I used SimplyMepis when it first arrived n the Linux scene – back when I first learned enough about Linux to be able to Distro Hop. Distro Hopping is for those of us who for one reason or another always want to install and try another Linux Distribution. Mepis was never too much fun because it was always well built. With Mepis you install and start using it after minimum set up. The included software covers almost any need, and because of Mepis repositories, there is a plethora of general and unique software for every purpose imaginable.
I downloaded Mepis 11, a few weeks ago intending to install it on some faster laptops. Before I started the download I double checked the minimum requirements to ensure Mepis 11 would be a good fit. Here are the minimum requirements from the Mepis website for Mepis 11:
“For Mepis 11.0 we [recommend] at least the following:
• Intel Pentium or equivalent including Xeon, AMD or AMD64 processor
• A bootable DVD drive
• 4 GB available hard drive space
• 512 MB RAM”
I thought these were loose and generous requirements, and I had this little voice in the back of mind wondering if maybe Mepis stretched the requirements just a little? After all Mepis uses KDE Desktop which is not known for light resource use. Add that to the KDE-Centric programs that every KDE user loves to use, and I wondered once again if perhaps Mepis had not gotten around to updating their minimum requirements for a few or more releases.
I have my old Sony laptop with a Mobile Celeron processor, and 512 Megs of ram. I decided I would call Mepis on their minimum requirements. When I went to download Mepis, I was sure my hunch was correct. Mepis is not a small download. The Mepis 32 bit iso which I needed was 1.3 gigs on the mirror download index. I am used to distributions that load on a CD. Mepis was going to need a DVD. Fortunately my laptop has a DVD player. I was going to be able to call Mepis on their update miss after all.
The download was fast, and painless, as was making the DVD iso. Now came the test. I use and external mouse on my laptop which uses some of the memory. Mepis is a live DV, meaning you can try it by running off the DVD without making changes to your computer. If it works, and you like it, you can install it.
Everything was still painfully slow, as in thirty or more seconds to do anything, but Mepis was running, sort of. I decided I would complete an install to the hard drive just to see how badly Mepis would perform. One of the great things about Mepis installs, is Mepis has always gone out of their way, from very early Mepis releases ensuring the install process is as clear, and easy as possible. That has not changed over the years and releases. Mepis is still one of the easiest Linux Distributions to install. Except on my struggling laptop.
I booted off the DVD to run Mepis in Live mode. It was slow going, but eventually everything loaded and the DVD ground to a halt. It was very painful with the mouse attached. Nothing wanted to work and the DVD spun forever, it seemed just trying to move the curser. I called it quits and set the DVD aside. Then a few minutes later I removed my external mouse, and rebooted the Mepis DVD.
This time my old laptop booted Mepis, but when I hit the install icon everything spun and nothing seemed to happen. I stopped this attempt, and started a second thinking the DVD errored out. On the second install I was called away to attend another matter for a few minutes. When I came back, I was greeted by the install screen.
As I mentioned earlier, installing Mepis is as easy as it gets. Mepis holds your hand during the process as well as any software is able to. The install time for my old laptop was a little long, but that was no fault of Mepis, but rather my laptops very limited memory (512 megs). Eventually the install announced it was completed. I removed the DVD and rebooted.
Once Mepis was on the hard drive it was a totally different Mepis. Keeping in mind Mepis is running in limited memory on an old, slow, memory constrained laptop it runs surprisingly well. Not at the speed of VectorLinux, or Puppy, but considering my old hardware and the KDE Desktop, it moves right along. I have been happy enough with Mepis that it has lasted over two months on my laptop. For me and my distro hopping ways, that is a long time for any Linux to hang around.
I don’t mind the KDE desktop, and I love some KDE programs, but in general KDE is a heavy weight desktop suited for newer computers, except when Mepis sets it up. Mepis will happily chugs along in 512 megs of ram, and not much more than a Pentium cpu. Mepis will surely fly on a newer computer, laptop or not.
I recommend Mepis as a good solid all around Linux Distribution for any computer meeting those minimum requirements. Be aware that on older and slower hardware like mine, Mepis is not a speed demon with only the minimum requirements met, but neither does it crash or hang.
KDE and Windows desktops have a lot in common, and most of KDE setup is well thought out, and easy to modify to the way you like it. The Debian repositories which Mepis uses have everything almost any program for any user needs available for download and install. If like me, you are running older hardware, you may wish to be selective about what you want to do. If cpu speed and memory is not an issue, Mepis should suit you well and will be as fast as almost any Linux distribution.
Official Mepis Community Forums
AntiX, a very light Mepis for very old computers
One o’clock in the morning was now in the past. I got on the net and looked for an easy was to fix the MBR so Windows could load. That was a wasted forty minutes except I read a method to use Ubuntu to rewrite the Windows loader. Three o’clock in the morning was now history. I had downloaded