MEPIS Goes Back to Debian

SimplyMEPIS is yet another Linux distribution, initially based on the famous Debian. When it reached the 6.0 version MEPIS switched from Debian to Ubuntu 6.06, mainly because of the long time support and the stable release cycle of Ubuntu.

However, it seems that Warren Woodford, founder of MEPIS, is no longer satisfied with the Ubuntu distro and he considers going back to Debian. According to Warren:

"Dapper was not updated in the way our users expected. Personally, I think the Ubuntu people spoke sincerely and accurately, but perhaps ambiguously. So there was a misunderstanding among users. The fact is Dapper was updated with security fixes, but not with new versions of the applications." "

Wooodford has also stated the fact that Ubuntu is being rebuilt from scratch every six months by using packages from experimental Debian versions but this makes it unstable as a code for new releases.

"By using the EXPERIMENTAL code, each and every time, the Ubuntu code tree is inherently less stable than the Debian code tree, which contains additional levels of testing and vetting and fixing of code.", stated Mr. Woodford.

Therefore, Warren Woodford said he will be using the Debian Linux 4.0 (codename Etch) version for the next MEPIS release. Regarding the forthcoming release, Woodford wanted to also mention it will also feature a MEPIS kernel optimized for performance and it will benefit from an out-of-the-box hardware compatibility. This new version is expected to be released this August and regarding the featured applications, there are said to be up-to-date binaries, either Debian/Ubuntu source code.

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

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