 Visitor Reviews |
Elive
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Reader supplied reviews for Elive
Average rating
5.1 from 37 review(s)
Version: 3.8.42
Rating: 1
Date: 2024-07-16
Votes: 8
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Got to say I really wanted to like this one, but after repeated trials I came to the conclusion that Ellive fails in its announced primary mission - revitalizing older computers.
I'll give Elive this - it brings on the bling, sort of a Barbie meets Liniux look and feel. The trouble is in the stability. I get browsers are an issue on old hardware, graphic cards and CPUs are pressed but many distros running on old computers manage with out constant freezes, but not Elive. And it would be somewhat forgivable if the freezing was just associated with browsers, but freezing simply permeates Elive.
Given the website for Elive reminds me of what Ron Popeil might have created if he developed a Linix distro, I expected more. Popeil's products worked as advertised, Elive does not.
And then there is the onerous process to try Elive for free, truly someone thinks much of themselves.
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Version: 3.8.42
Rating: 2
Date: 2024-06-18
Votes: 8
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Elive review.
Pros
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- Conceptually a great idea: supposedly able to breath new life into even 15 year old computers
- A vibrant desktop theme, compared to stodgy old Windows grey on blue it is snazzy
Cons
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- Click on the download and see the first major issue - Elive warns you NOT TO USE the Stable version but instead to use the latest Beta, and I quote: " If you want to seriously use Elive, you must go for the latest Beta version instead, which is highly featured and extremely stable" - WTF!!!!! So in Elive land Beta means Stable and Stable means version 1.0, this is messed up beyond belief.
- Complicated bizarre download process that tries to guilt you into donations
- For a distro claiming, and I quote: "With Elive, computers up to 15 years old can be transformed to high-performance machines with a stunning interface fully customizable." Elive actually has difficulty running on older, major brand distributions. In Elive's defense inthe statement quoted above they used "can be", the trouble I have is Elive would not work effectively on a boatload of old Thinkpad/Lenovo old hardware. It was not till I ratcheted up to a T440p that I found hardware it would not freeze on.
- Freeze, reboot, freeze again repeat on ant hardware older than 10 years old. and dodgy on 8-10 year old hardware
Conclusion
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Elive may be a great distro for folks wanting to run a loudly themed Linux distro on middle aged hardware. However it fails in its primary mission and It is unsuitable for old hardware There are many excellent options available for older hardware that actually work out of the box: antiX, DSL, Bodhi, Slacko, Slax, Emmabuntüs,, Slackware, Puppy
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Version: 3.8.40
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-04-03
Votes: 5
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Great distro, works on older hardware and blindingly fast on new. A lot of thought has been given to a minimalist base load which provides everything you need. The larger apps are there but you have the chance to really think about how you work and if you need the heavyweights. There is a live usb with persistence to use on machines other than your own. It's great for graphics, music and general office work, but super powerful for system administration and programming. Rethink you computing and have fun doing it!
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Version: 3.8.40
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-03-21
Votes: 2
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I am so glad I found and tried this distro! It gave new life to my very old PC making it functional and snappy.
I also wanted to try the 64 bit version on my less old but still very basic and slow 64 bit pc and it gave new life to that too!
What can I tell you?
Try it and see for yourself that I am right!
I have tried other distros in the past, but they were either nice and full of programs but slow, or empty and very basic but very ugly or at least not even as fast as this one!
Elive I find it perfect because it combines beauty, lightness and utility in one distro!
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Version: 3.8.40
Rating: 1
Date: 2024-03-21
Votes: 1
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For a Linux distribution that claims to breath new life into old hardware it i amazing how little old hardware Elive will actually run on without freezing. I have literal stacks of old Lenovo, Compac, and Dell laptops and Elive installs on about half of them but freezes on the majority of them. AntiX, Void, Bodhi. Q4os, Kumander all install and generally do not freeze Elive does. Zippy and stable are not adjectives I would use to describe Elive.
I will say it is stylish, out theming eye sores like Void and the minimally themed antiX but falls way behind the simple elegance of Bodhi with Q4os nd Kumander very Windows 7 like.But operationally Elive is a dog.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 2
Date: 2024-02-13
Votes: 12
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Please excuse English, English not first language but I be try.
I am Uganda IT man, but live French from Methodist assist church that I now work charity for. We group old computer for less nations develop, both for school and for adulty person use to enlarge brain both types.
My job is to trial Linuxes on many type of computer to get wide use before we change to support education for schools across world poor.
I trial Elive by install on computer. First good things. Elive easy to install when it install. Not hard questions it ask. So easy install, Also plus thing, Elive is pretty. Children like very much with many shiny colors. Keep little kid much attention because pretty. Also plus thing Elive give to you many applicators when install with no work for install man – so good.
But now bad things. Elive not install on many hardwares. Odd to me much install Acer but many less install on Lenovo. Trouble install on many Dell to. More bad thing is many time stop work and must reboot. Not just browser I fix turn eccelerator off browser, but stop working Calc and Writer. This bad thing as use much.
I think Elive pretty and with the hardware it work on god thing but not run many hardware so problem,
I also trial Emmabuntus on same and install all computer fine so why not Elive do good to. Both be Debian.
So Elive not so good most time. Good some computer but bad many.
Sorry me English. Church help better it future time.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-02-08
Votes: 5
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A nice distro for older hardware.
I remember trying out Elive version 1 15 years ago and was impressed how well constructed it was. Only after a while I moved over to Mandrake because the gnome stuff just didn't work for me and I chose KDE.
Looking for something a bit different this time, I noticed Elive retrowave using Enlightenment and decided to try it out.
Thinking it was only a live version I was surprised to be asked if I wanted to install. So I did that, overwriting the existing unsupported Win7 that was on the laptop.
The installation was fast and very easy with Elive even seeing that I was in Denmark and choosing the right language for me. Only the keyboard language was wrong because I have a German one but that was easily changed before doing the installation. It recognized all my hardware immediately and configured that for me.
Installed it has the same complete Desktop that the live version has. I didn't have to install anything extra, it was all already available. Even a lot of stuff I never heard of.
Elive retrowave gives a nice techno-style appearance reminding me of the disco vibes in the nineties and has a big number of program choices. It still reminds me a lot of the Apple desktop like gnome does but that fits the retro feeling.
I tried installing and changing e16 and e17 numerous times while using other distributions like Ubuntu but none come out as good and fast as the Elive versions are.
Coming from the heavy weight desktops that KDE and Gnome now offer, this feels like a new start for me and my old laptop. There are not that many distributions that offer a desktop for i386 machines in these times, it would be a pity to have to throw away good working machines just because of that.
It's going to be a lot of fun just exploring all the sweets that Elive has to offer and I can recommend it to everyone, even if you have never tried Linux before.
It's free, easy to install and very steady on my old Acer.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2024-01-28
Votes: 1
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Wow. The first time I have ever thought of distro as a lie. From the website you would think Elive was some superfast, elegant, technological eyecandy that magically transforms old computers into viable.modern workstation and the technology was such a cut above other ditros you would happily pay for it. Instead of that magical distro we get Elive, a cludgy rust bucket of old apps held together by a desktop you might have thought created by child on a sugar high back in the 70s. Elive is subject to random freezes, crashes, and bloat. And then there is the obnoxious download process and repeated request for funding. I never hated a ditstro before but Elive manged to change that. Don't waste your time with Elive.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-01-17
Votes: 2
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I recently downloaded and tried Elive and I'm glad I did.
I went with the freely offered Synthwave edition first and then finding it to my liking, paid a small sum for the latest Beta and used it to upgrade.
It turns out to be the perfect fit for my not al too modern rig: Fast, flexible, stable and a pretty Desktop that allows easy changing to how I like it.
The download was fairly large compared to other distributions but I must say that I found it to be fully filled with all the programs I want and need.
Most other distributions that call themselves light-weight don't offer very much in their default installation image but Elive does. It's always quite daunting, after a fresh installation, to have to find and install everything needed for a fully working machine again but Elive already has them on the live image.
Running everything and the proverbial kitchen-sink from a flash-disk in live mode is nice, especially when traveling. Having a persistence mode available to keep personal stuff and settings made that a great option.
Installing to a hard disk wasn't the usual installer most distributions use but was simple enough, including the always dangerous partitioning section which was helpful and precise. You can't really go wrong there if you just stick to the default settings.
On booting from a fixed disk, there's an extra option called 'impermutable mode' which actually allows you to experiment as much as you like without risking totally bricking your existing installation. Just reboot, log in and all the changes are gone. Really good thinking, a tinkerers delight.
why don't other distributions have this?
