PCLinuxOS Minime 09.1 on my Thinkpad T61 July 9, 2009
Posted by rm42 in Computers, Linux.trackback
For the last few months my Thinkpad has been, and still is, the host of several wonderful Linux distributions, all of them based on the new KDE 4 desktop environment. So, today, in mid summer 2009, is there still a reason to run a KDE 3 desktop? Well, if it wasn’t for PCLinuxOS I would have to say no. But this little distro can really hold its own against any of the large commercially supported distributions around. I am going to divide this review in three parts, “The Good”, “The Bad”, and “The Ugly”. 
The Good
PCLinuxOS has some very unique features that make it a standout among Linux distributions. Perhaps the most important reason that keeps me coming back to PCLinuxOS is the fact that, once installed, you just have to keep applying updates and it stays current for years. For example, I installed PCLinuxOS on my home machine in early 2007 and down to today I have not had to reinstall it again. Today it has the latest and greatest software that is available on the recently released 2009 batch.
While we are on the subject of updates, I think it is important to mention that PClinuxOS now has a new “Update Notifier” that helps for remembering to stay up to date.
PCLinuxOS Updates Notifier
When one clicks on the Update Notifier icon on the tool bar, a small window appears with options for updating the system.
Update Notifier Options
I particularly like that, when updates are available, it offers the option of using aptget for installing them. When selecting this option, aptget opens in a terminal, prompts for the root password, and shows you all the available options for you to accept. This is very fast, and yet it shows all the details of what is being done. If you want to read a little more about why I like PCLinuxOS in general, take a look at my review of PCLinuxOS 2008.
But what about Minime 2009.1 specifically? Minime is a very streamed down variant of PCLinuxOS. It is meant for those that are familiar with Linux and want a bare bones installation of Linux to build up from. That is why the ISO image is only about 300 Megabytes. If what you prefer is to have all the basic applications already on the default installation don’t use the Minime. Download the 2009.2 ISO image instead. Having said that, bringing Minime up to snuff with all that you may need or like is really not that hard and you end up with a very slick, very slim system. That is why I chose to use it myself and so far everything, and I mean everything, has performed superbly on this laptop.
The bad
Some unsuspecting users may be horrified about just how bare bones Minime is. I mean, out of the box, not even wireless works. But, really, that is exactly the point of Minime. You add what you need to the working base. Let me tell you what I did to bring my installation to where I like it. First of all, to get wireless working you will need to install the proper firmware for your wireless card. That is right, you will need to have a wired connection to start with. In my case, it was simply a matter of plugging in the network cable, opening Synaptic, and installing the ipw3945-ucode package (since my laptop has the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 card). After that wireless has worked perfectly.
From there it is just a matter of installing whatever applications you desire. I personally installed Firefox, The Gimp, Amarok, wine, Kuickshow, etc., without any trouble. On the desktop there is a folder called Utilities. In it there is a special script available for installing OpenOffice with your desired language pack, although you can install the English version from Synaptic if you prefer. For further recommendations see the “General and ThinkPad T61 Specific Recommendations” section of my 2008 review. I can’t think of anything else that would be a stumper, except for the fact that it doesn’t seem to have support for the ext4 file system. You see, it is not really that bad after all.
The Ugly
There had to be a negative. I guess it is a matter of taste, but I personally do not like the icon set that comes installed by default.
Default Icon Set
What I don’t like about it is that the default icon used for folders does not have any contrast and looks washed out. For example, look at the “Downloads” folder on the picture above. So, to fix that I went to Synaptic and installed the kde-icons-crystaldiamonds package. I also installed the Liberation fonts while I was at it. To apply them I went to the KDE Control Center -> Appearance -> Icons and chose the Crystal Diamonds theme. Under fonts I changed all the fonts for the Liberation Sans. And that was it.
CrystalDiamond Icon Set
Now I have a beautiful, very fast, very mature and stable Linux installation to enjoy and do my work. The result is so nice that I am debating on whether I will want to install the KDE 4 packages that are supposed to be arriving to the repository soon. I will have to think about that. In the mean time, PCLinuxOS Minime is working great and looking very nice on my machine, and it most likely can do the same on yours. Why not give it a try?
This is a very positive review. I must say I am using MiniMe 2009 myself and my wireless works out of the box with the MADwifi drivers so its just a question of which card do You use.
Bare bones is what I needed. I dont like overpacked distros to be honest beside this my gear is from the previous century…
In other words… I LOVE IT!
AndrzejL
Here’s another cool thing, to me, anyway, you can do with MiniMe. Install the e17 desktop. It’s all there in the repos. With all the gadgets and themes installed, it makes a very nice and responsive desktop. And most K apps integrate very well.
