Porteus changing distro

[brokenman]

In order to better serve Porteus users we would like to make more packages available to Porteus. At the moment the Slackware package list is rather small in comparison to other distros. We will include a package manager (next release) that unites 5 different slackware repositories but the package count still doesn't even come close to some other distros. For this reason we would like you to consider the advantages and disadvantages, and indeed post feedback about changing the Porteus base from Slackware to another distro.

Please vote and post your opinion on this rather important topic.

[amplatfus]

Hi all,

Voted Slackware because I consider it faster with low resources as requirements. It easy loadable to RAM, occupying just a few MB.
I like very much that Porteus is light, simple fast with modular option (configurability: can create you own *.xzm files with your settings).

In LXDE version it is usable even on a low space USB Stick (even on a 512mb free space on stick).

Thank you so much,
amplatfus

[donald]

If it's just the number of available packages that counts, stay with Slackware.
I don't miss anything.
But what stands behind the Question of changing the base?
Would Porteus be the same nice, small, complete, idiot-proof,(KISS),
or a normal, bloated HDD-install-distro like all the others?
If that's the goal, you could probably change to debian.

[fanthom]

If it's just the number of available packages that counts, stay with Slackware.
I don't miss anything.

yes it's only about the number of packages. we are perfectly happy with Slackware but for this only reason are willing to switch to something else. you may be happy but others not necessarily. this poll is to show us which group (happy/unhappy) is bigger. if Slackware wins then base wont change anytime soon.

Would Porteus be the same nice, small, complete, idiot-proof,(KISS),
or a normal, bloated HDD-install-distro like all the others?

can't promise but we would do our best - as usual

[Axel]

I like Slackware, so the option is clear, i choose Slackware.




Cheers!

[bour59]

@brokenman
you said

At the moment the Slackware package list is rather small in comparison to other distros.

well how can I vote without knowing which others packages I can't run under slackware.

[Payoon]

I think Debian would be the best. It's base is large (imho the largest), it's stable and a lot people work on maintaining it. Beside that it would also be possible to use apt-get (maybe with some porteus suitable modifications) to install new software. I also think for the very long view it has the best chance of survival.
Regards Payoon

[brokenman]

well how can I vote without knowing which others packages I can't run under slackware.

The list is too big to post here. For example Debian has well over 20,000 packages available.

[7an]

Voted Ubuntu for hardware compatibility, which IMO is important in a portable distro. But I could pretty much just as easily voted for Debian. For a fast and RAM-friendly Ubuntu-based distro, look at what Bodhi Linux accomplished. (But I'm not saying go with Enlightenment.) Either way, thanks for your continued work on Porteus!

[kadalka]

I don't know what Ubunutu is, I do know what Ubuntu is.

For software based i think that debian is the biggest...
However, if slackware is what we should use if possible, isn't it better to improve slackbuild for each package?
For example, sometimes when I try to compile I've noticed that it is not always acurate (compilation failure).

And Porteus should have better based software (.xzm) such as libreoffice, gimp, Cinnamon, Google Chrome, Skype, Qemu, etc. 8)
What I do mean is that for some software you could not only ask for a txz2xzm.

However does the debian based software have sufficient compatibility ?

[bgg]

Which of these disto's automatically includes Physical Address Extension for 32-bit machines? I'll vote for that one. I'm dying here just being able to make use of half of my RAM.

[francois]

My first choice would be archlinux though debian seems also attractive. Archlinux with porteus could become very user-friendly!

Have a look at the following review comparing different distributions. It is very helpfull so to have a better picture:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ar ... ntoo_Linux

It is reported that:

Debian is the largest upstream Linux distribution with a bigger community and features stable, testing, and unstable branches, offering over 30,000 high quality binary packages. The available number of Arch binary packages is more modest. However, when including the AUR, the quantities are very comparable.

It could be edifying to find other critiques comparing the different distribution:
https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=ch ... +rpm+linux

[Kriss]

I always choose Slackware.
There were a couple of times when I had to use packages from other distros (used Psi+ repo for Ubuntu for example) and certain specific tools but overall Slackware packages are most self-sufficient in my experience and that's a big advantage for me.
But I don't use package manager(s) at all. Usually I just search for something on pkgs.org or other sites and use Slackware packages (or something else if there's no packages for Slackware).
BTW, I thought using debian (or other distros') packages in addition to Slackware ones shouldn't harm Porteus. It usually worked for me. =)

I agree with bgg. Although I use x86_64 version most of the time, having 32-bit kernel with PAE enabled would be nice (but Porteus uses custom kernels, so there's no point in changing distro because of this). And as I heard, the only downside of PAE kernel is that it won't boot on i486 (I may be wrong though).

[Ahau]

regarding Arch, I think we would be reluctant to select a rolling release distro for our base. While that works for some people, it would generate issues for the way we handle packages--i.e., we put core libraries into a large module and release stable versions. Then, updates would invariably come along and folks would want to update their packages. They'll pull a newer version of an application which will require a newer library, which would then get overlaid in aufs over the older library and we'd wind up with several versions of libraries and things would have a tendency to break. That might not necessarily cause problems all of the time and there's probably ways to mitigate for this, but IMO it would increase the likelihood of library conflicts and broken packages, when a broader collection of stable packages would be our motivation for changing the base in the first place.

I really like that we're getting feedback from you all on this. We know it would be a big change if we decided to move in a new direction and want to hear what folks have to say, especially if there's something we've not thought of, etc. Thanks everyone!

[snake]

I definitely vote for Slackware instead of any monsters size distros with more-or-less outdated versions of packages. What should be focused more is CLI tools like rpm2xzm to get other distros packages working as xzms. I don't want to have repository with forexample 100 different email programs to choose from.