Author Topic: infinityOS - The Media Distribution (Read 3010 times)

darkphon22 · « **on:** March 12, 2010, 08:18:05 AM »

Hey, I'm inviting you guys to beta test what I have been working on day and night for the past month, infinityOS. It is a general purpose media center operating system based on a highly customized and striped down version of Ubuntu Server Karmic. It is capable of hardware H.264 decoding, automated Bittorrent downloading, and HD video playback. It is designed to be used on a computer connected to a TV, though it can be used on any computer (I even got it to boot and fully work on my Macbook).

I consider it the successor to BeOS in spirit and functionally. It is fast and nimble, taking up only 150 MB of RAM on a cold boot (an order of magnitude lower than either Windows or Mac OS X) while remaining a fully functional (and pretty) OS. I have also designed it to follow the Unix philosophy as closely as possible while remaining as intuitive to use as the iPhone.

Since I was able to package the infinityOS on to an installable live CD, I am now opening up the private beta testing to a larger audience. I feel that I will be able to publicly release it by the end of next week. As this is not a public release, I must ask that you *not* redistribute it to anyone and to try to be subtle about the core functionality when mentioning it to others.

I hope to use this as an Honour's project for my degree in Computer Science and greatly appreciate any feedback you may wish to give.

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Once its installed, please change the folder that Deluge, the Bittorrent client, and the "Add Video Feed" script both download to something outside your installation partition (or create a separate /home partition in the installation). Otherwise when you update to a newer version of infinityOS, all your downloads will be wiped.

Keep in mind as well that the "Add Video Feed" script is extremely anal about indenting and remember to never use tabs when editing it. Also if a show's name start with a number, put it in quotations (ie. "24 Dennistoun"). I recommend that you manually run the aggregator using the command "sudo -H -u deluge flexget" every time you update the script to ensure that it works.

Note: The password to everything is "hitchhiker" without the quotes. I recommend you change this as well as I have SSH enabled by default (with DenyHosts enabled as a safety measure).

---------------

I do not have a full website set up yet as I am not finished the branding. However I do have both a Launchpad and a Sourceforge project set up.

Feel free to download it from:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/infinity-os/

Please post any bugs you find, any questions you have, and any suggestions you would like to make to:

https://launchpad.net/infinityos

Thanks,
Ryan

Pzc · « **Reply #1 on:** March 12, 2010, 10:53:40 AM »

Sounds interesting, would've checked it out if
I could but right now I can't $:-\$

Good luck

vuzedome · « **Reply #2 on:** March 12, 2010, 11:18:08 AM »

Gonna try it out, looks very interesting, just what I've been looking for.
If this turns out to be very good, you'll receive vuzedome's seal of approval.

Takeshi · « **Reply #3 on:** March 12, 2010, 11:44:02 AM »

Would it be possible to see some screenshots of the OS? That could increase people's interest and mine too.

darkphon22 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 12, 2010, 05:48:28 PM »

Here's screenshot of the desktop. I'm using Xfce as the window manager and SMPlayer as the video player.

I should mention to that it includes Samba set-up by default to share your home folder (read-only, I recommend using SFTP to upload stuff so the server can't spread viruses). Deluge is integrated into the OS itself as daemon running in an unpriviledged user. The Deluge WebUI is set-up by default as well (Port 8080).

vuzedome · « **Reply #5 on:** March 12, 2010, 10:15:49 PM »

A little bit more info regarding regarding playback would be really nice, like how hardware decoding is achieved and its hardware limitations.

darkphon22 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 12, 2010, 10:56:47 PM »

To enable Nvidia 3D acceleration in infinityOS, first update your package list by entering the following into the terminal:

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sudo aptitude update

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Restart your computer. Once you're at the desktop, install the drivers by typing in the following command into the terminal:

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sudo jockey-gtk

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After you've restarted, type the following into the terminal:

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sudo nvidia-settings

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Enable every option refering to V-Blank or V-Sync. I also recommend overriding the default antialiasing to 4x. This applies to both kinds.

Close the Nvidia settings.

Type the following into the terminal to commit your settings into the xorg.conf file:

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sudo nvidia-xconfig

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Restart your computer. Your graphics card is now set up to be pretty .

Regards,
Ryan Oram

PS If you have a Intel graphics card, 3D acceleration should be enabled by default (though I still recommend running "driconf" to enable V-Sync). ATI cards are officially unsupported as their Linux drivers are sub-par (though I'm not going to stop you from installing the drivers on your own. I just can not help you.).

