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SUSE Studio — Linux Customization For the Masses
apokryphos writes "Novell just released the first alpha of SUSE Studio (screencast), which provides an easy way to customize your own Linux distribution with the software and configuration you want. Among other things, you can spin a Live CD, a USB image, or create a VMware image. It builds upon the already established openSUSE Build Service and KIWI imaging system."
SUSE SUSE Studio
Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
For very small values of masses.
...here.
susestudio.com
Actually, the screencast is at http://studio.suse.com/, not suse.studio.com, which is an adfarm that just struck gold.
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
Saved them some time. If IE was compliant, there wouldn't be a problem.
Citation needed.
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
It's an alpha, genius. Not only that, but their target demographic is *gasp* people who use linux, which has no official version of IE.
"That's bullshit."
Here you go.
Though I agree, or atleast enjoy it and think it was cool that they complained on IE. Too bad SuSE isn't really good ..
Considering they are currently "in alpha testing, with a limited number of invited users," it's not exactly dire. Especially since they further add that, "Right now, during this stage in the alpha, Internet Explorer simply does not work," and taht "We do plan on supporting Internet Explorer 7 sometime in the future."
Just because an early alpha test of the system doesn't support IE doesn't mean it's never going to. Is it really that surprising that a Linux project in the alpha stage would give preference to FF and Opera over IE?
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Linux customization for the masses?
"Well, I for one resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me--the free man and woman of this country--as 'the masses.'"
--Ronald Reagan, in his speech on behalf of Senator Barry Goldwater, October 27, 1964.
The free users of free software shouldn't be called "the masses" either.
OpenSuSE/SLES/SLED are our preferred distros around here for our POS and ERP systems just because it was a fluke that it was the first distro to install correctly on the test/development machines without having to hunt down drivers or getting a kernel panic. But this will make creating a disc image for our Point of Sales systems extremely easy and I'm glad to see it.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
This would be a great tool if it works out. Hopefully it will be GPL and can be adapted to other distros. Very forward thinking on SUSE's part.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Finally someone actually using OpenID as a consumer.
"Your browser is not officially supported We have detected that the browser you are using, Microsoft Internet Explorer, is not officially supported. Currently, for the alpha of SUSE Studio, we only support Firefox 2 and 3, and Safari 3."
FUCKING YES!
Anybody want my mod points?
Right, but please tell me where at microsoft.com I can download my Linux version of Internet Explorer?
Oh right, you can't.
If IE mattered for the demographic that will be using this service, then supporting it would be a priority. However it's not, so it's not a priority.
Grow up.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
"Because Opera is so wide used, right?"
Yes, I'd say is orders of magnitude more used than IE on the Linux platform.
Apparently the site only creates Linux distributions. It would be nice if you could roll your own windows cd, too. I'll file both bugs right now.
Your karma must be really bad. And I'm not talking about /. karma here. Opera works for me with all sites I use. Besides I don't think you need Christ and his bottle of sake to browse the Web ~
Quick way to get 30% Funny 70% Troll: defend Opera browser on
In TFA, Matthew Richards is quoted as saying, "We didn't achieve mass customization of cars until Ford thought up the assembly line." No, Mr. Richards, that's not what Ford's assembly line achieved. It achieved mass production of essentially identical cars. That's why, for many years, you could buy a Ford in any color you wanted, as long as you wanted black. Similarly, you can use this software to produce any custom Linux you want, as long as you want it based on Open SuSe.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
I want my own OS/2 derivative. Oh, wait...
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
So can I get a Gnome install without Gnibbles?
i believe i speak for all* linux users when i say:
HAHAHA, how does it feel now bitches!!! oh yeah now its your turn!
*well im sure that's how my mate feels and as microsoft has pointed out many a time, there are in fact only 3 people using linux.
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
It wasn't meant to be taken seriously.
Though Opera is still works, unless we are talking about ActiveX.
Quick way to get 30% Funny 70% Troll: defend Opera browser on
You quite palpably haven't read the article, or seen the screencast. USB images are not new at all. This is about a new user being able to easily roll any image (USB, VMware, installable live CD) with all the packages that they want (from any repositories) and all the configurations/files they want, all conveniently from a web interface. It's quite innovative and revolutionary.
We have detected that the browser you are using, Opera, is not officially supported. Currently, for the alpha of SUSE Studio, we only support Firefox 2 and 3, and Safari 3.
Other browsers which will most likely work are the various Gecko & WebKit based browsers (Epiphany, Konqueror (with kde4-webkitpart), Camino) AND OPERA.
WTF!
"We didn't achieve mass customization of cars until Ford thought up the assembly line. We need the equivalent of the assembly line in the (operating system) world:"
Err, no we don't, at least not Dell/Apple's definition of 'customization' where you have two or three choices of hardrive upgrade options, each increment of cost would buy your the retail part outright.
Worse, ford and his mass production gave us any colour so long as it's black.