I’ve been running it on a 2ghz 2GB RAM single core AMD with a Riva TNT card sporting a whopping 32 MB. The only other environment as responsive on this box is LXDE. I haven’t tried rat poison, or the like. I still like the GUIs.
Great review.
I will give it a shot tonight.
I agree with KDE3 and PCLinuxOS.
While people were jumping the gun and moaning about the incomplete 4.0, there was no need to change from the perfectly fine 3.5
I found less need since I had a almost perfect 22 out of 23 installs with PCLinuxOS for family and friends.
But I do like KDE4 and what its trying to do. Been using it on test machines and 4.2 was the version that I found was ready for mom and pop. Except dad saw no need to change what he likes while mom adores the slick 4.2 look.
My own kids could care less, its all the same to them. They always find the programs they need and go on with their lives…
I love my Mandriva and Kubuntu but for family and friends, PCLInuxOS is still number one.
Minime will be just another fine addition to make the OS look and run HOW I WANT on lower powered hardware.
As for your last sentence, Im really going to pay attention to how the PCLinuxOS family will transition from 3.5 to 4.x for those that dont want to install anew. No one else seems to have done a good job at it but I have hopes Texstar and crew pull it off.
I always considered PCLinuxOS to be the best distro. Not have KDE 4.x available, I switched to Kubuntu, which has been a pleasure to use so far.
Since Ubuntu keeps insisting on installing Mono by default, I am afraid Kubuntu might follow suit although I doubt they will do that.
When PCLOS have KDE 4.x available, I will give it a try because I will not use Gnome and I don’t see any need for KDE 3.5.x. from now on.
Why is the rolling update unique? I’ve used Ubuntu since 7.10 and have never had to reinstall. Just keep it up to date/upgrade. No reinstall needed.
From what I can see, upgrading from one version of Ubuntu to another is possible, but failures are not infrequent. Keeping up to date with PCLinuxOS is much easier and less likely to fail.
I think rolling upgrades have been on debian since the beginning… for long I have thought that it’s the only one that has had it since beginning and has it working flawlessly – I’m glad to hear that PCLinuxOS has kept it functioning for long and since ubuntu is derivative of debian I have wondered why on earth did they not keep it functioning like in debian (I remember at least earlyer in ubuntu it was not recommended to upgrade from distro to next version via apt while in debian there is no questions even – you just keep your system up to date via apt-get dist-upgrade. I’m guessing, from what I read here, that this is also the way it’s done in PCLinuxOS?
In general, the only thing needed to stay up to date in PCLinuxOS is to keep applying updates, no need to do anything different. For the most part, new version of PCLinuxOS are simply snapshots of the current repository with some new artwork (which is also made available for those with existing rolling installations).
Thanks for explaining why my Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 card is not working. Works fine in PCLinuxOS 2009.2 and it worked fine in previous versions of MiniMe. I hate when they downgrade the included wireless drivers. It is sort of important to most people that it work out of the box. There are e17 desktop videos on youtube, btw. I want KDE4
[...] PCLinuxOS Minime 09.1 on my Thinkpad T61 Now I have a beautiful, very fast, very mature and stable Linux installation to enjoy and do my work. The result is so nice that I am debating on whether I will want to install the KDE 4 packages that are supposed to be arriving to the repository soon. I will have to think about that. In the mean time, PCLinuxOS Minime is working great and looking very nice on my machine, and it most likely can do the same on yours. Why not give it a try? [...]
Unfortunately, the latest version of MiniMe 2009 doesn’t boot up on the same computer that runs fine with MiniMe2008. Whether the newest kernel is bigger, or whether 2009 is bloated, I don’t know. But what I do know is that MiniMe needs to streamline MiniMe, because right now it can no longer be considered a “mini” distro similar to Puppy or DSL.
I have upgrade ubuntus from 5.04 to 8.10 without much difficulty. There was an xorg config fiasco once that left users without a GUI, but since the uproar over that, they probably check things out much more. Right now using linux mint, and did apt-get based upgrade on that from 6 to 7 without a hitch.
I loaded Minime on a spare partition today and gave it a spin for a few hours and it is indeed impressive. My wireless (ralink rt73 chip) did come up okay though wireless management seems to be a bit squirrelly and uncertain.
Particularly odd to me was the “GetOpenOffice” package which pops up as an auto-update. It’s no doubt a neat package that will go get Oo in your language but why would you want the full suite in a mini-distro? Don’t Abiword and Gnumeric make much more sense? If you don’t accept the update it keeps coming back as an available update — annoying.
If you are not interested in OpenOffice you can either apply the update to the script and ignore it, or delete the “GetOpenOffice” package you already have installed. Once removed you won’t be encouraged to keep it up to date.
[...] starting point. I found the updated Minme torrent download, downloaded the iso and copied it to cd. Minime said it could not run as a live cd. Oh well, that was fun, [...]