New linux distro: help wanted

[pferpaddy]

I am currently building a debian based distro called sabian.
sabian is geared towards the end user and aims for the simplest yet most functional linux on the market. sabian is derived from the latin word to convert. so far i have a functioning desktop made up i just need help on makeing it something extraordinary, ive gone to major linux groups seeking help with this project (mint, slax, fedora) with no success, but i feel confident it will be a much more in-tune distro if there is a heavy community presence. so if you are one of the community members who wants to make there mark or a ubuntu technician who wants to branch out to there own project or even if you have an quires then you can contact me at sabianadmin@gmail.com , via this post or via the ubuntu forums messaging system
thank you for your time

[Stabilityonitsown]

Good luck buddy cause your going to need it hahaha!!! It takes PROFESSIONALS to make a Linux distro, its not just people like you sitting at their desk. They actually go to SCHOOL for building linux distros specifically the major distros. Like Ubuntu and Debian. It can take years and years to make a distro then another year just to make it stable.

[kaivalagi]

Don't we have enough choices already?

What will Sabian provide that others don't?

Nice name but it does sound very similar to Sabayon...

[Barrucadu]

Good luck buddy cause your going to need it hahaha!!! It takes PROFESSIONALS to make a Linux distro, its not just people like you sitting at their desk. They actually go to SCHOOL for building linux distros specifically the major distros. Like Ubuntu and Debian. It can take years and years to make a distro then another year just to make it stable.
Err, right. Us mere mortals can't make a distro without going to Linux school then?

Nice name but it does sound very similar to Sabayon...
That's immediately what I thought.

[dptxp]

Distrowatch is going to need some major server upgrade. :(

[pferpaddy]

haha dont get so worked up about this people sabian and sabayon are pronounced completily differntly and second the aim of this project is to unify the linux comuntiy.peoples reluctence to move from windows to linux stems from the amount of work (in there eyes ) that needs be done. offering a very simple desktop with all the codec and the like installed but keeping everything underneath cutting edge will mean that people wont HAVE to do any fiddleing to get it running just right but are able to fiddle all they want.
another thing is hardware support sabian caters for almost all hardware that can be trown towards it using a combo of new tech.
to that guy who has nothing better to do than flame me i have a VERY VERY advanced developer with me on this.if you are using debian or ubuntu you are using his code
criticism is very welcome but keep it constructive

[kaivalagi]

Can you tell me exactly how you will manage to provide more hardware support than other distributions out there? I am curious how this is possible? bleeding edge updates of modules/kernel releases etc?

I personally think, and raised as much in the ubuntu brainstorms, that it would be nice (possible I am not sure) to provide module updates via apt, so for example alsa releases could be made available before the next release of distro was ready...

In summary, could you get your developer friend to highlight more of the technical aspects of what you guys intend to do? You've got my attention :)

[pelle.k]

Oh my people. Why so much speculation and negativity? Lets leave it at that. I wouldn't want to throw even more gasoline on the fire. ;)
Good luck pferpaddy. If i had the time, i would certainly be interested in what you have going there. And, i think we all can agree on that debian is an excellent base to build from.

I always thought it was odd that everyone nowadays built distros from modifying a vanilla ubuntu install (there are countless examples). Ubuntu as such, is already a great desktop system. What i feel is missing, is someone doing some real work, i.e. building their *own* kernel + modules and put the ubuntu gnome etc. on top of that instead. A kind of ubuntu with a completely new *core*.

Enough of the rant. I hope you'll give us some kind of status update on this project in the future.

[kaivalagi]

I can't speak for any of the other postee's on this thread but for me it's like this. Please don't take this the wrong way, I am only being objective.

Oh my people. Why so much speculation and negativity?

The title of this thread is "New linux distro: help wanted". So based on this title, some involvement is being requested for Sabian. What type of involvement I am unsure on.

For anyone to get involved with a new distribution like Sabian, I am sure they would like to know what they're getting into. The bottom line here is that more info is needed. Hence the speculation and negativity.

If everything that has been said can be expanded upon and justified even slightly, people may consider putting some time and effort in, but if it's all hype what's the point.

That's fair enough isn't it?

doing some real work, i.e. building their *own* kernel

Just to make it clear, no one develops their own kernel for linux distros, Linus Torvald still overseas the kernel and all the big names get involved in it's updates.

