Top Ten Sleeper Distros

by Dietrich Schmitz

With all of the recent stories I've written and my obvious bias toward one particular Linux community Distribution, you'd think there is nothing else to talk about.

Well, there is.  When I was young and had nothing better to do than ride around in a rag-top 70 Mustang consuming fossil fuel, we coined the term 'sleeper' for those cars which looked innocuous but under the hood had some major performance value going on.  In other words, they'd blow the doors off of other so-called 'hot rods' but didn't give the tell-tale signs of being souped up.

I tend to think of only a few Distributions which have a lot of potential under the hood and are categorized as 'sleepers'.  They perform when called upon and do it well and mostly go unnoticed.  Today, I give you my subjective list of top ten sleeper Distributions.  Okay, here we go.

SolusOS

Do you long for the days when Ubuntu sported a simple Gnome2 interface--you know--when you could actually figure out where to go to do things?  Well then SolusOS is for you.  Based on the Debian stable branch, this nimble powerhouse Distro gives everything needed for the beginner, intermediate and advanced user.  Founder +Ikey Doherty is working on a new project, Consort, a fork of a few Gnome3.x components, i.e. panel, which will allow him to continue providing a GUI based on a more traditional Gnome2-like interface.   Consort will be included in an as of yet to be released version 2.0 of SolusOS.

PCLinuxOS

PCLinuxOS has some really loyal, passionate users behind it and for good reason.  In fact it's so cool, ice cubes are jealous.  Founder +Bill Reynolds aka "Texstar" has much to be proud of in this rpm-based Mandrake fork (now Mandriva Linux).  It's almost like the second amendment and gun ownership as I am reminded of that famous line that Charleston Heston (may he rest in peace) uttered at an NRA convention: "From my cold dead hands" in reference to the right to bear arms.  Such loyalty I have not found stronger than in Distro users the likes of +Alessandro Ebersol who show the respect that PCLinuxOS has earned. The default GUI in PCLinuxOS 2012 is KDE Plasma Workspace.  Other installable GUIs include Enlightenment, Fluxbox, Gnome, IceWM, KDE, LXDE, OpenBox and Xfce.

Chakra

Chakra Linux, originally based on Arch Linux, employs a KDE Plasma Workspace GUI. Chakra maintains its own separate repository system and while its intention is to be a pure KDE implementation, employs a unique package 'bundle' method for applications which are GTk based, such as GIMP.  Of all the KDE-based Distros, I find Chakra's 2013.2 implementation easy to use, polished and professional.

Sabayon

Unlike Gentoo, upon which it is based, Sabayon Linux has a much more user-friendly 'out of the box' experience, .  Gentoo has a reputation of being the most difficult Distro to install and use, employing Portage package management system, only it ratchets up the difficulty with the requirement to compile 'everything' before use, including the kernel.  Sabayon attempts to bridge that technology chasm and succeeds with Entropy, a pre-compiled binary package manager, but also supports Portage for installing Gentoo repo 'ebuild' files.  It is one of the more leading-edge technology Distros in that it supports a non-root ZFS filesystem as does Gentoo.  Sabayon 13.04 installs with a choice of  Gnome3, KDE, Xfce, LXDE and Enlightenment GUIs.

Manjaro

At last check, Manjaro Linux, an Arch derivative, was ranked ninth just behind eighth place Arch Linux on Distrowatch.com, when viewed over the last 6-month period of activity.  Arch Linux users are among the most loyal following I have encountered.  Using Arch Linux is like wearing a red badge of courage, as its level of difficultly is only exceeded by Gentoo.  Manjaro, while based on Arch, maintains its own repository, but retains and uses the powerful Pacman package management system.  Manjaro 0.8.5.2, like Sabayon, succeeds in bridging Arch's difficulty gap by providing a graphical installer for Xfce, Cinnamon and KDE Plasma Workspace GUIs.

Rosa

Rosa Desktop Fresh 2012 is developed by Russian concern Rosa Labs and is a fork of Mandriva Linux.  Rosa Desktop's KDE Plasma Workspace GUI has been enhanced with improved workspace design and user-friendliness.  The company also provides long-term support (LTS) Desktop and Enterprise Server versions of the operating system.  According to their website, and of all the Distros reviewed in this story, ROSA Marathon 2012 LTS is the only Distro which is Linux Standard Base (LSB) compliant.

