Another Linux distro to checkout: Sidux
July 11, 2008 by Clair Ching
Filed under Geeky Fun
I’ve found something interesting tonight. It’s sidux. Basically Debian Sid + KDE (or Fluxbox) without much tweaks and modifications. It’s said to have a good user manual too so that’s one thing I’d like to see. 
Why you might want to check it out: It’s 100% compatible with Debian because it is Debian!
It comes as a live CD and you have an option to install it on your hard drive which is great about it. Installing it isn’t supposed to take you such a long time. Linux Planet shares that it took just about 5 minutes to install sidux on the Thinkpad T61. Which is a good thing, if you compare it to installing Windows which takes a couple of hours.
So if you’ve been wanting to use Debian Sid but do not like the hassles of re-installing for newer releases, sidux is the way to go. You won’t have such issues if you regularly run apt-get upgrade.
I am glad I checked out Linux Planet or I wouln’t have known about this interesting distro. But I still have internet problems at home so downloading this will be quite tricky.
Windows Installation takes hours? I needed to reinstall Vista for 3 times during a few days (no comment ^^), it never took me more than 15 minutes
Hi, Jonas.
That’s true. It usually takes me an hour or two. I consider the setup after the install part of the installation. And if I do a Windows install from scratch it does take me at the least an hour and a half. At most, two hours. That’s Windows XP Home.
My sister who works as a tech support for Dell mentioned that it’s possible to install Windows Vista in 15 minutes if your hard drive is has the pre-image copy of the operating system. Otherwise, it would take roughly 10 minutes if you install it from that. From scratch, it would take less than hour but a bit more than 30 minutes.
I have been using sidux for the past week, and I find it more impressive and easier to use that Ubuntu, which I’ve been using for a year.
Some of the things you should have pointed out are:
1) automatic detection and installation of Broadcom wireless drivers,
2) metapackage-installer (a graphical tasksel like installer) which allows you to check a box next to a category of software, and it takes care of the rest,
3) one disc has both 32 and 64-bit versions of the OS, and
4) icons for the manual and irc right on the desktop.
I don’t need 2 & 4, but 1 & 3 make it a keeper for me.
BTW, Jonas, did you have to install drivers? If not, you didn’t do an install, you did a restore. There is a BIG difference between the two.
Good pont, Clair
I thought you only meant the Vista installation part. If you also consider installation of SP1 and Drivers your 2 hours are correct. Seeing it from that position, it surely is a negative point for Vista.
Yours, Jonas