Join the Nua Lae Project!

Halzen

NUA LAE OS 11.0 "AIBELL"

A brand-new, Ubuntu-based Linux distribution aimed at personal users.
The goal is to create a sleek, beautiful, functional, and user-friendly desktop for Linux newcomers and veterans alike.
Nua Lae will include Gnome 2 by default, and will bundle many useful programs and new defaults while trimming down on excessive package bloat.
Powered by an up-to-date kernel and presented with a unique look and feel, Nua Lae won't be your typical distro,
but it will still retain the familiarity that has made Ubuntu so successful.

Nua Lae is a very young project, still in its alpha development stage, and is in need of creative contributors.
Whether you're an artist, a programmer, or just someone with a question or an idea, we want to hear from you!


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Website (coming soon)

-- Halzen

Goineasy9

There are many Ubuntu based distros available right now, what features would make yours different? I can understand the Gnome 2 feature, but, now that it's a dead project (or at least frozen in its tracks), how will you maintain it? I'm sure security updates will be available for a while, mainly because it's part of RHEL6 and that is an LTS distro, but, no new updates for existing apps will be made. Also, a Gnome 2 fork has already been tried, and given up on, so, there won't be a Trinity like project to fall back on.

Besides the DE, what other features would make your spin different. What would pull new users in? As a project, I think creating a distro is a good learning tool, but, you need more than an abandoned DE to make it different.

I'm curious to see how you progress. Good Luck.

Edit: BTW - Your choice of the Liquorix kernel is excellent. I've known Damentz since we both ran Debian Sid - sidux. I only wish my knowledge of the kernel progressed as far as his did.

Halzen

I understand your concerns, and I appreciate the feedback. I'll try to answer each question in order:

Gnome 2 will be used as sort of an anti-Unity until Gnome 3 is more mature. In a future Nua Lae release, we will likely be switching over to Gnome 3. At the moment, Gnome 3 just isn't very easy to use or customize, and isn't quite suitable for distribution to general users, in my humble opinion.

One big thing that will set Nua Lae apart is its choices for default apps. Docky will be replacing the bottom Gnome panel, Chromium will be replacing Firefox as the default browser (although Firefox will still be on the Live DVD), Thunderbird will replace Evolution, VLC > Totem, QBittorent > Transmission, and the list goes on. The default theme and icon set will be modified versions of popular existing projects, tailored to follow Nua Lae's scheme of appearance. I also hope to include small post-install scripts and programs, like automatic hardware driver installation, automatic Compiz-enabling if the hardware allows, and an interactive "Introduction to Linux" that will show new users around the basics of Linux, Gnome, and Ubuntu. Since it will be a community-based distribution, Nua Lae will only grow more unique as it progresses.

Goineasy9

Well, I experienced Gnome 3 in Fedora, so I switched back to KDE, so, I understand your anti-Unity feelings, although, there are some that like Unity and Gnome 3, it's all about choice using Linux. Fedora 15 has the latest Gnome 3 extensions, which I'm told make it a lot easier to use than the earlier versions, but, I abandoned it a few weeks ago. I couldn't deal with the large carnival-like icons (same as Unity) and the constant back and forth switching between desktops. To me, it's more of a mobile OS than a desktop OS. So, I'm back on KDE, which was the DE I used when I first started using Linux.

Since your using Damentz's Liquorix kernel, you probably already know about h2's Debian utility scripts, smxi, sgfxi etc., but, if you don't you can find them at smxi.org. You mentioned post-install scripts, so, I'm assuming that's what your talking about. The inxi script is the first thing I add after setting up a new install. It helps me see if subsequent driver installations are working properly, h2 modified it for me so I could use it on Fedora, but, now it works on almost any Linux distro.

So, I wish you luck on your endeavour, and, hopefully, we'll see a website and an iso eventually.

Halzen

Thank you very much for your feedback. I hope to have a beta ready to annoy people with inevitable bugs very soon.

Lman

So I'm just curious but as far as apps go what are you planning to do? I mean, whenever I use Ubuntu with gnome 2, I either find myself using Ubuntu Software Center or Synaptic. I personally don't care too much for synaptic, but will you be able to use the software center considering it's based off of ubuntu? Just wondering

Halzen

Lman wrote:

So I'm just curious but as far as apps go what are you planning to do? I mean, whenever I use Ubuntu with gnome 2, I either find myself using Ubuntu Software Center or Synaptic. I personally don't care too much for synaptic, but will you be able to use the software center considering it's based off of ubuntu? Just wondering

We should have no problem retaining the current Ubuntu Software Center, and will likely even keep it in the Gnome applications menu like it has been in recent versions of Ubuntu. Linux Mint has been daring in replacing the Ubuntu Software Center with their Software Manager, but I don't plan on going down that road.

Lman

Cool I will definitely give it a go and check for any bugs. Will you be posting on here or somewhere else when the iso is available?

Halzen

Lman wrote:

Cool I will definitely give it a go and check for any bugs. Will you be posting on here or somewhere else when the iso is available?

I'll be updating this thread when an ISO is available, while the link itself will probably be going to Launchpad or something. The best way to keep up with the project would be to follow it on Facebook or Twitter.