Installation
Well begun is half done, right?
Determined users will find a way to install the distribution even if the process is cumbersome, but that’s bound to dissuade newcomers. Thankfully, many Linux distributions, including the ones featured in this Roundup, provide live-installable media. This gives you the option to test-drive the distribution before committing it to the hard disk.
Emmabuntüs is the heaviest of the lot, with an ISO image of over 3GB. You’ll not be able to proceed with the installation if the intended target partition is less than 15GB in size. This is quite large as most other Linux distributions, including the others featured in this installable will sit comfortably within 8GB of space. The installation itself is fairly straightforward, and the graphical installer will guide you along the few necessary steps, such as specifying your keyboard/locale, confirming the timezone, etc. However, the most important step in any distributions’ installation is partitioning.
While all distributions make installation straightforward and simple, with the option to automatically carve space for installation in the target partition/disk, Void Linux is the one exception. It features an ncurses-based text-only installer. Although this isn’t a problem in itself, the distribution also requires users to go through every step manually, including partitioning. If you intend to install the distribution to a disk all by itself, you’re also expected to format it to either a DOS format, or GPT, etc., without any clear instructions on which format is recommended for what hardware type. The lack of detailed instructions on this front is bound to hurt adoption rates for Void Linux.
Q4OS on the other hand will work with a 300MHZ machine with only 128MB RAM if you opt for the lightweight Trinity desktop.
While the project produces live-installble CD images featuring KDE Plasma and Trinity desktop, these are aimed at 64-bit machines. For 32-bit machines, the project offers an install-only image. You must choose the desktop environment you wish to install post-installation. Depending on your internet connection and system setup, the process can take anywhere from 10-20 minutes or more.
Its ncurses-based installer, meanwhile, is far more capable and not as difficult to work with as Void’s. You’ll be able to install additional desktop environment post installation using the desktop profiler tool.