Post Fuduntu, for last 3 months, I was searching for a suitable distro for my
Asus EeePC 1101HA with the following specs:
Processor: Intel Atom Z520 1.33 Ghz
Chipset: Intel US15W
RAM: 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 667 Mhz, PC-2 5300
Hard disk: 160 GB
Display: 11.6 in., LED backlight, 1366x768 HD resolution
Graphic Processor: Intel GMA 500
When I bought the machine in 2009, it had WinXP as the only OS. But, with time my interest in Linux increased and first it became dual boot with Ubuntu 11.04 (had a tough time in getting HD display, I recall, because there was no pre-installed Intel GMA 500 support); then finally it was Linux only with Fuduntu running on it for a couple of years. With the news coming out about Fuduntu's demise, I tried several other OS.
My netbook is too weak for GNOME3 or KDE4 - so I didn't try. I tried primarily LXDE and XFCE distros. I checked Lubuntu 12.04 first but flash videos and movie files would play real bad in it. Next I tried Mint, Zorin Lite and then Debian 7 LXDE. In the first two VLC didn't work that well with movie files whereas in Debian 7, everything worked awesome except for battery life. In Fuduntu, my netbook's 6 cell battery would last 5 hours of watching movies, browsing net, etc. In Debian 7 LXDE, battery would run out in an hour! Post that, I tried Archlinux as well with some success but the audio never got going.
So, though Debian LXDE was simply awesome on the netbook's limited capacity hardware, I had to discard it. But now it seems my search has ended finally. Last week, as a part of my weekly ritual of testing newly released distros, I downloaded Manjaro 0.8.7 32-bit, released on 26th Aug. 2013. It has been 8 months since I checked their last XFCE release and I thought it is time to check out their XFCE spin again. The release note (combined for Openbox and their flagship XFCE spins) states of some good improvements in the latest stable release, namely:
Specification-wise, Manjaro 0.8.7 has LTS Linux kernel 3.4.60 and XFCE 4.10 with Thunar 1.6.3 as the file manager. Ubuntu repos have already got XFCE 4.12 but no such luck in Arch repos yet. However, it makes sense for a stable release to continue with XFCE 4.10.
Aesthetics
As mentioned previously, the distro booted up throwing a lot of text in the process. The XFCE desktop is, however, pretty neat to look at with a black Manjaro simple but elegant wallpaper and a black Adwaita-Manjaro-Dark theme. I must admit that the artwork has significantly improved since August last year, when I use Manjaro XFCE for the first time. Except boot splash, refinement is evident everywhere in the distro.
The distro has some Manjaro specific wallpapers as well, mostly single colored minimalistic in nature but never-the-less, look elegant.
The green themed folders and Manjaro menu icon gel well with the Adwaita-Manjaro-dark overall theme. Majority of the applications synced well with the theme, even the LibreOffice green start up splash looked good. However, the white whisker menu looks quite a mismatch, both aesthetically as well as functionally. I prefer menu which takes less clicks or no typing to open an application!
In overall, Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE has a refined interface and looks professional, though there are minor glitches here and there, as I mentioned.
Hardware support
Manjaro recognized the display resolution, sound card, Wifi and LAN and touchpad, right out of the box. Last week only, I tried installing Archlinux to the netbook - everything worked fine except for the audio. But, in Manjaro, everything worked just as they should work.
Installation
Installation in Manjaro is really fast. It took me just 10 minutes to install. Manjaro has a much simplified Mint style graphical installer and makes Arch Linux installation a real simple task! The steps are language, timezone, keyboard layout, user info and finally hard drive selection. Finally, it ends with advanced option of installing grub. It feels like any other Ubuntu spin and kudos to the developers for making Arch Linux installation so simple.
Manjaro welcome message greeted me on the first boot after installation. A funny thing happened after clicking "Build Manjaro" button in the welcome message, it took me to a Manjaro link which Firefox perceived as a threat! The website had a self-signed security certificate, valid only for Manjaro.org! Exactly that is why I love Firefox - it has perhaps the best security features among the browsers.
Manjaro installation is actually perfect for Linux newbies who want to try out Arch Linux. Post installation, Manjaro downloaded about 100 MB of updates, like updated Linux kernel, Firefox, etc.
Applications
Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE comes with a pretty good assortment of pre-installed applications for all purposes, viz.
I liked the intelligent choice of applications - there is an app for almost every need in Manjaro.
Firefox is the default browser and comes with Adobe flash plugin support. I could watch my favorite videos without any issue in Manjaro.
For multimedia, Manjaro comes with VLC (latest version) for video files and Xnoise for audio files. Both VLC and Xnoise work right out of the box as all multimedia codecs are pre-installed in the distro.
