Custom Distro

[mehulved]

User Name

i see mehul reading the thread . . prepare for some discouragement .
no offence mate

I am not discouraging anyone. I said it's fine to go ahead and do it for gaining some experience with working of linux. But, most of the ideas I have seen here are either implemented somewhere or face restrictions, which will hamper the project in the long run.
Have we seen any pathbreaking idea in the thread? No. Then what's the point in just doing what is fruitless?
Rather spend time to cover issues like localisation, packaging, bug reports which are really short of man power. It's those things that will take open source further in the long run rather than the crutches of bundling proprietory software.
If you people think I am discouraging, I will not speak anything else against the idea anymore.

 

[MetalheadGautham]

Re: User Name

I am not discouraging anyone. I said it's fine to go ahead and do it for gaining some experience with working of linux. But, most of the ideas I have seen here are either implemented somewhere or face restrictions, which will hamper the project in the long run.
Have we seen any pathbreaking idea in the thread? No. Then what's the point in just doing what is fruitless?
Rather spend time to cover issues like localisation, packaging, bug reports which are really short of man power. It's those things that will take open source further in the long run rather than the crutches of bundling proprietory software.
If you people think I am discouraging, I will not speak anything else against the idea anymore.

you are just being practical, and I appritiate that, but we still need to start from step one, and trying to release a simple(and powerful) distro for suiting all our needs is just for an experience.

I think we can use this for example, to create a customised Ubuntu Hardy Heron in the future for our schools and collages, as the LTS support is there in it.

 

[FilledVoid]

Re: Linux Ghandigiri - Invitations for Everyone!

Rather spend time to cover issues like localisation, packaging, bug reports which are really short of man power. It's those things that will take open source further in the long run rather than the crutches of bundling proprietory software.

Could you explain this or post a link which explains how you could join for this? By the way if no one else wants to do it Ill do the AMD64 version if you give me the instructions.

 

[Pat]

Re: Linux Ghandigiri - Invitations for Everyone!

The thread is getting too messy! I recommend creating seperate threads for each of the issues: Building a new one/Customise;
Tackling legalities;
Wishlist for the new distro(softwares/documentation etc.)
and so on

 

[ray|raven]

Re: Linux Ghandigiri - Invitations for Everyone!

I second that.
This thread is indeed getting messy.

Regards,
ray

 

[mehulved]

Re: Linux Ghandigiri - Invitations for Everyone!

Could you explain this or post a link which explains how you could join for this? By the way if no one else wants to do it Ill do the AMD64 version if you give me the instructions.

A presentation on contributing to debian - *foss.in/2007/register/slides/Contributing_to_Debian_for_dummies_348.pdf
More articles on different subjects relating to contributions that can be done to FOSS - *foss.in/2007/schedules/
There are lots more around but I am aware of the above as I had attended foss.in.
Describe your areas of interest and I will try to help you out with how you can find methods to contribute.
One of the most obvious ways is joining the mailing list of distro/applications you use frequently and/or visiting their IRC channel. That will get you more familiar with the software and the community behind it. After that you can pick up your area of comfort and start contributing there.

 

[MetalheadGautham]

@mods: could you please delete my ghandigiri thread and move its first post here? I think it shows everthing we need.

 

[x3060]

am sorry mehul if my words really did hurt you . i really did not mean to hurt you . sorry once again . .
ok , coming back , now the idea you have given is really good , but the problem is , it would be really nice if we start from 0.
well , let me reread the link tomorrow with a fresh mind , its too clouded right now . but its been a while since i had this feeling that we should all contribute in a small way to open source .

@meh. . . i dont know mate , but something is telling me that its gonna take off well . . may be am just too positive or too arrogant . or am just deaf to out side laws . . if only those companys existed for good instead of selfish motives .

 

[mehulved]

Fine you people can go on and give it a shot. Hopefully along the way some nice things will crop up. But, before you move on I'd like to offer 2 points to ponder upon
1) What you are trying to achieve is a distro containing binary content, which you cannot offer any source code. Thus, the distro can never be a fully GPL'ed distro. These can get you into some obstacles along the way. Do you really feel it is worth the effort to face those obstacles?
2) I am sure all of you have heard the proverb "Give a child a fish and feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he'll eat for the rest of his life." Similarly, if you promote binary software you can get around to getting things to work ATM but that will just promote the use of binary content just keeping the open source OS'es as handicapped but if you rather work towards promoting open source software it might be a bit more of tedious work but if people start accepting those in bigger numbers then you will solve the problem of not having out of box support for them. Well even closed source distros will be able to easily bundle in those open source softwares out of the box as long as they follow the licensing terms thus no real loss to them.

 

[praka123]

remastering ubuntu?it was already done with all proprietary things and plugins via mint or ubuntu ultimate!something new?any programmers here?write some cool apps or make a deb package for mac4lin!

 

[infra_red_dude]

I suppose the distro building idea is only for some fun, to get a hands on experience and not serious distribution!

 

[mehulved]

There's gentoo and LFS for that.

 

[x3060]

ok , i guess this is what most new users feel about Linux , first , no mp3 support , nvdia ,ati not giving 3d. dvd not playing . . you know , the basic things . .
what if we could create a self extracting file that will fix their problems , is it against rules or will we face problems ??
its also said "when you can make things simple , make it simple ".
what can be done about those things . . the online thing is really bad , especially for india

 

[mehulved]

There's also DFS - *people.debian.org/~jgoerzen/dfs/

 

[infra_red_dude]

No Mehul, these guys wanna come up with something like Ubuntu Ultimate to get a hands on exp. on distro building, I guess.

Believe me guys, if you are thinking of distributing it and then forgetting it, then its gonna be a lot of trouble for you and everyone. People expect support to the tiniest details! Its not an easy task. Plus the licensing issues will gobble up all your time. By the time you read each license and understand it'll take years!

EDIT: Yes, creating a package (as I'd suggested before) which enables Multimedia, binary drivers, themes etc. would be fine with a one-click or simple installer. It would be more practical on working such a project rather than a distro.

One reason why its a waste to make a distro is that its already Jan. It will take some time to create it. Then by the time its complete, Hardy Heron (considering that this CustomOS is based on ubuntu) would be released. Who will use it, then?

Secondly, how different would it be from Ubuntu Ultimate?

 

[x3060]

whats that DFS am on phone . . i can see lot of iso . . is that a rescue cd kind of thing ??

 

[praka123]

@xs23232:it is Debian from Scratch!
I feel u ppl should research on the current problem which Linux is facing and the reason why Ubuntu or fedora are not carrying ur favourite plugins,codecs etc by default!
i Hope those who are good at programming try to contribute to FOSS by writing new programs under GPL2/3 etc.write programs which are lacking in Linux.
Also,those who may not be good at programming(like me!),send bug reports to bugzilla etc hence to improve each programs!

anyone here who knows gtk/cute programming

 

[mehulved]

There was a talk on remastering ubuntu at foss.in. It can be found *foss.in/2007/register/speakers/talkdetailspub.php?talkid=465
It might help.

 

[x3060]

damn , this thread always comes alive after 2 . . cant you guys start at 10 and end at 12 . ..

 

[infra_red_dude]

Inside info: Inspired by mehul, Charan is learning Qt!