I've been using Slackware for several years and like it a lot, but the most
recent version had problems I couldn't resolve. I think the problems were
more with the version of KDE it uses than with Slackware itself, but
nevertheless, it annoyed me. Two problems with Slackware for me were
updating, and installing certain games with SDL libraries. Updating always
broke things so I never did it, and when I installed some games, upon launch
I would get four instances of them running. Could never figure out why that
happened.
So, I wanted to try a Debian-based distro because of the ease of updating and
package management. I liked the earlier versions of Mepis, but updating was
problematic. Sound never worked, and the most recent two versions (2004.06
and 3.3) had printer problems for me. Printer would set up but failed to
initialize when I needed it.
I tried Kanotix 2005.01 and like it a lot! It's a live-cd that has a harddrive
installer. It's based on pure Debian Sid, so once it's installed and you want
to update, it doesn't use a mix of repositories and sources that may break
things.
The Downside:
1. Sid is unstable (but it's more stable than any Mandrake I ever tried.)
2. Sid doesn't have security updates, but I don't care. Patrick Volkerding
even said that if one doesn't install and run servers and only has a simple
desktop system, security updates are largely unnecessary.
3. The harddrive installation isn't as polished as Mepis. Setting up a
separate /usr or /home partition can be done, but takes some work and
knowlede. I managed to do it, though.
4. There are very few games, and no screensavers by default. I had to download
them, and I still can't find a package with my beloved Bouncing Cow *sigh*
The upside:
Everything worked right off the bat: Sound, printer configuration, modem and
firewall configuration (it comes with Guarddog), and adding packages a-la
Synaptic. I was able to get the Gnome games (Iagno) without downloading all
of Gnome. When installed to my harddrive, all the hardware detection still
worked.
Security is good, and it comes with Guarddog. It's designed for a desktop
system. No servers get installed, which is nice when someone wants only a
desktop system. People can download those things if they want them.
Getting my cd-rom drive to work on /hdd gave me fits for a week, but support
on the Kanotix forum (from Kano himself) was awesome. Turned out it was a bad
drive, not Kanotix's fault at all.
The KDE desktop is clean and defaults are very nice, IMO. The screen
resolution is big enough for my poor eyes. Some distros set up X with the
resolution so high I can berely read the fonts. With Kanotix, I didn't have
to go around and enlarge the font sizes for everything. Mepis puts too much
clutter on the taskbar and desktop, IMO. The taskbar in Kanotix is clean and
functional.
The package selection is very nice!
If someone wants a Debian Sid system without all the hassle of a Debian
installation, or simply wants a clean and functional desktop system, give
Kanotix a try.
Siri Amrit
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