#! CrunchBang

I spent time last summer ranging over the Distro landscape in search of a home seeking refuge from Ubuntu (I loath Unity), and came across !#.  Let me tell you, this has been for me the fastest lightweight Debian-stable Distro, bar none.  At the time CrunchBang 11 Waldorf was still in beta, but you wouldn't know it based on its great stability.  Developer +Philip Newborough has done a superb job with CrunchBang--it is easy to install, and has a nice post-install shell script which allows the user to configure additional settings and add-on applications to suit their needs.  #! sports an OpenBox GUI, which is a minimal super lightweight Stacking Window Manager using a right-click pop-up menu interface.  Spartan as it may be, the memory footprint weighs in at around 70MB ram usage as measured with 'free' when reaching the Desktop from boot.  If you are Developer, and/or hooked on speed, #! is for you.  Newcomers may be less inclined to like the OpenBox interface as compared to others, e.g., Xfce or Gnome or KDE.  This lightweight Distro truly is a 'sleeper'.

Bodhi

Bodhi Linux 2.3.0 is perhaps the most unusual Distro I have ever encountered.  It stands as being both a contradiction and mystery.  I mean, it's an Ubuntu derivative for all intents and purposes, but what sets this Distro apart in a crowd is it's GUI: Enlightenment, version E17.  Hat's off to +Jeff Hoogland for putting together a super lightweight Distro that while having a memory footprint of about 120MB ram as measured with 'free', the Compositing Window Manager is amazingly feature rich approaching KDE quality.  That's totally unique as far as I am concerned and you can spend a long time drilling down into Desktop configuration and find an almost infinite number of ways to tweak the Desktop to your liking.  It's a mystery to me how the Enlightenment Team got that much functionality with so little ram use.  This Distro ranks high on the lightweight 'sleeper' list.  You get speed, low ram use, and the Ubuntu repo and that is a major value proposition.

Xubuntu

If I had to chose which Distro in the Ubuntu derivatives to return to, I think my most favorite is Xubuntu.  Simply because you avoid all of the GUI contentiousness of Unity and Gnome3 yet can enjoy all of the Ubuntu repository goodness without hassle.  I actually spent a lot of time using Xubuntu for that very reasoning until I decided to make the switch to Fuduntu then Fedora.  Xfce is the GUI and because it's written with GTk2 has no dependencies on any of the Gnome libraries.  Combine Xfce with compiz and it harkens back to the pre-Unity days of Ubuntu.  The very idea that the Ubuntu classic menu should be eliminated in favor of having the user search for a given app to me is beyond ridiculous.  Be that as it may, Xubuntu really is a good Distro.  Xubuntu 13.04 is quite practical and so I have given it the 'sleeper' Distro designation.  Of course, Xfce is light on resources so your machine will appreciate that and it will be quite snappy as a result.

Slackware

Now, don't let the Ncurses character-based installer fool you into to thinking this is an ancient Distro.  Wait. It is an ancient Distro.  Never mind. In fact, it is the oldest Distro having been created back in 1993. Seriously, when you get by the installer, you'll discover that really Slackware gives you most everything all the other Distros have and in some cases newer software.  For those who hold systemd in disfavor, know that Slackware is still sysvinit BSD-style init based.  How much longer +Patrick Volkerding keeps it that way remains to be seen.  Slackware packages are tarballs in compressed LZMA format and in addition to a suite of local package tools, slackpkg is the network package manager.  Support for Gnome was dropped and replaced by KDE Plasma Workspaces as the default GUI.  Slackware gets the most Unix-like Distro designation for achieving simplicity. For pure speed and stability, Slackware gets a 'sleeper' designation.

And that is it for the Top Ten Sleeper Distros.  What are your thoughts?  Any other sleepers you like?

-- Dietrich

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The Linux Desktop Mess - Well, There's Your Problem Right There.....

by +Ken Starks

I always laugh when I listen to politicians pontificate about how everything in their party is perfect, and those in the party opposing...well, according to them, they pretty much suck.

No really...it does bring me a laugh when I hear one politician, speaking of an opposing party member.

"My esteemed colleague from across the Aisle..."


"My well-meaning opponent and friend is mistaken..."

When what they would like to say is:

"That pay-to-play shyster who opposes me is a..."

"If Senator Slashmeister spent more time at roll call and less wearing his wifes...

Well, you get the idea.  No one says what they mean when countering or responding to an argument within the same environment.  It's all smiles and back-slaps until one does turn their back...

So when I say that I want to address something my "esteemed Colleague" Dietrich Schmitz published earlier, I do mean I hold Dietrich in the highest of regard.  My respect for him is great.  And while he may have made some good points, regarding "The Linux Desktop Mess".....there's more to the story.

