Sidux 2009-02 (KDE)
Problems & Headaches
If Sidux has a weakness for a desktop distribution, it’s in the install routine. It simply isn’t as intuitive as it should be for new users. Experienced users won’t mind it a bit and will have it installed relatively quickly. But newer folks might not understand how to partition their drive and could be confused when trying to install Sidux.
The part where you need to click the Execute button to start gparted (or whatever tool you choose) should be a separate step as some users might go right by it only to find at the end that the install won’t proceed because no partition has been created.
I’d like to see the Sidux developers move quickly to improve the install routine. They might need to step back away from looking at Sidux through their very experienced eyes and then place themselves into the role of complete newbie to Linux. This might help them improve the install routine and make it less potentially confusing to newbies.
Another potentially confusing thing is that there is an entire Debian section available in the app menus when you click on the K button on your desktop panel. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that those apps are all available. However, it is potentially confusing to newer people as some might not understand why those apps are listed under the Debian folder label instead of being categorized under the regular app categories or why some appear in both places. I’m not going to nitpick this too much but it’s something for the Sidux developers to be aware of and perhaps tweak a bit in future releases. It might be better to eliminate that separate Debian app list and blend all of the apps together in the appropriate categories.
Note that if you want media codecs, flash player or other non-free software then you will have to find and install them yourself. The developers of Sidux are all about free software so you won’t find non-free software available right after you install Sidux. However, the Sidux Manual contains instructions on how to update your apt sources so you can install non-free software easily enough.
One other very minor nitpick. While there is a link to the Sidux Manual on the desktop there is no link to the forum or the wiki. I’d like to see both links placed on the desktop. They might not matter to experienced Sidux users but they can make a big difference to newer folks who haven’t used Sidux before and who might want to ask a question or two in the forum or otherwise browse some helpful information.
(11 votes, average: 4.36 out of 5)
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Pretty good review, but you can’t considere a “con” the fact that it can be hard for a newbie… It’s using Debian Sid so it is bleeding edge and moving fast. You have to be careful when running this distro, read the website before updating to be sure there’s no trouble with new version of packages, etc. So when you’re using sidux, you’re suppose to know what you’re doing and you’re suppose to know that an update might kill your mother.
Oh and just another point… it’s sidux not Sidux. It’s brand like this so using a capital S is a mistake ;)
So like I said at the begining, good review, quite interesting!! Hope you’ll continue to be around sidux for some time.
And if you don’t know it yet, you may use a tool (script) name smxi to easily update your system and do a lot of great stuff with no mess: http://techpatterns.com/forums/about736.html (note that it isn’t support by the sidux devs).
Thanks for your review and sorry for my poor english… I speak french
Hi ltjmax,
Welcome to DLR and thanks for the feedback and comments, glad you enjoyed the review.
Hmmm…the lack of a capital “S” irritates the editor in me. I’ll try to bear it in mind for future reviews though. Thanks for the heads up.
Hi Jim!
WELL! You finally got to give sidux a spin – AND a review! Note the use of “sidux” – I see you have already been duly “dinged” for this. I was dinged the first time I posted in a forum about it, and I have now been actively using sidux for at least two years.
When Jon Danzig passed away, my favorite developer centric Debian based distribution went away, so I was left with my desktop backup, SimplyMEPIS. Mind you, for every day use, SimplyMEPIS is just perfect, and for those new users that you are concerned about in your review, I’d steer them in that direction, though Linux Mint is one of the other distributions that I would recommend; PCLinuxOS is the third one.
I cannot agree with you about some of the changes that you propose to sidux. The reason that I cannot agree is that the approach that the team has taken is one of the reasons that sidux is such a cutting edge, fast, yet amazingly stable desktop system. For those who are not ready to handle it, there are plenty of great alternatives; I just named three of them.
I have a trilogy of terrific desktop systems that I try to frequently use. They are:
1. sidux, for fast, cutting edge software that still manages to provide a stable desktop experience.
2. antiX, an extremely flexible, lean, fast desktop system that sticks to small, memory conserving applications, suitable for use on somewhat older hardware, yet capable of running extremely quickly on newer hardware. antiX benefits from the easy installer of SimplyMEPIS. Since it uses light window managers and somewhat less familiar applications than the beginner systems, it is just shy of being a true beginner system, but it is actually not too difficult for the determined beginner to handle. But what is really nice about it is that it is the lightest full featured Live CD you can get that will quickly detect and handle your hardware, and it has the firmware needed to run wireless, and despite the small size, it offers multiple light wireless network management tools, so it is the ideal fast OS for a laptop on the go.
3. SimplyMEPIS is the perfect stable desktop system, benefiting from the great stability of Debian Stable. The current release is based on Lenny, and it is quite extensible, yet simple. The fact that antiX has been crafted from the core features of SimplyMEPIS demonstrates that while SimplyMEPIS is solid and simple, it can be customized and respun into numerous other forms, which the MEPIS Lovers Forum community have done with great vigor and outstanding quality this year.
Because of this trilogy, to me there are no good reasons for changing what sidux is. Instead, grab all three of these distros and use them to fit specific needs – or pick a few others.
One last thing: You may have noticed that I finally got the bug and have started into using Virtualbox OSE. I was running sidux 2009.02 on my existing (upgraded) sidux desktop, but tonight, I had to manage a Front Page XP based mailing list, so I was on “Mista Vista”, as my friend Mel (Melloe), our long time ET (and numerous other forums) contributor would say. Well, I wondered what sidux would run like on Vista, so I snagged Virtualbox OSE and put it up on Vista after finishing my mailing list (and that is why it took so long to get back here).
