After Shift

[hopp58902 Member]

You've probably heard about Firefly Linux, so I won't spam about that anymore.

Shift Linux was a "learner's distro" - not in the sense of dumbed down K-12 programs, but in the practical sense of I want a Linux distro of my own. Not many mainstream vendors have a clear-cut, well-documented way to do so yourself.

Having built (installable for the most part) Linux Live CDs on 3 (4?) different platforms - Morphix/(Debian), Ubuntu, and Arch Linux, and in good community and continuation of Shift's learning element, I've come up with an idea for a user-guide on how to build Linux (distributions). Think of this post as a pre-announcement. Let's not bury knowledge.

The guide will cleverly be called "Build Linux", slogan pending, and the domain, already registered, will be http://buildlinux.com. I'm contemplating using MediaWiki to power the site. That means users will be able to submit guides and modify existing guides as distributions change and such. Our first three guides will obviously be about the 3 Shift distros. We'll probably shoot some emails out to the writers of LFS to see if we can include their guides on Build Linux.com.

Before you tear this idea apart, keep in mind that there are people out there searching for a way to make Linux distros beyond what UCK and Reconstructor do, or, even if they do use the easier wizard applications, easier documentation isn't always easily found.

What do you guys think?

[Sam Symons Veteran]

Good idea (Y)

[hopp58902 Member]

I made a TON of cash, but I invested it in a Nigerian prince who needed to get the cash out of the country before the opposition got it. So we'll see where it goes from there.

[Sikh]

^ What!? :blink:

To Original Post, Great Idea I would love this becuase I am looking for a guide so i can build my own personal linux distro or help others with theres.

[CentralDogma]

This is what I don't understand. Why do people feel the need to make their own distro? Why aren't the 1000s of ones already availible good enough? If you know enough about linux to create your own distro, you certainly can install a current distro and easily retool it for your needs. Lord knows the linux platform doesn't need anymore segmentation.

[hopp58902 Member]

We're not making another distro. And yes, if you know enough to make your own distro, you can retool one. We tackle the "know enough to make your own distro" part, which in turn might get people to retool their distro, or yes, dump it on the saturated market. If it is released, good for the developer, and unless that distro gets popular enough, people won't really know unless they go searching for themselves. There's a good 2000 distros out there, but no one honestly cares about how many there are. They care about the select few that fit their needs and ignore the rest.

Sorry for the rant. My original point was - this is a documentation site. What the end users do with the information is out of my control - open source. Don't expect 10000 more distros to suddenly slam DistroWatch. But maybe some people will "slipstream" something into their favorite Linux distro?

nLite and vLite could therefore theoretically create 2000 "distributions" of Windows, right?

[CentralDogma]

We're not making another distro. And yes, if you know enough to make your own distro, you can retool one. We tackle the "know enough to make your own distro" part, which in turn might get people to retool their distro, or yes, dump it on the saturated market. If it is released, good for the developer, and unless that distro gets popular enough, people won't really know unless they go searching for themselves. There's a good 2000 distros out there, but no one honestly cares about how many there are. They care about the select few that fit their needs and ignore the rest.

Sorry for the rant. My original point was - this is a documentation site. What the end users do with the information is out of my control - open source. Don't expect 10000 more distros to suddenly slam DistroWatch. But maybe some people will "slipstream" something into their favorite Linux distro?

nLite and vLite could therefore theoretically create 2000 "distributions" of Windows, right?

I'm sorry. Perhaps I went a bit off target for this thread with my rant. My rant was a bit more general.

I find the idea of creating new distros to be much like that of pollution, people can do it, and it may have an immediate good result, but in the long run, damages the community as a whole. Its one of the main reasons linux gets so little support from the main stream. There?s so many combinations of glib versions and mono versions and god-knows-what-else-dependencies out there that theres an unlimited amount of variation. Developers cant possibly support every linux distro out there(even the most popular ones) and so they don?t support any at all.

And I was thinking about nLite and vLite when I was typing that last post. And you?d be right, except people don?t freely distribute slipstreamed disks. Windows(and OS X) has a standard that developers can target, the original install disk. Yeah, you can add and remove stuff using nLite and vLite, but that?s your own personal copy, if you screw up something that a program relies on and it doesn?t work, you would know why, you created the disk. But people who install your distro won?t know, they didn?t create the disk.

I guess what I?m getting at is it?s fine to create your own distro for personal use, but when you release your distro to the public, you?re really doing a disservice to the linux community.

Sorry for the rant again. I know, it?s not your problem/fault. Don?t let my rant get in the way of your project, it was aimed more at the community than you specificly.

[Barney T. Administrators]

This is a fabulous idea, Crimson. I salute you for taking your time and donating it unselfishly for others. (Y). Anything that I can do to help, please let me know!

[hopp58902 Member]

MrEggsalad is on board, I'll be collecting some guides and pretty soon we'll be launching. Ideas?

[hopp58902 Member]

Haha, some people asked about the Microsoft sale and the prince - it was a reference to Sam Symon's post and a post on the Firefly Linux blog as an April fools joke.

[Matthew S.]

So when's this going up?

[redvamp128]

Shift linux has ended...

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=752672

[Matthew S.]

This thread isn't about shift though :p

Hence why it's titled "After Shift" and has something to do with building one's own personal distro.

[hopp58902 Member]

Getting the logo prepared and well...guides written :p

[ToneKnee]

While I love Linux and what it represents, there are too many distros. :(

[4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran]

While I love Linux and what it represents, there are too many distros. :(

I think the point is you can learn to make your own distro, with the software you want and the themes you want and all the settings you want, so it works exactly the way you want it "out of the box".

Or you could also start your own distro targeting a specific audience.

Nice one, Crimson! :D

[DomZ]

I've never tried building my own, so I'm not sure how easy the knowledge is to come by. But in general, linux knowledge always seems hard to get "as a whole", and you end up using about 4 different tutorials together. So I think this is a good idea!

[hopp58902 Member]

I posted an official "Hold" notice on ShiftLinux.net, as I saw that no one else did. Also, BuildLinux will be open soon.

Does anyone want to view the BuildLinux Beta?

[Kreuger]

Great idea! I'd like to see it

[Aero_Rising]

I'd really be interested in seeing it too.

[tom01]

What would be ace if you could have a fully GUI tool that adds packages to a Ubuntu core. Kind of like nlite, so you could crab the latest drivers etc.

[hopp58902 Member]

Aero_Rising, PM me. Tom01, have you looked at Reconstructor or UCK? Those are pretty much nLite, use them to gain shell access then "apt-get update" and "apt-get upgrade" and apt-get whatever to make an Ubuntu nLited CD.

[Matthew S.]

So... Whens BuildLinux.com going live?