Suse Respin?

Hello everyone,
I am new to opensuse but have been using Linux for a little while now.
I know it is possible to create an opensuse re-spin but I am looking for some advice on how easy/difficult that would actually be, and also whether as experienced users, the other forum members think there would be support for the projected target-market for which the respin would be intended.
What I want to do is to produce a distro that would cater for the elderly inexperienced computer- user, be easy to install and set-up by the same, be secure as possible and have no immediate need to access the internet for package-downloads, etc.
All browsing therefore would only be encouraged for social and information purposes.
Ideally I would be looking at supplying pre-burned install DVD’s /Cd’s with seperate DVD’s containing the Software Repositories.
The only other question I have is whether or not it could be made available/compatible for older computers. ( 1990+)and,or netbooks.
Many elderly people ( in Britain! ) can’t afford new computers ( even if they were not preloaded with Windows 8 ) and have little experience or knowledge of the Internet. In this respect the U.K. is very much behind other developed Nations, in fact, the politicians attitude to the elderly and computers is simply one of lip-service.
I know there are easy to use lightweight distros but I am looking for something that will give wider community access and encourage older people to keep their minds active.
What do you guys think- is it a worthwhile project or should I just forget it.:slight_smile:

Hey dreamwalker, welcome here

To start with a downer: politics are not allowed in these forums, as per T&C.
To start all over: you came to the right place, although I don’t think all your desires will be met, this for a good reason.

  • We have OBS, the buildservice, where you could build your own, modified if needed, packages, and publish them in your own repo.
  • We have Welcome – SUSE Studio which allows you to build your own appliance, install media. There’ll be some learning curve in it for you, but I can say it took some reading, a couple of tries, a good look at what was wrong with the result, but I managed to create a KDE LiveCD with latest full blown KDE, multimedia codecs etc., latest LibreOffice and a couple of other extras. This within two evenings. For you as a newcomer it would be good to learn about patterns/packages/repos. When done, you can testdrive the image, and, when chosen for a RAW image, you can access the VM that’s running it through ssh and make config changes, add files etc. etc.
  • Theoretically you could copy entire repos to DVD, but you would not get any bug fixes, more important security updates. To me that’s a show stopper.
  • Search the web for the KlyDE project, it’s KDE in a much lighter shape, but still KDE. It could serve well on netbooks and older low memory computers (though 1990+ is very old, people have to be able to do at least something)
    But, a move to a more user controlled updating mechanism is being made.

A thing I doubt your target group will do, is install the OS. It requires booting from CD/DVD/USB, IME that’s already to technical.

> dreamwalker;2564256 Wrote:
>> What I want to do is to produce a distro that would cater for the
>> elderly inexperienced computer- user, be easy to install and set-up by
>> the same, be secure as possible and have no immediate need to access the
>> internet for package-downloads, etc.

By easy-to-install', do you have any ideas on how to obviate the complication of download -> media -> boot_from_media -> format -> install -> configure that tends to put-off non-technical users? For beginners (IMO), this is where openSUSE is very weak (although much better for advanced users). I've supervised’ elderly family/friends install Linux MINT on
their computers and I have to say this distro was better suited to their needs.

> dreamwalker;2564256 Wrote:
>> All browsing therefore would only be encouraged for social and
>> information purposes.

At some point, they will need access to the internet and thus must be offered the full protection of regular updates. Of
course your ideal of there being no immediate need to access the internet for package-downloads' is fine if you're talking about codecs and other non-oss things. But you have to face the realisation that updates will be necessary even if only for the purposes of security; there's no getting around zypper up’!

On 2013-06-12, Knurpht <Knurpht@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> - Search the web for the KlyDE project, it’s KDE in a much lighter
> shape, but still KDE. It could serve well on netbooks and older low
> memory computers (though 1990+ is very old, people have to be able to do
> at least something)

I agree with this. I think aiming for 2000+ would be more realistic, but would be delighted to be disproved otherwise
:).

On 2013-06-12, Knurpht <Knurpht@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> A thing I doubt your target group will do, is install the OS. It
> requires booting from CD/DVD/USB, IME that’s already to technical.

Remember the old days of booting from floppies :smiley: !?! It would be preferable to boot from hard drive, but I’m just
wondering how feasible installing would be for complete non-techies.

But I have to say, while the goal of trying to create a distribution that is ideal for the elderly (whether or not
beleagured by their nation) is highly laudable, it’s probably one of the most challenging distro projects and if you are
successful, then this would be something truly special. Good luck!

I see that KlyDE has not yet been updated to the latest KDE, 4.10.4 atm.

EDIT: I agree on the remarks made on Mint.

