Free and Open Source Software

@weirdwriter @foss

there was a Linux distro for writers but it appears to be dead. Anyone have links to similar distros for non technical writers?

I think if you are going to create software that is "for X" (e.g. for writers, for music producers, for electricians, etc.) a Linux distro is not the correct category of tool to use. A better tool would be a "software suite," or a "metapackage." For this, you should just install a common Linux distribution like Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Pop!_OS, and then search that distro's software repository for a writers metapackage, or packages tagged with writers tools.

According to that article you linked, you really just need 4 applications: LyX, GIMP, "gv", and Dillo, all of which are available in the Ubuntu repository.

A Linux distro is not a software package at all, really, it is a service. It is a group of people that provide a reliable and up-to-date set of software tools that all work together. They have to regularly compile updates to the hundreds or thousands of software packages, and test each one to make sure changes to some of the underlying library code has not cause the application to break. Then they have to distribute these packages to the users of the distro, nowadays over the Internet, but many distros used to do CDs or DVDs as well.

So really, you should choose a Linux distribution based on whether they have the software you need, and based on how often they upgrade their software packages (are you getting the latest versions or do you have to wait years to get the latest and greatest), and also based on how much you trust the service provider, and based on how reliable their package delivery service is (i.e. how reliable is their website).

(See also: how to pick a Linux Distro)

Just in case no one comes along with a better answer; I would say it’s just too niche a use-case to expect a whole distro to be maintained for it. A super stable/popular distro like Ubuntu, Fedora, or Mint will be easy enough to use that I would consider downloading all the apps you’d need for writing to be feasible for a “non-technical” person. i.e., just as easy (if not easier, thanks to Flatpak) as doing so on Windows.

I was wondering how it saved files if it’s livecd only:

“At the moment, GhostWriter can save files only to a diskette. It can’t write them to to a hard drive or a USB drive. Admittedly, saving files to a floppy is easy. The desktop menu includes commands to mount and unmount a diskette drive. But many newer computers don’t come with floppy disk drives.”

This project seems like something someone made for themselves just to fuck around. I don’t know why anyone else would need this.

A separate OS for writing is such a weird niche project that I doubt anyone else done something like that. Not exactly a live CD solution, but I recommend using a normal general purpose distro, such as Fedora and installing any programs you need on it.