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A Geforce 8400 or greater (sorry Nvidia only) is needed for the hardware H.264 acceleration. To enable it, first enable the 3D acceleration using the instructions above.

Then in SMPlayer, change the video output method to "vdpau". Play a video (any video) to see if it works.

Duki3003 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 12, 2010, 11:52:16 PM »

Was thinking of giving it a try, but since ATI is not supported, gave up on the idea...
I'm aware how bad ATI drivers for Linux are >_>

Regarding topic - Don't double post!

Xiong Chiamiov · « **Reply #8 on:** March 13, 2010, 05:33:24 AM »

I'm uncomfortable with you calling it fooOS if it isn't your own OS.

I'm wary of you saying that it follows the unix philosophy well if you based it off of Ubuntu.

Sourceforge reeks of 2005, CVS, and people who think the internet is still written in Perl CGI. Anyone left using Subversion has moved to Google Code, and the various DVCS groups each have their own preferred project sites*.

* The best being, of course, GitHub.

darkphon22 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 13, 2010, 05:38:06 AM »

Ya I'm only using Sourceforge for the download and web server as they give me 2GB of space (I think Google Code offers only 100MB). Launchpad is where all the bug tracking, question answering, and development will be. Hence, I will be using Bazaar, a much more modern version control system then CVS or Subversion.

Additionally, Launchpad gives me the option of having my own repositories and to copy packages easily off of others. This will be a big part of a yet-to-be announced feature.

About the name. I really only called it that cuz it sounds pretty (and the name Linux intimidates people). As you can see on Sourceforge and Launchpad, my logo is a customized version of Tux. I fully acknowledge my distribution being based on the work of 1000s of others.

iindigo · « **Reply #10 on:** March 13, 2010, 07:31:05 AM »

Interesting. I might mess with it in a virtual machine later if I have time.

Just curious, though, what's your opinion on the Haiku project (http://www.haiku-os.org/)? It, too, is being written in the spirit of BeOS.

darkphon22 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 13, 2010, 05:35:46 PM »

I look at Haiku as more of a continuation of BeOS. infinityOS is more of a reimplementation of many of the ideas that BeOS had, specifically in terms of multimedia capabilities and user interface design.

darkphon22 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 20, 2010, 06:11:36 PM »

I have made infinityOS 1.0pre2 available on Sourceforge as of this moment. This release has a variety of bug fixes and UI improvements, and heavily reflects what the final infinityOS 1.0 will be. In fact, I anticipate that the only difference between 1.0pre2 and 1.0 will be a new boot screen and proper multi-user support, both for which packages will be made available.

Grab it from http://sourceforge.net/projects/infinity-os/ !

--------------------------------------------

With this release, I would also like to announce infinityOS' planned development model.

Simply, I intend for infinityOS to be an operating system developed by its users, for its users. You will have a voice in every step of its development, from planning features to fixing bugs to helping solve each others problems.

I have setup a project at Launchpad, a website that integrates bug fixing, feature planning, commiting code, and answering questions into a simple easy to use UI. All you need to do to participate in infinityOS' development is sign up for an account.

Just go to https://launchpad.net/infinityos to get started.

--------------------------------------------

The official IDE will be MonoDevelop, an open source IDE for Windows, Linux and Mac. We will be using Gtk# and C# (chosen as this is the language my university teaches) to develop applications. These tools will also allow your apps to be used back on Windows and Mac if you wish, as the libraries are fully cross-platform.

To get started, type in the following into the terminal:

--------

sudo aptitude install monodevelop

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This will install everything you will need to develop apps for infinityOS. It will also be at most a ~250 MB download.

-------------------------------------------

There was a file transfer error when I was uploading the release overnight.

I'm going to request that Sourgeforge change back their listed filesizes to MiB, as the uploaded MB and MiB were about the same, causing me not to notice.

I'm uploading infinityOS 1.0pre3 now (which is just 1.0pre2 renamed). It's going to take a bit to transfer though (~5 hours).

Thanks for your support,
Ryan

darkphon22 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 21, 2010, 02:54:39 PM »

Alright, infinity1.0pre3 is finally up. I redownloaded it, ran a check and booted the live CD and it worked fine. I'm going to add this to my testing procedures so this doesn't happen again.

For some reason Sourceforge is displaying the wrong file size on their site. Ensure that the file you are actually downloading is 667.4 MiB.

