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A couple of friends of mine (Linux enthusiasts) asked me the other day why the screen shots I was showing them were in Windows.  And they had that betrayed friend look on their face. I actually felt bad for using it when they asked the question.  But when I went to explain my reason to them, I found that it was legitimate and could not be helped.

I’m really into programming and development and all that.  And I know what all you Linux advocates are going to say.  We have IDEs!  We have everything you need to program!  Yes, that’s true.  Linux does have programming IDEs, and everything I need to program.  But, there’s a difference between needs and wants.  Linux doesn’t have everything I want to program.  It quite simply doesn’t have a Visual Studio equivalent.

As a programming noob, I enjoy writing my C# with code completion.  I enjoy visually designing my programs.  I enjoy the ease of usability customized with great functionality and customizability.  Those are all the reasons I love Linux, but are the same reasons I can’t be on it every second of my programming life.

I’m also very into game development, and one of my favorite programs is RPG Maker XP, which I wrote a post about earlier.  This program is only available on Windows,  so in order to work on my game I have to be on my Windows partition.

Another program I use is Paint.NET.  I use this to do Pixel Art for my games.  This too, is only available for Windows.  Some of you may say, “What about The GIMP!?” LEt me tell you about The GIMP.  If I have to go to the taskbar one more time to select a tool, because The GIMP runs five different windows, I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.  Doing that just causes me so much frustration.

When it comes down to it.  The three programs that I use the most besides a web browser, can only be used on Windows.  So why wouldn’t I use it?

I asked this question over at the Ubuntu Forums, but I wanted to elaborate more on the subject here. In case you don’t know what Ubuntu is, it is one of the many distributions of Linux. Ubuntu, just like Linux, also has many flavors. There is Linux Mint (a distro aimed at noobs), Ubuntu Studio (a distro aimed at the arts), Mythbuntu, and more.

I have been thinking, and apparently, so have other people in the Ubuntu Idea Pool. There isn’t much of anything for developers and programmers in terms of out-of-the-box usage in Ubuntu, which has lead to the idea of Devbuntu. Devbuntu would be a new flavor of Ubuntu aimed at developers and programmers. The reason for creating a seperate distro is simple, including many programming applications would only bog down Ubuntu for the regular desktop users. Here’s a list of the features I hope would be included in such a distro:

• Specialized packages that are streamlined and optimized for specific use with Devbuntu.
• Supports all modern development languages, and include the option to add on old, outdated languages for the hobbyists out there.
• Includes all the best development libraries, and has the option of installing others.
• Includes testing frameworks such as junit and phpunit.
• Includes the best IDEs for each language, plus the ability to install others.
• Include the best GUIs for FTP, SFTP, SSH, etc.
• Ability to install virtual machines, they would bog down the machine if they come pre-installed.
• GUIs for SVN and CVS.
• Team collaborating tool, which would sync all the code together, including the revision number, who made it, live chat, and maybe more.
• Include the option for various syntax highlighting code writing apps, such as jedit.
• Create one repository that would allow Ubuntu users to easily upgrade to Devbuntu by adding the Devbuntu repository, similar to Ubuntu Studio.
• Cuts out all the fluff included in Ubuntu and creates a basic programming environment with no eye-candy or distractions, but allows the user to install the features if desired.
• Includes the best GTD and mind-mapping software.

That’s all I can think of for now. I might add some features to this later. Tell me what you think of it, and also tell me if you would like to help out with this project, because if there is enough demand for this distro, I will certainly go ahead with creating it.   Also, which windows manager should be installed by default, KDE, Gnome, etc…?