(Cont'd from Topic "Status on Nightlies and/or project?")



Now seriously, I'm actually really thinking that it might be necessary to have someone taking over (or at least partially) the DesktopBSD project ...or have more participants in the development activities.

DBSD 1.7 was supposed to be based on FBSD 7.1 PRERELEASE whereas now 7.2 has already been released (and KDE4.2.2 is also realeased), and it looks DBSD snapshots are still unstable (as far as I skim the forum). I hate to say this but I have a feeling that DBSD is dying - the mailing list is almost stalled, and we hardly have any new post (from developers) in the forum too. In contrast, PC-BSD project is much better in terms of vitality (website and release frequently updated) and fame:

• Getting FreeBSD (Under the section "FreeBSD-derived Operating System Distributions"... where is DesktopBSD?!)
• FreeBSDMall (Why is DesktopBSD not listed?!)

DBSD project apparently needs more energy.

Don't get me wrong - I'm a FBSD and DBSD user (I haven't tried PBSD yet), and I do appreciate what DBSD developers have done for the project. I also have listened to the interview on BSDTalk about DBSD project and I tatally agree with Peter Hofer's idea. Certainly I also understand that DBSD project activity (or any OSS project) shouldn't have a strict release time-line like proprietary products have I, after all this is what the "Free" means. But I also believe that we all love DBSD, that's why (I think) we should do our best to keep it not only alive but also vital.

I'm actually thinking of setting up a (home made) DBSD 1.7 based on current FBSD, and decorate it with Enlightenment (my favorite window manager) or window maker instead of the default KDE3 or KDE4, otherwise KDE is somewhat heavy to my old laptop (BTW, I think migration to KDE4 is unavoidable, as the development/security support on KDE3 shall come to an end one day). Or better yet, add some tools such as a windowmanager selector into the DBSD tools. I think I will start working on these once I finish my current PhD study.

I've also got some (crazy) ideas but those are still too early to put into practice at this stage...

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Spec: Compaq Presario 2166ae (laptop)

AMD Athlong XP-M 2400+
Seagate 120GB PATA 5400RPM
1GB DDR266 RAM
ATI Radeon IGP Mobilily U1 (32MB shared)
FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE + Enlightenment 7
(very unstable) 256kb ADSL ...with 500MB monthly cap

Semin, et al;

I agree that DBSD should continue. I can contribute to make that happen as a "product manager" or "program/project manager." The issue is, we need the principals (Peter & Daniel) to help us get the DBSD project to the next stage.

I've emailed them and expect a reply in the next couple of days. Either we will see them back in the forums talking about "the next step," or I'll be posting back here about my conversation with them. Especially now, with the pretty brilliant developments of incorporating ZFS and, potentially Snapshot, FreeBSD in general and DBSD in particular can really be positioned as an excellent client/workstation/lappy OS.

I mean, compared to PCBSD, DBSD is light, quick & doesn't introduce odd system management issues.

So, we'll see. The project is worthy of survival, certainly.

Thanks for the post, Semin.

-Craig

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platform specs:
DBSD v1.6
ASROCK P4i65G (i865G Chipset)
P4 2.8GHz
1 Go RAM
ATI Radeon RV410 (X700 Pro 256MB VRAM)

Hello everyone,

sorry for not keeping in touch with you guys for quite a while.

Truth is, I find myself having less and less time for DesktopBSD these days. In addition, my interests have shifted quite a bit since I started working on it in 2004 (thinking of it, that's almost 5 years ago now...).
As a result, I don't really feel that I can make DesktopBSD progress steadily and significantly on my own. Unfortunately, there are no other active developers nor does it seem like there are any who would be interested in contributing.

Still, as some may have noticed, I have been able to work on some smaller improvements within the last few months. I now have the impression that everything is in order for a release 1.7, also considering that FreeBSD 7.2 has been released this week and should make a stable base system.
Therefore, I would like to release 1.7 as soon as I have some time on my hands. I would appreciate any comments on the recent snapshots (both i386 and amd64) from May 2nd. You can get them from here, as always:
ftp://ftp.desktopbsd.net/pub/DesktopBSD/Snapshots/
ftp://ftp.freepark.org/pub/DesktopBSD/snapshots/

Please understand that there is no room for larger changes such as KDE 4, new features or major bugfixes (unless critical).

On a side note, I have been made aware that some users can't create an account here, apparently because no activation mail is sent. I'll look into that, so the forum may experience some issues in the next few hours.

Best regards,
Peter

This issue should now be fixed, there was a problem with the communication with the mail server. I also purged any inactive users registered in May and April of 2009.

