A few ideas ( I can't sleep and few ideas popped up)

I've had a few ideas floating and thought I might just through them around...

Installation
As a installation distro would Mint make an easier and more general candidate (as a first thought). Mint just seems to work, MATE seems to be a clean type of desktop......and would give Ms BrendaEm the real estate she would like, yes it may be a good idea (an effort to bury the hatchet )
Mayhaps a poll to determine the most popular desktop environment

Is this something we maybe able to approach the Mint developers with....I don't really know how these things work.

Rather than provide a distro maybe just packages for maybe Debian & Mint or Ubuntu. This may decrease the time spent answering basic non Linuxcnc queries.

Sundry Applications
Is an office suite required ? I think the reason it is included is the way Debian installs a Desktop, although I can see a benefit for a spreadsheet app for keeping track of stock & jobs even in a home workshop
I think an text editor is a must (geany ?)
Packages require to compress and decompress from a gui file manager is a basic requirement.
A web browser
I usually install gftp as I can use it not only for an ftp client but to also transer files via ssh
Along with gftp midnight commander (not matter what distro I use this is always installed). For those not in the the it is a very rich curses (text) based file manager with a very capable editor (similar to DOS edit but with richer features). For those of a certain vintage midnight commander is best described as Norton Commander clone.
One thing I find lacking in the wheezy iso is the inclusion of gvfs-fuse (basically when you mount a samba share a mount point is created that can be browsed to.....without it I am not too sure of the mechanism used, but I have never been able to find a mount point for a samba share)
A PDF reader.....I think this is a must on any system and needed for an installation of linuxcnc docs.
Is there a need for any multi media apps ?
A DXF viewer ? Maybe you just want to check something on a drawing and don't need a "full on CAD package".
Suitable light weight CAD & CAM package usable for a home workshop ( an extra maybe ? )

Extras
Syntax highlighting for geany that would cover Linuxcnc HAL & INI files and gcode (I think is maybe available). I plugin that would upload hal files to the forum for sharing......An explanation could be created in an editor window and the plugin would allow you to select the hal file and upload to a suitable repository. (maybe not the forum now I gave it a quick think)

Another plugin for geany to streamline the compilation of hal components. And a syntax hight lighter to go along with it.

Final thoughts
I know a lot of these suggestions aren't directly related to Linuxcnc....but the issue has come up in making the whole experience more user friendly. I'd be happy in trying to implement some of these ideas or working with others.

Hey I may just be totally off course......All good ( or ill ) natured ribbing, questioning of my mental capacity and or sanity will be gladly accepted......I'm also not adverse to being deemed a tall poppy and being treated appropriately.
As I alluded to these are just some off the cuff ideas.

On the other hand everything may be just fine as it is. What would I know I'm just your basic labourer with no qualifications in any field at all. hell I didn't even complete the most basic of high school in my home country. Maybe with a bit more edumacation eloquence & diplomacy (ok basic manners) would not escape me as much as it does.

Rob, one of the problems with distros is the open source license conditions itself. Its my understanding that there are a number of legal restrictions that impact on the platforms that the dev team can use. eg. you can't distribute your software bundled with a Linux distro still applies to open source applications like LinuxCNC.

I have to agree that Mint is so nice it is seamless to transition from Windows but I believe its off limits.

I think also having a complete Linux Distro is an advantage as it allows the user to explore Linux as part of his LinuxCNC learning experience so they eventually install Linux on their office PC (like I have)

I think in most distros PDFs can be opened with something. Acrobat Reader is available.
Likewise a web browser is installed and Chrome is available and finally has the same feature set as on Windows.

In my view, adding any CAD/CAM stuff is not desirable as it would just open a whole can of worms with users getting lost.

This is a CNC project so stick to the core. Accept the default distro whatever that is (I prefer mint too) and just install the LinuxCNC app.

Officially publishing the beta Stretch ISO would be a significant step forward

Rob, one of the problems with distros is the open source license conditions itself. Its my understanding that there are a number of legal restrictions that impact on the platforms that the dev team can use. eg. you can't distribute your software bundled with a Linux distro still applies to open source applications like LinuxCNC.

Ok so Debian must be different in that respect ?

Customising Mint is allowed as long as these guidelines are followed:

Customized Mint ISOs for personal use are fine. If you want to share your customization with others, whether for free or for purchase, you'll have to rename it; remove all Mint artwork, branding, and other identity elements; and you can't confuse your intended users about the customization being associated in any way with Mint.

You're free to use the Mint developed softwares (mintinstall, mintupdate, and so on) without renaming those, as they are licensed under GPL. But otherwise, it will be your own creation and no longer Mint's.

The Mint name and identity elements are trademarked and copyrighted. Unless you have approval from Clement Lefebvre and your customized ISO has passed Mint QA team's testing, you can't use those.

Reference page: community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1784

Yes, I think there is agreement with Debian. If you look at the Mint conditions, it would force you to maintaining a complete Linux Distribution and we are flat out maintaining a single application!

i looked into doing a respin of linux mint for instance:
community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1784

Note the disclaimer:

Disclaimer:

Customized Mint ISOs for personal use are fine. If you want to share your customization with others, whether for free or for purchase, you'll have to rename it; remove all Mint artwork, branding, and other identity elements; and you can't confuse your intended users about the customization being associated in any way with Mint.

You're free to use the Mint developed softwares (mintinstall, mintupdate, and so on) without renaming those, as they are licensed under GPL. But otherwise, it will be your own creation and no longer Mint's.

The Mint name and identity elements are trademarked and copyrighted. Unless you have approval from Clement Lefebvre and your customized ISO has passed Mint QA team's testing, you can't use those.

They make it difficult by not specifically naming (or making a clean option) what needs to be changed to comply.
My guess is they are not excited about someone rebranding their work.

But I doubt anyone has asked Clem about officially allowing linuxcnc to make a respin.
That might be worth the effort.

Chris M

Yeah that's the page I linked to as well...

I did mention approaching The Mint people in my initial post....as I thought that would be the best way.

I made an inquiry to Mint:
forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&...5&p=1489012#p1489012

They did reference this:
forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=265504#p1442308

Chris M

Hey Chris that sounds promising. Well the last post anyways from xenospeek. I was going to make an approach but I felt the correct road path would be to let someone more senior do that.

I've been playing around with this utility:
github.com/neurobin/JLIVECD

For customising an iso....had some success. I may play with 18.3 as I have some packages that I made for tecno that I know work under 18.3.

If someone is needed to do some experiments I'd be happy to give it a go, for proof of concept. As at the moment I have a lot of spare time to kill. Actually I would be honored to help out as much or as little as I can.

Well this is even better:

ChrisM wrote: ⤴
Tue Jul 03, 2018 10:53 pm
We package a Realtime kernel either RTAI or PREEMPT. We usually build two different ISO to accommodated this.
We add linuxcnc using debs
We sometimes backport the GLADE 3.8.6 editor.

As long as it is made clear it is a custom version, not the official one, LinuxCNC may use the Linux Mint ISO for above and does not need to remove the Linux Mint name or branding from it.

If you have other questions about using Linux Mint for LinuxCNC, I'm happy to help.

Chris M

No longer relevant