Manjaro 16.10 Xfce - Surprised me, I like

Discussion in 'all things UNIX' started by Mrkvonic, Dec 10, 2016.

  1. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    You will not believe this article. But here it is. A long, thorough, enthusiastic review of Manjaro 16.10 Xfce 64-bit edition, an Arch-based distribution, tested on a laptop with UEFI, Secure Boot, GPT, 16 partitions, and a multi-boot setup with Windows 10 and several Linux instances, covering live session, installation & partitioning, and a post-install experience, including look & feel, customization and visual niggles, network connectivity - Wireless, Bluetooth, Samba sharing and printing, multimedia playback - MP3 and HD video, smartphone support - iPhone and Ubuntu Phone, package management & updates, new kernel 4.8.7 that fixes Realtek RTL8723BE disconnects, applications, resource usage, performance, responsiveness, hardware compatibility, stability, suspend & resume, battery life, small problems, other observations, and more. Enjoy most profoundly.

    http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/manjaro-16-10-xfce.html


    Cheers,
    Mrk
     
  2. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

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    Probably :rolleyes:

    Good review, thanks.
    btw, who's the girl in the wallpaper? Isn't it Bioshock's Elizabeth?
     
  3. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    I would not know. I got it from Wallhaven.
    Mrk
     
  4. NormanF

    NormanF Registered Member

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    You can install the latest kernel in Ubuntu with the third party Ukuu Kernel utility.

    Manjaro has it built-in, which is nifty for obtaining new hardware driver support and bug fixes.
     
  5. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

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    I prefer to opt for the LTS kernel which is very easy to do in Manjaro; the Hardware Detection is also a very handy tool.
     
  6. korben

    korben Registered Member

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    Manjaro Xfce was to be my primary steup till I discovered all well some of those hiccups mentioned by Sir Mrk in the excellent review.

    Then I lay my eyes on KDE. Am in Love for 3 months now. Should I tell my wife?

    Peace
     
  7. dogbite

    dogbite Registered Member

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    I've tried to install it on my netbook but when installing with encryption it fails, while Mint 18.1 was flawless.
     
  8. fblais

    fblais Registered Member

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    Manjaro 17 just got released in XFCE and KDE flavors.
    Time for an updated XFCE review? ;)
     
  9. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    GNOME version is just released. It's one of the official flavors now, joining XFCE and KDE.
    Nice. I might try our the GNOME version tonight.
     
  10. fblais

    fblais Registered Member

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    I'm installing the XFCE version right now.
     
  11. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    I installed and tested manjaro 17 GNOME edition last night. Installation appears to be working, and all the apps appear to be working fine also. However, it takes almost 2 minutes for boot and shutdown, while it only took Windows 10 less than 20 seconds to boot and shutdown. Apps run sluggishly on manjaro as compared to Win10.
    The only thing that's good about manjaro is most apps are latest version as compared to Ubuntu; however on desktop it still cannot compete with Win10. I'll keep the installer USB but revert my desktop back to Win10.
     
  12. fblais

    fblais Registered Member

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    Fast startup (aka: hiberboot, hybrid boot, or hybrid shutdown) is turned on by default in Windows 10 and is a setting that helps your PC start up faster after shutdown. Even faster than hibernate. Windows does this by saving an image of the Windows kernel and loaded drivers to the hiberfile (C:\hiberfil.sys) upon shutdown so when you start your PC again, Windows simply loads the hiberfile (C:\hiberfil.sys) into memory to resume your PC instead of restarting it.
     
  13. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Well, not really. I disabled hibernate, and use no virtual memory, therefore the fast startup option is disabled in Windows 10. I use a 120GB ssd as OS drive, so there is no excuse Windows 10 only need <20 second, while Manjaro needed ~2 minutes just to boot and shutdown. Something is not right. In Manjaro forums, some people also has the same problem, and the culprit appears to be systemd settings. I lost interest to mess up with systemd settings, so just restored an IFL image of Windows 10. Now everything works fine with Win10.
     
  14. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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  15. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Manjaro 17 USB could not boot on a Lenovo G580 with UEFI Secure boot options on, because the boot loader is not signed therefore was blocked by secure boot. Is this a joke? Both Ubuntu and Fedora solved this problem years ago.
     
  16. fblais

    fblais Registered Member

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    These days I feel really sad about the state of Linux distros.
    It seems they get worse every day.
    What's the value of having hundreds of distros available when none are able to complete with Windows and Apple?
    I know it's a wide generalization, but you get the picture of my state of mind...
     
  17. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Totally agree.
     
  18. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

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    Agree.
     
  19. The Red Moon

    The Red Moon Registered Member

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    Linux is not about competing with microsoft or apple.
    where has it been stated otherwise.?

    linux is about open and free software.
    windows and mac are closed and proprietry.

    windows is just windows with no choices.
    linux has many distro offering to suit the silver platters out there.

    so no i dont agree that the state of linux is in a sad state of affairs.
    i for one am glad that linux is here and we are given choices.

    all the best.
     
  20. fblais

    fblais Registered Member

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    I meant no offence to Linux lovers.
    For me, it's about an operating system that works and gets the job done.
    I don't really mind what's its name and owner.
    I think Ubuntu in the 12.04LTS era was great, but gets down the hole since then.
    And since so many distros are based on Ubuntu, then they are drained in the hole as well.
    Being free or open-source isn't a factor of choice for me.
    If it fails at being a successful tool, then it failed.
     
  21. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    Red Moon, how's being open and free relevant if products are bad?
    The choice is no choice if all options are not suitable for purpose.
    Mrk
     
  22. accessgranted

    accessgranted Registered Member

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    +1
     
  23. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

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    No it doesn't, it has a handful with many variants
    Debian/Ubuntu
    Red Hat/Fedora
    Suse
    Arch
    And these have been lacking in improvement, in fact going regressive in terms of usability and stability.
     
  24. Balthazar

    Balthazar Registered Member

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    Thanks for your commentary!
    I totally agree.
    Discussions like this are often abstract or vague (“products are bad”, Ubuntu once was great and now it's not). Reminds me of Fox News...”some say”...

    I don't use the latest hardware and it could easily be that it's getting harder to install Linux...I really don't know.

    Also, you have to distinguish between private and professional work environments.
    Is this about having to install a driver? What's so bad and sad about Linux? What's wrong with a thousand distros? I know, a lot of stuff is redundant but where is the harm in that? You are not forced to try them (at) all.
    Unstable in what sense? Does your OS crash abruptly?
     
  25. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    In the year 2017, Manjaro 17.0 can not be installed in a Lenovo G580 laptop that was manufactured in 2013. In fact, the boot USB can not even boot on that laptop. How sad it that? Can it be any worse than a boot usb not being able to boot? A 4-year old laptop can not be considered new hardware in any meaningful sense.
     
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