This is rather the opposite and a Good Thing. The better analogy would have been the custom car scene from the 1950s onwards, where you can pay for a customized build, rather than do all the work yourself. This might get frowns from those who like object to paying someone do it.
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Interestingly, the screencast seems to be made on Windows , with Camtasia as the capture software and Linux running under a VMWare virtual machine.
Essentia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
I don't have IE at home, but if this is true, my desire to try this has gone up.
(BTW it works in Konqueror.)
Better than Ubuntu, IMO. Their tools feel more polished.
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
Don't reply to those. Every linux article has to have someone say that Ybuntu has been doing x for years
People who are either stupid, obstinate, or uninformed enough to *STILL* use IE (even on Windows) should be shunned from everything on the web.
Did they at least include a link to download Firefox, so at least the latter (uninformed) could be helped?
"Your browser is not officially supported We have detected that the browser you are using, Microsoft Internet Explorer, is not officially supported. Currently, for the alpha of SUSE Studio, we only support Firefox 2 and 3, and Safari 3." Way to go SUSE, not supporting the most used web browser on earth.
Dude, we thank you for telling us...even though I don't know if I'd admit to using IE. You are buh-rave!
Oh, for the days when sig's didn't have to be cute...hey, wait a sec.
as a web developer, i definitely agree that not having to support IE saves a lot of development time. on most projects i've worked on, about 20% of the development time is spent going back and forth with the client to come up with a layout design that they're happy with. only 5% of the time is used to cut up the graphics and actually implement the layout for standards-compliant browsers like Firefox/Safari/Opera/etc., which is pretty straight forward; just follow the W3C specs, and if it works in one browser, it'll pretty much work in all of them.
but the most painful part of any project is trying to get your site, which validates and renders properly in all other browsers, to render correctly in IE--which takes up the remaining 75% of the development time. not only is it a huge PITA for web developers (who are forced to mangle their previously elegant & well-formed code with a patchwork of unwieldy CSS hacks and clumsy JavaScript), but it also costs website owners a ton of money (if your designer/developer charges by the hour--which most smart freelance web developers do) as well. sure, the percentage may be less if it's a relatively simple site, or the designer creates the layout with tables, or if they simply design the site just for IE, standards be damned. but on the whole, supporting IE takes more time, effort, and money than is required for all other browsers added together.
however, in this case i think SUSE is a large enough company that they can afford to spend the money on IE support. so if their site doesn't work in IE, it's probably done on purpose to, either, a.) support web standards (and send a message to IE users), b.) support Firefox (and send a message to IE users), or c.) filter out clueless IE users that don't belong on their site. i mean, this service isn't exactly aimed at the typical computer novice who accidentally wandered out of their AOL/MSN playpen. anyone who's expected to use this site would know better than to use IE.
Haven't I seen this before - yes, over on Fedora, they have a "spins" functionality, making this an evolutionary, not revolutionary improvement.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/CustomSpins
Ken
Novell... interoperability?! But I like it ;)
Don't reply to those. Every linux article has to have someone say that Ybuntu has been doing x for years
I think the instance of ubuntu doing that would be "uck". SUSE Studio does seem to be more aimed at end users, though.
"He may look like an idiot, and talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot." - Duck Soup
You mean like nLite/vLite?
Centralization breaks the internet.
Reading is an art-form, it seems:
"Opera, is not officially supported" versus ... OPERA"
"Other browsers which will most likely work
What part didn't you understand?
but the most painful part of any project is trying to get your site, which validates and renders properly in all other browsers, to render correctly in IE--which takes up the remaining 75% of the development time
I find that percentage hard to believe. Almost all IE6 bugs have been thoroughly documented including fixes. If you consistently spend that percentage of time, then I think you need to rethink your process. For example, one developer could focus on IE6 bugs and port your layouts. That person would have most bugs (including fixes) in his head.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
first off, just because its litany of bugs, nonstandard implementations, and lack of standard features have been thoroughly documented does not mean they're no longer an issue. secondly, cumbersome hacks and awkward workarounds are not "fixes." a 'fix' would be a patch released by Microsoft that actually fixes those issues.
like i said, depending on the complexity of the site/layout you're working on, that percentage may vary. but for most reasonably intricate professional layouts, that is about the time ratio you should expect to devote to kludging IE support into your site. naturally, this doesn't include application development time, which can vary greatly from site to site. but if you spend 2hrs implementing your layout in Firefox/Safari/etc. then you're liable to spend 30hrs trying to get the site to render properly in IE--or give up half-way and simply change the design.
if you're developing a complex web application, it's generally a good idea to use some kind of framework that will handle certain aspects of cross-browser compatibility for you. and that will certainly save you a lot of time and trouble. but no matter what framework or toolkit you use, you're not going to make IE6 render tiled PNG backgrounds that support alpha-channel transparency. the only "fix" is to not use PNG backgrounds with alpha-channel transparency.
