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.
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