I'm making a new operating system: October.

I compiled the FreeBSD sources using my kernel config OCTOBER.

I compiled XFCE.

I compiled Opera with Flash plugin.

I will include LibreOffice.

I will use XPDF for reading PDF documents.

I would like if you could give me suggestions on what to do and tips on how to do this (I'm reading the FreeBSD handbook which is EXCELLENT for this kind of stuff).

A logo is below:



It's under the GNU Free Documentation License as the leaf image that I used for it is under it as well. I'll make my own leaf someday.
The leaf image url is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Orange_Maple_Leaf.svg

Things to ponder include: including nvidia properitary driver and ati radeon drivers (radeon oss is probably your better bet vs. fglrx). Decent auto-configuration is a must IMO, in 2012 there's no reason I need to spend a few hours configuring that shit manually post-install. The linux compatibility tools if they still exist should be an easy option, if not included. Ponder shipping Cinnamon from Linux Mint; XFCE has really gone down hill since earlier releases. Shipping a unified Qt/GTK+2/3 theme is a *really* good idea.

I chose XFCE because it is light and doesn't use a lot of resources. However, I could release a system with GNOME or KDE (its in the FreeBSD packages. FreeBSD does have a linux wrapper, so I will install Flash and all that stuff. However, because XFCE doesn't support GTK 3 maybe I should use GNOME or KDE?

You should use kde. That's what i all way install when i install linux.

KDE?


lol.

I just set up KDE 3.5 It runs excellent on 256 MB, so I'll use it. I'm now configuring SDL to run. I have to get multimedia support. Audio works, but video is iffy (the video player crashes when I try to play a video). If you want I can upload a zip file of my virtual machine. It is for VirtualBox. It's configured to work on virtual box. I have the screen resolution up to 1024 x 768, which is perfectly fine (at least for me).

KDE 3.5 is end of life; more importantly so is Qt3. Why would you ever bundle such a thing?

Because KDE4 runs like shit?

KDE4 shit or not (I do agree, although .7 is better than .0 was) I still do not approve of shipping 7 year old outdated and maintained software in a distro created in 2012...

You should put a newer version of kde and give people a choice of other gui too or even have a choice to run it in text mode only if people don't want to install a gui. Good luck building it.

The whole idea is to make FreeBSD easier to use. If they wanted a text based system they would download FreeBSD from the website. I'm using KDE 3.5 because it's less demanding, and it still works. Who cares if its a little outdated? It works fine on 256 MB of memory, that's what counts. This was supposed to be a lightweight distro, and they screwed up KDE 4 anyway. And QT is not outdated, it is an awesome programming library for X. Who could refuse an object oriented library like QT?

NOTE: There will be no splash screen. I've already screwed up the bootloader 4 times .

I am uploading a zip file right now of my VirtualBox VM. Ill let you know when its done uploading...

Update: I've successfully installed KDM. The login interface is much nicer. I think I might begin to create an installer.

By the way, here's a screenshot:

I never said Qt, I said Qt 3. Big difference. Qt 4 is current and Qt 5 is nearing release.

sorry. And the upload is kind of screwed up. Sorry.

For that reason I recommend JWM be used in your "October" operating system because it is almost as light as XFCE but it supports the standard GTK+ API that most Linux programs with a GUI use. I know about JWM because Puppy Linux uses it.

If you want to use KDE 3 series, then you should probably consider the Trinity Desktop Environment. It's a fork of KDE3 that's still being maintained. Supposedly, they're going to port some of the applications to QT4/5 eventually as-is (without the eyecandy improvements), however the part I don't understand is they still insist on managing the QT3 libraries. And, if you want to consider the older versions of Gnome (and not that Gnome3 garbage), then you should probably consider using MATE for that.
KDE4 isn't as bad as it was when it came out, but even on a laptop circa 2008, it still runs a little slow. For a media player on a linux box, I usually stick to XMMS or Clementine, which is a pre-KDE4 fork of Amarok that was ported to QT4 (Runs great on windows too).

not to grave dig but your OS has some potential can you upload the vdi or vhd you are using in virtualbox

I haven't worked on this in a while, plus I deleted the vhd, so I must start over. I should have a DL link by tomorrow...

I'm thinking about the installer, and this is how I think it will go:

Install FreeBSD 9
You will use wget to download an install .sh file
Then you will execute it, and the install process is carried out
You will restart
And, enjoy!

Okay if you get it installed in virtualbox,opload the .vdi or .VHD to dropbox or something

The file is finally done uploading. Download it: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75761741/Octobe ... age.tar.gz

It is 1.1 GB in size (tar.gz archive)

The archive contains the VirtualBox hard disk image for October.

The root username: root
The root password: password

The password for the 'person / John Doe' user is: password

I will edit this post and include a link when the upload is done.

thank you

The file is done uploading:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75761741/Octobe ... age.tar.gz

(1.1 GB in size as a tar.gz archive)

Archive contains a VirtualBox VDI hard disk image for October.

Root username: root
Root password: password

person / John Doe username: person
person / John Doe password: password

You're right stitch, KDE 3 is a piece of crap. I'm upgrading to KDE 4 so I might have a chance to install razor-qt

Personally i like the XFCE interface maybe you could add an option where people choose their own interface? ex:GNOME,KDE,XFCE,SoaS...ect
[just an idea]

You can package them automatically and inside the GDM/KDM login screen, you can specify which desktop you want.