Netrunner Linux: Two Versions One Vision

Early Wednesday morning, I couldn't sleep past 06:00 hrs, so I decided I'd give Netrunner a try, a Linux distro based on Manjaro Linux, which I had downloaded the previous evening. Netrunner has two versions based on two different distros. One is the stable version, based on Kubuntu 14.04 LTS, the other is a rolling distribution based on Manjaro 0.8.10 "Ascella", with KDE. In short, Netrunner offers one desktop, KDE, in two different editions... two versions, one vision. 

The install was very easy and quick. Fifteen to twenty minutes after I started the install, I had rebooted and was on the Internet looking for updates. Eat your heart out M$ Windows! I installed this distro the easy way, by letting "Thus", the Manjaro installer, do the partitioning. I could just as easily have chosen to partition manually, but I decided to give auto-partitioning a try. It worked flawlessly, proving yet again, how talented the Manjaro dev team is.

After the reboot, I installed some updates; this too was easily done, without any problems. The desktop has a really nice blue theme, rather than the green of Manjaro. This of course is a personal opinion, not a negative reflection on the Manjaro team: I prefer the blue of Netrunner to the green of Manjaro. The only think I didn't like about Netrunner's desktop was the Adwaita window decoration. I've never liked that window decoration, so I changed it to one that is called "FormaN" (sic), a beautiful transparent window titlebar with three simple buttons and a handy window border for re-sizing, all of which you can modify if needed. The controls were from the Oxygen theme, which I flattened to get the look I like. All-in-all beautiful work by the Netrunner team.

Being based on Manjaro/Arch Linux, Netrunner uses the Pacman package manager. This is a very powerful tool. If you don't fear the command line, AKA the dark place, you'll find that pacman is a powerhouse. There are also GUI versions available to install packages, which use Pacman in the background. One is called "Pamac", while the other is called "Octopi". Netrunner uses Octopi. I prefer Octopi's 
interface to Pamac's; again this is a personal taste and doesn't reflect on how these programs work. Both are just fine to do what you need them to do.

The one thing made me ask "WTF???", was the way Netrunner had configured the KDE System Settings interface. They have re-arranged the order in which the various tweaks in KDE can be performed. Such things as Window Decorations, known as Window Themes in Netrunner, are now located in the Appearance section. Things like Window Behavior, the Login Screen, Windows Rules, Emoticons, the Task Scheduler, the Activities Settings, Spell-Checker, Connection Preferences, Paths 
and Display Configuration, etc, are all located at the bottom left of the 
window, under an icon named "Others". Some might find this inconvenient; I did at first, but it's no biggie.

It's the first time I've come across this type of configuration, but it only took a bit of looking around to find what I needed. Perhaps keeping the "traditional" configuration would have lessened the learning curve for someone coming over from a Debian or Kubuntu distro, using KDE, but it certainly isn't a deal breaker.

N.B. One of the moderators of the Netrunner forum informed me as to why it's done that way. Here's what he said, and I quote him verbatim:

Begin quote ~~~~~~~~~~~~
That was a very nice read, one thing though.

Most of the things that got put under Other were things that are either not used at all, and that have been replaced with alternatives in the distribution, or ones that rarely get used but come by default in the KDE packages.

example: (sic)
Netrunner uses SDDM by default which has its configurator under Startup And Shutdown > Login screen (SDDM), the one under other is for KDM which is soon to be completely dropped by the KDE community anyway.

To adjust the screen Netrunner uses the default KDE xrandr manager under Display > size and orientation, the one under Other is for the new Kscreen which is not installed by default.


Just a FYI
End quote ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The installation medium (**.iso) comes with plenty of software to use for work and play, and one can download a lot more using Octopi, or pacman at the command line. The ISO is a 2.5GB download, somewhat hefty, but still manageable. The desktop is well put together, easy to work with and won't impede your workflow, unlike the Gnome shell or Unity, both of which I have come to find a distraction.

I have had no problems, either with updates, or broken software. KDE is very well put together and very well integrated, and plays well with GTK software. These are just some of the many things I like about it, and why it has become my desktop of choice.

As I write this, I've got Kate opened, Yakuake, as well as Google-Chrome, with four tabs open, and three widgets, one of which is quite beautiful; more on this one in  a minute. The task manager, known as Ksysguard, tells me that with all of this going on, I'm using 1.2GB of memory; but I'd bet my bottom dollar that many Linux users could tweak this to lower the memory footprint substantially. Personally, I don't really care because my box has 8GB of memory and I don't see this as slowing down my system at all. Even at 4GB of memory, this would still not be a problem.

The widget I was referring to above is a beautiful clock/calendar, which 
includes an earth phase and lunar phase, as well as gears and other parts which you can play with to change the day, the time, the month, etc; all put together in a visually stunning Steampunk style. The widget is known as "Time Keeper" and it's a masterpiece of color and motion.

Conclusion
This distro is a superb example of Linux craftsmanship, as is the Manjaro 
offering that the Netrunner rolling release is based on. The only two minor annoyances I found were the Adwaita window decorations and the system settings thing mentioned above, and these are certainly not deal breakers.

I haven't tried the stable release based on Kubuntu, so I can't speak to it, but the rolling release is very well put together. I would recommend this offering to anyone, especially someone coming from a Windows or OSX environment. My hat is off to the Netrunner team. Bravo!

GR
Peace