A neowin linux?

[n_K]

I remember years ago there was a neowin distro of linux, I believe it was called shift? Never used it.

Anyway, someone here was working on Fusion and has stopped, it was also looking pretty nifty, but it got me thinking in the thread earlier about making a neowin community made linux distro!

I don't mean take ubuntu, change some things, repackage it and ship it off. I absolutely hate distros that do that. What I mean is start from scratch maybe, build it up and add some package management and utilities, maybe equilivents of rpm, apt, pacman, etc. that will process package installation for users that are used to the other installation methods?

So I'll ask the big question.... *drum roll* Would anyone be interested in making that happen?

[Vice]

Why not instead of making a Linux distro you make a powerful windows style / theme / skinning system that is as simple to use that anyone could make a theme with no coding knowledge and yet powerful enough to almost completely transform the shell experience in to something alien.

I feel if you did that and the success of that software lead to a vibrant style sharing community on Neowin that it would go a long way to building the community we had during the highlights of the Windows XP UXTheme craze which has completely faded away since Vista launched.

Don't get me wrong, Linux is great. But I feel you could have a much greater impact and more appreciation from the community if the project was something for windows which the majority of people on this board use.

[Reacon]

Arch base maybe?

[Prince Charming]

I think the biggest problem Shift faced was 'why', especially given the multitude of distros out there. On one hand, you're right, there's little point in 'creating' a distro that just repackages Ubuntu with a different default wallpaper. On the flip side, given the amount of people working on larger distributions like Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora and Debian (that wasn't a roll-call meant to demean any I left out - there's just too many), is there really any point trying to forge ahead with a brand new distro, create a new package manager, reinvent the wheel (again!), and further fracture the Linux ecosystem. It's a rock and a hard place - there's no point making minor changes to an existing distro, and equally little point trying to make a competitive distro from scratch.

It would probably be more productive to join the development teams of one of the existing distributions, although that doesn't really fill the goal of a 'Neowin' distribution. Then again, does Neowin need a distribution? Which might be the more pertinent question before asking whether anyone is interested. With no need, it risks the same problems that faced other efforts (which in my opinion, also failed to establish that same basic precedence).

[+pmrd Subscriber²]

A neoWIN linux.. yes... While we are at it, let's make a Xbox 360 android

[n_K]

I like and use arch, but arch already exists and is minimal anyway so you can make anything out of it so there wouldn't be much point I wouldn't think.

I don't use windows so it doesn't apply :p.

I know there's 100s or 1000s of people working on the huge distros and they're the most used and most widely supported. I'm unsure if people would use it if there was one, good question and idea though - might have an ask-around! :)

[Azies]

A neoWIN linux.. yes... While we are at it, let's make a Xbox 360 android

We had Shift Linux (Neowin Distro) but everyone was so busy with their lives that it never really got off the ground.

[Carbon Fiber]

A neoWIN linux..

NeoNUX? ;-)

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

I like and use arch, but arch already exists and is minimal anyway so you can make anything out of it so there wouldn't be much point I wouldn't think.

I don't use windows so it doesn't apply :p.

I know there's 100s or 1000s of people working on the huge distros and they're the most used and most widely supported. I'm unsure if people would use it if there was one, good question and idea though - might have an ask-around! :)

I think a repackaging of an existing distro could work, but a new one from scratch? I doubt many people would have the time or inclination to do it. Creating a package manager alone would be a pain a big maintenance hassle, let alone the full blown support system you'd need.

Maybe some people would be prepared to restart the Shift project?

[Boo Berry]

NeoLINUX. :p

[n_K]

Shift is just ubuntu... There's already masses of ubuntu derivitives out there...

I don't think a package manager would be overall that hard.

An idea I've always had is that if you're only changing minor versions of things from things, instead of downloading a WHOLE NEW PACKAGE of 60MB to update your 59MB package, it just downloads a patch/diff instead. I've yet to see ANY linux system use that form of updating.

[+pmrd Subscriber²]

We had Shift Linux (Neowin Distro) but everyone was so busy with their lives that it never really got off the ground.

