Developing professional, commercially viable OS, please help.....

mnelson2187

New Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2019
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Credits
0
If you liked the little funny up there, lets get down to business..

I am currently attempting to create a commercially viable operating system that is based off ubuntu to start but eventually will be its own animal all together. I have figured out a bit already as for the past couple of weeks, I've been building and learning, and restarting at the beginning. After all the design troubles, I am sufficiently happy with everything. I already know how to package the OS into an .iso file. There are some things that both linux gnu and ubuntu gnu require of me if I am to use a debian flavor for a template or starting place to building a completely functional OS, and that is what i have done, I need to strip everything Ubuntu off of it and replace with my branding(where the heck is everything to modify? been searching cant find it...Replaced bootsplash though and it functions and GRUB bootloader names)
Now the problem I'm running into is the following now that I have a prototype and a good, functional operating system(finally!!!) as a starting place:

Upon packaging for release, I want the terminal locked out, along with the 'Computer' files(i thought of doing this by installing these on a different partition but would that work?) This is to ensure that the end user can use the computer as it is intended to be used and not attempt to modify any of the files.
I would also like to have some installer that runs like you see in Ubuntu 19.04 and other versions(interactive helper with predetermined scripts to run for partitioning.
Connect the app store and updater to a specific repository(already set up a cloud server to host the files) for continued updates to the OS by installing the .iso base OS with its updates like you would to upgrade from Ubuntu 18.10 to 19.04.

The OS I started with was Ubuntu 19.04 Disco Main release LTS.
The idea behind the OS I am developing is to be deployable on multiple devices and each device have continuous connectivity and software compatibility(eg game console, laptop, tv box, etc just differing desktop environments) and for it to be a consumers one stop shop for pc computing needs. The OS(tested) will run some windows programs(with some errors as i have not modified the winehq place holder for when i eventually develop my own version of this based from wine source) Mac OSX applications, and linux applications(obviously as its ubuntu based) Someday I would like to get the OS completely different all on its own like the difference between Windows and Mac OSX regarding execution architectures and grow into a unique operating system all on its own.

I know there are a ton of knowledgeable people on this forum as I have already done a bit of the work already, now I need help.
 


G'day @mnelson2187 and welcome to linux.org :)

I am not sure that that many people here have actually built their own Distro, but we have over 25,000 Members, so hope someone can help.

I ran a quick search on Google under

linux remove branding

and found this one if you have not seen it

https://askubuntu.com/questions/101...tu-brand-and-trademark-from-my-ubuntu-install

DO be aware, that Disco Dingo is not an LTS, its end of life is January next (9 months life).

18.04 was the latest LTS

Good luck

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
The specific reason for my pick to Ubuntu 19.04 is that it is a good starting point and will be quickly abandoned by Canonical. This leaves it the perfect version as it wont get support anymore from Ubuntu if i forget to remove something, and replace the targeted OS update repositories to an IP address where I will continuously(either me or another dev assigned) update the OS. I entered the command apt-cache search branding and it popped up with about 11 entries for Ubuntu branding. I now need to figure out how to edit these locations directly so I can scrub Ubuntu off of the OS.

TERMINAL READOUT
branding-ubuntu - Replacement artwork with Ubuntu branding
budgie-desktop-common - Common Ubuntu Budgie desktop components customisation
calamares-settings-lubuntu - Lubuntu Calamares Settings and Branding
fonts-cantarell - sans serif font family designed for on-screen readability
fonts-ubuntu-title - font used to create the Ubuntu logo (2004‒2010)
kubuntu-settings-desktop - Settings and artwork for the Kubuntu (Desktop)
lubuntu-artwork - artwork for Lubuntu
lxqt-branding-debian - Debian branding for LXQt
ubuntu-gnome-desktop - The Ubuntu desktop system (transitional package)
ubuntustudio-branding-common - Adds Ubuntu Studio branding to Ubuntu flavors
ubuntustudio-gnome-branding - Rebrands Ubuntu to Ubuntu Studio
ubuntustudio-wallpapers - Ubuntu Studio - Wallpapers
ubuntustudio-wallpapers-legacy - Ubuntu Studio - Wallpapers (Legacy)
ubuntustudio-wallpapers-xenial - Ubuntu Studio - Wallpapers (Xenial)
vanilla-gnome-desktop - Vanilla GNOME metapackage
x2goserver-x2goagent - X2Go Server's X2Go Agent

Also where do I go, or how do I lock out the terminal AND 'Computer' files where a user cannot view or edit them at all, but not hidden from the system obviously cause then nothing would work(already tried doing eg: home to .home to all files, the OS melted down..)
 
Hi @mnelson2187 It seems to me that you might want to read here http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ as it explains the hows, whats and whys to do some of the things you're trying to do. Also, download Linux Lite and try it from virtualbox since that OS is pretty much closed to the end user, meaning that making changes isn't that easy since it wasn't designed for that purpose. Read the scripts and modifications the devs have done to it so you can find some clues at what you want to do. Lastly, I think Arch would be a better choice given the fact that you can customize any and every aspect of it.

Hope this helps! :)
Cheers!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rob
I'm learning and screaming doing this as a prototype under Ubuntu. The reason I went with Ubuntu to start is because it already has a working desktop environment and last time I attempted this I was running into a roadblock trying to install the initial desktop environment so it crossed my mind in making a Arch based OS and planned at the time to release a new update once it went public with the arch version, but at this point, im having some other issues as well under ubuntu linux for my os. It installs and boots on some computers from flash drive, but others partitioned the exact same way do not boot. So I think it is time to move to arch linux for my base. BTW if anyone was wanting to know, I call it AuroraOS Black Diamond Edition(each public release will have a theme like google and apple do)
 
professional, commercially viable OS
Do you imagine that you are going to charge money for this?
Have you investigated licensing?
Have you looked into what (or what not) you can charge for?
Do you think Canonical makes a profit from Ubuntu?
Do you know anyone else who makes a profit from Linux? How? e.g. Redhat will give away, for free, their distro - they make their profit from selling support.
Why should anyone pay for your distro when they can use Ubuntu for free?
 

Members online


Latest posts

Top