Ain't that funny - or slightly disturbing!!
I had downloaded Sparky last night and given it a run. I was just getting my thoughts together regarding a post about it. Well, preempted as I am, here goes!
Sparky is based on Debian Wheezy Testing (which is actually the next Stable) and uses what looks like a rebranded Remastersys installer. However it wouldn't dd to a stick - had to use Unetbootin. It weighs in at 1.3GB, which is not exactly lightweight. So what's it got?
I'm not sure where you stand on what you expect from a distro, but I have a couple of simple guidelines. First up establish a key point - what makes your distro special. Next up establish a software angle - what bases are you trying to cover?
In the case of Sparky I had some major issues. The fact that it was Openbox would make one think that it was taking a minimalist approach, but at 1.3GB you would expect a comprehensive software package. You might also think that they would make a feature of their DE/WM choice. Sadly, none of the aforementioned are true.
There is a fine line to tread when proposing software choices - either establish a solid theme and supply software to that fit that theme, or supply a base OS with enough software to make it operational and then leave the rest to the user. The range of software was eclectic to say the least, and didn't establish a theme or a direction. It all felt too random. The software packaging is a bit of the kitchen sink approach - if you are going to include Abiword, Gnumeric and Wine, then you may as well bite the bullet and go Libre/OpenOffice. At 1.3GB I would expect no less than that. Wine - only if you HAVE to, and even then it compromises the system.
There was nothing special about the implementation of Openbox. Considering Openbox only consists of three config files in plain text there is no excuse not to put your own stamp on things. If you are going to the effort of knocking out a distro, make it different - well, a little bit anyway.
All up, it was a bit disappointing. It seemed to be distro-by-the-numbers with a random bunch of software that didn't seem to relate to real world computing. And it didn't celebrate the fact that it is Openbox - and I get real funny about that!
