Neowin's own Linux distribution, Shift, is just about to hit version 0.3 and those of you who are that way inclined will be able to grab the ISO download in the next few days.
The distro, lead by our forum moderator barneyt is a highly ambitious step forward for Neowin as the team add yet another community branded project to our arsenal. These would not be possible without the willingness of our community to help each other out.
The first few versions of the distribution will be in Linux live CD format only, with version 0.5 introducing an installable form of the OS.
You can check out the status of Neowin Shift Linux in its own dedicated forum and expect the download in the next few days.
Remember, it's never too late to help out and volunteers are still required!
View: Shift 0.3 Update Thread | Neowin Shift Linux Forum
The distro, lead by our forum moderator barneyt is a highly ambitious step forward for Neowin as the team add yet another community branded project to our arsenal. These would not be possible without the willingness of our community to help each other out.
The first few versions of the distribution will be in Linux live CD format only, with version 0.5 introducing an installable form of the OS.
You can check out the status of Neowin Shift Linux in its own dedicated forum and expect the download in the next few days.
Remember, it's never too late to help out and volunteers are still required!
View: Shift 0.3 Update Thread | Neowin Shift Linux Forum
I suppose this one is easier to get involved with and help out with since it's from a Neowinian...
That alone could give incentive to try it out for people interested.
No, not really as far as I can see it.
Basically all Shift does is add themes + a selection of applications that suite its users? Couldn't it be possible instead to simply use a copy of Ubuntu or any of the other popular distros and bundle it with your theme + preffered progs? (yes, I said this in the thread way back..) Thats Linux's biggest problem, it keeps on splitting the community up and you get fewer talented people working together on one thing... more often you have many talented people working on exactly the same thing (NTFS support, the various distros, the desktop managers, etc!
No, not really as far as I can see it.
Basically all Shift does is add themes + a selection of applications that suite its users? Couldn't it be possible instead to simply use a copy of Ubuntu or any of the other popular distros and bundle it with your theme + preffered progs? (yes, I said this in the thread way back..) Thats Linux's biggest problem, it keeps on splitting the community up and you get fewer talented people working together on one thing... more often you have many talented people working on exactly the same thing (NTFS support, the various distros, the desktop managers, etc!
Actually, that's incorrect.
More people doesn't mean 'better'.
It might be a bad example, but look at Microsoft. They've had lots of people work on Vista, but it still took 5 years!
Another reason why it's incorrect: the people that now work on their own distro, would, if they didn't do that, probably NOT work on Linux. They might have done something totally different, like create a game, or another program.
The good thing about lots of distributions is that, in the little ones, people can think: "Hey, that's a cool idea! Let's give that a try!"
If it doesn't work, few people notice it. If it does work, it might be implemented in a larger distribution.
Distributions aren't seperate worlds. They interact, and there's crossbreeding.
My answer to that exact question is "Ubuntu".
People asked the same thing when Ubuntu was announced. "Why create another distro?", it was asked in forums and discussions everywhere. And it is a good thing that they didn't listen and fold up, because they have created a distro that nicely packages some selected apps from what Linux has to offer, and created a distro that has rocketed in popularity, and is one of the most "noob"-friendly distros out there. Choice is good. If you don't like it, then let those who do enjoy it.
I am not saying that Shift will be popular like Ubuntu. I use Ubuntu only as an answer to the "why?" question.
Logo:
Screen:
All the distros need to get together and make two or three distros - Server, Business and Home.
Which is why companies pick one distribution, and work with that.
Oh, and even though package management and GUI may differ, most of the 'under the hood' parts are exactly the same.
One used to have nearly no choice at all.
A PC? Use Windows.
A Mac? Use OS 9.
Now, there are hundreds of Linux distributions available (as well as several versions of BSD), and people go: "Oh, no, no another one!"
Choice, it really sucks, doesn't it?
Make Windwos free/open source and I, for one, will stop complaining
The idea here is to not only create a great product, but more importantly to have a great project that gives all volunteers a sense of accomplishment and contribution to a community project. To get a distro out there is great... and we are really almost there with several versions. But in the bigger scheme of things, those who helped should feel proud to support Neowin in a project such as this.
And, who cares about 300 other Linux distros. The one we will release is ours.
Barney
What next? Change the site name to NEONIX.net ?
What next? Change the site name to NEONIX.net ?
I was going to say "Agree", but then i thought "wait what's the problem??!!", i mean so what...
Sure it was a site for windows fans, but now theres lot's of people for other's OS, and we should support everyone has a one.. After all we are all happy users of Operating Systems that just run for helping us work, have fun, etc..
Peace and let's respect everyone has a full community.. Stop the -M$ - Nix - AppLe stuff..
http://www.neonix.net/
What next? Change the site name to NEONIX.net ?
Holy handbags Batman!
Did you know they have a whole Mac section on this "Neowin.net" website too?
Hang the lot of them!
By their genitals!