I think that is right. I can’t speak for Linux MINT, but it needs a lighter distro and desktop compared to 12.3 openSUSE/KDE4 or 12.2. I still use 11.4/Gnome2 (Evergreen) from time to time, and it’s really quicker and more responsive on my 2009 vintage notebook, e.g latest versions of Firefox and SeaMonkey open almost instantly on 11.4, but much slower on 12.2/3. :slight_smile:

@OP, look out for the appearance of “Cloverleaf”, ex Fuduntu but being rebased on openSUSE, and it apparently ran well on older hardware.

I agree with 2000+ being a more realistic target.

To be exact it is currently known as “Cloverleaf Linux”. The project has now called for artwork.

Hello everyone and thanks for all the replies.
I don’t think I explained myself very well here. My main interest in using suse as the OS base is twofold-1/stability2/security.
I know that at some point the users would need to access the internet for security updates,etc. That isn’t actually an issue.
The plan is that after setting up as a Charity - Project ,the OS would be actually two OS’es . One designed for general users and the seperate distro for elderly and less savvy users .
The purpose of the former sold via donation or set-price to users outside the target market group is to raise partial funds to help attract match-funding to purchase computers on which the second OS version would be preloaded.
The preloaded computers would then be supplied to the elderly user free of charge.
From both the security and stability viewpoint pre-installing the OS on refurbished equipment would, I think, help to avoid most issues involved in being unused to the platform.
A typewritten guide would be supplied with information on using the repo DVD’s and Internet set-up, etc.If necessary, introductory classes could be arranged for those who might need it but these are issues which can be resolved as we progress.
1990 was only mentioned as an example. The refurbished computers could be from 2000 up!
I am just testing the waters here and feeling my way a little.
The responses you have given me are exactly what I am looking for.
Any other advice or ideas would be welcome.Thank you all for your time,consideration and courtesy.

p.s. Sorry about the " political " stuff.

On 2013-06-13, dreamwalker <dreamwalker@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> The plan is that after setting up as a Charity - Project ,the OS would
> be actually two OS’es . One designed for general users and the seperate
> distro for elderly and less savvy users .
> The purpose of the former sold via donation or set-price to users
> outside the target market group is to raise partial funds to help
> attract match-funding to purchase computers on which the second OS
> version would be preloaded.
> The preloaded computers would then be supplied to the elderly user free
> of charge.

Your proposed project is much more ambitious than you originally stated. Not only are you attempting to construct two
very different distributions with different licenses and marketting strategies, but having to build a business model for
funding a computer refurbishment+OS installation service. An afternoon’s work, it is not.

Given that openSUSE is a very good general purpose distribution (not to mention free), I’m not sure how you feasible it
is for you to adapt it to give a competitive edge that is attractive notwithstanding a `set-price’. I think a donation
model is more viable. Since you are from the U.K., you might make life a lot easier for yourself by first seeking more
traditional funding sources for charity work (e.g. National Lottery).

On 06/13/2013 01:36 PM, dreamwalker wrote:
> the OS would
> be actually two OS’es . One designed for general users … sold
> via donation or set-price to users outside the target market group

we don’t sell our distribution, but i guess you could make install
disks and give them to people who donated money to you, as far as i
know the openSUSE community is not in a legal position to accept
donations for any purpose (in the UK, or any other country)–so you
(and your non-openSUSE organization) would have to do all of that
money collecting, buying of old computer and etc etc etc…


dd

On Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:36:01 +0000, dreamwalker wrote:

> From both the security and stability viewpoint pre-installing the OS on
> refurbished equipment would, I think, help to avoid most issues involved
> in being unused to the platform.

The best option would be a pre-install ISO from SUSE Studio, IMHO.
You’re not really doing a “respin”, but rather trying to package it for
easy installation, and that’s one of the things Studio is good at doing.

Jim


Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

So no time like the present to start posting. :slight_smile: I’ve lurked in these forums enough.
First a quick introduction i’m Mark aka Kigurame and i’m one of the lead developers for a distribution based off openSUSE called Cloverleaf-linux (but that’s not what this is about).
We use or will use KlyDE as our main DE after talking with will stephenson and jos poortvliet for a while (thanks guys) so we have a fully updated to 4.10.4 version of KlyDE sitting in our devel repo and actively work on it.
you can find it here https://build.opensuse.org/project/show?project=devel%3Acloverleaf%3AKlyDE so please help yourselves to it we usually get around to fixing bugs decently quick if it happens to be broken.
But beware it is a work in progress after all.

As of tonight we will be moving towards 4.10.80 but i recommend sticking with 4.10.4 atm.