Does this mean that 1.7 will be the last release?



most critical bug is the behaviour of xorg, read this thread, please:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2188&start=0

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http://www.trimen.pl/witek/homepage/en.html

That's exactly what I thought. But I believe we all can understand that, after all who knows what would happen in the future? (plus, in these economically difficult years)

No matter what your next step would be (keep working on DBSD, or cut the tie with the project and focus on your new interest, or etc), I still would like to thank you (and all contributors) for what you've been doing for the project.

_________________
Spec: Compaq Presario 2166ae (laptop)

AMD Athlong XP-M 2400+
Seagate 120GB PATA 5400RPM
1GB DDR266 RAM
ATI Radeon IGP Mobilily U1 (32MB shared)
FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE + Enlightenment 7
(very unstable) 256kb ADSL ...with 500MB monthly cap

Seems possible, but you never know. This is why OSS is precious, anyone can use the source code and develop a new system - not something like what happened to OS/2. (and that's why I can build up my private new edition of DBSD )

_________________
Spec: Compaq Presario 2166ae (laptop)

AMD Athlong XP-M 2400+
Seagate 120GB PATA 5400RPM
1GB DDR266 RAM
ATI Radeon IGP Mobilily U1 (32MB shared)
FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE + Enlightenment 7
(very unstable) 256kb ADSL ...with 500MB monthly cap

Alright, seems this can be fixed just by enabling dbus/hal, I'll change that for the upcoming snapshot.

Anything else I should look into?

Best regards,
Peter

The new 20090509 snapshot now has DBUS and HAL enabled as pointed out by witek, I would appreciate some feedback on this.

Now that the X.org input issue should finally be fixed (see my post in another thread, amd64 snapshot coming soon), I think this would be a great time for some comments and remarks on what issues are left. Like I said, please understand that there is only room for some minor last-minute improvements and no new features or major bugfixes (that includes KDE4, people ).

Best regards,
Peter

Will try download it this weekend... with a slow dialup

_________________
Spec: Compaq Presario 2166ae (laptop)

AMD Athlong XP-M 2400+
Seagate 120GB PATA 5400RPM
1GB DDR266 RAM
ATI Radeon IGP Mobilily U1 (32MB shared)
FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE + Enlightenment 7
(very unstable) 256kb ADSL ...with 500MB monthly cap

I know this is going to piss off quite a few people - but I'm happy we are sticking with KDE3 for now. I've heard from alot of people and it is posted all over that KDE4 is a wallowing hog. I have been forced to run Firefox to access my email on Comcast since Opera doesn't work there again/anymore and am tired of wallowing hogs. The laptop I use the most - has the most ram (acer TravelMate 230 w/ 1 G ram) should be enough but is not. The point of having all this ram is not to immediately use it up for unessential crap. Lets get DBSD the best it can be before such complete and drastic changes that are going to require equipment most people can't afford. And on a side note This requiring brand new stuff every time you turn around is part of what is causing the destruction (poisioning) of our world. Lets make some of this older equipment usable for people.

_________________
pay it forward

Agreed. Recently I tried KDE4.2.2 (on PC-BSD7.1) on my laptop and it's a bit sluggish. I've also tried to install on FBSD7.2 using package but still the same. I feel it's actually not as bad as I expected (in contrast to those complaints I've heard), but I guess a new machine would make running KDE4 smoother (I might be wrong though).

But yeah...as you said, why should we get a new machine, when the old ones are still working fine, if not perfectly?

_________________
Spec: Compaq Presario 2166ae (laptop)

AMD Athlong XP-M 2400+
Seagate 120GB PATA 5400RPM
1GB DDR266 RAM
ATI Radeon IGP Mobilily U1 (32MB shared)
FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE + Enlightenment 7
(very unstable) 256kb ADSL ...with 500MB monthly cap

+1

i tried to run k 4.2 on my sidux machine, and it was...hmm.. bad

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I have been using kde4.2 with opensuse on a variety of systems and find that it works quite well with 1GB of ram on a 1GHZ P3. I would agree that most distributions do not provide a good experience with kde4 having tested kubuntu, pcbsd-7, and some others.

The problem I've run into is with Xorg, Intel graphics, and KMS. Recent changes in linux have brought me to desktopbsd-1.6. I had been considering installing an os different from opensuse already with the never working suspend and had not done so until the problems with Xorg decided the issue for me. I had forgotten what a nightmare it is to get a properly working desktop on freebsd, especially 7.2. Manually configuring hal dbus and policykit is not something I enjoy. That brought me to desktopbsd-1.6 which does not have any of these problems.