In the past few weeks we've been providing regular dated snapshot releases of some of the Komodo components which I've been working on. Although a few said they would test that, just one did (at least regarding the feedback we got; thanks Kintaro!), but I got a lot of feedback about problems with the build system as well as implementation details which weren't inside .NET (particularly pieces of the bindings which accessed C APIs from .NET).
Judging by the much larger group of people who said they could help with testing the actual operating system, I think it'd be a good idea to start actually doing that and getting feedback and (especially) answering niggling questions like "does Komodo run on a computer other than mine?". Heh.
Also, I did have a mostly working installer CD development tree of Komodo so I decided I would upgrade the software around it to match what was on my main box. Not as hard as it sounds as I've already wrote the software which automatically updates selected componenets from the versions I have in my System domain, makes the ISO, and makes a torrent using my tracker on komodoware.com. The resulting edition is the first public release of what is to become our Komodo DP1 release. DP1 stands for Developer Preview 1, with the landmark goal of completing the primary developer interfaces for Komodo: KomodoCore, CoreServices and Emotion.
Please NOTE: This is not a sanctioned "release" from Komodoware or me. It is merely a chance for me to share what I've got on my desk so that A. You can see it, and B. I can see how you see it. Just don't cry to me about "how windoze isnt working ne more" or any shit. If you've never installed an OS before, don't start with Komodo.
So, I've a torrent available on the Komodoware FTP (
http://ftp://komodoware.com/snapshots)
http://ftp://komodoware.com/snapshots/komodo-dp1-i686-2005.09.20.iso.torrent.
What you'll be looking at: The installer CD image, as it is now, uses Linux 2.4 and a text-based installer which you must start from the command line. The intro text tells you exactly what to do however. The installer is very brief and won't ask many questions. You will have to prepare your own partitions with either the included cfdisk tool, a tool from another Linux (Windows can't make Linux partitions), or a third-party tool. There are complete instructions for installation included on the CD. Any questions regarding installation can be posted to the Komodoware forums or emailed to me (xfurious at gmail dot com). I'm glad to help.
The operating system itself does use Shoe (Komodo's .NET based boot system) to boot, and it does contain all the most modern bundles right from the central komodo box lol. X is not set up for you at the moment, _but_ XFCE is included, so if you do know how to set up X yourself, a full desktop is available. It comes with XOrg 6.8 as well as xcompmgr so you can play with drop shadows and translucency. In the future xcompmgr and XFCE will be replaced with KCompositor and Dagon. This combo will allow us to do crazy effects while utilizing hardware acceleration (watch out Apple, Tiger's nothing).
The system should boot properly, but you may experience some problems related to the login system. I had a lot of struggles with it before it worked right here, and I may not have found the root problem.
You should be able to log in using the usernames/passwords you created during installation.
You have a BASH shell, and you should be able to execute Mono and Windows executables straight from the prompt, without calling wine or mono at all. If you need certain drivers to be loaded for hardware, you can use the commands:
Detect.PCI.exe -- Scan for PCI devices in the system
Detect.PCI.Report.exe -- Print a report of the current devices and their properties
Detect.PCI.Load.exe -- Load the drivers for old devices and the recommended drivers for new ones.
Theres more stuff but the post's getting long. Again, I can answer any questions.
Have fun (unless you don't want to, in which case go back to the lounge OOOH)
