MX Linux Forum

Well, I've been running MX-14 for a while now and it is boringly stable and reliable. Everything works just fine. My wife is now running it as well and she hasn't noticed any problems. Simply because I'm bored, I've been working with a 64 bit version of Lubuntu on the 2nd partition of my main working box. I got remastersys installed and operational (have to do it manually as there is no support for 14.04) so now I have snapshot capability that works. The available software for 14.04 is of course newer and fresher and the system seems a tad "snappier" in day-to-day use although that might be just perception. I like being able to tie PPAs to the system as it's a nice feature. I have both MX-14 and Lubuntu configured exactly the same and I'm going to leave it like this for a while as both will be my daily drivers. We'll see in time which system I use more and that is the one I will likely stay with long term. I'll be around here as I read the forum every day and of course I'm interested in what MX-15 will be.

A question for the long time folks. Is MX-14 being tied to a basically abandoned system a bad thing? The main support for MX-14 is here and it's hard to avoid reading about the state of MEPIS itself and in a recent thread a Mod said it was basically defunct. It doesn't inspire confidence for sure even though the developers and packagers here are active and helpful...

MX is not tied to MEPIS - it is collaboration between the MEPIS users community and antiX. There is zero input from MEPIS development. Even if the dev of MEPIS (Warren) continues with MEPISX this will still have zero effect on what happens to MX.

My only point was the project page directs folks here and not to the antiX forums and while visiting here you'll learn quickly that MEPIS is all but dead. Is that what you want new users of MX-14 to read about? If so I'll just shut up and sit quietly in the corner. It seems every comment I make is seen as unfounded criticism and I'm just stating the obvious...

Of course they are directed here. It is the support forum for MX-14. We do not control the message of Mepis. It is reality and is what it is. One can think of MX-14 as the child of Mepis and Antix, that has taken the DNA of both and will go forward, as long as interest remains. In a sense what happens to Mepis is not germane to MX-14, except that its current state was probably one of the motivators to develop MX-14 in the first place.

Well, I must be the only person to think that being connected to a dead system is a bad thing. Maybe I just see things differently...

My only point was the project page directs folks here and not to the antiX forums and while visiting here you'll learn quickly that MEPIS is all but dead. Is that what you want new users of MX-14 to read about?

I see your point, but find it a little hard to answer. An analogy for me might be a Windows forum, where the W8 documentation pointed to a subforum that was thriving, but which also had other subforums dicsussing the death of the beloved XP and decreasing support for W7. I don't myself see why a user should necessarily be put off from MX by the stagnation of Mepis. We may eventually turn to other solutions in the future, but right now after an entire 2 months of existence this seems to be working reasonably well.

NGIB wrote:My only point was the project page directs folks here and not to the antiX forums and while visiting here you'll learn quickly that MEPIS is all but dead. Is that what you want new users of MX-14 to read about?

I might point out to the community that we've been making the distinction between MEPIS (Warren & co.) and the MEPISCOMMUNITY for a long time, and its not one that is real obvious for new folks, who don't have all the back story and history between the two groups. I've wondered about this as well since the release of MX. MEPIS brought me to this community, and to antiX (which was based on MEPIS originally for those that don't know).

Now I for one think there is value in keeping some association with the MEPIS name, as its an old name in the community at large and known for stability and ease of use. I like to think MX continues that tradition.

The boards still continue to support MEPIS M11, and there are several that are using the M12 beta. The fact that people have put up with stalled development for YEARS speaks volumes of the loyalty and quality of the MEPISCommunity/MEPIS combo.

But NGIB raises a fair point. Support on M11 (and M12) is for a dead end system at the moment. I don't know how to combat that in the forums (and I do believe the mepiscommunity forums are the right place for support for MX, the antiX boards tend to be a little technical and weird, and the mepiscommuntiy forum software is better), but the point is fair.

But NGIB raises a fair point. Support on M11 (and M12) is for a dead end system at the moment. I don't know how to combat that in the forums (and I do believe the mepiscommunity forums are the right place for support for MX, the antiX boards tend to be a little technical and weird, and the mepiscommuntiy forum software is better), but the point is fair.

One possibility that Rich and I talked about once might help: to restructure the Forum, making MX-14 the top entry and changing Mepis to a subforum. Might be too much hassle, and now is not the time.

I understand the worry, there are two things that go against MX, one is the image of MEPIS and the other is the image of "special antiX distro" that make sites like Distrowatch to dismiss it to a link and make it harder to find info about it. Type "MX" or even "MX-14" in Distrowatch search and it won't even return anything. Even on antiX page on Distrowatch http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=antix the only info about MX is a link that somebody might not even find. Sure, that's Distrowatch business how they present the info, but it is also the result of how we position MX.

