2010-10-19

Fedora Spin Issues

It would seem that the Fedora Spins SIG is in 'bad shape'. From information posted to the Fedora Advisory Board it is clear that it is running on too few people and too many demands.

I do not believe that having some people volunteer at this time would be beneficial if underlying issues are not first found out and fixed.

  1. How are Spins helpful for Fedora project?
  2. Does that help match the extra work required?
  3. Are Spins more or less helpful than 'Remixes'
  4. What kind of skills are required to maintain Spins?
  5. how much time is required?

I realize some of the questions may be more provocative than they should be but I am tired.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Speaking strictly as a user, I find spins very useful, seeing as I don't want the default Gnome-based live cd. But KDE isn't always a solution either, because I often deal with old computers. So the more options, the better.

As a developer, I'm definitely interested in making my own spins, and it seems easy enough, but it takes a more powerful machine than I have.

How many people download spins anyway, compared to the default images?

Unknown said...

I have never really understood the practical need for spins from a users perspective. For example the FEL spin is just a bunch of pre-installed/pre-configured applications on top of a normal fedora install, right? So why don't I just install Fedora and then install those apps myself? Of course I can't because I don't know what those apps (and whatever special configuration they have) really are. I could go and deconstruct the spin but who could be bothered with that?

It would be much more interesting to me if the same configuration applied to a spin could be installed directly from my Fedora desktop. Spins target a very limited group of users. A more generally accessible mechanism of wholesale customisation of a fedora install would be better. Something along the lines of - install fedora - make it an Electronics Lab. Nice! Now I want to make it a HTPC - and also make it a file server. Something that comes with a sensible, working default configuration.

Would that be possible?