“The UserLinux Project has placed a downloadable installation mini-CD in beta test. The CD is only 4.5 megabytes in size, and downloads the rest of the system during the installation.” LinuxBeta.com‘s screenshot slideshow shows UserLinux in action.
UserLinux Installs with a 4.5 MBs Download; SlideShow Available
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I’m more excited now for it’s release. I’ve gotta get my laptop ready to install it
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I’ve been looking for a distro to win be back from when last I left linux in disgust back in ’99. Lately I’ve been eyeing Libranet. Seeing as variety is generally a good thing, I’m also pleased to hear things are happening on the UserLinux front.
I had expected a more polished version of Debian.. what I see looks just like Debian. In particular:
– please put a graphical installer please
– the default icons don’t look terribly professional… In particular the folder icons
– the default theme isn’t very good, doesn’t seem much attention to detail was placed. For example, the menu fgcolor looks dark with the highlight color.
– the menu looks very big
What is the point of a 4.5mb downloadable mini cd? That just means I am going to have 744.5mb free on the disk! I am down with a one disk install and download of the rest but give us some of the basics. The things that could shave some of the download time which in turn shaves some of the install time down.
The BSDs have had network based installs now, since forever. This is just a reinvention of what has already existed.
That just means I am going to have 744.5mb free on the disk!
That’s where cdr-w’s come handy.
OpenBSD installs from a 1.44MB floppy and has been able to do this for years.
Looks very good.
some observations:
-I think Firefox should be the default internet browser instead Mozilla.
-He is using xFree86 instead X.org
Good work.
> …a more polished version of Debian. What I see looks just like Debian.
Sure, it’s both. It is a more polished version of Debian, but it looks same.
Do you really think Redhat Enterprise looks much prettier than Fedora Core? I don’t think so, but you will agree RHEL is “polished version” of Fedora.
I am not interested in Graphical Installer crap, as long as it is easy to install. On the other hand, unlike previous Debian installers, new installer used in UserLinux supports FAI — Fully Automated Install. It means you can install Debian on 100 computers with same hardware without any manual intervention. Now that is cool.
The BSDs have had network based installs now, since forever. This is just a reinvention of what has already existed.
You’re right, this is nothing new, but the BSD attribution is misplaced. Many Linux distributions have had network installs forever as well. Currently, nothing compares to Debian’s installation flexibility. Debootstrap will currently let you install even without any sort of installation media, just network access and the ability to write to a Linux partition.
I do not understand why debian based distro have menu item duplication.
eg. Rhythmbox
http://www.linuxbeta.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=102&slide…
http://www.linuxbeta.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=102&slide…
Why don’t they disable the Debian Menu in the standard gnome menu and if a user wishes he/she can re-enable like the GNOME foot icon instead having a debian icon.
Also provide a little program that allows uses add/remove menu items from the debian menu to the standard GNOME menu.
eg. GNOME menu currently has Epiphany as the default Internet browser in Applications->Internet->Ephinany
The little add remove program would allow the user to remove Epiphany and add Firefox instead.
Note: the debian menu will still have the shortcuts to all available.
Is there PPPOE support on the 4.5 MB CD? Can I configure my ADSL settings and use my ADSL settings to download the rest of the system?
Without ADSL support, I am stuck and cannot install this 🙁
This is sort of what I mean.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~vinosj/debian_menu_example.png
Just replace the first redhat icon with a gnome foot and the second redhat icon with a Debian swirl or whatever they call it.
1) You can change the theme and icons.
2) I wish you could see what your installing for the various choices in the menu.
a) workstation
b) minimal
3) What about a different set of apps for the SOHO? There has to be a list somewhere?
Now, the icons and themes dont look professional? Got a question, what is professional? And I am being serious, not trolling. The theme is somewhat reminiscient to various commercial offerings. I think that the choices that were made so as to provide a certain look and feel of existing corporate desktop OS’. Just mho.
The post seems to trumpet the fact that you download a 4.5MB iso and then it downloads the rest as needed. You can already do this with many distros. You can even do it with the default Debian.
As for XFree86 vs. XOrg, Debian still uses XFree86. You aren’t likely to see any Debian based distro use XOrg until Debian Unstable has it (possibly even testing).
Indeed.
A recent apt-get upgrade did ask me which xserver I wanted to use though, although the only choice was xfree86. My guess is that x.org will get backported to testing alongside xfree86.
