Background
At first sight, BeaFanatIX may look just like one more of the huge number of minimalistic Linux distributions out there - so what's the catch?
Well, you'll get a fully functional desktop operating system running off a standard or a mini (3", 8cm) CD-ROM (or CD-RW). The only thing your computer needs to be capable of is booting from CD - most modern machines can do that without any problem; if it doesn't, take a look at the BFXdoc site.
Apart from using it as a Live CD, you can also install it to your hard drive as an independent operating system, so if you like it, put it on your hard drive and enjoy enhanced speed, usability and efficiency!
BeaFanatIX inherits some very useful features from the distributions it is based on:
- Knoppix has excellent hardware recognition and comes with a usable installation script.
- Ubuntu is geared towards the desktop and ease of use.
- Debian gives you access to a vast amount of software packages ready for immediate use.
- BeatrIX is portable and optimised to run even on older and less potent hardware.
BeaFanatIX, true to its BeatrIX roots, has been optimised to enable even a less experienced user to have a working desktop within minutes - work with documents, surf the web and communicate over the internet. And it has very moderate hardware needs - that's why BeaFanatIX (very much like BeatrIX) may be the best way to revive an old computer sitting useless in a corner of your attic!
Even though still owing much of its basic concepts to BeatrIX, Stephan Emmerich aka. Renegat3 has taken BeaFanatIX way beyond its BeatrIX heritage. Stephan set out to tweak the system and iron out the most prominent bugs (or Moths), but he has gone a lot further. Apart from some Knoppix scripts (which are also heavily modified and enhanced), the whole core has been changed; BeaFanatIX is now based on a fairly recent version of Ubuntu and comes with its own powerful scripts and packages to make sure that the system is up to date, easy to handle and to maintain. There'll also be a dedicated software repository to make updating and customizing the system even simpler (and a lot more functional).
With the release of BeaFanatIX 2006.2, the distribution should be ready for primetime, and we're looking forward to persenting a highly usable system with several enhancements over comparable distributions. You can download ISO images of BeatrIX, BeaFanatIX 2006.1rev1 (the original BeatrIX remaster) and BeaFanatIX 2006.2 beta6 right here from this site.
Please also read what Stephan Emmerich, BFX's developer, has to say about BFX!
Additional information
For general discussions and feedback we still use a special thread on the BeaBoards, but there's also a dedicated forum for BeaFanatIX development and discussion on this site, the BFXboards.
Another goal is to provide some useful documentation for BeaFanatIX and, partly, for BeatrIX (though BeatrIX is becoming obsolete very quickly now - - and most of BeatrIX's documentation is collected in the BeaFAQ on her own site).
Last modified: Sun 10-Dec-06