Hey everyone,

A few months back, I announced on both joejoe and bA that i would be working on a linux for both joejoe and betaarchive and with their assistance.

I decided it was time to start it. The linux desktop isn't what it used to be, I feel the desktop is way too tablet orientated now.

The whole thing runs a custom Desktop environment powered mostly by compiz, It's simplistic, beautiful and gets the job done.

Here's a little preview !



What do you guys think ?
-jman

If the point of this OS is to make it look like Mac OS X, you're missing the top toolbar.

Menubar… Toolbars have icons on them…

Whats the custom desktop envrionment if I may ask?
EDIT: and also, on which linux is it based on?

What kind of software does it include?

It's not supposed to look like OS-X , though i see where your coming from with the dock and the window theme (which is not definitive) .
The OS runs a custom Desktop that I built : It uses GTK to render widgets, Compiz + Mutter as the Window Manager and Docky as the panel.
The Principle thing is that all tasks are dock-centric, The whole system is managed by the dock.

The 4 square button on the dock opens applications.
The Cog button Opens a Quicksilver style launcher for fast application launching.

To Be done :
- Implement some kind of system tray with access to wireless, Volume etc ....
- Add automatic recovery incase one of the elements the Desktop uses does crash.
- Make a tour.
- Get more ideas from you guys.

The default software package is minimalistic, Libreoffice, for example is not included by default, I want to get Only GTK apps, for the reason below (quoted from OMG UBUNTU) :



I want to build somthing that looks polished and nice, It's got to be all build from the same materials , metaphorically of course.
I'll list the default apps soon.

"All tasks are dock-oriented" Great. So you've remade Unity with a slightly more familiar-looking interface. Seriously, use Cinnamon or one of the GNOME 2 continuation projects to add a menu bar. If you want it to be safe and familiar for people, you need to give them an interface they'll recognize, not some custom thing.

I dont think making it a custom thing is a problem, since im looking forward for some new interfaces, which are not familiar.
The deal is how fast I'll get used to it, if fast, I think its good thing, if not, then yeaah...

Anyway , me , linux guru, im interested in that project very much.

Also why wont someone port the nokia n9 meego Harmattan to some linux based thingy, that is a really nice UI which is easy to use, I simply love it. ( coming from the owner of N9)

"All tasks are dock-oriented" Great. So you've remade Unity with a slightly more familiar-looking interface. Seriously, use Cinnamon or one of the GNOME 2 continuation projects to add a menu bar. If you want it to be safe and familiar for people, you need to give them an interface they'll recognize, not some custom thing."

Unity is not totally dock centric, Unity, In my opinion looks way too tablet-y. And I don't think many people enjoy using unity, I certainly don't : Just because it's what you know, it doesn't mean you like it. And it's called Innovation and Change, If we don't advance, then we just stay doing the same useless thing, Go say the exact same thing to the WIndows 8 design department please

First, I LIKE the Windows 8 design. And I like Unity (which IS dock-centric, btw. That doesn't change just because the dock is on the left instead of across the bottom). So chill out. And change is fine, but not when all you're doing is removing things without adding anything new. There's no BENEFIT there.

PS: You never answered the question of what distro this is based on.

It's based on ubuntu.
and I disagree strongly with what you stated, I like minimalism, So if I feel like trimming the unneeded stuff, I'll do it.
Unity is more a panel, Plus The main difference is that unity has the dash ( a sort of menu ) and uses up both vertical and horizontal screen space, I go for pure vertical.
I'm chilled bro, I feel like doing this, I don't like the default GUIs of any of the current linux Desktops, So I feel like making my own.
If you want, and with the concent of the larger community, I'll disassociate this distro completely with bA if that's the problem you seem to have with me doing it, (if it is a problem for you, and/or the community) .
This is just a thing i feel like doing, and i'm telling myself : Why not ?

Y'know, you could've stopped at "I strongly disagree". It's starting to come across on this end like you're trying to start an argument.

No offence, but your first post kindof made me think the same thing.
I'm not interested in arguing, Just stating my opinion, Everythings cool

Is ubuntu really the best base? I've heard it eats dozens of ram just for nothing, or am I mistaken?
I think ubuntu is bloated, tho some new UI on linux ( alternative to gnome, kde, xfce etc...) would be really nice, yet I dont think its the meaning of your project, wondering if its possible to make something like that in QT?

With all the stuff he's removed, the Ubuntu bloat probably isn't really an issue.

Hey again,

for me running the os currently uses about 256mb ram idle : I don't think that's that bad

In response to QT, Thanks, but no thanks, i really don't like QT.

The only reason i chose ubuntu over debian is because the ubuntu repos are more suited for normal users

It's not like the debian and ubuntu are the only ones to choose from.
EDIT: btw my arch runs ~110MB on idle.

I love arch (I use it personally on my desktop) But It needs to be userfriendly, and it needs to be remasterable : It's do-able, however complex

Ive also seen some newer projects based on puppy, not sure about that one thought. Its fast because it loads to RAM but if it will be bloated with all those packages for GUI and stuff I think its just not quite worth it ( even tho I have 4 gigs of ram, others may not have )

Puppy takes up less space in memory than Windows XP. It's quite useful, even with a GUI.

Yes but the deal is that puppy is limited in the way it is right now, now if he'd wanted to produce his GUI idea he must install much much packages and the puppy would still get bloated.

If there was any BetaArchive official Linux Distro, I would do one with LFS, not some Ubuntu rip-off.

No such thing as a ripoff when the software is open-source. And you'd really want to make one based on a distro created by the GOVERNMENT, that said government can probably monitor no matter how secure it might be from everyone else? No thanks. I'd rather have an Ubuntu ripoff.

Oh, and Jman? If you want to add an actual DE and keep it lightweight, Elementary might be a good idea. However, I'd be interested in testing what you've got now if you want to start handing it out.

lol, "a distro created by the GOVERNMENT"...
/me laughs 'till death

http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=07201

/me laughs at your obvious lack of knowledge