It's not like it takes up loads of extra storage space.
Normally I don't give 10/10 for distributions but this one really deserves it.
You can't go wrong on Elive. Download it, write to flash-disk and use or install it.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2024-01-04
Votes: 0
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It is kind of hard to say much about a Linux distro that fails it most basic modern task: installation.
If this was 15-20 years ago, sure I would say you need to have Linux specific admin skills to install a desktop, probably you would have to chose your own desktop and select your apps, and know about repositories, maintenance etc. But we are no longer in that world for the average ex-Windows home desktop user. We are in the world of clean, do it for me installations, with a desktop that magically appears filled with preselected/vetted applications. The hardest tasks in most modern Linux distros is putting in your wifi password.
And this is what Elive purports to do, in fact, Elive takes it many steps further and boasts not only does it do this but it does it better than any other distro - now give me money!!!! Problem is, Elive does not even install cleanly. After reading the reviews below I now know why - old errors crept back into the installation, a sure sign of slipshod testing. That little tidbit tells you all you need you about Elive. Indicative of the issues around one man shops distros or thinly supported distros.
I spun up the latest Mint XFCE and it installed cleanly and consumed 683 MB RAM with wifi running at boot. I also tried Bodhi which weighed in at 263 MB RAM with wifi running. The latest MX Linux ran fine but came in weigh to heavy on RAM for my tastes but still it runs well, I was surprised to see how much heavier it was than Mint XFCE. The difference - Mx-Linux. Linux Mint and Bodhi works, Elive doesn't.
My suggestion, don't waste your time with Elive, Look for a distro with a support base. Mint has a massive support base, Bodhi has a small, but dedicated support base, and MX Linux is also very well supported. Or try one of the many other distros out there that work and have adequate support.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 2
Date: 2023-12-29
Votes: 1
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So why is it this distro exists? I ask that because this distro is clearly not a labor of love as much as a edifice to the vanity of a single developer. When you arrive at the website you are greeted by message after message, that not only are blatant and repeated requests for donations but also encased in verbiage that attempts to portray the developer as some long suffering genius tech hero who labors in obscurity. Moreover he encloses it all in this blatant threat his creation may disappear if you don't pony up money. So the developer sets the stage for a superior Linux experience, that so outclasses other distros you will be glad to pay for it.
Okay, fair enough I bit. So after enduring a laborious download procedure where you have to sign up, subscribe to e-email solicitation or money in order to get a download link and then more solicitations for funding, you can attempt to install Elive. I say attempt, because of the 3 systems I had planned to try Elive out on it would only install on one of them.
Okay, not a great start, but it launched. The theme was as loud and as boisterous as the website. Trouble is Elive does not perform. It is subject to freezing, slowdowns etc, Required reboots. This is a very poor distro and certainly is not something I would not only not pay a penny for but would simply never chose to run.
Curious, I tried other Debian distros: Mx Linux, LMDE, Sparky, Q4OS on the hardware Elive would not install on and they all installed and ran without issue. Bu the kicker (as in kick Elive to the curb) is one the system Elive installed on, none of the other Debian based distros exhibited freezing.
So essentially Elive has taken Debian stable and made it unstable - well done, bravo.
Sometimes a disto simply play itself out. Clearly it is time for Elive to join the discontinued ranks,. There will be no loss.
I gave it a 2, because even though dated it installed and was kind of pretty.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-12-21
Votes: 1
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Elive is just what the doctor ordered for my aging laptops. Both the 32 and 64 bit version make those old Dells fly again.
At first I went for the 32bit version, as that was free.
I liked it so much that I decided to give a small donation and download the 64bit version as well.
The 64 bit version is just as fast, as far as I can tell but has more recent browser versions that I need.
Running from USB was easy and straightforward, as was installing to hard disk later on. All steps are quite idiot-proof so I'm actually surprised by some reviewers saying they can't install Elive. If it runs, it installs. :)
The E16 Enlightenment desktop is showing its age in the way the menus are set up and the icons that come with it.
I'd love to see what can be done with the latest E25 desktop, maybe soon?
Keep up the good work, I'm hooked.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-11-23
Votes: 9
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I got it installed, but I'm not so sure if this is a good or bad news.
The website is full of adjectives like "amazing", "beautiful", etc., it constantly reminds you how to donate, the download is limited unless you donate... donate... donate...
If you enjoy staring at the boot screen, then Elive is a perfect choice for you. It takes forever to boot, and the boot screen is nice.
That was it with the good news.
The pre-installed software is odd. Leafpad for simple stuff and Geany for the rest would make sense, but SciTex editor? WTF? The software versions are also outdated, two or three versions behind Fedora. MPlayer is version 3 on Elive and 6 on Fedora!
Some applications do not fit into the system at all. The system is dark with shiny "rainbow look" icons everywhere, but the start menu icons and SMPlayer look like Windows 95.
I will stop here because it will become a book if I continue. Do yourself a favor and AVOID this at all costs.
It's buggy, the desktop freezes, and a bunch of "donate" popups pop up every time you update the system.
NOT RECOMMENDED! Get another distro that works.
(1 only because there is no -10)
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Version: 3.0.4
Rating: 2
Date: 2023-11-12
Votes: 2
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I tried downloading the latest the other day, I wanted to try the latest instead of trying my 3.0.6 version which is the stable version but is years old; why becasus i though that maybe I would have some control over the font colour; turns out unless I make a financial contribution I cannot try the latest version; I thinks that is their loss, why limit the availabilty and audience. I still tried the version I have with the same goal in live mode but could not find a way of even increasing font size so I could have a better experience - the font, due to my bad eyesight is just too small - oh well I moved onto trying lmde.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-10-22
Votes: 6
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My review;
Pro
- none known
Con
- does not install
- lengthy process to get a download link
I'd give it a zero if possible.
It doesn't install on my Dell. I tried 11 other Linux versions, every one but Elive installed, as follows:
Fatdog
Puppy
Slitaz
Bodhi
Q40s
Lubuntu
Kubuntu
Popos
Slax
Porteus
Manjaro
but Elive does not install and throws errors. Also no other version of Linux I tried makes you go through an onerous process just to get an iso.
Reading the reviews below it seems the install problem is an old bug with a known fix that was not put into this new version. That is sloppy building,coding, and testing. And it should make you wonder how secure Elive is, as in, were important security updates also left out on the build. Do you really want a Linux where you NEED to verify all the security fixes are there? If you have to analyze at that level why not just use a baseline Linux flavor like Debian so you know you ave something safe and secure that as full support.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-10-10
Votes: 18
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I have been distro hopping for several months, trying for that best fit on a computer built from older hardware so Elive was high on my list of distros to try since Elive loudly advertises itself as the great savior for those running on old hardware. I am not sure where to even begin wen reviewing this over-hyped trainwreck of a distribution. Elive promises much and delivers little.
Let's start with the website where Elive's is hyped into casting a shadow that puts it in legendary status -along with not so subtle pleas for funding for this "awesome" distro.
So want to TRY Elive? You have a choice, pony up money for an instant download or jump through a series of hoops, that involves signing up for the Elive mailing list, complete with additional requests for funding.
Finally you get a download link.
I have a older hardware from Lenovo, Dell, and HP, I could only get Elive to run on the Dell, and there it froze repeatedly. Curious, I tried the same hardware with Debian, which Elive is derived from, and Ubuntu as an added kicker, and they installed on all three of the computers and ran without fail. So the issue is clearly with Elive.
Elive was not particularly light, distros like Puppy, Bodhi, LXLE, and Q4OS are all lighter and 3 of those 4 are fully fledged desktops out of the box. Kumander is a bit heavier than the others but lighter than Elive and is definitely worth a look.
Elive is an over-hyped distro that does not deliver on its promises. It is buggy,prone to freezes,run only on some hardware. I do not recommend.
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Version: 3.0.4
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-10-02
Votes: 2
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While looking for a suitable operating system for my old notebook from 2006 with an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, i became aware of Linux Elive. At this point i would like to point out that I am very satisfied with this Linux operating system. For me it is a fantastic operating system that is fast, powerful and also includes beautiful visual effects, and it has been running flawlessly on this notebook so far. Linux Elive brought my notebook back to life and gave me a new perspective on Linux. I love the Enlightenment-Desktop, which is very customizable and dynamic. It has lots of cool effects that make my desktop eye-catching.
Linux Elive also has a great selection of applications that meet all of my basic notebook operating system needs. It has everything I need, from a complete office suite, tools, games and multimedia. I can edit videos, create graphics, listen to music, watch movies and much more.
