Tracker Personalities (Haiku Editions)

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It’s some time this idea is in top of my head “Tracker Personalities” that is to have more that a simple full blown Haiku Image(s) but have different jam targets see the following:

  1. Haiku Kiosk only an application it's running (Bterminal, webPositive?) there is no tracker in reality (as I say it's in no personality) and no other applications apart form "kiosk", the OS is navigated via the Kiosk Application (if feasible)... You cannot close the Kiosk in no way or if we do Haiku reboots, simply! You can use it for a MediaCenter in which there is only Haiku MediaCenter for a media center dedicated OS, or for a PAD in which there is a Deskbar replacement with more big icons, gestures support, multitouch and so on... Optimized for size < 32 MB, can be installed in a Disk-on-chip/module. boot < 1sec :-) All servers and kits not useful for the Kiosk App ---> remove!
  2. Haiku CommandLine useful to replace Linux in a more beautiful way; simply there is only Tracker with 3 replicants (Clock that is new, the Screen replicant and a Bterminal replicant occupying the rest of the screen(s) and Launchpad), there is no Deskbar (Tracker is in CommandLine personality). Tracker is only an empty blue window, there are no icons, we've Screen so you can change "Virtual Console" pressing ALT+F# as on a Linux machine. Hint Haiku is more lightweight that a modern Linux, in this way it runs on a Pentium I, w/o problem... boot < 2sec :-) Optimized for size, installable on SD or USB Flash drive < 128 MB If servers and kits are not useful ---> remove!
  3. Haiku Desktop Edition The actual Haiku image, there is a Tracker with icons, there is a Deskbar, all servers and applications installed and rumning. This the normal desktop image. This that normal users want download. Normal size is 700 MB (a 70 min CD Rom). Boot = 3 sec
  4. Haiku Deluxe/Developer Edition The more complete Haiku, you can image all applications possible enad pre-configured, all useful libraries and framework installed (Qt, JAVA, ...), Palidin installed and configured ready to compile and others useful applications to a software engineer and a PRO user... Biggest size 4200 MB (a DVD Rom). Boot time influential (> 5 sec).

What do you think?
The more difficult thing I see is to have the “technology” to convince a Tracker to no show icons… I’ve not find a way to say this to him (?) there is a way? Some configuration file to edit?

If this idea like the normal evolution is to think a sort of Haiku Nlite Application so “personalities” (editions) became “profiles” and there is obviously an “personalized” section in which user can cut as its preference Haiku; as Nlite do should be warnings on thing that are CORE of Haiku and (that) if you remove them Haiku not works anymore…

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why have many edition versions? it makes things more complicate and it requires time and effort to pull such thing! it’s way easier to concentrate every thing in one option.

small comments on your listing:

  1. light but for what end? it’s feasible, though!
  2. why not just use linux or bsd or any unix-like os and have your command line with a nice interface.
  3. that would be haiku at the moment…
  4. is it some sort of edition where you have all api headers made available so you can develop your app? this should be an option where the haiku installer should offer when installing haiku features. size wise haiku is way smaller than a linux iso with only kde or gnone, even with the dev-libs installed.

i fail to see your suggestion to be valid, i mean haiku is small, quick, somewhat more stable than say linux, has to be more optimized, has great memory management (well in my experience haiku handles more heavy stuff than linux without getting to freeze, video play (bluray rip))! soon we might get lightworks, a non-linear video editor, to source code and i’ll start porting it to haiku Just need someone get sandy bridge driver (hoping intel makes their linux drivers to have OpenGL 3.x full support) ported to haiku first!

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[quote=Setlec]why have many edition versions? it makes things more complicate and it requires time and effort to pull such thing! it’s way easier to concentrate every thing in one option.
[/quote]

Maybe more difficult to maintain (but not so much in the end)… what to say if it will be an external project?
Noooo please, hide your guns! Let me explaine! I not want to fork or worst do distributions!!!
Let me do and example do you know Nlite or Vlite for Windows?

Then imagine a software that does this things:

  • Download a stable Haiku release via GIT
  • User choose a profile that is an "edition" or if he think to be "PRO" choose customize and cut by hand Haiku in piece
  • On the fly a jam file and some mucking and mangling on the bootscripts it's done
  • It compiles a Haiku image
  • User puts the generated image on a USB flash drive or burns a CD-ROM... it works!

OK, for normal users not useful but let me, again, do an example, as said above I work on the embedded railways toll systems, the production system are running VxWorks a realtime OS on top of obsolete Motorola 68K CPU… slowly in this and the next years Linux on Atom X86 embedded industrial computer became the system in production.
My software should be “kiosked” that is the OS is very barebone and minimal (in some situations
it should be installable in a Disk on Module / Disk on Chip or flashcard < 64 MB!) ) and ONLY one giant application shall run, undisturbed by none (not rare with priority bigger that OS itself!).

I’ve noted on Linux some cases of circular dependency that avoided me to shrink the image after a limit… these dependencies were gratuitous IMHO (Let do one example All the Network System depends on CUPS… yes no errors not the other way around… so in a system that never wants a printer I’ve ugly CUPS installed and if I’m no conscientious it’s demons running…)
I hope Haiku have not these circular dependency, I hope package management will be done well, this time :slight_smile:

Another example imagine a Media Center dedicated computer… are you sure to want to have Printing Server installed and the other cutter? Do you not want only the Media Center app and Media Kit? Maybe Tracker it’s unuseful,too right???

Linux never is nice :slight_smile: A nice command line?! But in the end you can shrink Linux but to have something as shown in the example you need the beast X and lightweight WM (XCE? Hugly!!! Metacity? brrr…) on Haiku simply I’ve to start BTerminal instead of Deskbar, simple it works beautiful and faster… right?

Yep as I’ve said three is Haiku in its Desktop Personalities :slight_smile:

Yes shall be done in this way… I’ve to add Paladin allready configured and so on… maybe this “personality” is a little tirated… yes, it’s only real justification it’s the size <= 4.3 GB…

[quote=Setlec]
i fail to see your suggestion to be valid, i mean haiku is small, quick, somewhat more stable than say linux, has to be more optimized, has great memory management (well in my experience haiku handles more heavy stuff than linux without getting to freeze, video play (bluray rip))! soon we might get lightworks, a non-linear video editor, to source code and i’ll start porting it to haiku Just need someone get sandy bridge driver (hoping intel makes their linux drivers to have OpenGL 3.x full support) ported to haiku first![/quote]

Yes but in some situations you should want a better boot of 3 seconds… in the end in Kiosk mode there is only an app running right? So a boot < 1 sec should be feasible and desiderable
(to be fair should be counted after BOIS post and so on… form the “-” I’d say)

It’s clear now what I’ve said? You say it’s not valid again?