For quite a while now, I've been thinking about creating a collection of software and bundling it together. One way to do that is with an installation script that's run after an operating system is installed.
Another way to do it is to bundle the software with an operating system and an installer. If the kernel is Linux, this is commonly known as a Linux "distro".
Eventually, I'd like to play around with distros based on BSD and illumos (like Tribblix).
Preferences
There have been so many distros based on Ubuntu that are pretty much slight variations on theming with some choices made for preinstalled applications.
It must be fairly easy to make one of these, judging by the seemingly hundreds or even thousands of Linux distros. But I haven't read up on what the process is or ever tried to do it.
Browsing Codeberg
While browsing the software repositories on codeberg, I stumbled across something that piqued my interest:
https://codeberg.org/Peppermint_OS/PepOSDevuan_64
It's the files and scripts needed to build an .iso of Peppermint OS, Devuan edition.
I think it'd be fun to try that process to see if I can get a working .iso and then make some modifications to it. That could be the start of the RetroEdge software distribution that I have been envisioning.
A distro without GTK or QT ?
I mostly use GTK based graphical software now with the defaults I use. The Cinnamon desktop is my "go to" desktop environment. I very much fit in with the history and direction of the Cinnamon desktop.
But I enjoy experimenting with more minimal or retro styled software. Right now here's what I'm thinking:
- many or most graphical applications using SDL2 (not gtk or qt)
- a lot of terminal based applications
- berrywm as a window manager with no full desktop environment
- rofi as an application launcher and helper
- most applications written in C
- some applications written in other RetroEdge preferred languages
I can dream. I do plan on working towards it, though. Putting it down in writing is one step toward the goal.