Linux Elive is very easy to install and use. It has a very intuitive and user-friendly interface that guided me through the installation process. It automatically selected the best language and options for me, or gave me the option to choose them myself. It also recognized all my hardware and installed the correct drivers. Linux Elive runs very stable and reliably on my old notebook.
The only thing that takes some getting used to is the download, as it only becomes available via a link after about an hour - after entering an email address. This is quicker if you have a small donation left for the developer; With this, he wants to cap some of his work and the costs for Linux Elive.
I can recommend Linux Elive to anyone looking for a fast, beautiful and feature-rich operating system that runs on both old and new computers and offers beautiful visual effects on the desktop. It is a perfect choice for beginners and advanced users who want to have a unique and enjoyable Linux experience. I'm glad I found Linux Elive and will continue to use it.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-09-26
Votes: 1
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Got to just say, I am not impressed thus the rating. After being forced to jump through a bunch of hoops just to try Elive I finally got an ISO along with additional e-mails soliciting funding for Elive, I tried to run Elive Live on a Lenovo and on a HP laptop, both are major hardware vendors and I had issues. I would expect that or better put, understand it if I was using bargain basement no-name hardware,but HP and Lenovo are Flagship brands in the PC/Laptop world. , Was the latest release even tested on anything but the developer's PC? Somehow I doubt it. I have never before had trouble getting a Live ISO to run, but then I never tried Elive before. I even checked on Ventoy's site to see if it Elive was tested with Ventoy and it was.
So i went to Elive's forum and searched on the errors.it seems the issues I ran into are old known installer problems that were fixed in other Elive versions but the issues/bugs have been reintroduced. This is typical of one man shops so it made me wonder about Elive. On the site I found this rather pointed/nasty message:
"Elive is Thanatermesis full-time work, but it is funded with only 184 USD per month. Make a change, otherwise the project will soon come to an end."
So it seems Elive is indeed a one man band and that one man is getting testy about getting paid for his work I love the "threat" about Elive disappearing. If I sound annoyed it is because I am. I have installed dozens upon dozens of distros and Elive is the only one I failed to get installed despite fiddling for hours with it only to find out it is a known Elive issue. I would ave considered trying an older Elive ISO but Thanatermesis makes you jump through hoops to get an ISO - so no thanks, I have seen enough to render judgement. Here is a thought, if your one man distro is to the point where you are reintroducing once fixed bugs due to your lack of testing or carelessness then maybe the project as run its course and should come to an end.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 3
Date: 2023-08-17
Votes: 6
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I am retired computer engineer from Uganda now home out of Germany. Recently retire now working to redo old computers to underprivilege people with charity group. So I have many computer to try many Linux on to get best to work and make present to.
My test of Elive not so good.
First, many step to get free download to trial, must register, must wait for link send, must read e-mail. Why is this one? What make Elive special? No other Linux make you do this way. Make sense if Elive much better than other Linux but this not so case.
Second. not install on many computer, install some but raid error on many different computer. Other Debian Linux not have raid error like be Elive. Follow error must be Elive.
Three. Not always run, many reboot. Elive just stop working.
Four. Ask for money many time. Why not just hope donation like other Linux? We charity so not good.
On the good.
First. Old look desktop good for old computer so work for purpose I do with the charity.
Second. Pretty for old type look.
Third. Easy to set wifi. Good for people who no get computer idea.
So this my review.Not so much this good Linux. Not run many computer type. Wen run m any stop working. Reboot many time. When work it nice but not work many of the time. Many better Linux for old computer work best better than Elive. Okay to trial but not good for use.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-08-06
Votes: 4
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I have used Elive for months, and have installed it several times over the years. I think I know the distro and its potential well.My review is about Elive Retrowave (version 3.8.32)
Pro:
-It is stable (very stable), it has its own tools (such as the installer), it is designed for newbies coming from windows and the user account is preformed.The fact of having E16 well configured gives it a retro and original touch, I'm already tired of kde plasma. When I started on Linux, many distros had retro desktops (Antix, Mabox, etc). Nowadays it all boils down to kde plasma and gnome.
-It is not a Debian derivative with two new wallpapers. It is a distro with a lot of work behind it, and it shows.
--comes with persistence and persistence works great. It can be used on USB without problems (a new USB, if the distro is used it runs slow).
Cons:
-For someone who has been using Linux for years, it is a bit "invasive": the installer is, the terminal opens as root most of the time by default, it has not Synaptic installed, the developer asks for money.I have not been able to test version 3.8.34 because they ask for money: for me Linux is a community that grows because it shares freely and believes in a better world. Asking for money reminds me of Window$ or Apple$
-It is stable because the "new" version (even 3.8.34) comes with Debian 11 and E16...I don't know if it's a bit daring to ask for money for a distro that comes outdated, or to announce version 3.8.34 as "new" when it comes with Debian 11. I don't know if instead of making a Retrowave distro it would be worth trying new things: a free Debian Testing version, for example .If you install something that comes with Debian 11, a year from now it will be very outdated.I'm not sure Steam works well with E16 (I haven't tested it). I did do it on Bodhi Linux, with a modified Enlightment, and it doesn't work right.
-It is not oriented to new hardware: in my ideaflex 5 lenovo it does not recognize the sound card, nor does it rotate the screen in tablet mode, or anything at all. In my ideacentre 5 lenovo everything works.
I think it's a good distro for older hardware, that it's well made and that there's work behind it. I encourage the developer/developers to release a free version based on Debian Testing.
Siggi Jepsen
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-07-27
Votes: 4
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As other reviewers mentioned raid45 error on installation. This is a known, recurring error wit this distro and you can find work arounds - note, it is not novice stuff. I tested Elive for 2 weeks and it frequently froze when browsing or using a spreadsheet and requiring rebooting.
The snarky multiple requests for money for the distro are unseemly at best. The developers think a lot of their product, why that is escapes me.
On the positive side it was fairly fast when not freezing.I was expecting a more cutting edge look and feel but Elive comes across as dated and tired.
In the end Elive does not live up to the expectations it deliberately sets. It feels like a company split into fiefdoms. One where marketing glib gets all the resources and the actual development team is stuck using bubble gum and baling wire to hold things together. And as for quality control it clearly is next to non-existent. I would love to see their regression and stress testing models.
Elive is by far the worst distro have tested. For a commercial distro (which it actually is,it just masquerades as freeware) it is simply unstable with little to recommend it over other distros that are fully featured and target older hardware. MX Linux runs circles around it as does various desktop flavors of Mint. Q4OS would also be a logical choice as would Sparky.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-07-25
Votes: 1
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A great and lovely Beta follow up of the stable Retrowave version.
It works flawlessly on all my laptops at home.
I like that it uses the "old fashioned" icons again in place of the flashy icons in 3.8.32 Retrowave. My brain just couldn't get used to those and required me to hover and read the "tooltip" to find out what was what.
Everything you need for daily usage is already in there, installed by default and works OOTB.
E16 is a lovely desktop but I would very much appreciate a switch to E25 and see what the Elive devs can do with it in the future.
Great work, thank you.
Keep up the good work.
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-07-21
Votes: 3
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Well I would like to review Elive on substance but that is sort of difficult as it throws a raid45 error when loading. That is a debian thing most linux distros get around as it has been known for years.
When I discover an error like that and I wonder what else the developers missed or pushed through untested.
Also the website and e-mails asking for money are a bit over the top. Sign up top get a link to a linux distro that does not even load - no thanks.
The website itself comes across like a Ronco infomercial. Lots of hype - but where is the substance as the boddy install does not work..
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-07-18
Votes: 9
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Your Elive experience starts wit the team using annoying marketing strategies from an over hyped website to extract $ from you before you even get to trial the distro like signing up to receive a time delayed download link to try and get you to pony up $- and then the experience goes down from there.
I tried Elive on four different Thinkpads. so not uncommon hardware. It failed to come up in every instance, with the same error, reporting: module dm-raid45 not found in module.dep and then would stop,
Turns out this is an old issue for Elive distros, that Elive use to attribute to new hardware, but I am using older hardware. The point is the Elive "careful testing" obviously reintroduced a known issue once again into their build. A quick search reveals this issue as plagued Elive releases for many years. That type of quality control casts shade on the whole distro.
So much for the hype from Elive marketing:
-- Elive, maybe the best Linux OS ever made
- - And probably the only distro you'll stay with -
- But Elive is not for everyone, are you the exception?
