LinuxFest Northwest 2018: Introducing Distro Tweak. A New Way To Share Linux
Channel: linuxfestnorthwest
Date: 29/04/2018

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David Spring M. Ed. And Elizabeth Hanson M. Ed. 

Currently, Linux operating systems are available in distributions, commonly called “distros” such as Debian or Ubuntu. There are more than one hundred Linux distributions. Each distribution includes a desktop appearance combined with a bundle of programs. Each distribution can be customized by changing the desktop appearance and adding or subtracting programs. However, the problem is that each customization must be made one computer at a time. If one wants to customize the appearance and programs for a group of computers, one has to either clone the modified operating system or start a new distribution – which is why there are so many distributions, even though creating and managing each distribution is a lot of work.

In this presentation, we introduce a new simple process for adding a specific bundle of programs and appearance customizations to an existing distribution – a process that does not involve cloning or creating a new distribution. This new process, which we call a DistroTweak, is faster, easier and more reliable than current Linux customization options. DistroTweaks can be easily shared over the Internet such that a company or college can now offer their own custom Linux Operating system to their employees or students – built on top of an existing distribution rather than by creating a new distribution. Our presentation describes this process and summarizes its strengths and limitations.