At some point MX will need to stand on its own legs.

Jerry3904 wrote:

But NGIB raises a fair point. Support on M11 (and M12) is for a dead end system at the moment. I don't know how to combat that in the forums (and I do believe the mepiscommunity forums are the right place for support for MX, the antiX boards tend to be a little technical and weird, and the mepiscommuntiy forum software is better), but the point is fair.

One possibility that Rich and I talked about once might help: to restructure the Forum, making MX-14 the top entry and changing Mepis to a subforum. Might be too much hassle, and now is not the time.

At this point I think it makes more sense to get a new domain mxlinux, mxcommunity, or something like that and just copy the MX forum content there.

NGIB wrote:Well, I must be the only person to think that being connected to a dead system is a bad thing. Maybe I just see things differently...

No, you aren't alone on this. Well, I started to write that it's both good and bad, and that it's neither.

I think I might be the only "active" member here who isn't running either Mepis or MX-14, although I do keep my MX-14 flash drive handy; as was once the case with Mepis, MX-14 has become my favorite choice for live sessions. I still drop in at these forums just about every day, but I guess now I'm a former long-time user, and a lot of times I feel like I'm on the outside looking in.

Jerry3904 wrote:One possibility that Rich and I talked about once might help: to restructure the Forum, making MX-14 the top entry and changing Mepis to a subforum. Might be too much hassle, and now is not the time.

Why not now, I wonder?

Adrian wrote:I understand the worry, there are two things that go against MX, one is the image of MEPIS and the other is the image of "special antiX distro" that make sites like Distrowatch to dismiss it to a link and make it harder to find info about it. Type "MX" or even "MX-14" in Distrowatch search and it won't even return anything. Even on antiX page on Distrowatch http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=antix the only info about MX is a link that somebody might not even find. Sure, that's Distrowatch business how they present the info, but it is also the result of how we position MX.

At some point MX will need to stand on its own legs.

Adrian, I totally agree with everything you wrote there -- that's exactly how I'm seeing things.

Adrian wrote:At this point I think it makes more sense to get a new domain mxlinux, mxcommunity, or something like that and just copy the MX forum content there.

.
Seems to me that something like this would help tremendously.

I'm just pleased that everyone doesn't see me as an outside agitator. I spent my working life managing business operations so I understand the impact of "branding" both positively and negatively. MX-14 is in limbo as it does not have a brand of its own. It has ties to MEPIS which is for all intents and purposes dead; and antiX which is seen by many as a niche distro for techie users with old machines. I am an outsider but I do bring the perspective of a normal Windows convert that is looking at alternatives. I appreciate MX-14 for what it is but I don't see a "path to the future" with it as it's "marketed" now. I enjoy the conversations I have with many folks here but I wonder how long it will take, if ever, before what I say isn't immediately thrown out as an outsiders unjustified complaint. Que sara, sara. The way I see it, I donated my hard earned cash to MX-14 so I have a right to express an opinion...

But right now there are still people using Mepis 11 and 12, and the core members who help, answer questions, contribute to the community repo, etc, are all here.

If there is a separate MX14 forum, not everyone may want to visit and answer questions on 2 or even 3 (anticapitalista?) different forums. Just a practical issue. Would splitting Mepis and MX into 2 forums spread things -- numbers, liveliness of forum, quality of support and contributions - too thin?

Separation/differentiation may become more pressing in the future, when security updates for Squeeze (for Mepis 11) are discontinued and assuming Mepis 12 still looks to be stalled indefinitely.

But for now is it really a big issue? Perhaps we are underestimating the intelligence of new users of MX.

And I still see some value in the Mepis name for now at least, as something that is stable and reliable, which works on a wide variety of different hardware.

NGIB wrote:My only point was the project page directs folks here and not to the antiX forums and while visiting here you'll learn quickly that MEPIS is all but dead. Is that what you want new users of MX-14 to read about? If so I'll just shut up and sit quietly in the corner. It seems every comment I make is seen as unfounded criticism and I'm just stating the obvious...

Hey, NGIB, are you being oversensitive?
IMHO your posts are very useful contributions, and I believe most of the members here would agree with me.
Please don't "shut up".

I enjoy the conversations I have with many folks here but I wonder how long it will take, if ever, before what I say isn't immediately thrown out as an outsiders unjustified complaint. Que sara, sara. The way I see it, I donated my hard earned cash to MX-14 so I have a right to express an opinion...

