ReactOS Forum

dark wrote: because then it becomes too big and you shut out people who have a phone line connection from obtaining it easily (and a lot of the time from getting it for free)

look, we're no longer in the day of the 14.4 modem. just download the single ISO overnight. i used to download linux ISOs (wtf is with the 3+ cds of most distros now anyway, i don't need a choice of 6 different WMs) this exact way.

John Headstrong wrote:My vision for the future.

a reactOS core, downloadable. GUI OS with basic apps, (ibrowser, ftp, notepad) made by the reactOS dev crew. (really quite small)

i can't tell what your talking about with the no gui on the barebones cd, we want a gui on it, we just don't want any apps that make it bigger.

If there isn't a version of a reactos iso without any apps installed some other site will start up offering a minimal distro without the apps. be easier if there was a version without any apps at all on this site. (yes, they might get rid of the browser, unless you clone IE for some compatability reason)

Floyd wrote:

dark wrote: because then it becomes too big and you shut out people who have a phone line connection from obtaining it easily (and a lot of the time from getting it for free)

look, we're no longer in the day of the 14.4 modem. just download the single ISO overnight.

Or simply offer CD #0: Barebones OS + browser, no apps. Why is that so difficult to grasp?

dark wrote:

John Headstrong wrote:My vision for the future.

a reactOS core, downloadable. GUI OS with basic apps, (ibrowser, ftp, notepad) made by the reactOS dev crew. (really quite small)

i can't tell what your talking about with the no gui on the barebones cd

There's a period in there. He's not suggesting that the OS should not have a GUI.

I'm not sure a web browser should be considered as a basic component of an operating system, especially since there are various choices of browser available.
When it comes to making a basic, minimalist distribution, I would think carefully before bundling in anything that you can't uninstall without leaving traces of it on the system. I don't want to have to use some equivalent of 98Lite to strip out extra bits and pieces that have been deemed 'necessary'.

chris319 wrote: Or simply offer CD #0: Barebones OS + browser, no apps. Why is that so difficult to grasp?

i have no problem with that either. as i stated in an earlier post in this thread.

counting_pine wrote:I'm not sure a web browser should be considered as a basic component of an operating system, especially since there are various choices of browser available.
When it comes to making a basic, minimalist distribution, I would think carefully before bundling in anything that you can't uninstall without leaving traces of it on the system. I don't want to have to use some equivalent of 98Lite to strip out extra bits and pieces that have been deemed 'necessary'.

no one is suggesting that they integrate anything into the OS, they're saying they should bundle software with it. since an OS that comes with nothing isn't only more difficult to set up but requires a lot of tinkering before anything can actually be accomplished. firefox is commonly mentioned because it's free, open source, etc. but i doubt they would integrate it into the OS.

chris319 wrote:
a reactOS core, downloadable. GUI OS with basic apps, (ibrowser, ftp, notepad) made by the reactOS dev crew. (really quite small)

The way its written it seems to indicate that he is talking about it as if it were linux without a gui, and all the linux gui's that come with programs. you can't really trust how somethings written in here though since it might be written from an area with a difference in the language (britain, US, etc...)

Because most people think there should be different distrobutions of reactos, you guys could add your ideas here. http://reactos.com/wiki/index.php/ReactOS_Variations

Most simple way (imho) would be to bundle no browser nor a media player or something else with ros. Just include a browser, a media player etc. in the reactos package manager so you can install it easily through it after installation (but also leave the possibility to download the packages from another os/pc for the users without internet access from their pc).

So you wouldn't force anyone to download unneeded things, nothing else than the package manager and (maybe) some always essentionally needed utils like notepad +calc (paint isn't always needed so it could be downloaded through package manager). So you would still save bandwidth as not every user would download any app, but still it would stay easy to get the system up and running. btw. this would solve the problem with outdated software because you always would get new versions through package manager, and notepad +calc are apps that (normally) need no update anymore when their good enough since they are so simple.
This would be the best way for minimal download size I think. Of course there could also be a cd already pre-bundled with lots of apps, this is just for the download (cd #0) iso.

Maybe they could talk the makers of EditPad Lite http://www.editpadpro.com/editpadlite.html - a tabbed notepad-alike proggy - to let them add it to the program manager list? Seems like if you give a base of better-than-MS default aps then its going to get a better public review.

Most simple way (imho) would be to bundle no browser nor a media player or something else with ros. Just include a browser, a media player etc. in the reactos package manager so you can install it easily through it after installation (but also leave the possibility to download the packages from another os/pc for the users without internet access from their pc).

So you wouldn't force anyone to download unneeded things

It's six of one, half a dozen of the other whether you download a browser as part of the CD #0 ISO image or download it separately with a package manager; either way you're consuming the same amount of bandwidth. The thinking behind bundling a web browser is that the user could then go and download his choice of the apps he wants, such as an office suite, email client, word processor, media player, paint program, etc.

chris319 wrote:It's six of one, half a dozen of the other whether you download a browser as part of the CD #0 ISO image or download it separately with a package manager; either way you're consuming the same amount of bandwidth. The thinking behind bundling a web browser is that the user could then go and download his choice of the apps he wants, such as an office suite, email client, word processor, media player, paint program, etc.

But many people already have a browser they want to use with ReactOS, e.g. (just an example) from a cd of a computer magazine. So this people wouldn't have to download the browser, and thus don't use up any bandwith of ros site. However if it would be already bundled with the os (the os wouldn't be downloadable without browser) you would force exactly this users to waste reactos' bandwidth even though they don't want to.
This is what I mean. I don't know how many people already have the browser they want to use but I think they're quite a lot.

i can't get over this discussion, you point out it saves bandwidth if its not included, but then what if you want a cd to put on several computers, then your using a hell of a lot more bandwidth, why can't you juse have 2 iso's one basic reactos only, one with a few bundled app's, and i'm pretty sure theres leightweight browsers that'll only add a couple of 100k at the most, a whopping 3 minutes or so extra on thedownload for unfourantly people on 56k and such

its very well saying many peopel have a browser they already want to use, but what about peopel who do'nt know everything about computers but what a free os, they put reactos on, they stare at it, theres nothing to do, no means of getting onthe internet to look around

i think a simple browser possibly an email client, a basic word processing thing and a calculator, maybe a simple game should be included, and option to install during hte install process, its not exactly gonna add a huge amount, at least that way if someone isntalls it they can do basic word processing, check there emails, browse the net, and use there overly priced calculator with a pretty screen to add up numbers, an incredibly basic spreadsheet maybe nice, just one that can add and subtract numbers, i don't see anypoint in letting people download something which is essentially useless on its own.

as for myself personally, i like internet explorer, why? because its intergrated into windows, i've used others in the past but since aol took over netscape i've been using ie. infact i can't think of anyone off hand who doesn't use ie

ops, sorry for double post!!!