[LiveCD/USB] CTKArch Live 0.7 release

Question

Hi there !
I haven't posted there since the beginning of my live system project, since it was only available in French.
But lilsirecho was so enthusiastic about it that I finally released it in English/French !
[EDIT] the new site is http://ctkarch.org
So, after two intensive weeks of coding, there it is :
http://calimeroteknik.free.fr/ctkarchlive/index-en.html
CTKArch 0.6 (live screenshot) :
The documentation will be more precise, but the main ideas and features are :
1/ Lightweight :
That means nothing is launched without you requesting it, and that I always try to launch as few processes as possible.
It doesn't use much RAM, here is a screenshot with desktop/web browser/filemanager using 43MiB RAM.
So when I say lightweight I really mean it.
2/ Functional :
All included apps (see documentation for details) are indispensable.
Everything you can't live without should be there : web, ftp, email, chat filemanager&archiver, office, image, audio/video reading and editing and CD burning.
3/ Hardware support, technical novelties and Arch compliance
In the 0.5 version, an experimental GIT version of nouveau was included, which allowed me tu run smooth 3D on most nVidia cards !
All possible drivers for video are included (with scripts to set them up if needed) ; the goal is to support the most possible machines out of the box. As it is for sound.
Now, I use nouveau from the repos, as I do for the rest of the system : I want to keep in touch with Arch, using the best possible the repos, for updates to go the best possible when the system is installed.
The last bleeding-edge function is the clean BTRFS support, for the persistent home, and at installation and after.
4/ Modular :
The home folder can be put on a read/write partition (the comon case is to dd the iso on a flash drive and create this partition in the remaining space)
Then, to be able to modify the whole system as much as you want, there is the "add-on" support.
They are squashfs archives you can simply copy to the "addons" subfolder of the persistent home partition, or since 0.6, in the addons folder of the CD. (this allows to very simply remaster the CD)
And of course you can install it on a PC at any time, with any combination of the base-system/addons/personal-home !
I'll add I'm very fond of fancy boots and desktops, so I think this live system (and resulting installation) give a good example of how I think an Arch install should look like.
Hope you like it !
I'm open to suggestions by the way, if they can get along with my idea. Otherwise, make an addon and everyone will be happy !
[EDIT] You can join #ctkarch on freenode to ask questions, share any idea or possible improvement ! ☺
Last edited by Calimero (2011-04-07 20:51:24)

Answer 1

This coming paragraph is not an  distro-error but just a login screen I missed due to a slow starting monitor and auto choice french language settins:
A little  hiccup in the 64 bits livecd;
When I choose Clavier Anglais (not in English) I still get a French menu. Both from the bottom bar and the Openbox context menu.
The language setting still is French in short(when installing, edit the etc/locale.gen file and use locale-gen to change that).
There is no conky on the desktop; what  a brave guy you are, Calimero, to leave that out.
I think it is a good idea for old pc to use Arora, but to make it the default browser is aiming/limiting  this distro at a certain segment, which I would say, no; but of course choices like that are to the dev. Midori has crashed so much in the past that I don't even want to try it anymore.
In Arora the default search engine is Yahoo; didn't even know it existed anymore. I think in any browser that is in the spirit of FSF Duckduckgo should be the default; and it gives much better search results.
In Openbox configuration I miss the themes I like the most, but that is of course also very personal. The icon theme is Azenis. The default look is a bit like modern black scheme a few years ago.
This is totally unimportant of course  but in this field, the look and feel the distro can make major improvements, look for instance at ADComp wonderful openbox configurations in Madbox 9.04 or 10.04.
LxAppearance and Obconfig for configuration  of openbox but not Obmenu. I also miss the wonderful Adeskbar, a beauty of a little, lightweight dock. Then you can leave out fbpanel.
Similarly the rc.xml file is totally basic; no keybindings to programs at all. So in the openbox department there are a lot ofconfiguration choices left open. A bit too much to my liking.
The fact you have to start wicd by hand at each live session, is understandable as a theoretical point of view, but just not practical; I think you should compromise here.
Testing my webcam with mplayer tv://  worked well with a Logitech Quickcam Communicate STX.
In the application choice apart from webbrowser I find little problems; I like pcmanfm.
Other Reseau/network programs pidgin, sylpheed, xchat, gftp.
Terminal app rxvt unicode
Gpicview (not listed in the ob contextmenu) wouldn't be my first choice. I prefer Ristretto which is also very lightweight.
Gtkam to get pic from you camera and Gimp.
Audacious, Avidemux, smplayer, brasero, mhWaveEdit for video and music.
Gnumeric, Abiword and ePDFviewer
Last edited by pablokal (2010-12-17 15:00:25)