Cash or no cash, you have a right to express an opinion on this Forum within the Forum Rules--and I see nobody saying anything to the contrary. I don't think this is an issue at all, so I recommend just letting it go.

I appreciate MX-14 for what it is but I don't see a "path to the future" with it as it's "marketed" now.

That may well be, and your question is a good one.

For me, as I have posted at various times in the past, suggestions of making MX an independent distro, creating a new forum, etc., are premature at the tender age of 2 months. If nothing else, I am not sure who right now could do the work. MX has quite a bit still in the pipeline, antiX is involved in a new release cycle, and our volunteer webmaster is buried in work. My suggestion, once again, is to keep the topic alive with posts like yours here, try to make some decisions about what next to do, and then figure out a reasonable timeline for that work to be done.

Adrian wrote:

Jerry3904 wrote:

But NGIB raises a fair point. Support on M11 (and M12) is for a dead end system at the moment. I don't know how to combat that in the forums (and I do believe the mepiscommunity forums are the right place for support for MX, the antiX boards tend to be a little technical and weird, and the mepiscommuntiy forum software is better), but the point is fair.

One possibility that Rich and I talked about once might help: to restructure the Forum, making MX-14 the top entry and changing Mepis to a subforum. Might be too much hassle, and now is not the time.

At this point I think it makes more sense to get a new domain mxlinux, mxcommunity, or something like that and just copy the MX forum content there.

Or point the new mxcommunity.org domain to these forums and rebrand as mxcommunity (or even have both names on top of the page for a while), keeping legacy MEPIS support to a subforum similar to the way MX is a subforum. Its actually almost that way now, its just the mepis name is a lot more prominent.

and mepiscommunity.org already talks a lot about MX...that would be easy to switch to mxcommunity.org.

mxcommunity.org, the place for support for MX Linux (MX-14) and legacy Mepis M11.

Whatever steps are taken, if any, I think we can all acknowledge they would be big ones for the community to take.

It's probably not the correct thread to post my comment, but, I would like to mention that I am chuffed to bits with MX14! Thank you very much.

NGIB wrote:Well, I must be the only person to think that being connected to a dead system is a bad thing. Maybe I just see things differently...

This is a great topic even if it touches some sore spots.

I wish there was more clarity about the future plans for the Mepis distro. I think that would make things easier for people who now have to live with hypotheticals.

As you rightly point out, the current situation is awkward but I don't think it could have been avoided. The problem we faced was a lively development and support community focused on a distro that was, at best, in hibernation. There are some people here who still feel a strong loyalty to Mepis and just tolerate MX. They should not be abandoned.

The HUGE benefit we got from keeping MX support here was a seamless transition. People didn't have to create new bookmarks or new login identities; existing relationships remained intact, etc. IMO, PR concerns pale in comparison. Now that the birth of the new distro was a success and we have a happy, healthy 2-month (+ 4-day) old distro, perhaps these secondary considerations will gain prominence. Thanks for starting this thread. Sometimes insiders get so accustomed to the way things are, they forget how it looks from the outside.

Way before MX14 came along I broached the subject of a broader-based forum. This was just after Mepis 12 Beta 2 became the last release. It's a valid discussion still. The fact that MX14 eventually came out is really immaterial. Unless something changes in Mepis development we're going to be a much broader-based Linux forum.

I would be very sorry to see Mepis go away, and I never knew it was "dying for all practical purposes" until I read it in this thread!

My own MX-14 experience was just great, but I found that some of the "components" (I guess) that I was used to in Xubuntu are missing, and I had to throw a persistent Xubuntu stick in to boot from just to get some of the less usual content from web pages I need to access for my college courses. All of the codecs and whatnot that I could install didn't let those web pages load, and I'm taking "short courses" that I must hurry through. It was just easier, in my rush to stay ahead of the school assignments calander, to install Xubuntu again just to get that dagnabed content to load.

I'm almost feeling apologetic about needing to use another distro after finding MX-14 and such cordial and competent support here in this community. I'll be back, God willing, when I'm not having to hurriedly enable stuff and settling for "the quick and easy path" that leads to the Dark Side. I hope, when I return, to find MX-14 and it's community still going strong.

Check your browser add-ons in Xubuntu and make sure you have the same browser add-ons loaded in MX-14. Accessing web content is browser related and not OS related for the most part,,,

malspa wrote:I think I might be the only "active" member here who isn't running either Mepis or MX-14, although I do keep my MX-14 flash drive handy; as was once the case with Mepis, MX-14 has become my favorite choice for live sessions. I still drop in at these forums just about every day, but I guess now I'm a former long-time user, and a lot of times I feel like I'm on the outside looking in.

