Sidux 2009-03 "Momos"

Debian unstable (codenamed Sid) is not called "unstable" for nothing. It doesn't receive security updates, it contains bleeding edge packages which may break the system, and occasionally the system might break very badly. Although we don't have any statistics to refer to, there is probably no Debian unstable user who has never ended up with their sleeves rolled up fixing some serious problem which came up after a system upgrade. That's why the Debian project is very clear about it: "Use it at your own risk!"

Sid is a challenge for some, and it's quite clear that it isn't the perfect choice for non-advanced GNU/Linux users. Nevertheless, for those up for the challenge, Debian unstable has potential. Taking advantage of that potential is a matter of preference. Debian polishes the unstable packages until they reach "testing", and continues to polish them until "testing" becomes the next stable release at some point. On the other hand, Ubuntu uses snapshots of Sid's codebase, recompiling and polishing the packages to build its stable releases. Sidux takes another approach by giving more love to the vanilla Debian unstable so it becomes capable for everyday desktop use.

The past

Sidux was founded by Stefan Lippers-Hollmann (slh), an ex-Kanotix (a KNOPPIX derivative) developer. He resigned from his position in the Kanotix team after two years of activity, due to "technical and personal disagreements". Among the issues Lippers-Hollmann found unacceptable was a strategy change towards more stable Debian branches as a base for Kanotix. While Kanotix looked for more stability, SLH decided to stick to unstable, which resulted with founding of Sidux - "the best Debian Sid based live distro", according to the Sidux declaration. For more details about the issue jump into the LWN time machine and read this article from December 2006.

Three years after the initial announcement, the Sidux team has released 11 versions. The current stable release is 2009-03, codenamed Momos (Μωμος).

The present

Sidux is primarily a KDE distribution, with an optional XFCE ISO. The Lite variant provides a minimal KDE installation, available in ISOs for 32 or 64 bit machines. "KDE full" is a DVD image which ships the complete KDE suite with several additional applications like OpenOffice.org and Iceweasel.

The Sidux installer offers a painless installation interface, which transfers the system to hard drive in a matter of minutes. It's user friendly, with an interface divided into tabs (tabs are changed by clicking the "Forward" button). The Ext3 filesystem is a default, with Ext4 available. Besides an option for hard drive installs, Sidux offers an "install-sidux-to-usb" interface which installs the system to a USB stick. Apparently a bug appeared during the testing of this feature, since it didn't work for me with the default empty root password.

The first, and one of the most important differences between Debian Sid and Sidux is the kernel. While the Debian kernel is a bit conservative regarding desktop settings (preemption, etc.), Sidux uses a custom kernel which is tuned for maximum performance. In addition, there is a long list of included firmware. The goal is to make the best out-of-the-box functionality as possible. A good example of this was the Intel 4965 wireless controller on the test machine. The installer offered firmware installation and it was usable after the first boot.

The majority of Sidux software is installed from the Debian Sid repository. It's used alongside the Sidux repository which contains custom packages and updates/fixes for some of the Sid packages. For example, OpenOffice.org will be installed from Debian, but Kaffeine (the default media player) is built by the Sidux team and stored in the Sidux repository. Most of the custom packages contain the kernel, firmware, Sidux tools and other customizations like artwork and documentation.

Version 2009-03, is very fresh. It's running on top of Linux 2.6.32, Xorg 7.4, with KDE 4.3.4. A deeper look at the Sidux repository reveals Kaffeine 1.0 pre2 and Lirc 0.8.3 SVN build, together with a qemu-kvm package update, among others. The rest of the software is basically the same as Debian sid.

Besides the goal of being fast, and to recognize and make functional as much hardware as possible, Sidux ships several configuration tools. They are wrapped together into the command line interface called Sidux Control Center (siduxcc).

Siduxcc offers network interface configuration through Ceni (the network card configuration tool) and the hostname settings. Service activation/deactivation is available through rcconf for runlevels, or a custom interface per service (Apache, Cups, etc.). The X server settings offer a proprietary driver installation option for Nvidia/ATI chips, together with the usual graphical subsystem settings like resolution, color depth or compositing. Apt dist-upgrade and kernel updates are also possible to manage from Siduxcc.

The artwork has been customized for Sidux. It seems that the Sidux team takes appearances seriously since the overall look of 2009-03 showed quite a lot of energy invested into it. There is a custom font too, available in the Sidux repository. Speaking of repositories and artwork, the Sidux art development team maintains a separate repository which contains Inkscape and MyPaint packages built from SVN, which are used for the distribution's graphics production.

Sidux performed very well on the test machine, showing that kernel optimizations do their job. The snappy KDE 4 was a real pleasure, with all the goodies Debian has provided for years. Potentially the most complicated task for a regular user, proprietary Nvidia driver installation, is handled in a relatively easy way. It is managed with a command line interface, but truth to be told, it's as easy to use the arrow and enter keys rather than moving the mouse and clicking.

The future

With everything taken into account, it's hard to make a concise conclusion about Sidux. The reason is simple though: it's a desktop optimized, easy to use and configure distribution, which relies on the Debian unstable branch. Despite the fact that it runs very well in terms of performance and stability, it is still built on top of a package base which can seriously break at some point. Ordinary users should not have to deal with potential Debian Sid troubles.

Therefore, Sidux might be great for the users who are able to handle somewhat complex situations, with no time (or will) to make Debian Sid a decent desktop distribution. If one desires a Debian/KDE based distribution with fresh software Sidux is worth a try.