thoughts on a distro

hey.

i was thinking about the linux usability thing, and came up with this.

most of the distros out there are too big. They seem to try to be all things to all people. I say this because I can use my distro cd to install a firewall, a development workstation, an office pc, or a full on cross-platform server.

or i can go and buy (say) a Mandrake SNF CD which <i>only</i> installs a firewall. That concept is what I liked about BeOS when I tried it - clean, and it only had what I needed to do desktop stuff. And I didn't have to think "which fs do i want?" when i installed it.

what I'm thinking is put together a new user-oriented pack. one which doesn't make you choose between kde or gnome. which doesn't make you choose between balsa or evolution. Most folks don't want to be computer geeks, and they shouldn't have to be just to use (or even install) linux at home.

It would probably be rpm based, so you could certainly add more things to it, but by default, it'd be pretty lean.

I know it's been said before, but I still don't see it happening...

Any one got any thoughts about this?

Edit: What did you new users want out of linux? What should be different?

rich.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by rjb263 on 10/16/01 01:42 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

yeah, i'm thinking pretty hard about it. nothing's impossible, just don't expect another RedHat!

The really hard part is figuring out what's needed. That's why I'm wondering what non-geeks want. I think most people want fast, reliable, and easy to use.

So something like a Gnome desktop, with SO6 (when out of beta...) and Gimp, Galeon web browser, Evolution email, easy-to-configure dialup settings (with internet sharing?), xmms+grip (play music, and rip cds), and xcdroast or similar.

Probably with some basic security, and something like portsentry running so you know when someone scans your box.

What the hell... I'll start downloading source now. Not sure about the Gnome desktop. The idea of having a hardware rendered desktop though Evas and Enlightenment E17 is too cool!

Re the printer, did you try a Ghostscript PCL3 driver?

I know it won't be like that, but what you've mentioned is basically what I want: speed, reliability, and ease.

What's wrong with KDE? I kinda liked it for the short time I was using it, but I don't know the differences...the pros and cons...

I have a Xerox DocuPrint M760. And, I don't know how to configure it to run almost as wells as it does in Windows.

All I know is that if you could do it, I'll probably be one of the first ones to download your distro.

Don't pay any attention to my chickenscratch.

From what I've seen every Linux distro is hopelessly bloated, I mean who needs Vi, EMACS, Vim, Jove, and the other dozen text editors?!? If you want to cut down on bloat make your own distro (www.linuxfromscratch.org) or just go straight to FreeBSD which is far more integrated than Linux and doesn't have the licensing spectre hanging over it.

Me "I bought a TNT2 M64, the BIOS says its a Vanta"
IOMagic "Theyre the same card"
Me "Um, no"

Your right. My Mandrake 8.0 is very bloated indeed. Do you guys know how to remove some of the excess? Like you said, I don't need 3 different text editors, 3 different telnet apps, 2 spreadsheets, etc. etc..

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.