New social Linux distro looking for volunteers
 

Hello everybody,

I'm starting out a new Linux distro, aimed at being a real alternative to MS Windows on the Desktop, and which has a social goal, to improve our communities and our world as a whole, through the use of free software.

It will be created BY THE COMMUNITY, FOR THE COMMUNITY.

Since the project is just starting out, this will be a great oportunity for everybody to join in, and play a key role on our success towards making Linux conquest the desktop - and helping poor people around the world to get into the so called _digital inclusion_ .

The project name is Solidos, a pun on Solid + OS (operating system). Access the project homepage to see more details, the project goals and to join to become a contributor!

http://www.solidos.org

Cheers

A. Ridolfi

Hello and welcome to LQ, hope you like it here. Since you have these kind of aspirations and the website doesn't give me any answers I'd like to ask some questions if I may:
- Who are you in terms of track record?
- Did you previously contribute to (core functions of) any recent distro?
- If not, what skills do you have to develop and sustain a new distro over years?
- Any other F/OSS (or even commercial apps) we should know you from?
- What is your perception of other distro's in that they don't provide "a real alternative to MS Windows on the Desktop"?
- Do you have A Plan For Changing All That?
- Does the project have any backing by people we should know?
- SVN/CVS developer/user access?
- Mailing lists?

TIA

The logo looks pretty cool, but ditto what was said above

ok , buisness still buisness ... shed that *dos labeling first ...



.

A nice logo, but it needs more than just that. Funny that it says it'll "soon" be available for download; do you maybe intend to use a tool to create your own distribution out of some existing one, and maybe even use the other distribution's reposities too, for example (like Mepis does, off Ubuntu)? I don't see many other ways to be able to release a "brand new" distribution that quickly, especially if you've just started the whole thing.

Good luck, though, the goals sound nice. Not saying anything about if they're all realistic, but anyway. I really hope this isn't one of those projects that dries up under two years..

EDIT: by the way, what does it exactly mean: "free as in beer"? I never quite got it..or rather, I think I may have, but it sounds pretty damn stupid to me. Somebody please explain so I don't have to spend my nighttime thinking about that :)

the problem is the goals that they have stated at their sites ... bound to fail badly with their distro anyway ...


//how can computer things alone can help to reach all those stated goals really bug me for a long time until now ...


.

"Free as in beer" usually means that there is no monetary cost associated with it. The flip side of that coin is frequently "Free as in freedom". Since both of these uses of the word free have VERY different meanings, someone came up with that to distinguish which one they actually meant.

Right. I get that. My question is where is everybody getting this free beer? Around my part of the world beer is generally around $5 per pint ;)

Sorry for the OT...

This is basicly Linspire.

But it does have one strong point. It's like Freespire without the slightly bad PR, and the controversy. (Linspire acquired some 10-20 million dollars from MS, rights to a lot of their patents & media codecs. But just like the Novell/MS deal, this looks overblown.)

It looks interesting. Especially if this is going to be Free & free, I like a lot. Are you planning to package something like DOSBox+Wine out-of-the-box? What about media codecs? DeCSS? Based on Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, Slackware, Red Hat / Fedora, Yggsadrill, something else?

One thing though. Focus on desktop first. You might not be able to make yourself known on server space. Unless you plan to make a sort of "Linux Home Server". In which case, glory and beer awaits you. =D

Speaking of Home Server... How much is MS going to charge? I've heard as high as 500$, but no idiot is going to pay that much for Windows on a server. Especially since Xubuntu is free, and does a great job as a graphically-managed server.

Since this is a press release rather than anything else, I have moved it to Linux-News.

Sorry to be a curmudgeon, but I do not favor bringing any more distros into the world. I would hope for more of the creative energy to go into fixing existing problems--or filling gaps in the application base.

That said, one of the key things required to sell any new product is "discriminators". What is it that is different about your widget that would make me choose it over another? I don't see that on the site.

I recently downloaded Elive and tried it--based on a review somewhere. It had some very cute graphics tricks--beyond that it was a real yawner. Distrowatch is overflowing with similar stories.

Not that I want to discourage Albert R or anything, but I too am sceptical.

For a start, the above motto (by the community, for the community) basically cover all the distributions.

Social goals need social and political work. A computer can be a good tool to organise and help with this work. I would think that to be able to succeed the core team will need to think very hard about what this distro will try to achieve that isn't already covered by the other distros available.

There are lots of distros today, and those that manage to keep going have a clear vision.

Fedora, OpenSuse and Ubuntu are the leaders (in my view) in the business arena and are linked to relatively big companies.

Other distros, have geographical connection. E.g. Magic Linux and Red Flag Linux in chinese communities, Skolelinux in educational sector in Norway. Many others specialize in other regions/countries.

Gentoo has its unique way of customizing just about everything that gets installed. PCLinuxOS takes advantage of being based outside USA to include DVD and MP3 play capabilities that might not be legal in USA.

So it takes more than some vague commitment to "social goals" to succeed.

Name and logo is good, maybe unfortunate with three last letters being DOS :) Maybe SolidOs would hide that a bit...

I totally agree with Pixellany

I really wish I could confidently say that Linux supports all hardware, but unfortunately I've had experiences where my computer is mute because Linux (Ubuntu 6.06) did not detect my sound card.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE!! Linux, it is wonderful and I totally enjoy the freedom it provides; I'm still figuring out how to customize it, but I'm learning something new every day.

It would be another learning curve for us newbies to try to catch up with another distro. Sorry dude, see if you can write some drivers for the existing distros, that would be far more beneficial and you would be actually making the Linux world a better place :)

I think I have vented enough... Thanks again Linux Community !!!

With 300+ distros already available, how can you make yours different enough to warrant anybody's interest?

First of all, thanks for all the comments, good or bad.

I've compiled a FAQ with the answers with most questions, such as "Why a new distro", "Why is different", etc. The FAQ is available on http://www.solidos.org/wiki/FAQ

We do not plan on "competing" with other distros - our goal is more than just being a distro. The goal is to get the GNU/Linux system into the desktop - our distro is just one of those ways for doing that. Our competitor is not Ubuntu/Fedora/Suse/etc, it is Windows.

We're still setting up SVN and mailing lists; soon they will be publicly available.

alred and monsm: The name could be worse. It could be "Solidows" :-) lol

Thank you for your interest,

A. Ridolfi