Volunteering

[Raini]

I will volunteer to work on the custom distro. I have some experience
with debian adding and culling and customizing it to be what my spouse
and I need. I am a tester by profession and would be willing to help
in that capacity as well.

[Ben Francis]

That sounds great Raini!

Stay tuned for a roadmap towards building the underlying OS, but if you've got some initial thoughts of where to start then please do post them here!

Thanks

Ben

--
Ben Francis
http://tola.me.uk

[Jono]

Yes, looking further at Linux from scratch I can see that although it
might be faster and smaller than a minimal Debian install, the
difficulty of upgrading, making a live cd/installer etc. Probably
outweigh the benefits. I think what raini is proposing building it off
a minimal Debian install will be the best option as far as ease of
maintenance and quite possibly stability are concerned.

On Jun 8, 7:35 am, Ben Francis <b...@tola.me.uk> wrote:
> That sounds great Raini!
>
> Stay tuned for a roadmap towards building the underlying OS, but if you've
> got some initial thoughts of where to start then please do post them here!
>
> Thanks
>
> Ben
>

[adi cahya]

If webian going tobe a full linux distro..i suggesting based on rolling released distro.this way, will not need installing every 6 months like ubuntu.the os will be automatically updated and so is the webian.
Just like  chromeOS :)

[Pawan Hegde]

Ummm.. I have a different view. Webian itself wouldn't change enough to be a good rolling distro. The thing about rolling distros is that the libraries and the associated programs keep on updating marginally every now and then, so the whole distro keeps on moving forward. Webian would not (should not) have a lot of dependencies, so it makes more sense to update the whole program once every few months instead of updating it very often with marginal improvements. This way it would also be possible to make sure that chromeless and the other major dependencies play well with it. Sorry, I don't know how ChromeOS updates. Is it out yet??

On 8 June 2011 14:59, adi cahya <adic...@gmail.com> wrote:

If webian going tobe a full linux distro..i suggesting based on rolling released distro.this way, will not need installing every 6 months like ubuntu.the os will be automatically updated and so is the webian.
Just like  chromeOS :)

--

Regards,

PH

[Julian Lam]

A rolling distro doesn't necessarily mean the OS must update every x months... it simply means that if packages are available, they are updated... meaning we'd be getting rid of static releases that stay outdated if the user doesn't bother doing a re-install.

[Pawan]

> A rolling distro doesn't necessarily mean the OS must update every x
> months... it simply means that if packages are available, they are
> updated...

I know. But it means that the dependencies keep updating :)

> meaning we'd be getting rid of static releases that stay outdated
> if the user doesn't bother doing a re-install.

A non-rolling OS does not mean that it is not updated. It just means
that instead of updating package by package, the complete OS updates
itself when ready. I'm a big fan of rolling distros but they are more
difficult to maintain. Plus, it's always a good choice to test the
dependencies especially when you're not developing them yourself.
There is no visible gain by using a rolling release in this case,
which is why I think a self-updating stable release is better (like
the google chrome browser).

[adi cahya]

...you right.chromeOS doesnt released yet..:-)
The rolling release system i get from what google said on last google io and from my experience with chrome browser.

I just thing this approach give user a smoother experience.

Adicahya

[Pawan Hegde]

Chrome Browser doesn't really have a rolling release ( But Chromium on Linux does). It's just a cool way of installing in the background. But I get what you mean.. no down time.. everything automatic. :)

--

Regards,

PH

[Jono]

One thing to consider is that people won't be installing any new
packages - they'll just have a base and everything else will be
online. I'm not sure whether people would prefer downloading a few
megabytes often or downloading a lot every 6 months (or however
often). I'm also not sure how big a download webian OS would be ...
Maybe only 100mb compressed for a minimal x (or indeed wayland)
system? Or am I being optimistic? (actually thinking about it, drivers
would be the one thing that different users would have installed).

In terms of drivers etc. I think we need some sort of package
management with as large a selection of them as possible to give non-
technical users the best experience possible. From this perspective I
think Debian is the best option - massive package repos, a solid
installation system (apt with .deb) and a rolling release. There
should probably be a dialog that pops up the first time updates are
available and asks if users would like to install all future updates
automatically, since this is rather bigger files than just a browser
update ...

[adi cahya]

The suse based webian is sized about 350mb.
Adicahya

[Pawan Hegde]

Maybe the Debian method could be followed. Rolling for developers and Non-rolling for a stable user edition. Most derived distros are non-rolling. It's just more stable. Plus I don't think Webian on the whole would be too massive. 100MB is nothing now a days.

[Ben Francis]

My preference would be for a minimal Debian-based OS which automatically and continuously upgrades itself, in the same way as Chrome and Chrome OS.

I'm not sure how feasible this is. I know that you can set an Ubuntu server to automatically apply security upgrades on your behalf using the apt package management system, but I'm guessing there are limits to this approach.

Could really do with more input from people who really understand apt.

On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 4:23 PM, Pawan Hegde <h.p...@gmail.com> wrote:

Maybe the Debian method could be followed. Rolling for developers and Non-rolling for a stable user edition. Most derived distros are non-rolling. It's just more stable. Plus I don't think Webian on the whole would be too massive. 100MB is nothing now a days.