SO...

pferpaddy, please give us more details on the what and how. Some solid requirements and basic outlines would be nice.....do you have a website where this can be posted for viewing? If you don't have the details figured out yet, you may still be able to get input on the what and how from the linux community right here. Field some ideas and questions if need be.

I am sure if what you're saying can be explained in more depth people will get interested! Especially if this distro aims to be simple yet functional for the user, that's got to be a good thing for a linux distro. Ubuntu has proven this since it's inception.

[jdhore]

I can't speak for any of the other postee's on this thread but for me it's like this. Please don't take this the wrong way, I am only being objective.

The title of this thread is "New linux distro: help wanted". So based on this title, some involvement is being requested for Sabian. What type of involvement I am unsure on.

For anyone to get involved with a new distribution like Sabian, I am sure they would like to know what they're getting into. The bottom line here is that more info is needed. Hence the speculation and negativity.

If everything that has been said can be expanded upon and justified even slightly, people may consider putting some time and effort in, but if it's all hype what's the point.

That's fair enough isn't it?

Just to make it clear, no one develops their own kernel for linux distros, Linus Torvald still overseas the kernel and all the big names get involved in it's updates.

SO...
pferpaddy, please give us more details on the what and how. Some solid requirements and basic outlines would be nice.....do you have a website where this can be posted for viewing? If you don't have the details figured out yet, you may still be able to get input on the what and how from the linux community right here. Field some ideas and questions if need be.

I am sure if what you're saying can be explained in more depth people will get interested! Especially if this distro aims to be simple yet functional for the user, that's got to be a good thing for a linux distro. Ubuntu has proven this since it's inception.

I'm gonna break from my normal hush-hush nature (hahahaha) and respond to this as i'm the guy who's helping out pferpaddy (sorry dude, but i'm being completely honest). First, Sabian does not currently have a website. Second, to me, everything pferpaddy told me in PM / IM makes it seem like he's not experienced with *nix at all and that this is a total pipe dream. Basically, what he wants this to be is like Linux Mint plus better hardware support which is basically impossible (you can't support stuff that's not supported in the kernel and no *nix drivers exist for) and based on Debian. I suggested a Debian Testing base which gives us good stability, good up-to-date-ness (It's already got pieces of GNOME 2.22), it's gonna be 1 DVD as we can't fit everything we want to put on on 1 CD, it's gonna use Ubuntu's ubiquity installer and be usable out-of-box for 95% of users. Also, as far as repos, we're going ot use the Debian Testing repos and possibly have our own mini-repo with stuff that's not available in the Debian repos

I'm helping because...well...I'm bored a lot...Personally, i think Linux Mint already accomplishes everything Sabian is meant to do, Sabian will just be doing it with Debian Testing instead of Ubuntu...I hope that clears it up and if there are any more questions, i'd be happy to field them...Oh, and sorry about the crappy punctuation...

/me stabs a period in the...ink?

[kaivalagi]

Thanks for that jdhore, that's cleared things up.

Nice to see your basing off debian rather than ubuntu, should mean less bloat. Out of curiosity are you planning on using any tools to get a base line install sorted? If so what?

I'll give it all some more thought and post any questions here, if they're too techy I'm PM you if that's okay.

As far as your punctuation goes, I've seen plenty worse at my workplace. Plus if mine looks good, it's only cos I'm far too anal for my own good :)

[jdhore]

Thanks for that jdhore, that's cleared things up.

Nice to see your basing off debian rather than ubuntu, should mean less bloat. Out of curiosity are you planning on using any tools to get a base line install sorted? If so what?

I'll give it all some more thought and post any questions here, if they're too techy I'm PM you if that's okay.

As far as your punctuation goes, I've seen plenty worse at my workplace. Plus if mine looks good, it's only cos I'm far too anal for my own good :)

The only tools we're really planning on adding to make a baseline install easier is a LiveCD, Ubiquity installer and the typical things most users need (OpenOffice, Flash, Java, codecs, etc). As far as techy-related questions, PM is fine, this topic is fine as well, also i'm getting an IRC channel up, #sabian at Freenode.

EDIT: Right now i'm the only one around (pferpaddy went away for a few days), so if you go to the IRC and i don't respond or you want my attention, just highlight my nick.