Manjaro has its own Settings Manager along with the default XFCE Settings Manager. I found Manjaro Settings Manager useful in installing additional language packs and changing keyboard settings.
Repository
Manjaro sources applications from the stable Core, Extra and community repositories. Add/Remove Software application is pre-installed in the distro as a GUI to pacman. Arch Linux, per se, has a good collection of application. Those which are not there in the Arch dbs, can be found in Arch User Repository (AUR) - applications from other sources like Ubuntu, Debian, etc. compiled by the Arch community members.
The Add/Remove software app works good and I installed Skype 4.2 - it resolved all dependencies before downloading. For the rest of the apps, I used terminal primarily, as old habits die hard.
Installation in Asus Netbook 1101HA
After I checked out Manjaro XFCE on my laptop, I wanted to check it out on my EeePC as well. In live boot, sound worked perfect. So, I did a backup of the data and replaced Arch Linux (no sound) with Manjaro XFCE. Everything worked perfect in the first boot post installation - sound, display, touch pad and wifi.
Next thing I did was to unplug the laptop and check battery notification. And to my peace of mind, Manjaro showed 3+ hours of battery initially! Later, it even gave me on average 4.5 hours of battery life during my daily use - a big juice saver no doubt.
I normally use a selected set of applications and my first priority was to download them:
Docky: I simply can't live without a Docky. Also, Manjaro's whisker menu made me nuts. So, running a simple command on the terminal downloaded me my preferred docky.
sudo pacman -S docky
Torrent client and a download manager
I download a lot, movies, Linux and a whole lot of other stuff. So, I needed a bit-torrent client and a download manager. I downloaded transmission easily, simply by running
sudo pacman -S transmission
But, I could not locate multiget - my favorite download manager. However, a little bit of search in Add/Remove Software showed me some 3-4 download managers. I downloaded FatRat from the list. It is a real good one - simple and offered me max speed while downloading.
Adding Yaourt
Next thing I required was to add the AUR data bases. I did the following steps to add AUR:
Yaourt doesn't require running as root and hence, no sudo required as a prefix. I generally prefer having a lot of browsers and never miss out on installing both Chromium and Google Chrome together! Chromium is available in the Arch repos and can be downloaded via Add/Remove Software. Google Chrome is not there in Arch repo, but can be downloaded from AUR by
yaourt -S google-chrome
Enable Autologin
I installed in a netbook which my family uses a lot for watching movies and listening to music. Hence, autologin is a necessity there. To opt for autologin, XFCE integrated settings manager comes handy. Go to Settings Manager -> Login Window Preferences -> Security -> Check Enable Automatic Login and choose the user name below.
Further, Login Window Preferences have choice of quite a few html5 themes for the login window, the default one being clouds.
Downloading Language Packs
As mentioned previously, the distro has a Manjaro Settings Manager as well to add Language packs and change Keyboard settings. I could see a lot of Indian and Asian languages in the list - even my mother tongue was there. To users looking for Asian language support, Manjaro can be a good deal.
What didn't work?
These 3 minor niggles apart, Manjaro worked better than any other OS I have used on my netbook.
Performance
On both the systems, Manjaro gave very good performance. If I compare performance of relevant 32-bit XFCE distros, all recorded on Asus K54C at various point in time in 2012-13, I find Manjaro somewhere in the middle in terms of RAM and CPU usage.
However, the real performance of Manjaro becomes evident while playing vidoes and while multitasking. The distro ran amazingly smooth considering the very limited hardware specs of the netbook. In Manjaro, even the mkv files played real smooth in VLC. Further, as shown in the screenshot below, I could multitask with VLC, LibreOffice Calc and Firefox running, and task manager showed a CPU usage of only 77% and RAM consumption of 460 MB. I couldn't do the same in Mint 13-14-15 XFCE, the netbook would drag with even Firefox and LibreOffice open, forget about VLC.
Also, I found Manjaro XFCE quite stable. All the apps I installed or came pre-installed
Overall
I wholeheartedly recommend Manjaro to anyone looking for a very good and efficient XFCE distro. It is easy to use and highly functional. The distro has an app for almost all daily requirements though the application list may not be bleeding edge. However, stability is not compromised.
Further, Arch and AUR repositories together make an enviable list of apps sufficient for regular users. Even for unconventional apps, chances of finding them in AUR are high as some user or the other might have compiled the app and shared it in AUR.
Manjaro gave mind blowing performance on my Asus EeePC 1101HA where no other XFCE or LXDE spin could give equivalent performance (except Debian 7, but it had battery issues). Even I got about 4+ hours of battery life while watching movies and more while browsing net.
