MEPIS

SimplyMEPIS

SimplyMEPIS 11.0 default desktop
Company / developer	Warren Woodford
OS family	Unix-like
Working state	Current
Initial release	May 2003
Latest stable release	11.0 / May 5, 2011; 6 months ago (2011-05-05)
Update method	APT
Package manager	dpkg
Supported platforms	x86
Kernel type	Monolithic
Default user interface	KDE Plasma Desktop
License	Various
Official website	www.mepis.org

MEPIS ( /ˈmɛpɨs/) is a set of Linux distributions, distributed as Live CDs that can be installed onto a hard disk drive. MEPIS is developed and maintained by an active community^{[citation needed]} begun by Warren Woodford and the eponymous company MEPIS LLC.

The most popular MEPIS distribution is SimplyMEPIS, which is based primarily on Debian stable. It can either be installed onto a hard drive or used as a Live CD, which makes it externally bootable for troubleshooting and repairing many operating systems. It includes the KDE desktop environment.

MEPIS LLC offers senior consulting services for product strategy, architecture design, business and systems analysis, and cross-platform software development.

History

MEPIS was designed as an alternative to SUSE Linux, Red Hat Linux, and Mandriva Linux (formerly Mandrake) which, in the creator Warren Woodford's opinion, were too difficult for the average user. MEPIS's first official release was on May 10, 2003.

In 2006, MEPIS made a transition from using Debian packages to using Ubuntu packages.^[1] SimplyMEPIS 6.0, released in July 2006, was the first version of MEPIS to incorporate the Ubuntu packages and repositories.

SimplyMEPIS 7.0 discontinued the use of Ubuntu binary packages in favor of a combination of MEPIS packaged binaries based on Debian and Ubuntu source code, combined with a Debian stable OS core and extra packages from Debian package pools.^[2]

Warren Woodford released the source code for the MEPIS Installer and MEPIS System Assistants under the Apache License, in the Fall of 2008.

Major releases occur about six months to one year apart, based mostly on Warren's availability to produce the next version.

MEPIS Community now has a repo team that strives to keep packages up to date between releases, by maintaining a separate 'Community Repository' of various application packages, and has become a major player by producing the artwork and documentation for each release.^{[3][4][Full citation needed]}

Current variants

• SimplyMEPIS, the most popular MEPIS variant, is designed for everyday desktop and laptop computing. The default desktop environment is KDE-based, although Gnome and/or other GUI-environments can be installed. SimplyMEPIS 11.0 includes Linux 2.6.36.4, KDE 4.5.1 and LibreOffice 3.3.2, with other applications available from Debian and the MEPIS Community. It was released on May 5, 2011.^[5] It is based on Debian 6.
• antiX, a fast, lightweight and flexible^{[6][citation needed]} distribution available in full, base or core editions and based on SimplyMEPIS for x86 systems in an environment suitable for old computers that features the Fluxbox and IceWM window managers. Version M11 was released on 2 May 2011,^[7] It is now a true 'rolling-release-cycle' Linux distribution, and thus continues to remain current. It is based upon the standard Debian repository named 'testing'.

Name

According to Warren Woodford, the name MEPIS is pronounced like "Memphis", with the extra letters removed. Originally, the word "MEPIS" didn't mean anything in particular; it came about by mistake. When Woodford misunderstood a friend over the telephone, he decided to use the name because it was a simple five-letter word and there were no other companies or products with that name.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Rick Lehrbaum, 'MEPIS founder clarifies MEPIS/Ubuntu relationship', Feb. 17, 2007, Desktop Linux.com, accessed July 6, 2008.
2. ^ "MEPIS Begins a Return to Debian With Version 6.9.51prebeta". 2007-08-02. Archived from the original on 2007-12-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20071211233101/http://www.mepis.org/node/13894. Retrieved 2007-12-23. 
3. ^ http://forum.mepiscommunity.org/viewforum.php?f=78
4. ^ http://mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=MEPIS_Talks_2
5. ^ "SimplyMEPIS 11.0 Production Release". 2011-05-5. http://www.mepis.org/node/166. Retrieved 2011-05-07. 
6. ^ http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=antix
7. ^ http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page#News

External links

• Official website
• Community website
• MEPIS Linux at DistroWatch

Reviews

• April 2009 Review of SimplyMEPIS 8.0
• Review of SimplyMEPIS 8.0 Beta 5
• antiX M-7, The Fat-free Mepis
• MEPIS AntiX on 450Mhz K6-2, 256Mb