Editing MEPIS (section)

==History==
MEPIS was designed as an alternative to [[SUSE Linux]], [[Red Hat Linux]], and [[Mandriva Linux]] (formerly Mandrake) which Woodford considered too difficult for the average user. MEPIS's first official release was on May 10, 2003.

In 2006, MEPIS made a transition from using Debian [[Software package (installation)|packages]] to using Ubuntu packages.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lehrbaum|first=Rick|url=http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS7900729752.html|title=MEPIS founder clarifies MEPIS/Ubuntu relationship|date=2007-02-17|publisher=DesktopLinux.com|accessdate=2008-07-06|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906090302/http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS7900729752.html|archivedate=2008-09-06}}</ref> SimplyMEPIS 6.0, released in July 2006, was the first version of MEPIS to incorporate the Ubuntu packages and [[Software repository|repositories]].

SimplyMEPIS 7.0 discontinued the use of Ubuntu binary packages in favor of a combination of MEPIS packaged binaries based on Debian and Ubuntu source code, combined with a Debian stable OS core and extra packages from Debian package pools.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mepis.org/node/13894 |title=MEPIS Begins a Return to Debian With Version 6.9.51prebeta |date=2007-08-02 |accessdate=2007-12-23 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211233101/http://www.mepis.org/node/13894 |archivedate=2007-12-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Major releases occurred about six months to one year apart until 2013, based mostly on Warren's availability to produce the next version.