Manjaro is quit simple to operate. Plus, it works right out of the box like Linux Mint and has an refined interface. If you are using Fedora, Ubuntu or Mint and at least understand the terminal command suggestions given in various Linux related websites, possibly it is time you should try out Manjaro. You may find it better than Mint XFCE.
You can download the 32 and 64 bit editions from here.
Addendum 15th Sep 2013: Manjaro 0.8.7.1
Manjaro 0.8.7.1 got released on 13th Sep 2013. I upgraded today and initially the kernel I got was 3.4.61. From the Manjaro wiki, Dottore helped me with the kernel update links. I downloaded the 3.10.11 kernel using the command:
sudo mhwd-kernel -i linux310
It downloaded about 45 MB of updates and Linux kernel 3.10. As you can see my Asus 1101HA EeePC desktop below, the conky shows Linux kernel 3.10!
Asus EeePC 1101HA with the following specs:
Processor: Intel Atom Z520 1.33 Ghz
Chipset: Intel US15W
RAM: 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 667 Mhz, PC-2 5300
Hard disk: 160 GB
Display: 11.6 in., LED backlight, 1366x768 HD resolution
Graphic Processor: Intel GMA 500
 |
| Manjaro XFCE on Asus EeePC 1101HA From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
My netbook is too weak for GNOME3 or KDE4 - so I didn't try. I tried primarily LXDE and XFCE distros. I checked Lubuntu 12.04 first but flash videos and movie files would play real bad in it. Next I tried Mint, Zorin Lite and then Debian 7 LXDE. In the first two VLC didn't work that well with movie files whereas in Debian 7, everything worked awesome except for battery life. In Fuduntu, my netbook's 6 cell battery would last 5 hours of watching movies, browsing net, etc. In Debian 7 LXDE, battery would run out in an hour! Post that, I tried Archlinux as well with some success but the audio never got going.
So, though Debian LXDE was simply awesome on the netbook's limited capacity hardware, I had to discard it. But now it seems my search has ended finally. Last week, as a part of my weekly ritual of testing newly released distros, I downloaded Manjaro 0.8.7 32-bit, released on 26th Aug. 2013. It has been 8 months since I checked their last XFCE release and I thought it is time to check out their XFCE spin again. The release note (combined for Openbox and their flagship XFCE spins) states of some good improvements in the latest stable release, namely:
"On behalf of the Manjaro development team I'm happy to announce our new stable release of Manjaro Linux 'Ascella'. A special 'thank you' goes to Arnt who joined our team. His work, Octopi 0.2.0, gets introduces with the Openbox edition. This new front-end for pamac makes it really simple to keep your boxes up-to-date. With the additional support for Yaourt the whole AUR repository extends the official Manjaro repositories. With a new welcome screen we ease up the introduction to Manjaro Linux. Important information and links to our forum, wiki and documentation plus buttons to start our graphical and text installers give you an amazing entry to this distro. Features: Linux kernel: 3.4.59 LTS, X.Org 1.14.2, Firefox 22.0.1, Thunderbird 17.0.8, VLC 2.0.8a...."I made a live USB with Unetbootin and a live boot followed by installation to my usual test machine, Asus K54C with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM. It has Intel graphics only. The distro booted up throwing a lot of verbose text - pretty unusual considering most of the distros do boot up these days with nice looking graphical boot splashes!
Specification-wise, Manjaro 0.8.7 has LTS Linux kernel 3.4.60 and XFCE 4.10 with Thunar 1.6.3 as the file manager. Ubuntu repos have already got XFCE 4.12 but no such luck in Arch repos yet. However, it makes sense for a stable release to continue with XFCE 4.10.
 |
| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Aesthetics
As mentioned previously, the distro booted up throwing a lot of text in the process. The XFCE desktop is, however, pretty neat to look at with a black Manjaro simple but elegant wallpaper and a black Adwaita-Manjaro-Dark theme. I must admit that the artwork has significantly improved since August last year, when I use Manjaro XFCE for the first time. Except boot splash, refinement is evident everywhere in the distro.
 |
| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
The distro has some Manjaro specific wallpapers as well, mostly single colored minimalistic in nature but never-the-less, look elegant.
 |
| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
The green themed folders and Manjaro menu icon gel well with the Adwaita-Manjaro-dark overall theme. Majority of the applications synced well with the theme, even the LibreOffice green start up splash looked good. However, the white whisker menu looks quite a mismatch, both aesthetically as well as functionally. I prefer menu which takes less clicks or no typing to open an application!
 |
| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Hardware support
Manjaro recognized the display resolution, sound card, Wifi and LAN and touchpad, right out of the box. Last week only, I tried installing Archlinux to the netbook - everything worked fine except for the audio. But, in Manjaro, everything worked just as they should work.