[liquidfunk]

I have two ideas:

1) Make it run out of the box on both Macbooks and Macbook Pro's, so it includes codecs/ drivers for both.

2) Give it an attractive and interesting GUI. Different from what you would see in Ubuntu/ Debian, or any distribution for that matter. Something that makes you think "Hey! That actually looks different, is that really KDE/Gnome/XFCE?!"

- That doesn't mean transparent this, fade-away that. Just something a bit more interesting.

- Personally I think that Fedora's load up screens, and logon screen is the most attractive I've ever seen.

- Ubuntu is good in that everything blends in with the theme, African name, with sounds that follow suit, themes that follow etc.

- Slax is also good in that its a LiveCD/LiveUSB OS that is meant to do what it says on the tin. It has a basic wallpaper, and is fast, it's great!

[pferpaddy]

thanks for all your ideas.although myself and jdhore have gone our seperate ways this project is still alive as an enterprise class distribution while still maintaining the raw ease of use aspect.
stay tuned for a development version release called sabian black edition which is aimed to show-case the basic structure of the system and allow developers to submit bug-fixes and patches. it is unstable and is for development purposes only
Thanks for the contributions that people have made so far. keep em coming :D
Also i am constantly on the search for any developers who are willing to help with the build and are intrested in creating an enterprise class distro based on the ubuntu/debian platform.

[pferpaddy]

:: edit ::

[basenvironment]

website? bug tracker? list? forum?


.

[gunashekar]

Sure there is room for more distros. I'm sure you have a business plan and a source of sustained investment.In my opinion, however brilliant your concept may be, and however successful you are at building community support, there is a reasonable amount of funds needed over a long period of time to have a worthwhile distro to be built and maintained. Unless you have the support of a millionaire, it might be a good idea to make a business/investment plan and share it with people who might be able to help you improve it.

[pferpaddy]

yes i realize that finance is a big must have, and i do have some fairly substantial support waiting in the wings. also your right. it is a good concept, and the idea of being able to roll-out a fully featured os in a work or home environment thats 50-60% more efficent without the need for ANY retraining is something that is very appealing to both the end user and the buisness user alike . if you think this is a wishy wahsy idea that im toying with your sadly mistaken, months and months of infrastructure building and buisness formulation have gone into this project,in the past year linux as been something that techy's use to the end user. i plan to change that, there was a time when novell where bigger than microsoft, when unix rained supreme its now that time again
thank you for you comments and i hope that clears things up a little

[basenvironment]

you go boy....

[markharding557]

thanks for all your ideas.although myself and jdhore have gone our seperate ways this project is still alive as an enterprise class distribution while still maintaining the raw ease of use aspect.
stay tuned for a development version release called sabian black edition which is aimed to show-case the basic structure of the system and allow developers to submit bug-fixes and patches. it is unstable and is for development purposes only
Thanks for the contributions that people have made so far. keep em coming :D
Also i am constantly on the search for any developers who are willing to help with the build and are intrested in creating an enterprise class distro based on the ubuntu/debian platform.

good luck with your debian beased distro,makes a change from yet another ubuntu based one

[pferpaddy]

glad you agree, im still looking for ideas and people who wish to help, any contribution,art-work,sugestions,codeing anything really is very welcome the more the merrier !
also i have now posted the sabian-gnome logo as my avatar tell me what you think
thanks.

[Arthur Archnix]

Well, you've got the logo. That's 90% of the battle right there. I suggest you build use the Hurd as your Kernel. It should be available before you're ready to release your first RC.

[pferpaddy]

yes but can i ask why you would say hurd? im not saying i dont like the idea but im just wondering the thought behind the genius lol also there will be and aplha and beta release prior to RC
thanks for you thoughts
i will also be marking every good idea with a light bulb

[basenvironment]

how soon will we see a alpha?

[pferpaddy]

well pre-alpha begins in aprox 1 week and 2 days time alpha will follow soon after feedback

[dfreer]

Well, you've got the logo. That's 90% of the battle right there. I suggest you build use the Hurd as your Kernel. It should be available before you're ready to release your first RC.

yes but can i ask why you would say hurd? im not saying i dont like the idea but im just wondering the thought behind the genius lol also there will be and aplha and beta release prior to RC
thanks for you thoughts
i will also be marking every good idea with a light bulb

Comprehension roll... *throws dice*
Roll Failed! You have now been eaten by a grue!