Linuxed - Exploring Linux distros

From Manjaro 0.8.9 KDE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

Manjaro Linux 0.8.9 Review: Right on the money release after release!

Whenever I have to recommend a Linux distro to a novice user, the first name that I generally tell is of Linux Mint. Now I think I have another distro to refer to - Manjaro Linux. In fact, these days I am using Manjaro Linux XFCE in a couple of my systems for last 6 months or so - none of them broke in the last 3 updates. So, I start with a spoiler here: I have seen and used quite a few Arch based distros and Arch Linux itself to take advantage of rolling release and thinking I don't have to reinstall them again. However, except Manjaro and Chakra Linux, none of the other installations survived more than a month. In every major update, one thing or the other broke or it became unbootable. I am not blaming the distro but my limited knowledge / time / willingness to research on where I messed up.

Manjaro Linux, on the other hand, survived my limited knowledge and rolling release update inevitably every time. A 32-bit version of Manjaro XFCE is currently running on my HP Desktop Computer with 2.3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 processor, 1.5 GB DDR RAM and 250 GB HDD. It is really an antique PC bought in 2003 and still going strong thanks to Linux. And Manjaro XFCE works way better than any other XFCE / Openbox / LXDE spins I tried on it. And by any, I literally mean, any. I have tried almost all 32-bit distros on it!

Coming back to Manjaro 0.8.9 update, it is the first update of 2014. Previous year Manjaro released 0.8.3, 0.8.4, 0.8.5, 0.8.5.2, 0.8.6, 0.8.7, 0.8.7.1 and 0.8.8 - in total 8 updates in 12 months. So, I am expecting at least 6 updates this year as well. Manjaro's specialty is in making pre-configured Arch Linux distros appealing to both Linux novices as well as seasoned users. Officially it releases KDE, Openbox and XFCE versions. Also, Mate, Cinnamon and GNOME 3 spins are released in community editions. XFCE is the most popular release followed by KDE for Manjaro (based on download stats). I am covering primarily the KDE version here which I tried out as a fresh install. I have an XFCE version running for last 6 months (and now upgraded to 0.8.9) on my HP desktop. If you need information on the XFCE version, feel free to post a comment in my blog.

The Manjaro Linux 0.8.9 KDE 64 bit ISO is about 1.8 GB in size and ships with KDE 4.12.2 and Linux kernel 3.10.30. Manjaro aims for a relatively stable distro and hence, you may not always find the bleeding edge Linux kernels/apps. It is a slightly conservative and I prefer the stability in Manjaro.

I created a live USB using Mint Image Writer and a 4 GB USB drive. I first did a live boot followed by installation on my Asus K55VM laptop with 2.3 Ghz Core i7 processor, 8 GB DDR3 RAM and 2 GB NVIDIA GeForce 630M graphics. I installed it on a 50 GB partition.

From Chakra Linux 2014.02 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

Chakra GNU/Linux "Curie" 2014.02 Review: Attractive, functional and true to KDE/Qt

Chakra Linux is quite unique a Linux distro intended to provide pure KDE experience to the users. It is originally based on Arch Linux and focused to provide GTK+ free KDE experience. I have used Chakra previously but never got time to actually pen a quality review in 2013. However, I included Chakra in my article on the best KDE distros of 2013. So, with no big release this week, I thought why not review one of my favorite KDE spins.

For this review, I have the latest Chakra release (2014.02). Chakra abandoned releasing the 32-bit versions in August 2012 and now it comes as a 64 bit version only. Chakra follows a "half-rolling release" system. What I understood from is that the core packages are updated periodically after each release. I guess this renders more stability to Chakra than Arch Linux itself.

I created a live USB of Chakra using Linux Mint Image writer. I did a live boot followed by installation on my Asus K55VM laptop with 2.3 Ghz Core i7 processor, 8 GB DDR3 RAM and 2 GB NVIDIA GeForce graphics. The release concerned ships with KDE 4.12.1 desktop (which got updated to KDE 4.12.2 post installation) and Linux kernel 3.12.6. In the subsequent sections, I take you step by step my experience with Chakra Linux and it's rating in my assessment based on a week's usage.