Yes, I know there was a section for Mac and Linux, but that doesn't dilute the fact that Neowin was always primarily intended to be a pro-Win site. A whole lot of people, including me, keep a tab on Neowin because we know we'll get our dose of MS/Win news here. What happens when Shift finally goes stable? Neowin will obviously (probably?) start promoting it over Windows, then what happens to the Windows focus of the website?
That is my only concern.
Yes, I know there was a section for Mac and Linux, but that doesn't dilute the fact that Neowin was always primarily intended to be a pro-Win site. A whole lot of people, including me, keep a tab on Neowin because we know we'll get our dose of MS/Win news here. What happens when Shift finally goes stable? Neowin will obviously (probably?) start promoting it over Windows, then what happens to the Windows focus of the website?
That is my only concern.
You're kidding, right? Just because the site is named Neowin, doesn't mean we can't branch out as we have done over the years. Even when the distro is released fully, sure we're going to publicize it, but it's not like we're going to stop covering Windows news. People need to chill out and realize that this is a Tech community, not just a Microsoft community.
I don't mean to diss. It is a tech community alright, but one with an affinity for the MS and Windows world. That's what the majority of the visitors know it by. Afterall, there was a reason it was named NeoWIN and not Neotech or something like that, right?
I don't mean to diss. It is a tech community alright, but one with an affinity for the MS and Windows world. That's what the majority of the visitors know it by. Afterall, there was a reason it was named NeoWIN and not Neotech or something like that, right?
But the site has evolved ten fold since the name was created.
What next? Change the site name to NEONIX.net ?
There's always one...
What next? Change the site name to NEONIX.net ?
Wow! What turnip truck did you fall off of? Neowin is a technology site, not a Microsoft site. Have you ever noticed the technology that Neowin uses?
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?ur.../www.neowin.com
Linux, Apaches, OpenSSL, PHP, MySQL... lots of MS technology used on neoWIN.net, huh?
Now, when MS decides to open up the source to Windows under a GPL, we can all work on a Neowin Vista distro.
Btw, where's the info about that distro? What distro is it based on? What DE does it uses? What packages are included? What makes this distro special? What are the goals of this distro?
Give us some more info please!
Btw, where's the info about that distro? What distro is it based on? What DE does it uses? What packages are included? What makes this distro special? What are the goals of this distro?
Give us some more info please!
According to the forums, it's based on Morphix, which is in turn based on Knoppix, which itself is based on Debian. What makes it special is a good question. Can anyone care to answer it?
other than that its a good community incentive.
That looks really clean and slick, but what's with the non bolded border on the top left/right corners?
The way flux works when rounding, is the style border color stops in areas where rounding exists. The border color in the rounded sections is in the pixelmap button. The straight-line border color is defined in the style file. When I made the border darker, it no longer matched the pixmap.
Choice is all well and good, but Linux choice is just ridiculous. 50 distro's should cater for all tastes not 300+
Despite my reservations, I still wish them all the best with it though
Yeah, thanks, chum. Your lip-service is appreciated as sincerely as your own posted well-wishes.
Last edited by markjensen on 13 Aug 2006 - 23:05
Yeah, thanks, chum. Your lip-service is appreciated as sincerely as your own posted well-wishes.
Give the man a prize.... how right isnt he?
I gave my opinion of how this wont work, and how linux has way too much choice, and then I said despite my reservations, I still wish them all the best.
Its not that hard to understand tbh.
Although, i'm guessing for a Linux fanboy like yourself, its impossible for you not to feel the need to defend it like some crazed zealot? Its people like you that give us Linux users a bad name.
John
Perhaps a brush-up on some reading skills are in order?
Oh the irony...
Give the man a prize.... how right isnt he?
I gave my opinion of how this wont work, and how linux has way too much choice, and then I said despite my reservations, I still wish them all the best.
Its not that hard to understand tbh.
Although, i'm guessing for a Linux fanboy like yourself, its impossible for you not to feel the need to defend it like some crazed zealot? Its people like you that give us Linux users a bad name.
John
You gave your opinion, yes.
Perhaps you could have stated it a bit less... powerful. That's what Mark was replying to (combining that with the fact that your wording 'crash and burn' and 'I wish you all the best' is rather strange.
You have your opinion on choice in Linux, he has his.
He disagrees with you, and BAM, he's a crazed Linux zealot!
Mark is a very friendly person, he's not a zealot, and he does not force Linux on everyone.
If anyone is giving us a bad name... Well, let's just say it's not people like Mark
Oh, and you could have gone through the trouble of reading the other posts. You know, the posts saying why choice is not a bad thing.
Twice in the past I've looked at Linux and twice, Mark has given fair, practical, and in my view, quite unbiased views and advice on the subject. I think it's people like Mark who actually help build the positive aspects of Linux, as opposed to the zealots who we are all more than overly familiar with.
I love and use Neowin, I love and use Windows, I love and use Linux, I love Mac and wish I can afford one, and I love you all, just had to post that unique comment
On a more commentative note, kudos guys, I'll be sure to give this a whirl when a download becomes available.