Additionally, when you boot off the CD for the first time, type in "check" at the boot prompt, this will check your disc for errors.

Grab it from:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/infinity-os/files/infinityOS/infinityOS-1.0pre4.iso/download

-----------------------------

I've also decided to reveal another feature of my distro that I've been keeping under wraps, it's new release system.

I call it the "semi-rolling release system".

What this entails is that infinityOS will automatically notify you when any application you have installed on infinityOS (anything from Firefox, to Deluge, to Pidgin, to SMPlayer) has been updated by its developers. From that point its a matter of three clicks to make every application installed on infinityOS up-to-date. No more going to websites to download the latest version to fix bugs or get new features. infinityOS does it all for you.

In this process, however, the core operating system (meaning the kernel, the desktop environment, and the core drivers) will only have one major update every six months, apart from security updates. This release system allows for your computer to be completely stable and error-free while the things you actually use are kept completely up-to-date.

My goal is to push package maintaining and testing for end-user applications back to the developers themselves. When they make a new release on their PPA and notify me, I will push it to either my "testing" or "unstable" repositories, depending on the results of my testing and the packages it depends on. After a period of time the package will be then moved to "stable".

I intend to support each major version of infinityOS for a year with new packages.

Sincerely,
Ryan

-----------------------------

I have renamed infinityOS 1.0pre3 to infinityOS 1.0pre4 to fix the Sourceforge file size.

-----------------------------

I have updated the Nvidia driver installation instructions above.

darkphon22 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 29, 2010, 12:31:39 AM »

infinityOS 1.0 RC1 has been released on Sourceforge. As I feel that this release is production-ready, I am releasing it to the general public. Hell, some of its features might even convince some of your friends and loved ones to switch to Linux for good.

Due to infinityOS' semi-rolling release system, it includes most of the new features and applications in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid without the bugs and hassles. It also is much prettier as it has a much better theme. In fact, I would go as far as to say that this release is more stable and bug-free than Ubuntu 9.10.

For those of you stuck waiting for CrunchBang 10, feel free to jump on the infinityOS bandwagon. infinityOS offers a very similar footprint (~150 MB of RAM, ~2.5 GB of HD space) while including more features and functionality.

The changes from 1.0pre4 to 1.0rc1 include:

- Full Multi-User Support (and no default user or password)
- Deluge WebUI is now the default BitTorrent UI (the old GTK UI may still be used, though it requires some configuration)
- Removal of OpenSSH Server and FreeNX from default install (I can't get them to work out of the box w/o reinstallation)
- No folders are shared by default in Samba (the service is still running though, waiting for you to share folders)
- Added infinityOS related bookmarks to Epiphany
- Changing the default browser in Xfce now changes the browser used in shortcuts and links in external programs

I'm going to wait about a week before I release 1.0, just to find any remaining bugs. This release, however, is fully stable and production-ready. The only difference between this release and 1.0 will be the removal of all the Xubuntu branding and its replacement with infinityOS/Infinity Tux branding.

Note: The default BitTorrent WebUI password is "deluge". You can (and should) change this in the WebUI preferences under "Interface".

Grab it from:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/infinity-os/files/infinityOS/infinityOS-1.0rc1.iso/download

------------------------------------------------------------

For users of infinityOS 0.5.*, 0.6.*, and 1.0pre*, use the following instructions to update infinityOS to have the multi-user features.

https://answers.launchpad.net/infinityos/+question/105859

------------------------------------------------------------

I would also like to announce the official launch of my new website. It is Drupal based, though I still haven't finished the theme. I have also opened up my forums, so feel free to ask questions or make suggestions there. There's even a store filled with Infinity Tux merchandise.

Check it out at:

http://infinity-os.sourceforge.net

Thanks,
Ryan

darkphon22 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 02, 2010, 08:12:49 PM »

I have added a new repository called "testing-drivers" that has the newest versions of the Nvidia VDPAU drivers, ALSA, and Network Manager.

You may add it and update your install to have the latest drivers by entering in the following in the terminal:

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$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:infinityos/testing-drivers
$ sudo aptitude update
$ sudo aptitude dist-upgrade

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You will have to restart your computer after the drivers have been updated.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Due to popular request, I have decided to add XBMC to the infinityOS repos. It is currently in the "testing" repo, which is enabled by default in RC1. You may install it by entering in the following commands:

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$ sudo aptitude update
$ sudo aptitude install xbmc

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Please tell me how well it works. If all goes well, I may include it in the default install.

