DSL

[roberts]

Many of you know me as the Lead Developer of Damn Small Linux.
Today, I was stripped of my ability to continue to support that project.

It is all well and good, as I near my 60th year of life, and yet still starting a new project, leaves not much time to continue to support the old.

I have been asked many times why here and not there. The answer is complex. From lack of both personal and professional support, to forums locked to new users, to denial of repeated requests for help, for a team, etc.

Still I hold no grudges. It is time. Five years is a long time. Don't look back, other to say that I am proud of the accomplishments there and the people that I got to know and share my passion of Linux..

Now, a new chapter. A new beginning. A new team. A team that shares my interests, my passion, my enthusiasm for sharing and exploring new ways to enjoy our favorite OS.

Looking forward to exciting times ahead.

-- Robert Shingledecker

[SaidinUnleashed]

Well, you did have a team, for a while, and it was fun. I'm sorry to say that I've expected this for a long time, since you first told me about TC, what? A year ago? Or more? I don't remember...

[mikshaw]

That stinks for John.  Unless you were an ass to him I see no reason why a new project should cause this to happen.
All I can think of is that he sees it as "competition".  News flash: Competition is not a factor in free software unless deep down you're not thinking true freedom.

[clivesay]

That stinks for John. 

By Robert's second sentence I would say that John made the decision.

[dmoerner]

http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=21;t=20533

It might just be the need to be politically correct on the DSL forums but I'm not sure if we should jump to any conclusions about the cause of this.  In any, trying to dig up why this occurred can only do harm to one of the projects, which is not something any of us should be interested in.

[clivesay]

http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=21;t=20533

It might just be the need to be politically correct on the DSL forums but I'm not sure if we should jump to any conclusions about the cause of this.  In any, trying to dig up why this occurred can only do harm to one of the projects, which is not something any of us should be interested in.

Yep, agreed. I am just happy to be here and see what core can become.

[roberts]

Nary a word of communication occurred between John and myself. When I logged in I noticed that my Tiny Core announcement post had been deleted. Then notice that all my rights had been stripped. So, I could no longer support the code that I write for DSL. It was obvious that John wanted me gone. I too, without any direct word of protest or communication to John, obliged and posted my "Good Bye" to the DSL community.

[bigpcman]

I for one am confused by all this. I have enjoyed and benefited from Robert's help  for quite some time. What is the plan for DSL? Who is now leading the project and what is the future plan for DSL. Is it a deadend project? Also, who is leading the TC project and who are the team members. They certainly deserve a great deal of credit for their accomplishments.

[dmoerner]

Thanks for clearing that up, roberts.  That is a real shame.

I for one am confused by all this. I have enjoyed and benefited from Robert's help  for quite some time. What is the plan for DSL? Who is now leading the project and what is the future plan for DSL. Is it a deadend project? Also, who is leading the TC project and who are the team members. They certainly deserve a great deal of credit for their accomplishments.

roberts posted this to clarify in case you haven't seen: http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=142.0

[softwaregurl]

http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=4;t=20537
edit:  I think the best resolution to this little miscommunication is communication.  I would suggest that John and Robert communicate privately, resolve any problems privately, then post a mutualy agreeable joint statement on both sites.

I, for one, am not going to make any further comments on this matter.

[kuky]

 

I am sad and confused for the situation dsl-tcl since i think that were cooperative projects, i was thinking that for operability and philosophy, new kernel 2.6, was a separation of projects no in persons and a community...

My post to  announce to spanish community tcl in dsl forum also have been erased with no emails... but there is a broken link in google...

in a past post in dsl talking about human and divin things i said that can be good to pass of a virtual community to a real community now i added to these with some rules and goals...talking about who are working and who are a volunter...and the economic aspect of the project...i send a little money to dsl for non profit goals my personal goal in dsl and tcl was to promote the equality and technological learning among people and countries and also to learn linux...

dsl-tcl metaphor of the global crisis...

[John]

You guys are getting ugly. 

