torios team mailing list archive

[Nio Wiklund <nio.wiklund@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Ali,
See inline replies
Best regards/Nio

2014-05-27 12:50, Ali Linx skrev:
> 
> On 05/22/2014 08:56 PM, Nio Wiklund wrote:
...
>> 1. It will fit into the current OBI-9w installer. I could strip down the
>> 9w packages if necessary to keep the OBI-9w installer within CD size.
> 
> How much the installer usually takes?

Right now the OBI-9w 222 MB (10 base), 211 Mibibytes (2 base alias 1024
base). But it contains a lot of utilities and software, that are not
necessary, for example a web browser and several small tools, that can
be peeled off, if necessary to keep it within CD size with a fairly
large tarball. Say that the tarball can be 500 MB. Then the total size
will be 722 MB (10 base), 688 Mibibytes (2 base)

According to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-ROM

a '700 MB CD disk' can store 737.280 MB (10 base), 703.125 Mibibytes (2
base).

So without doing anything with the OBI-9w itself, the limit for the
tarball is 515 MB (10 base), 491 Mibibytes (2 base). I don't know if
some storage space is lost due to overhead data.

The tarball can be a bit smaller than the corresponding iso file,
depending on the amount of data, that are specific for the live session
and on the compression method.

>> 2. You might consider meta-packages for different user profiles, and
>> offer installing one of them after installation. It should make it easy
>> to stay with a CD size iso file whichever installer is used.
> 
> Could you please explain more or provide an example? I'm not sure I
> understood this one ...

lubuntu-core and lubuntu-desktop are meta packages, that make it easy to
install a group of packages with one command.

It is possible to use meta-packages or just a command line or script
file to install groups of packages for different user profiles, for example

multimedia, office, gaming
ultra-light, medium-light
desktop, laptop, netbook
...

The advantage is that the installer will be flexible, the disadvantage
is that it will need internet and downloading to make each installation
complete.

>> 3. Are you considering a text installer (like the Lubuntu alternate
>> installer) or a graphical installer (like the Ubuntu family desktop
>> installer)?
> 
> Very good Q ...
> 
> I'd say YES for text-based but I'm worried about those who are not
> familiar with it. YES, ToriOS is not for everyone and it is basically
> not for those super new to GNU/Linux but as long as it is targeting the
> low machines, I don't want to give hard time for any user. If we could
> make a solid and strong documents/wiki to explain how to install ToriOS
> with a text-base installer, then I have no worries in this regard.

A text-based installer can be easy to understand. It depends more on the
layout than on fancy graphical effects.

> Technically, it would be super bad idea if a suer for example wishes to
> dual-boot ToriOS with Windows XP or whatever. However, I dislike to
> assume. I mean, we should be ready for any possible scenario if you know
> what I mean.

I guess we must be able to offer dual boot, and we are ... even if we
think it is a bad idea with very old computers.

> Can the text-based installer handle the dual-boot system the same easy
> way the GUI installer does?

Well, I think gparted is by far the most user friendly partitioning
tool. And it needs a graphical desktop environment. And it is included
in the 9w Debian+LXDE based desktop, that is idling at 37 MB RAM and can
install without any problems in a computer with 128 MB RAM.

> If we shall provide 64-bit, then definitely no need for text-based
> installer here.

No need, but might work as well.

>>> 11- Where are we going to host the ISOs? do we have a host for that?
>>> 12- As long as ToriOS is based on Ubuntu, we can test it on Virtual
>>> Machine such as OracleVB, correct?
>> VirtualBox and other VMs can run other linux distros too.
> 
> Oh okay then :)
> You and Israel seem sure about that.
> 
> 
>>> 13- By any chance, do we need to talk with Ubuntu/Canonical team about
>>> our Project? I mean is there any kind of approval or stuff like that we
>>> need? I'm talking about the technical side of our project as they should
>>> have nothing to do with the other stuff but maybe they do with the
>>> technical side, that is why I'm asking and we need to know IMHO.
>>> 14- Alpha 1, Alpha 2, Beta 1, Beta 2 and RC? or no need for that? should
>>> we just do Alpha, Beta and RC? these are milestones just like what
>>> Ubuntu GNOME or Lubuntu are doing when it comes to the development
>>> cycle.
>> Alpha, Beta, RC and Release versioning
> 
> I see :)
> Seems like everyone agress on that but we still need to hear from the devs.
> 
> 
>>
>>> 15- I know it is hard to tell at this point but any idea when ToriOS 1.0
>>> will be available to download and use? I know I'm the one who should
>>> announce that but if truth to be told, it is something that our devs
>>> should advise for and we haven't yet done anything serious.
>> Upload an image of an installed ToriOS system, and I can make an OBI-9w
>> iso file within a couple of days (unless when I am travelling during the
>> holiday season). It might be oversized for CD, but should work from DVD
>> and USB and in VBox and KVM-virt-manager. If oversized we can discuss
>> how to make it CD sized ...
> 
> Actually, I was asking about the day of release ...
> 
> As for the installer ... I replied that above :D
> 
> 
>>
>>> Okay, I guess that is all for now ...
>>>
>>> I have another ideas/Qs to think of loudly with you but that is for
>>> another email as these are the non-technical stuff and should be on
>>> different email :)
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Ali/amjjawad
>>> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/amjjawad
>>>
>>>
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>>>
> 
> Thank you for your reply and it seems we agreed on the same points :D
>