From Antergos 2013.08.20 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

Antergos 2013.08.20 GNOME Review: Most efficient GNOME 3.8 Distro I have used

Antergos started life in 2012 as Cinnarch, offering Cinnamon desktop with Arch Linux. It changed to Antergos after the developers opted for GNOME 3 as the default desktop and retained Cinnamon along with Openbox, Razor-qt and XFCE as the other DEs in offer. It has the same rolling release development model as the parent Arch Linux. Given I never liked Cinnamon, I didn't try out Cinnarch.

An opportunity came this week when one of my friends bought a Lenovo Essential B490 laptop with the following specs
Laptop: Lenovo Essential B490
Processor: Core i5 (3rd gen.), 2.6 Ghz, Cache 3 MB
RAM: 2 GB DDR3
HDD: 500 GB, 7200 RPM
System Architecture: 64-bit

It didn't had any OS when my friend bought it. He wanted me to install Windows 7 (64-bit) along with a GNOME 3 Linux OS. He previously was using Ubuntu GNOME that I installed on his another laptop. These days I have developed more liking for Arch Linux over my long time favorite Debian/Ubuntu based distros. So among other GNOME 3 based distros to experiment with, I chose Antergos, whose latest release came on 20th August 2013.

The release note of Antergos 2013.08.20 states of a lot about the Openbox spin, may be I'll check it some other time. This time my focus was on GNOME.

We are glad to announce the release of Antergos 2013.08.20 with a lot of improvements in the installation process for you to enjoy your system from the start. This new release comes after several months' working mostly on our graphical installer Cnchi and on Remendo. Openbox has been included as an option to be installed along with GNOME, Cinnamon, Xfce, Razor-qt or Base. You will end up with a lightweight desktop, while having up to date software. The software included with Openbox was chosen to be in the line of the Openbox spirit.

Before installing on my friend's laptop, I tried it out on my Asus K54C with Core i3 2.2 Ghz processor & 2 GB DDR3 RAM laptop. I created a live USB of Antergos 32-bit ISO with Unetbootin. The live USB worked after making one change - the sysconfig.cfg file requires to be replaced, as instructed in the Arch wiki.

The distro booted up nicely on my Asus K54C with GNOME 3.8 desktop. Post live boot I did installation on a 12 GB HDD partition. Antergos 2013.08.20 ships with Linux kernel 3.10.0 and GNOME 3.8.4. Files 3.8.4 is the default file manager.

Manjaro 0.8.7 "Ascella" XFCE Review: Superb performance with professional looks!

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

Manjaro XFCE on Asus EeePC 1101HA From Manjaro 0.8.7 XFCE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

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.

Manjaro 0.8.3 KDE: Simply getting better with each release!

I reviewed the last two releases of Manjaro Linux (0.8 and 0.8.2) earlier this year and was quite impressed by the last release. There were some glitches of course, like high RAM usage, in spite of being based on Arch Linux. But Manjaro has its own advantages as well like rolling release. To be honest, I wasn't using using Manjaro on a regular basis - relying more on Linux Mint and Archbang for productivity purposes. Hence, when the new updated release of Manjaro (0.8.3) came out, I had to do a fresh install to try it out. Manjaro 0.8.3 has now Cinnamon, Mate, KDE and XFCE versions - Gnome is left out for obvious reasons. Both 32 and 64 bit ISOs are available for download.

KDE is now a days my favorite desktop environment, after getting a bit fed up with Gnome. Given the updated release of Manjaro has KDE 4.9.4, I downloaded it first, though I guess Manjaro XFCE is the most popular one. The 32-bit KDE ISO is about 1.6 GB is size, almost same as Manjaro 0.8.2 KDE. I did a live-boot on the following three systems:

Asus K54C laptop, 2.2 Ghz Core i3 with 2 GB RAM
Asus 1101HA EeePC netbook, 1.38 Ghz Intel Atom with 1 GB RAM
HP P4 desktop, 2.4 Ghz with 1.5 GB DDR RAM

Here I tried to choose a variety of systems - a decently powered laptop, a low powered netbook and an antiquated PC. Live-boot was created using Mint Imagewriter (Unetbootin doesn't work with Arch). You can use OpenSUSE Imagewriter as well (basically the same thing).

