porteus: the perfect os, the pros and cons

[francois]

Just an idea like that. I would like to write a review on porteus 3.0. I would like to write about those who really know that distribution of ours. So to all of you on the forum, give us the pros and cons of porteus. Feedback from newcomers as much as experienced users are welcome. Give us the pros and cons, and if you are able to do so by comparing with other distributions (even non-linux like W) it would be appreciated.

[dustbunnies]

I don't expect "perfect", just a solid base.
Already posted regarding how I see/compare puppy and porteus (because someone posted to ask). I would not copy/paste that here.

To gather material for your review (overview?), walk the subforums and take note of which recent (post v3 release) discussion threads have the greatest number of posts and/or views. In doing so, IMO the hot spots (pain points, points of confusion) seem rather obvious.

[Tonio]

Pros:

Small, Multiple desktops, many ready built modules in ponce'š repository. Great support, excellent teamwork, great community, excellent help for newbies, wizard(to create customized iso/usb), printing support added, nice cheatcodes, many others can be added

Cons

there might be some, but I will keep only the pros.

Excellent OS, great community, excellent team!

[francois]

Hello Tonio,

Are the cons that awfull, that you cannot mention them even with diplomacy?

[brokenman]

Pro: Really fast startup when compared to ANY operating system. Faster than my windows waking up from hibernation.

Con: Some procedures are not as straight forward an intuitive as I would like. Using changes comes to mind. Work in progress.

Shutdown is too fast. I type 'init 0' and then remember that I didn't copy my work from the live system onto my external drive, I have enough time to swear loudly and then wham! Gone. Well at least it doesn't say 'Do not turn off your computer ...completing update 2 of 137'.

[cttan]

Pros:
1. Really fast startup and shutdown. The shutdown is way too fast. I am not using changes folder so initially I'm really having a hard time as I have to redo my work over and over again. Once you hit halt, thats it. Your work is gone down the flush of binary world.
2. Super smooth operation in 64bit KDE version. So far it seems like no opponent yet in the live distro arena.
3. Able to withstand the test of running plenty of server applications and even desktop applications at one go using 4GB of RAM in copy2ram mode. Although sometime it will hung due to limited RAM. I'm obsessed with running my Asterisk(free telephony server) box in my laptop and still be able to run other desktop apps.
4. Forum response is fast and you do not need to struggle alone in an empty dark room and have something not working over a long time. That will hamper the process of crossing over to Linux.
5. Mobility and versatility. It is like a small swiss army knife where you can bring anywhere. Poke into a PC or laptop and it will sprung to life. This is very useful and you will never be afraid of any faulty laptop or PC again. You can clone as many PC and work on anyone of them in your favourite settings. Maybe we should consider the possibility of using Porteus as cluster server to run BOINC or some other apps to contribute to research project and etc.

Cons:
1. At times Slackware repository is limited. You will need to compile from source or get it from another distribution if compiling failed.
2. mmm... still thinking...

Same like brokenman, I really dislike the "... update 3 of xxx" message. It really did the final push for me to crossover to Linux.
Luckily for me, I have stumbled upon Slax, later on Slax Remix and then Porteus.

[fanthom]

so i'll add a popup window asking if you want to shutdown, then a second one to confirm that this is really what you want, and then 10 sec delay if case you will change your mind
jokes aside - shutdown will be still that fast.

to make things easier:
a) i would recommend using 'magic folders'. i have it set on my /home so all my settings are persistent and i can still mess with the system (doing a lot while developing) by installing/uninstalling new packages, changing /etc/ configs, etc..
b) use 'changes=EXIT:' cheatcode. system is still as fast as in 'Always Fresh' but your data are actually saved during shutdown. the downside is that you cant mess that much with the system until you escape from saving last session by deleting /mnt/live/tmp/changes-exit file.
c) pay attention to what you do

[cttan]

Hi fanthom,

Thanks for the pointer but I have already past that phase and is more cautious when shutting down or rebooting the system.
Normally what I would do is put the laptop into hibernation mode. Initially during Remix and early Porteus releases it is still not very stable.
Sometime I would get BSOD(Black Screen of Death) for kernel panic or bluetooth problem and etc. But after v1.2 final, it is much more stable now.

[brokenman]

so i'll add a popup window asking if you want to shutdown.

Actually when I am browsing sites I shouldn't be browsing, and my wife walks in the room, a 3 second shutdown is just fine! ;P

[Tonio]

Hello Tonio,

Are the cons that awfull, that you cannot mention them even with diplomacy?

No. Not that awful. I can write some. Some are written already
for some software there are no packages and getting them to work is hard. There used to be slackbuilds for these, but they no longer work To get these taken care of, one needs to work hard at it. The *standard isos*, are not like the old ones where most things were present, now one has to add them manually or via the wizard. For users that do not know this, they may be dissapointed.
Software like firefox is constantly updated, it is not porteus fault here so it is unfair. Versions get old quickly, etc. kernel also gets old and vulnerabilities are found, again not fault of porteus developers, it is a livecd/live usb/, so new version may fix this, but then the cycle repeats itself. Again not fault of porteus, but they are cons I am sure that more can be found, but for now I can say that there still much more pros than cons!

[dupek]

Pros: It does work on my laptop. I try quite a few Deb, Rpm or Slack distros, but most of them had a problem with my wifi or sound. Some did not like my video. Porteus works fine.
Cons: I have to learn how to create a module, and , in my age, it does not come easy. Install to hdd only in "frugal" mode - not real, then again that may be a pros as I have tendency to mess up a lot.

[francois]

And this is six years ago. Comments? How many of you use the magic folders and the exit cheat code?

Personally, I boot directly from iso and install my new modules on hdd with a semi-permanent changes folder, or set my important files outside the changes folder, in case corruption gets into the new changes.

I am sure that porteus power users have more to say.

[Ed_P]

Sorry to be so late responding to your post francois.

I boot directly from the ISO and use the exit cheatcode when I want to save changes I make to my system.

I also manually copy my /home/guest files to a folder on my harddrive for backups. And I run a script to copy my changes to a module so I can boot the ISO and run in a safe mode with my changes modules and no new changes get saved to my system. I also found I can run in a safe mode if I copy my porteussave.dat file and rename it as a xzm file and use it as a module.

And I know how to create a new porteussave.dat file and copy a changes module's contents to the new .dat file.