Foresight Linux 1.0 Stable Released - rPath-based

[Rodneyck]

Foresight Linux has just released their first stable release. I was impressed with the alpha build, but the documentation is very lacking. Their forum was always down.

It has the latest kernel 2.6.19.2 and offers an easy solution to trying rPath.

http://www.foresightlinux.com/

[rocknrolf77]

The forum thing annoyed me. And that was at least 6 months ago I think. Got into the forum now and there's really nothing there. Was thinking about trying out again. Exactly how does the rpath thing work? :guitar:

[RAV TUX]

Foresight Linux has just released their first stable release. I was impressed with the alpha build, but the documentation is very lacking. Their forum was always down.

It has the latest kernel 2.6.19.2 and offers an easy solution to trying rPath.

http://www.foresightlinux.com/

rPath is simply the best and most stable OS for a 64 bit computer so I will have to try this one out....

rPath is what I had installed on my computer before I started using Sabayon

any OS based on rPath has to be worth trying

as far as forums go, must of your most cutting edge distros rely more heavily on IRC channels....I think a good forum community is unique to ubuntuforums.org

so for technical assistance go here:

#foresight on irc.freenode.net

[RAV TUX]

rPath is simply the best and most stable OS for a 64 bit computer so I will have to try this one out....

rPath is what I had installed on my computer before I started using Sabayon

any OS based on rPath has to be worth trying

as far as forums go, must of your most cutting edge distros rely more heavily on IRC channels....I think a good forum community is unique to ubuntuforums.org

so for technical assistance go here:

#foresight on irc.freenode.net

unfortunately there is no Torrent available yet for the stable release...

http://linuxtracker.org/torrents-search.php?search=foresight

[RAV TUX]

unfortunately there is no Torrent available yet for the stable release...

http://linuxtracker.org/torrents-search.php?search=foresight

OK downloading the Torrent from rPath...

http://www.rpath.org/rbuilder/project/foresight/release?id=5335

I may or may not inevitably try this one out....

as stated before rPath I found to be the most stable and best preforming 64bit OS....

Foresight is NOT 64bit....so there is not much incentive to try it...

I have decided not to try it.....killing the download now

[MetalMusicAddict]

I really wish more distros would adopt Conary. Its pretty cool not to have to download a hundred megs to update OO.o.

[RAV TUX]

I really wish more distros would adopt Conary. Its pretty cool not to have to download a hundred megs to update OO.o.Conary is definitely nice...I toyed with the idea of building my own distro based on rPath...

That was before I got into Gentoo/Sabayon

[MetalMusicAddict]

I know a couple of the guys that work at rPath (still use Ubuntu). Ive been told that Mark S. at one point was looking at it.

[hanzomon4]

What cd do I have to get?

[Rodneyck]

"Have you noticed how Linux desktops are getting more and more beautiful? Until a few years ago, we were lucky if our distributions came with anything other than a bland wallpaper and default KDE or GNOME theme, but in recent years much effort has been spent on delivering breathtaking graphics to our desktops in order to create that favourable first impression. Custom bootsplash graphics, login screens, wallpapers, icon sets, colour schemes and window decorations have become an essential part of many projects, even those without the money to employ professional graphics artists.

Foresight Linux is one of those pretty distributions...more"

http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20070129#review

[RAV TUX]

just installed Foresight Linux, like Sabayon and rPath which it is based on it uses the Anaconda installer...

overall I am very impressed with Foresight....I had rPath installed on my hard drive for months before I started using Sabayon...

This is very nice I think I will try it for a while

(only problem thus far that I have only seen with one other now defunct distro..Kanotix....funky scrolling in Firefox)

Much like rPath which Foresight is based on very smooth polished and professional overall....

[RAV TUX]

just installed Foresight Linux, like Sabayon and rPath which it is based on it uses the Anaconda installer...

overall I am very impressed with Foresight....I had rPath installed on my hard drive for months before I started using Sabayon...

This is very nice I think I will try it for a while

(only problem thus far that I have only seen with one other now defunct distro..Kanotix....funky scrolling in Firefox)

Much like rPath which Foresight is based on very smooth polished and professional overall....
Love the Aquamorph colors they incorporated into the desktop by default
http://aquariusoft.org/page/linux/

[RAV TUX]

The rPath appliance agent....is simple and easy to use...

[RAV TUX]

checking for sytem updates is as simple as opening the rPath Appliance Agent in Firefox...and then select check system updates:

[RAV TUX]

System Updates Interface

[RAV TUX]

System Updates Preferences

[RAV TUX]

Conary Log

[RAV TUX]

Conary Logfull conary log for my install can be found here:

http://www.pastebin.ca/340827

(give it moment to open)

[RAV TUX]

View Conary Log Interface

[RAV TUX]

Reboot system

[Rodneyck]

just installed Foresight Linux, like Sabayon and rPath which it is based on it uses the Anaconda installer...

overall I am very impressed with Foresight....I had rPath installed on my hard drive for months before I started using Sabayon...

