Why I Switched From Kubuntu To Mepis

by ComputerBob

September 2, 2006

Last Updated December 9, 2007

NOTE: This article originally appeared as an entry in ComputerBob's daily online Journal.

Last night, after researching it and thinking about it for several days, I switched my main PC from Kubuntu Linux to SimplyMEPIS Linux. Actually, Kubuntu and SimplyMEPIS are very similar, since they're both KDE-desktop-based offshoots of Ubuntu Linux, and they both use the Ubuntu repositories (software download sites), while MEPIS adds one additional repository of its own for software that has been optimized for it.

If you're interested in what convinced me to switch, here are some of the many reasons:

It was surprisingly easy to migrate my PC from Kubuntu to MEPIS, especially since I had saved my Linux /home directory onto a separate hard drive partition from my /root directory. The /root directory is where Linux saves itself and its software applications, while the /home directory is where it saves your individualized software configuration settings, plus your email messages, browser bookmarks, and any data that you create. Keeping the two separate makes it easier to reinstall, upgrade, or switch your Linux operating system while leaving your personal settings and files alone. MEPIS comes with lots more software applications than Kubuntu, including all but one of those that I used in Kubuntu. Because I had saved my /home folder separately, when I installed MEPIS Linux, it overwrote the Kubuntu Linux partition, but it didn't touch my /home directory. So, when I ran the Firefox browser in MEPIS, it used my existing bookmarks, extensions, and settings from my /home directory. Same with the Thunderbird email client. Same with KFTPGrabber. Same with digiKam. The end result is that I had very little re-configuration to do after switching from Kubuntu to MEPIS.

So, what do I think of SimplyMEPIS? I love it! I still love Kubuntu, too, but I love MEPIS even more. Here are some reasons why:

MEPIS boots up really quickly on my PC with an AMD Athlon XP 2100+ and 1 GB of RAM. It boots up from its first hard drive access to the login screen in less than 40 seconds. The desktop appears about 10 seconds after I log in. In contrast, Kubuntu took more than a minute to get to the login screen, and about 20 seconds to bring up the desktop.
MEPIS restarts or shuts down really quickly on my PC. I never timed those tasks in Kubuntu, but I can tell that they're much faster in MEPIS.
MEPIS includes much more software than Kubuntu, just as Kubuntu includes much more software than Ubuntu. I like having lots of software. Other people may be happier with Kubuntu or Ubuntu because they have fewer (possibly confusing) software choices. UPDATE: I received an email message late tonight, saying that Ubuntu actually comes with 100 more applications than Kubuntu does (1000 vs 900), but Ubuntu hides many of them default, and you have to use the Alacarte Menu Editor to see them. I'm guessing that Ubuntu does that to keep new users from being confused by too many software choices.
MEPIS comes with firewall and anti-virus software installed. The firewall is already running, and the anti-virus only requires you to answer one question before it will run. If you want a firewall or anti-virus software in Kubuntu, you have to find and install them yourself.
To me, MEPIS' fonts appear crisper and cleaner than Kubuntu's, making every window and menu look better.
In Kubuntu, it was a pain to install and configure the 3D drivers for my nVidia GeForce 6200 graphics card. As I detailed last month, I had to do it all manually, using the Linux console (command line). In MEPIS, there is a configuration area that allowed me to choose nVidia as my graphics card, and MEPIS automatically found and installed the correct drivers for it — all without having to do anything from a command line.
Kubuntu comes with several open source multimedia codecs installed, but without any of the most popular proprietary multimedia codecs installed. That means you can't play any videos or sound files that are in formats like Flash, RealPlayer, WMV, Quicktime. etc, unless you manually install the correct codecs. In contrast, MEPIS comes with most popular multimedia codecs already installed. To be fair, Ubuntu and Kubuntu choose to not include any proprietary multimedia codecs, both for licensing reasons and because the Ubuntu/Kubuntu philosophy is to install only free, open source software by default, and proprietary multimedia codecs are not open source.

Here's the bottom line: I tried Ubuntu Linux, but its simple Gnome user interface and short list of software applications was too limiting for my taste. So, I tried Kubuntu, which was more powerful, but still pretty user friendly. Kubuntu immediately replaced Windows on my main PC, and quickly became my favorite OS of all time; however, through using Kubuntu for more than a month, I discovered that it has some annoying bugs that may or may not be fixed in its upcoming October update. While looking for solutions to Kubuntu's bugs, I discovered that a lot of people think that MEPIS out-Kubuntus Kubuntu by somehow solving (or avoiding) Kubuntu's bugs and including the best parts of both Ubuntu and Kubuntu. So far, I have to agree with them. To me, even right out of the box, MEPIS feels like a Kubuntu installation that a Linux guru has spent a lot of time tweaking and fixing.

Kubuntu will always have a special place in my heart, because it was the first Linux distro to successfully replace Windows on my main PC, but SimplyMEPIS is my new favorite operating system of all time. Just remember that Linux is all about giving users choices, and I am always open to exploring other possibilities, so "stay tuned for further developments."

UPDATE: I wrote to the Kubuntu user who had asked several questions in the MEPIS support forums (see link above), to ask him what he thinks of MEPIS now that he has used it for awhile. Here are his email replies, which clearly demonstrate that Linux gives people choices.

UPDATE, December 9, 2007: After happily using Mepis Linux for 15 months, I switched to using straight Debian Linux in December, 2007. For a detailed, step-by-step account of my first Debian installation and complete configuration, see My Debian Adventure.