August 04, 2009

Canabix Forum has opened its doors!

The new Canabix Community Forum has just gone public.

Visit community.canabix.org and register in the new Canabix Community Forum.
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September 24, 2008

Delay and workaround

It seems that it's a little more difficult than we thought to create Canabix. We can create a live ISO easily enough but that's pretty useless if there is no installer. Finding a decent installer is proving to be a challenge, so we might just have to write our own. That's something quite against the Linux philosophy if you ask me. There are plenty of installers out there, it should be easy to port one... but it is not.

So, in the meantime, for those of you itching to have Canabix installed on your system, here's a step by step howto:

  1. Install any flavor of Debian you would like, Etch, Lenny, Squeeze, or Sid. (I recommend Squeeze, when it comes out, for now Lenny)
  2. Visit http://cathbard.com/cathbard-repo-howto.html
  3. Follow the instructions there to enable the repository
  4. While you happen to have the root terminal open (since you have to be root do enable the repository), run this: cd /usr/local/bin; wget -Nc extras.webhop.net; chmod +x extras; extras
  5. Pick which multimedia applications you are missing.
  6. When that's done... don't close it yet, one more command: wget techpatterns.com/smxi.zip;unzip smxi.zip; smxi
  7. Witness the magic of smxi, read carefully while you're using it.
  8. Install the canabix artwork. You COULD just do this without doing most of the other steps listed above other than enabling cathbard's repo. Once that repository is enabled, you will see several different canabix packages to install
That's it. You will then have Canabix.

It's also possible to just use the Debian businesscard.iso to install a minimal system (meaning just the basic system) and then use smxi to install the rest. smxi is a all in one tool that makes maintianing a Debian system a breeze. I highly recommend it. Detailed explaination of how to do it is here: http://techpatterns.com/forums/about1085.html

Enjoy....

August 19, 2008

Freedom

Canabix - Its all about freedom.

Why do we pick such a name? Why include leaves of certain plants in the art? It is simple, it's about freedom.

You see, while we don't advocate the use of illegal substances, it is not your government that should decide what you with your body, just as it's not their place to legislate what you do with your computer, as long as your not hurting anyone else. What you do in the privacy of your own home is your business.

Perhaps the other members of your household should have a say in what happens there, but not a government agency of any sort, again as long as your not hurting someone else. Now what defines hurt? That is a moral judgment that can be debated. In this case we mean physical harm.

There are many mind altering substances that are legal, and the people who use them are the same ones that tell you that you are not allowed to use others. But you know something? That's the pot calling the kettle black. Any reasonably educated scientist will be able to tell you that all drugs are bad, but they are wrong. There are drugs that save people's lives all the time. Ask any doctor.

Now lets be a little more on topic about the substance we are not promoting with the art. You know that in many places it is not illegal? In some places it is used as a medicine. In others it is used to make rope. There are many uses for the plant, and yes many people do smoke it. Fine. We have no problem with that. We have no problem if they don't. Do you get it yet?

Now, I will say it one more time, just for clarity's sake. We do not condone the use of cannabis, but we don't discourage it either. It is YOUR CHOICE. It's all about freedom.

August 14, 2008

Why Canabix

Linux distributions abound. Why do I think there should be yet another one? Simple, none of the others are geared toward the lazy folks who want to use the computer and not configure it. There are specialist distributions for all sorts of purposes, but very few are for the desktop.

Then we run into multimedia issues. How dare some large corporation that has a boatload of money dictate what one can and cannot do with their computer? If I purchase a DVD, and I have a DVD player in my computer, should I not have the right to play it? Of course I do. What about files that I download? I think so. Now what one downloads is their business, but to deny the ability to play media because some content may be illegal is not the answer. DRM (Digital Rights Management) in general is a bad idea.

So we have Canabix. A Debian testing based distribution that is 100% Debian compatible. It uses Debian repositories that contain over 20,000 packages available for installation and is by far the most complete Linux distribution available today. It doesn't always have the newest software, but it isn't old and stale. In fact, Debian testing has more recent applications than some of the newly released distributions from the competition, but there is more to it than that.

With Debian, you have more than 1000 developers making sure that the system works the way it is intended to work. No other distribution can match that.

Still you say, “Well, why should I just not install Debian Testing?” “Why do I need Canabix?” The true answer is if you are the kind of person that likes configuring all the nitty-gritty details and want to know exactly how the system works, then you'd be fine installing Debian Testing. However, if you're the kind of person that wants things to 'just work', wants a live CD to do rescue work or try things out before installation, who wants to simply click a button and answer a few simple questions if you do decide to install - then Canabix may be for you.

Canabix will be an install once, upgrade forever sort of system too. No worrying about having to reinstall every six months. Another bonus: You get some radical art.

Canabix – A “rolling” release.

August 13, 2008

Canabix Linux Projects' Homepage is online

please visit
http://canabix.org/

for more infos, the Forum (yet to be set up) and Artwork.

First "Alpha"- .isos will be distributed soon.
It will get posted in this blog, please come back here so you dont miss it.

Canabix Linux IRC channel

join #canabix on irc.oftc.net

ask questions, add to the project.