Okay. Welcome to Redlinux. The History: Even calling this a linux "distribution" is a bit generous. It's an archlinux-derivative which benefits from the fine work of gradgrind on his larch program. Indeed, without these shoulders to stand on this project wouldn't have ever been undertaken, much less completed. A bit of explanation is probably in order though. After all, why do we need yet another linux distribution? I've been a Linux user for years and though I flitted about between distributions I still was mostly satisfied with Ubuntu. But over the years I tired of a few things. I tired of the distribution including software I didn't want or didn't need. I tired of bugs creeping into packages due to patches and tired of configuration files being scattered throughout the filesystem. I also tired of switching distributions and configuring all the additional software I needed on new machines. With that in mind, I gave Archlinux a try. It allowed you to build a ground up system with no unrequested cruft, had good package management tools and a wide package selection and requires no compilation. Best of all, they had strict policies about patches and configuration files. This resulted in the closest thing to a simple, clean, vanilla linux system with good package management I've seen. The Arch Way has more to say on this matter. Archlinux, in short, was all that I needed but the configuration work for an initial system was a bit of a bear. Luckily, a fully configured system can be turned into an installable live CD thanks to the larch program by gradgrind. Problem solved! Following those steps is what led me to building Redlinux as it exists today. The Concept: Redlinux targets people who have some familiarity with Linux and are seeking an attractive, minimalistic, stable and functional operating system. Former Ubuntu use is sufficient in most cases though openness to use the command line and at least one more experienced or knowledgeable friend couldn't hurt. It is a Desktop/Workstation Operating System focusing on programming, media management and internet use. While adaptable for server use I would advise against it. A future Redlinux Server Edition may come into being for this purpose and an x86_64 edition is planned. The Principles: 1. No Desktop Environments. Gnome, KDE, and XFCE have been eschewed in favor of a minimal window manager, system tray and notification program along with a competently designed applications menu. 2. One application, minimally dependent. Having multiple applications that accomplish the same task is discouraged. If an application has too many dependencies (particularly DE-related libraries) it may be omitted entirely. For example, the default install does not include abiword or gtkpod due to their dependency chains. 3. Bundle codecs. If a player needs codecs or a browser needs the flash-plugin, include it. As much out of the box functionality should be available as possible. The Programs: Now we're down to the nitty gritty. The following programs have been installed by default in Redlinux. Archive Tool: Xarchiver Bittorrent Client (CLI): Rtorrent, Transmission-CLI Bittorrent Client (GUI): Transmission-GTK CD Burning: Xfburn CD Ripper: Asunder Compositing Support: Xcompmgr DVD Ripper (CLI): Handbrake Fonts: tts-ms-fonts ttf-dejavu terminus-font ttf-inconsolata File Management (GUI): Thunar File Management (CLI): Midnight Commander Image Viewer: Gqview Instant Messaging (CLI): Finch IM Instant Messaging (GUI): Pidgin IM Live CD Creation and Modification: Larch, Larchin, Larchify Login Manager: Slim Movie Player: Gmplayer MP3 Player Management: Gnomad2 (for playsforsure devices) Music Client (CLI): Ncmpc Music Client (GUI): Sonata Partition Editor: Gparted P2P Client: Amule Notifications: Conky, Xmobar Office Software: Epdfview, Xchm (NO WORD, EXCEL, or POWERPOINT viewers!) Programming Languages: C, C++, Common Lisp[sbcl], Erlang, Forth, Fortran, Haskell, Lua, Perl, Python, Ruby, Scheme [plt-scheme,mit-scheme,scheme48] Screensaver: Xscreensaver Source Control Management: Bazaar, Git, Mercurial, Darcs, SVN, CVS, sloccount System Tray: Stalonetray Terminal: Rxvt-unicode, Xterm Text Editors: Emacs, Nano, Vi Theming: Crashbit (icons), Onyx (openbox theme), Desktopography.net (Wallpaper) Typing Practice: gtypist Virtualization: Virtualbox Web Browsing (GUI): Firefox Web Browsing (CLI): Lynx Web Site Grabber: Pavuk Wireless Networking: Wicd Window Managers: Awesome, Dwm, Openbox, Sawfish, Twm, Xmonad Windows Programs: WINE Additional Program Suggestions: These programs should be installed with "sudo pacman -S program-name" if needed. 