# Calling All Linux Enthusiasts



## wraj (Sep 2, 2008)

hi everybody,
first thing first,Id like to admit that I posted it in the wrong section of this forum (Q&A)and havent got a single response, so it can be considered as a repost (sorry moderators !!!)
____________________________________________________________________________

"I have built a Linux Distribution (A derivative of-course) and want to host it somewhere...Though Ive got my own dedicated website for its home but the Monthly Bandwith is prohibitive to upload it over here...Being a student,I just cant afford unlimited packages available...So I just need some suggestion to how to go about this...Is there any website which offers free service as mirrors...Ive came acroos several of these,but they are pretty restrictive...Some will limit me to the filesize of 100-300 MB (My distro is around 1GB) and some has expiration period...I dont wanna use Rapidshare and likes because they are not for common users...I too dont want to split the file as a workaround....Torrent maybe the next solution but the initial seeding will have some hassles.
ANY IDEA???
all suggestion are welcome

PS: Ive not disclosed the name of the website for the sake of a surprise !!! will reveal it shortly once Im able to upload the Distro."
______________________________________________________________________________
Furthermore, Ill also need some beta and bug testers to make it a successfull project...hence I request the interested volunteers to come forth and do the needfull.


----------



## ray|raven (Sep 2, 2008)

How abt sourceforge?


----------



## nileshgr (Sep 2, 2008)

ray|raven said:


> How abt sourceforge?


Sourceforge provides 1 GB ?? I think they provide up to 100 MB.


----------



## thewisecrab (Sep 2, 2008)

What about uploading mirrors in torrents?
They are free AFAIK
And
What sort of a distro is it?
I mean, what modifications have you made? Who is the target user?


----------



## NucleusKore (Sep 2, 2008)

You can split it like I do with my ISOs. Use an archiver like Peazip to span the segments if you want it to be accessible cross platform. If you host in mediafire it's a good idea as they support download accelerators, but their limit is 100 MB, so that's 11 pieces (if your distro is 1024 MB and not 1000 MB).


----------



## gary4gar (Sep 2, 2008)

can you give more information about the Distro?
If its good enough people would come forward to host it on their servers.


Till then you have to depend on DVD/CD,Torrents, and random uploading sites


----------



## mehulved (Sep 2, 2008)

How about contacting one of the distribution mirrors like ibiblio or sunsite?


----------



## Garbage (Sep 2, 2008)

and what about torrents ?? We can seed !


----------



## nach (Sep 2, 2008)

uyp I can help to spread wid torrents .....btw can we know details abt u r distro


----------



## MetalheadGautham (Sep 3, 2008)

yeah first tell us about your distro - what is it, what is the target audience, etc.


----------



## goobimama (Sep 3, 2008)

Torrents is your only hope as I see it. Initial seeding will have to be done, but with super-seeding, you will only have to upload a little over 1GB.


----------



## wraj (Sep 3, 2008)

Thanks everyone above for the overwhelming response...Frankly speaking,I never expected such a heartning reply.
              Guess that torrent is the only hope provided that i get the initial seeders as promised above.
Now Id answer U all one by one:
1.ray|raven : Source Forge has got certain limitaion buddy.And donno if it'll register "Yet another Distro" !!!
2.thewisecrab :Am also pondering over torrent provided that I get initial seeders as promised above.
3.NucleusKore : I awready in my thread cleared that I dont wanna split the file coz it may send some wrong impression among the dloaders...Leave alone the hassles of dloading (Though Ill surely consider it if everything else fails)
4.mehulved : Am in my process to contacting ibiblio and sunsite.
5.Garbage : Ill be indebted for this

Now I think that I must reveal the website coz ive got lot of users asking me about the same.*Somewhere in the forum this guy "thewisecrab" asked "installed ubuntu now what???"...Hence aRen OS tries to circumvent the one as much as it can.Its targeted towards dummies rather that newbies,plus other Ubuntu may appreciate this too if they liked Mint for the purpose of overcoming Ubuntu's limitation*.Being a graphic designer,I even tried it making visually appealing too (it would be an overstatement if I consider it with Vista at this point of time,but it is what IT IS,courtsey,Compiz and other nuggets)...
the url is *www.tuxrepublic.org/aRenOS.html

(*The feature link is dummy part* as Ill be working on it latter on after I am done with final touches to my distro,screenshots are indicative to some extent)

PS :I care damn bout IE6 and less,*I presume that U all have Mozilla and Opera or IE7 at least*,otherwise site wouldnt render correctly.I too need some sound review on this.


