Should Trisquel come in Server and Lightweight versions?
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Trisquel already comes in three different flavors: standard, edu, and pro. This is very good, as we already offer a 100% libre distro that covers the role of general desktop, educational, and professional OS. But I think there is still room for a couple more specialized flavors of Trisquel:
- How about a lightweight version that is tailored for netbooks and legacy computers, perhaps called Trisquel Lite? Apparently something like this was in the works at one time but didn't get off the ground. I do not think it should run Xfce; Xfce is lightweight, but the problem is that it's not necessarily lightweight enough to run smoothly on that old Pentium I dinosaur you have boxed up down in the basement. Let's use LXDE instead, as it has roughly half the memory footprint of Xfce, and probably half again the footprint of GNOME. Take the existing Trisquel, replace the default applications with lightweights, and replace GNOMe with LXDE, and then then test and debug before releasing. There is no fully-free lightweight distro, so if we released one, it would be the first. :)
- How about a server edition? For this one, I would suggest just taking Ubuntu Server Edition, deblobbing the kernel, and removing all the nonfree packages, and rebranding as Trisquel Server. There is no fully-free server distro, so if we released one, it would be the first. :)
What does everyone else think? I'll put this up as a feature request after getting some feedback and after version 4 is released (any time now...).
I would say, maybe later. Right now the next release is behind schedule, that should be a priority. It would be great if there were more developers working on this, but it doesn't seem like the current developers coordinate online very much, instead talking on the phone or in person, so that makes it hard for many others to get involved.
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As I said, I want to wait before the next release -- whenever that is -- before putting this up as an issue.
Remastering a Trisquel Lite distro is something I could even begin work on myself, with a bit of research and commitment. I have no server experience whatsoever, though, so that task would have to be assigned to another person.
After doing a bit more reading, it appears that my claim of LXDE having "roughly half the memory footprint" of Xfce was an exaggeration, but it still uses less memory than Xfce in nearly any usage scenario, without a feature or aesthetic sacrifice, and therefore we should use that one. So please, nobody hold that statement against me. :)
On Mon, 2010-02-01 at 04:40 +0100, name at domain wrote:
> Trisquel already comes in three different flavors: standard, edu, and pro.
> This is very good, as we already offer a 100% libre distro that covers the
> role of general desktop, educational, and professional OS. But I think there
> is still room for a couple more specialized flavors of Trisquel:
>
> - How about a lightweight version that is tailored for netbooks and legacy
> computers, perhaps called Trisquel Lite? Apparently something like this was
> in the works at one time but didn't get off the ground. I do not think it
> should run Xfce; Xfce is lightweight, but the problem is that it's not
> necessarily lightweight enough to run smoothly on that old Pentium I dinosaur
> you have boxed up down in the basement. Let's use LXDE instead, as it has
> roughly half the memory footprint of Xfce, and probably half again the
> footprint of GNOME. Take the existing Trisquel, replace the default
> applications with lightweights, and replace GNOMe with LXDE, and then then
> test and debug before releasing. There is no fully-free lightweight distro,
> so if we released one, it would be the first. :)
there is a lightweight Trisquel meta package in the current repos
called "trisquel-mini". it can be installed after an installation, but
i do not know what it actually installs. however, a mini install USB
image would be a nice addition.
hay una versión ligera de peso en el depósito llamado trisquel-mini,
aunque yo no estoy seguro lo que instala. querría una manera de
instalar un Trisquel "mini" o "ligero" de un palo USB también.
>
> - How about a server edition? For this one, I would suggest just taking
> Ubuntu Server Edition, deblobbing the kernel, and removing all the nonfree
> packages, and rebranding as Trisquel Server. There is no fully-free server
> distro, so if we released one, it would be the first. :)
great idea, and i would like to add support for realtime multimedia
(audio/video). not a whole separate version, but perhaps a rt-kernel
and associated packages, or a meta-package. i am still learning about
building packages on GNU+Linux, so i cannot offer much help right now.
gran idea, y yo querrían agregar apoyo para el realtime multimedia
(audio/video). no un total separa versión, pero quizás un dcha-meollo y
paquetes asociados, o un meta-paquete. yo todavía aprendo acerca de
paquetes de edificio en el ÑU + Linux, así que yo no puedo ofrecer mucha
ayuda en este momento.
>
> What does everyone else think? I'll put this up as a feature request after
> getting some feedback and after version 4 is released (any time now...).
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> name at domain
> http://listas.trisquel.info/mailman/listinfo/trisquel-users
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"there is a lightweight Trisquel meta package in the current repos
called "trisquel-mini". it can be installed after an installation, but
i do not know what it actually installs. however, a mini install USB
image would be a nice addition."
Me neither, but I don't think an optional meta package on top of the default install is the right way to do a lightweight version. A lite version after all calls for a minimum of disk space, a carefully selected collection of apps and packages, and a truly lightweight window system (which Xfce really isn't).
"great idea, and i would like to add support for realtime multimedia
(audio/video). not a whole separate version, but perhaps a rt-kernel
and associated packages, or a meta-package. i am still learning about
building packages on GNU+Linux, so i cannot offer much help right now."
I agree with that proposal. We should offer a realtime (rt) branch of the Ubuntu-libre kernel for download, as should the linux-libre project for the generic kernel. That way, any user that wishes to record audio or video could boot from the rt kernel, and do so without compromising freedom.
Though I do not think it would be a good idea to ever offer a studio flavor of Trisquel, because those kinds of distros tend to be superfluous. It takes a lot less effort to install an rt kernel and your favorite multimedia production apps (Ardour, Audacity, JACK, ZynAddSubFX, Kino, Open Movie Editor, etc.) than downloading, burning, installing, and configuring a separate studio distribution.
I think the easier way to accomplish this - and one that would work for all these cases - would be to create a minimal or net-install .iso. With this small .iso you could setup a Trisquel CLI installation and/or go on to customize your own desktop/server as heavy or light as you would want. I think it would be great if on that net-install iso, that there could be default package groups (much like with Debian) where you could choose Trisquel Lite, Trisquel Desktop, Trisquel Server, Trisquel Edu, etc.
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