linuxjunior-devel — Linux Junior official mailing list for both end-users and developers.

[Linuxjunior-devel] Milestone 1

[Matt <mva...@gm...>]

Hello Everybody,

My apologies for the long delay.  Last week my area was hit by a major 
storm which caused a long power outage.  Now that that is out of the 
way,  we can start with our milestone reports.

Technical Milestone Goals:

Compiled Distro Proof of Concept
POC made available in archived format for installation on other machines

Project Milestone:

Wiki Page containing structure of Wiki pages -
I would like to have a clearly organized structure to the wiki pages, 
allowing for easily navigation, especially those new to the project.  I 
would like to make all pages designed for end users to be accessible 
within 3 clicks, and developer wiki pages within 5 clicks, however, 
being that this project is starting out small, it should be doable 
within 3 clicks.

Naming Suggestion Wiki Page:
As I have mentioned in one of my previous emails,  I have unfortunately 
seen some legal problems that may be inccured by using Linux in the 
actual name,  I haven't verified it yet, but I would like to start 
working with some name suggestions.  I figure the best ways to go about 
this would be in both this mailing list, but also in a wiki page where 
all can contribute.



End of Milestones

That's it for this week, trying to keep it easy and accomplish-able for 
right now.  As always, any questions feel free to ask on this mailing list.

Matt V

[Linuxjunior-devel] EOW Review 6/11/2010

[Matt <mva...@gm...>]

Greetings everyone,

I would first like to announce a new format on updating everyone about 
the progress of Linux Junior.  Every Monday, I will be sending out a 
Milestone email, which will contain goals for the upcoming week.  I 
realize that it is going to take some time to get use to the format, but 
I am hoping to be able to break task into weekly manageable jobs that 
can GET DONE!  Every Sunday I will be sending out an email containing 
Milestone reviews.  These reviews will simply restate the milestone 
goals and progress made on them.  The time of the milestone reviews will 
also be a great time to share any of your thoughts on what should be put 
onto the next weeks milestone goals.  Both these emails will be sent out 
in Volume/Issue format, with new volumes cycling each calendar year.  
Every Friday I will send an EOW review, such as this email, which I 
intend to be a bit lighter on the technical side and just update 
everyone with the overall status, and any concerns that have arisen 
during the week.  Again, the EOW review will be designed to illicit 
feedback from everyone, and to help adjust where to go.

This new mailing format isn't to stop everyone from sharing their own 
thoughts at their own time, but sort of open up an mailing "open forum" 
to encourage feedback from those who are generally sitting at the 
sidelines not knowing where and when they can chime in.

Current Project Status
I know I promised earlier in the week the release of the files, but, 
after doing some work, I discovered for some odd reason the gcc compiler 
is broken, and I have been having a heck of a time retracing my steps to 
fix it without having to fix it.  Another thing currently on the list  
is the kernel not recognizing the network interface, I may have to spend 
some time recompiling the kernel this week again! D'oh!  I'm also 
working on some basic legal cleanup before I dump the files for everyone 
to work on.  Stay tuned...

Recent Thoughts
I'm beginning to think the project name was a mistake, as Linux is a 
trademarked name, and I can only assume that one is not allowed to use a 
trademarked name within another name, and I haven't even begun to look 
into it, but I'm sure Junior is already trademarked.  Any ideas?

Being a subscriber to Google's blogs, I was recently delighted and 
surprised to see the issue of technology and children come up, seeing 
even Google has a web page devoted to this .  Wouldn't it be great if 
they partnered up with us in the future... I think I'm getting way to 
ahead of myself.

If anybody is interested in having real time chat discussions on the 
work being done for Linux Junior, let me know, and we can arrange for 
times and a channel to meet up on.

My final thoughts I'll share today is LSB (Linux Standards Base) 
compliance.  If you don't know, LSB is a work group created by the Linux 
Foundation designed for created compatibility for executable and 
software across different Linux distributions.  It would be nice to 
comply to the LSB certifications, however, their definitely is a lost of 
freedom to chose on how the system runs and how unique it is for kids.  
I will be looking into the issue throughout the next week, and perhaps 
even start a wiki page discussing my interpretation of the pros and cons.

