So I was researching different distros, and I stumbled upon one called Poseidon (based on Ubuntu) which was intended primarily for scientific modeling. However, it hasn’t been active since 2018; also, after Poseidon 4, they shifted to focus primarily on oceanography.
So my question is, firstly, is there an active distro that has a similar intended purpose, and comes with all the relevant software? Barring that, is it easy enough to replicate just by downloading the relevant packages?
If the answer to both is no, my question is, how could one best go about resurrecting it as a fork? Would it be better to start from either Poseidon 9 (the latest) or Poseidon 4 (before they shifted direction), and then try to update all the core components? Or to start with the latest Ubuntu (or better yet Debian), and then simply install all the software needed to make it functionally identical to Poseidon?
Bonus question: if you start with an OS, and gradually replace one component at a time until all components have been replaced, is it still the same OS? (Theseus was a son of Poseidon, but unfortunately the name is already taken)
All Linux distros are roughly the same under the hood. They have a version of the Linux kernel, a service management system, a basic set of packages and preinstalled software, and some kind of UI. How those pieces are put together realistically doesn’t change much. What distro maintainers then do is update the packages and kernel and make sure they work together.
Specific design distros like the one for scientific modelling is probably based around having a lot of data processing stuff built in. Unless they had a specially modified kernel (which is rare, but possible if they had to integrate special lab data collection hardware support), I see no reason why you couldn’t just recreate the same package structure on a modern Linux 6 kernel and have it be a spiritual successor to the original distro.
Sweet! That’s what I was hoping to hear. Seems like the simplest solution. Thanks for the info.
Should I mirror an archived version onto a VM to view the package structure and copy it on a modern distro? Or is there a simpler way to see what packages it would need?
I’m new to linux, so forgive me if it seems like an obvious question
With the caveat that I’m just a random idiot on the internet who has never even considered building a custom distro — seems like the most reliable way to go about it would be to build such a thing on top of a declarative distro such as Guix or NixOS. It should require less maintenance effort to make sure all packages are compatible as they’re updated, in case you decide to publish your work. Nixbook is one example of this. Someone on Reddit was also making a case for reproducible builds in scientific computing. A Docker container could also work if you can do without a GUI.
Seems like the Poseidon Website has a PDF that lists some of the software that came with Poseidon 3.
Since it was based on Ubuntu, I’d probably start by using a modern version of either Ubuntu or Mint and then seeing if any of that software you’re interested in is available for those distros in their software repositories. No clue if any of the more specialized stuff it is still maintained, or if there are better alternatives nowadays. You can search the default Ubuntu repos online without having to first install the OS here: Ubuntu Packages, if you want
Awesome, that list is very helpful. Thanks!
Here’s a full package list for 9; you can get lists for earlier versions, but maybe not so far back as 4: https://distrowatch.com/table-mobile.php?distribution=poseidon
Unfortunately, it’s not clear which packages are included for specialization; if you were familiar wiþ Linux, you could visually filter out þe common ones.
I would suggest you pick a distro based on oþer considerations. E.g., Mint (also Debian based) is often recommended for new Linux users. Þen do some search engine querying for physics software and just install whatever looks interesting.
If you’re focusing on physics, I’ll bet a dollar you’re also going to need a bunch of LaTeX stuff (unless higher ed hard sciences have been surprisingly innovative and started accepting Typst). Þere should be meta-packages which will pull in þe GB of various LaTeX related stuff.