Installation
Installation in Manjaro is really fast. It took me just 10 minutes to install. Manjaro has a much simplified Mint style graphical installer and makes Arch Linux installation a real simple task! The steps are language, timezone, keyboard layout, user info and finally hard drive selection. Finally, it ends with advanced option of installing grub. It feels like any other Ubuntu spin and kudos to the developers for making Arch Linux installation so simple.
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| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
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| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
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| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
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| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE comes with a pretty good assortment of pre-installed applications for all purposes, viz.
- Office: LibreOffice 4.0.5.2 Writer, Calc & Impress, Dictionary, Document viewer, Orage Calendar, Orage Globaltime
- Internet: Firefox 23.0, Hexchat, Pidgin IM, Steam, Thunderbird 17
- Graphics: GIMP 2.8.6, Viewnior
- Multimedia: VLC 2.0.8, Xfburn, Xnoise, Pulseaudio
- Accessories: Application finder, Archive manager, Bulk rename, Catfish file search, Clipman, Calculator, gedit, HP Device Manager, Notes, gparted, XFCE terminal
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| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
For multimedia, Manjaro comes with VLC (latest version) for video files and Xnoise for audio files. Both VLC and Xnoise work right out of the box as all multimedia codecs are pre-installed in the distro.
Manjaro has its own Settings Manager along with the default XFCE Settings Manager. I found Manjaro Settings Manager useful in installing additional language packs and changing keyboard settings.
 |
| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
 |
| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Manjaro sources applications from the stable Core, Extra and community repositories. Add/Remove Software application is pre-installed in the distro as a GUI to pacman. Arch Linux, per se, has a good collection of application. Those which are not there in the Arch dbs, can be found in Arch User Repository (AUR) - applications from other sources like Ubuntu, Debian, etc. compiled by the Arch community members.
The Add/Remove software app works good and I installed Skype 4.2 - it resolved all dependencies before downloading. For the rest of the apps, I used terminal primarily, as old habits die hard.
Installation in Asus Netbook 1101HA
After I checked out Manjaro XFCE on my laptop, I wanted to check it out on my EeePC as well. In live boot, sound worked perfect. So, I did a backup of the data and replaced Arch Linux (no sound) with Manjaro XFCE. Everything worked perfect in the first boot post installation - sound, display, touch pad and wifi.
Next thing I did was to unplug the laptop and check battery notification. And to my peace of mind, Manjaro showed 3+ hours of battery initially! Later, it even gave me on average 4.5 hours of battery life during my daily use - a big juice saver no doubt.
 |
| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
I normally use a selected set of applications and my first priority was to download them:
Docky: I simply can't live without a Docky. Also, Manjaro's whisker menu made me nuts. So, running a simple command on the terminal downloaded me my preferred docky.
sudo pacman -S docky
 |
| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
I download a lot, movies, Linux and a whole lot of other stuff. So, I needed a bit-torrent client and a download manager. I downloaded transmission easily, simply by running
sudo pacman -S transmission
But, I could not locate multiget - my favorite download manager. However, a little bit of search in Add/Remove Software showed me some 3-4 download managers. I downloaded FatRat from the list. It is a real good one - simple and offered me max speed while downloading.
Adding Yaourt
Next thing I required was to add the AUR data bases. I did the following steps to add AUR:
- Download base-devel by running the command in terminal: sudo pacman -S base-devel
- By sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf, I edited the pacman configuration file to add
[archlinuxfr]
Server = http://repo.archlinux.fr/i686
- This I added in the Repositories section below Community database link. And this is for 32-bit OS; 64 bit Manjaro XFCE will have a different reference of the AUR repo.
- Third, I did a update and upgrade of the system
sudo pacman -Syy && sudo pacman -Syu
- Just like pacman is the package manager for Arch repos, yaourt is the package manager for AUR repos. I downloaded yaourt by
sudo pacman -S yaourtInstalling Google Chrome
Yaourt doesn't require running as root and hence, no sudo required as a prefix. I generally prefer having a lot of browsers and never miss out on installing both Chromium and Google Chrome together! Chromium is available in the Arch repos and can be downloaded via Add/Remove Software. Google Chrome is not there in Arch repo, but can be downloaded from AUR by
yaourt -S google-chrome
Enable Autologin
I installed in a netbook which my family uses a lot for watching movies and listening to music. Hence, autologin is a necessity there. To opt for autologin, XFCE integrated settings manager comes handy. Go to Settings Manager -> Login Window Preferences -> Security -> Check Enable Automatic Login and choose the user name below.