Yeah and there's a good reason why

[firey]

be epic to get a basic linux base running with Mono and have all the stock software (apps etc) be coded by Neowin users. The reason I say mono is so that we can use .net as that will allow for a bit more.

Have a fully custom package manager/app store/thing, sticky notes, etc.

[Reacon]

NeoNUX? ;-)

NeoLIN.

[firey]

NeoLIN.

NeoLIN....ux

[HawkMan]

I don't mean take ubuntu, change some things, repackage it and ship it off. I absolutely hate distros that do that. What I mean is start from scratch maybe, build it up and add some package management and utilities, maybe equilivents of rpm, apt, pacman, etc. that will process package installation for users that are used to the other installation methods?

Yes, because what linux absolutely needs is even more completely incompatible and different distros :rolleyes:

linux needs less, distros, not more, and certainly not more distros with new package managers and utilities.

[Farstrider]

Arch base maybe?

ARCH base using:

systemd

slim

awesom

ARCH Linux Rocks!!

Edit: I have a old P4 with 1 Gig RAM 80 Gig HDD (IDE) basically the same as the above, and it boots into the gooey, ready to go, in 10 seconds flat!!

[n_K]

Yes, because what linux absolutely needs is even more completely incompatible and different distros :rolleyes:

linux needs less, distros, not more, and certainly not more distros with new package managers and utilities.

It wouldn't be incompatible :s

If there was something missing, just do what you'd do in another other distribution; download the source and compile :s (my idea was to have a database of everything that's installed, including self compiled stuff, with a flag for each 'updatefromrepo' and if set to false, you compiled it or don't want it updated).

So errr, what about a raspberry pi distro? XD I jest.

ARCH base using:

systemd

slim

awesom

ARCH Linux Rocks!!

Edit: I have a old P4 with 1 Gig RAM 80 Gig HDD (IDE) basically the same as the above, and it boots into the gooey, ready to go, in 10 seconds flat!!

Humm?

[Farstrider]

It wouldn't be incompatible :s

If there was something missing, just do what you'd do in another other distribution; download the source and compile :s (my idea was to have a database of everything that's installed, including self compiled stuff, with a flag for each 'updatefromrepo' and if set to false, you compiled it or don't want it updated).

So errr, what about a raspberry pi distro? XD I jest.

Humm?

So what are you asking or insinuating???

[n_K]

"ARCH base using:

systemd

slim

awesom"

I'm not sure if you're giving that as an idea for a potential neowin linux or if you use it or what?

[Barney T. Administrators]

Yes, in fact we did have a community Neowin Linux project called Shift. I was the project manager. We did exceedingly well. The whole purpose of the project was to get a group of Neowin Linux users who were interested in learning how to build a custom Linux distro. We called it Shift Linux. It was hosted by Neowin's servers and we were picked up by Distrowatch and other major Linux websites. We had well over 100,000 downloads. Our initial distro was built on a Morphix base. Since Morphix was better for Live CDs we converted to a Debian base. We have archived the Shift Linux subforum.

The main reason that we did not continue the project was because it takes a few really dedicated people who will see the project through from start to finish, as well as people to manage graphics, marketing, hosting, etc. Over time, life got in the way and the group shelved the project for another time. I was and am very proud to be a part of that team. It would be nice to have a new group carry on the tradition.

[n_K]

Ah interesting that. Was it debian? I read up on distrowatch earlier and thought I saw it mention ubuntu haha (although ubuntu came from debian).

I guess that's the key though, having people that are dedicated to it, and not just tagging along or idling or whatnot.

[Barney T. Administrators]

We used an offshoot of Debian/ Ubuntu / Knoppix. Later the project was attempted with Arch, but that was tougher than it appeared and it didn't get off the ground.

[n_K]

What made the arch version tough?

[Barney T. Administrators]

I was out of the project by then (it was about 3 years into it). The dev at the time couldn't get it to work properly. Maybe there are others here who can work through the issues.