No, me too! I run 64 bit Arch Linux by default on our systems now but, like you, keep MX-14 handy and appreciate its ease of use and quality.
Also, I like to keep in touch with these forums ... they have their own unique flavour!

Frankly, I do not see a conflict with MX-14 and Mepis support on this one Forum. MX has its own sub-forum. Early on Jerry and I discussed, as he indicated, giving more prominence to MX in the forum title. We both felt it was too early to make a change and that judgement is still valid. It is not an idea that has been lost, and will be considered in the future.

The forum will continue to support Mepis for the foreseeable future as many visitors and members still run versions of Mepis.
I also continue not to see MX being dragged down by the association with Mepis. If anything it is a positive.

richb wrote:I also continue not to see MX being dragged down by the association with Mepis. If anything it is a positive.

It can be either a positive or a negative (or both), depending on how you wanna look at it. I think the existence of this thread shows that.

richb wrote:Frankly, I do not see a conflict with MX-14 and Mepis support on this one Forum. MX has its own sub-forum. Early on Jerry and I discussed, as he indicated, giving more prominence to MX in the forum title. We both felt it was too early to make a change and that judgement is still valid. It is not an idea that has been lost, and will be considered in the future.

The forum will continue to support Mepis for the foreseeable future as many visitors and members still run versions of Mepis.
I also continue not to see MX being dragged down by the association with Mepis. If anything it is a positive.

Good points, Rich. I am posting this from FF29.0.1 on M12 (Thanks, packagers!) after several wheezy updates.
M12 is NOT defunct, it is basically an excellent distro which just needs some minor tweaks. If WW will not do those tweaks, would he allow the community to do them?

However MX-14 is a brilliant piece of work and I share NGIB's concern about its "marketing".

Much ado about nothing. At least that's how I see it, based on what the MX team had as a goal and what they've achieved.

IIUC, Jerry had a "vision" of a Linux distro that came directly from his desire to better utilize his underpowered but perfectly usable netbook(s). His goal was a stable, fully functional Xfce OS that included LibreOffice, fit on a CD, and was light enough to run on the hardware target he had in mind. He reached out to anticapitalista and got him on board, assembled a group of contributors from both the MEPIS and antiX camps, and rode them like rented mules. MX-14 is the result.

Did he reach his goal? I would say he has. I will stand corrected, but I don't think he or the rest of the team thought they'd rocket to the top of the DW chart, or expected a deluge of new users, or really gave much thought to any "guilt by association" there might be from being connected, however tangentially, to the MEPIS name.

Branding and marketing and promotion might have their place, if your goals include growth and recognition and popularity. All those things are nice, of course, but I'm not sure that's what Jerry and anti and the rest of the team were after. I'm thinking what they were after was a damn fine operating system that met the design goals and targets that were set at the onset.

I would say they actually exceeded their goals, and thank them for sharing the fruits of their labor with a mere mortal like me.

rented mules --> a herd of cats

uncle mark wrote:Much ado about nothing [...]

Excellent post, uncle mark.

Yes, it really is much ado about nothing -- for some people (and probably for most members of these forums), but not for everyone. This is why I say "positive or negative," depending on how you look at it. There are many folks who prefer as little uncertainty as possible in a distro, and with MX (as with Mepis), there's a good amount of uncertainty. Some don't mind that; some find it unacceptable. But that's the way things are. "Linux is about choice."

GuiGuy wrote:M12 is NOT defunct, it is basically an excellent distro which just needs some minor tweaks. If WW will not do those tweaks, would he allow the community to do them?

Good question. In more general terms, if Warren can't continue with Mepis development, would he allow someone else to take over?

richb wrote: I also continue not to see MX being dragged down by the association with Mepis. If anything it is a positive.

I agree with that. If there had not been that association with Mepis/Antix I doubt if I would have even looked
at MX-14. M11 served me very well for some years.

A question though, there appears to an assumption, or perhaps a fact, that Mepis is dead or dying. Is it a fact
or an opinion?

uncle mark wrote:Much ado about nothing. At least that's how I see it, based on what the MX team had as a goal and what they've achieved.

IIUC, Jerry had a "vision" of a Linux distro that came directly from his desire to better utilize his underpowered but perfectly usable netbook(s). His goal was a stable, fully functional Xfce OS that included LibreOffice, fit on a CD, and was light enough to run on the hardware target he had in mind. He reached out to anticapitalista and got him on board, assembled a group of contributors from both the MEPIS and antiX camps, and rode them like rented mules. MX-14 is the result.

