Bodhi Linux and the Moksha desktop

For a long time now, Bodhi Linux has been the only Ubuntu-based distribution making use of the lean and visually pleasing Enlightenment desktop, which functions as the standard work interface.

The project team now presents an overhauled system with the 3.1.0 release. It is based on Ubuntu 14.04 with LTS support and for the first time also on Enlightenment fork Moksha. Moksha is the Sanskrit word for enlightenment or liberation . It draws on the positive characteristics of Enlightenment E17, including speed, limited resource consumption, and stability. Moreover, it has been freed of any unnecessary ballast.

Preparations

Moksha shines in spite of the low version number 0.1.0 because of its configurability and elegant appearance. In light of its moderate hardware requirements, Moksha makes older computer systems productive again with its pleasing and contemporary graphical interface. This is true even for very outdated machines where the original Ubuntu wouldn't begin to start but Bodhi Linux works smoothly.

The operating system comes as an ISO image from the project website [1]. In addition to a 32- and a 64-bit version, an image for legacy systems is also available. The latter is especially suitable for first-generation Pentium systems. It also supports processors without PAE extensions on the hardware side.

As minimum requirements for the system, the developers specify that the computer have a CPU with at least 500 MHz clock speed, 128MB working memory and 3GB of available storage on the hard drive. This means that computer systems that are more than 10 years old and no longer used can be reanimated.

The images for Bodhi Linux are all significantly smaller than 600MB. They can be easily used on older USB sticks of limited capacity and also on CD R storage devices. To transfer the image to a USB stick, insert the device with administrator rights and enter the following command in the terminal.

# dd if=/path-to-ISO/image of=/dev/sdX bs=512k

You should also change the device name /dev/<sdX> with the actual name for the stick. Many systems address a USB stick as a second storage device, or /dev/sdb .

You should take into consideration that the installation process will take several minutes because the write speed for typical USB sticks is relatively low. Instead of installing via the terminal, you can use a graphical tool like Unetbootin [2].

First Start

When first starting from a USB stick or an optical data storage device, the GRUB boot loader permits only live operation of the system. It is not possible to use GRUB for installing the system on bulk storage that is attached to the computer. If the typical live version of the operating system does not start, the menu offers an additional mode for loading Bodhi Linux with a VESA-compatible graphics driver.

After selecting one of the two start modes, Bodhi Linux appears quickly with a Moksha desktop that is surprisingly inconspicuous in appearance (Figure 1). Aside from a horizontal bar at the bottom of the work interface, there are no elements on the desktop.

Figure 1: The nimble, inconspicuous Moksha desktop can be thoroughly modified by the user.

The panel itself features only a button at the left for the start menu, two applications starters that sit next to the button, and a quite small system area. There you will find displays for time, date, virtual desktops, and network connections.

The individual submenus are in English and reveal a limited software portfolio. Thus, you will not find an office suite or image editing program. The developers have even done without a mail client.

The lean Midori system from the Xfce desktop functions as the browser. The available programs consist almost entirely of native applications for the Enlightenment desktop. These programs include ePhoto, which serves as an image viewer, and ePad, which functions as a simple text editor. The fast file manager PcmanFM rounds out this basic offering.

However, the development philosophy of the Moksha programmers impressively reveals itself in the Settings sub menu. There you will find any number of entries for individual modifications of the work interface. In contrast to the current trend followed by Gnome, Unity, and others, which are systems that offer the fewest possible configuration options, Moksha takes a different route just like KDE does. With Moksha, it is possible to individualize the appearance of the desktop down to the smallest detail so that it becomes almost one of a kind.

Static setup of the system is initiated from the live desktop via the Install Bodhi option. You can call the option either from the lower left of the panel or via the menu entry Applications | Preferences .

Then, in just a few steps, the graphical installer will open and quickly install a fully functioning, usable operating system on the hard drive. The tool also allows installation on encrypted data storage devices and directories as well as the setup of an LVM system.

In contrast to other installation routines, it is not possible to create a root account. There are also other options lacking, such as the selection of a boot loader and its configuration. In our tests, we noticed a bug in the routine in the 64-bit version.

The installer does not fully accommodate the foreign language localization that we selected. Bodhi Linux continued to load in English. Only the keyboard functioned as a German language keyboard.