MEPIS founder Warren Woodford has announced a test release of
SimplyMEPIS 6.0, incorporating software from the Ubuntu Dapper
package pools. This is the first version of SimplyMEPIS with an
Ubuntu base.
Ubuntu has a 6 month stable release cycle that will enable MEPIS
to offer its customers a dependable release schedule. Woodford
states “The switch to the Ubuntu pools was made to provide our
users with a more stable underlying system. Of course it’s
important for our users that MEPIS remains true to its unique
vision. I believe this release demonstrates that we can combine the
magic of the MEPIS user experience with the goodness of the Ubuntu
foundation.”
Woodford comments on the experience of porting SimplyMEPIS; “At
the time we built SimplyMEPIS 3.4.3, the Debian Etch package base
was very similar to the final Ubuntu packages in Breezy. So I
suppose the port was not much different than upgrading Ubuntu from
Breezy to Dapper. Of course there are implementation and artistic
differences. We’ll incorporate the Ubuntu differences into MEPIS
when it fits our model and vision, likewise we’ll offer our ideas
and changes back to Ubuntu. We hope this is the beginning of a fun
and productive collaboration.”
MEPIS believes this step will improve the flow of code between
MEPIS and Debian. Woodford says: “Ubuntu and Debian are closely
related. Periodically Ubuntu grabs a snapshot of Debian unstable,
makes improvements and bug fixes, and then contributes those bug
fixes and improvements back to the Debian source code tree. If we
work with Ubuntu and Canonical to help improve Ubuntu as a
foundation for MEPIS Linux products, then ultimately Debian should
also benefit.”
Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, said “Collaboration
with MEPIS will help Ubuntu offer even higher quality desktop
packages for KDE users, and expands the number of people who can
benefit from our work on system integration, desktop polish and
Linux kernel reliability. The MEPIS community is vibrant and
energetic and it will be exciting to be able to work more closely
with them, while still respecting the ways in which Ubuntu and
MEPIS are distinct.”
Woodford continues, “This release is a sneak peek, if you will.
There are integration issues and new features that have not yet
been addressed for SimplyMEPIS 6.0 and the Dapper pools are still
being improved. However, we want to make it available to our
subscribers now, so we can get their feedback before proceeding any
further.” This experimental release is available for download in
the ‘snapshot’ directory at the MEPIS Subscribers ftp site.
Feedback should be sent to dev@mepis.com.