Bodhi 5.0 released

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More here, https://itsfoss.com/bodhi-linux-5/

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One of the great things about Bodhi 5.0 is it has a legacy 32bit version for older hardware.

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Bodhi flies, its very quick but the Moksha DE for me is simply a no go. If you used it all the time and customized it heavily it might be worth it but I simply find it a slow go trying to be productive using it.

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I installed it to test and its a very minimalistic distro so be prepared to install many apps. They have packages thru their app installer that gives you a base install from minimal to a full desktop. Not a bad way to do it if you prefer to not do that individually. Getting use to setting up the desktop will take some time and they do have excellent documentation but this wont be a small learning curve even if you came from another DE in Linux.
Resource usage even with the full desktop install is amazing and given the terrific graphics it flies even on older systems. One of the articles had it installed on a 2008 Toshiba satellite laptop and the results in performance were fantastic. With the inclusion of the legacy 32bit distro version, your older hardware will do very with Bodhi.
If you can get use to the Moksha DE its a great lightweight distro that you can tailor to your own specific needs.

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Ive been playing with it a bit more and it takes some getting use to as the interface is not intuitive but once you start playing with it, it grows on you a bit. If youve used Fluxbox it has some of that type of feel to it but goes well beyond and forces you to create everything you want or need.
Ive added one shelf with some basic functions I want like battery,start,temp,audio and system settings. I left everything else in the one click desktop menu which can be reached by clicking anywhere on the desktop. The shelf is center on the left side and I set it to auto hide.
System settings are really basic and I still havent found a way to change the screen resolution thru system settings so Ill post back.
They have a setting for the older classic E17 menu but I tried it and it doesnt seem to work but will try it again.

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Still struggling a bit as its not as cooperative as it was when I first tried it with E17. Its a new release so Im sure things will get cleaned up but still havent found where to change screen resolution yet. Speed though is what floors you about this distro as it boots very fast and is quick in all uses.
If they would offer a more moderate desktop design for those who want it such as with e17, I think things would be better.
The Bodhi app center is very well done and offers a one click install of the more improtant apps broken down by category or search. I actually did most of my installs from here, the rest with Synaptic. Midori is the default web browser which works very well and is linked to their site and self help info center. Be sure to install the Ubuntu restricted extras to get better fonts and codecs, even though Bodhi does a nice job of installing them.
Wifi installed fine but my printer was seen but no driver was installed, so installed HPLIP from Synaptic and good to go.
No hardware issues at all except for no real display settings so far.
Runs very well on my Dell E6400 with core 2 duo 2.53ghz and 4gb of ram and had no issues with my Dell EPort pr03x dock during install.

Ill be back after Ive played with it a bit more.

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They have no simple screen resolution changer such as you see with some distros. All changes are done with ARanDR and you create your profile, save it and apply it. Havent tested whether it holds after you reboot but it does work though when I initially tried it. Setting isnt maintained on reboot so for newbies there is no simple way to set screen resolution.

So far this is one of the least newbie friendly distros ive used in quite some time. Theres a lot to like and much effort has gone into making this an attractive distro but they need to simplify this and offer more instruction directly from within the OS to help people get use to the different design.

Its fun to play with but if you want ease of use and better workflow/functionality, there are other better choices.

Resource usage is excellent at 248mb and Ive made no changes to the startup apps.
Other issues, they have no forums on their website as due to some type of legal isue they link to the Bodhi forum over at linuxquestions.org which isnt that extensive. They have some other support options and a good wiki on their site but given the nature of Moksha, theres going to be a lot of questions and issues. For older hardware its a very quick distro and performs better than AntiX and Puppy Linux.

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Added a shelf to the bottom of the screen that essentially acts like a dock and by adding the ibar, apps and other items/gadgets can be added. It allows you to pin favorite apps and simplifies launching programs versus clicking on the screen and rumaging thru the menu. This setup suits me better and now Ive got a clock, cpu temps, battery meter and other apps available. Since Im testing this distro for newbies, the process for accomplishing this isnt too bad and thus would become a better option overall. You can control the size and design of this shelf and make adjustments to suit yourself. It can be set to auto hide but if you decided to use a large number of apps, youll have to run it on the bottom/top of the screen.

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As I partly mentioned earlier there are different versions of Bodhi to download. Theres the standard version thats the minimal install for 64bit systems from the last ten years, legacy 32bit version that uses the 3.2 kernel for much older systems and the Appack version that is the standard version but includes more apps making the iso go from 706mb to a hefty 1.4gb. Its a better choice if you dont want to have to install so many apps,printer support and other features. For most users the standard version is going to be the best choice given its small size for download and the easy method they have for adding necessary apps.

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Ok after using Bodhi for everything for two days, its better than I expected and still one of the lightest distros ive used in awhile.
Getting use to the unique shelf/module system and the dock at the bottom of the screen is pretty much like Elementary. Multimedia uses were fine, no codec issues, no sound or graphics issues so far. Tried quite a few apps with no issues, and no unusual behaviours in regards to suspend and cpu cooling with the Dell E6400. Cpu/memory usage is excellent and better than many other distros i use. It returns the memory very quickly when returning to the main screen. If you like the look of MacOSX youll feel at home with this type of design.

Particularly for older laptops, this is a great choice as its far lighter than AntiX/MX17 as well as wattOS R10/Lubuntu.