Mr. G Speaks About Creating the Gigastrand OS

By now, you have probably read the press release, maybe even seen the video, but you may be wanting a little more information on what ideas we have after we have the 1.0 version; or perhaps you want to know what it took to create the Alpha version; or what it is like to be creating an operating system for the first time.

Well, good news! I will be talking about that today.

The Concept

Gigastrand has had the idea to create its own operating system for about 5 years now. Since creating the concept, Gigastrand has done extensive research into how best to go about making this OS happen. It is only recently that things have fallen into place to allow us to pursue that goal.

Even though we had a development plan and goal, I knew Gigastrand would not be able to fund the initial development on its own. That is when we turned to Kickstarter 

Kickstarter required 2 things Gigastrand had never attempted before: A video and a prototype.

The Prototype

The prototype was created first. We took a PC and loaded Linux Mint 10 KDE. Then I customized it with graphics, loaded Wine and installed other software we wanted on the system.

We then tried a few ways of compiling the Alpha without success. One of those ways included the use of Ubuntu's Customization tool. The tool worked but not in the way we needed it to at the time. 

We soon turned to remastersys. The system was exactly what we were looking for and was a quick way to get the prototype built.

A.01

As I said in the video, the end result worked, but it is very much a Frankenstien's monster. Allow me to elaborate.

• When the system boots up, the boot menu is still Linux Mint 10.
• After the boot screen it shows the Kubuntu splash screen.
• The login goes back to Linux Mint 10.
• The OS startup screen is our startup screen and the OS has all of our customizations on it.
• When you boot from the CD, it has our logos on it.
• It then boots to LinuxMint 10 with the installer labeled "Custom CD Install"

So, a bit of work yet.

The Excitement

In a way, I feel a bit like Bill Gates creating the first Windows 1.0 (Except without the money or the fame). I am really looking forward to working on the project and have high hopes for the future.

The Future

So what are we going to do with this OS once we have it? Well, we are going to use it as a base for all of the projects and ideas Gigastrand has. We will be developing with it, for it, and around it. The proposed development schedule after that will be about once every year or so we will come out with a new release.