I have decided to postpone the release of infinityOS 1.0 Marvin for a little while longer to allow XBMC to be tested.

Thanks,
Ryan

darkphon22 · « **Reply #16 on:** April 04, 2010, 12:34:52 AM »

I'm likely going to stop posting updates here due to a lack of recent feedback. All future release updates will be provided at http://infinityos.net/news. Feel free to drop by my forums if you have any questions.

----------------------

infinityOS 1.0 RC2 has been made available on Sourceforge. With this release, I have decided to add something that everyone has been asking me for, an optional traditional 10 foot interface. It seems like many of you are reluctant to give up your remotes just yet. I have included XBMC in its full glory, with all its session managing features. infinityOS is also configured out of the box to allow you to use your Windows Media Center remote with XBMC.

I highly recommend that you use the infinityOS Desktop as your 10 foot interface as many of infinityOS' advanced features are not exposed in XBMC. This includes the BitTorrent client (can still be accessed on another computer via the WebUI) and adding new TV shows to the feed aggregator (you can still SSH into your computer and add TV shows by editing "/var/lib/deluge/.flexget/config.yml").

You may run XBMC as a program on top of infinityOS' desktop interface or logon directly into it by changing your "session" in the login screen to XBMC. This functionality is also available on the Live CD, just log out of the default Live CD user, enter "infinity" as your username, change your session to "XBMC", and enter no password. You'll log right into the XBMC interface with no overhead from the desktop environment. It is virtually identical to XBMC Live when running XBMC as your session, except with newer drivers and automated BitTorrent downloading.

-------------------------------------------

infinityOS 1.0 Marvin is itching closer every day and the final version will be based on Karmic. However, I will be providing many of Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid's features in infinityOS through feature updates (ie. new versions of the end user programs included). infinityOS 2.0 Zaphod will be based on Lucid and will be released mid-summer. This is to allow for Lucid's codebase to stablise (it usually takes around two months for a Ubuntu release to become truly stable) and to allow for the community to begin to provide updates for it. A notable possible new feature for infinityOS 2.0 will be full ATi support as supposibly their drivers have greatly improved.

I have registered infinityOS as a business in Ontario, Canada and am going through the process of getting investor funding (Scotiabank is notably interested). This distribution is going away no time soon and you'll likely see alot of more of it in the future.

Grab it from here:
http://infinityos.net/download

Good luck and happy testing,
Ryan Oram

darkphon22 · « **Reply #17 on:** April 05, 2010, 04:02:31 PM »

Here are some of my ideas for new features in infinityOS 2.0 Zaphod.

Full Twitter/Facebook integration in Thunar, Banshee, SMPlayer and Deluge. I want you guys to be able to talk to your friends straight through the OS itself and the programs you use. Hell, I want you to be able to chat about music you're listening too, the videos you're watching and the files you're downloading through the programs themselves. I have contacted the developer of Gwibber to help me with this.
Full IMDB integration in Thunar, Deluge and SMPlayer. I want you guys to be able to seamlessly get all the information on movies/TV shows as you are downloading them, browsing them, and watching them.

Eventually, I want to make the Internet and infinityOS to be seemlessly integrated, so much so there will be no distinction between using one or the other. I basically want to make infinityOS the proverbial semantic desktop.

Most of this stuff will be trivial to implement as I have deliberately chosen all of the included applications to have plugins/replaceable interfaces. However, I will need all the help I can get.

Feel free to drop by my Launchpad or my forums to help out.

Ryan

darkphon22 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 16, 2010, 05:51:58 AM »

I'm working on "the infinity Manifesto", which will be released with infinityOS 1.0.

Here is a excerpt:

Quote

infinityOS was created due to a belief that the means of the production, distribution, and consumption of our media should be completely free and open. Even if our media itself may not be free-of-charge. It is intended to be a platform on which one may use his media, free of restrictions beyond those of copyright itself.

In order for society to prosper, we must be able to control and customize our tools and means of communication. Through a system of open and universal digital rights management, I intend to bring the control of the media back to the people.

Hiyori-chan · « **Reply #19 on:** April 21, 2010, 10:53:51 PM »

Using it on another laptop connected to my tv, I cant figure out drivers (such as net) but then again I never did for ubuntu OS's otherwise its running smoothly so far.

Author Topic: infinityOS - The Media Distribution (Read 3010 times)

Hiyori-chan