Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Last night I uploaded and released the final CrunchBang Linux 8.10.01 build. I am really quite pleased with this release and it seems to be working well on my own systems. I will keep this post short as I have already written about the release on the new CrunchBang Linux blog. All I wanted to say here is, I have really enjoyed working on this release; all the feedback, help and support has been quite overwhelming. It has also been fun to meet and chat with lots of like-minded Linux enthusiasts and geeks :)
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
Over the last few days I have been busy beavering away creating a new project site for CrunchBang Linux. I had been thinking about creating a separate site for the project for a while, mainly because my personal site was never built with the intention of hosting any such project. Also, I figure that now the project has its own page on DistroWatch, I should really start taking the whole thing a little more seriously.
On the subject of developing websites, I have created a fair few in my time, some commercial, some not. Nearly all the sites I have developed have been custom coded to some extent, but this new project site is not. Apart from the front page, the rest of site has been constructed using entirely free and open source web applications.
Forums
The new forums are powered by PunBB, which is described as being a lightweight PHP discussion board. This is the first time I have had any experience of working with this software, and I have to say, I have been thoroughly impressed; the installation was a painless affair and customising the look 'n' feel was also fairly easy. In fact, I only had one real issue; for some reason, the RSS and Atom feed generator did not parse any BBCode, which meant the resulting output was not overly attractive or easy to read. Having said that, I did manage to implement a quick fix without too much hassle. I will post the fix at some point in the future. Anyhow, PunBB, very impressive.
Wiki
The new wiki is powered by the fabulous DokuWiki. Again, I had not had any experience of using the software previous to the installation, although I had read good things about it and I have been subscribed to authors feed for a while, so I was somewhat familiar with it.
For anyone who has not tried it, DokuWiki is an easy to use, standard compliant wiki. It is also fairly unusual in the fact that it does not use an SQL database backend, using flat files instead. I have not been using it long enough to give an opinion on whether or not this provides any advantages, but I think it makes for a refreshing change at the least.
Regarding usage, it is a breeze. Creating new pages, uploading media and modifying access control lists could not be easier, it really is a pleasure to use, that is to say, as pleasurable as using a web application can be :p
Weblog
The new weblog is powered by WordPress. I am sure I do not have to say much about WordPress, only I have not actually used it since about the time of version 1.5.x. Wow! WordPress is definitely one of the most polished web applications I have used in a while. It might be somewhat bloated compared to what I am used to, but I think I can endure a little bloat if it means I get ease of use and rapid development. Nothing more to say about WordPress, other than it is good stuff.
Cleaning up
Apparently, cool URIs do not change. So, with this is mind I have been attempting to migrate as much information as I can to the new site without causing too much disruption to existing project data. I have implemented as few server-side redirects as possible. The old forums will remain archived in a read-only state and the mailing list will stay put for the time being as I have yet to set-up Mailman on my VPS.
Future focus
Overall, I am really pleased with the new site and I am hoping it will provide for some positive discussions and improvements to the distribution. I am also hoping the new easy to use web applications will mean I can spend less time administering and more time developing. Which reminds me…
…CrunchBang Linux uses many packages which are not in the standard Ubuntu desktop. Due to this, some of these packages are possibly not as well maintained as they could be — just an observation, not really a criticism. Anyway, if CrunchBang Linux does nothing else, it would be good if the future focus of the distribution could be to improve these packages and feed any improvements back upstream.
Anyhow, I am sure I have rambled for far too long :S If you have any feedback, comments or suggestions for improvements to the new site, please feel free to post them, all are welcome and greatly appreciated!
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
I have no idea how it happened, but I am delighted to see that CrunchBang Linux now has its own page on DistroWatch. I have been a DistroWatch junky for years, it is a fantastic resource and provides a first class service to the community. I am not entirely sure that CrunchBang Linux deserves its own page, however, it is good to see and it has brought a smile to my face :)
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
I had some spare time on my hands last weekend, so I set about putting together a new release of CrunchBang Linux. As the numbering suggests, CrunchBang Linux 8.10.01 is based on Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex sources.
As well as being based on the latest Ubuntu release, I have also made several other changes over the previous releases, including, but not limited to:
- A new darker theme.
- Tablaunch removed (finally).
- Some additional default shortcut keys added, including main menu.
- OpenOffice.org replaced by Abiword and Gnumeric.
- pypanal replaced by lxpanel.
- AcidRip removed.
- Twitux replaced by Gwibber.
- Mirage replaced by GPicView.
- VLC removed in favour of Totem — VLC is now a non GTK+ app :(
- etc.
The above changes are based on changes I have made to my own system since the previous CrunchBang release.
Anyhow, there is a new LiveCD available for testing. If anyone would like to give it a try, please do so. Feedback, suggestions and ideas for improvements are more than welcome and greatly appreciated. See the forum for download locations.
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
The other day I received a message from Sean Hammond letting me know that moosplash, a cowsay inspired USplash theme was broken under Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex. So, I rebuilt the package against the new Usplash sources and it now works with Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex. Yay!
For anyone who missed it the first time round, it looks like this:
Not digging Flash? Then by the power of cow, view the ogg format.
As before, the download and installation instructions for Ubuntu are available on my wiki. Enjoy :)
P.S. I really should find something constructive to work on!
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
My blogging activities seem to have been reduced to participating in memes found on planet Ubuntu. Oh well, here goes:
Back to his apartment in Clerkenwell, a good hot shower and a takeaway sea bass in tamarind sauce from the Thai place round the corner, followed by the latest of the Miss Marple remakes on ITV.
— Relentless by Simon Kernick
How to participate in this most excellent of memes:
- Grab the nearest book.
- Open it to page 56.
- Find the fifth sentence.
- Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
- Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.