American Infidel 3.0

Religious Linux Distributions (Part 2): Zenix

Zenix: Linux for Enlightened Beings

Zenix is a another Linux distribution based on Ubuntu, but this one is for Buddhists. I will have to say that I liked this distribution better that Ubuntu Christian Edition. Here is what the website says about the distribution:

Welcome to Zenix.
Zenix is an Ubuntu remix with several goals:

Community – We would like to continue the tradition of an Ubuntu “Buddhist Edition”. This is achieved primarily via themes and the inclusion of Buddhist Bookmarks in Firefox. The Buddhist content is “soft” and for non-Buddhists should be non-intrusive.

Security – Zenix includes an active firewall (iptables configured with GUFW) and AppArmor is configured out of the box (with custom profiles for network aware applications).

Compatibility with Ubuntu – Zenix uses the standard Ubuntu repositories and we hope to release Zenix in sync with Ubuntu.

When I first booted the live cd in VirtualBox I noticed that it didn’t look exactly like Ubuntu. The default desktop environment was XFCE. XFCE is a lightweight desktop environment. It is just as good as Gnome, what Ubuntu uses, but it works better on older computers. Below you can see a screenshot of the desktop when you first login. It looks very nice. Not only can you chose XFCE, with this distribution you can choose Fluxbox. Fluxbox is a window manager, which is not as robust as a desktop environment, but basically serves the same purpose. It is how the windows are drawn on the screen. I have used both Fluxbox and XFCE and I like them both.

Zenix XFCE Desktop

Zenix Fluxbox Desktop with Right Click Menu

What makes this distribution different that Ubuntu Christian Edition is that there isn’t much of anything Buddhist related here. As they said in their goals, “The Buddhist content is “soft” and for non-Buddhists should be non-intrusive”. The only Buddhist related stuff here is the name, the wallpaper, and some Firefox bookmarks. I counted 35 bookmarks about Buddhism and they are tucked away in a folder in the bookmarks menu in Firefox.

Again, like Ubuntu Christian Edition, I think the developers of Zenix don’t understand the meaning of Ubuntu. At least the Buddhism isn’t in you face. Buddhist aren’t in your face trying to “spread the gospel” anyways. The Buddah on the wallpaper does not bother me near as much as seeing a crucified man. I like the theme enough on the XFCE desktop that I wouln’t have a problem installing it and changing the wallpaper. I would delete all the bookmarks and add my own. Just like I said last time, I just don’t think a version of Ubuntu for Buddhists is neccessary.