using Porteus LX-XX for several months - a critique
Posted: 21 Jan 2015, 04:05
Disclosure: I've only tried LXDE and LXQT varieties of Porteus.
Porteus has some fantastic ideas, which is why I've tried it and kept on trying it. But I feel some major problems, and I use the word "feel" because there seems to be something of a field effect in place consisting of loose threads, stray hairs. Sorry if that doesn't make sense, but I'll try to explain:
Clearly, Porteus has achieved a lot, and it has a lot of stability. It is arguably the most forward-thinking and advanced of the Slackware derivatives. Unfortunately, that isn't saying much. There are of course the basic, legacy Slackware problems, the worst of which being the lack of package signing and authentication. But aside from that, one of the problems is that Porteus seems to fall victim to it's own nature, that being fluidity.
Let's take LXQT as the first example (begin rant). What are you doing basing final releases on a desktop environment that isn't production-ready? Why aren't you continuing to release LXDE until LXQT becomes mature? What it looks like is that a) being short of developers, you're forcing your users to help you iron out the bugs, and b) you think LXQT is 'cool" and you need to be inspired in order to have adequate incentive to work on Porteus yourselves.
This particular LXQT issue nicely frames the two main problems I have with Porteus: 1) too interested in innovation, at the expense of stability, reliability, documentation, and even transparency, and 2) unprofessional, immature techniques - in the case of LXQT, that being, if you want the user base to help you test software, you cal that a beta, you get beta testers, and you do not call it a release or even a release candidate until it becomes stable and has full functionality. Releasing something flawed because you know your community is going to "be cool about it" is unprofessional. Basing all new work on an immature platform (3.1-onwards will not employ LXDE at all unless that bounty thing happens) because, apparently, you find it more exciting, is immature. Developing must be exciting for volunteer developers. I know. But I wish that what excited you was a rock-solid, utterly reliable interface with comprehensive documentation and methodically published workflows. Instead, even after five years, Porteus retains the feel of a hobby mod of a larger distro (in this case a distro that has its own troubles keeping up with modern practices). You can do everything differently and your own way and still have an awesome distro, but if you want new developers from all over the world to be able to plug in on the fly and contribute immediately, you need published templates and consistent documentation in general.
You also need to have your website available; currently your main site is unreachable via Tor. This is absurd and irresponsible in the post-Snowden era.
Porteus has a lot of "exciting new feature" vibe. What about predictable, reliable, stable new features? Why are there two-three ways to save a session? Your team is inconsistent and small, why are you keeping so many systems to maintain and develop? Every "release" has the feel of an experiment in OS compilation. An actual release should be better.
The rest of my complaint is about tiny things, but things that are everywhere. Icons that resize wrong, but not every time, themes that when applied elsewhere, work perfectly, but when applied in Porteus, wash out half the window elements or only apply to some of the widgets.
And the Porteus Setting Centre - why? It seems obnoxiously egotistical. What is unique about Porteus that it needs its own "settings centre"? Do I not know how to use the start menu? Are you trying to copy the ultra-lame WIndows Control Panel? Or the hideous compiz-settings of Knoppix? Why is there an app which functions as a preferences menu IN the preferences menu? I heard you like preferences menus in your preferences menu. Hey maybe you want to add another settings menu app, and have it accessible via the settings centre? UGH. THESE ARE TERRIBLE USE EXPERIENCES. Just put the damn individual Porteus settings apps in the settings/preferences menu along with ALL THE OTHER APPS THAT ARE ALREADY IN THE PREFERENCES MENU X_X
I've taken the time and trouble to write so much because Porteus does things that no other distro does, or in all probability will do. It might not even know its own value in some respects - live mediums, for all their ubiquity, are severely underappreciated tools, and Porteus embraces, develops, and pushes the envelope of live mediums. Slackware, for all its flaws, is one of the most fun of all the Linux distros. It is fantastic that in Porteus, there are developers working to make it to do things that are extremely relevant in the modern sense.
I hope that in future the developers will concern themselves more with dotting all their "i's " and crossing all their "t's", with stabilizing and centrally documenting their development techniques (forum threads are not centralized documentation), and with streamlining and securing Porteus, rather than chasing after shiny new prizes. An excellent, powerful, and unique OS should be enough of a prize.