I’m not exactly sure about the rationale behind the additional Debian menu, but for me it really helps out. There are lots of applications that don’t add themselves to the Gnome menu, so whenever I can’t find a program, I look in the Debian menu for it. If a program is present in both menus it doesn’t really hurt anyone. A user who was looking for the program in question would have already found it in the Gnome menu. Also, removing things from the Debian menu isn’t a good idea. Each package that wants to be in the menu adds a menu file /usr/lib/menu/package-name. This ends up producing a more complete menu than a desktop environment can provide since the Debian package maintainers can add menu files even if the developer of the package hasn’t done so. If you want to remove duplicate entries, I guess you could delete them from /usr/lib/menu individually, but every time you upgrade the package it would probably come back. That’s why all Debian based distros have duplicate menu entries. Either they include the entire menu, or they leave it out altogether. Editing it isn’t practical.
The menus should be larger. I could still see blank screen space behind it.
on screenshot no. 50
For ADSL/PPOE configuration, there is no icon.
on screenshot no. 57
there is no icon for XEdit.
on screenshot 58
no icon for ‘Bitmap’ – whatever the hell this even means
on screenshot 59
no icon for Xcalc
on screenshot 60
lots of missing icons, including Epiphany which is actually a GNOME component.
on screenshot 61… i could go on.
Clearly the entire ‘Debian’ menu is completely unintegrated with the rest of the system, so for christs sake lose it until you can polish it to a reasonable standard.
I can’t believe anybody shipping a professional OS would miss these icons, it’s just unbelievable that a lack of attention to detail like this can get past.
If you can’t put an icon next to every menu entry, dont put an icon next to any of them. It just looks shabby, inconsistent, and crap.
These are UserLinux’s primary menus – everything should be 100% polished and perfect, in all the menus ‘out of the box’
Sure, tell me this is a minor quibble and that it’s not important, but i think it is really important, and whoever is responsible for putting this distro’s UI together is not doing a good enough job to compete with anyone except the plethora of other ‘this is a mere aggregation of crapware’ linux distros.
Also, removing things from the Debian menu isn’t a good idea. Each package that wants to be in the menu adds a menu file /usr/lib/menu/package-name.
I didn’t really say that. Maybe I wasn’t clear, but I thought my screenshot of what I mean’t would have explained it a bit better.
The debian menu shouldn’t be a part of the GNOME menu. It could be a seperate button menu.
See here,
http://www.osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=8270&offset=0&rows=15#280…
This is the kind of short-sighted wording that irks me:
http://www.linuxbeta.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=102&slide…
The answer choices should have been: Office or Home. Not yes or no. Or, the question should have been: ‘Is this computer in a office’. Leave off the ‘, or in a home’. I figured out what they wanted, but I’m not sure if a true ‘user’ would…
The debian menu shouldn’t be a part of the GNOME menu. It could be a seperate button menu.
I don’t agree on this. In fact, all apps should have entries in a single menu, whatever the window manager or desktop is.
If app designers don’t provide the necessary files, they should be generated on the fly. This worked at least for application entries needed by ROX and the ROX package wasn’t even official!
First off, the guys at linuxbeta apparently choose a screen resolution of 800×600. This can be seen on the selection screen during setup and explains the unusual large stock Ximian icons. The theme seems to be a modified Ximian Industrial too.
About the Debian menu: lots of WMs and some DEs don’t provide access to all installed applications by simple means of a menu. If you don’t like it, apt-get remove menu. Of course this is not a viable solution for UserLinux targets. And in the meantime i agree with clausi – what would an extra button solve?
Somebody here asked, how to manipulate the Debian menu and the Gnome menu and so on. You can do so by employing a little workaround.
First open Nautilus, press CTRL+L and enter “applications:” in the appearing dialog. Now you can edit the Gnome menu.
Next open the Debian menu via Applications and on your desired application, click right and select “Add to panel”.
Now you can draw the panel icon into your applications folder and there you are.
This can be improved, granted.
This can be improved, granted.
Another way is “Start here -> applications -> whatever” and then drag’n’drop entries from the Debian menu into “whatever”. As usual, the panel must be restarted to show the added entries.
And unfortunatly, the Debian menu entry is hardcoded in the GNOME menu, as far as I know. So there will still be a “Debian-Menu” entry in GNOME after removing the package. It will just be empty.
The debian menu shouldn’t be a part of the GNOME menu. It could be a seperate button menu.
I don’t agree on this. In fact, all apps should have entries in a single menu, whatever the window manager or desktop is.
If app designers don’t provide the necessary files, they should be generated on the fly. This worked at least for application entries needed by ROX and the ROX package wasn’t even official!
I wish people can understand my post.
I never said totally remove, I said have it as a button menu. As in my screenshot.