This is very nice I think I will try it for a while

(only problem thus far that I have only seen with one other now defunct distro..Kanotix....funky scrolling in Firefox)

Much like rPath which Foresight is based on very smooth polished and professional overall....

I liked it as well and Gnome seemed faster than in Ubuntu once I got the updated nvidia drivers installed. I also liked how all the updates and their packaging system is performed through Firefox. It was fast and easy to look up apps and install them.

I did have issues with my sound not working, but I uninstalled it to test Vista the other day (very disappointing), but their forums were very helpful. The forum is fairly new, but growing quickly, so a great distro if you want to jump on their support bandwagon. If I switched back to Gnome, I would definitely install it as my main OS.

I am currently waiting for a stable release of Sidux to test for KDE, which should come in a couple of weeks.

[Rodneyck]

Here is another review of 1.0 stable...

"Foresight is one of the most active projects based on rPath's Conary software management system, which offers administrators a great balance of flexibility and control in deploying and maintaining applications on Linux."

Foresight Is a Linux Distro to Watch
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2090294,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616

[RAV TUX]

Here is another review of 1.0 stable...

"Foresight is one of the most active projects based on rPath's Conary software management system, which offers administrators a great balance of flexibility and control in deploying and maintaining applications on Linux."

Foresight Is a Linux Distro to Watch
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2090294,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616

nice review,....as stated before I did find rPath to have th best 64bit OS......

there were a few shaky things in Foresight but over all nice.......

I think I will multi-boot to rPath...eventually

[manmower]

I still don't understand the Conary package manager. So is it entirely browser driven? As in, not accessible from the command line?

[VFiend]

I've been wondering what theme they're using ever since I saw this screenshot (http://distrowatch.com/images/screenshots/foresight-1.0.png), it's beautiful.

So, could someone who's running it open up the Themes capplet and tell me what window decoration and control theme the default is? I'd really appreciate it, I searched all over and couldn't find anything. I know the icons are Tango but I've never seen the others before. Thanks a lot in advance.

[manmower]

I've been wondering what theme they're using ever since I saw this screenshot (http://distrowatch.com/images/screenshots/foresight-1.0.png), it's beautiful.

So, could someone who's running it open up the Themes capplet and tell me what window decoration and control theme the default is? I'd really appreciate it, I searched all over and couldn't find anything. I know the icons are Tango but I've never seen the others before. Thanks a lot in advance.

GTK+ 2 theme looks like it's just a Green version of Clearlooks (you'll probably find something similar on gnome-look).

The Metacity theme looks a lot like the Zen theme to me (it's listed on gnome-look as a GTK theme but includes the Metacity theme).

[Rodneyck]

I still don't understand the Conary package manager. So is it entirely browser driven? As in, not accessible from the command line?

It is both, you can use a command line or the web browser which acts a lot like synaptic, adept, emerge, etc. For me and the apps I installed, it was not all that slow as others have reported and the article above points out due to the lack of extra repos. Although, I think I read on the forum there will be more soon.

The web based manager does more than just host Conary and it's "update" button. From memory (I have moved on for the moment, so uninstalled the OS) I think you can look at system settings and few other OS related actions. It was quite different and easy to use, all-in-one sort of thing.

As RAV pointed out, there are a few bumps, but the team is constantly updating. If you sign up to their feed, it notifies you of all the program changes and it happens quite frequently. It just hit 1.0, their first stable release so this is expected.

[Rodneyck]

On a related note...

Linux Distro rPath Gets Venture Backing
Published: February 6, 2007
by Timothy Prickett Morgan
Commercial Linux distributor rPath, which has a variant of Linux and a build system for creating and deploying software appliances based on Linux, last week said that it has closed its second round of venture capital funding.
General Catalyst, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Wakefield Group have together kicked in $9.1 million in Series B funding, which rPath will use to market and expand its rBuilder and rBuilder Online tools. General Catalyst and North Bridge have already together ponied up $6.4 million in Series A funding.
The rBuilder Online community now has 5,000 projects and 8,000 users, who have downloaded 250,000 software and virtual appliance packages in 2006. These virtual appliances include content management, voice over IP, customer relationship management, groupware, and numerous other types of appliances, which are wrapped up by and--most importantly--maintained by the rBuilder repository. With rBuilder, you can pick and choose different open source software release levels and build your own software stack, and rBuilder takes care up updates of and dependency issues between the software. An appliance can run within a VMware or XenSource partition, or can include partitioned environments itself. rPath Linux, its own flavor of Linux, runs on 32-bit X86 and 64-bit X64 processors only. Two weeks ago, rPath and Virtual Iron, which has created an extended version of the Xen hypervisor that scales across multiple systems, announced that rBuilder Online can be used to create appliances that run on top of the Virtual Iron 3 stack of software, which is used to provision and manage virtual machines that span from slices of a server to multiple servers in a single image.
The rPath stack is not cheap, but then again, the service that is embodied in rBuilder is extremely useful. Access to the rBuilder repository and five copies of rPath Linux costs $5,000, and it costs $15,000 per year per developer to keep the repository updated. ISVs that create appliances have to pay $100 per server socket per year for support and maintenance for each box they sell with the software appliance on top of it. The OEM model that rPath is peddling as well as the idea that companies will want to deploy software appliances into virtual environments--rather than coding for a specific piece of hardware--is one that at least three venture capitalists are willing to bet on. It seems like a safe bet, but good technologies do not always win in the race to get volumes out there in IT Land.

http://www.itjungle.com/tlb/tlb020607-story05.html

[RAV TUX]

On a related note...