Clearly Elive is not for me; I like distros that actually work.
tfb
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Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 4
Date: 2023-07-15
Votes: 5
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For me it seems, the devoloper puts a lot of work not only in polishing the bells & whistles of his distribution, but also in manipulating reviews and comments about Elive in the Internet. E.g. in the past (?) you got the download link after writing a review about Elive ... So, it's hard to find something like the truth: that you are endlessly asked for giving money for a beta version of his work or something based on an outdated version of Debian. I may understand, that the developer nieeds money, but the untrustworthy way he tries to ask for it ..., is "not so nice". That is a pity, because Elive is different from mainstreem distros and a way interesting. I like the relaunch of good old e16 ... but not in this way ...
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Version: 3.8.32
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-06-13
Votes: 8
|
Since version 3.8.32 Elive lets you install sysVinit, making it even more lightweight and faster for my old potato PC.
I like the retrowave idea and design of the system, however, it will take a bit of time to get adjusted to Enlightenment and Elive uses Enlightenment version 16 instead of 25 which I find more modern so some may find its design a bit dated.
For those of you who are looking for a system rich in additional apps and tweaked for easy terminal use, you wlil find a lot to like in Elive, the system comes with a lot of apps for various purposes (music making, surfing the internet, communicating with friends and family, e.t.c., you can choose whether to install them or not) and links and it lets you choose which default browser you want to have. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't possible to remove some of those links from the menu in plank, perhaps in future versions of Enlightenment there is more customizability, but, overall, the system was snappy, it offered a lot of nice designs and has potential to be a lightweight but feature complete OS not just for the old computers.
As I am more of a barebones, netinstall and build your own system from the ground up kind of guy, although my 2 weeks with it were quite fun and I only encountered one issue where I could not update my applications unless I did it from the console, I will probably jump back to Debian or try to get FreeBSD running on my computer.
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Version: 3.0.4
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-03-19
Votes: 6
|
I once put Elive on an old Dell B130. Great old 32bit computer.
Elive ran so well on an old Celeron single core and IDE drive. In fact ran about as fast as any modern computer once booted up. Can't remember how much ram it had though
Especially enjoyed the enlightenment desktop with mac like dock. I wouldn't mind trying the 64 bit version someday with perhaps a spinning sata or even an ssd. It has been a few or more years since I had that old Dell.
Pros-
Very lightweight Distro.
Very attractive desktop (to me)
Very fast on old hardware
A very different distro (coming from a distro hopper that often returned to Linux Mint)
Cons-
It was at first a steep learning curve to use a distro that wasn't friendly to a windows user.
Once you get used to where everything is it's not so bad
Other reviewers state that it's (wheezy) extremely old, but if you like tinkering with old hardware and it's not a daily driver you can have a repurposed computer that will bring life to old hardware and would be less e-waste in a landfill.
I really like this distro. I don't care much about gaming, To me it is a "tinkerer's dream. It looks like a lot of work went into this distro. i don't know why there are some old posted negative comments of how bad it looks etc... I for one also like to stray from the norm. i am a current windows and a mac user using current OS'es on unsupported hardware. One day I'd like for a dedicated Linux laptop and this distro keeps coming to mind
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Version: 3.8.30
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-01-22
Votes: 4
|
This is a great distro. Keep in mind the stable version is extremely old (Debian Wheezy) and is no longer updated. Try the Beta version - it looks retro but quite nice at the same time. (Despite the name, the beta version is extremely stable, but a retro desktop environment is used temporarily while under-the-hood changes are made.)
PROS:
- Great configuration
- Friendly support (disclaimer: I am a forum moderator)
- Unique (how many distros use Enlightenment? I can only name one other)
- Doesn't sell your data
CONS:
- Not enterprise-level support
- The interface isn't for everyone
The downloads are sometimes slow, but if you're having trouble hop onto the forum. While the 64-bit version _does_ require you to either donate, write a review, or participate in the forum to download, the 32-bit beta still works flawlessly.
I highly recommend this distro except for gaming. While gaming is possible, it is not designed with it in mind (at least at the moment) since the developer doesn't really game. Which is another disadvantage: there's only one developer and occasional volunteers.
All in all, solid distro!
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Version: 3.8.30
Rating: 7
Date: 2022-07-11
Votes: 7
|
It's a good distro, it works well and it's solid because it has an old Debian base.
Pros:
-uses the desktop Enlightment , which hardly anyone uses anymore. It gives it a retro look and is different from the rest of the distros (I'm already sick of kde). Enligthemnt is heavily modified and looks somewhat more modern.
-I have used a 64-bit beta version (3.8.26) and I am surprised how well it works, without errors, it comes with many programs and codecs pre-installed.
-Its installer is "peculiar" and very reminiscent of the Bluestar distro based on arch.
-it has 32 bits version.
Cons:
-Its website is irritating, where they shamelessly ask you for money all the time, especially for the 64-bit version. It doesn't seem to me that the distro has enough quality or novelty to be asking for money. This fact makes me lower the rating. I remember a distro called Modicia Os: first was free, after was $, and now it has come free again in his basic version.
-their versions come out every so often, mine is based on Debian 10 and everything is old, but it works very well for my old PC. It is not oriented to a modern pc.
-it is not possible to make change on themes, when you reboot, it comes again withe the original theme. It is not ugly, but it funny to customizate your distro (if you want alwaaaaaaays the same, take Windows or imac Os).
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Version: 3.8.27
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-04-11
Votes: 1
|
I've reviewed Elive before but it's been a while and I see people re-reviewing distros on here all the time sooo
I very much like this distro. It's rock-solid stable, the people on the forum are helpful, and I love the Beta's retro desktop. I've contributed a mirror for it so hopefully the downloads will improve.
It is still a small distro, though, and there's the occasional hiccup (e.g. getting the 64-bit-only Nvidia drivers to work with Steam, of which there is no official 64-bit client. I fixed this by using Steam's unofficial flatpak). If you need enterprise-level support this distro is probably not fit for you, at least for now. It has great potential, though!
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Version: 3.0.4
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-12-15
Votes: 4
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This is a very nice disto. The only problem I have had (on the stable version) is the lack of an up to date, modern browser. Normally this is not an issue, but some websites I use will not allow me to access them due to an "out of date" browser. I have gone into the browser settings to make it appear like I am using a more modern browser... the website registers me as having a new version number, but still tells me the browser is out of date.
I am currently using a dual core, 32 bit laptop. No issues with the OS freezing up. Once in a while, the browser or some other app will freeze up, but the terminal still works fine and the app can be killed and restarted.
I may have to switch to the beta version or maybe another distro for the up to date browser.
I wonder about the security of this distro. The kernel version is old. It is my understanding that linux is more secure in general for several reasons, one of which is that it is open source and therefore there are a lot of people identifying and fixing security holes. This project has one developer, but a good community... so where does that leave Elive in terms of security?
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Version: 3.8.24
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-11-05
Votes: 0
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I love this distro.
It looks great, it's fast and so far totally stable.
The only weird thing I've found is that my memory stick (I'm running live with persistence) reads and write faster on a USB1.0 port than on the USB2.0 port - totally strange.
Enlightenment desktops can be a little too "different" for some people - this one not so much. It's been configured so that everything is that bit easier to find.
Highly recommend this one.
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Version: 3.8.20
Rating: 7
Date: 2021-05-21
Votes: 0
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I am a sucker for Enlightenment and donate, when I can, to get the latest 64bit version, helping the newer enlightenment version come to fruition. It's using E16 at the moment.
I want to warn of a User Id issue, if you're a distro-hopper like me, with an appreciation of a common uid of 1000. Post install will leave the newly created user with uid 1001, luckily you can login graphically as root, delete that user and create a new one with uid1000. This may put off a beginner user, but then again it is still in beta release.
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Version: 3.8.18
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-04-02
Votes: 0
|
Hi,
I recently revived a Toshiba NB 250 10.1 netbook with Elive 32 Bit. Work's like a dream.
I have seen many distros with enlightenment. But only here, I have the feeling that I have control over what I do. Despite the BETA version, everything works. Elive has always looked phenomenal, and now it is up-to-date and works like a Swiss Army knife. Well done :)
Next in line is the computer in the garage, but here I need the 64 bit version.
I will write a review after it has installed.
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Version: 3.8.18
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-02-15
Votes: 0
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Love it. A bit unstable and I don't always agree with the methods (i.e. philosophy) used but Hey. It's a good system!
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Version: 3.8.18
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-02-01
Votes: 20
|
The site is a joke. All links are broken unless you pay for it. Once you do pay for it, and download it, you find out that the 64 bit version is only partially completed, and is still in beta. You can only get the 32 bit version. This is a scam. No matter what you do, you have to pay for something that is broken, and not complete. You can not even test it first. BIG SCAM....
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Version: 3.8.18
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-01-09
Votes: 4
|
I should have paid attention to the reviews.
