Developer for 'Custom' Version?

For talk and support relating specifically to Puppy derivatives

I'm interested in this if it is developed.

Poll ended at Fri 28 Sep 2007, 21:20

Yes, and I'll help pay for the development.
2
40%
Yes, and I'll be very interested in trying it if you get it done.
1
20%
No, this is not what Pupply is about... go download Xandros!
1
20%
Ignore that guy.. I'm a developer and I'm interested in doing this project!
1
20%
 
Total votes: 5

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cb88
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#21 Post by cb88 »

Is there some reason why the whole community cannot be involved? I'm sure that there are many people that would like to contribute but don't want to do an entire distro and strength is in numbers
Taking Puppy Linux to the limit of perfection. meanwhile try "puppy pfix=duct_tape" kernel parem eater.
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Pizzasgood
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#22 Post by Pizzasgood »

I can't speak for friedsonjm, but I'd certainly welcome anyone who wanted to tackle the drivers and improving-cups parts. Those are the two things I'm probably "dreading" the most.

And I'm sure he'll want help testing it when it gets nearer completion. I won't have time to do an especially thorough test, especially not across a broad range of machines (only own three). Near the end I expect it will be late autumn and I'll be prepping for exams and nearly worthless as far as this project goes. Unless it takes longer and spans into winter break, but I don't think so. Especially if anyone else pitches in for some of the points I'm weaker in.
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
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friedsonjm
Posts: 208
Joined: Sat 10 Mar 2007, 14:49

#23 Post by friedsonjm »

cb88 wrote:Is there some reason why the whole community cannot be involved? I'm sure that there are many people that would like to contribute but don't want to do an entire distro and strength is in numbers
Thanks, cb, we would love to get some help! Right now, pizzasgood is trying to get it ruffed-out enough so we have a basic foundation. Some parts are going to be quite tricky - I don't envy him the job of getting the draktools woven into this!

Another that has me quite concerned is printer installation - somehow, making CUPS and the locating and setup of printers and their drivers has to be made much more friendly and as close to idiot proof as possible. I might be able to get the home network printer to tell me something about itself, but I don't really want to have to create the driver or figure out how to do the install - let me just enter what I can find out into fill-in-the-blocks and let software do the rest!

We also need a very complete package of wireless modem drivers. I'm writing this as we speak from the 3.0 Beta version of Puppy, which is the first version I've been able to use on my laptop with an Intel 3945 wireless setup, and even then only with drivers downloaded from the web [the ones that came with the computer won't load under niswrapper even under 3.0 beta]. That is good, but it would be nicer if the linux driver for this card could be complied and made part of the wireless driver set... there are lots of others out there that may need added as well.

Samba is another area that needs to be brought out from under the aurora of 'black magic' and made intuitively obvious to the casual observer!

I'm not sure what our other needs are yet - some may be graphical, such as icons, or even sound files for some system events. I'd love for folk who have areas of particularly specialty to take one any of the ones I've listed [except draktools, I think pizzasgood is starting that one now].

One point I'd just like to be clear on - pizzasgood has the lead on development, and the areas we get help in, and the extent to which we are able to take advantage of it are completely under his management.

Of course, I'd love to hear from anyone with suggestions on other possible improvements, even if they can't code themselves. I won't promise we will accept any or all of them, but I think I've laid out above in my previous comments what we are trying to accomplish - and there are lots of folk who have used linux in general and puppy in particular a lot more than I, and whose thoughts would be welcome.

In any event, for those of you who have stayed awake through this long post, thanks for reading it, we look forward to your comments!

regards,

jf

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Pizzasgood
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#24 Post by Pizzasgood »

Whoops. I was almost done typing a long reply to put here, when I right-clicked the desktop for something and bumped the "logout" option. Poof. *sigh*

The main things that need working on at this point are what friedsonjm listed. We also need to work out a cohesive media player setup, that can handle audio, video, CD, and DVD. MIDI is optional. I know Mplayer with either Timidity or jack&qctl would cover most of that, but in my experience Mplayer stinks at DVD's. Maybe that has improved, as I remember something about them adding support for menus? Other than those three, the only media player I have experience with is XMMS, which I prefer for audio but doesn't handle video. On the other hand, there's an Mplayer plugin for it, so we could have a nice audio player and have it handle video.

Otherwise, maybe VLC would work?

As far as graphics go, all we've got at the moment is a somewhat crude wallpaper I drew that was originally just going to be a sketch, which I mainly put in because it was better than the stock stuff. SVG is availible. The WM will most likely be IceWM, unless I have issues with the tray apps.

I'm also considering adding a nicer cursor image, if anyone has any suggestions. My favorite so far is yellowdot (same as in Pizzapup 3.x) but that doesn't have a very precise point. And I never really looked for any. Other than maybe three I downloaded, the only cursors I've seen were the ones in the dotpups MU made. So if you know of a good clean and classy one, let us know.

Let's see... friedsonjm also mentioned automounting and improving the firewall interface.

Then there's the WIFI drivers, Cups setup and drivers, improved networking (including Samba) like he said above.

Otherwise, just general suggestions would be fine. Before you say it, we already have OO (2.3), Firefox, Thunderbird, Kompozer, Java, Flash, undeb, unrpm, Skype, Limewire, Conky, and SVG. Antivirus and IceWM are next on my list, followed by Draktools.

If you're interested in one of the bigger ones, PM me and we can sort out details. For smaller ones, just ask here for more info.
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
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friedsonjm
Posts: 208
Joined: Sat 10 Mar 2007, 14:49

#25 Post by friedsonjm »

This idea is now a reality. Please see http://www.pcpuppyos.com
Any who would like to contribute to what has been a fairly expensive effort, please contact me!
thanks,
jf

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WhoDo
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Joined: Wed 12 Jul 2006, 01:58
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#26 Post by WhoDo »

Pizzasgood wrote:The WM will most likely be IceWM, unless I have issues with the tray apps.

I'm also considering adding a nicer cursor image, if anyone has any suggestions.
EZpup has some great cursor options, and a whole swag of new wallpaper. If you guys want something "unique" then I'm happy to help with that, too. I could upload EZpup-4.0 for PG to peruse, then remove the choices he wants as unique to FredBassetpup. :P

I vote for Mplayer, as it must have improved in 1.0.8 because I have no trouble with DVD's - I watched "Cas_ino Royale" on my laptop from start to finish without even a momentary pause, and I've only got 512Mb RAM.
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