice) so scanning took away lot of time.
Anyway if I get a cheap switch and get it wired it should get over these issues.

3. Newer attempt, AMD II x2, 245, so I could test AMD64 or 32-bit distros.
Multi boot , just set up few days ago and using it to type this post.

This one has no DVD/CD, forcing me ( oh, my choice again) to learn booting from USB stick, preparing USB stick, booting iso directly from Hard disk, etc

and my choice of main OS is again antiX, for reason of speed. it took me some less than a minute to boot this and I am in business to make changes on other experimental distros,

While knocked by lots of installer issue, for this computer I have set up a dedicated grub partition, a swap ( sharing with all other distros), many partitions to play and some very small partitions to load iso and boot from there.

Soon I am going to learn and try preparing and booting directly from USB hard disk.

It has been very nice to play with Linux OSes. I am just too new and want to learn.

EDIT : when I read from other forums, I noticed many developers are actually supporting various distros, often in similar bases. So I think it is common for some developer to test other distros for simple reason. For example, you can find similarity on Mint lxde, lubuntu, peppermint,, you can read more when you join their forums and read who are their developer and what they support. When they help in forums, they often disclose some information also.
Linux is just too many choices. I got lost for a while, now just discover some compass and some paths to explore. still a large jungle out there.

jhsu,

You ask how common is it for devs to try out other linux distros. I don't know about other distros and devs, but I regularly test out other distros and incorporate the best into antiX. OU812 has done the same with his antiXcc based on TinyMe. We get lots of ideas from lots of distros. To name a few (outside of MEPIS and Debian).

antiX uses ceni and meta-installer from aptosid/ex-sidux.
antiX uses mount app in antiXcc from slitaz.
antiX uses antiXcc based on TinyMe (and we have advanced it further)
antiX uses the volume control app in icewm toolbar from Absolute.
antiX uses scripts from h2 (smxi, sgfxi, svmi, inxi)
antiX uses the exoodles script for multimedia.
antiX has an antiX2usb script written by lagopus that was originally from sidux.
antiX uses ideas from Puppy linux, especially the idea of a frugal install (I hope to develop this further)

I'm in the process of installing multiple distros on my newer used computer. I really like Mint's installation procedure. Linux Mint AUTOMATICALLY configures the GRUB menu to allow booting up not only Windows and Mint but other operating systems as well. While I know how to configure GRUB manually to do this and know that it's fairly easy to do (as I've done it in Damn Small Linux, Puppy Linux, Ubuntu, and antiX Linux), Linux newbies would be put off by this.