From the DSL IRC:
Topic for #damnsmalllinux: Barring some actual, and very unexpected, developments by John, Robert's departure most likely means that DSL is dead. If you need more small distro lovin', try Tiny Core Linux. http://www.tinycorelinux.com/.

Looks like you are doing the same thing in the Puppy IRC channel too:
Topic for #puppylinux is: Official Puppy support chat | Latest: 4.1.2 |Main Sites: puppylinux.com and puppylinux.org | Welcome! Ask, then patiently wait | Forums: www.tinyurl.com/yxnbgl | This will be the last puppy version for the foreseeable future. http://tinycorelinux.com for a replacement OS.


Such petty actions can't be helping your cause.

[^thehatsrule^]

If you have issues with individuals, please contact them directly. The above posts have nothing to do with the Tiny Core Linux team. Currently, the only supported channel is #tinycorelinux on the freenode network.

Please refrain from posting general accusations.  You could take your issue up with the moderators/administrators in those respective channels.

Should you still have the wish to discuss this, you can private message me.

[ke4nt]

A new chapter. A new beginning. A new team. A team that shares my interests, my passion, my enthusiasm for sharing and exploring new ways to enjoy our favorite OS.

Looking forward to exciting times ahead.

My thoughts exactly.

Well Said Sir!!!    Bravo!!
( many chants of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" are heard being sung melodiously in the background... )

73
ke4nt

[tobiaus]

i was upset when i heard about the new plans for dsl, and i emailed anyone i could find (john andrews, robert) about what i considered a tragedy for (what i considered) the greatest distro ever.

i always thought dsl could be more. if anything, i thought it could be smaller, and more modular! and to see it go in the opposite direction was bewildering. not to mention i always took seriously the admonishing "it will never be larger than 50m, stop asking!" i had so many things to say about how wrong this new idea was, and i wanted to make a plea for an alternative. and yet i couldn't post to the forum, if it did anything at all.

what i didn't realize was that someone felt the same way, that something was being done about it. and that is why i'm very glad to have found tinycore. there is something very, very familiar about it. we all understand why that is. and i am so thrilled to be using it. for the first time ever, i got flash running nicely on this with 256m and a livecd.

now i can post to the dsl forum, and i have no idea what to say there now, so i sent one more email to john andrews, and i tried to make it one worthy of a person that created dsl. i am sorry to see the partnership that existed between he and robert on anything less than the absolute best of terms, but i think it's an understatement to say that tinycore is a great reason for them to go their separate ways. here is my letter:

mr. andrews, thank you so much for turning knoppix into what i considered the greatest distro in the history of hundreds of distros. when i went from distro to distro to distro looking for one that had the kind of integrity and reliability (and responsibility and ingenuity) to be "a linux" that i actually took pleasure and comfort in using, it was a lot of time before i realized that dsl was the distro i was looking for. but it was.

compromises were made, had to be made for some things, and in those compromises i used xubuntu, but the "perfect distro" (or closest thing to it anywhere) was dsl. naturally i was very upset to hear about your new plans. i've already explained my concerns more than sufficiently. i had every reason to worry, i had never seen a distro enough like dsl before, and not for not looking.

no one was going to carry the project more in a "damnsmall" direction. not as far as i knew. now i see that i was mistaken about one thing, it seems it will continue in that direction, somewhere else. this is intended in the most polite way it can be said. all this was introduced to me shortly after i emailed you. so i want to say, i am very glad that my concerns are being addressed, that there will be a supremely dsl-like distro, perhaps even better than ever. not larger, but smaller.

so what is the point of this letter? it is only to say that i know without you and the creator of knoppix, it would not have happened. that i know this. and that even if you take dsl in a direction i do not think is good for dsl, i hope it brings you the pleasure that dsl has brought to me. and naturally i stand by the things i said, i stand by my concerns for dsl... but you and robert are two geniuses that for a time, worked together on what is easily referred to as the greatest distro ever. given that someone is addressing my concerns, it becomes more reasonable to assume that the other genius involved (you were i believe, the original one) will do something excellent with the new dsl, too. good wishes. i will always believe you can make it smaller. thanks.