----------



## Garbage (Sep 3, 2008)

Super cool..... 
Me wants it....


----------



## j1n M@tt (Sep 3, 2008)

@wraj

gud work man.....but ur site is damn slow, the connection gets reset every time the browser is waiting for the server...


----------



## Garbage (Sep 3, 2008)

*www.tuxrepublic.org/files/aRen_Screenshot_5.jpg


*www.tuxrepublic.org/files/aRen_Screenshot_4.jpg


*www.tuxrepublic.org/files/aRen_Screenshot_3.jpg


*www.tuxrepublic.org/files/aRen_Screenshot_12.jpg


*www.tuxrepublic.org/files/aRen_Screenshot_10.jpg


----------



## thewisecrab (Sep 3, 2008)

> ......*Somewhere in the forum this guy "thewisecrab" asked "installed ubuntu now what???"...Hence aRen OS*......



I'm a newbie man, I bound to ask such queries.... 
Any way, as per your desciption goes, I'm looking forward to the distro 
@Garbage
WOW
Great screenshots


----------



## wraj (Sep 3, 2008)

Never mind "thewisecrab"...I dindt mean offending you but what i meant from my reply was that ive tried packaging everything needed for a mundane task and newbies like you will quite feel at home.I also (prematurely)dedicate it to the users like you...But Ive got another couple weeks to go coz am handling everything all alone minus indespensable resources.


----------



## MetalheadGautham (Sep 3, 2008)

El Perfecto Man !

This thing looks like its going to beat Linux Mint and Ubuntu Ultimate Editon, which are your primary competition.

I wish you all the very best for this project.

One thing I think you should add to your distro which nobody else would think of are *ebooks*. Most of us got hooked on to linux chiefly by doccumentation. If you could pre-bundle linux related ebooks like basic bash guide, how to build your own kernel tutorial, ubuntu starters guide, and other similar stuff, and place them in a stack in your avant dock, it would save the hastle of searching around the net for newbies.

Trust me on this, because nothing impresses more than awssome doccumentation at your fingertips.


----------



## thewisecrab (Sep 3, 2008)

@wraj
None taken 
In fact I'm glad that there are people like you who are willing to dedicate their time and effort to make Linux easier for newbies and help them *make the switch* 
@MetalHeadGautham
+1
Indeed, a good documentation (which is n00b-friendly ) will go a long way


----------



## MetalheadGautham (Sep 3, 2008)

and yeah, in the doccumentation part, do include articles by our own forum members which are rather excellent. DarkStar's Compiz Fusion review and linux newbies guide are very nicely written (except for bad grammer ). Put 'em in too.


----------



## wraj (Sep 3, 2008)

Points taken mr. "MetalheadGautham"...But it will be in my todo list as of now coz am busy ironing out bugs and all.And I may delay the release schedule if am not overall satified by what I promised above...Secondly,u must have seen a Blog section in the website,Ill not shy away from publishing the articles submitted by the users to me ALONG WITH THE DUE CREDIT to them !!!For the time being,it is only possible through email submission coz Id be manually screening them and would surely give it a space if found worth it.
      Most importantly,I will be going gradually untill and unless someone is there to join me and help me technically.
   Do keep the suggestions pouring in...


----------



## MetalheadGautham (Sep 3, 2008)

wraj said:


> Points taken mr. "MetalheadGautham"...But it will be in my todo list as of now coz am busy ironing out bugs and all.And I may delay the release schedule if am not overall satified by what I promised above...Secondly,u must have seen a Blog section in the website,Ill not shy away from publishing the articles submitted by the users to me ALONG WITH THE DUE CREDIT to them !!!For the time being,it is only possible through email submission coz Id be manually screening them and would surely give it a space if found worth it.
> *Most importantly,I will be going gradually untill and unless someone is there to join me and help me technically.*
> Do keep the suggestions pouring in...


