I installed a really neat drupal plugin to integrate the mailing list with peoples drupal profiles, problem is that while it looks nice it doesn't actually work.

So from now on the module will be disabled and instead there will be a link in the main navigation directly to mailman. Everyone that sent a subscription request will get signed up.

Sorry about that everyone.

There has been a lot of talk about the StormOS installer which is basically the Nexenta Core Platform 2 installer with a few modifications. Most of this talk has about how slow (which has been fixed) it is and user unfriendly (which has not been fixed) it is.

For a server its fine but it's not for the desktop, so we have a few options the way I see it.

Lately I've been getting a lot of emails from people asking about StormOS...

I don't mind answering peoples questions about StormOS (in fact I enjoy it) but since a lot of these questions are the same and the information in them could be useful to others I think they could be somewhere better than my inbox.

Please: If you have a question or some useful information post it on the forums or mailing list so everyone can see it and not just me.

\rant

Most of GNOME 2.26 works quite well and in many respects better than Xfce4.6 with the exception of the policykit stuff which is on the TODO list.

The next version of StormOS is making great progress. So far:

• Xorg from Jaunty has been backported and works great and there are also more graphics drivers than before (xserver-xorg-video-all now actually installs!)
• Alien has been hacked to better support OpenSolaris packages and can now install VirtualBox Guest additions (mouse pointer integration + video driver is working)
• Xfce has been updated to 4.6
• GNOME 2.26 is work in progress
• Finally switched from libnspr4 to libnspr4-0d
• D-Bus is now working properly

Build System

Maintaining StormOS has become a very time consuming and error prone process, so in an attempt to fix this I am giving multistrap (created by emdebian) a try.

StormOS Hail Beta 2 is now ready for download here.

Main features of this release:

• Updated packages
• Faster installer that installs in around 5 mins
• Better VM support, now works in 32-bit VirtualBox and VMware
• Live CD + Install CD are now part of a single ISO
• Bug fixes all 'round

Known issues:

• Live Session wont work in VMware but it will work fine once installed
• Still have GNOME icon in GDM theme

Enjoy!

I seem to be building at least an ISO a day, so why don't I let people play with these? Daily StormOS Hail Beta 2 builds will be available here until it's ready for a proper release.

The much requested StormOS Hail Beta Live CD is now out and available from the download page so you can test your hardware support and play around with StormOS without installing it.

Now its time to focus on what's ahead for Hail Beta 2... and getting to Gran Canaria Desktop Summit.

Gran Canaria Desktop Summit, the first co-located GUADEC and aKademy (held 3rd to 11th of July) is fast approaching and I'd really like to attend.

It will be a great way to raise StormOS awareness and get more people involved with the project (currently I am the only developer).

In order to go I need a travel and accomadation sponsorship, can anyone help?

Update 3: The first donations have started coming in! In order to be able to attend GCDS I need to reach my goal by the 26th ideally. Thanks.