Did he reach his goal? I would say he has. I will stand corrected, but I don't think he or the rest of the team thought they'd rocket to the top of the DW chart, or expected a deluge of new users, or really gave much thought to any "guilt by association" there might be from being connected, however tangentially, to the MEPIS name.

Branding and marketing and promotion might have their place, if your goals include growth and recognition and popularity. All those things are nice, of course, but I'm not sure that's what Jerry and anti and the rest of the team were after. I'm thinking what they were after was a damn fine operating system that met the design goals and targets that were set at the onset.

I would say they actually exceeded their goals, and thank them for sharing the fruits of their labor with a mere mortal like me.

Wow, I apologize as I had no idea that MX-14 was developed specifically for Jerry and his Netbook. I'll remove it from all of my computers right away. I guess I thought it was a release to the general public because it has a link on Distrowatch, a project page, help forum, good documentation, and even great video tutorials. It seems like a lot of effort went into the marketing of the system from day one but obviously I'm mistaken.

/sarcasm off

He reached out to anticapitalista

Actually, anti and BitJam reached out to me in a very generous gesture, and that was what made it all possible.

NGIB wrote:Wow, I apologize as I had no idea that MX-14 was developed specifically for Jerry and his Netbook.

If you care to search the forum, you will find Jerry's post where he asked if an Xfce version of Mepis was feasible, and the suggestion from anticapitalista that basing it on antiX might be easier.

NGIB wrote:I'll remove it from all of my computers right away.

Unless you dislike it, why would you do that?

NGIB wrote:I guess I thought it was a release to the general public because it has a link on Distrowatch, a project page, help forum, good documentation, and even great video tutorials.

If you cared to research it, you would find that the vast majority of Linux distros are the result of a 'cottage industry' approach. Indeed, many of the Distro Watch 'top 100' are the work of a single person, working in their spare time.

NGIB wrote:It seems like a lot of effort went into the marketing of the system from day one but obviously I'm mistaken. /sarcasm off

'Marketing' implies something which is only available at a financial cost, and clearly cannot be applied to MX-14, or indeed the vast majority of Linus distros.

The reason for promoting MX-14 is just a desire to make known what we feel is a useful OS for many users.

Chris

You forgot to quote my: /sarcasm off

NGIB wrote:You forgot to quote my: /sarcasm off

I didn't.

Chris

NGIB wrote:
Wow, I apologize as I had no idea that MX-14 was developed specifically for Jerry and his Netbook. I'll remove it from all of my computers right away. I guess I thought it was a release to the general public because it has a link on Distrowatch, a project page, help forum, good documentation, and even great video tutorials. It seems like a lot of effort went into the marketing of the system from day one but obviously I'm mistaken.

/sarcasm off

Since I seem to be the target here, I don't understand where all your anger/sarcasm/persecution feeling is coming from, or how it advances the discussion of the important question you raised in OP. I would like to see this thread kept constructive so we can explore some of the tricky issues and options involved.

Factually, it is correct that I started the MX-14 project because M12 did not run well on my netbooks, which got me wondering if we could produce an Xfce that would perform better. That was the original (restricted) scope, but it ended up being something with much broader appeal--and the implications of that result are what needs to be considered as we move forward.

No anger at all. My post was commenting on what Gordon Cooper said: MX-14 was for you and there was no plan or intention to make it a general release so marketing and promotion was not a factor at all. I chose a sarcastic way to show this is not the case.

Moot point really as y'all can do whatever you want and anybody that hasn't been a MEPIS user for 10 years will likely remained confused over what MX-14 is and what it aspires to be. I think I've worn out my welcome here and I'll bid you folks adieu...

NGIB wrote:No anger at all. My post was commenting on what Gordon Cooper said: MX-14 was for you and there was no plan or intention to make it a general release so marketing and promotion was not a factor at all. I chose a sarcastic way to show this is not the case.

Moot point really as y'all can do whatever you want and anybody that hasn't been a MEPIS user for 10 years will likely remained confused over what MX-14 is and what it aspires to be. I think I've worn out my welcome here and I'll bid you folks adieu...

You have made several posts in which you describe your worries, hopes, criticisms etc, some of which most people here agree with (at least in part), but once you get a reply you don't like since it disagrees with a point you have raised, you trhow the toys out of the pram.

Why is it that you feel you can make your criticisms, but don't like it when people disagree with them?

Inasmuch as there is symbiosis between AntiX and MEPIS, which produced MX-14, why not keep all three distros under the same roof for awhile (at least as long as people are still using MEPIS)? Maybe Warren will find the time and motivation to develop a new MEPIS down the road. After all, he hasn't yet issued an official death notice for MEPIS.

joany wrote:Inasmuch as there is symbiosis between AntiX and MEPIS, which produced MX-14, why not keep all three distros under the same roof for awhile (at least as long as people are still using MEPIS)? Maybe Warren will find the time and motivation to develop a new MEPIS down the road. After all, he hasn't yet issued an official death notice for MEPIS.