[Marc]

Hi,

I will build a minimal Debian (testing) live(CD/USB) with the linux-
live scripts (kernel 2.6.38 and squashfs + xz) as soon as I can...

--
Marc
http://pureos.org/

[Wagner Silva Queiroz]

Hi everyone;

I'm using the Webian at Fedora 14 (kernel 2.6.39-1.fc16.i686) and works so fine.
I'll test at Fedora 15, and also try build an minimal Fedora 14 Live
(CD/USB) as soon as i can.

IMHO, i would suggest use an minimal Fedora or Debian based operating
system. They have a stable ecosystem and a mature packages manager
system.

---
Wagner
http://about.me/wagnersq

[Pawan Hegde]

My vote goes to Debian. It supports almost every platform imaginable, plus has a mature packaging system.

--

Regards,

PH

[adi cahya]

Vote for debian too :) just a personal preferences

[Marc]

Hi,

'PureWebOS 0.1 beta 1' is available. It's based on Debian testing...
See it here: http://pureos.org/index.php?lang=english

Marc

[Ben Francis]

Oh no, not another one :P Is that three "Webian OSs" now?

It would be great to hear how you put it together, what window manager you're using etc.

We're discussing the OS base here http://clinked.com/webian/pages/webian_os_base  (.net will work if you're stilling having the security problem)

Thanks for the interest in the project!

Ben

[Daniel Puig]

Hi Ben and all

I saw it of PureWebOS 0.1 beta 1 will be based distro where Webian OS?
define this line to be followed by WebianOS? There is some idea of ​​
following a separate line for Webian OS? Regarding the course distro

[Ben Francis]

I'm sorry Daniel, I don't understand. Could you re-phrase your questions?

[Daniel Puig]

Ben, what I ask is, it is Pure WebOS official platform on which to run
WebianShell?

[Ben Francis]

Daniel,

No, it isn't.

It's one of three attempts I know of to create a distro running Webian Shell, none of which are affiliated with the Webian project.

The discussion about how to build the official Webian OS is just getting started http://clinked.com/webian/pages/webian_os_base

Ben

On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 3:19 PM, Daniel Puig <dpuig...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ben, what I ask is, it is Pure WebOS official platform on which to run
WebianShell?

[Daniel Puig]

Thank you Ben, already has left me clearer, Greetings

[Marc]

> We're discussing the OS base herehttp://clinked.com/webian/pages/webian_os_base (.net will work if you're

> stilling having the security problem)

It works fine now.

> It would be great to hear how you put it together, what window manager
> you're using etc.

I can't request to join the Webian group: "Oops, something unexpected
happened"

Marc

[Ben Francis]

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 12:06 PM, Marc <marc.p...@free.fr> wrote:

I can't request to join the Webian group: "Oops, something unexpected
happened"

Hi Marc,

Could you try it again and if you still get the error, file a bug report here http://getsatisfaction.com/clinked explaining the steps you took and what happened.

Sorry you've had a bad experience, I hope we can get it sorted.

Ben

[Marc]

There's a new PureWebOS (0.1 beta 2), it's a 'minimal Gnome' approach.

Webian Shell is launched fullscreen mode (no borders) with Gnome-panel
(update-manager + network-manager + volume-control + xrandr + shutdown
+ logout) in auto-hide mode in a 'Gnome-Openbox' session (started
automatically by GDM).

Marc
http://pureos.org/

[Ben Francis]

I agree btw, we need the lightest possible stack up to Shell, and Shell should include controls for the hardware.

Ben

On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 1:32 PM, Jerzy <jerzyg...@gmail.com> wrote:

Don't you think Gnome is too fat for this kind of distro? I would prefer TWM-kiosk or IceWM, like in Chromeless OS (http://tinyurl.com/chromelessos). The network and volume will hopefully be managed by Webian itself. Auto updates can be set in background, using cron.

[Cody Long]

Looking at TWM-kiosk and IceWM, I think that TWM-kiosk would be our best bet for a WM. It allows you to specify an application to run on startup that takes over the full screen.

Maybe a more linux savvy person would like to shine more light on the topic; I have just recently converted to linux, but windows is still everywhere so i have a dual-boot setup.

[Ben Francis]

On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 4:59 PM, Cody Long <cody.al...@gmail.com> wrote:

Looking at TWM-kiosk and IceWM, I think that TWM-kiosk would be our best bet for a WM.

Sounds interesting!

Thanks for adding them to the wiki. I must get around to trying a few of these...

Ben

[silopolis]

Seconded !
Debian, what else ?!

[Jono]

A minimal Debian install with twm-kiosk and a few custom config files
should do it. Maybe Reconstructor for the build? I've never used it,
but it sounds good - anyone got an opinion?
What I dont know is how hardware controls could be added to a
Chromeless-based ui ... You might have to mod the code of firefox
itself or get into dbus communication? Anyone more learned than me
that could recommend a way to do it?

(btw sorry if any of my points have already been brought up, I haven't
caught up with the wiki or anything as yet ...)