Review: NimbleX 2007 (Page 1 of 1)
Written by
Steve Lake
Posted on: Oct 31, 2007 at 02:37pm
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NimbleX is a Linux distribution built on the idea that "fast is best". It comes complete with a lot of great tools to help you do a wide variety of tasks. Even though it's setup as a desktop distribution, the uses for NimbleX are quite extensive. It is designed to run from a CD, a USB pen drive or even from the network rather than a hard drive. Not many distributions combine such a selection of boot methods. Most use one or the other, but never all three in combination.
For those who've worked with Linux for a while, you should find yourself very much at home with NimbleX. It comes complete with a full KDE interface, all of the most important KDE tools and applications (There's no kde fluff stuff. Just the important things), and runs so crazy fast that you're likely to get windburn. 
It also comes complete with a lot of mobile computing tools should you find yourself using this on a laptop.
Some of these include the Kphone client, a well designed Wireless Lan Manager, and a Wireless Assistant. Oddly enough, the system even includes built in web, ftp, and a PXE servers. So technically you could turn any machine you want into a full fledged server with just a few clicks. I also found all of the control panels and other elements of KDE, normally butchered to death in other distributions, completely intact. Aside from the KDE4'ish way of skinning the control center, it was completely untouched and organized the way you'd expect it to be.
NimbleX is designed to run on any x86 hardware, most specifically on older hardware. One example I've seen is where it was tested and run successfully on an old AMD K6-2/500 with a 6gb drive that at one time ran Windows 98. Not only did it run amazingly fast on that machine, but it also detected all the hardware on the first try! It's likely you could even run NimbleX on a machine with an even smaller drive and processor by instead using the sub-100mb version that's even tighter and lighter weight than the 200mb version while still supporting KDE with all its core features. Certainly there's a few less extras on it, but if you really want those, they can be added back very easily. So no worries there. But then again, if you need to run the sub-100mb version, you likely won't.
The designers did a very good job with the system overall. KDE is snappier than I've ever seen it, giving it nearly the same feel as XFCE as far as responsiveness goes. That's not saying KDE is slow, but there's a marked difference in response times versus the same setup in some of the bigger distributions. Another great example of how the NimbleX developers have done so good a job optimizing this distribution.
On top of all this, the developers and artists did a absolutely fantastic job on the visuals, graphics, wallpaper and the overall look of the system. The icon sets are perfect, the wallpapers are well done, and overall it has a very sharp, clean interface, all while remaining true to it's light weight design focus.
In the quick launch tray is links to K3B, Kplayer and Juk to allow you to immediately get started on a full multimedia experience. And overall it doesn't do a bad job playing back sound and movie files either. It won't do DVD's, but then again, that's not really a bad thing considering that you're most likely to be running this on a low end machine that couldn't handle the demands of dvd decoding anyways.
Now, as for installing NimbleX instead of just running it from the liveCD, you'll need to dive into the command prompt to do it. But that's pretty simple. Just open a console window, type "nimblex-install" and you're off and running. The install actually takes only about 2-5 minutes depending on what you want to do. Yes, the whole install, copying of files, and everything is done in 2-5 minutes rather than the twenty minutes to an hour most other distributions require. More props to the developers for this. Another thing I discovered while testing as well is that you can install the entire system to a hard drive. And if you do decide to install it to the hard drive, it's even snappier. Now while the distribution isn't necessarily designed for use on a hard drive, nothing says it can't be, as I tried it and it worked first time with no hiccups.
Software install is also very easy. While not completely intuitive for the new user, you can use Kweb2mod to add more applications, including Firefox and Pidgin. Even though these two internet standbys aren't there, they can very easily be added. One complaint though is that while the software archive has a lot of great software you can install, it's not very big compared to the archives offered by other distributions. But then again, the NimbleX developers focused on creating a light weight streamlined distribution, so a lot of overhead isn't necessarily going to be a good thing. And you certainly don't want to loose what you've gained by cluttering up your install with resource hungry applications.
Now, while there is a lot of great stuff to talk about with NimbleX, there's also some downsides to it. One of those is the fact that NimbleX runs as root by default. There are no sub-users and no way to create them that I can easily find. Something that ought to cause most experienced Linux users to have a near fatal heart attack. It's true that the system has a lot of great security features (firewall, ssh client, etc), but running as root is dangerous in the wrong hands, (then again, it's not all that safe even in the right hands) and shouldn't be available to users unless they really, really want it. Also, the system requires no password to login either, so again, you're left with another glaring security hole for the system.
I understand the idea behind "fast is best" as well as keeping things as simple as possible for the new user, but even so, security should always be first and foremost, even when adhering to the KISS principle is mandatory. It only takes a few minutes extra to setup users and some basic login credentials to ensure that the system stays secure. Especially if it's going to be used on a laptop that'll be out in a wild world full of wolves that'd just love to get at all your personal effects on your computer.
Overall though, aside from those couple of misgivings, I find NimbleX to be very enjoyable, easily usable, and highly recommendable for people with older machines, or those just looking for raw, unbridled speed and light weight operation. And all of this comes coupled with the grand power of KDE. So give it a try. What you find may endear you to this distribution for years to come. Also, in my honest opinion, I believe that NimbleX flat out trumps most other light weight distribution by providing both speed and power in one tiny little distribution.
You can find out more about them by going to http://www.nimblex.net/
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