Porteus changing distro

[ViktorNova]

@ponce
Wow, I didn't even know! Thanks for the link =)

@brokenman
It's very cool, even in these early stages! Kinda crazy, it can scale from a single app+dependencies all the way up to a full guest os, just like BSD jails, which use the host's kernel

[dustbunnies]

can scale from a single app+dependencies

Have you used docker yet?

[roadie]

I voted Slackware, I've used it from the beginning of my journey into Linux. I've seen no advantage to using any other such as Debian, Mandrake derivatives, etc:. Slack just works, and has all the packages I want or need. If it doesn't, I can always build what I want.

roadie

[Ed_P]

I think the poll is over the head of most/all Linux newbies which I think are a large percentage of forum users. You should consider a different poll, one that asks what capabilities people want with Porteus. What are they going to use it for.

For example:

What functions are important to you using Porteus:

GUI interface or command line interface
Internet access
Word processing
Spread sheet processing
Playing videos
Playing music
Playing games - Java runtime / Flash / Shockwave
Ability to run from a USB flash drive
Ability to run from an ISO
Ability to run on older machines (not much RAM, slow processor)
UEFI support
Pictures/photos viewing and editing
Ability to compile programs
Ability to add plugins to FireFox
Forum support with great admins
etc

Once you know what your users consider important than the direction of Porteus should become clear.

[tome]

Maybe Porteus can be also program that convert only existing distro on hd to live distro - always fresh mode is one of the most important features.

In order to better serve Porteus users we would like to make more packages available to Porteus.

We can also use Puppy .pet packages (compressed .tar, script for rebuild pet to xzm would be very easy). I have manually rebuild this way spacefm-0.9.2 package so I think another packages can be converted in this way if even spacefm can be.

[wread]

Docker could bring some leveling among distros; it is too early to predict the immediate future regarding to this trend.
I tried to make a Porteus package or docker-0.8.0, compiled the Slackbuilds without results, then docker is at present only for 64-bits edition and I run 32 bits Porteus.

Docker depends on a new language, the google Go, although it needs it only for compilation, not at run time. I compiled it from Slackbuilds (for 32 bits too) for Porteus 3.0. After compilation a series of tests are run to determine if compilation succeeded (and it did!).

I haven't used google-go and can not say if it is good or not. If somebody is interested in google-go-lang for 32 bits, he can download it.

Regards!

[dustbunnies]

Although I haven't yet tried any LXC wrangling, for use on a desktop system I'm expecting pflask to be more interesting than docker.

https://github.com/ghedo/pflask

pflask is a simple tool for creating Linux namespace containers. It can be used for running a command or even booting an OS inside an isolated container, created with the help of Linux namespaces. It is similar in functionality to chroot(8), although pflask provides better isolation thanks to the use of namespaces.

Compared to LXC, pflask is easier to use since it doesn't require any pre-configuration (all the options can be passed via the command-line). pflask is mostly intended for testing, building and experimenting, whereas LXC is a more complete solution, better suited for production environments.

Compared to systemd-nspawn, pflask doesn't require the use of systemd on the host system and provides additional options for manipulating mount points and network interfaces inside the container. On the other hand, systemd-nspawn is better integrated in the systemd ecosystem.

Additionally, while most other containerization solutions (LXC, systemd-nspawn, ...) are mostly targeted at containing whole systems, pflask can also be used to contain single programs, without the need to create ad-hoc chroots.

[tome]

Is it possible (How much work) to create package/script for most distros that would add only Live Mode feature (create new initrd, vmlinuz ~> "changes=/ changes-ro")?

[fanthom]

such tools exist already:
http://www.linux-live.org/
https://github.com/Salix-OS/SaLT-scripts
i'm not sure if they support all the features we have in Porteus (changes=EXIT:, changes-ro, extramod, etc..).

our scripts are integrated into whole OS body (cheatcodes are placed not only in the initrd but also in the xzm modules, some info is passed from initrd to live system through /mnt/live/tmp files) so would be tough to get them to work with other linuxes.

i would rather tweak other tools to add features you want.

[JosepZ]

I can adapt to everything. Slackware as a base is just fine. I am not an expert nor a newbie. I'm a Linux user since 2007, and I've regularly used Ubuntu, Debian, Knoppix and Linux Mint (both Ubuntu and Debian-based). Currently I'm running the latest Linux Mint LTS with Xfce on my laptop, so obviously I'm not too advanced as a user, but I can make an effort to solve problems and make things work.

I had never used Slackware before, but I never found any problems using Porteus. On the contrary, it immediately replaced Knoppix as my portable distro. Which leads me to my next point: I don't think you should change the system's base, but if you ever do it, I think you should choose Debian. The package base is huge and I love their philosophy. Plus, it can be remarkably fast, as Knoppix has proved with every new release.

Cheers!

[go2null]

Not sure if the poll is closed, as on my BlackBerry the poll section is read only.

WRT Distribution, I've used Puppy and Debian/Ubuntu/Live in the past. However, my vote would be to stay with slackware.

The main reason I switched from Debian is the move to systemd, which I don't like as it grossly violates the KISS and federation principles, absorbing everything like the the blob on it's way to create a monolithic RedHatOS.

[francois]

Thanks to both of you for these interesting and contrasting comments. Reality is not always that clearly defined. My impression after playing with both debian and archlinux clones, though I like very much debian-ubuntu pastures, is that archlinux would be a better basis for porteus. Archlinux seems to be more tight and less owverweight. Stifiling has convinced me of that, see:
http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php? ... ch+porteus
http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php? ... ch+porteus

Though I am sure that our main developpers are able to work with both distribution and give birth to a really original product. The philosophy on the porteus forum is really sane. And the crowd with months and years is increasingly interesting. In fact, I would follow the developpers wherever they choose to go, with whatever distribution as a basis, even fedora or gentoo. And I suspect that they could decide to produce any porteus clone, just for the fun of it. 8)

[tome]

@phhpro
What is the reason you left Porteus when version 3 had been released.

[fanthom]

poll is closed - Slackware won clearly.

[fanthom]

@phhpro
poll removed - thanks