You want help ? Then count me in. Just tell me what to do and I will try my best to help you. 

And one more thing: Try to get 1.0 out along with 8.10 Interpid Ibix. Hardy Heron is too unstable compared to previous ubuntu releases IMO.

And how about a custom compiled 2.6.26.3 kernel instead of the obsolete 2.6.24 found in ubuntu ?

and yeah, I need all your theme resources. I am in the process of designing a similar distro, but this is based on Debian Lenny. (will release it when lenny becomes stable).


----------



## Garbage (Sep 3, 2008)

Arey, we are here to help you yaar.... 

Count++


----------



## Hitboxx (Sep 3, 2008)

@Garbage, use thumbnails.

@wraj, nice. I assume the gtk is a fork of Slickeness. What about the icon set? Did you create it from scratch?


----------



## Garbage (Sep 3, 2008)

and for initial seeding, you can send DVDs to some members so that they can put on their computers.

@ Hitboxx...

Just copy paste from his blog with "" tag... :D 

U know m lazy to upload n then create thumbnels of them :P


----------



## MetalheadGautham (Sep 3, 2008)

I think NucleusKore can help you design "Service Packs" 
He is the offline package expert here.
Perhaps you could roll out monthly ISOs containing updates as an AptOnCD.
And yes, I hope you did NOT forget to include AptOnCD in your distro.

And AptOnCD ISOs of different package sets would be neat.

For example, you could release an AptOnCD package containing KDE stuff if the user wishes to use KDE. You could release an AptOnCD package containing ubuntu-studio packages too. These would enable people without internet connection to get a set of features on their distro.

This feature is NOT there in ANY newbie distro at the moment, so this is going to be another success point in your distro.

Tell me when the distro is bug fixed, and I can personally design this part for you.


----------



## Garbage (Sep 3, 2008)

/me is very eager to get this distro... (Hands on....)


----------



## wraj (Sep 3, 2008)

Awesome buddy...I myself was in dilemma if I should go with Hardy or should wait for Intrepid.You said it right,Hardy misbehaves a lot,even after installing 8.04.1 plus series of updates it DOESNT refuse to cry fowl...The live CD of mine hangs too after some couple of operations.And thats why I was not revealing the website in the begining coz I wanted to bring it once I was all DONE but..........
   Anyway,if am able to tame the hardy,Ill release it at the earnest but if not I must be pardoned for some usual delay....
     And seriously speaking,I didnt want to create any hype,hence I refrained from telling the site name.
      I welcome ur process of coming up with ur own distro...Then y dont we collaborate (if u please)I am NOT hellbent to build it over Ubuntu but anything that seems good to me (but should NOT be frm the redhat and its derivatives)...This will also prevent us from creating a Distro clutter - The Truth of the day.Ill handle all the graphics,packaging,customization plus miscllaneous plus u do the kernel taming and whatever u feel like u are comfortable with.Consider it an open offer !!!


----------



## MetalheadGautham (Sep 3, 2008)

Garbage said:


> /me is very eager to get this distro... (Hands on....)



me too


----------



## Garbage (Sep 3, 2008)

Can I come in Collaboration ??


----------



## wraj (Sep 3, 2008)

Anyone can who think they can do it with needed perfection ...we can even conduct a meeting in the flesh if needed

Yes aptONcd is there too !!! I even thought launching the distro in a split fashion...I mean giving away the Main distro as an installable one plus aptONcd packages (named something like megapack or so)as the optional one who wanted it more than what has been bundled with the main release.

Yes Hitboxx,u guessed it right its slickness plus some remix done by me (changes wont show right now coz the screenshots are more than one month old and am lazy taking the fresh ones.Will do it when after the distro completion,not in the priority right now.