Got scammed into a donation thinking I could try out the 64bit version at a reasonable download speed.
Download always fails around 1.8G and is painfully slow (6+ hours).
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Latest Reviews
Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.42
Rating: 1
Date: 2024-07-16
Votes: 8
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Got to say I really wanted to like this one, but after repeated trials I came to the conclusion that Ellive fails in its announced primary mission - revitalizing older computers.
I'll give Elive this - it brings on the bling, sort of a Barbie meets Liniux look and feel. The trouble is in the stability. I get browsers are an issue on old hardware, graphic cards and CPUs are pressed but many distros running on old computers manage with out constant freezes, but not Elive. And it would be somewhat forgivable if the freezing was just associated with browsers, but freezing simply permeates Elive.
Given the website for Elive reminds me of what Ron Popeil might have created if he developed a Linix distro, I expected more. Popeil's products worked as advertised, Elive does not.
And then there is the onerous process to try Elive for free, truly someone thinks much of themselves.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.42
Rating: 2
Date: 2024-06-18
Votes: 8
|
Elive review.
Pros
------
- Conceptually a great idea: supposedly able to breath new life into even 15 year old computers
- A vibrant desktop theme, compared to stodgy old Windows grey on blue it is snazzy
Cons
-------
- Click on the download and see the first major issue - Elive warns you NOT TO USE the Stable version but instead to use the latest Beta, and I quote: " If you want to seriously use Elive, you must go for the latest Beta version instead, which is highly featured and extremely stable" - WTF!!!!! So in Elive land Beta means Stable and Stable means version 1.0, this is messed up beyond belief.
- Complicated bizarre download process that tries to guilt you into donations
- For a distro claiming, and I quote: "With Elive, computers up to 15 years old can be transformed to high-performance machines with a stunning interface fully customizable." Elive actually has difficulty running on older, major brand distributions. In Elive's defense inthe statement quoted above they used "can be", the trouble I have is Elive would not work effectively on a boatload of old Thinkpad/Lenovo old hardware. It was not till I ratcheted up to a T440p that I found hardware it would not freeze on.
- Freeze, reboot, freeze again repeat on ant hardware older than 10 years old. and dodgy on 8-10 year old hardware
Conclusion
---------------
Elive may be a great distro for folks wanting to run a loudly themed Linux distro on middle aged hardware. However it fails in its primary mission and It is unsuitable for old hardware There are many excellent options available for older hardware that actually work out of the box: antiX, DSL, Bodhi, Slacko, Slax, Emmabuntüs,, Slackware, Puppy
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.40
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-04-03
Votes: 5
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Great distro, works on older hardware and blindingly fast on new. A lot of thought has been given to a minimalist base load which provides everything you need. The larger apps are there but you have the chance to really think about how you work and if you need the heavyweights. There is a live usb with persistence to use on machines other than your own. It's great for graphics, music and general office work, but super powerful for system administration and programming. Rethink you computing and have fun doing it!
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.40
Rating: 1
Date: 2024-03-21
Votes: 1
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For a Linux distribution that claims to breath new life into old hardware it i amazing how little old hardware Elive will actually run on without freezing. I have literal stacks of old Lenovo, Compac, and Dell laptops and Elive installs on about half of them but freezes on the majority of them. AntiX, Void, Bodhi. Q4os, Kumander all install and generally do not freeze Elive does. Zippy and stable are not adjectives I would use to describe Elive.
I will say it is stylish, out theming eye sores like Void and the minimally themed antiX but falls way behind the simple elegance of Bodhi with Q4os nd Kumander very Windows 7 like.But operationally Elive is a dog.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.40
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-03-21
Votes: 2
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I am so glad I found and tried this distro! It gave new life to my very old PC making it functional and snappy.
I also wanted to try the 64 bit version on my less old but still very basic and slow 64 bit pc and it gave new life to that too!
What can I tell you?
Try it and see for yourself that I am right!
I have tried other distros in the past, but they were either nice and full of programs but slow, or empty and very basic but very ugly or at least not even as fast as this one!
Elive I find it perfect because it combines beauty, lightness and utility in one distro!
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 2
Date: 2024-02-13
Votes: 12
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Please excuse English, English not first language but I be try.
I am Uganda IT man, but live French from Methodist assist church that I now work charity for. We group old computer for less nations develop, both for school and for adulty person use to enlarge brain both types.
My job is to trial Linuxes on many type of computer to get wide use before we change to support education for schools across world poor.
I trial Elive by install on computer. First good things. Elive easy to install when it install. Not hard questions it ask. So easy install, Also plus thing, Elive is pretty. Children like very much with many shiny colors. Keep little kid much attention because pretty. Also plus thing Elive give to you many applicators when install with no work for install man – so good.
But now bad things. Elive not install on many hardwares. Odd to me much install Acer but many less install on Lenovo. Trouble install on many Dell to. More bad thing is many time stop work and must reboot. Not just browser I fix turn eccelerator off browser, but stop working Calc and Writer. This bad thing as use much.
I think Elive pretty and with the hardware it work on god thing but not run many hardware so problem,
I also trial Emmabuntus on same and install all computer fine so why not Elive do good to. Both be Debian.
So Elive not so good most time. Good some computer but bad many.
Sorry me English. Church help better it future time.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-02-08
Votes: 5
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A nice distro for older hardware.
I remember trying out Elive version 1 15 years ago and was impressed how well constructed it was. Only after a while I moved over to Mandrake because the gnome stuff just didn't work for me and I chose KDE.
Looking for something a bit different this time, I noticed Elive retrowave using Enlightenment and decided to try it out.
Thinking it was only a live version I was surprised to be asked if I wanted to install. So I did that, overwriting the existing unsupported Win7 that was on the laptop.
The installation was fast and very easy with Elive even seeing that I was in Denmark and choosing the right language for me. Only the keyboard language was wrong because I have a German one but that was easily changed before doing the installation. It recognized all my hardware immediately and configured that for me.
Installed it has the same complete Desktop that the live version has. I didn't have to install anything extra, it was all already available. Even a lot of stuff I never heard of.
Elive retrowave gives a nice techno-style appearance reminding me of the disco vibes in the nineties and has a big number of program choices. It still reminds me a lot of the Apple desktop like gnome does but that fits the retro feeling.
I tried installing and changing e16 and e17 numerous times while using other distributions like Ubuntu but none come out as good and fast as the Elive versions are.
Coming from the heavy weight desktops that KDE and Gnome now offer, this feels like a new start for me and my old laptop. There are not that many distributions that offer a desktop for i386 machines in these times, it would be a pity to have to throw away good working machines just because of that.
It's going to be a lot of fun just exploring all the sweets that Elive has to offer and I can recommend it to everyone, even if you have never tried Linux before.
It's free, easy to install and very steady on my old Acer.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2024-01-28
Votes: 1
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Wow. The first time I have ever thought of distro as a lie. From the website you would think Elive was some superfast, elegant, technological eyecandy that magically transforms old computers into viable.modern workstation and the technology was such a cut above other ditros you would happily pay for it. Instead of that magical distro we get Elive, a cludgy rust bucket of old apps held together by a desktop you might have thought created by child on a sugar high back in the 70s. Elive is subject to random freezes, crashes, and bloat. And then there is the obnoxious download process and repeated request for funding. I never hated a ditstro before but Elive manged to change that. Don't waste your time with Elive.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-01-17
Votes: 2
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I recently downloaded and tried Elive and I'm glad I did.
I went with the freely offered Synthwave edition first and then finding it to my liking, paid a small sum for the latest Beta and used it to upgrade.
It turns out to be the perfect fit for my not al too modern rig: Fast, flexible, stable and a pretty Desktop that allows easy changing to how I like it.
The download was fairly large compared to other distributions but I must say that I found it to be fully filled with all the programs I want and need.
Most other distributions that call themselves light-weight don't offer very much in their default installation image but Elive does. It's always quite daunting, after a fresh installation, to have to find and install everything needed for a fully working machine again but Elive already has them on the live image.
Running everything and the proverbial kitchen-sink from a flash-disk in live mode is nice, especially when traveling. Having a persistence mode available to keep personal stuff and settings made that a great option.
Installing to a hard disk wasn't the usual installer most distributions use but was simple enough, including the always dangerous partitioning section which was helpful and precise. You can't really go wrong there if you just stick to the default settings.
On booting from a fixed disk, there's an extra option called 'impermutable mode' which actually allows you to experiment as much as you like without risking totally bricking your existing installation. Just reboot, log in and all the changes are gone. Really good thinking, a tinkerers delight.
why don't other distributions have this?
