What do you want in a new linux distro?

[user sam]

OK, another broad and totally unnecessary question by yours truly. Suppose there was going to be a new Linux distro (or plan9, or BSD, or whatever your kernel preference is).
AAAAUUUUUGH! Too... many... distros... I know, but suppose there was going to be one anyway. What should it have? I know that any answers are entirely subjective, but I would like them anyway. For research purposes I suppose.
For example: "I want a distro that can cook veggie burgers on my new uranium powered Supergrill 3000."
Or: "It should have this program that doesn't exist yet..."
Like you could also say you want gimp or openoffice or wine or whatever, but that would be sort of mundane. My opinion is that a new distro is only justified if you have some new program that you want to demo or you have some specific goal that remains clearly unmet by other distros. So I don't care if you say something that doesn't exist yet. Well, what stuff do you want?

[AdamShumpisxXx]

Regardless of whatever this new distribution includes I'd like it to be officially recognized by existing hardware vendors and video game developers. I'm sick of Windows dominating that market. I know there's Wine, Cedega, Crossover, etc...but none of them truly get the job done. We NEED a Windows killer here. So far Ubuntu made that breakthrough by getting their OS preinstalled on those ASUS Netbooks and sold through places like Best Buy. Will Ubuntu be that dream OS? I don't know but what I do know is those said companies need to start getting their sh*t together. I would also say the same thing to ATI, AMD, Intel, nVidia, etc...to start treat Linux like the real deal that it is.

We can all dream...can't we?

:KS

[user sam]

Hmm... agreed, but the trouble with that is all of the distros have different program installation methods. Redhat and suse use rpms, ubuntu and debian use debs, slackware and the BSDs use tgz/txz, some of slackware's livecd derivatives use lzms to install stuff, pc-bsd uses pbis. other than source code (which I hate having to use), I don't know that there is a universally recognized installation method. I imagine that's why linux and its friends aren't recognized by so many. rpm is probably the closest thing to universal there is. I hear google is basing their new os on linux. If their system succeeds things could get interesting...
Oh yeah, and dsl uses .dsl and puppy uses .pup and .pet and so on and so forth and etcetera, etcetera, and forever and ever and...
Say, wouldn't slackware and the bsds be a great name for a rock band?
"And entertaining us tonight: it's SLACKWARE and the BSDs!"
:guitar: :lolflag:

[Jimleko211]

Well, I know in the Ubuntu package manager you can install support for rpm. If I was to have a new distro, I'd want it to have support for both deb and rpm, and to have a slick interface that combined Gnome, KDE, and Mac OS X.

[hanzomon4]

I don't think the different package formats are a problem for users or developers. That's the job of the distro, closed.. open.. doesn't matter, you don't need the source to make a deb or rpm. But anyway, So many things I want. I really like how the Pre handles contacts so I'll throw my hat to that end of the pond. I would like an app that can pull information from my various cloud based "contacts" and intelligently organize them.. i.e. no duplicates. It could go a step further and automatically tag my contacts in my fspot albums, google docs that we collaborated on... etc. Now when I get an email an alert pops up saying Soandso sent you an email and if they're online I can simply send them an IM without having to open pidgin.

I guess I want a seamless way to communicate with people, that I know, at the center, not the app.

[vinutux]

firefox + Terminal + net connection

.

[fuzzyk.k]

something that works out of the box

[JohnnySage50307]

I am an undergraduate researcher at the University of Pittsburgh; my current interests are in AI, Artificial Neural Networks, Robotics. Any distro of mine I would like the following:

1. Loaded and supported SSH, FTP, and VNC servers for remote access whenever I'm on the go.
2. A scheduler that can handle computationally intensive processes mingled with other ones (usually when I'm running a simulation, I like to surf the net and find videos or games). My sugestion, have it peer into the structure of the code a little and decide how many processors it could dedicate. Heck, most of my sims, if it could dedicate two of the cores to those and let the other two handle whatever else I'm doing, that'd be beautiful.
3. A decent software repository because my fiance uses my machines too and isn't as tech-savy as I am :-P
4. Working, supported, and numerous driver modules--I've read so much about how Jaunty has issues with Intel graphics processors, and alot of other Linux distros have a mix and match of what they readily support.

Everything else is pretty much glitter and shine, so you could leave that up to whoever decides to implement your distro.

[SunnyRabbiera]

something that works out of the box

Yes but linux can do this, depends on the hardware though.

[decoherence]

I want Ubuntu 14.10! :D (way to keep to that release schedule, guys!)

