I used to use older versions of Kanotix, off and on along with other favorite distros. Then I faded away as Kanotix seemed to go into hibernation while Kano did the switch from Sid to Debian Stable (etch), and the other guys split off and did sidux.
As for the other distros:
Ubuntu - very nice, but a bit bloated for my tastes. I like full features, easy install, hd detection, codecs, etc, but I still like it lean and mean.
Mint - Ubuntu improved - very nice, but still a bit bloated (because it's Ubuntu)
sidux - great - fast, easy, full featured, Deb repos. But too unstable. I'm just against using Sid as a day to day desktop or server or anything else - it's too much hassle. As far as I'm concerned, Debian Sid is only for experimentation, development, and trying out latest goodies. It just fails as a day to day desktop, workstation, or server. It can succeed in those areas, but it requires a great deal of effort, awareness, and caution by the user. Apart from that, the sidux team made a very nice distro (they used a lot of the same Kanotix stuff, so it had to be good). And sid instability/hassles with the old Kanotix would cause me to not ever use it for very long, and go to another distro, back when I was using Kantotix regularly.
PCLinuxOS - very nice, easy, fast, light, pretty. But it failed in 3d acceleration for me, something all other distros do easily (strange). Also, the lnf is a bit to XPish or Fisher Price - ish for my tastes.
Mepis - great, and I'm really glad Warren went back to Debian Stable (Etch) as opposed to Ubuntu, with backports. That's a strategy that I fully agree with, and gives the best of all worlds (great, world class stability along with some of the latest goodies).
Which leads me to Kanotix. Kano has taken the same strategy (Deb Stable with backports). This just makes so much sense. Deb stable means virtually no problems, and world class stability and efficiency. Using backports means compatibility and some latest goodies. You can also do safe rolling upgrades of programs with peace of mind. Throw in Kanotix world class hd detection, live scripts, great config scripts, and nice new artwork, and you have something that is truly special, and has great potential.
I think both Mepis and Kanotix have something going on that's special and unique, and makes a lot of sense.
And I just downloaded and installed the latest beta of Thorhammer (Kanotix 2007), and everything is working perfectly. It's fast, fairly light on resources (especially compared to Ubuntu, SuSE, Fedora, and especially compared to Windows), it looks good, the hd detection and auto configuration is flawless, the install was simple and fast, and it seems totally rock solid (it has to be, it's based on Debian Etch!).
Good job, Kano and team!!
anvilhead - 11.10.2007, 06:35 Uhr Titel: RE: Thorhammer - awesome
I totally agree! It's the best general-purpose Linux ever. Great work, Kano.
Scodge - 19.11.2007, 21:13 Uhr Titel:
I just have to agree with Jeff and Anvilhead.
I have been using Thorhammer for a couple of months with complete satisfaction. Everything has worked out of the box, including Beryl and Virtualbox (where I occasionally run XP - I need it for work - honest). It has been rock solid, and I agree again that Etch is a better basis for productive desktops than Sid can ever be. Don't get me wrong - I like Sidux, and think the forum and the guys there are great, but the instability is a problem for me.
So, two thumbs up for Kano. The only thing is I keep looking for a donation button so I can kick in a few $ - I feel kind of guilty because going back 2 or 3 years, Kanotix was the first distro to actually work on my PC - all the others left me in "unrecognised SATA drive hell". I'd like to give something back.
Anyway - hope Kanotix keeps going for many more years.