Proposals for design updates and data reorganization for version 20.04

[JoshuaKimsey]

Originally, I had forked this project and begun doing some of my own updates to it, thinking that @FabioLolix might be AWOL and the project stagnant. I wanted to make sure it stays up to date, as this is used by several resources and content creators online, including the Wikipedia page describing Linux distributions. Now knowing that it is still active by way of #90, I wanted to describe some of the changes I have made and think should be merged into the main project itself. I will also include an ~SVG~ PNG with the changes I had made thus far so everyone can see what I am talking about more easily. :) (Apparently GitHub doesn't support SVG's so I'll post a PNG instead. Sorry for the small size, if you wanna see the actual SVG, I'll figure out how to get it to you. Look below the image for my suggestions.)

Backend Changes

• Include a binary executable of gnuclad with the program itself It is my strong suggestion that a binary executable of gnu clad be included with the Linux Timeline program. This is due tothe age of gnuclad, where it is hosted, and the rather poor documentation for compiling the program. To ease this process, I wrote a simple bash script to make using the executable easy with the already existing csv and conf files in the LT. This would make it much easier to use the program as a whole, and also ensure against any future issues accessing the gnuclad program.

Design Changes

• Removed all references to GNU, outside of the official license This is a result of an update post on the site where this was originally created and posted. In that update they say they aren't keeping it up to date anymore, and link here for the most up to date version (another reason to keep this one up to date! :) ). However, they also say that the list is no longer a GNU timeline, which reading through the FSF's (overly pedantic and restrictive) GNU guidelines is correct. I also have spoken with other Linux users about this Timeline and they also agreed that it is not a GNU/Linux Timeline, just a Linux Timeline. As such, I have removed all references to GNU in the timeline information, outside of the official GNU license. I also removed the GNU logo from the Tux logo as well. Overall, it does make it more succinct and cleaner looking in general, and brings it in line with the overall opinions of the Linux community.

• Changed Tux logo to the original logo by Larry Ewing I'm not sure how a different, but similar Tux logo got used in the Timeline, but I went ahead and fixed that. The new logo is the original logo by Larry Ewing, and re-illustrated in vector by Garrett LeSage, using Inkscape. It is released under CC-0 and it is only proper that the real Tux mascot be used on the Timeline.

• Updated color palette to look more modern and clean looking I updated the color palette of the information box and timeline to make it look cleaner and more modern. Namely be removing the gradients and choosing colors of a flatter and less saturated nature. There is more I would like to do, such as remove the shadows and 3D effects, but I am currently unsure how to do this. I also updated the colors of some of the distro lines to match the overall color associated with that distro, such as Debain, arch, ubuntu, fedora, etc. I also did this for the domains associated with the major distros.

• Added more domains for certain, well-known sub-distros I created more domains for a couple of well known, heavily used, and heavily forked distros, such as Ubuntu, SUSE, and Fedora. This was because those distros are so common today, and often highly forked in their own right, that they do deserve to stand out as being their own entity in some form, even if still forks of their own parents distros. The colors of those domains reflect the colors associated with those distros.

• Add more icons for major distros I attempted to do this, but having never worked with gnuclad before now, I had some difficulty getting it to work. I mainly wanted to add icons for Ubuntu, RHEL (if it can be done without copyright issues), Fedora, Gentoo, Arch, and Android. I feel as though just having Debian and Slack have icons is a bit... odd. The other major distros at least should have icons as well, and I'd suggest major distro forks like Ubuntu and SUSE should also have icons as well.

Data Reorganization

• Moved Android up to just below arch to group the main distros of Linux together After speaking with some other members of the Linux community, I made this decision on the basis that it is generally and largely accepted that Android is a distro of Linux, given that it is built on and kept up to date with the main Linux Kernel. Though this may have been controversial in the past, this seems a mute point to try and separate it now. This choice is also a reason for removing the GNU related wording from the information box at the top, as Android DEFINITELY isn't a GNU distro, though neither are most of the one's listed on the timeline either. Also, Wikipedia officially lists Android as being a distro of Linux, so that also means that Android should be listed along with the other major distros of Linux as well.

Overall, I think these changes really make the timeline look cleaner, more modern, and easier to discern the information from. I'd be very curious to know what your thoughts are on these changes. If you would like the SVG of it, let me know and I will see how to get a true copy of it to you, since GitHub doesn't support it. Please let me know what you think, and if you like the changes, how I can go about getting these new changes to you to add to the main timeline here. :)

[JoshuaKimsey]

Now that work is being done on the 2020 version of the Linux Timeline, was curious about what the thoughts were on my suggestions a few months back?