For all my time in Linux, I’ve stuck to three major major distributions, namely Xubuntu/Ubuntu from 8.04 to 10.04, as well as Puppy Linux 3.51 to 5.00, and Mandriva since their 2009.1 release. While by no means are these perfect operating systems, but they are standards in which many people hold others to. For example, in the world of Debian derivatives, Ubuntu, at least according to Distrowatch, is the single most popular Debian and Linux distribution used by people all over the world. Which is completely understandable when you look at Puppy, Mint, PC/OS, and other derivatives of Ubuntu. This is not to say that this is a good thing, or a bad thing. I’m one of those that used to love it just as much as the next person.
However, I will be honest: I am no expert in Linux. No one is or can be. You can know a lot about an OS, but you can never know it all. Which is why I’ve jumped around a lot in terms of distros. If you name one, chances are good I’ve heard of it, tried it, used it for a few minutes, then got rid of it. And that would be because of the fact that there’s a lot of distros out there that try to copy the successes of others, and so crash and burn because they are a poor copy. Fedora would be my example of choice, only because of how it tries to be the perfect desktop OS in RPM format when if asked personally, I would chose Mandriva for this roll.
So it’s with this kind of bias, I was hesitating on Salix, which proclaims to be a ‘simple, fast, and easy to use Slackware’ distro. Slackware itself is not known for being the most user friendly, so it is understandable that someone could pass it over as a broad faced lie. Especially because I had tried Zenwalk a while back and it was nowhere near what I had hoped in a Linux distro. But at the time of writing this, my ATI 2400 HD video card broke under Ubuntu and compiling the driver from source as I showed as well as installing the default restricted driver didn’t work either. So rather then go out of my way to switch back to the OEM Windows XP that came on a disk, I decided to actually give Salix the honest time of day and tried installing it. Let me just start by saying that it has been the best thing I have done for my desktop in a long time, and it revives my faith in Linux as an always advancing OS.
Now, you might be wondering what is so amazing about this distribution to me. The fact that it fills it’s claims and is very light and fast on my desktop system. To let you know the hardware in it, it is a Gateway 706GH upgraded to 1.5 gigs of RAM and a ATI 2400 HD video card. While no where near a top of the line PC, I feel it is a better option to install Linux to an actual hard drive rather then use a VirtualBox to fully get a feel for the operating system.
Let’s start with the bad things about Salix:
Installing Salix is done completely via a text based installer. People new to computers might find this extremely difficult, but for those that have installed Windows XP or a different text based operating system, they will find it very easy. Seeing as this might turn a lot of people off of a distribution, I do find this as a completely unfair option for claiming to be so easy. But at the same time, since I’ve installed and used operating systems with worse ideals on how to install them, this is minor. At the same time, this is my only gripe too.
The good things about Salix completely outweigh the one negative. During installing, you have three choices, a Full install which does one piece of software for each roll, including the XFCE desktop enviroment, a Basic install which gives you Firefox and Gslapt Package Manager and XFCE, and then a third option which is Core, which gives you a base-line text only system. For this review, I installed Basic. After a very prompt install (it took no more then 5 minutes), it asked me if I wanted to have the numberlock on or off at boot, to set up a root password, and to set up a main account. For those used to Ubuntu’s workings, you can always set the passwords to be the same… just don’t expect to log in as root if you’re using Basic or Full installs.
Once installed and rebooted into the main system, the beauty of the system can seen once logging in. I have to be honest and say that Ubuntu’s bootscreen, by comparison, is completely bland. The background, which can also be seen on the main site is really quite nice. As well, while my ATI card did not work directly out of the box, their documentation covered how to compile and install the driver correctly as well as other useful suggestions for newbies to Linux.
All in all, I’d have to give Salix an nine out of ten. Unlike Ubuntu in it’s current states, it is fast, it is light, it is modifiable to however much you wish. The documentation is concise and up to date with the present system. They have shortcuts on the desktop to where you can ask questions on the IRC channels, if the documentation doesn’t cover something or if the forums don’t reply quick enough. My only gripes are LILO (so long as it doesn’t error, you’re good), and the fact that it’s a text based installer. Even though it’s installer is amazingly simple, I can see some people complaining about it now about how Ubuntu’s graphical installer makes it all better.
Overall, for the time I spend setting this up (less then half an hour) to get it fully working, manages to put even Ubuntu and Mint to shame. If you want a lightweight OS that can fly on moderate and high end hardware that also helps you learn, I can easily suggest Salix as a perfect distro for you. If you’re a Ubuntu user and you’re upset because I’m comparing the two… don’t worry, next week, I’ll be covering Ubuntu and point out what I like and what I dislike about it too.
Related posts:
X/K/Ubuntu 10.04 Releases today – Easy to install, configure, and use!
Linux distro that’s similar to Windows XP
Updating Ubuntu Extremely Quickly, and why Ubuntu is taking so long to release
Backup Files from Dead Windows using Linux Live CD
Installing via Terminal and Compiling Files from Source