Linux Distro rPath Gets Venture Backing
Published: February 6, 2007
by Timothy Prickett Morgan
Commercial Linux distributor rPath, which has a variant of Linux and a build system for creating and deploying software appliances based on Linux, last week said that it has closed its second round of venture capital funding.
General Catalyst, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Wakefield Group have together kicked in $9.1 million in Series B funding, which rPath will use to market and expand its rBuilder and rBuilder Online tools. General Catalyst and North Bridge have already together ponied up $6.4 million in Series A funding.
The rBuilder Online community now has 5,000 projects and 8,000 users, who have downloaded 250,000 software and virtual appliance packages in 2006. These virtual appliances include content management, voice over IP, customer relationship management, groupware, and numerous other types of appliances, which are wrapped up by and--most importantly--maintained by the rBuilder repository. With rBuilder, you can pick and choose different open source software release levels and build your own software stack, and rBuilder takes care up updates of and dependency issues between the software. An appliance can run within a VMware or XenSource partition, or can include partitioned environments itself. rPath Linux, its own flavor of Linux, runs on 32-bit X86 and 64-bit X64 processors only. Two weeks ago, rPath and Virtual Iron, which has created an extended version of the Xen hypervisor that scales across multiple systems, announced that rBuilder Online can be used to create appliances that run on top of the Virtual Iron 3 stack of software, which is used to provision and manage virtual machines that span from slices of a server to multiple servers in a single image.
The rPath stack is not cheap, but then again, the service that is embodied in rBuilder is extremely useful. Access to the rBuilder repository and five copies of rPath Linux costs $5,000, and it costs $15,000 per year per developer to keep the repository updated. ISVs that create appliances have to pay $100 per server socket per year for support and maintenance for each box they sell with the software appliance on top of it. The OEM model that rPath is peddling as well as the idea that companies will want to deploy software appliances into virtual environments--rather than coding for a specific piece of hardware--is one that at least three venture capitalists are willing to bet on. It seems like a safe bet, but good technologies do not always win in the race to get volumes out there in IT Land.

http://www.itjungle.com/tlb/tlb020607-story05.htmlnice

[VFiend]

GTK+ 2 theme looks like it's just a Green version of Clearlooks (you'll probably find something similar on gnome-look).

The Metacity theme looks a lot like the Zen theme to me (it's listed on gnome-look as a GTK theme but includes the Metacity theme).

If anyone else is interested, I tracked down the file containing the theme : http://www.rpath.org/rbuilder/repos/foresight/troveInfo?t=gtk-theme-foresight%3Asource;v=/foresight.rpath.org%40fl%3A1-devel//1/1168145001.094%3A0.2-1

[MetalMusicAddict]

GTK+ 2 theme looks like it's just a Green version of Clearlooks (you'll probably find something similar on gnome-look).

The Metacity theme looks a lot like the Zen theme to me (it's listed on gnome-look as a GTK theme but includes the Metacity theme).

I actually think its a murrine theme.

Any who heres my slightly default modded screenshot.

http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/3305/screenshotrc2.th.png (http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/3305/screenshotrc2.png)

Overall it's really nice. So far it has a cross between Fedora and Gentoo feel.

Ubuntu users will be missing some things. ie: Adding packages required me to sudo conary update group-devel before I could pull them. I hear a GTK package management front-end is in the works. Im almost done with getting my broadcom card working.

I had to use some of my xorg from Ubuntu to get it to not use the vesa driver for video. I use the i810 Intel driver. After I got that going I got my proper res and Compiz fired right up.

Not bad really. I know I will try to use another non-Debian distro. It will be this or Fedora. :)

[Rodneyck]

Foresight Linux version 1.1 has been release. Also here is a recent review of version 1.0 which received a score of 10 out of 10.

I’m really impressed - as a long time Ubuntu user, this is the first distro that really makes me consider switching. I want to get much more active in the Linux communities, and Foresight is one I could see myself helping out, as it has a great bunch of people working on it who were friendly to folks asking questions, and shared information about their distro even with newbies who knew nothing about Linux as I witnessed just a few hours ago tonight.

http://www.reviewlinux.com/index.php/?m=show&id=4866

[Adamant1988]

http://foresightlinux.ning.com/

Thought those of you who like the distro may find this site interesting :)