Live boot was followed by installation on a 8 GB drive in the Core i3 laptop, to test out it's performance for a couple of days of continuous usage. I am writing this blog from Manjaro 0.8.3 KDE installation.

At a high level, not much has changed from last release except the following:

Linux kernel is upgraded to 3.4.24 from 3.4.18 in the last release.
KDE is upgraded to 4.9.4 from 4.9.2.
From the release note, I noted quite a few improvements and optimizations in hardware detection and software packages (like LibreOffice installer, CFI installer, etc.)
Some bugs, like keyboard layout detection, are fixed now.
Nvidia-legacy has been added and all software package list is now optimized.

The desktop looks typical KDE and I miss the Manjaro Linux artwork in the KDE version. The developers should include at least the black and green Manjaro wallpapers here. The default KDE look is really bland! Even the grub menu is the default black and white and the developers should pay some attention to the artwork in the KDE version as well.

Manjaro 0.8.3 detected Wifi and touchpad perfectly. Sound and resolution worked perfect in all the machines. I don't have a printer and hence, couldn't test that aspect. But, I didn't face any issue in hard-drive detection or mounting USB. However, it is not auto-mount but required password authentication for mounting existing hard drives.

Applications
The application list remains more-or-less the same as the last release with upgraded version of the apps, namely:

Office: LibreOffice 3.6 Writer & Calc, Okular document viewer
Internet: Firefox 17, Thunderbird 17
Graphics: GIMP 2.8, Gwenview Image Viewer, Digikam photo management, KSnapshot, Simple scan, ShowFoto photo viewer & editor
Multi-media: Amarok, Dragon Player, K3b disk burning
Accessories: 7-zip FM, Kate text editor, Ark Archiving tool, Klipper, KGpg, Nepomuk backup, Sweeper, HP Device Manager

Multimedia codecs and Adobe flash support is inbuilt and out-of-the-box, which is good. The graphics section is quite rich in Manjaro with a whole lot of applications incl. GIMP. Rest of the sections are decent, except Internet. I expect a bit-torrent client and a IM, to say the least, along with a browser and an email client. And please include Impress in Office apps, as I have been saying from the last release review.

Other than that, applications and multimedia support is good enough for a regular user, to start watching their favorite movie or listen to music right after installation.

Installation
Installation is quite easy and takes about 15-20 minutes of time. Once you live boot, there is an installation guide to help you out with step by step explained adequately. The guide is updated for 0.8.3, unlike last release. Installations steps are as usual, choose the installation drive, format it, install, create user id and grub2 install. Overall, installation is very easy and I could install Manjaro in my first attempt.

Performance
Last time I noted a bit high RAM usage in Manjaro compared to Kubuntu 12.04. However, I see marked improvement - on my Core i3 laptop, Manjaro 0.8.3 KDE showed 335 MB RAM with 1-10% CPU usage with system monitor running. That is about 100 MB reduction in RAM usage from the last release on the same machine under similar conditions! Remarkable indeed! Further, I didn't feel any stress on the system while multi-tasking.

Also, Manjaro live boot worked well on the netbook with limited resources. CPU usage was stable (around 50-70%) while watching a video or live streaming and I could multi-task within a reasonable limit.

However, on P4 desktop, it wasn't quite smooth to use and CPU usage shoot up to 100% while using Firefox and the system dragged a bit. It was a bit on the slower side. Never-the-less, system didn't hang which is a good thing. This HP machine is unable to run Windows XP SP3 but flies with Archbang!

Repository
Manjaro is cutting edge but not bleeding edge. It is actually good if you are using the system for production purposes. Manjaro sources packages from the Arch repo, which is quite rich. Yapan, abbreviation of Yet Another Package Manager Notifier, gives notification of the packages with pending updates. Like right after installation, I was notified of 100 mb updates. Like all Arch based distros, Pacman is the default package manager and it is very good.

One thing I miss in Manjaro is Pacman-GUI with the live DVD. Experienced Linux users would be at ease with terminal but for Linux novices a GUI with the default installation would help to a great extent. Package browser is there which helps with the package list, but it can't substitute a package manager GUI. So, I downloaded the pacman-GUI exclusively designed for Manjaro by typing the following command at the terminal:

$sudo pacman -S pacman-gui

Pacman-GUI is about 4 MB in size and is actually helpful to download applications. However, one needs to search the package browser for the exact package name and then input it in the pacman-GUI. It is kind of complex and confusing for any Linux newbie and an integrated package browser plus downloader is a much preferred option. Still, Manjaro at least has a pacman-GUI, I couldn't get a similar thing in Bridge Linux.