The voice of reason at last!

Chris

I think I've worn out my welcome here and I'll bid you folks adieu...

I have no idea what you're talking about here, but do what you have to do.

wow, really don't understand the hurt feelings. Most on this board use Mepis or MX14 or both and have opinions about the future of both, ultimately it's up to those that do the grunt work of producing them to decide what features will be incorporated and how to "market" and support them. Linux IMHO will allways be a small part of home use installs and the small teams that create distro's like MX14, Mepis, Point, etc... are essentially engaing in a hobby that has the side effect of benefitting those that find the end product useful. request for changes are usually dealt with tactfully and suprisingly quickly and at no monetary cost to the user so why get when ones opinion is disagreed with? Most folks that use Linux distro's do so with a spirit of adventure and an understanding that the road can be a little rough at times but freindly exchange of ideas can solve most issues if we check our ego's at the keyboard. /steps down from pulpit

Jerry3904 wrote:

He reached out to anticapitalista

Actually, anti and BitJam reached out to me in a very generous gesture, and that was what made it all possible.

Okay, so I wasn't quite precise on that point...

But you did ride 'em like rented mules, didn't you?

I plead the 5th

Dishing out is a lot easier than having it dished on......

I've been with Mepis a long time and so I don't see a 'problem' with MX14. The same way I don't see a 'problem' with antiX being represented on the forum.

My time is limited and our forum here is my primary attention-getter. Mostly because as a Moderator I feel I should look at everything that's posted. Even so I'm the least likely to find inappropriate posts/posters because several other Mods/Admins are better organized than I am, so they find things before I ever think about getting there.
However the important thing is (to me) the free exchange of ideas. I've always maintained that it's hard to change established 'social norms' because of social inertia. Some find this too restrictive. For me it's a comfortable situation. Just like those old house slippers I love.
Things do change. Just slower than some might want.

lucky9 wrote:Dishing out is a lot easier than having it dished on......

It brings out the martyr in a lot of people.

The Internet is no place for the thin skinned.

Something to keep in mind
when posting or reading posts
on the internet,
is that it is difficult to convey
irony, sarcasm, humor, whimsy, double-meaning, etc,
in a short forum post.

If it must be further explained,
it may not have it's intended effect,
and may be misunderstood.

So, if there is any doubt, explain further.

Richard wrote:Something to keep in mind
when posting or reading posts
on the internet,
is that it is difficult to convey
irony, sarcasm, humor, whimsy, double-meaning, etc,
in a short forum post.

If it must be further explained,
it may not have it's intended effect,
and may be misunderstood.

So, if there is any doubt, explain further.

Being easily offended is an inside job.

We may not be there yet, but I think the time is not far off when someone must close the door on Mepis as an OS if it is dead as it seems.
The thing that is alive and well is this community, one of the best on the net. MX-14 has breathed new life into this group. I'm sad and disappointed that Mepis appears to be in indefinite limbo, and that along with other sinking ships have cured my interest in "one man distros", even though Mepis has a special place in my heart.
I think this community is strong though, and has rallied around MX-14. I hope there can be a rebirth and restart around this new distro along with AntiX which has remained active.
My two cents.

Richard wrote:. . .
So, if there is any doubt, explain further.

If there is any doubt, don't post it. If it needs explaining then it needs work.

KBD wrote:We may not be there yet, but I think the time is not far off when someone must close the door on Mepis as an OS if it is dead as it seems.

I'm not convinced MEPIS is dead, even if M12 is. Warren is still maintaining his MEPIS web site -- sort of. At least he posted an announcement in April about the new MX-14 release. Debian scheduled freezing Jessie in November, so maybe he might develop a new Jessie-based version even if he's not going to spend any more time finalizing M12. When he does decide to retire from developing MEPIS, I'm pretty sure he'll make some sort of public statement like Anthony Norquist did when he shut down SalineOS.

KBD wrote:
The thing that is alive and well is this community, one of the best on the net. MX-14 has breathed new life into this group. I'm sad and disappointed that Mepis appears to be in indefinite limbo, and that along with other sinking ships have cured my interest in "one man distros", even though Mepis has a special place in my heart.
I think this community is strong though, and has rallied around MX-14. I hope there can be a rebirth and restart around this new distro along with AntiX which has remained active.
My two cents.

My sentiments exactly! Let's celebrate what we've got, which is a great community and a fine new distro.