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| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
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| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Downloading Language Packs
As mentioned previously, the distro has a Manjaro Settings Manager as well to add Language packs and change Keyboard settings. I could see a lot of Indian and Asian languages in the list - even my mother tongue was there. To users looking for Asian language support, Manjaro can be a good deal.
 |
| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
- First, the verbose boot splash - I thought by changing Splash from "None" to "Mice" from Session and Startup option in Settings Manager, I would be able to start graphical boot splash. But, didn't work. Anyway, I can live without it.
- Second, the default video player is somehow Xnoise and not VLC. I wasn't able to locate any system settings option to make VLC the default video player. I had to manually set VLC as the preferred application from Open with other application option for each file type.
- Third, I tried installing some apps like fogger from AUR, but they never worked. Anyway, I never expected every compilation in AUR to work.
These 3 minor niggles apart, Manjaro worked better than any other OS I have used on my netbook.
Performance
On both the systems, Manjaro gave very good performance. If I compare performance of relevant 32-bit XFCE distros, all recorded on Asus K54C at various point in time in 2012-13, I find Manjaro somewhere in the middle in terms of RAM and CPU usage.
| Operating System (XFCE) | Size of ISO | Base | Desktop | Linux kernel | CPU Usage | RAM usage |
| Snowlinux 4 Glacier XFCE | 727 MB | Debian | XFCE 4.10 | 3.5.0 | 1-5% | 87 MB |
| Debian 7 XFCE | 868 MB | Debian | XFCE 4.8 | '3.2.0 | 1-5% | 100 MB |
| Snowlinux 3.1 Crystal XFCE | 639 MB | Debian | XFCE 4.8 | 3.2.0 | 1-5% | 110 MB |
| Linux Lite 1.0.4 XFCE | 755 MB | Ubuntu | XFCE 4.8 | 3.2.18 | 1-5% | 120 MB |
| Mint 13 Debian XFCE | 1.2 GB | Debian | XFCE 4.8 | 3.2.0 | 1-5% | 125 MB |
| Bridge XFCE | 696 MB | Arch | XFCE 4.10 | '3.6.7 | 1-5% | 130 MB |
| Mint 14 XFCE | 914 MB | Ubuntu | XFCE 4.10 | '3.5.0 | 1-5% | 140 MB |
| Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE | 1.1 GB | Arch | XFCE 4.10 | 3.4.60 | 1-5% | 160 MB |
| Sabayon 11 XFCE | 1.3 GB | Gentoo | XFCE 4.10 | 3.7.0 | 1-5% | 160 MB |
| Xubuntu 12.10 | 727 MB | Ubuntu | XFCE 4.10 | 3.5.0-17 | 1-5% | 160 MB |
| Xubuntu 13.04 | 827 MB | Ubuntu | XFCE 4.10 | 3.8.0 | 1-5% | 160 MB |
| Fedora 19 XFCE | 617 MB | Fedora | XFCE 4.10 | 3.9.8 | 1-5% | 160 MB |
| Mint 13 XFCE | 850 MB | Ubuntu | XFCE 4.8 | 3.2.0-29 | 1-5% | 160 MB |
| Xubuntu 12.04.1 LTS | 715 MB | Ubuntu | XFCE 4.8 | 3.2.0-29 | 1-5% | 160 MB |
| Emmabuntus 12.04.2-1.04 | 3.5 GB | Ubuntu | XFCE 4.8 | 3.2.0-39 | 1-5% | 170 MB |
| OS 4 13.1 | 1.5 GB | Ubuntu | XFCE 4.10 | 3.2.0 | 1-5% | 200 MB |
| Voyager 12.10 | 991 MB | Ubuntu | XFCE 4.10 | '3.5.0 | 1-5% | 200 MB |
| ZevenOS 5 | 734 MB | Ubuntu | XFCE 4.10 | 3.5.0 | 1-5% | 220 MB |
However, the real performance of Manjaro becomes evident while playing vidoes and while multitasking. The distro ran amazingly smooth considering the very limited hardware specs of the netbook. In Manjaro, even the mkv files played real smooth in VLC. Further, as shown in the screenshot below, I could multitask with VLC, LibreOffice Calc and Firefox running, and task manager showed a CPU usage of only 77% and RAM consumption of 460 MB. I couldn't do the same in Mint 13-14-15 XFCE, the netbook would drag with even Firefox and LibreOffice open, forget about VLC.
 |
| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Also, I found Manjaro XFCE quite stable. All the apps I installed or came pre-installed
Overall
I wholeheartedly recommend Manjaro to anyone looking for a very good and efficient XFCE distro. It is easy to use and highly functional. The distro has an app for almost all daily requirements though the application list may not be bleeding edge. However, stability is not compromised.