Experienced users, I guess, won't even care for a package browser and would directly download a package using the terminal. After having used Archbang for a couple of months, I could easily download Skype 4.1, VLC 2 and a host of other applications in Manjaro without even resorting to pacman-gui. I must say, webcam and microphone integration in Manjaro is good and Skype worked well with it.

Comparison to Bridge Linux 2012.12
I reckon the closest competitor of Manjaro would be another Arch based Linux with a GUI, Bridge Linux. To compare, I tested Bridge Linux 2012.12 on all the three systems. Bridge worked equally well on the Core i3 laptop (1-10% CPU and 330 MB RAM with system monitor running and detected Wifi), but didn't get started on the netbook and couldn't connect to LAN on the desktop. With a little bit of tinkering of the network settings (assigning a random Cloned Mac Address), Bridge could connect to the ethernet correctly. Bridge performed better on the HP P4 PC (5-20% CPU & 340 MB RAM) over Manjaro (80-100% CPU with 400 MB RAM usage).

In terms of hardware detection, Manjaro worked well on all the three machines, detected screen resolution, sound card, LAN and Wifi correctly, without much manual intervention, on all occasions. So, I have to keep Manjaro ahead of Bridge in terms of versatility though Bridge has a slight edge in performance.

Overall
Manjaro 0.8.3 KDE is actually a very good upgrade over 0.8.2 KDE. I could note significant improvement in performance and stability. Also, it is really smooth to use. Earlier, Bridge Linux was ahead in performance but now Manjaro has really caught up! Further, given Manjaro at least has a provision for a pacman-GUI (which may be a little complex to begin with), I'll recommend Manjaro 0.8.3 over Bridge for a Linux newbie. Also, from hardware recognition point of view, as my test showed, Manjaro is ahead of Bridge. Bridge still has a slight edge in performance on low powered machines.

In nutshell, Manjaro 0.8.3 KDE is really good and works decently on most of the systems I tried. If anyone is looking for an Arch-based KDE distro, my recommendation will now surely be Manjaro ahead of any other distro!

You can download Manjaro from here.

You may interested to read my recent article on Comparison of Best KDE Distro of 2012.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Archbang 2012.12 Review: Simple, light and fantastic

My interest on Arch Linux is increasing with every passing Arch based distro review. Last week I used Bridge Linux and was fascinated by it. This week I spent considerable time in learning as well as using Archbang, another Arch Linux based operating system with Openbox window manager. It gave me performance comparable to Puppy Linux and I replaced my Lubuntu 12.10 installation with Archbang on my HP Pentium 4, 2.4 Ghz, 1.5 GB DDR RAM desktop. To say the least I am more than fascinated by its speed, versatility and ease of use.

Archbang has a rolling release like Arch Linux and I guess, updated release comes every quarter. I saw 4 updated releases in 2011 but only a couple of releases in 2012 with the latest release on 8th December. I saw a disclaimer attached: "for the competent Linux user". That was kind of a challenge and I accepted it having used around 50 operating systems in last three years.

The 32-bit ISO is a lighter one, about 572 MB. For live-boot again, Unetbootin won't work and I used the Windows installation of Linux Live. Even though Linux Live USB creator wasn't able to detect the OS but never the less, it created an USB which successfully booted up. I used my HP desktop (as mentioned above) for testing Archbang to assess how it would perform on a low resource system. My yardsticks were Puppy Precise and Lubuntu 12.10, which were currently installed in it.

Archbang uses the lightweight Openbox window manager. It gives kind of a minimalistic and naked look. I somehow wasn't very fond of the grim black look but opted for a colorful one as shown in the first picture. Also, I didn' t like the dark tone menu and file manager and changed them to a more conventional gnome style. But, the distro is bleeding edge with the latest softwares. December 2012 release has Linux kernel 3.6.9. To give you an assessment, Ubuntu 12.10 is still at Linux 3.5, even Bridge Linux is at 3.6.7! So, truly you get the latest before any other distro offers it. It has both pros and cons, as I'll explain later.