I downloaded sidux, using Firefox 3.5.1 on Vista, then loaded it, gave it plenty of video memory, and launched it in full screen mode. You would never even know that I am on Mista Vista – This instance has reserved 768 MB (that’s what I set for my particular hardware), 8 GB of dynamic space, and, as I mentioned, 32 MB of video RAM.
You would never know that I am even on Vista. The performance is excellent, the appearance of the XFCE version is every bit as nice as the KDE version, and Firefox comes with the XFCE implementation, which some may view as a positive attribute.
I went right out and got the latest nightly build of Seamonkey, set it up, and here I am, posting in a Virtualbox instance on Vista, using all of my favorite applications and accessing my favorite sites.
I am going to award sidux a 5/5 in my ratings, not because it works for beginners, but because it perfectly hits its target market. We cannot be comparing Tiny Core, or even Crunchbang Linux to sidux (but did you notice that sidux can outrace them)? :-)
I give sidux a great rating for the niche it meets. I give Mint a solid rating for the niche it meets. Heck, even Fedora gets a good rating for the niche that it meets, but I do not recommend either Fedora or sidux for beginners, I recommend sidux to enthusiasts and I recommend Fedora for corporate users who need a desktop system similar to the stable Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) servers that they use for back end applications.
I know of no other distribution that I have evaluated that better suits its niche. There is one other distribution, one that you have decided not to evaluate, that really tickles the fancy of enthusiasts but very rarely the beginner, and that is the highly tailorable and fast Arch Linux. Don’t even go near it if you are a timid beginner, but DO go near it if you want everything exactly the way you want it and are willing to put in the time and effort to make it that way. Arch is for Slackware converts who want an even faster system and even more control over what is installed and configured. Arch comes with a text installer and core utilities. Everything else must be installed and configured. All configurations are in easily edited, text readable configuration files, and there are very few of them – no hunting around, and excellent documentation on what to do with them.
sidux is easier to put together than Arch by a long shot, so people who want cutting edge, but don’t have the time or interest in tweaking at that low level are ideal candidates for sidux. Would be Debian Sid users who want a nicer appearance and more administration tools are the target audience for sidux.
By the way, the sidux developers are the offspring of Kanotix, which arose out of the original KNOPPIX work. In November 2006 the sidux team was formed when Kano went a different direction with Kanotix (and lost his entire team to sidux). Kanotix, a pretty nice distro in 2005, faded shortly thereafter.
sidux also has a community of developers who put together some add on tools for sidux administration. My favorite one is smxi, written by Harold Hope, who goes by the handle of h2. The smxi tool is a console based tool; nothing visually fancy, but it saves you time and effort. Using smxi, you can manage a rolling upgrade strategy and I have not had it fail once on me since 2007 when I started with sidux.
That’s enough. You can see that I love sidux, that I think it fills a role that few others compete with directly, and in the niche that I see, there is no contest: sidux is a winner!
I used and liked sidux a lot, but then I discovered FreeBSD.
Arch is loosely based on FreeBSD ideas, but hey! If you want something you fully customize, small, lean and blazing fast, get your hands dirty and give FreeBSD a spin (or PCBSD if you don’t feel brave enough).
And the documentation is the best you can find in the FOSS world!
I can’t help but notice that in your screenshots that you are running these Linux distro’s on a Mac, through VMWare!
Gustavo: Yeah, I’ve reviewed PCBSD back on ExtremeTech. I may take a look at it again here on DLR though.
GwydionDdu: Yes, I usually use VMWare, Parallels or VirtualBox on one of my macs to do my distro testing. Lets me keep a lot of different distributions right at my fingertips.
Mas: Glad you are using VirtualBox. It’s a lot of fun to be able to switch off to whatever distro you want regardless of what current operating system you are using.
On the issue of newbies and why I regard that as important when looking at all distributions…when I first started doing distro reviews on ET I got a lot of feedback from people who hadn’t used Linux before. Some were intimidated by it and others just didn’t know where to start.
So when I write a review I always try to remind myself to look at it from their point of view. And I always try to point out potential pitfalls that folks new to Linux might encounter as I hope that these reviews will help as many people as possible to discover desktop Linux and to start using it.
So that’s why I tend to harp on how stuff might appear to a new Linux user even if it’s in a distro that is toward a more advanced user.
Good review Jim. I agree this is not a first-timer’s distro unless that person first reads some reviews and spends time with the very fine sidux manual. That done a person might walk through the installation, take a deep breadth and edit a few scripts as necessary. But there are other distros; Mepis, PCLOS and Mint to name 3, which are easier. And put Ubuntu there as a fourth. I am running a turn-key System 76 laptop with Ubuntu 8.10 and it runs as reliably and dependably as any Windows I have ever used, In fact it is distinctly better than at least one of them I recall painfully.
sidux? A performance revelation if a person is used to something like Ubuntu or Mandriva. I am running Xfce 64 bit and it is just plain fun! I’ll be upgrading to the newest version before too long, I suspect.
Do look at Arch and put Antix on your list as well.
hi jim nice review.i want to download the distro….but there is no link for torrent download….i haven’t seen any torrent for the latest version….all were for old version…so please post the torrent link for sidux 2009-2 kde lite and full version….
http://linuxtracker.org/index.php?page=torrents&category=444
hi jim,
i would like to know your opinion about OPENGEU,a distro based on ubuntu.it is a blend of ENLIGHTMENT and GNOME..
this is their home page
http://opengeu.intilinux.com/Home.html
please do the review…..
@hjt
thanks for the link….