Further, Arch and AUR repositories together make an enviable list of apps sufficient for regular users. Even for unconventional apps, chances of finding them in AUR are high as some user or the other might have compiled the app and shared it in AUR.
Manjaro gave mind blowing performance on my Asus EeePC 1101HA where no other XFCE or LXDE spin could give equivalent performance (except Debian 7, but it had battery issues). Even I got about 4+ hours of battery life while watching movies and more while browsing net.
Manjaro is quit simple to operate. Plus, it works right out of the box like Linux Mint and has an refined interface. If you are using Fedora, Ubuntu or Mint and at least understand the terminal command suggestions given in various Linux related websites, possibly it is time you should try out Manjaro. You may find it better than Mint XFCE.
You can download the 32 and 64 bit editions from here.
Addendum 15th Sep 2013: Manjaro 0.8.7.1
Manjaro 0.8.7.1 got released on 13th Sep 2013. I upgraded today and initially the kernel I got was 3.4.61. From the Manjaro wiki, Dottore helped me with the kernel update links. I downloaded the 3.10.11 kernel using the command:
sudo mhwd-kernel -i linux310
It downloaded about 45 MB of updates and Linux kernel 3.10. As you can see my Asus 1101HA EeePC desktop below, the conky shows Linux kernel 3.10!
 |
| From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
I think Linux Mint has many services enabled by default for user convenience. When I install a Linux Mint OS, I spend some time disabling all the services I don't need, such as cups (printing), scand (scan), bluetooth, etc. I wonder also whether Manjaro is setting /tmp to reside in memory (tmpfs) in fstab, which is another mod I like to make Linux Mint.
ReplyDeleteMinor comment: are you sure that Z520 chip is dual-core?
ReplyDeleteHi Wally:
DeleteI checked, it shows 2 CPU's in system monitor but I checked the Intel site, it shows single core :). I removed the cores information from the write up ... there seems to be a bit of confusion.
Thanks,
Arindam
Z520 is a 32bit single core processor but with two threads. so in linux it's seen as dual core. please find info here (for example) http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Atom-Z520-Notebook-Processor.32136.0.html
Deletecheers,
Hi,
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning I would like to thank you for the great reviews
I'm curious though, one thing if Manjaro based on arch linux, why has the old kernel 3.4, arch linux already has kernel 3.10
sory for my terrible english :]
Manjaro lets the community decide what the "default" kernel for the distro is (3.4 won out for this release, due to a few hiccups that still reside in the 3.10 series)The 3.4 kernel is a LTS kernel that is currently rock solid. XFCE is the flagship Manjaro spin, the other desktop spins (KDE, Gnome etc) use the optional 3.10 series (maybe 3.11 by now) kernel. You have the option of downloading the newest kernel in the package manager, then it's just a matter of selecting which one you want to use at the Grub screen
Deletethanks for reply, it's all clear for me ;)
DeleteIts truly a great distro, made my old AMD C50 powered netbook run good. Sadly SAMBA sharing is a pain and on my ASUS K55VM laptop, headphone out refused to work as well as SAMBA.
ReplyDeletehmmm ... again SAMBA not working for you? :)
DeleteUnfortunately not and neither is headphone out. Pity its one of the great efforts on Arch in recent times.
DeleteI just updated our current stable release with Manjaro 0.8.7.1. I simplified our live-installer and added optional plymouth support. Also the kernel got updated to 3.10 series. Thx for the great review.
ReplyDeletekind regards
Philip Müller
--------------
Manjaro Lead
Thanks Philip for updating to 3.10. Updating my Manjaro XFCE right now :).
DeleteRegards,
Arindam
Hi Philip:
DeleteI upgraded but still the kernel is 3.4.61 and not 3.10 series. I am using the following command to upgrade:
sudo pacman -Syy && sudo pacman -Syu
Please help.
Thanks,
Arindam
arindam, try here: http://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Manjaro_Kernels
DeleteThanks Dottore. I upgraded to kernel 3.10.*. The wiki article is very helpful.
DeleteRegards,
Arindam
It was my pleasure, Arindam. All the best! :)
Deletei tryed this o/s a few times and i did enjoyed it, i found it to be too buggy. the software updater crashed and the team was slow to respond. but i did enjoyed it when it worked good.
ReplyDeleteGood review overall. One thing I'm curious about though is why you thought you had to manually add the AUR repo and install yaourt when, by default, yaourt is already installed in Manjaro 0.8.7 and is already set up to accesses the AUR repo without user intervention. At least that's the way it works on my desktop and laptop. I installed Manjaro 0.8.7 and could immediately install apps from AUR using yaourt that weren't available via pacman (Manjaro repos) without doing a thing.
