gbWilly said

Here is some more memories to have a look at, all the projects I used to host thanks to you Sholzy as facilitator.
- Project How To Gambas meant as a series but only got 1 part finished and 1 part pre-released (almost finished)
- Project ShowCase a sort of software center for distributing Gambas3 applications (before Benoit wrote Gambas Farm)
- Project GambOS an ubuntu based OS where core applications where slowly replaced by Gambas3 applications (like I wrote gbEdit as editor, someone later made a calculator gbCalc etc. It also had complete Gambas IDE and all above (guides, ShowCase etc) pre-installed. There was an .iso file to install and a VirtBox image.

All was aimed at making Gambas more know and easier to learn for newcomers.
And I did have a nice group of people helping out with testing software, proofreading, suggestions etc.

Good times…

…has brought back many memories, of projects laying in the dust and it got me thinking and inspired me, brought back ideas.
This little screen during booting GambOS (based on Lubuntu) and shown below…

gbEditor - father of the future gbEdit

(Click to enlarge)

….inspired me to create a new one, for a new GambOS (this time Debian based):

GambOS - future based on Debian

(Click to enlarge)

Plans are to build a stable environment (meaning same OS, same Gambas3 version properly packaged and hosted locally, proper database setup, webserver etc) all so that developed guides will work in the environment offered. So purely for Gambas education and easily to setup in a vm or something like that.

That is just fase 1 and it has just started.
I have created some first experimental live-cd iso's with very customized pre-installed settings. Started with non gui debian to get the basics wright. It is a lot of rinse and repeat (as things go wrong). I already made a few first scripts as a shortcut to make it a less manual process (I smell some Gambas LiveBuilder application in the air somewhere).

But anyway, above "new" startup screen has been spotted when doing a
a thus launching it from iso into vm for testing, auto logging into a headless GambOS server, with apache2, mariadb, git, sshd installed, as a practice for further customizing live installs and see how far I can take it

I'll keep you posted on the progress…

P.S. I build a functional gbEditor (for myself last weekend) and it inspired me to recreate gbEdit, and while doing so documenting the process in a new How To Gambas guide, so liek 'a hit 2 birds with one stone' situation, a finished editor for on GambOS and a finished 'How To Gambas' for on GambOS, learning you how to build the editor you can already use on GambOS…

GambOS - past based on Lubuntu

(Click to enlarge)

I got more of these ideas, it will take a while, but we will get there…

Looking forward to seeing all this come to fruition, and allowing others to benefit from your hard work.

Wow, that's great news.  

gbWilly said

And I did have a nice group of people helping out with testing software, proofreading, suggestions etc.

I don't know if I'm that nice, but I would also be available for testing.

Poly said

I don't know if I'm that nice, but I would also be available for testing.

Guess we will have to find that out…

I've been building some headless debian iso's with some pre installed sfuff on the live startup to get into the building custom iso's, last week.
As I managed to get some successful builds (meaning .iso runs live in kvm-qemu) and they had all that I wanted pre installed on it, I decided to take it to the next step.

So, the focus was on a live build with a minimal gui upon the first basics done in the headless builds.
I chose Mate at it's very core and started there.

Below is the last result so far of build 4 after doing:

iso images

(Click to enlarge)

Startup with custom logo background. Live is what I have been working on.
The install part hasn't been touched (nor customized)

Once started you'll find the bare basics for learning to code:
- Gambas IDE: installed from local file repository
- meld: for comparing files
- mate terminal: you'll be needing that
- Gimp: for making graphical stuff
- pluma: text editor (to be replaced in future with gbEdit and subject of a how to guide)
all nice and tidy in a panel.

Gambas 3.19.6 from local file repository

(Click to enlarge)

So, some sort of bare minimum is becoming reality, but still a loooooong way to go…
The images aren't that big, 2GB for current build (4) and less than 900 MB for headlless gambOS (with apache, mariadb, openssh, git pre installed)

Choose live or install

(Click to enlarge)

I'll need to do some more fine tuning to the live boot and next is the install mode to customize and probably preseed the whole install.
New things to discover and learn…fun, fun, fun…

Wow, it looks really beautiful.
Thank you very much for your work, even if I won't be able to use it as a systemd teetotaller.
May it inspire many people to use Gambas.  

Poly said

Wow, it looks really beautiful.
Thank you very much for your work, even if I won't be able to use it as a systemd teetotaller.

I could look into making a Devuan version (systemd free Debian) for you to play with…
No idea if I can, but I guess that is another nice adventure to get involved in…

Edit:
The idea is to have an image for vm's (both qemu and VirtualBox) and an iso to install on a systen or vm (not just a live boot). Live boot is a read only situation and not suited for educational purposes. So a real install or a vm image (short cut for those who don't want to install) makes adapting stuff possible. This means that migrating GambOS Debian based to Devuan based is a possibility.

Migrating to Devuan can be done using a simple script and thus giving you the exact same experience (GambOS Devuan based), but systemd free. This seems easier that trying to figure out making a seperate iso/image.

gbWilly said

Migrating to Devuan can be done using a simple script and thus giving you the exact same experience (GambOS Devuan based), but systemd free. This seems easier that trying to figure out making a seperate iso/image.

Thank you so much for taking my allergy into consideration. And thank you very much for the tip and link.