I really want a distro centered around making a keyboard-based tiling window manager as user-friendly as GNOME. Awesome, dwm, ion, whatever. Just so long as a whole pile of thought and love goes in to it (like ubuntu.)

I want someone to make a desktop environment with the Blender game engine. Should be possible with the python bindings, especially when 2.5 comes. Wouldn't that blow the freaking crap out of anything Apple or MS had? A desktop environment with physics? That offers a whole other level of feedback for the user that, if done right, could make the interface much more intuitive.

I can think of more but I'll stop there.

[Sef]

OK, another broad and totally unnecessary question.... Not unnecessary, but a recurring one, so moved.

[HappinessNow]

OK, another broad and totally unnecessary question by yours truly. Suppose there was going to be a new Linux distro (or plan9, or BSD, or whatever your kernel preference is).
AAAAUUUUUGH! Too... many... distros... I know, but suppose there was going to be one anyway. What should it have? I know that any answers are entirely subjective, but I would like them anyway. For research purposes I suppose.
For example: "I want a distro that can cook veggie burgers on my new uranium powered Supergrill 3000."
Or: "It should have this program that doesn't exist yet..."
Like you could also say you want gimp or openoffice or wine or whatever, but that would be sort of mundane. My opinion is that a new distro is only justified if you have some new program that you want to demo or you have some specific goal that remains clearly unmet by other distros. So I don't care if you say something that doesn't exist yet. Well, what stuff do you want?

I want a Linux distro that is put out by Google, backed up by supporting hardware manufactures, and software companies like Adobe. ;)

[user sam]

Not unnecessary, but a recurring one, so moved.
Well it's broad because of all the possibilities, and unnecessary because I didn't have to ask and no one had to answer.

[RoestVrijStaal]

A whole list:


A better energy power control like WinVista has.
An advanced and stable Moblock, like PeerGuardian preinstalled.
Deluge preinstalled.
FireFox with NoScript, AdBlock Plus, RefControl, CustomizeGoogle, Organize Status Bar, DownThemAll! preinstalled, without any Google references, and use Scroogle as default search engine :cool:
Preinstalled media codecs, media converters, java runtime and flashplayer should also be fine.
Preinstalled Firewall/iptables controller

[DownTown22]

I've had enough of new distros....too many already.

[SuperSonic4]

Wireless support
A large, extensive and up to date repository (free and non-free)
Only the very basics and wireless support in

(basically arch linux xD)

[ramnarayan]

would like the new distro to make sure all the hardware which has worked in previous versions of linux continue to work.

[oldsoundguy]

would like the new distro to make sure all the hardware which has worked in previous versions of linux continue to work.

AMEN TO THAT!

Let's get a distro that finally works AUDIO (digital .. it is the digital age) out of the box and runs a decent ADVANCED video display without spending 4 days in terminal trying to get things to work properly (and failing and having to go back to a previous build.)

Once the basic (and A & V ARE BASIC!) stuff is rock solid, then they can concentrate on the bells and whistles.

[C!oud]

I really want a distro centered around making a keyboard-based tiling window manager as user-friendly as GNOME. Awesome, dwm, ion, whatever. Just so long as a whole pile of thought and love goes in to it (like ubuntu.)


User friendly is a subjective term, personally I find dwm user friendly because it's simple and easy to use. Under a more general definition, how do you exactly propose to make tiling wm's more user friendly? :-s They're purpose is to cater to power users not to be user friendly...

[user sam]

OK, here's my idea. A wm/de where everything is clearly labeled (menu, devices, preferences, etc.) and the menu would be a "smart menu" so if you used certain programs that weren't already in the menu enough times it would add them automatically. I want a force quit that is easy to get to(like windows' ctrl-alt-del or mac's cmd-option-esc), and I want better printer support both on the part of the distro and the printer manufacturer. I want all the menus and icons to be costumizable, and if i'm browsing the web and come across a good repository of software I can just click and tell it to add the site to my package manager's sources w/o having to edit a bunch of weird files hidden deep in the system somewhere.

