Elive is getting closer to version 3.0!

Yesterday was my daughter's 7th birthday --and Distrowatch announced Elive had made a new beta available: version 2.9.8.

Elive is a truly beautiful Debian-based distro that uses Enlightenment as the window manager, so its footprint is rather small and relatively old systems can run it.

When I saw Elive Topaz (the last stable release), I knew that this distro really puts attention to details.  Never had I seen a desktop more polished and glamorous! 


I also discovered that Elive was criticized because it was a project that offered free live CDs but, to be able to install the distro, one had to pay.  Back then, I believed that free software had to be also cost-free, so I did not pay.  However, I kept thinking about the project for a long time and, after understanding more about free software, my vision changed.

I have to say that this took some years.  While some distros seem rushed to get releases according to an inflexible calendar, let us just say that Elive prefers to take its time.  The last stable release I was referring to dates from 2010... It is so old that the EliveCD page suggests visitors to download the latest beta instead of trying out Elive Topaz!

In October 2014, my need to have Elive running on my laptop was so big that I paid for the module to install beta 2.3.9, the 19th release of a long development stage that started back in 2013.  And I could not have been happier than I did: the beta has run like a stable release on my hardware.  What's more, I have never had a problem with it since the install!

Yesterday's release (2.9.8) comes after 12 previous releases that followed the beta which I installed. Elive really takes its time, you see?

I wonder what this new beta has to offer.  One thing is sure: I am going to give it a try!

Experiments: TheBrain

After a long time without using, it, I installed TheBrain again.  This is a mind mapping software that I used back in 2009, when I first migrated to Linux.  I remember I used it on an ultra-modest Asus Eee PC and it ran beautifully... Back then, the software used to be called PersonalBrain.  I think that the version I used was 4.5 or something like that...

In preparation for the International Congress, I decided to revisit the company making it to see if they still produced a Linux version.  They do!  The trial version of TheBrain 8 is *pretty much* fully operational.  The file installs without any hassle on Mageia and PCLinuxOS.  I noticed that the program crashes when I tried presentation view, however, which stopping me from paying the $219 license right away.

TheBrain 8 running on Mageia 4

It is a pity that we cannot find anything like this on Linux.  I mean, there are several mind mapping programs (I like Vym the best), but they do not include the nice animations that TheBrain displays...

Simply Mepis 8.5 challenge: the first four days

I decided that it was time for me to test SimplyMepis 8.5, so that I could have a closer impression of this efficient Linux distribution to write a non-technical review. As I promised, I have been running SimplyMepis consistently for four days now and these are my first findings:

DAY 1: Access to networks and browser customization
Mepis magic was a perfect match for Mandriva magic concerning picking up networks, both wired and wireless. I had to do absolutely nothing: just click to see the available networks and then click again to pick one Actually, I am typing this post from Mepis, using a wireless connection down here in campus four days after the experiment started. I downloaded my favorite add-ons for Firefox and customized it.


DAY 2: Desktop configuration and package installation
I had anticipated that, being a Mandriva user, the lack of an orchestrator of all the processes in Mepis could bother me a little. After all, Mandriva Control Center has become an innovation that some other Linux distributions aspire to emulate. However, my previous training with Linux Mint enabled me to use Synaptic without a great effort. Visually, there was a difference between downloading packages with Synaptic and doing it with MCC, but it was nothing to be traumatized about. I tried to customize the KDE desktop a little. I noticed some unresponsiveness of the desktop cube, but that was nothing I ignored, so I counted it as a minor bother. What actually became a major headache was the placement of four different wallpapers on each side of the cube. Everytime I booted the computer, the wallpaper images would play hide and seek with me. Sometimes, the images I selected went to a different cube side; some other times, they would be replaced at random and I would get a solid light blue wallpaper instead. I was also familiar with that behavior because Mandriva 2010 (Adelie) was shipped with the same KDE environment and, consequently, would show the same Kproblem...after several trials, I think that the four wallpapers have finally stabilized.

Package installation went fine. I installed Cheese! for the cam (it can take snapshots, but I do not get cam image) and then tried to install aMSN. That was a real problem because it would not finish installing a dependency, so used Kopete.

DAY 3: More installation and configuration
I tried installing aMSN again and it turns out that a Debian server might have been down because the installation went smoothly. Aside from that, there is not much to say because the computer is working perfectly.

DAY 4: General use
I have used SimplyMepis for my everyday work (typing letters, checking email, sending documents, opening video/audio files) and it has met all my needs magnificiently. I hardly find any problem other than my Mandriva customary behavior. Well, and maybe the visual impact was also a minor concern when I started. However, I am used to seeing the Mepis dark blue by now.

To sum up, my experience as a Mandriva user handling Mepis is satisfactory up to this point. SimplyMepis is not simply a disappointment. I think that it rivals Mandriva in its KDE handling...maybe a simplified experience than the one I am used to with Mandriva, but Mepis had given me little to complain about.

What's next? The following days I will try a multimedia class. This will let me assess the video display and the sound quality.