Application
Going by the size of the ISO, I didn't expect a whole lot of applications in there. However, the applications given were carefully chosen ones to meet users basic needs. A list of the default applications provided is given below:

Internet: Firefox 17 with Adobe flashplugin 11
Graphics: Imageviewer
Office: ePDFviewer
Multimedia: DeaDBeef music player, GNOME MPlayer for videos, XFburn to create multimedia CDs
Accessories: Archive manager, Catfish file search, Calculator, LXterminal, Leafpad
File Manager: SpaceFM 0.8.3 (with multi-tab option, good but no preview option unlike Nautilus or Nemo)

The desktop is minimalistic and there is a conky which decorates the desktop. Pretty basic applications provided and there is front-end GUI to download applications. Further, there is no conventional menu to access the applications - a right click anywhere opens the menu. The file manager is really good and offers almost all the flexibility that I required. SpaceFM can be improved though by giving a preview option.

Installation
Having installed Bridge Linux earlier, I felt at home while installing Archbang. Pretty similar installation process asking for location, language, preference of disk, partitioning, creation of user name and changing root password and finally, installing grub. It takes about 30 minutes to install, like any other Linux distro.

Post installation installation of applications
Now post installation, there is no post install script like Bridge Linux here. Bridge is much more simplified than Archbang. Again Arch Wiki came to my help and I could download a host of applications like VLC 2, Skype 4, Chrome, Pidgin, Abiword, Gnumeric, etc.

First of all, I had to update the repository sources and hence, I resorted to terminal as root, using the following commands:
$su
$<type root password>
#pacman -Syy
#pacman -Syu

First pacman command is equivalent to apt-get update in Ubuntu and next one, -Syu is equivalent to apt-get upgrade.

Then I started downloading one application after another using command:
#pacman -S vlc
#pacman -S clementine
#pacman -S openjdk6
#pacman -S abiword
#pacman -S gnumeric
for VLC player, Clementine player, Java, Abiword and Gnumeric. Similarly I downloaded a host of other apps like Skype, Midori, pidgin, etc. To avoid writing so many lines you can also type the following command (doesn't require the su and enter password part!)

$sudo pacman -S vlc clementine openjdk6 abiword gnumeric

Arch Linux repository is very rich and you can find most of the regular applications. The lightweight operating system I wanted to create is done. Now I wanted to decorate it a bit as the default Archbang desktop looks too bland for my taste. I downloaded a few colorful wallpapers and changed the conky position and color (Preferences -> Conky Config -> Edit .conkyrc).

Further, I noted post installation that I forgot to include a 50 GB NTFS hard drive while installing, as one of the default boots. I tried a lot to manually mount the drive but it won't work. USB and External hard drive auto-mount worked as udev was there. So, I created a folder named sda1 in my home directory and in terminal typed the following command as root (with su and then typing the password)

#mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 ./sda1

The entire hard drive was mounted on the folder. It helped me avoid re-installing the operating system.

Another pain was the timeout after every 5-10 min of inactivity, especially while watching movies or videos. There is no settings GUI option in Archbang and I didn't require to download as I could easily control the timeout from terminal by

$xset s 3600 3600

which would extend the time before the screen would go blank to 1 hour. You can even extend it beyond that as well.

It was fun playing with the distro for a day and set everything up including webcam. Sound detection was automatic initially but after a couple of days it broke when I updated the system. The AlsaMixer v1.0.26 downloaded somehow caused it. Playing with it for 15-20 minutes resolved the issue and now it is working fine. I had no usse with mouse, keyboard or LAN/Wifi.

CPU and RAM Usage
This is the best part of Archbang. Openbox takes only 75 MB of RAM and 1% CPU to load. Further, with Firefox playing youtube video and VLC, Abiword, Gnumeric running, the RAM usage was only 250 MB and CPU usage of 60%. Even if the CPU usage is 100% the system never hangs! I am seriously impressed! Lubuntu uses about 130-150 MB RAM on the same system and gets painfully slow when you start using more than one application as the single core CPU is unable to support it. Puppy performs really good on it and no issues with Puppy. But, it is not cutting edge and I wanted something latest. So, I installed Archbang and removed Lubuntu from it. Now Archbang is my main distro instead of Puppy Precise.