Mepis may not be dead yet, but in my opinion it would be wise to start thinking about the [future] roadmap of the Forum:
I've been giving that some thought: */you may shoot at it...:-)

Change the name of this Mepis Community Forum to "Symbiosis Community Forum" (or similar).
It will be hosting in subforums the communities of participating distros (all 100% based on Debian).
Currently that's only Mepis, antiX, MX, but more distros may be added.
Each distro comes with one or more Desktop Environments and one or more release versions (stable/testing/sid).

Goals:
- cross-distro development (synergy),
- symbiotic development and releases (like MX-14),
- using common repositories.

Profile the new Forum as homebase for such Debian-based distros and advocate developing for common use.

Long term goal: Synergy in Development toward Symbiotic Releases.

KBD wrote:The thing that is alive and well is this community, one of the best on the net. MX-14 has breathed new life into this group. I'm sad and disappointed that Mepis appears to be in indefinite limbo, and that along with other sinking ships have cured my interest in "one man distros", even though Mepis has a special place in my heart.

I think you summed up my thoughts on the subject very well.

joany wrote:I'm not convinced MEPIS is dead, even if M12 is. Warren is still maintaining his MEPIS web site -- sort of. At least he posted an announcement in April about the new MX-14 release.

Don't hold your breath though, this is what Warren has on his LinkedIn account: "I founded MEPIS Linux in 2002. Currently i am an occasional advisor to the community of MEPIS Linux developers and users."

Doesn't sound at all like he's the guy working on M12 or M14... Why do you expect more from him than he's hinting/promising? Usually people expect less than what other people promise...

Is this a part of Mepis? http://www.mepis.com/

Warren is mentioned here: http://www.mepis.com/who

Perhaps his focus has changed.
Perhaps he needed to take care of making a living,
more than spending so much time on his hobby.

Perhaps someone could ask?

Richard wrote:Is this a part of Mepis? http://www.mepis.com/

Yes.

Warren is mentioned here: http://www.mepis.com/who

Yes.

Perhaps his focus has changed.

Yes.

Perhaps he needed to take care of making a living, more than spending so much time on his hobby.

Yes.

Perhaps someone could ask?

No need, all that is well known here among many users.

Like many here I have lots of respect for Warren, especially for what he has done/achieved with his Mepis releases, but I don't expect him to come up with still another Mepis release.
I like to think of the symbiosis, the collaborative efforts of the antiX/Mepis communities, resulting in the fine MX release, as a fine tribute to the Man.
It's up to the communities to continue building and expanding upon this legacy, or choose another path.

ko wrote:Like many here I have lots of respect for Warren, especially for what he has done/achieved with his Mepis releases, but I don't expect him to come up with still another Mepis release.

I just wish he'd come out and say so, and put some finality to all the speculation.

uncle mark wrote:I just wish he'd come out and say so, and put some finality to all the speculation.

So would I, but I doubt we'll see it happen.

Adrian wrote: Don't hold your breath though, this is what Warren has on his LinkedIn account: "I founded MEPIS Linux in 2002. Currently i am an occasional advisor to the community of MEPIS Linux developers and users."

Doesn't sound at all like he's the guy working on M12 or M14... Why do you expect more from him than he's hinting/promising? Usually people expect less than what other people promise...

I find this kind of odd. Who are the MEPIS Linux developers he's referring to? And I don't recall seeing Warren post anything on a user forum. On a positive note, maybe this means he's grooming MEPIS developers. :shrug:

As far as his current endeavor, he's headquartered in Austin Texas, which is somewhat of a hotbed of patent litigation. I'm not sure whether his firm (MEPIS, LLC) does consulting work for plaintiffs or defendants in patent infringement cases. Maybe both. Warren tweets a lot about patent infringement matters, so his focus has most definitely shifted.

Who are the MEPIS Linux developers he's referring to?

I believe that would be...moi. He is tacitly referring to what he contributed to MX-14 development (answering a few emails, providing some old code).

Jerry3904 wrote:

Who are the MEPIS Linux developers he's referring to?

I believe that would be...moi. He is tacitly referring to what he contributed to MX-14 development (answering a few emails, providing some old code).

Sounds like he contributed about as much as I did.

I am very grateful that Warren responded so positively to the MX project. His support was extremely valuable. If he made some small contributions on top of that, so much the better. He has given more of his time and energy to the Mepis distro than any other person. There is no need to be snippy simply because he can no longer afford to maintain that same level of contribution.

Okay, I'll cop to snippy.

uncle mark wrote:Okay, I'll cop to snippy.

