CompSci OS

[ProgrammingFun]

Imagine this:

If everyone at CompSci.ca came together to make our own freeware OS based on Linux, for example, how would you help out?

[Dan]

ProgrammingFun @ 16th March 2010, 11:14 am wrote:

how would you help out?

By trying to convince you it's a bad idea unless you just mean a new linux distribution.


In any case CompSci.ca would offer hosting for the project (svn, website, file storage, etc) and anything else we have to offer if any one was serious about doing it (this also goes for other Computer Science related projects assuming it is not a big burden to do so).

[ProgrammingFun]

It does not have to be based on linux, that was only an example (after looking at Google Chrome OS).

[chrisbrown]

I think the point is that unless you think you have the time and ability to improve upon what the world's best have been trying to perfect for 30+ years, any product would at best become another addition at the bottom of the Linux distro coillection.

[ProgrammingFun]

Fine, feel free to vote that "This is impossible!".

[Euphoracle]

I wouldn't because that wouldn't help the distros that are actually making headway into the market

[rdrake]

Better idea. Use the UCK to install extra programming-related packages and maybe customize the look and feel a bit of Ubuntu. Then distribute to interested persons in ISO format on bittorrent.

[Dan]

ProgrammingFun @ 16th March 2010, 12:42 pm wrote:

It does not have to be based on linux, that was only an example (after looking at Google Chrome OS).

Well Chrome OS is realy more of a linux distro with a custom window manger and applications (from what i understand).

Making a linux distrobution is not unthinkable (or hard if you just branch off a current one), however it's just not that usefull unless you add somthing new.

ProgrammingFun wrote:

Fine, feel free to vote that "This is impossible!".

It's not impossible by any means, it's just either not that usefull (if you make a linux distro with only minor changes from a current one) or would take a tone of time if you want to make a new and usable OS that is any where near what we have now.


If you realy want to do this project you should decied what it is exctatly you want to make, and how it will be diffrent from every other distrbution and/or OS.

[DtY]

Chrome OS has everything but chrome hidden though, as I understand. It probably doesn't even have a window manager (it would be useless if it did). You could have the same functionality by changing your Xinitrc to start chrome (in fullscreen) instead of a WM (though I'm sure it boots faster than most distros).

I meant to go through roll your own Linux last summer, but never got around to it

If there was to be a compsci.ca OS I probably wouldn't help (except for answering any questions I could on the forums, as I do now), unless there was something interesting about it.

It might not even be unthinkable to write a new OS from scratch (not something I could do, by any means), nearly everything is there to be ported already, that's how Linux got off the ground so far, the Gnu tools already had a lot of what was needed. If you use X11, it would probably be trivial to port nearly any program that runs on Linux.

[edit] Writing this post just made me remember the Cleese project, seems it hasn't gone anywhere since heard about it, probably three years ago now, shame.

[SNIPERDUDE]

Hmm, the concept of an OS written in Python intrigues me. How did it ever turn out? Was it working?

[DtY]

SNIPERDUDE @ Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:33 pm wrote:

Hmm, the concept of an OS written in Python intrigues me. How did it ever turn out? Was it working?

I think they got something that mostly worked, of course it wasn't completely python, I'm pretty sure it had a Linux kernel and ran X11, but I think most of the rest was python, like the window manager and such.

[Amailer]

I'd like the idea of a "compsci.ca project", but not so much that project being an OS- not even a Linux Distro (enough of them out there!).

I am all for a compsci.ca project though (even if I cannot contribute to it, it would still be great )

[Sur_real]

Now that I think about it, an iPhone(or even iPad) dev project is more doable than this even if most aren't very fluent in Obj-C.
Well, it's only an alternative

[SNIPERDUDE]

How about we start listing some compsci project ideas here?
I'm interested in seeing what's possible, something other than a contest that would unite the many members of these forums to obtain a single goal - one of usefulness too.

Program ideas anyone?

[Sur_real]

There was that openT thing but I don't know how's been going...