It's not like it takes up loads of extra storage space.
Normally I don't give 10/10 for distributions but this one really deserves it.
You can't go wrong on Elive. Download it, write to flash-disk and use or install it.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2024-01-04
Votes: 0
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It is kind of hard to say much about a Linux distro that fails it most basic modern task: installation.
If this was 15-20 years ago, sure I would say you need to have Linux specific admin skills to install a desktop, probably you would have to chose your own desktop and select your apps, and know about repositories, maintenance etc. But we are no longer in that world for the average ex-Windows home desktop user. We are in the world of clean, do it for me installations, with a desktop that magically appears filled with preselected/vetted applications. The hardest tasks in most modern Linux distros is putting in your wifi password.
And this is what Elive purports to do, in fact, Elive takes it many steps further and boasts not only does it do this but it does it better than any other distro - now give me money!!!! Problem is, Elive does not even install cleanly. After reading the reviews below I now know why - old errors crept back into the installation, a sure sign of slipshod testing. That little tidbit tells you all you need you about Elive. Indicative of the issues around one man shops distros or thinly supported distros.
I spun up the latest Mint XFCE and it installed cleanly and consumed 683 MB RAM with wifi running at boot. I also tried Bodhi which weighed in at 263 MB RAM with wifi running. The latest MX Linux ran fine but came in weigh to heavy on RAM for my tastes but still it runs well, I was surprised to see how much heavier it was than Mint XFCE. The difference - Mx-Linux. Linux Mint and Bodhi works, Elive doesn't.
My suggestion, don't waste your time with Elive, Look for a distro with a support base. Mint has a massive support base, Bodhi has a small, but dedicated support base, and MX Linux is also very well supported. Or try one of the many other distros out there that work and have adequate support.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 2
Date: 2023-12-29
Votes: 1
|
So why is it this distro exists? I ask that because this distro is clearly not a labor of love as much as a edifice to the vanity of a single developer. When you arrive at the website you are greeted by message after message, that not only are blatant and repeated requests for donations but also encased in verbiage that attempts to portray the developer as some long suffering genius tech hero who labors in obscurity. Moreover he encloses it all in this blatant threat his creation may disappear if you don't pony up money. So the developer sets the stage for a superior Linux experience, that so outclasses other distros you will be glad to pay for it.
Okay, fair enough I bit. So after enduring a laborious download procedure where you have to sign up, subscribe to e-email solicitation or money in order to get a download link and then more solicitations for funding, you can attempt to install Elive. I say attempt, because of the 3 systems I had planned to try Elive out on it would only install on one of them.
Okay, not a great start, but it launched. The theme was as loud and as boisterous as the website. Trouble is Elive does not perform. It is subject to freezing, slowdowns etc, Required reboots. This is a very poor distro and certainly is not something I would not only not pay a penny for but would simply never chose to run.
Curious, I tried other Debian distros: Mx Linux, LMDE, Sparky, Q4OS on the hardware Elive would not install on and they all installed and ran without issue. Bu the kicker (as in kick Elive to the curb) is one the system Elive installed on, none of the other Debian based distros exhibited freezing.
So essentially Elive has taken Debian stable and made it unstable - well done, bravo.
Sometimes a disto simply play itself out. Clearly it is time for Elive to join the discontinued ranks,. There will be no loss.
I gave it a 2, because even though dated it installed and was kind of pretty.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-12-21
Votes: 1
|
Elive is just what the doctor ordered for my aging laptops. Both the 32 and 64 bit version make those old Dells fly again.
At first I went for the 32bit version, as that was free.
I liked it so much that I decided to give a small donation and download the 64bit version as well.
The 64 bit version is just as fast, as far as I can tell but has more recent browser versions that I need.
Running from USB was easy and straightforward, as was installing to hard disk later on. All steps are quite idiot-proof so I'm actually surprised by some reviewers saying they can't install Elive. If it runs, it installs. :)
The E16 Enlightenment desktop is showing its age in the way the menus are set up and the icons that come with it.
I'd love to see what can be done with the latest E25 desktop, maybe soon?
Keep up the good work, I'm hooked.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-11-23
Votes: 9
|
I got it installed, but I'm not so sure if this is a good or bad news.
The website is full of adjectives like "amazing", "beautiful", etc., it constantly reminds you how to donate, the download is limited unless you donate... donate... donate...
If you enjoy staring at the boot screen, then Elive is a perfect choice for you. It takes forever to boot, and the boot screen is nice.
That was it with the good news.
The pre-installed software is odd. Leafpad for simple stuff and Geany for the rest would make sense, but SciTex editor? WTF? The software versions are also outdated, two or three versions behind Fedora. MPlayer is version 3 on Elive and 6 on Fedora!
Some applications do not fit into the system at all. The system is dark with shiny "rainbow look" icons everywhere, but the start menu icons and SMPlayer look like Windows 95.
I will stop here because it will become a book if I continue. Do yourself a favor and AVOID this at all costs.
It's buggy, the desktop freezes, and a bunch of "donate" popups pop up every time you update the system.
NOT RECOMMENDED! Get another distro that works.
(1 only because there is no -10)
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.0.4
Rating: 2
Date: 2023-11-12
Votes: 2
|
I tried downloading the latest the other day, I wanted to try the latest instead of trying my 3.0.6 version which is the stable version but is years old; why becasus i though that maybe I would have some control over the font colour; turns out unless I make a financial contribution I cannot try the latest version; I thinks that is their loss, why limit the availabilty and audience. I still tried the version I have with the same goal in live mode but could not find a way of even increasing font size so I could have a better experience - the font, due to my bad eyesight is just too small - oh well I moved onto trying lmde.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-10-22
Votes: 6
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My review;
Pro
- none known
Con
- does not install
- lengthy process to get a download link
I'd give it a zero if possible.
It doesn't install on my Dell. I tried 11 other Linux versions, every one but Elive installed, as follows:
Fatdog
Puppy
Slitaz
Bodhi
Q40s
Lubuntu
Kubuntu
Popos
Slax
Porteus
Manjaro
but Elive does not install and throws errors. Also no other version of Linux I tried makes you go through an onerous process just to get an iso.
Reading the reviews below it seems the install problem is an old bug with a known fix that was not put into this new version. That is sloppy building,coding, and testing. And it should make you wonder how secure Elive is, as in, were important security updates also left out on the build. Do you really want a Linux where you NEED to verify all the security fixes are there? If you have to analyze at that level why not just use a baseline Linux flavor like Debian so you know you ave something safe and secure that as full support.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-10-10
Votes: 18
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I have been distro hopping for several months, trying for that best fit on a computer built from older hardware so Elive was high on my list of distros to try since Elive loudly advertises itself as the great savior for those running on old hardware. I am not sure where to even begin wen reviewing this over-hyped trainwreck of a distribution. Elive promises much and delivers little.
Let's start with the website where Elive's is hyped into casting a shadow that puts it in legendary status -along with not so subtle pleas for funding for this "awesome" distro.
So want to TRY Elive? You have a choice, pony up money for an instant download or jump through a series of hoops, that involves signing up for the Elive mailing list, complete with additional requests for funding.
Finally you get a download link.
I have a older hardware from Lenovo, Dell, and HP, I could only get Elive to run on the Dell, and there it froze repeatedly. Curious, I tried the same hardware with Debian, which Elive is derived from, and Ubuntu as an added kicker, and they installed on all three of the computers and ran without fail. So the issue is clearly with Elive.
Elive was not particularly light, distros like Puppy, Bodhi, LXLE, and Q4OS are all lighter and 3 of those 4 are fully fledged desktops out of the box. Kumander is a bit heavier than the others but lighter than Elive and is definitely worth a look.
Elive is an over-hyped distro that does not deliver on its promises. It is buggy,prone to freezes,run only on some hardware. I do not recommend.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.0.4
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-10-02
Votes: 2
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While looking for a suitable operating system for my old notebook from 2006 with an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, i became aware of Linux Elive. At this point i would like to point out that I am very satisfied with this Linux operating system. For me it is a fantastic operating system that is fast, powerful and also includes beautiful visual effects, and it has been running flawlessly on this notebook so far. Linux Elive brought my notebook back to life and gave me a new perspective on Linux. I love the Enlightenment-Desktop, which is very customizable and dynamic. It has lots of cool effects that make my desktop eye-catching.
Linux Elive also has a great selection of applications that meet all of my basic notebook operating system needs. It has everything I need, from a complete office suite, tools, games and multimedia. I can edit videos, create graphics, listen to music, watch movies and much more.
