Not a distro
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| cmost May 26, 2014 10:20 AM EDT |
I have no respect for someone who simply takes an existing well established distro like Ubuntu, changes the themes and a few applications, makes a respin and then puts out a shingle claiming to have "developed" a new Linux distribution. This disingenuous approach to reinventing the wheel doesn't qualify in my book as creating a distro. Ridiculous!. Someone like Ikey Doherty who created a new distro from scratch or Clem Lefebvre who created a slew of unique tools that compliment and make more accessible an Ubuntu or Debian base, including the Cinnamon desktop environment are true Linux distro creators. A genuine Linux distro is unique and has something that users value. |
| gary_newell May 26, 2014 11:12 AM EDT |
"I have no respect for someone who simply takes an existing well established distro like Ubuntu, changes the themes and a few applications, makes a re-spin and then puts out a shingle claiming to have "developed" a new Linux distribution" Ok. I will play devils advocate on this comment. What about something like edubuntu. Built on top of a base Ubuntu and not much more than a respin but definitely adds value from an education perspective. Another really good example is Puppy Arcade. Takes the Puppy base, installs all the games emulators and joystick controls. AV Linux..... a Debian base with included applications for audio visual purposes. Whilst I see your point cmost, I can also empathise with the idea of creating a distro/re-spin for a particular purpose that may then be useful for mass consumption. How much actual code needs to go in before it becomes a distro in it's own right? Peppermint OS for instance has applications for running web applications as if they are desktop applications. The rest of the distro looks like it is Lubuntu. They have a base, added a bit of value and then released it as a separate entity. Is that such a bad idea? Maybe the Peppermint ICE application should just be released for Debian or Ubuntu and then there would be no need for Peppermint as you can just install ICE. I'm kind of typing as I'm thinking here but as far as I'm concerned I'm no more bothered whether something calls itself an operating system, a distro or a re-spin. Does it give me something I haven't got and does that extra bit give me enough to bother installing the new thing or do I stick with what I have got and install it myself? Some are obviously credible (Puppy Arcade), some are less so (OS4). |
| cmost May 26, 2014 12:54 PM EDT |
@ gary_newell Edubuntu (and other buntus) are versions of the same distribution and under Canonical's umbrella. They're like different trim levels of a particular model car and offer different features or are geared towards different demographics while sharing the same underpinnings. I have no problem with someone taking a distro and adding something new or unique of value; in essence that's exactly what I stated in my original post. And, there are plenty of great examples of such distros that deserve to stand on their own. From the screenshot tour of 'X Distro' and a perusal of its very amateurish website, I fail to see what the value or the purpose of the OS really is, other than to gain the so called developer the status of distro creator and a portal. It's literally Ubuntu dressed up with different icons, a dark theme and probably some default package swaps. I mean, other than that, why would you choose X Distro over Ubuntu itself, or Linux Mint? From the website: "X Distro system is designed to be comfortable and easy to use, But on the same time it is powerful and configurable. In X Distro we tried everything to make the user experience better and easier. X Distro totally work's out of the box, With full multimedia support and extremely easy and cool to use." How is X Distro more "comfortable" or "easy to use" versus Ubuntu, Mint or any other distro for that matter? What makes it so "cool"? So it has multimedia codecs enabled by default. So what, so does Mint and they are trivial to add after installing Ubuntu. Same with the Steam engine. Sabayon includes this out of the box too, not to mention Steam OS (based on Debian) so why is X Distro better? Further from the website: "Whether you're are just a computer user or an all time Developer, X Distro is the best way to increase your overall feature of your PC and guarantee you a smooth transition from your old Windows to Linux." Again I ask...HOW!?! What specifically about X distro makes this statement true? It's using Ubuntu's installer (not something new or unique to X distro) so to claim credit for the smooth transition is disingenuous at best. And finally: "X Distro raises the bar for reliability, performance and interoperability." HOW!?!?!?!? All of these attributes come from Ubuntu X Distro is nothing more than an Ubuntu respin created from the work of Canonical and Co. and given new theming and a few pre-installed apps because this person fancies himself a developer. What a joke. |
| jazz May 26, 2014 9:34 PM EDT |
Quoting:X Distro is nothing more than an Ubuntu respin created from the work of Canonical and Co. Canonical packages the work of other people. With very few exceptions, the software distributed by Canonical was written by somebody else. Most of the authors are never to be known to the public. As a rule, the glory and adulation is directed to whoever distributes the software. X Distro does exactly the same thing as Canonical, the only difference is they start from Ubuntu instead of starting from Debian. Maybe a screenshot tour is not the best way to introduce it to the public, the article page doesn't even have a link to the project. As far as the new value presumably added by X Distro or Canonical, I cannot really tell. As a Debian user I don't understand what more value one could add to it. But I welcome new distributions, and sometime I try them out, but only if they manage to write an article or something, and to give you a link to the project. The screenshot tour would not do it. |
| lqsh May 26, 2014 10:40 PM EDT |
Quoting:As far as the new value presumably added by X Distro or Canonical, I cannot really tell. As a Debian user I don't understand what more value one could add to it. But I welcome new distributions, and sometime I try them out, but only if they manage to write an article or something, and to give you a link to the project. The screenshot tour would not do it. The screenshot tour page links to the X Distro site - just to the right of "All Screenshot Tours > X Distro v1.0" |
| hitest May 26, 2014 11:21 PM EDT |
Quoting:As far as the new value presumably added by X Distro or Canonical, I cannot really tell. As a Debian user I don't understand what more value one could add to it. But I welcome new distributions, and sometime I try them out, but only if they manage to write an article or something, and to give you a link to the project. Debian is a wonderful distribution. I run it from time to time. I also really like OpenSUSE. At the moment I'm running Slackware and OpenBSD. I also welcome new distributions as this may help to encourage people to delve into FOSS. |
| gary_newell May 27, 2014 3:27 AM EDT |
"X Distro is nothing more than an Ubuntu respin created from the work of Canonical and Co. and given new theming and a few pre-installed apps because this person fancies himself a developer. What a joke" @CMost If that is the case then it won't last very long anyway. It is hard enough for the smaller distros to keep going even when they have put the effort and hard work in to create something slightly different. A distro that solely changes a few wallpapers and installs one or two extra packages will stand little to no chance. |
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