Overall
I won't recommend Archbang to a total newbie, Bridge Linux is a much simpler option where complexity is relatively less and distro is more stable. But, for advanced Linux users, Archbang can be fun. However, given Archbang is bleeding edge, there can be minor issues here and there with every major update. Be prepared for it if you are to use one of the most impressive lightweight and complete distro available around. It is snappier than Puppy Linux and much more agile than any of the Ubuntu or Fedora based system I have used. For now I am sticking to it as the main operating system on my desktop with Puppy Precise as backup. Archbang may be a bit tough to begin with but Arch wiki and Archbang community are really helpful to back you up. In nutshell, a fantastic operating system to use if you have studied Linux for sometime and willing to use a highly functional but no frills operating system.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Bridge Linux 2012.12 Review: Arch Linux a bit simplified

I haven't tried out Arch Linux yet but I plan to do so next year. Mostly my experience is concentrated on Ubuntu, Fedora and their derivatives. Now with every passing release all these distributions are getting heavier and resource consuming. Puppy is a definite saving grace, no doubt. But, as an user I want to create my own lightweight all purpose operating system using Arch. Further, the rolling release of Arch is a definite advantage, once you set your system, you don't need to re-install every alternate year.

KDE Bridge Linux 2012.12

Bridge Linux is kind of an intermediate step between Arch and Ubuntu. It provides all the resource friendliness that Arch is characterized by and in addition provides an out of the box system with most of the things like soundcard, touchpad, graphic display, a desktop environment, etc. configured to save your time and energy.

LXDE Bridge Linux 2012.12

XFCE Bridge Linux 2012.12

Bridge Linux has a release every four months and for December 2012, it had to offer four flavors - Gnome 3.6, KDE 4.9.3, XFCE 4.10 and LXDE. I downloaded 32 bit versions of all four but could run only three - the Gnome 3.6 won't boot to a GUI and failed every time I tried. For the rest three, I live-boot all of them on my Asus K54C with 2.4 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM. I installed only the XFCE version on my system to try it out.

Live-Boot
Why I kept this separate section unlike my other reviews? Because a live-boot of Arch Linux runs into all kinds of trouble, if you use Unetbootin. I tried quite a few but none of them would work. So, I started my Windows 7 OS after quite a few months and installed Universal USB installer but that too failed! Finally after a brief search, I got reference of Linux Live installer for Windows OS and it worked! Though the interface is not simple and it may start downloading virtualbox, but I found it works for Arch. Bridge was not one of the specified distros in its list, however, given it works for Arch Linux, it worked for Bridge Linux as well. I created live boot of all the four ISOs that I downloaded.

Comparison

Parameters	Bridge KDE	Bridge XFCE	Bridge LXDE
ISO size	1 GB	696 MB	547 MB
Linux kernel	Linux 3.6.7-1-ARCH
Desktop	KDE 4.9.3	XFCE 4.10	LXDE
File Manager	Dolphin 2.1	Thunar 1.4.0	PCManFM 1.1.0
CPU Usage	2-10%	2-5%	1-3%
RAM Usage	330 MB	130 MB	80 MB
Installation	30 min	30 min	30 min
Programs – Internet	Chromium, Kopete, Bittorrent client, Kmail, Internet Dial up tool	Chromium, Thunderbird 17, Transmission	Chromium, Transmission
Programs – Multimedia	Amarok, Dragon Player, Kmix	AudioMixer, DeaDBeef, Xfburn	Exaile, Gnome Mplayer, Xfburn
Programs – Office	Complete LibreOffice 3.6 suite, Okular	Abiword, Gnumeric, Dictionary
Programs – Graphics	GIMP 2.8, Gwenview, Ksnapshot	GIMP 2.8, Shotwell	Imageviewer
Programs – Others	Qtdesigner, Archiving tool, Nepomuk backup, Kate, Kwrite	Archive manager, bulk rename, calculator, Leafpad, Screenshot	Archive manager, calculator, Leafpad
Wifi detection	Immediate	Immediate	Immediate

LXDE version is the lightest but thin on application as well. KDE version is the most complete with KDE centric applications and Chromium browser. In fact, all Bridge Linux versions have Chromium as the main browser.