10 bucks says you guys haven't even tried to use different distros of Linux (let alone one), because the way they work can be extremely different. So that's a no to anyone who says all Linux distros are the same, because we know they're all quite different.
Keep up the good work guys, it's great to see stuff like this, gl2u
on another note, goodluck to you guys, i'll wait for version 0.5 before i comment.
Under the hood, most Linux distro's are almost the same (thanks to projects like LSB).
Besides the fact that the main problem with distro's are these:
1) Different Desktop Environment (most popular are Gnome, KDE, and some others I barely dipped feet into.)
2) The packaging system.
BUT...
#2 can be solved by saving it in the different format, etc.
#1 only needs a few (many) changes to the source code.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The good thing about having thousands of distros is everyone can have one perfect for them. I've tried about 20 distro's before I found Ubuntu. I got all the applications I needed via apt-get and synaptic (I don't remember the name as I've switched to a Mac within the time).
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Also, just like Windows and Mac OS, there is the hardware an operating system can support. Right now I'm hoping that Swift will become available on the Power PC. So we've got to support:
1) Different architectures
2) Different hardware
3) Different software
4) Other important essentials.
1) Different Desktop Environment (most popular are Gnome, KDE, and some others I barely dipped feet into.)
<snip>
#1 only needs a few (many) changes to the source code.
<snip>
Someone better tell my computer running fluxbox that it isn't allowed to run konqueror (KDE app) and gftp (Gnome)! According to you, this requires a change in the source! I guess I am secretly editing and re-compiling, eh?
PS: I'm not saying it shouldn't be made, hell I've tried 6 seperate distros and multiple versions of most of them so I know what kinds of differences can be there in philosophy.
If it is branded a Neowin product, it better be kick-ass.
Oh and those who doesn't want another linux distro, stop posting the same all over and over. 60% of all the replies here, are about why another distro type.
Stop Moaning
If you dont want anaother linux distro - try telling that to the major Linux communities (i.e. Linuxquestions.org). And IMO, what the heck is one distro going to affect you if you dont use it?
Have a look here: www.lqiso.org
How many distros are there? Do you moan about every single one on there, asking why they developed it. The simple answer to why Shift is being developed is because they want to and because they can. I think its good that this is a community involved project, because given the combined talent of the Neowin users, they should be able to knock something spectacular out of the hat.
On a lighter note: a powerPC version would be nice, but i dont know how much work would be involved. Its looking great guys - and if you need any extra help - such as testing etc... Im always available :p
Keep it up (y) and Stop Moaning
- Don't make it a 4 CD install! For the love of god, keep it light if that's possible!
- Any chance you could bunble in yum? I use it in Fedora, and it makes so much difference if you want to experiment with various packages and keep up-to-date. FreshRPMS is a good source for updates too.
- Please bundle multimedia support (hint: mp3 playback)! I appreciate this might not be possible (for legal reasons), but at least make it not difficult to install it even if you don't initially include it.
Best of luck on your project! I wish you all the best.
-Sam
- Any chance you could bunble in yum? I use it in Fedora, and it makes so much difference if you want to experiment with various packages and keep up-to-date. FreshRPMS is a good source for updates too.
No need. It's a Debian-based distro (well, Morphix, but Morphix is based on Debian) so it has apt.
I'm sort of partial to "new distros" because they have an indie feel, and it makes me happy.
But then again, this would need serious features to compete -- Ubuntu skyrocketed because it was Debian and apt born again without the userland of 1998, and really well packaged.
Then again, competition might not even be the goal at all. And that's what's great.
My opinion (and it is just that, an opinion) would be that, if Shift was to be a LiveCD, it would be awesome. I heard Morphix being mentionned. That would rock. Cool stuff, good software and neowin brand on a live cd you could carry around all the time. That'd be great. Maybe some XGL even, just to make it spiffy spiffy. I'd carry it around at all times, even. I'd even contribute junk to it. Or build it. Or, who knows, do something useful for it -- all my contributions used to go to the PPC debian port of Elog and the blackdog (www.projectblackdog.com -- I have three Blackdogs right now). Since the K9 is coming out soon, and I don't feel any excitement at all towards that platform (it lost alot of its indie feel), I'm searching for something to contribute to.
But on a Desktop, I don't think I would run it unless there was a good structure, and something to make it special, such as a greaterer package management system and repositories. And if security updates were being timely. And all that good stuff. But I'm keeping my eyes open, who knows what the future might bring?
I'm usually the kind to underestimate the time and ressources needed for projects, I get all hyped up and realize I've bitten perhaps bigger than I could chew. I work it out in the end, with a few gray hairs. So now I stick to "Start small, and mindnumbingly simple, then expand".
And even I, when I look at Shift, feel overwhelmed by all the ressources needed. I want to help somehow, even, but I'm not sure how, as I don't see how and where, in a desktop context.
I still hope time proves my worries wrong and it succeeds. It would be good.
supernaut - at - underwares - dot - org
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