gnome.asia 2012 x-mario
TRANSCRIPT
x-mariothe gaming distribution
Goals of x-mario1. Have a smooth and fun experience● simple launcher interface with quick access to different categories
and games● as many games as possible out of the box● offer localized browser games to feature contributors in the region● offer games to play on less powerful PCs● include games for entertainment and education
2. Create a simple and beautiful distro● make a beautiful distribution with good internationalization support● make distro for CD, DVD and USB as well as for installations
3. Contribute back● learn more about Linux, how to build a distribution and contribute to
projects in community
Other games distributionsWhat are other distros? Other game distributions with different goals and implementations are:
● linux-gamers.net● supergamer● Fedora Games Spin
Why the name x-mariox - stands for all contributors to projects and games used in the distributionx - also stands for x gamersmario - is a symbol name associated by many people around the world with gaming and fun
team behind x-mario● Thanh Nguyen● Hon Nguyen● Hong Phuc Dang● Mario Behling● Julien Lavergne● Rafael Laguna (神癒礁湖)
x-mario test base system● first test version is based on Ubuntu 11.10 ● includes GNOME components like gtk+● only games installed● no application (office, chat, mail, ...). ● does not include Unity● launcher application based on lxlauncher
Why Ubuntu as a base● Ubuntu is a popular distro with a lot of documentation● Debian/Ubuntu offer many tools for custom distributions● Some Ubuntu developers, e.g. Julien Lavergne from lubuntu
helped us to get started
The developers are open to use other distributions as a base for x-mario, if more suitable.
What tools do we use● Debootstrap: a base tool for debian based distributions● Ubiquity: to install system on live cd to hard drive● DPKG dev: tool that helps to install other packages● Genisoimage: create iso file via command line● Squashfs-tools: tool to create and append to squashfs filesystems● UbuntuDevTools: useful tools for bug filing, packaging
preparation, package analysis, etc.● p7zip: help compress and extract file
Building a Distro
● Remastersys - clone your current Debian/Ubuntu install and make it into a live CD
● SUSE studio - build your distro with this tool from the OpenSuse community
● Revisor is a tool for Fedora● or write a build script to create a distro from scratch
Building x-mario● in x-mario we use a build script to create the distribution from
scratch● in 3 steps you can create the distro
Source code build script x-mario
Building x-mario: Step 1 chroot+packagesStep 1: Create a chroot and install our packages. Thebase packages that must be installed are:+ ubuntu-standard: depends on all of the packages in the Ubuntu standard system+ casper - hook for initramfs-tools to boot live systems+ lupin-casper - provides hooks to find an ISO image on a hard disk and to read a preseed file from a hard disk, which are used in the early part of this process+ laptop-detect - attempts to determine whether it is being run on a laptop or a desktop and appraises its caller of this.+ os-prober - spinoff of debian-installer+ linux-generic - contains the Linux kernel image
Building x-mario: Step 1 chroot+packages+ GNOME Network Manager + X.org - the X Window System+ dbus-x11 (D-BUS is a message bus system, a simple way for applications to talk to one another).+ openbox (Window manager for X Window system).+ Desktop Environment (Interface packages): We have different choices e.g.: GNOME, KDE, XFCE, or LXDE+ After choosing the interface we also need to install depending packages e.g. session manager, display manager, artwork, icons, ....
Building x-mario: compress chrootStep 2: Compress the chroot system into a file. This step will compress the system and information about it to filesystem.squashfs
Building x-mario: disk imageStep 3: Create and configure the disk image which includes:● the bootloader (isolinux)● the kernel● the compressed file-system image● all other required components
Building x-mario: Install and Test
Finally: Create USB stick or Live CD and test it.
x-marioLive Demo
Obstacles to overcome● If there is a package missing (or a dependent package) in the first
step, the build will not work. It takes time to get it right.● We want add more games to distro but size of a CD has limit. We
will create a repository and put many games onto this. Users can then easily install new games. Alternatively, we plan to offer a DVD version for x-mario.
● Some cool games require Qt and additional libraries contradicting with the goal of a fast system
● Support different hardware. We need to install some base driver hardware. This is always tricky.
x-mario outlook● expected release date of first version - August 2012● future offer repository game "shop"● best possible hardware support● contribute to projects x-mario uses● improve launcher experience
