I am using KWheezy for last 5 days or so, in parallel to Elementary OS 0.2 and it has been a really weird experience using both so far. On one hand, I experience a very simplified approach to Linux where the operating system, by default, provides only a shell on which you build your own customized system with very specific applications that you like and use regularly, as in case of Elementary OS. It kind of considers users as intelligent. And there is, on the other hand, KWheezy, which packs possibly 100% of KDE applications and 30-40% of the Debian repository leaving very little to download. It believes in idiot-proofing the system. Both approaches, of course, have their own merits and demerits. Without going into that debate, KWheezy is to Debian what Ultimate Edition (UE) Linux is to Ubuntu - only KWheezy is better in terms of stability and slightly better in aesthetics.
KWheezy is a relatively new entrant in Distrowatch and if you go by the web traffic in last 1 week or so, it is ranked 9th. KWheezy comes in a mammoth ISO (3.5 GB) which took about 12 hours of time to get downloaded (internet speed is still slower in India compared to North America and EU; but I am hopeful that 3-4 years from now I won't be complaining of speed!). Going by the ISO size I expected a whole lot of applications pre-installed in the distro and KWheezy didn't disappoint me.
KWheezy, as the name indicates, is based on Debian 7 or Wheezy and the present update is based on Debian 7.1. Like Debian 7 KDE, it has KDE 4.8.4 and comes with kernel 3.2.0. If you think it is a tad bit old, I won't blame you. When Kubuntu and Arch users are excited about KDE 4.11, installing a distro with KDE 4.8.4 seems a bit lame. However, this is Debian and it is rock stable; I recall KDE 4.8.4 was doing good on my machine before the 4.8.5 update messed up everything. And believe me, between KDE 4.8.4 and 4.10.5 (available in Debian Sid repos, if you would like to install), you won't even notice the difference!
To try it out, I first created a live USB using Unetbootin (in a 8 GB USB drive) and did a live boot on my Asus K54C with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM. Given I had Elementary OS 0.2 already installed there, I used a 20 GB partition to install KWheezy. Installation took 5 minutes flat and is a bit different from Debian/Ubuntu.
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| From KWheezy 1.1 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
KWheezy is a relatively new entrant in Distrowatch and if you go by the web traffic in last 1 week or so, it is ranked 9th. KWheezy comes in a mammoth ISO (3.5 GB) which took about 12 hours of time to get downloaded (internet speed is still slower in India compared to North America and EU; but I am hopeful that 3-4 years from now I won't be complaining of speed!). Going by the ISO size I expected a whole lot of applications pre-installed in the distro and KWheezy didn't disappoint me.
KWheezy, as the name indicates, is based on Debian 7 or Wheezy and the present update is based on Debian 7.1. Like Debian 7 KDE, it has KDE 4.8.4 and comes with kernel 3.2.0. If you think it is a tad bit old, I won't blame you. When Kubuntu and Arch users are excited about KDE 4.11, installing a distro with KDE 4.8.4 seems a bit lame. However, this is Debian and it is rock stable; I recall KDE 4.8.4 was doing good on my machine before the 4.8.5 update messed up everything. And believe me, between KDE 4.8.4 and 4.10.5 (available in Debian Sid repos, if you would like to install), you won't even notice the difference!
To try it out, I first created a live USB using Unetbootin (in a 8 GB USB drive) and did a live boot on my Asus K54C with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM. Given I had Elementary OS 0.2 already installed there, I used a 20 GB partition to install KWheezy. Installation took 5 minutes flat and is a bit different from Debian/Ubuntu.
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