Irascible. It sounds cooler.

arjaybe wrote:

uncle mark wrote:Okay, I'll cop to snippy.

Irascible. It sounds cooler.

Okay, I'll cop to that too. It's not like they're mutually exclusive.

I'm sure we could come up with a few more, seeing as you're in an accepting mood!

Phil

Gaer Boy wrote:I'm sure we could come up with a few more, seeing as you're in an accepting mood!

Sure, bring it on. What can it do? Ruin my reputation?

It's pretty easy to forget that posting something is completely different than having a conversation. I make enough factual errors in both to consider shutting up might be preferable to admitting being human. If an error is noted it's not a personal attack. I hope I continue to learn new things and reconsider old things in the right frame of mind.
I've been misunderstood as well as have misunderstood plenty of times. I call it a reality-check.

As long as Warren doesn't mind our use of Mepis in our forum name I don't see it as a problem. Anyone that spends a decent amount of time here will get a clear message concerning our focus. .... focuses. Not hard at all.

Here's a response from a guy on a tech oriented newsgroup I subscribe to after I pointed him toward MX:

Okay, I'm officially impressed. I've got it running in a VM. I had to completely redo the panels, theme and default fonts as they make the desktop look ancient, but once done, it's still consuming a mere 112MB from a clean boot. I see an nvidia installer and just about anything else a user would need. I do like the Claws mail client, which it defaults to, but there are some really odd defaults. Easily changed, but that could be enough to put off distro hoppers from even trying it. I've now got it looking like a modern distro and am ready to put it on real hardware. Thanks for the tip!

When all is said and done, it's the code that makes all the difference.

So what does "making it look like a modern distro" mean? Change the theme?

Jerry3904 wrote:So what does "making it look like a modern distro" mean? Change the theme?

I actually agree, Raleigh is a bit strange choice, if I'm not wrong it's a modification of Redmond which as we well know is the clone of Windows 98 theme. We are in 2014, 16 years is a long time in tech. Of course one can change that, but that's not the point.

Well then somebody should make a suggestion of a "modern" theme that goes with the wallpaper and is readable (a lot of the really dark ones are not IMHO) and the Dev Team can take a look.

Jerry3904 wrote:Well then somebody should make a suggestion of a "modern" theme that goes with the wallpaper and is readable (a lot of the really dark ones are not IMHO) and the Dev Team can take a look.

Can't say that I'm very happy with the Xfce theme choices, I personally use Xfce-smooth which is not dark and is pretty neutral.

The point was that if you use a 1998 looking theme don't be surprised if people say it looks old.

I have been using the default Theme. I tried several of the included Themes. I haven't decided what I like. I'm running default on my Netbook with some hints given on the forum here. I don't even remember which. I need more time on my Desktop installation. Though a VM is okay, I prefer a real installation. I just don't reboot much.

I generally use Murrine themes on Xfce to give it a bit of color.

I will open a thread on this, we don't want to have this discussion at the end of a different topic.

Jerry3904 wrote:So what does "making it look like a modern distro" mean? Change the theme?

Probably. Who knows. The point being this guy was able to look beyond the cosmetics and appreciate what the system offered, unlike the Demidoyadayada guy.

Stated goals included fitting on a CD. It's impressive as it stands.

NGIB wrote: My post was commenting on what Gordon Cooper said: MX-14 was for you and there was no plan or intention to make it a general release so marketing and promotion was not a factor at all.

When I was supposed to have said that? I don't see it amongst my posts. I did comment that I might never have looked at
MX-14 - except for previous experience with M11 - although I was influenced by a thumbs up report that Mike Pav. circulated
to the local Linux User Group.

I have been promoting MX where possible and have a few converts. Have reverted to Kubuntu for some work, particularly
with Free Pascal programming. I hope that MX continues and look forward to future versions - Old Father Time permitting.

It was the name and reputation of MEPIS that brought me to MX-14 in the first place. From what I had gathered, MEPIS had done the same thing Ubuntu had - making Debian "friendlier" - but without the drama, the rush to release, and the barrage of updates that break things, and built on Debian Stable to boot! I had been wishing for an "Xfce version of MEPIS" for three years! But it was the association with Mepis that brought me here, because Mepis has enjoyed a great reputation for years.

If Mepis is going away, that's sad, but not unexpected apparently by those of you who have been in the community a long time. But what a debt of thanks we owe to Warren, and to all who have contributed, past and present, to make the name Mepis stand for stability, reliability, imagination, and beauty.

I'm sure that with this fine community, Mepis will live in some form or another for many more years to come. It has a great legacy and I'm proud to have been a tiny little part of it, even if only as an end user, and even if only for a little while.