Linux Elive is very easy to install and use. It has a very intuitive and user-friendly interface that guided me through the installation process. It automatically selected the best language and options for me, or gave me the option to choose them myself. It also recognized all my hardware and installed the correct drivers. Linux Elive runs very stable and reliably on my old notebook.
The only thing that takes some getting used to is the download, as it only becomes available via a link after about an hour - after entering an email address. This is quicker if you have a small donation left for the developer; With this, he wants to cap some of his work and the costs for Linux Elive.
I can recommend Linux Elive to anyone looking for a fast, beautiful and feature-rich operating system that runs on both old and new computers and offers beautiful visual effects on the desktop. It is a perfect choice for beginners and advanced users who want to have a unique and enjoyable Linux experience. I'm glad I found Linux Elive and will continue to use it.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-09-26
Votes: 1
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Got to just say, I am not impressed thus the rating. After being forced to jump through a bunch of hoops just to try Elive I finally got an ISO along with additional e-mails soliciting funding for Elive, I tried to run Elive Live on a Lenovo and on a HP laptop, both are major hardware vendors and I had issues. I would expect that or better put, understand it if I was using bargain basement no-name hardware,but HP and Lenovo are Flagship brands in the PC/Laptop world. , Was the latest release even tested on anything but the developer's PC? Somehow I doubt it. I have never before had trouble getting a Live ISO to run, but then I never tried Elive before. I even checked on Ventoy's site to see if it Elive was tested with Ventoy and it was.
So i went to Elive's forum and searched on the errors.it seems the issues I ran into are old known installer problems that were fixed in other Elive versions but the issues/bugs have been reintroduced. This is typical of one man shops so it made me wonder about Elive. On the site I found this rather pointed/nasty message:
"Elive is Thanatermesis full-time work, but it is funded with only 184 USD per month. Make a change, otherwise the project will soon come to an end."
So it seems Elive is indeed a one man band and that one man is getting testy about getting paid for his work I love the "threat" about Elive disappearing. If I sound annoyed it is because I am. I have installed dozens upon dozens of distros and Elive is the only one I failed to get installed despite fiddling for hours with it only to find out it is a known Elive issue. I would ave considered trying an older Elive ISO but Thanatermesis makes you jump through hoops to get an ISO - so no thanks, I have seen enough to render judgement. Here is a thought, if your one man distro is to the point where you are reintroducing once fixed bugs due to your lack of testing or carelessness then maybe the project as run its course and should come to an end.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 3
Date: 2023-08-17
Votes: 6
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I am retired computer engineer from Uganda now home out of Germany. Recently retire now working to redo old computers to underprivilege people with charity group. So I have many computer to try many Linux on to get best to work and make present to.
My test of Elive not so good.
First, many step to get free download to trial, must register, must wait for link send, must read e-mail. Why is this one? What make Elive special? No other Linux make you do this way. Make sense if Elive much better than other Linux but this not so case.
Second. not install on many computer, install some but raid error on many different computer. Other Debian Linux not have raid error like be Elive. Follow error must be Elive.
Three. Not always run, many reboot. Elive just stop working.
Four. Ask for money many time. Why not just hope donation like other Linux? We charity so not good.
On the good.
First. Old look desktop good for old computer so work for purpose I do with the charity.
Second. Pretty for old type look.
Third. Easy to set wifi. Good for people who no get computer idea.
So this my review.Not so much this good Linux. Not run many computer type. Wen run m any stop working. Reboot many time. When work it nice but not work many of the time. Many better Linux for old computer work best better than Elive. Okay to trial but not good for use.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-08-06
Votes: 4
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I have used Elive for months, and have installed it several times over the years. I think I know the distro and its potential well.My review is about Elive Retrowave (version 3.8.32)
Pro:
-It is stable (very stable), it has its own tools (such as the installer), it is designed for newbies coming from windows and the user account is preformed.The fact of having E16 well configured gives it a retro and original touch, I'm already tired of kde plasma. When I started on Linux, many distros had retro desktops (Antix, Mabox, etc). Nowadays it all boils down to kde plasma and gnome.
-It is not a Debian derivative with two new wallpapers. It is a distro with a lot of work behind it, and it shows.
--comes with persistence and persistence works great. It can be used on USB without problems (a new USB, if the distro is used it runs slow).
Cons:
-For someone who has been using Linux for years, it is a bit "invasive": the installer is, the terminal opens as root most of the time by default, it has not Synaptic installed, the developer asks for money.I have not been able to test version 3.8.34 because they ask for money: for me Linux is a community that grows because it shares freely and believes in a better world. Asking for money reminds me of Window$ or Apple$
-It is stable because the "new" version (even 3.8.34) comes with Debian 11 and E16...I don't know if it's a bit daring to ask for money for a distro that comes outdated, or to announce version 3.8.34 as "new" when it comes with Debian 11. I don't know if instead of making a Retrowave distro it would be worth trying new things: a free Debian Testing version, for example .If you install something that comes with Debian 11, a year from now it will be very outdated.I'm not sure Steam works well with E16 (I haven't tested it). I did do it on Bodhi Linux, with a modified Enlightment, and it doesn't work right.
-It is not oriented to new hardware: in my ideaflex 5 lenovo it does not recognize the sound card, nor does it rotate the screen in tablet mode, or anything at all. In my ideacentre 5 lenovo everything works.
I think it's a good distro for older hardware, that it's well made and that there's work behind it. I encourage the developer/developers to release a free version based on Debian Testing.
Siggi Jepsen
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-07-27
Votes: 4
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As other reviewers mentioned raid45 error on installation. This is a known, recurring error wit this distro and you can find work arounds - note, it is not novice stuff. I tested Elive for 2 weeks and it frequently froze when browsing or using a spreadsheet and requiring rebooting.
The snarky multiple requests for money for the distro are unseemly at best. The developers think a lot of their product, why that is escapes me.
On the positive side it was fairly fast when not freezing.I was expecting a more cutting edge look and feel but Elive comes across as dated and tired.
In the end Elive does not live up to the expectations it deliberately sets. It feels like a company split into fiefdoms. One where marketing glib gets all the resources and the actual development team is stuck using bubble gum and baling wire to hold things together. And as for quality control it clearly is next to non-existent. I would love to see their regression and stress testing models.
Elive is by far the worst distro have tested. For a commercial distro (which it actually is,it just masquerades as freeware) it is simply unstable with little to recommend it over other distros that are fully featured and target older hardware. MX Linux runs circles around it as does various desktop flavors of Mint. Q4OS would also be a logical choice as would Sparky.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-07-25
Votes: 1
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A great and lovely Beta follow up of the stable Retrowave version.
It works flawlessly on all my laptops at home.
I like that it uses the "old fashioned" icons again in place of the flashy icons in 3.8.32 Retrowave. My brain just couldn't get used to those and required me to hover and read the "tooltip" to find out what was what.
Everything you need for daily usage is already in there, installed by default and works OOTB.
E16 is a lovely desktop but I would very much appreciate a switch to E25 and see what the Elive devs can do with it in the future.
Great work, thank you.
Keep up the good work.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-07-21
Votes: 3
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Well I would like to review Elive on substance but that is sort of difficult as it throws a raid45 error when loading. That is a debian thing most linux distros get around as it has been known for years.
When I discover an error like that and I wonder what else the developers missed or pushed through untested.
Also the website and e-mails asking for money are a bit over the top. Sign up top get a link to a linux distro that does not even load - no thanks.
The website itself comes across like a Ronco infomercial. Lots of hype - but where is the substance as the boddy install does not work..
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-07-18
Votes: 9
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Your Elive experience starts wit the team using annoying marketing strategies from an over hyped website to extract $ from you before you even get to trial the distro like signing up to receive a time delayed download link to try and get you to pony up $- and then the experience goes down from there.
I tried Elive on four different Thinkpads. so not uncommon hardware. It failed to come up in every instance, with the same error, reporting: module dm-raid45 not found in module.dep and then would stop,
Turns out this is an old issue for Elive distros, that Elive use to attribute to new hardware, but I am using older hardware. The point is the Elive "careful testing" obviously reintroduced a known issue once again into their build. A quick search reveals this issue as plagued Elive releases for many years. That type of quality control casts shade on the whole distro.
So much for the hype from Elive marketing:
-- Elive, maybe the best Linux OS ever made
- - And probably the only distro you'll stay with -
- But Elive is not for everyone, are you the exception?
