I have decided to stop automatically renewing my domain name, sublevel21.com. This isn't really important yet, but next November (in 2012) the domain will expire. I have registered a domain with dot.tk, and in a few hours sublevel21.tk will be fully functional. (ie. MDU-SG will be minimal-desktop.sublevel21.tk/generator/ instead of minimal-desktop.sublevel21.com/generator/)
I am doing this so that I may make this project truly free, as in cost-free. I was formerly paying ~$11 USD for a .com domain registration per year. There's no reason for me to do that anymore, since almost all of the traffic related to this project originates elsewhere (and almost all of the traffic to the minimal-desktop.sublevel21.com domain comes from here).
Again, you really won't have to worry about this for over a year. I'm just letting you know now, so you can update your bookmarks and what-not.
Planned downtime
The scripts and script generator (on minimal-desktop.sublevel21.com) will be offline for planned maintenance from 1:00 PM EST to approximately 2:30 PM EST. You can still download the scripts from Launchpad, Github, or Softpedia.
Re-licensing the project
After much deliberation and research, I have decided to put my foot down and stop using the GNU Public License (GPL) for future releases of MDU. I understand that the terms of the GPL explicitly state that derivative works must be GPL'd, but I'm consciously breaking the terms of the license. Starting with the next version of MDU (most likely 11.04), the script will be licensed under the much more free (as in freedom) MIT license.
If anyone has a problem with the re-licensing, I invite you to take a look at the comparitave lengths of each license. The MIT license reads, "you may do whatever you want with this code." The GPL reads, "you may do whatever you want with this code, provided it does not use any non-free libraries and the derivative works must be licensed under the GPL." Yikes.
If anyone has a problem with the re-licensing, I invite you to take a look at the comparitave lengths of each license. The MIT license reads, "you may do whatever you want with this code." The GPL reads, "you may do whatever you want with this code, provided it does not use any non-free libraries and the derivative works must be licensed under the GPL." Yikes.
Attobuntu Update 2
Not too much going on lately, but there have been some significant changes to the script.
You can get 10.10.2 "Attobuntu Update 2" from the Launchpad, Github or my Personal Version Archive.
- Added support for Openbox and Blackbox
- Improved choice tree for *box segment: Now has all of the choices of the other sections (minus CUPS)
- Fixed the bug for rare moments when the script didn't terminate with a reboot
- Fixed the k/ubuntu-restricted-extras lockup bug
You can get 10.10.2 "Attobuntu Update 2" from the Launchpad, Github or my Personal Version Archive.
Attobuntu Update 1
Version 10.10.1 of the MDU script is almost ready. Some changes:
- CUPS (printing) support
- Wicd enabled as a choice for GNOME
- Fixed the read-only README problem
You can download the latest test version from my Personal Version Archive.
You can now download the script from Launchpad.
Thoughts on Unity
Unity is going to replace the GNOME shell in Ubuntu 11.04, "Natty Narwhal". This recent development gives me very mixed feelings. I've never been a huge fan of Unity, even going far enough to recommend against it when people ask me about it. A few unfortunate aspects of Unity caused me a great deal of unease when I heard about this change.
Don't worry, though! MDU will continue to release on-time as long as I can manage to do it, and I will most definitely enable the user to choose if they wish to have Unity installed on their system or not.
Amendment 04/13/2011: GNOME 3 isn't much better, either. It has most of the flaws of Unity. My ideal DE is something like what GNOME 2.32 is now. I seriously hope someone forks it and continues development.
1Fedora is a strong contender in this race. It is the distribution that Red Hat is based on (therefore uses yum instead of apt and installs from *.rpm files instead of *.deb files). Look into it if you're feeling ready to take on a slightly more advanced GNU/Linux distribution.
- Unity requires hardware acceleration.
I have always loved Ubuntu for its ability to operate on older hardware. I run MDU on laptops with hardware older than some people I know. I tried to boot into Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition in VirtualBox and was greeted with a nice, fat error message:
As it turns out, Unity literally cannot run without hardware acceleration thanks to its grounds in Mutter, immediately turning off potential users. ("Why can't I just boot to my desktop? What does this mean?") Unless Unity somehow stops requiring hardware acceleration, I see this as being a potential roadblock to Ubuntu's success. At the keynote, Mark Shuttleworth stated that the new Unity will use Compiz instead... here's hoping it does. - Unity takes control away from the user.
The Unity interface is clean. Very clean. It has a nice Applications menu in the top-left (sporting the Ubuntu Circle of Friends logo) with an application-switcher panel on the left edge of the screen. Along the top is a typical-looking GNOME panel... one that is not customizable. As far as I'm aware, Unity itself cannot be themed (please correct me if I'm wrong) and the top panel cannot be changed without logging out, then logging into a standard desktop GNOME session. This defeats the entire purpose of Unity -- simplicity. - Unity just isn't for everyone.
I do not like Unity. I could even go far enough to say that I simply cannot work in Unity. It feels like I've turned "baby mode" on... it feels less like I'm running an operating system on my machine, and more like I'm playing with a toy. I know this feeling is not shared by everyone, but I also know more than a few people for whom this applies. I simply like GNOME 2.x better. At this point, it's a KDE/GNOME discussion, but isn't that the entire reason Kubuntu exists in the first place? The ability to choose is what gives Ubuntu (and the MDU project) its strength. By forcing Unity on everyone (by default), we lose that ability to choose.
Don't worry, though! MDU will continue to release on-time as long as I can manage to do it, and I will most definitely enable the user to choose if they wish to have Unity installed on their system or not.
Amendment 04/13/2011: GNOME 3 isn't much better, either. It has most of the flaws of Unity. My ideal DE is something like what GNOME 2.32 is now. I seriously hope someone forks it and continues development.
1Fedora is a strong contender in this race. It is the distribution that Red Hat is based on (therefore uses yum instead of apt and installs from *.rpm files instead of *.deb files). Look into it if you're feeling ready to take on a slightly more advanced GNU/Linux distribution.
Compatibility
I have done my best to ensure backwards compatibility between the 10.10 script and Ubuntu 10.04. The Attobuntu script will run without error on Lucid, even though it was designed for Maverick.
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