----------



## MetalheadGautham (Sep 3, 2008)

wraj said:


> Awesome buddy...I myself was in dilemma if I should go with Hardy or should wait for Intrepid.You said it right,Hardy misbehaves a lot,even after installing 8.04.1 plus series of updates it DOESNT refuse to cry fowl...The live CD of mine hangs too after some couple of operations.And thats why I was not revealing the website in the begining coz I wanted to bring it once I was all DONE but..........
> Anyway,if am able to tame the hardy,Ill release it at the earnest but if not I must be pardoned for some usual delay....
> And seriously speaking,I didnt want to create any hype,hence I refrained from telling the site name.
> I welcome ur process of coming up with ur own distro...Then y dont we collaborate (if u please)I am NOT hellbent to build it over Ubuntu but anything that seems good to me (but should NOT be frm the redhat and its derivatives)...This will also prevent us from creating a Distro clutter - The Truth of the day.Ill handle all the graphics,packaging,customization plus miscllaneous plus u do the kernel taming and whatever u feel like u are comfortable with.Consider it an open offer !!!



well, if we can colloborate, then I STRONGLY suggest there be TWO versions, debian stable and ubuntu.

Ubuntu w/gnome can be the vista type OS, for those with mordern systems and 2mbps broadband. Debian w/xfce can be the distro for the masses.

what do you say ?

one eye candy rich version and one light version, but both with same theme and simplicity.


----------



## wraj (Sep 3, 2008)

cool enough....but why not both xfce and gnome over the same machine with diff desktop environment (like the dream linux did)...IMHO the base OS should be identical even it you want go go with diffrent versions...Im not sure with this so dont consider as a BIG NO !!!

but ur suggestion is worth thinking over,Just like Ubuntu,Xubuntu etc...all are different release with similar base but "Desktop Env"not installed in the same release...I got ur point...


----------



## MetalheadGautham (Sep 3, 2008)

wraj said:


> cool enough....but why not both xfce and gnome over the same machine with diff desktop environment (like the dream linux did)...IMHO the base OS should be identical even it you want go go with diffrent versions...Im not sure with this so dont consider as a BIG NO !!!
> 
> but ur suggestion is worth thinking over,Just like Ubuntu,Xubuntu etc...all are different release with similar base but not installed in the same release...I got ur point...



well, debian and ubuntu are QUITE identical, I hope you remember that.


----------



## wraj (Sep 3, 2008)

Of course they are...then whats the point of choosing Ubuntu over debian or vice versa...We can do one thing,I am almost done with my OS,hence I must release it when finally done...And in the mean time we must start working over ur proposal...Just like Ubuntu came first in the scene followed by the Xubuntu as the subsiquent one.what say


----------



## MetalheadGautham (Sep 3, 2008)

wraj said:


> Of course they are...then whats the point of choosing Ubuntu over debian or vice versa...We can do one thing,I am almost done with my OS,hence I must release it when finally done...And in the mean time we must start working over ur proposal...Just like Ubuntu came first in the scene followed by the Xubuntu as the subsiquent one.what say



well, mine won't be out till debian lenny becomes stable.

the reason to choose debian over ubuntu for a light weight distro is simple:

its much more stable, has tiny updates, and is much faster on lower end systems.


----------



## wraj (Sep 3, 2008)

No problem at all...We must have an initial release at first then gradually add more VERSIONS once the stable platform is out...


----------



## MetalheadGautham (Sep 3, 2008)

wraj said:


> No problem at all...We must have an initial release at first then gradually add more VERSIONS once the stable platform is out...



In that case, you go first, with Ubuntu version. It looks almost ready. I am going to follow Debian's famous motto:

*bp2.blogger.com/_qBN_dFzAuCo/RzOhieiIJMI/AAAAAAAAAFE/fE_fkBIEN1Q/s400/debian-grolsch-vector.png​


----------



## wraj (Sep 3, 2008)

Thats what I said...Mine is almost ready (can easily port it to Intrepid if the changes aren't major and some more opinions about 'Intrepid wait' comes in)...Lets see what happens...
     And mine philosophy is also like DEBIAN,will release it only when I find it stable enough to bring it in the public domain...I dont mind making them wait


----------



## MetalheadGautham (Sep 3, 2008)

wraj said:


> Thats what I said...Mine is almost ready (can easily port it to Intrepid if the changes aren't major and some more opinions about 'Intrepid wait' comes in)...Lets see what happens...
> And mine philosophy is also like DEBIAN,will release it only when I find it stable enough to bring it in the public domain...I dont mind making them wait



Cool then. Best of luck with finishing it, because I can't do any work this month due to examinations.


----------



## wraj (Sep 3, 2008)

Thanks buddy...but keep the suggestions coming in


----------

