Hacker News Reader

Comment by e12e | Hacker News Reader

As a lot of the system already uses python, looks like lamson might be a good fit:

  http://lamsonproject.org/

I'd love to hear more about why a whole new distribution, rather than some management tools on top of something like raspbian?

I understand that targeting a single platform is easier -- for an OS distribution -- but it sounds like what you actually want is an application server on top of a base os -- one that allows for a few standard tasks (email, web etc).

Why reinvent all the other parts of the stack?

View on HN

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out! As far as it being a new distro is concerned, my goal was to make it as simple and powerful as possible. Simplicity means being able to have a clean download and install process, prepackaged for those who might be intimidated by having to install Linux on their own. Also being able to control package versioning and selection is critical for ensuring the dashboard remains as stable as possible. Powerful because it allows for many cool utilities to be installed, configured and ready to go with minimal intervention. For example, one of the existing utilities allows the RPI to cache log writes in RAM, reducing SD card wear which is critical when using the Pi. So there are many ways to dress up a system like arkOS. I acknowledge that making it its own distro is a more thorough solution than it would be otherwise, but at the end of the day I feel it is the one that allows for the best end user experience.

It still sounds like you're doing a lot of extra work for little gain vs making a Debian remix or something. I realize writing your own can be more fun, and seem easier, than establishing detailed knowledge of an existing system -- but all of the things you mention could be done quite easily starting from a working Debian distro.

You could fork into a complete distro, like Ubuntu, or just choose a few (core) packages and add some patches.

Either way, I wish your project the best of luck -- any project that tries to revert the asymmetric split of the Internet in "end-users"/consumers and "services" is welcome in my book :-)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com