MakuluLinux 6.0 "Mate" Review: Visually enticing but with a few bugs

Jacque Raymer has announced the release of MakuluLinux 6.0 "MATE" edition, a Debian-based distribution featuring the recently-released MATE 1.8 desktop environment: "The first release in our new 6 series dubbed 'Imperium' (Latin for 'power to command'), also our first dual-mode solo MATE build. This release allows users to customize their settings and software upon installation. Now users can setup their desktop the way they want it with the software they want while still experiencing an out-of-the-box experience. Those that don't want an out-of-the-box experience will now have an option to turn the system into a bare-bone system with a few clicks. Features: based on Debian 'Testing'; 3.13.x PAE kernel; full systemd support."

From MakuluLinux 6.0 Mate http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

The proposition of trying out the recently released Mate 1.8 desktop and how Makulu tweaks it, is definite enticing enough for me to try out MakuluLinux 6.0 Mate. I haven't used Mate spin of MakuluLinux earlier; but I liked their XFCE spin a lot. This South African distro is a bit gaudy to my taste but I liked their originality. So, I downloaded the 1.7 GB 32-bit ISO with PAE kernel.

I created a live USB using Linux Mint Image Writer and booted it up on my Asus K55VM laptop with 2.3 Ghz 3rd generation Core i7 processor, 8 GB DDR3 RAM and 2 GB NVIDIA GeForce 630M graphics. Unlike other Debian/Ubuntu based distros, MakuluLinux has a username password for live boot (Makulu/makulu). Post live boot and a quick check that everything is working as expected, I installed MakuluLinux Mate on a 50 GB partition.

From MakuluLinux 6.0 Mate http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

MakuluLinux 6.0 Mate ships with Mate 1.8.0 desktop and Linux kernel 3.13.0, pae which works well on 64-bit systems with more than 4 GB RAM as well. Caja 1.8.0 is the default file manager in the distro. Makulu is based on Debian testing.

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MakuluLinux 5.0 Review: A good Debian spin with an attractive XFCE desktop

Can you name an XFCE distro which can put any GNOME / KDE distro to shame in aesthetics? Yes, I know - Voyager. Now add another XFCE distro to that list - MakuluLinux. Normally XFCE distros are designed to be functional and less importance is placed on looks. Even the best of the XFCE distros like Linux Mint XFCE, Xubuntu or Manjaro XFCE, don't look as attractive as a KDE or a GNOME. And it is not that I don't agree with the developers of these distros - they are meant to run on low spec / relatively low spec machines and hence, very little attention to aesthetics.

Voyager is a definite trend setter in this regard and now we have MakuluLinux, a South African distro. I used their previous release and found it refreshing. The present release, based on Debian Testing, takes it a completely new level. I'll take you step by step my experience with the distro in this review.

From MakuluLinux 5 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

MakuluLinux us a South African distro based on Debian and ships with XFCE as the default desktop environment. The latest release boasts of a lot of improvements in terms of aesthetics and animations, as stated in the release note by Jacque Raymer:
"MakuluLinux Xfce 5.0, built on a strong Debian base, offers users not only stability and speed, but now also provides a much more effective modern animated desktop environment. Pre-compiled with hundreds of themes and wallpapers, users can really take full advantage of configuring their desktop to their liking. Dual menus now allow users to either click bottom left of the desktop to make use of the familiar whisker menu or click bottom right and make use of the fancy mouse-driven slingshot launcher. MakuluLinux Xfce 5.0 is also the first release to show off the newly revamped Makulu Installer. Based on Debian 'Testing' and PAE-enabled Linux kernel 3.12. Major software changes: GIMP replaced by MyPaint 1.1; WINE 1.4.1 replaced by WINE 1.6.x...."

Makulu has 32-bit version only but it works pretty fine on 64-bit machines with greater than 4 GB RAM pretty well because of the pae-kernel. In fact, the machine on which I installed and checked Makulu had 8 GB RAM and it detected the same quite well. The 32-bit ISO is about 1.8 GB in size and I used Mint Image Writer to create a live USB out of it.

I did a live boot followed by installation on Asus K55VM laptop with 2.3 Ghz Core i7 processor, 8 GB DDR3 RAM and 2 GB NVIDIA GeForce hybrid graphics.

MakuluLinux 5.0 ships with XFCE 4.10 as the desktop environment with Linux kernel 3.12.1. Thunar 1.6.3 is the default file manager. Makulu also has some documentation about how to install and use, available on the distro desktop. Also, the common issues in Makulu 5 are documented there. Documentation quality is mediocre at best.

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MakuluLinux 4.2 Review: Refreshing all purpose Debian spin but has some minor bugs!

For last 4-5 days, I was busy in testing a couple of pretty good XFCE distros - MakuluLinux and Voyager 13.10. Actually I am bit tired of reviewing the established names in the Linux world - they come pretty much configured to work on commonly available systems and there is very little surprise in store. Of late, the new and relatively unknown distros seem more appealing to me due to a couple of reasons: A. they try to ship some additional elements over and above the established names, B. they are not as ready to use as the established distros and challenge a bit of my limited Linux knowledge to make them work.

Though neither Makulu, nor Voyager are in the B group, but both of them come across as exciting distros worth exploring in my test use. I start with Makulu Linux 4.2 with XFCE 4.10 desktop. In my next review I'll focus on Voyager 13.10.

From Makulu Linux 4.2 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

Actually I was not much aware of MakuluLinux before this review and hence, I thought a short introduction (from Distrowatch) deem necessary. MakuluLinux is a South African distro based on Debian testing branch and ships with most of the commonly used DEs like Cinnamon, KDE, GNOME, XFCE, Mate, etc. It includes pre-installed multimedia codecs, plugins, device drivers and software for everyday use. Makulu means "big" in Zulu language and it is amply evident with a big hippopotamus as their distro icon!

For this review I downloaded the 32-bit ISO (a whopping "big" 1.9 GB in size). I created a live USB using Unetbootin with a 4 GB USB drive. For this test, I used Asus K54C laptop with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor, 2 GB DDR RAM and Intel HD 3000 graphics. I did a live boot followed by installation on a 12 GB partition.

MakuluLinux is based on Debian testing ("Debian Jessie") and ships with Linux kernel 3.10.3 and XFCE 4.10. In the following sections, I'll discuss the interesting features of MakuluLinux that compelled me to write this review.

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