What do you want?

[hopp58902 Member]

So we're at another point of decision, we've finished getting Shift to be based on Arch. Now where do we go? We want to be original and not repeat any ideas already out there (Ubuntu being a big one). Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we should do next?

[rson451]

I've been mulling over this for a few days now. Firefly targets the netbook crowd. Ubuntu and it's derivatives target the "new" crowd. Ubuntu studio is out there for the audio/visual folks. I'm not really sure what niche is in need of a home. Maybe providing a structured set of tools for web development that are known to work well together, but that's a very minimal direction to head. There are tons of security and intrusion detection distros. If we have enough application developers involved, maybe take a good run at fully integrating the web into the desktop experience? I'm rambling here, but the thread was empty so sue me :p.

[hopp58902 Member]

Bump? Anyone else have any interest in Shift?

[chazall1]

Bump? Anyone else have any interest in Shift?

I have been watching the Development of the New Shift Arch Distro. Its been a month sense Alpha 3 was released. The Swift web site has not been updated, and there is little info out their for sparking interest in this project.

Where does everyone stand on further development??????

Thanks

[hopp58902 Member]

Well, we have no *real* access to the website, only ability to edit the text. Can't post about new releases or modify download page either. Pretty limited, eh? Consider this another bump. Should we just stop making Shift? What's the goal here?

[Vice]

I personally would like a Distro that is for Media playback. HTPC use. Something that comes with MythTV, Boxee and stuff with lots of infrared receiver support built in.

But I don't really see Shift having momentum. As others have said there isn't a lot of updates and not a lot of discussion. I personally couldn't use Shift in any meaningful way because its updated to infrequently, not that I'm putting you or any of your team down I understand the perils of projects like these having been involved with quite a few myself.

I think one of the main problems with the project is it has no direction. You seem to have the sense of wanting to make a Distro but without an actual reason to do so. I don't really think that is a good reason to make a Distro. You should first identify things that you need/want that are lacking in other Distros for which you can improve on. Or find a niche that has yet to be filled before starting work on the Distro. It seems right now that you have built a car without anywhere to drive it.

As I say I'm very interested in the Home Theatre PC sector which could do with some nice tight low-powered Linux distros that can run happily on a low-performance silent ITX/M-ATX system with a slick UI and good functionality like that offered by Boxee.

[rson451]

I actually don't think that's a bad idea. I've got an HTPC as do many users nowadays, but I've not run across anything that specifically targets that yet. That might well be worth a run.

[UKer]

For me, as a developer, the only thing I want is good KDE support, especially 3.x, as this has all the features I need, especially when developing in C++. KDE 4 support would be good, but the main problem I have with Ubuntu is the awful KDE support (vanilla KDE does suck big style). I think Mandriva 2008.1 was the perfect example of an immensely built KDE system, I just can't do with the restrictive functionality of Gnome (from a developer's point of view), and need all the tools in Konqueror and Kdevelop as they're not available in other tools for Linux.

I couldn't care less how good the system looks, just that all the necessary tools are available when I want to be able to quickly get my work done, and they actually work and have all the necessary libraries available. I don't use Linux for web browsing, email, audio/video, syncing or office work, as my laptop deals with all that fine. I do need to to be able to quickly develop a C++ app and to take advantage of the QT toolkit - as this is by far the most advanced and easy to use (and cross platform) kit for Linux development. I also want the option to be able to use things like Mono, as I personally don't need it and can't stand that so many distros slow my computer down by including Mono apps (it's got monster overheads).

Just please keep in mind that a good number of Linux users want to use it as a workstation for development, not necessarily a desktop for home use.

[DGMurdockIII]

support for moblin http://moblin.org on shift linux would rock

[DGMurdockIII]

Well, we have no *real* access to the website, only ability to edit the text. Can't post about new releases or modify download page either. Pretty limited, eh? Consider this another bump. Should we just stop making Shift? What's the goal here?

ditto that having a distro that come with boxee and a media player that play dvd & blu ray if possible on Linux and something like songbird and vlc and have a good stand alone app that support a tv tunes card to watch tv and a play fm radio would be nice and to see love to see it this distro have good support for netbooks and http://www.gupnp.org/ and very good support for the openChrome http://www.openchrome.org/ driver and via linux drivers the GFX driver http://linux.via.com.tw/support/downloadFiles.action and easy to configure networking wired and wireless