torios team mailing list archive

[Ali Linx <amjjawad@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Note: Email sent CC ToriOS Team so that if something is missing or 
something to be added, they can help.

On 11/02/2014 04:05 AM, Kristopher Maguire wrote:
> Hi Ali,
Hello Kris,

First of all, I am very sorry for the late reply. I'm getting rusty I 
guess :)

> Sorry it's a little later than expected, been super busy after being 
> offered a new job etc!
It is me who must be sorry.
Good luck with your new job. I am still dying here to get one.

> My questions for my blog post are as follows (please note this will be 
> published in the developer comments section):
I will do my best to answer all your Qs :)

> 1) I know you're the project founder, what inspired and motivated you 
> to start building an os such as Tori?
From here, ToriOS was born:
http://amjjawad.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/mini-lubuntu-mlubuntu.html

Not too much details so you can read it and find out what was the 
initial idea.

I simply started to feel or had a vision that Lubuntu is not the best 
choice for very old machines, specially with newer releases. Also, 
because I was one of the team leaders of Lubuntu, involved with 
everything except Artwork and Development, I realized that despite 
Lubuntu is great system, it is buggy at some areas or lack some basic 
features. AND, I wanted to give the users 'more' freedom to have the 
system 'they' like, not what a community or few people like.


> 2) Which OS is Tori OS based on and what made you choose this base?
ToriOS 1.0 is based on Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS and most likely ToriOS 2.0 is 
going to be based on 14.04 LTS.

Why? because:

1. I want to have the lightest Ubuntu-based system ever
2. Ubuntu is super easy to use and friendly for new users migrating
   from Microsoft Windows
3. You don't have to be a geek/guru to use Ubuntu so ToriOS will be
   easy to use after all.
4. We can find tons of information and help because Ubuntu is globally
   used.
5. ToriOS main version (in case we add other builds/versions in the
   future) will always be LTS.



> 3) What features are unique to Tori OS?
The answer is on the main/home page:
http://torios.org/

Basically, what is unique about ToriOS is: it offers only a working base 
system. Meaning, when you install it, it can work and provide the very 
basic tasks of any operating system in the world. However, we give 100% 
freedom to the users to finish building their own system the way they 
want. That can be done by installing the desired applications either by 
Synaptic or the terminal.

Also, it is using Nio's OBI (One Button Installer) - 
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OBI - instead of Ubiquity, the 
standard installer of Ubuntu.

We are trying to reach 50MB-70MB RAM usage at startup. That is more than 
30MB less than Lubuntu.

And of course, it is supporting the NON-PAE CPU by default. That is 
another reason why it is based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS not 14.04 LTS. We 
found out that 12.04 works better with old hardware.

What is special too about this project is: it is a community based where 
there is zero personal decisions. Each and every decision must be taken 
after a community vote.

> 4) Do you have any future plans for Tori OS? If so, please describe.
Yes.

1. The replacement of Lubuntu and other systems that will not be much
   helpful for very old hardware.
2. It is very economic system and environment friendly. We believe
   there is nothing as 'waste' on ToriOS and it is supposed to use less
   power, not to mention it will save so many hardware instead of
   trashing these, ToriOS could breathe new life into it.

These are short term plans.

For the long terms plans, I think it is too early for that at the 
moment. But to add more action to the topic, I want to see ToriOS 
outside the computer kingdom. I mean, on different devices but again, 
too early for that.


> 5) Could you provide us with some screenshots of Tori OS? We would 
> like some exclusives.

I can ask Israel to provide that since he is testing it on real hardware ;)

> 6) Can you provide us with some download numbers of the ISO to date? 
> As well as number of countries?
We are still on Alpha and we don't have accurate figure. All what we 
could share is:
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Linux-Distributions/ToriOS-103625.shtml

It has the number of downloads.

As for countries, we don't really know and we care less about that. 
ToriOS is for everyone everywhere.

> 7) What is your planned release schedule?
Based on the current progress, I don't think we can do it in 2014 so we 
do hope we could do it in the beginning of 2015. We have no fixed date 
though. We might be able - somehow - to release it in 2014.

I don't want to work within time frames. I have seen how tough that is 
with Ubuntu official flavors. I want myself and my team to enjoy it, not 
to have a race and run.

> 8) How did you start becoming involved in Linux? Tell me a bit about 
> the start, were you a distro hopper? Or have you always been pretty 
> settled on one OS?
Here: http://amjjawad.net/

Never been interested to jump and choose different systems .. the only 
time I had to do that was here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1590614

Was trying to find a system for my P2 with 64MB RAM so had to try so 
many systems. Otherwise, I am a faithful user and contributor to Ubuntu :)


> 9) Please tell me a bit about the team, your names, why you enjoy 
> using Linux and what you all use on your personal computers?
http://torios.org/community.html

However, David and William are no longer active and we don't even hear 
from them anymore. The most 3 active people are:

Israel
Paul
and myself.

There are some people we haven't mentioned their names but they pop-up 
sometimes on the list. We expect to have more in the future when we 
release the system. Every beginning is hard.

Not to speak on behalf of anyone here but most of us are faithful to 
Ubuntu ;)


> 10) Finally, anything else you would like to add for the readers of 
> Linux Hub.
Yes.
Watch this: http://amjjawad.net/what-i-learned-from-linux/

And start to use and contribute to Linux and FLOSS in general :)


> Cheers Ali,
>
> Hopefully speak soon.
>
> All the best, Kris.

Many thanks :)

@Everyone
If you have something to add, feel free :)


--
Ali/amjjawad
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/amjjawad