I’m putting this in the Off-Topic category because… it’s wild speculation at this point, not a plan, but… at the Fedora Social Hour last night, we tossed around the idea of making an old-school boxed set (like, you know, software used to be shipped in!). I put it to twitter
and the response is quite loudly in favor. So… maybe there’s something here. Let’s hear your thoughts!
I’ll save up right now in preparation.
I currently don’t have any Fedora Linux “swag” 
so having a “Deluxe Boxed Set” would be both something to show off and help me promote my favorite flavor of distributions, but also a way to deck out my toys and office 
But for real, I definitely agree with the majority of people on that Twitter chain. It is an awesome idea.
Oh! And… to be totally selfish, any possibility of some Silverblue and/or IoT related swag as well? As an optional bonus purchase?
I like stickers, hats and t-shirts.
A box set would be a cool dust collector to sit on a shelf somewhere. If you’re gonna do it, you got to do the whole late 90s early 2000s aesthetic. You know kind of maximalist design with all the ‘cool’ and ‘trendy’ features listed and screenshots.
It looks like the idea is to store the software on a USB thumb drive. I wonder if a blu-ray disc would keep for longer? Would a blu-ray disc have enough capacity for the whole “Everything” repository?
If I download the sqlite db for it from here: http://mirror.atl.genesisadaptive.com/fedora/linux/releases/34/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/8c2b9b7733384c2442750134bfcb0aa9fb8f9e87572d7628ef4cda0c6a2600eb-primary.sqlite.xz
sqlite> select sum(size_package) from packages ;
83595901675
83G unless I’m reading that wrong.
A dual-layer blu-ray disc can only hold 50G. Are RPMs compressed? Maybe squashfs could get it down to under 50G?
A BDXL disc can hold 100~128 GB, so that should be sufficient to fit everything?
But wouldn’t be the ultimate retro experience to ship your box set on a dozen DVDs? Mandrake came on 9 CDs right?
I wonder if there are places/areas in the world where BDXL disc would be preferable over the local internet connection? It might have more than just “retro experience” value in some cases?! I’m assuming the installation could be set up so it would find and use the disc when it is inserted rather than trying to download from the internet.
I imagine a place with a slow/no internet would also not have a BDXL reader.
Probably. But it might be easier to order an external USB BDXL reader than it would be to have a fiber optic line run from the nearest place that does have decent internet.
Im more arguing for a dozen DVDs 
I live in Can. But in an area where the only bit of transmission media coming from the internet is copper wire, and a “dry loop” at that. So I get 10Gb DL on a super fantastic day, but normally ~6GB. And I’m pretty sure I can buy an external BDXL reader from one of the many computer parts suppliers around.
So not all bandwidth constrained areas are technologically challenged.
I have Fedora swag, a bit of it anyways, but I would certainly cough up for a spiffy box set.
I would love to have a box for fedora, not on bluray anyway as i don’t have a bluray player, and pratically none have it, at least in my area
Still a dvd would be nice, maybe also to show support for fedora if the price is right…
I don’t think bandwidth is really actually the point… there’s not much practical use in having access to, say, Fedora 13, at any speed. The point of the DVDs would really be as a showcase for art. I personally like the idea of trading-card sized inserts (printed with the wallpaper on the front and info about that release on the back) instead, and arguably no actual media at all.
I was partially thinking along the lines of the “Digital Public Good” initiative that Fedora is pursuing. If remote places around the world will be encouraged to use Fedora Linux, then I could see where there might be a few schools, for example, in remote places that have no internet (I visited such a place a few years ago in Roraima). I think it might be more practical to copy the needed repositories to a large USB drive and mail it when such a need arises. But having an official boxed set that could be ordered shortly after each release might be an interesting option too.
I would buy a box of Fedora swag. Maybe include an install thumb drive for Fedora Linux 35 (at least Workstation, Server, IOT, and Cloud).
I think helping folks in remote areas that lack internet is good, but probably a different project from “Deluxe Boxed Set”.
I think helping folks in remote areas that lack internet is good, but probably a different project from “Deluxe Boxed Set”.
Exactly – this particular thing is meant more as a collectors’ item than anything practical.
Oh, I got ya, you mean EVERY Fedora image. Got em, not really interested now.