3D Rendering and Content Creation: blender Audio Editing: audacity Audio Sequencing: ardour and/or jokosher DVD Ripper (GUI): thoggen Email Client: evolution, sylpheed or mutt Feed Reader: liferea IRC Client: irssi, xchat or xchat-gnome iPod Management: gtkpod Microsoft Office: openoffice-base or goffice Photo Editor: gimp Spreadsheet Editor: gnumeric Vector Graphics Software: inkscape Video Card Drivers: nvidia for nvidia, catalyst for ati Video Editing: cinelerra-cv, kino or pitivi Word Processor: abiword Basic Operation: Login - The first thing you probably want to do is login. The login and password are both guest. The default window manager is Openbox but to cycle through the alternatives of Xmonad, Compiz and Twm just hit F1 at the login screen. Openbox - If you right-click on an open area of the Desktop you'll get an applications menu and if you use the scroll wheel you'll switch between the 4 different desktops. If you click in on the scroll wheel you'll get a list of all open applications on all desktops. Alt-Tab or clicking in on the scroll wheel should be used to recover minimized windows. Networking - At the bottom right of the screen on the first Desktop "Web" you'll see the system tray where the networking/wireless applet "wicd" is. If you click on that you'll be able to adjust settings and connect. DISCLAIMER: Redlinux does not at this time include any wireless drivers outside of the main kernel package. Additional work may be required with drivers and wicd to get your wireless card working properly. Updates - Next to the system tray you'll also see the "conky" program tracking the date, time, and other useful information including software updates. If updates are available, you may open a terminal and type "sudo pacman -Syu" followed by your password to install the updates. To check availability of uninstalled software and for more information see www.archlinux.org. Installation: To install, open a terminal and run "sudo /opt/larchin/run/larchin.py". Larchin will walk you through the installation process and ask you to reboot. Upon rebooting you'll want to do several things. Creating a new user: Login as guest. Run the command "sudo adduser" and hit enter to use the defaults except at the "additional groups" prompt. At the prompt enter the following comma-separated groups: "wheel,network,video,audio,optical,storage,vboxusers". Finish hitting enter for the default settings and choose a password. To keep everything working smoothly you'll need to copy some application settings over. Run the following commands: sudo cp -R /home/guest/.config /home/newusername/ sudo cp -R /home/guest/.icons /home/newusername/ sudo cp -R /home/guest/.mpd /home/newusername/ sudo cp -R /home/guest/.xmonad /home/newusername/ sudo cp -R /home/guest/scripts /home/newusername/ sudo cp -R /home/guest/Images /home/newusername/ sudo cp -R /home/guest/Games /home/newusername/ sudo cp -R /home/guest/Music /home/newusername/ sudo cp /home/guest/.bashrc /home/newusername/ sudo cp /home/guest/.conkyrc* /home/newusername/ sudo cp /home/guest/.emacs* /home/newusername/ sudo cp /home/guest/.gtkrc-2.0 /home/newusername/ sudo cp /home/guest/.stalonetrayrc /home/newusername/ sudo cp /home/guest/.xinitrc /home/newusername/ sudo cp /home/guest/.xscreensaver /home/newusername/ sudo cp /home/guest/.xmobarrc* /home/newusername/ sudo cp /home/guest/*.txt /home/newusername/ sudo mkdir /home/newusername/Desktop sudo mkdir /home/newusername/Music sudo mkdir /home/newusername/Videos sudo chown -R newusername:users /home/newusername Run "sudo nano /home/newusername/scripts/wallpaper.sh" and change /home/guest/... to /home/newusername/... This will fix issues with the wallpaper not randomizing. Similarly, to fix the script that checks for updates, you'll need to run "sudo nano /home/newusername/scripts/arch-updates/conky-updates.pl" and change the path to the input file "/home/guest/...updates.log" to "/home/newusername/...updates.log" and do the same thing for the /home/newusername/scripts/arch-updates/pacsync.sh file. You'll also need to run "sudo cp /home/newusername/scripts/arch-updates/pacsync.sh /etc/cron.hourly/" when you're done. Run "sudo amixer set Master 90% unmute" and "sudo amixer set PCM 90% unmute" if you don't hear any sound when playing music, videos, youtube, etc. Then logout, login as the new user and run "sudo userdel guest" and "sudo rm -R /home/guest". You're done! Notes: If you have other partitions you'd like to mount they can be added into the fstab. Windows partitions can be mounted as type ntfs-3g. Laptop users will want to adjust ~/.xmobarrc and ~/.conkyrc or replace them with their *.laptop variants. There are alternative ~/.emacs files depending on which lisp you prefer (slime for sbcl, xscheme for mit-scheme, scheme for quack and mzscheme, etc). Users with multiple monitors will probably want to tinker to get those to work and may need to adjust both xorg and window managers accordingly, as well as installing appropriate drivers. Compositing support is now disabled by default in RedLinux. To enable it, simply uncomment the xcompmgr -cCfF & line in ~/scripts/utilities.sh or put it in the appropriate part of .xinitrc to ensure it starts at login. For more information and details on the creation of the distribution (which may prove relevant), see http://www.redlinernotes.com/blog/p?=697