VL ongoing

[metvas]

Hello All:
As you all must know by now Robert (Vec7) decided he had had enough and did not want to continue with VL. I have renewed the site for another year to try to decide "what to do", I will leave this message open to any and all input of a path forward. I am not criticizing anyone however I was kept on the sidelines as to the ongoing tasks off VL. Your suggestions, criticisms and ideas are all welcome.
Regards
Darrell

[MikeCindi]

VL has been the best distro for me...I wish Vec (Robert) the best and hope that he checks in every once-in-a-while. I would like for VL to continue but I'm not sure I'm too much help in making that happen.

[Lyn]

I would be sorry to see it go, how many active developers do we have?  It its unique selling points have largely been superseded by other distros, a unified central configuration utility (VASM) was way ahead of everyone else, but now is universal.  Light weight, there are several out there....
I would go back to the suggestion maybe of going back to slackware based and adopting Salix style options?   I would like to thank Robert for his vision and hard work in bringing us one of the greatest distros we have ever had.  Kept me interested in Linux and enabled me to pass on tens of machines to disadvantaged members of the public.  I wish him well in all future endeavours.

[nightflier]

I also want to thank Robert for his contribution over the years. Every ship needs a Captain, to set the course and make decisions, a leader to present a vision and inspire the people involved.

What is left of the old VL is essentially a recognized name still in the top 100 of DW, a web domain and a static repo.

To continue the tradition, you would need a new Vec with a new vision of something unique, and new developers.

I am not available to fill any of those roles, but just can't help checking in on a regular basis.

[Lyn]

I think this is where we need to hear from the other developers, how many of them are here and what are their thoughts?  What is the best way forwards, if at all?

[Lyn]

So what is the way forwards, what resources are there, how many developers are there and is there a consensus, or should we just call it quits?

[bigpaws]

Hi folks.

I have not checked the forum for awhile. I was not made
aware that Robert is not continuing with Vector. So I know now.

The name for Vector is controlled by Metvas.

I am keeping the forum and the website are website running as they exist.
As far as the irc channel I have no power there. I just learned about a twitter account
again I have no access or power there.

The website and forum are under my control so any changes there is someone
that can accomplish that. I have all DNS and associated files at my disposal.
There is also  access to osuosl.org for our files, at least the last time I checked.

As far as resources Metvas has contributed by paying for the domain name.

The other incurred hosting costs are from me.

As far as developers. Those of old have not been available mostly due to life
getting in the way. They have expressed the interest in helping new developers
to continue Vector.

A path forward is currently not defined at least not to me.

I will keep an eye on the forum for new posts. If there is no interest in path forward
then the longevity of my contributions will need to be reevaluated as well.

If you wish for faster contact a pm is acceptable.

Vector has been a home for me since version 3.0 around 2002.

The current needs are to get a project manager and developers. The rest
would fall into place.

I am open to thoughts.

Bigpaws

[Lyn]

its been my home since 4, :-( I would be very sad to see its demise, but I am not a developer.  I see we have dropped out of the distrowatch 100 - happy to help in any other way that I can

[vector]

hey folks,
Contrary to Metvas post I have not walked away but have been lurking for sometime. My situation has changed over the last few years that has left me unable to continue on as your fearless leader. However Vector has been around for some twenty years now and I am more than willing to see it continue but we need a new regime for that to happen. I was hoping Moe-lnx would be the natural successor since his innovations drove the last two releases but unfortunatly that was not to be. The distro has a lot of resources with ftp space on osuosl.org and more backup with vault networks all free to use as they have donated there service to continue our quest.
so with this post I am reaching out to someone to please step forward and be willing to take this distro into the next generation of linux users. I can serve as communications officer and a tester just dont have the personal resources for full time development at this point in my life...........so lets make this happen this distro is way to important to so many people to let it go away because of neglect. By the way happy to see so many people care that this topic came up on the forum makes me happy!!!!

Cheers,
Vec

[MikeCindi]

Where does one find/recruit a "lead developer" since most users are not capable (willing perhaps but like me not enough technical ability)? It would also seem that within the Vector community this is not an available resource.

Is there anyone else (besides Moe-lnx) to organize and lead the process that Vec and nightflyer have pointed out? As Lyn has asked and I will echo are there any developers currently? Bigpaws has listed the non-personnel resources and also pointed out what is needed.

[bigpaws]

I am glad Vec has not left.

The are not many left to take over. This forum as seen has not had much
in the way of posts or traffic in a long time.

I think a reevaluation of the direction for Vector is in order. At least create and or
recreate the "Vector Vision". 

To start that would be is there still interest in keeping Vector in 386? I know that
X86_64 was popular. At this point is anyone really using 586? I have a couple
systems that are 586 including an eeepc that is running Slackware.

As far as development there are a couple hurdles in the path forward.

The biggest is systemd. The next is handling EUFI. Then should grub be the boot loader
or lilo?

We need users and developers to speak up. Have a say in the path forward.

Following Slackware is possible and may be the easiest path since the last
real development has been about two years ago.

Bigpaws

[roarde]

There is/was a Canadian VectorLinux LLC. What's the status of that?

[MikeCindi]

I too was glad to read Vec's post.

As a practical matter piggybacking Slack again would be reasonable but the drift from that over the past several years
may present challenges. It would likely provide a path forward re: systemd, EUFI, and bootloader choice.

I personally don't care if 32-bit is offered. As a practical matter only continuing 64-bit development may be necessary.
This would easily still be in keeping with making older hardware shine as 64-bit has been the standard for many years now.

If there are no developers and only users in the Vector community the path forward is a dead end.

Perhaps being specific in what I am able and willing to do will help others respond so that it is better known what the
personnel resource is:

• I can commit 5-7 hours/wk over the next few months to edit, email, run/edit simple scripts, or be a live body expressing
  the "company line".
• I have no formal programming or scripting experience but am willing to be educated given the above time constraint.
• I may be willing to commit financial resources if I am convinced there is a future for Vector. (Don't get your hopes up that
  I can bankroll this endeavor.  )

[bigpaws]

The responses so far are not very promising.

Bigpaws

[MikeCindi]

Sadly I'm seeing that.