This is the third week with my Eee Pc. I think I have found the end of the rainbow in Linux distributions that are not too much trouble to install and run. I was fairly happy with Fluxflux as I mentioned in my Asus Eee Pc post a few days ago.
Since then I finished my work week, and had some time to see what other Linux distributions are out there. Actually I was happy with Fluxflux until Mepis Linux released another beta. I could not resist. I downloaded, burned, and ran the Mepis live cd. Mepis worked as it always does, and ran well as expected. On the downside for a meager Eee Pc is the plethora of software loaded into Mepis is too much for my taste. Spending an afternoon removing programs was not my idea of fun considering I could have broken Mepis in the process.
Debian came out with a new release, actually an upgrade to their current install package. Debian has one of the largest program databases in Linux,and is a very solid distro. As I was toying with the idea of installing Debian, I found a review of a distribution named Sidux on Linux.com.
Sidux is well reviewed, and is on the leading edge for debian based Linux distributions. On the edge meaning the latest and greatest of everything Linux. Sidux claimed to run on almost any computer, so I downloaded and burned an iso cd.
Sidux loaded and ran as advertised. It was not loaded with more programs than I could possibly use. I had a little problem getting Sidux to install the root directory where I wanted, but after I solved that issue which was operator error, everything went smoothly.
I read on the Sidux forums about software I wanted that was not installed. Smxi was mentioned, which was a new term for me. It only took a short time to find out what I needed to know about smxi, and less time to get the script running in a terminal. I followed instructions and installed the programs I wanted.
I had tried DSL - Damn Small Linux - which is impressive, but I could not locate my wifi driver in windows to be able to connect to the Internet on wireless. I also tried Puppy Linux with the same result, but I did find Pupeee in the Puplets section. The Pupeee remaster worked well and is very impressive for its speed and size.
So this week at least Sidux Linux is king of my Eee Pc. I think I will stick with Sidux for a while because Sidux is the leading edge of Debian. While Sidux is not a beginners distro in the idea that you drop in a cd and the installer does everything else, it is not beyond the average Linux or under the hood Windows user.
What version of the EEE pc do you have?
I have a BestBuy version, model 1000HD. Centrino processor, 1 gig memory, and a 120 gig hard drive. No built in camera. It came with Xp only, but now shares with Linux.