All three of them boot pretty quickly and are very smooth to use. Given there is no package manager (pacman) on live-boot, user experience is pretty limited. Even flashplugin is not by default, neither multimedia codecs - so, the best option with bridge is to install and then try it out.

One thing about the KDE distro that surprised me, is there are no Restart or Shut down buttons. It has only options for logging out or locking the screen! A bit amusing, how am I supposed to shut the system down?

Luckily XFCE and LXDE editions had the conventional options of restart and/or shut down. XFCE is my preferred desktop these days and hence, to further check the OS, I installed XFCE version on an 8-GB partition.

Installation
Installation is simple, though not as simple as a Ubuntu or Linux Mint. It will ask for Language, Location, disc to partition (create two partitions - one for boot and another for swap, else things may not work as you desired), target for installation, installation of grub and finally configuring root and user. It took me about 30 min. to complete the installation without any major/minor hiccups.

Post-installation
After installation, I ran the post installation script and it downloaded pacman, plus updated the OS. However, I didn't find any pacman GUI and so, resorted to terminal to download my favorite applications. Arch forums and documents really helped me for the same. You can download all the desired applications, Adobe flashplugin, etc. using Pacman via terminal. I tried downloading the pacman GUI but none of the packages given here could be downloaded.

However, for experienced Linux users, terminal is not an issue. I downloaded VLC, codecs, Adobe flashpluginInkscape, Teamspeak, Skype 4.1, Quastrocam, etc. from the repos. All of them worked with my hardware. Linux kernel, desktop environments and applications are all latest and up to date, no complains there.

CPU and RAM Usage
The table in the comparison section already highlights that LXDE is the lightest and KDE the heaviest of the versions. Presumably, Arch Linux is supposed to be among the lightest Linux around. If I take the KDE 4.9 version and compare to the 32-bit operating systems that I used in 2012, definitely XFCE and LXDE versions score above the rest in terms of low RAM and CPU usage.

RAM Usage (32-bit)	KDE 4.9	XFCE 4.10	LXDE
Bridge Linux	330 MB	130 MB	80 MB
Ubuntu 12.10	300 MB	160 MB	134 MB
Linux Mint 13	300 MB	160 MB	-
Manjaro 0.8.2	440 MB	160 MB	-
OpenSUSE 12.2	340 MB	-	-
Sabayon 10	270 MB	-	-
Linux Lite 1.0.0	-	140 MB	-
ROSA 2012	-	-	122 MB
Zorin Lite 6.1	-	-	130 MB
Peppermint 3	-	-	135 MB

CPU Usage (32-bit)	KDE 4.9	XFCE 4.10	LXDE
Bridge Linux	2-10%	2-5%	1-3%
Ubuntu	2-10%	1-5%	1-5%
Linux Mint	2-10%	1-5%	-
Manjaro 0.8.2	5-7%	0-8%	-
OpenSUSE 12.2	1-5%	-	-
Sabayon 10	5-10%	-	-
Linux Lite 1.0.0	-	1-5%	-
ROSA 2012	-	-	1-10%
Zorin Lite 6.1	-	-	5-8%
Peppermint 3	-	-	1-5%

LXDE is surprisingly low (80 MB), most of LXDE distros I used consumed about 120-130 MB to load desktop with task manager running. KDE too is at par with other operating systems, if not lower.

Overall
I definitely recommend the XFCE and LXDE versions. Both of them are resource friendly and customizable. I really liked the KDE version, KDE 4.9 looks damn smashing but where the hell restart/shut down buttons go? Else, it is recommended. Gnome 3.6 version didn't work for me and hence, not recommended from my side. From both out-of-the-box applications and resource friendliness point of view, XFCE version seems to the most balanced and best of the lot.

The heading of the article says a bit simplified because even Bridge doesn't simplify Arch enough for a newbie and it takes a bit of Linux knowledge to get going on bridge. Manjaro is better for a newbie. However, for an experienced user, I would safely recommend Bridge over Manjaro for being a lighter distro. Manjaro seems to be a bit heavy for an Arch distro!

All in all, I am quite contented with both XFCE and LXDE versions and will use XFCE installation as the main distro in one of the machines I have. It is damn good!

You can download Bridge Linux from here.