ReplyDeleteJust saying. :)
Hi Kirk:
DeleteActually I was looking for Google Chrome and I didn't find it in the Manjaro by default. Hence, I went on installing the AUR repo and yaourt :).
Thanks,
Arindam
Now that Manjaro 0.8.7 has an LXDE spin i will finally install it alongside Lubuntu/Peppermint in my netbook, thus substituting the also excellent SolidK (KDE runs a little bit slow on that netbook). I'm finally following your advice from another reply to of my comments. You said i should try Manjaro i said that Arch scared me a lot (since i only started on Linux in May of this year) but i guess if you don't try something you'll never learn it (kinda like riding a bike for the first time!) Thanks for this review and those command lines will come in handy! Best regards.
ReplyDeleteHi Kaf:
DeleteThanks for liking my review. I see that you have a real good choice of distros - Lubuntu/Peppermint, SolydXK - all are excellent and one of my favorite distros. Hope you'll like Manjaro XFCE once you give it a shot. It runs much better than any other distro on my netbook.
Regards,
Arindam
Hi,
ReplyDeleteAs always, one more excellent review from you.
I generally like Arch, but ditched a while ago since the updates broke the system. Now, I am thinking to replace my Linux Mint 14 XFCE with Manjaro XFCE. I will probably install on my netbook and see how it goes.
Just like your family, my family is using the netbook to watch movies. However, I use windows 7 starter edition on my netbook. The netbook is permanently connected to my 55" LCD TV with a VGA (monitor) cable. Only in windows 7, I get the perfect resolution on my TV even though the performance is almost horrible. Can you please tell me what is your setup with netbook and TV?
I would like to install Manjaro on my netbook and test. Is there a way to get the perfect resolution on TV?
Thanks,
Balaji.
Hi Balaji:
DeleteI connect to a 20" monitor to see movies and there I make some screen resolution adjustments. But, never tried TV. However, there is a thread in Manjaro forums specifically dealing with the query you posted: http://forum.manjaro.org/index.php?topic=240.0
Please let me know if it served your purpose. And thanks for liking my review.
Regards,
Arindam
Hi Arindam,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response.
Not only for the TV, I have had problems when connecting my laptop with the projector at work. My laptop's max resolution is 1600x900 which is undetected in this case. I created a shell script as tvmode.sh and entered the cvt and xrandr commands from this page https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xrandr and it works good.
Thanks,
Balaji.
Hi Arindam,
ReplyDeleteLooking at your very last screenshot after the kernel update, 243 MB of RAM consumption seems higher for a XFCE distro with just Docky running. Is it not so?
Also, I installed Majaro on my netbook and I feel it is kinda sluggish. I tried Bridge linux in a virtual box and the performance is amazing. However, I am not able to install Bridge linux on my netbook. I get some error message related to device/tty etc. Moreover, I am little hesitant to try Bridge linux as this developed by a single developer and it may be out of linux world in couple of years.
Thanks,
Balaji.
Hi Balaji:
DeleteThe last screenshot was taken in between regular use and not exactly the conditions in which I measure RAM and CPU usage. Plus, compositing was running in the background and that might have pushed the RAM usage a bit higher.
Manjaro works well on Asus 1101HA without compositing. However, with compositing on, it becomes a bit sluggish because of less graphic memory. I have tried bridge linux previously and I really liked it. But, I agree with you - after Fuduntu experience I stay away from distros developed by single developers :).
Regards,
Arindam
Hi Arindam,
ReplyDeleteI just booted Manjaro 64 bit Openbox edition on my laptop and it is consuming 242MB. 242MB is way too much for an openbox distro with just Conky running. If I boot archbang on the same, it consumes less than 90MB of RAM only.
Thanks,
Balaji.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI tried booting the 64 bit XFCE version of Manjaro and it is consuming 462MB with out anything running (even no conky). 462 MB for a XFCE distro is completely unacceptable. XFCE is supposed to be light weight.
Thanks,
Balaji.
Hi Balaji:
DeleteLive boot for Manjaro is a bit messy and runs a lot of things in the background. I noted significant improvement in RAM usage post installation. Believe me, you would be happy with the end result if you install Manjaro. I found it to be really awesome.
Regards,
Arindam
Hi,
DeleteI did install manjaro per your suggestion. The "free -m" command is still reporting 243MB RAM usage. Though it is much better than what I have seen with live cd, it still a high memory usage for an XFCE distro.
