Tech Forum

I can register the domain at www.1cheapdomains.com for $12 US and www.3ix.com offers 40 GB of space with 100 GB of bandwidth a month for $12 US a year. I can cover this. Shall I go ahead and register for both?

Todd

todd wrote:I can register the domain at www.1cheapdomains.com for $12 US and www.3ix.com offers 40 GB of space with 100 GB of bandwidth a month for $12 US a year. I can cover this. Shall I go ahead and register for both?

Todd

Before you do that, Todd. In my package with 1&1, I still have a free domain name available to register, ~100GB of storage left, and ~1TB/month of traffic available. I would be happy to make that available for "the cause", and maybe along the way I'll loosen my grip on MS OS's and start learning and using Linux more often.

Assuming there are Debian or Ubuntu packages for the programs you'd want to include, you could probably use Remastersys to create your own Debian- or Ubuntu-based distro. I'd recommend using one of these instead of creating your own distro from scratch.

I haven't used Remastersys myself, but the tutorial makes it look pretty straightforward.

http://www.geekconnection.org/remastersys/remastersystool.html
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1073838

Edit: Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, and GRAMPS all have Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) packages available. I haven't used GRAMPS before, but the rest seem to work just fine.

todd wrote:Shall I go ahead and register for both?

Before going any further, we would need to find out how many people are interested in developing this. It is a major undertaking.

Someone (person/team/community) would need to manage the project and it's direction. Same applies for a web site, and forums running on the web site. Both development forums and support forums.

Of those people who have expressed an interest, we would need to find out what skills, time, commitment, and areas they would be prepared/able to look after.

I don't know whether these forums would allow it, but we need to spawn several new threads regarding pros and cons different packages/distributions. Alternatively, set up some forums for the start up.

Once a distro is selected, we will need several versions. ie current version, and production version.

Out of the people here so far who have expressed an interest, how many have ever built a distribution? How many have ever recompiled the Linux kernel and it's modules?

These are just a few things to discuss, however running a web site with it's associated forums can be very time consuming, which is where I am hoping that people without experience in some of the above mentioned things would of of valuable experience.

Speaking of skills, I'll start with mine:

NEVER have built a Linux distro
Have built Linux from Scratch using LFS Linux (took 2 weeks)
Am able to reconfigure and recompile the kernel
C programming skills and have done low level c/assembly coding
Experience in installing Linux into small footprint devices, ie EEE PC, headless and embedded devices.
Have used Unix/Linux for 15 years and I still do most of my work on the command line
Web Developer/Programmer and have run setup, secured and managed forums (no longer interested in running)
Uncanny ability to diagnose issues via support forums with software
Skilled in multiple programming languages
Skills in getting wireless devices running under Linux

Non Skills
Bad at making lists
No management skills
Uncanny ability of being able to wreck a Windows PC in under 5 minutes (It's why I use Macs and Linux)

These are just a few thoughts. The one thing to keep in mind, is that this can be very time consuming and can take over your whole life if not careful. It can also lead to burnout and as we say here - It can damage your insanity!

Once it's all decided on, a project description and manifesto and a list of required positions for people to volunteer to look after would be good. It may be good for people to get an idea of the scale of the project.

Here you'll find my skills (only ones related to Linux):

NEVER have build a distro.
Many, Many different distro installation (most of all: Mandrake, Suse, Ubuntu), in many different hardware (desktop and laptop).
Program's compilation and installation.
C programming
Other languages such as Pascal (Lazarus), Java (NetBeans), PHP, ecc.
Programs translation (English->Italian): NtEd (all), NetBeans (start IDE then quit when other, with more time available, joined).
Logical problem solving and open mind

I've posted a reply at the other thread for this:

http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.php?p=28342#post28342


Michael.

RichardsonTB wrote:I am sorry. I am not meaning to offend anyone. My original idea of having the Church spearhead the project now sounds kind of naive. However, there seems to be enough interest within the LDS community to support a community driven project. Ironically, this has been the way Linux has been from the beginning. Yes, Netscape, Sun, Bitstream and many other corporations have made invaluable contributions. At the root, however, Linux has always been a grass roots project. I started a new thread to reflect my change in focus; away from expecting the Church to do the work and towards rolling up my own sleeves and getting some work done.

In regards to the type of distribution I have in mind, let me share a few links of other projects I would like to draw from. I plan on using the latest development tools from Puppy Linux. Specifically, the Woof distribution builder. Have no fear, I don't want LDS Linux to be another version of Puppy. My vision, rather, is to have something like Eeebuntu Base; Linux, a GUI and a browser. I have installed Eeebuntu Base on my Eeepc and find it very nice. I was able to install only the software I use. I like this. One thing I really dislike about most "live" distributions is that a default set of programs is installed; I don't like the clutter.

I have been wanting to do something like this for a while now. I am familiar with Puppy linux inside and out. I have some ideas but have only been tinkering with and ISO on my own but have recently thought about making a formal ISO and submitting it to someone in UTAH headquarters for approval for public release. If you are still interested, I would like to team up. Thanks!

My son studied with the dance school our local ballet troupe has set up for feeding dancers to the troupe. One of the teachers once dated the Brother that was hired by the Church to run our IT department. If what she says is true, which I think it is, based on what I have seen, his last employer was Microsoft. Under his direction, we have moved almost unilaterally to Microsoft products. (Please understand, I am not speaking on behalf of the Church, just as an educated observer and employee.) The focus has been support, specifically support worldwide.

I would love to work with you on this project. However, I believe it will have to be an extra-Church project (i.e. outside of the formal Church system).

Kind regards,

Todd Richardson

Windows will be the supported platform for quite a while, unless the church wants to pay for and hire a team to be Stake Technology Specialists, which doesn't seem likely. The truth is that windows is the most widely known and supportable platform out there. Directors of IT hired from Microsoft aside, the Church is too large of an organization to make a strategic decision around someone's previous employment. The church implements back-end technology across multiple platforms, as the solutions are strategically implemented, but more and more at an Enterprise level, app delivery platforms are independent of the back-end platform.

My true feelings are that Linux will never be a viable desktop platform, we are moving to Android, IOS and Windows as the players in the market, and Windows better be careful.

Folks wanting to create an LDS build would probably find better success in creating it under the "family safety" banner then changing the church's desktop. I'm sure there's plenty of users out there that would welcome a desktop build they could use and not worry as much about the darker side of the 'net - or about getting infected.