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 This is true even for very outdated machines where the original Ubuntu wouldn't begin to start but Bodhi Linux works smoothly.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.

From the Drive

As with live operation, Bodhi Linux loads the Midori web browser from the hard drive and also a local web page that provides instructions for the installation and use of the system. Because the operating system performs updates automatically, an Internet connection is required.

The Network Connections entry in the Applications | Preferences submenu is used to create access to a WiFi network. In testing, Bodhi Linux displayed deficiencies in recognizing hardware. For example, it did not recognize the WiFi Bluetooth Combo card integrated into a notebook. The connection was generated only after an external WiFi dongle was used.

In the panel, Bodhi Linux indicates how the network access is functioning after a short wait time. The eepDater tool for updating the system is found in the Applications | System Tools menu.

The tool has an intuitive program window, which appears once it is called via a left mouse click. A list containing every package for which an update is available will appear once a request is made to the update server (Figure 2). In the first column – named Upgrade – you should select each package that you would like to upgrade by setting a check mark. Then, with a click on Apply at the upper right of the window, eepDater installs the latest updates for the selected package.

Figure 2: Updating the system takes place quickly thanks to eepDater.

The Desktop

After the migration from Enlightenment E18 to E19 for the Bodhi Linux 3.0.0 desktop, the developers did a turnabout with the introduction of the Moksha work interface for the new version 3.1.0. According to Jeff Hoogland, who is the thought leader behind Bodhi Linux, the Enlightenment E19 desktop proved to be quite plodding and resource hungry, especially for older computers.

Moreover, the development philosophy of the E19 project began to clash with the philosophy of the distribution. The Bodhi developers wanted to give the users freedom for configuration.

The Enlightenment project curtailed such freedom in favor of what they thought was more ease of use. Additionally, cooperation between the operating system developers and the desktop programmers grew ever more difficult. Delays occurred in fixing bugs in the E19 desktop because the Enlightenment team had devoted all of its energies to the successor version E20.

These unfortunate difficulties quickly led to the forking of the Moksha project from Enlightenment [3]. The underlying Enlightenment E17 work interface for the Moksha desktop is extremely stable and also almost entirely bug free due to years of maintenance.

A Matter of Settings

Bodhi Linux offers a central Settings Panel tool for configuring the system and the desktop, which is found in the submenu Settings . Using this tool, you can do things like select a foreign language for the operating system.

At the top of the central menu, you will find a horizontal row of options for system configuration. To set the keyboard for a foreign language, first select the Extensions menu. To the left, you should select the group Modules , which in turn contains a horizontal listing of Utilities . There you will find the Keyboard entry to the left.

For activating the country-specific keyboard layout, click on the Load button, which sits at the bottom of the window and then select the desired layout. Desktop localization proceeds in the same fashion once you go to the Settings Panel | Extensions | Modules | Settings | Language menu (Figure 3).

Figure 3: You can configure your system using the settings dialog.

Additionally, the Settings Panel offers options for the Moksha desktop including background, themes, window look and feel, menu configuration, as well as power management and cache settings for the hardware. This means you can use one tool with a unified interface to easily complete configuration.

Modules, Gadgets, and Shelves

Long-time Linux users may find it somewhat confusing that in the Moksha setup the modules for controlling hardware consist of small applications rather than Linux drivers, and that the applications are integrated into the panel bar with a quick starter.

From a list that you will find via the menu option Extensions | Modules , you should select from a list which Moksha should show in the panel. The module selection has been divided into subgroups according to functionality. Some of the mini programs can also be individually placed on the desktop (Figure 4).

Figure 4: The module dialog lets you put small applets on the Moksha desktop.

Given the high modularity of the Moksha desktop, users can modify and customize the desktop in great detail. This is done using the so-called gadgets, which consist mostly of various displays that provide information about things like the state of charge for the battery, the CPU load, and date and time. You can also select these gadgets in the Settings Panel but only once you have already installed the accompanying module.

Moksha collects the gadgets on so-called shelves. These shelves can be placed on each edge of the display screen no matter the number of gadgets and starters you have chosen. You will find the settings dialog for the shelves via Settings | Shelves .

Installing Software

Because relatively little software comes preinstalled on Bodhi Linux, it can fairly quickly become a priority for the user to install additional applications. Similar to other applications, Bodhi Linux has an application center to assist with this process (Figure 5). It is available online and starts automatically as soon as you call the standard web browser Midori.

Figure 5: The user can install additional software via the app center.

The visual interface of the app center is simple and straightforward. The center itself comprises diverse software categories that open with a mouse click so you can search through them. If you already know which application you need, you can enter its name in the search field and the app center will provide a short description if one is available. One more click, this time on the name of the program, takes you to the installation page where you should again click on the Install button. At that point, the system makes a security check and then downloads the application, installs it, and automatically resolves any dependencies.

The app center is noteworthy for the uniqueness of some of its software selections. For example, the office application category offers LibreOffice, Apache OpenOffice, and WPS Kingsoft-Office from China. If the software you are looking for is not among this generous collection of offerings, then you can simply get out Synaptic and use it to select from the multitude of Ubuntu repositories that address practically anything a user might need.

Bodhi Linux has various pieces of multimedia software in its app center. As with most distributions, you will need to have suitable audio and video codecs installed. One exception here is the videoplayer VLC. It has its own codec and therefore comes equipped to play back most multimedia formats.

If you need to get codecs, then you can do this via Synaptic. There you should select corresponding plugins for applications that make use of Gstreamer. If you want to use applications on the system that require Xine, for example Amarok, it's a good idea to use Synaptic to install the Xine plugins on bulk storage.

Conclusion

Bodhi Linux is a solid all-around desktop for users wanting to work on older computers. It has a large selection of software and provides a good alternative to the usual distributions. There is no need to forego an elegant visual appearance, and the new Moksha desktop can tease excellent visual effects out of old graphics cards. Additionally, it runs smoothly and can be configured with an eye to detail.

The Moksha developers have successfully managed to keep the highly robust characteristics of the E17 desktop so it comes across as very mature in spite of its low version number. The only problem is that localization for the desktop and keyboard layouts can be somewhat inconvenient.