[ramnarayan]

Hey User Sam

1. Check out Kubuntu or a KDE based environment - it already has most of what you want

2.You can add a a force misbehaving app icon to your icon menu's - it works better than the windows ctrl+alt+del

Reg printer support and adding repos easilt - i second that

ram

[triplesquarednine]

new distro???

i don't think linux really needs anymore distro's....they is tons already,
and most are very similiar at the end of the day. (and i am speaking of linux, not unix).
BSD, solaris and company are different....the only thing i would like to see(which other people have stated in this thread), * is for hardware/software companies to have better linux support for drivers and porting their software to linux...

we don't need new distro's, they just need to be refined. ubuntu, fedora and suse are my favorites, except i do not like YAST2(suse) package manager, and there are is a bigger community for ubuntu than fedora....so i stick with Ubuntu.

there are no real advantages to any specific distro, really... if you think about it. linux is modular and you can change everything.( if you are willing to learn how :) ) compile your own specialized kernel, use proprietary software and drivers. compile software for your own specs...and it's not that hard - follow a good up-to-date guide, and you will be fine!

there are tonz of resources for doing all of these things...most times people are glad to help. my system runs really well. and i do audio production. i built everything myself, based on a "vanilla" kernel(2.6.29). instead of using UbuntuStudio(which is bloated, in my opinion), i tailered ubuntu for my own needs - realtime live performance with all my VST(wineasio) and recording... everything is kickass and works great...

i only started using linux in january(2009), and taught myself everything i know, with the help of forums and Google. if you hate compiling, then go find the package thru google or launchpad ppa... depending on what you want and what package you are installing, if you can find an RPM - convert it using Alien. so you can use rpm's in a debian based system, depending on a few variables...

so in conclusion, we don't need more distro's, instead the community needs to keep growing so that companies do not have a choice - but to make better software/drivers/support for linux.

mark shuttleworth intends to be going head-on with OSX within 2yrs, i heard him say that in an interview, recently. so don't be surpised if the next few versions of ubuntu really start to step up!

***windows is crap, but will be used for a longtime. because of it's corporate market,
and it's place in the business world. where aside from servers, and the odd opensource company - linux isn't used very much...neither is MacOSX - mac's are too expensive(and not worth the buck if you compare specsheets) to be used in Big offices...they are widely used for photography, multimedia, and in studios...

but your not stuck with windows, do what i do - buy MacOSX, install it on your PC(hackintosh) and install linux on another partition. then you have the best of both worlds. anything not yet in linux/or for something that doesn't work well - openGL/3d animation, certain aspects of java, DivX, etc....

just use OSX(until ubuntu works it out). i use linux for making music over OSX,
so to whoever in this thread said wine doesn't work well....then how come i can use
All of the Adobe products i own - CS4, and how come my Native instruments software(using wineasio) work the same of better than in windows in some cases...??

maybe you just haven't set you system up properly??? eh?

(my only beef would be i like the OSX version of photoshop/illistrator better than the win-version...but what can you do?)lol.

[triplesquarednine]

Hey User Sam

1. Check out Kubuntu or a KDE based environment - it already has most of what you want

2.You can add a a force misbehaving app icon to your icon menu's - it works better than the windows ctrl+alt+del

Reg printer support and adding repos easilt - i second that

ram

gnome has the same stuff, just so you know!

(but i won't start the gnome vs. KDE debate)

cheers

[ramnarayan]

gnome has the same stuff, just so you know!

(but i won't start the gnome vs. KDE debate)

cheers

I know but its more easily visible on KDE

by the way - I use gnome :-)

[gjtoth]

Considering I'm back to 8.10... I'd like 9.04 & up to stop crashing. Another STABLE Ubuntu would be nice.

[blackxored]

I want it stable, secure, and no fool-prof.
I already have it.
I'd request more hardware support, and a better integration between components of the distro.
Best regards.

[user sam]

Hey User Sam

1. Check out Kubuntu or a KDE based environment - it already has most of what you want

2.You can add a a force misbehaving app icon to your icon menu's - it works better than the windows ctrl+alt+del

Reg printer support and adding repos easilt - i second that

ram
I already use KDE and I insist that it does not have what i am talking about. I think gnome comes closer, but some combination of the two comes much closer. I'm thinking that since people get used to their pda and cell-phone systems where as most hate any computer os, they are less intimidating and I am talking about something like that.
For example: my dad figured out his ipod in three days whereis he still can't figure out how to use os x after several years.

[triplesquarednine]

I know but its more easily visible on KDE

by the way - I use gnome :-)


it's more visible in KDE??? really?

i thought i remember KDE not being much different, aside from the need to start every app name with a K - which is annoying....and KDE reminds me too much of windows, it's like a windows wannabe...lol.

i found that force quit app for the menu bar, the 2nd day i used ubuntu,
and it does work waaayy better than ctrl-alt-del in windows.

cheers