In the meantime, I will continue to use Porteus, and I will continue to try to adapt it to my needs. This is the first and last rant you'll hear from me, and I hope it does not offend anyone.
Porteus has some fantastic ideas, which is why I've tried it and kept on trying it. But I feel some major problems, and I use the word "feel" because there seems to be something of a field effect in place consisting of loose threads, stray hairs. Sorry if that doesn't make sense, but I'll try to explain:
Clearly, Porteus has achieved a lot, and it has a lot of stability. It is arguably the most forward-thinking and advanced of the Slackware derivatives. Unfortunately, that isn't saying much. There are of course the basic, legacy Slackware problems, the worst of which being the lack of package signing and authentication. But aside from that, one of the problems is that Porteus seems to fall victim to it's own nature, that being fluidity.
Let's take LXQT as the first example (begin rant). What are you doing basing final releases on a desktop environment that isn't production-ready? Why aren't you continuing to release LXDE until LXQT becomes mature? What it looks like is that a) being short of developers, you're forcing your users to help you iron out the bugs, and b) you think LXQT is 'cool" and you need to be inspired in order to have adequate incentive to work on Porteus yourselves.
This particular LXQT issue nicely frames the two main problems I have with Porteus: 1) too interested in innovation, at the expense of stability, reliability, documentation, and even transparency, and 2) unprofessional, immature techniques - in the case of LXQT, that being, if you want the user base to help you test software, you cal that a beta, you get beta testers, and you do not call it a release or even a release candidate until it becomes stable and has full functionality. Releasing something flawed because you know your community is going to "be cool about it" is unprofessional. Basing all new work on an immature platform (3.1-onwards will not employ LXDE at all unless that bounty thing happens) because, apparently, you find it more exciting, is immature. Developing must be exciting for volunteer developers. I know. But I wish that what excited you was a rock-solid, utterly reliable interface with comprehensive documentation and methodically published workflows. Instead, even after five years, Porteus retains the feel of a hobby mod of a larger distro (in this case a distro that has its own troubles keeping up with modern practices). You can do everything differently and your own way and still have an awesome distro, but if you want new developers from all over the world to be able to plug in on the fly and contribute immediately, you need published templates and consistent documentation in general.
You also need to have your website available; currently your main site is unreachable via Tor. This is absurd and irresponsible in the post-Snowden era.
Porteus has a lot of "exciting new feature" vibe. What about predictable, reliable, stable new features? Why are there two-three ways to save a session? Your team is inconsistent and small, why are you keeping so many systems to maintain and develop? Every "release" has the feel of an experiment in OS compilation. An actual release should be better.
The rest of my complaint is about tiny things, but things that are everywhere. Icons that resize wrong, but not every time, themes that when applied elsewhere, work perfectly, but when applied in Porteus, wash out half the window elements or only apply to some of the widgets.
And the Porteus Setting Centre - why? It seems obnoxiously egotistical. What is unique about Porteus that it needs its own "settings centre"? Do I not know how to use the start menu? Are you trying to copy the ultra-lame WIndows Control Panel? Or the hideous compiz-settings of Knoppix? Why is there an app which functions as a preferences menu IN the preferences menu? I heard you like preferences menus in your preferences menu. Hey maybe you want to add another settings menu app, and have it accessible via the settings centre? UGH. THESE ARE TERRIBLE USE EXPERIENCES. Just put the damn individual Porteus settings apps in the settings/preferences menu along with ALL THE OTHER APPS THAT ARE ALREADY IN THE PREFERENCES MENU X_X
I've taken the time and trouble to write so much because Porteus does things that no other distro does, or in all probability will do. It might not even know its own value in some respects - live mediums, for all their ubiquity, are severely underappreciated tools, and Porteus embraces, develops, and pushes the envelope of live mediums. Slackware, for all its flaws, is one of the most fun of all the Linux distros. It is fantastic that in Porteus, there are developers working to make it to do things that are extremely relevant in the modern sense.
I hope that in future the developers will concern themselves more with dotting all their "i's " and crossing all their "t's", with stabilizing and centrally documenting their development techniques (forum threads are not centralized documentation), and with streamlining and securing Porteus, rather than chasing after shiny new prizes. An excellent, powerful, and unique OS should be enough of a prize.
In the meantime, I will continue to use Porteus, and I will continue to try to adapt it to my needs. This is the first and last rant you'll hear from me, and I hope it does not offend anyone.