A lot more.

See, many of us have taken on the task of introducing others to Desktop Linux.
And while we do a great job for the most part, our follow through isn't the best.  Introducing Linux to someone is just the first step.  It took me almost 5 months to clean up the damage I did by handing out Linux Live CD's and just walking away, wishing them the best of luck in the process.

No, the introduction is easy.  It's helping them understand what they are doing that's tough and more time consuming than many of us are willing to pledge.  It goes from being the introducer to being an Advocate.  Indulge me just for a minute here:

Advocate:

1: one that pleads the cause of another; specifically : one that pleads the cause   of another before a tribunal or judicial court.

2: one that defends or maintains a cause or proposal.

3: one that supports or promotes the interests of another. 

I would make a conservative guess that 80 percent of us are sufficient introducers, but as advocates....we fall down.  Truth be told from my perspective, I don't think 70 percent of the people who sit down at a computer on a regular basis knows what they are really doing.  They tend to be mouse clickers...extremely uncomfortable outside of the few tasks they know how to do well.

Those people, in my mind; are the last ones we should introduce to Linux.

"But, but Ken, we're supposed to be talking about The Linux Desktop Mess."

Yes we are, because largely, we hold some responsibility for making that mess.

How often do we ask those we introduce...What exactly do you use your computer for?  What are your requirements for work?  How many people will be using the computer?

And those are just the surface questions we need to ask a possible Desktop Linux candidate.  As loath as I am to do so...let me trot out ye ol' car analogy just for a minute.  Yeah, I know...I'm sorry.

When you walk onto the car lot, you know what it is the new car or truck will be doing.  You know the load it might have to pull.  You know the number of passengers you need to accommodate.  You also know how powerful the vehicle needs to be to suit your needs.  You need to know what kind of fuel mileage it gets.

A good car salesman is going to ask you those questions.  The last thing he wants in an unhappy customer.

But in referring to Desktop Linux, rarely is there money changing hands.  The person introducing someone to Linux doesn't have a professional or social contract with that person.  We simply hand them a disk with some quick verbal instructions and go on our merry way.

And after the recipient of that Live CD fails to get it to boot, or cannot get a piece of software to work.  The attitude is largely universal.

"Man, Linux Sucks."

I spent a good part of my day two days ago, installing Desktop Linux on a friend's laptop.  He wanted to explore Linux on his own time and in an installed environment.  Since my personal distro of choice is in a bit of a transition period now, I chose Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon for his Desktop.

He loved it.  The more he used the Desktop Linux side of the partition, the more comfortable he felt.

Until he needed to sync his Drive storage with his computer.

See, I didn't know that was going to be important to him.  I just assumed that Mint was a strong contender on the Desktop and it would suit his needs.

Well surprise, surprise...the Nautilus Fork in Cinnamon, Nemo; isn't well supported by Insync.  For those that don't know, Insync is the application the open source community wrote because Google is too busy to write a native client for Drive.  Actually, I tip my hat again for Dietrich, because his use of Insync as an example prompted me to write this.

So yeah...the company that had it's road to riches paved by Linux, now treats it like so much a round tuit.

Around to it...get it?  Ok, sorry...

But a Drive client of any kind was important to my buddy.  Nautilus IS supported but that meant that he had to install it.  Nemo is the head file manager and is the center of the Desktop.  Installing Nautilus did give him the tools he needed to sync Drive, but it screwed up his system a bit.  I'm researching our options with Cinnamon Mint to see if it can be straightened out.  Maybe a clean install, or possibly another distro that still uses Nautilus.

We all have our preferences for a Linux distro.  Some of us are fiercely loyal to that group and ideal.  We offer it to New Linux Desktop Users because it's the one we know and trust.

That is until we find that distro unable to meet the user's needs.

Dietrich is right.  The Linux Desktop IS a mess.  Personally, I think they missed our best chance to make Linux a known entity in the market.  Canonical was in a position to market Ubuntu as early as three years ago.  One centralized distro, one package manager to serve them all, even a built in tech support group in the forums.

But it never happened.  Little did we know that the powers that be had different plans for Ubuntu.

But here we sit...what new users we have retained, joined the ranks of us who already use Desktop Linux daily.  More importantly are the numbers you don't see...

Those that have given up in disgust and went back to their Windows or Macs.

Because as many of us realize...

Once someone pronounces that Linux sucks...they rarely come back. 

-- Ken Starks

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