That's it for today,  hope you all have a great weekend.  Just a 
reminder that the new format of email updates will not start until next 
week, since it would be kind of senseless to post a milestone review on 
Sunday with nothing to review!

Thanks,
Matt

[Linuxjunior-devel] Status Update

[Matt <mva...@gm...>]

Hello Everybody,

First I would like to thank everyone for their patience, I know this 
project is off to a slow start, with no source code or any files for 
that matter currently available on the sourceforge site, as well as very 
little information.  I'm hoping to change all that within the current 
weeks.

Thank you to everyone for your encouraging support, I have had several 
inquiries into contributing to this project, and I'm hoping to start 
this project off by making a minimum of weekly status updates to this list.

Proof of Concept
I have put together a proof of concept distribution, meaning now one 
that I plan to put into full development but use as a basis, mainly in 
part with the Linux From Scratch guide.  I have decided now to fork over 
from any distributions mainly because, this project has a very niche 
purpose with kids and security in mind, and being so, I feel that the 
amount of work to truly customize a current distro to meet our needs 
would be just as much work as creating a new one.  I could be wrong, and 
if anyone disagrees, please, in a nice manner of course, feel free to 
voice your differences.

Proof of Concept Status
Linux Junior is now fully bootable functional Linux distribution, 
however, it is currently lacking any GUI desktop.  I have spent a 
tremendous amount of time reviewing some of the popular desktop 
enviroments such as KDE, GNOME, etc..  All those details I will get to 
in a minute.  I have created the machine in a virtual box enviroment and 
then tested the enviroment in another virtual box machine, by creating a 
compressed tar archive, copying it over, untarring it, and using a 
Fedora live cd to chroot into the enviroment and then configuring grub.  
This is going to be the method of "installing" the distro until a full 
installer has been created.

Installer
Anybody interested in working on the installer with me, help would be 
greatly appreciated.  I am planning to use grub to in an ISO to boot to 
the installer.

GUI Desktop Enviroment
Any thoughts on which GUI desktop enviroment to use would be greatly 
appreciated.
The criteria  for the desktop enviroment for Linux Junior are as follows:
- Easy customization
   In my opinion, designing a desktop for younger children is a bit 
tricky in that it needs to follow some conformity of desktop use, while  
very visually and interactively appealing.
- Lightweight
   I know this term is thrown out their quite a bit in the Linux 
community as well as in other Operating System circles, however, this 
project wouldn't be the same if it required the latest and greatest 
hardware to run, it would simply be out of budget, and one of the goals 
of this project is to allow for parents' to provide a computer to their 
children who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it.
- Security
   The less loopholes, both for outside sources and for the more 
explorative children to go through, the better.

Documentation
My final subject for today will be documentation.  As you can probably 
tell by reading this email, I am not the best with grammar, and being on 
the development side, I know I am probably going to miss documenting the 
basics of documentation for both end users, and developers.  I have 
developed an opinion that some of the more popular software have become 
that way due to great documentation (and great software, but of course, 
that's coming too ;-) ).  I have created a wiki page hosted through 
sourceforge at 
https://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/linuxjunior/index.php?title=Main_Page 
.
This week my goal for the wiki is to:

1) Get rid of default text left in their from the MediaWiki installation
2) Document software packages currently included in distribution
3) Document what ares need work
4) Document where to get help
5) Document on how to contribute
6)  Document the current installation process as described above with 
the .tar.gz package.
Whew!  That's alot to work on!

As you can see, their's alot to get done, so don't be afraid to speak up 
on what you can or what you would like to help in.  And before I forget, 
we are looking for art contributors to help with the Linux Junior logo.

I know this was alot to read, so just to keep it fresh in your brain, 
here is a quick summary:
- Proof of concept is bootable!  (files will be uploaded hopefully soon)
- Currently distro has to be manually installed, ANY VOLUNTEERS FOR THE 
INSTALLER?
- Needs to choose what GUI/Desktop to use
- Documentation is in the process, but a call for volunteers is being 
made!!!

Thanks again, and I hope to hear from all the great minded people out there!
Matt V.

[Linuxjunior-devel] Test

[Matthew V. <mv...@li...>]

This is a test email for the linuxjunior-devel mailing list.

 

Matt

[Linuxjunior-devel] Test

[Matthew V. <mva...@gm...>]

This is a test.