I am also seeing two more issues:
1. Something wrong with the keyboard layout (both during live cd usage and in the installed system. When I type letter p on my keyboard, it is taking as "*" and when I type as l, it is taking as "3". I had to use the "fn" key along with these characters to get what I want. But it is a nightmare when typing passwords. Do you know of a way to fix this)
2. My wifi is not getting connected. I get the wifi password popup, I type the password in gedit (to make sure that I get it correct) and copy-paste that into wife dialog. However, it doesn't connect and it is asking for the password again.
Thanks,
Balaji.
Update:
Delete1. The keyboard layout issue was due to the numlock. I disabled the checkbox "restore numlock state upon restart" in settings and the issue is gone.
2. Still having issues with connecting to my enterprise wireless network. I will try to do some troubleshooting and see how it goes.
After an update, the "free -m" is reporting the memory usage as 191MB, still higher for an XFCE distro.
Thanks,
Balaji.
More Update:
DeleteI installed both openbox and Manjaro has a special netbook edition (based on LXDE), but I couldn't resolve the Wifi Issue. It seems strange since I never had issues with connecting to my enterprise WPA2 network when I was using Arch. I posted a question in forums, but fruitful answer from there yet. So, instead of doing google search (I did some google search) I went with easy path, replacing with some other distro.
I installed Mageia on my netbook (dualarch cd is based on LXDE) and it seems to be performing much better.
Thanks,
Balaji.
Manjaro worked pretty well for me. Unfortunate that wifi didn't work with you. However, mageia is a good choice. It is stable, performs well and is very simple to use.
DeleteThanks,
Arindam
True, I really liked its interface, performance etc though I felt its RAM consumption was not optimized. The only issue that stopped me from using Manjaro is the Enterprise WPA connectivity. However, I see that HD video quality is little choppy in almost all linux distros on netbook. Is there any settings that I can change to improve the HD video quality for streaming movies.
DeleteI am watching the movies here.
http://www.einthusan.com/movies/watch.php?hindimoviesonline=Kuch+Kuch+Hota+Hai&lang=hindi&id=520
Thanks,
Balaji.
Thanks for the thorough review of Manjaro. It certainly ticks all my boxes & has been running fast & rock-solid for the last 9 months. Being able to make use of Arch in such a user-friendly manner is fantastic - Roland, Phil, Carl, Guillaume & the rest of the team are doing a fantastic job & this OS is still considered to be in beta! Amazing. Ruziel.
ReplyDeleteHi Arindam,
ReplyDeleteCan I dual boot Manjaro and windows 7 on 2 separate hard drives? if yes please tell me what should i do now.
Hi Read,
DeleteI mostly use distros with dual, triple and at times quadruple boot. During installation agreeing to install grub2 is the trick. Rest of the things are taken care automatically in modern linux distros these days. Hope Manjaro works for you. Please let me know if you face any issues.
I ask myself how the buntu repo's already can have Xfce 4.12 when there's no sign of a pre-release at all. Maybe they built it from source but looking at the Xfce archive some "components" are still at 4.11...
ReplyDeleteMust be a typical Canonical/Ubuntu thing to confuse people... or i'm missing something here.
I agree. Even I was wondering where from xfce 4.12 came! In the end it is 4.11 with may be minor improvements.
DeleteWe will see. Most distro's still have Xfce 4.10 and 4.12 will be released whenever the Xfce team thinks it's ready.
DeleteBesides all of this i have to say i check in on your blog on a regular base because you do a great job at writing reviews and give your opinion about things. Keep up the great work.
congratulations for the article, Manjaro installed and would like to put conky on my desktop to leave as posted on the website, as I proceed? sorry my english, I'm brazilian
ReplyDeleteThanks for liking my article. You can very good conky configurations from teejee's conky manager. I created the conky with teejee's conky manager. It is a wonderful piece of software and you can get the instructions to install and use from teejee's blog: http://www.teejeetech.in/p/conky-manager.html
DeleteIt can be installed in Arch linux / Manjaro Linux.
Finally I got the Netrunner 14.04 Rolling Release Distro, based on Manjaro, installed on my Dell Studio XPS 7100 desktop to share with 15 other Linux distros. My first install attempt with Manjaro was Manjaro proper and the bootloader install did not find my other Linux partitions. This time, however, everything is in the bootloader, plus my Windows 7 install, and I am now toying with a Manjaro 0.8.11 LX Qt flavor from usb. I hope you get to try this Manjaro spin. I can tell I'm going to have fun with it and Netrunner Riolling. Hopefully in the future I won't need to replace so many Linun distros and just need to update my rolling releases. Thanks and keep up the excellent work.
ReplyDelete