[AktiviX] BLAG - Blag Linux and GNU distro

[moe]

Hey, I'm the main BLAG developer. If you have any questions, feel free to 
write me directly or join the BLAG mailing list.

A couple comments:
Live CDs definitely have their place, but BLAG is meeting a different need. 
Oftentimes it much nicer to have the OS actually installed. Also check out 
Dynebolic: http://www.dynebolic.org/  if you are interested in Live CDs.

Gnome was chosen over KDE because KDE requires a box with more ram/cpu than 
Gnome. BLAG also includes a few other lightweight desktops. KDE is pretty 
huge (I'm still a big KDE fan though--I have run their main mirror for 
years).

WRT making a Mandrake-based distro: I can testify that rolling a distro is far 
more than just a few hours of work. :)  I have been working on it for over a 
year and have put in hundreds of hours.

BLAG is also much more than a stripped down redhat. It includes many 
applications most other distros leave out, but are great for activists. It 
has internet radio streaming software, video streaming, peer-to-peer, media 
codecs, encryption tools, etc.

> I can get a bit of funding to press loadsa linux cds to hand out to
> activists (eg in ef!AU, peace news, at anarchist book fair etc etc), which
> is why i'm  so interested in a single cd distro that is easy to install and 
> administer...

RH's anaconda installer is pretty decent. I have also made it so you can just 
type a word at boot (such as "deskblag" "serverblag") and it will 
automatically partition, configure, and install on a box without /any/ user 
intervention. It can't get much easier than that.

BLAG also uses synaptic/apt-get making updating and installing on the box far 
easier than is typical with RH and it's lousy up2date tool. Hit four buttons 
and you are sync'd up with the latest releases.

There is a BLAG DVD available if you want to work on the project. It includes 
all of RH, all BLAG, all RH errata, all devel tools, source, etc.

http://www.blagblagblag.org

Ciao,

-Jeff