NimbleX
NimbleX screenshot with Kword and Kspread
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| Developer | Bogdan Rădulescu |
|---|---|
| OS family | Unix-like |
| Working state | Inactive |
| Source model | Open source |
| Initial release | October 20, 2004 |
| Latest release | 2008 / July 22, 2008 |
| Available in | English, Romanian, French, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi etc. (a total of 12 languages) |
| Update method | LZMA |
| Platforms | IA-32 |
| Kernel type | Monolithic kernel |
| Default user interface | KDE, IceWM, EDE, Enlightenment |
| License | Various, primarily GPL and GFDL |
| Official website | www.nimblex.net |
NimbleX is a small Slackware-based Linux distribution optimized to run from a CD, USB drive or a network environment. NimbleX has been praised for how fast it boots, as well as for its small disk footprint, which is considered surprising for a distribution using KDE as desktop environment. NimbleX was also remarked for its web site that allows users to generate custom bootable images using just a web browser. It was also covered in mainstream Romanian press as the first Linux distribution put together by a Romanian.
NimbleX is reported to boot fast; an important factor in user experience when running from optical media or USB drives. A review of the 2007 NimbleX edition noted: "Expect it to boot in less than half the time that a live CD from Fedora, Ubuntu, or Knoppix takes." A more recent review of the 2008 edition also noted NimbleX's speed: "It's easily one of the fastest bootups I've seen in a while. I even tried to hinder or cripple it's boot time, and even on a dog slow pendrive or an old as dirt test machine, it still booted amazingly fast. The desktop and applications are also very fast."
NimbleX is also a very compact distribution. A review of the 2007 edition wondered "how they managed to include KDE, not to mention the other applications", having included in the size of only 200 MB a window-based graphical user interface (a slimmed down KDE to fit), the Firefox web browser, the office documents editor KOffice, a PDF reader, a media player that can play almost all the file formats without the need to install a codec, the photo editing software GIMP, anti-virus and Bluetooth support integrated to name a few applications included.
As of 2008, the installation process of major Linux distributions can be customized by creating custom installation disks, usually called spins, but creating a spin requires a certain amount of expertise, and creating a spin that can run from the installation media requires further customization. NimbleX makes this process user-friendly by providing a web interface for the process, which is similar to that of some embedded Linux distributions, e.g. FreeWRT.
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