Refracta Development, Scripts, etc.
Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:49 am
I have been getting the itch to do something different and of course thinking about refracta...
I thought maybe a 'home' edition would be cool? Something with more office, multimedia, games, graphics, type of stuff? Or is having different builds just confusing?
I also thought maybe instead of one default user it would be neat to have a few different user setups? Just as examples... Have a 'user1' with a cool conky setup, launchers in a panel on the left side, workspaces on the right side, and so forth. Have a 'user2' with top and bottom panels in a more standard layout. Maybe even have 'user3' with no desktop icons, the panel only have iconbox for tasks, right-click for root menu and so forth. Maybe even name the users, cool, geek, nerd or something silly?
I know it is easy for a user to create whatever they want (snapshot) and save it but I still wonder if maybe things should be jazzed up a bit.
I am ready for a wheezy based refracta myself. I love gnome3 but I think I am going to go with xfce as my main ride but it has to be newer than the stable version and I figure I might as well get the jump on the next stable release?
Also wondering if it would be good to have a GET REFRACTA download link on the home page? Something big and obvious that is a direct link to a build?
I was also wondering about the screenshots on the homepage. Is it better to keep a page of screenshots with old and new versions or should it just be the most recent version or should we have some kind of gallery for users. Also maybe add a couple screenshots to the homepage?
I was also wondering if we should have a 'user' area of the forums and a 'team' area of the forums so regular users(if we ever have any) are no confused with us talking about different builds and experiments. Or maybe we should have a seperate dev forum or some dev communication means/method. Not to exclude anyone but just to keep things a bit more seperate.
Oh and maybe a dev build download area seperate from the standard download area? Maybe more structure for the releases or something.
Just some thoughts. I got the itch and I am ready to work.
Fri Feb 10, 2012 5:33 pm
My first thought about different builds is that we need more storage space. I think the limit at ibiblio is around 2GB. That's based on a single experience of being over quota and having to delete stuff. I haven't seen it written anywhere.
If we're going to have different builds, it might be good to have a common no-gui build as a starting point. I've been thinking about a no-gui build, anyway, for those who already know how they want their desktop, and as a rescue cd. Or maybe with a really minimal gui, but no display manager.
OT, but while I'm thinking of it... Why did you get rid of autologin several versions back? I stuck with it mostly for tradition (not to change too much at once.)
Back to topic - yes, wheezy, soon.
I thought about updating the screenshots, but there aren't many changes from 605 to 606. Different background image, lost the bottom panel, couple of things different in the menus.
Forum: I vote for no additional complexity at this time.
Downloads: Separate download areas for dev and finished product is a good idea. Easy to do. Hard part is the limited space, as I mentioned above. I know nothing about hosting services or where there are good free places to make big files available, so I'm open to suggestions.
Release schedules: Run away! Run away!
Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:11 pm
You could probably ask ibiblio about relaxing that quota.
But you might look at savannah, gna, berlios, alioth, or ask
wikipedia 
Another way is to browse other distros and see who they have mirrors/hosts with.
Of course you could use sourceforge but not sure how the 'export issue' applies.
I ran across a low cost host recently that looked interesting, 2gbhosting.com was it.
I do not recall anything regarding autologin. Sorry....tooo few brain cells...
Anyway, if you want me to work on anything then just let me know what that may be.
Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:53 am
Re: autologin: Is less sodding about for a live session, installed is user's choice
Re: wheezy: Is inevitable, need to be prepared by freeze time
Re: gnome3: Gnome3/kde4 is optional. I'm happy for those who like bells and whistles (and can afford hardware to entertain them) but neither is the case here. I don't even want GDM3, if a good alt can be found for Refracta-Wheezy (yes I do have xfce/sid here, I seen gdm3)
Re: forums: My instinct says to keep things as open as reasonably possible. That mostly rules out seperatist areas. I want to break the divide between "regular users" and "developers" that's seen many a good project off to the pit.
Re: alternative/experimental builds: At the moment (could change from the whim of others, can't discuss that publicly) my ExeGNU project may have spare hosting capacity (but make sure your earplugs are in when you send the gnome3 build!)
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