Judging from the screencast, this looks just like what Fedora is trying to do with the revisor application. I wonder how fast it is, though. In the screencast, it looked like the image was created almost instantly, while revisor can take hours to complete, and it is so full of bugs and so hard to make working images with that it is IMHO nearly unusable. I have spent days trying to make revisor and then pungi create working images with a custom kickstart file, but eventually had to go over to doing everything by hand instead. I really hope SuSe deliver on their promises on this, it will make life so much simpler for people working with embedded systems and kiosk systems.
...that's, what Gentoo Linux is for.
You can't get any more customization, without doing Linux from scratch.
And why in the world would I want to install an RPM-based package manager, when I can have a Ports-based one?
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Exactly. In my experience as a professional web-developer, it went something like this: http://www.boogdesign.com/b2evo/media/breakdown.png
Except that it was not an extra space, but an extra period that Internet Explorer was throwing a wobbly over, and that took me two weeks to debug!!
I always said, I don't hate. Period. ...Until I had to develop a mock-up operating-system web-site in the IE.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Oh, and I did not give up and use tables! And this was in the times of IE 5 and 6.
Thank Joe Pesci for FireBug!
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
You must be new here.
And not very bright...Keep drinking the Koolaid...And yes, it does run on Linux!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
..and it's in flash, which i do not want to load in my browser. dang. could have been interesting. maybe i should fire (eh) up firefox...
Rich
I'm replying to and agreeing with the original comment. That's how the thread system works.
Oddly enough, it took the FOSS comunity to get IE on Linux.
Why you'd use it, though, I don't know.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Because English is so wide used, right?, it isn't even speaked half good on the internet for Christ sake.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Between artificially inflated hardware costs and DRM lock-in, Linux is light-years ahead.
Once again, consumer choice wins.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Best comment ever :D
(yeah yeah, it's offtopic, but I thoroughly enjoyed it)
It doesn't support a lot things (CSS related) other browsers do, it has some really bad bugs and designing a website in the proper mannor of doing tihngs will not work with IE6. Period.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Theres a problem with drivers? I can't recall ever having a driver issue on Linux for supported hardware.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
I totally agree. However, that's not an excuse for putting 75% of your time in supporting it. Some policies will go a long way to avoid spending so much time on this old browser. Having a list of IE bugs alongside work is one. Graceful degradation is another.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
What DRM lock-in?
Don't worry, I won't be expecting an answer related at all to actual DRM included in the OSes listed above. I know that'd be too much work for you...and you'd likely explode when you finally realized the only DRM in those OSes is support for playback...no lock-in.
G'day, troll! (This in no way implies that the OP is not also a troll)
Get over yourself. The fact is, Novell is giving a lot back. They are taking WAY too much flack for their ill advised involvement with Microsoft. They did not sell out. They are helping AMD build their 3d drivers, doing important work with KDE, Gnome, the kernel, AppArmor, et al. And, until software patents are tossed out in their entirety, they are putting their portfolio of patents together as part of the OIN to help protect open source initiatives.
This is a good point. While IE7 isn't nearly as bad as IE6, it still sucks compared to any of the other major browsers. There are still some things that are not implemented in IE7 that are in all the other browsers and they JS implementation is by far the worst of the bunch.
Time makes more converts than reason
You do realize, the list is so long, it's faster to google search every little element you use and see if there is a workaround.
Graceful degradation never worked for me because the correct graceful way never worked for IE to begin with.
Such as recently, I tried to get checkboxes stylized as tabs using just CSS for a search bar - could not use javascript due to certain filters screwing up javascripts in some crappy software like norton internet security suite.
If it degraded properly with IE6, it would of been plain checkboxes, but no, it appears as unclickable stylized tabs.
Of course, then I had the IF IE tags, which wern't very helpful because the later versions of IE, despite the tags saying IE5 to IE6 only decided to use those tags so it looked horrible in the latest version of IE too.
My workaround for the problem was very unclean, tables (because of CSS positioning bugs that wouldn't work even with workarounds in IE6), images generated on the spot by PHP since the checkboxes had dynamically generated content.
Sorry, this is a mess and unacceptable. I don't want to touch IE anymore, period.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
According to the website, Konqueror (3.5.10) isn't supported. One gets bumped to a page informing one of this advent and you are further instructed to use Safari or Firefox (2 or 3). Way to go Novell/SUSE! Gotta love a website promoting a product that doesn't support the primary webbrowser provide by said product maker! Sheesh!
The only usage I can think of is for testing - making sure your page renders correctly.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
The driver problem is definitely a problem, but it shouldn't stop development of everything else.
I am not devoid of humor.
Because Opera is so wide used, right?, it doesn't even render half the internet good for Christ sake.
Well, that's the fault of all those sites not being compliant and IE being way too forgiving on compliance.
I am not devoid of humor.
That's because he drank a bit too much of Christ's sake.
I am not devoid of humor.