moonOS 3 Linux (Makara)
Requirements & Installation
Since moonOS 3 is based on Ubuntu 9.04 it’s appropriate to go by the system requirements for that version of Ubuntu:
The minimum system requirements for a desktop installation are a 300 MHz x86 processor, 256 MB of RAM, 4 GB of hard drive space,[62] and a video card which supports VGA at 640×480 resolution.
The recommended system requirements for the desktop installation are a 700 MHz x86 processor, 384 MB of RAM, 8 GB of hard drive space,[62] and a video card which supports VGA at 1024×768 resolution.
Even the login screen is gorgeous!
If you’ve installed generic Ubuntu then you should have no problems with moonOS 3. My install went fine though it took a long time in VMWare (more on that in the problems section) and I ended up doing it again in Parallels due to a login problem (again, see the problems section).
Desktop & Apps
What’s particularly unique about moonOS is its look and feel. The desktop icons, ibar and wallpaper don’t look like anything else I’ve seen in other distros. Quite frankly they are gorgeous! Aesthetically, I find moonOS 3 to be extremely appealing.
I recognize though that beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder so your mileage may vary. But I have to give the developer props for coming up with something that is strikingly beautiful to look at and unique in the pantheon of Ubuntu remasters.
Just left-click your desktop to pull up a menu.
(18 votes, average: 4.06 out of 5)
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(4.83 out of 5)
Wow, Jim, you are reviewing all of the lesser known distros this week! I’ve heard of moonOS before, but I do not remember grabbing a copy; I may do so this time and see if I have any success getting it going with Virtualbox OSE. It certainly is a good looking distro! Maybe I will try the LXDE variation just to be different and see if it also has the same outstanding art work.
Hi Brian,
Yeah, there’s some fun stuff out there that doesn’t get much press. Glad you are enjoying the reviews. moonOS is definitely cool. Let me know how you like the LXDE version if you try it.
I tried out MoonOS 2 recently and was pleased with it. I like the feel of E17. The only problem I had with it involved reading my other hard drives. The live Cd mounted all my drives and parttions with no problems. But I missed a step on the install somewher. The other drives would show in the places gadget and in the MNT folder but I could not get them to mount even as root. I also prefer the itask-ng module over the regular shelf for launching applications.
I think MoonOS is the best of the Enlightenment Distros (OpenGEU, OzOS, Elive, Maryan etc). I’m pretty sure the “Light of Free Operating System” is a translation issue.
Thanks for this review with the nice screenshots. Good to know about this Linux distribution.
But I have one remaining question, why did you use the proprietary software VMware and Parallels, and why not the open source VirtualBox instead ?
The Moon tools look very much like Mint tools – or is it just me?
Albinootje, I have all three available on my computers (Parallels, VMWare and VirtualBox). I float back and forth depending on the distro though I lean toward VMWare solely out of habit. VirtualBox is great too though.
I grabbed moonOS 3, Makara, and I am using the standard E17 Enlightenment version with Virtualbox 3.0.6 on Debian Lenny. It did not take long at all to load and it runs pretty well, and it is indeed very attractive.
The LXDE version, as far as I can tell right now, is limited to Version 2 – I grabbed that and will give it a try as well.
Hi, Jim.
Thanks for your informative review of MoonOS. It looks interesting, and I’m downloading it now to check it out for myself.
By the way, “it’s” (with the apostrophe) means “it is.” I think there were a couple of places in the review where you meant to use “its” (no apostrophe). :)
Thanks again.
Tony
Hi Jim, great review by the way, just one question: do i need glasses because i can’t find the install icon or anything looking like an option to install to the hard drive like in MoonOS 2?
Kind regards
James
P.s I’m opening a new cafe/holistic centre soon and i think i might use MoonOS as the colour scheme! It’s very beautifully zen.