Clearly Elive is not for me; I like distros that actually work.
tfb
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.34
Rating: 4
Date: 2023-07-15
Votes: 5
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For me it seems, the devoloper puts a lot of work not only in polishing the bells & whistles of his distribution, but also in manipulating reviews and comments about Elive in the Internet. E.g. in the past (?) you got the download link after writing a review about Elive ... So, it's hard to find something like the truth: that you are endlessly asked for giving money for a beta version of his work or something based on an outdated version of Debian. I may understand, that the developer nieeds money, but the untrustworthy way he tries to ask for it ..., is "not so nice". That is a pity, because Elive is different from mainstreem distros and a way interesting. I like the relaunch of good old e16 ... but not in this way ...
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.32
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-06-13
Votes: 8
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Since version 3.8.32 Elive lets you install sysVinit, making it even more lightweight and faster for my old potato PC.
I like the retrowave idea and design of the system, however, it will take a bit of time to get adjusted to Enlightenment and Elive uses Enlightenment version 16 instead of 25 which I find more modern so some may find its design a bit dated.
For those of you who are looking for a system rich in additional apps and tweaked for easy terminal use, you wlil find a lot to like in Elive, the system comes with a lot of apps for various purposes (music making, surfing the internet, communicating with friends and family, e.t.c., you can choose whether to install them or not) and links and it lets you choose which default browser you want to have. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't possible to remove some of those links from the menu in plank, perhaps in future versions of Enlightenment there is more customizability, but, overall, the system was snappy, it offered a lot of nice designs and has potential to be a lightweight but feature complete OS not just for the old computers.
As I am more of a barebones, netinstall and build your own system from the ground up kind of guy, although my 2 weeks with it were quite fun and I only encountered one issue where I could not update my applications unless I did it from the console, I will probably jump back to Debian or try to get FreeBSD running on my computer.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.0.4
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-03-19
Votes: 6
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I once put Elive on an old Dell B130. Great old 32bit computer.
Elive ran so well on an old Celeron single core and IDE drive. In fact ran about as fast as any modern computer once booted up. Can't remember how much ram it had though
Especially enjoyed the enlightenment desktop with mac like dock. I wouldn't mind trying the 64 bit version someday with perhaps a spinning sata or even an ssd. It has been a few or more years since I had that old Dell.
Pros-
Very lightweight Distro.
Very attractive desktop (to me)
Very fast on old hardware
A very different distro (coming from a distro hopper that often returned to Linux Mint)
Cons-
It was at first a steep learning curve to use a distro that wasn't friendly to a windows user.
Once you get used to where everything is it's not so bad
Other reviewers state that it's (wheezy) extremely old, but if you like tinkering with old hardware and it's not a daily driver you can have a repurposed computer that will bring life to old hardware and would be less e-waste in a landfill.
I really like this distro. I don't care much about gaming, To me it is a "tinkerer's dream. It looks like a lot of work went into this distro. i don't know why there are some old posted negative comments of how bad it looks etc... I for one also like to stray from the norm. i am a current windows and a mac user using current OS'es on unsupported hardware. One day I'd like for a dedicated Linux laptop and this distro keeps coming to mind
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.30
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-01-22
Votes: 4
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This is a great distro. Keep in mind the stable version is extremely old (Debian Wheezy) and is no longer updated. Try the Beta version - it looks retro but quite nice at the same time. (Despite the name, the beta version is extremely stable, but a retro desktop environment is used temporarily while under-the-hood changes are made.)
PROS:
- Great configuration
- Friendly support (disclaimer: I am a forum moderator)
- Unique (how many distros use Enlightenment? I can only name one other)
- Doesn't sell your data
CONS:
- Not enterprise-level support
- The interface isn't for everyone
The downloads are sometimes slow, but if you're having trouble hop onto the forum. While the 64-bit version _does_ require you to either donate, write a review, or participate in the forum to download, the 32-bit beta still works flawlessly.
I highly recommend this distro except for gaming. While gaming is possible, it is not designed with it in mind (at least at the moment) since the developer doesn't really game. Which is another disadvantage: there's only one developer and occasional volunteers.
All in all, solid distro!
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.30
Rating: 7
Date: 2022-07-11
Votes: 7
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It's a good distro, it works well and it's solid because it has an old Debian base.
Pros:
-uses the desktop Enlightment , which hardly anyone uses anymore. It gives it a retro look and is different from the rest of the distros (I'm already sick of kde). Enligthemnt is heavily modified and looks somewhat more modern.
-I have used a 64-bit beta version (3.8.26) and I am surprised how well it works, without errors, it comes with many programs and codecs pre-installed.
-Its installer is "peculiar" and very reminiscent of the Bluestar distro based on arch.
-it has 32 bits version.
Cons:
-Its website is irritating, where they shamelessly ask you for money all the time, especially for the 64-bit version. It doesn't seem to me that the distro has enough quality or novelty to be asking for money. This fact makes me lower the rating. I remember a distro called Modicia Os: first was free, after was $, and now it has come free again in his basic version.
-their versions come out every so often, mine is based on Debian 10 and everything is old, but it works very well for my old PC. It is not oriented to a modern pc.
-it is not possible to make change on themes, when you reboot, it comes again withe the original theme. It is not ugly, but it funny to customizate your distro (if you want alwaaaaaaays the same, take Windows or imac Os).
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.27
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-04-11
Votes: 1
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I've reviewed Elive before but it's been a while and I see people re-reviewing distros on here all the time sooo
I very much like this distro. It's rock-solid stable, the people on the forum are helpful, and I love the Beta's retro desktop. I've contributed a mirror for it so hopefully the downloads will improve.
It is still a small distro, though, and there's the occasional hiccup (e.g. getting the 64-bit-only Nvidia drivers to work with Steam, of which there is no official 64-bit client. I fixed this by using Steam's unofficial flatpak). If you need enterprise-level support this distro is probably not fit for you, at least for now. It has great potential, though!
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.0.4
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-12-15
Votes: 4
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This is a very nice disto. The only problem I have had (on the stable version) is the lack of an up to date, modern browser. Normally this is not an issue, but some websites I use will not allow me to access them due to an "out of date" browser. I have gone into the browser settings to make it appear like I am using a more modern browser... the website registers me as having a new version number, but still tells me the browser is out of date.
I am currently using a dual core, 32 bit laptop. No issues with the OS freezing up. Once in a while, the browser or some other app will freeze up, but the terminal still works fine and the app can be killed and restarted.
I may have to switch to the beta version or maybe another distro for the up to date browser.
I wonder about the security of this distro. The kernel version is old. It is my understanding that linux is more secure in general for several reasons, one of which is that it is open source and therefore there are a lot of people identifying and fixing security holes. This project has one developer, but a good community... so where does that leave Elive in terms of security?
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.24
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-11-05
Votes: 0
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I love this distro.
It looks great, it's fast and so far totally stable.
The only weird thing I've found is that my memory stick (I'm running live with persistence) reads and write faster on a USB1.0 port than on the USB2.0 port - totally strange.
Enlightenment desktops can be a little too "different" for some people - this one not so much. It's been configured so that everything is that bit easier to find.
Highly recommend this one.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.20
Rating: 7
Date: 2021-05-21
Votes: 0
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I am a sucker for Enlightenment and donate, when I can, to get the latest 64bit version, helping the newer enlightenment version come to fruition. It's using E16 at the moment.
I want to warn of a User Id issue, if you're a distro-hopper like me, with an appreciation of a common uid of 1000. Post install will leave the newly created user with uid 1001, luckily you can login graphically as root, delete that user and create a new one with uid1000. This may put off a beginner user, but then again it is still in beta release.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.18
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-04-02
Votes: 0
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Hi,
I recently revived a Toshiba NB 250 10.1 netbook with Elive 32 Bit. Work's like a dream.
I have seen many distros with enlightenment. But only here, I have the feeling that I have control over what I do. Despite the BETA version, everything works. Elive has always looked phenomenal, and now it is up-to-date and works like a Swiss Army knife. Well done :)
Next in line is the computer in the garage, but here I need the 64 bit version.
I will write a review after it has installed.
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.18
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-02-15
Votes: 0
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Love it. A bit unstable and I don't always agree with the methods (i.e. philosophy) used but Hey. It's a good system!
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.18
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-02-01
Votes: 20
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The site is a joke. All links are broken unless you pay for it. Once you do pay for it, and download it, you find out that the 64 bit version is only partially completed, and is still in beta. You can only get the 32 bit version. This is a scam. No matter what you do, you have to pay for something that is broken, and not complete. You can not even test it first. BIG SCAM....
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Project: Elive
Version: 3.8.18
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-01-09
Votes: 4
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I should have paid attention to the reviews.
Got scammed into a donation thinking I could try out the 64bit version at a reasonable download speed.
Download always fails around 1.8G and is painfully slow (6+ hours).
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