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helloSystem is a desktop system for creators with focus on simplicity, elegance, and usability.
Based on FreeBSD.
helloSystem 0.7 Released With Big Improvements For This Leading Desktop BSD OS
For those with extra time around the end-of-year holidays, helloSystem 0.7 is now available
as the newest update to this leading BSD-based desktop operating system that is inspired
by Apple macOS but powered by FreeBSD.
The helloSystem distribution splashed onto the scene at the beginning of this year in
wanting to be the "macOS of BSDs", including its own desktop UI modeled after Apple's operating
system. The helloSystem project has been making good progress towards its goals while to end
out 2021 is the v0.7 release.
With helloSystem 0.7 they have shifted to being based on FreeBSD 13-RELEASE rather than
FreeBSD 12. That alone is a big improvement for better hardware support and functionality
for this desktop platform.
Besides shifting to FreeBSD 13.0, helloSystem has an entirely new designed live system for
improved boot time (as much as 3x faster boots), a smaller ISO, no more initial ramdisk usage,
and other improvements.
The helloSystem 0.7 release also has initial support for exFAT file-systems, improved compatibility
with older NVIDIA GPUs by shipping the NVIDIA legacy driver now too, developer files are
now pushed off as a separate download, and other core system improvements.
The helloSystem 0.7 release also improves things on the desktop side with a "friendlier
boot experience", Chromium / Firefox / Thunderbird are now all supported browser choices in addition
to the default Falkon browser, keyboard shortcut improvements, and other improvements.
Downloads of ISOs and USB IMGs as well as more information on the exciting helloSystem
0.7 release can be found via GitHub. I'll have up some benchmarks and more thoughts
on the new release soon.
:: More ::
helloSystem 0.7.0 released, aiming to become macOS in BSD
Introduction: The latest version of helloSystem 0.7.0 has been released. The main changes
of the new version are to upgrade the underlying system, optimize the startup time, initially
support the exFAT file system, and completely rewrite the architecture of the live system.
The underlying system has been upgraded from FreeBSD 12 to FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE, a completely
rewritten live...
The latest version of helloSystem 0.7.0 has been released . The main changes of the new
version are to upgrade the underlying system, optimize the startup time, initially support
the exFAT file system, and completely rewrite the architecture of the live system.
Upgrade the underlying system from FreeBSD 12 to FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE
Completely rewritten live system architecture The startup time of the live system has been
increased by 3 times ISO file size has been reduced to under 800
MB (suitable for CD-ROM) No longer copy the entire file system to RAM
No need for initial ramdisk, no need to re-root Use uzip to compress ufs file system image
in live system, not zfs Graphical desktop can be launched early in
the boot process helloSystem is now compatible with Ventoy,
which means it can be booted from ISO files stored with Ventoy along with other ISO files
on disk Developer files (including compilers, header
files, object code files, developer documentation, etc.) can now be downloaded separately
Improve compatibility with older NVIDIA graphics cards by providing multiple versions of NVIDIA
drivers Initial support for exFAT file system
helloSystem is one of the most popular BSD desktop releases. It provides a sophisticated
desktop experience and hopes to become the macOS in BSD.
The helloSystem project has a design goal similar to macOS, that is, "can work normally",
and it does not require much configuration to bring a good out-of-the-box desktop experience.
helloSystem is based on FreeBSD. In addition to the design concept, the helloSystem desktop
environment has also been configured to look like the early MacOS X desktop.
:: More ::
With the Christmas holidays approaching, we have a new version of one of the variations
on FreeBSD. The helloSystem 0.7 operating system (also inspired by macOS) is moving
from FreeBSD 12 to FreeBSD 13, which means, among other things, support for a lot of new
hardware. It also brings a new live system that speeds up boot time (up to a third, thanks
to the use of zip-compressed UFS instead of ZFS for the live system), ISO is smaller (less
than 800 MB), no longer uses a ramdisk, etc.
This version also brings support for exFAT formatted partitions (which also means SDXC
/ SDUC cards). Compatibility with the Nvidia GPU has been improved (the system also offers
the old legacy Nvidia driver for operation with various cards). The default browser is
still Falkon, but it is possible to switch to Chrome or Firefox (Thunderbird is also
not missing).
:: More ::
Release of helloSystem 0.7 distribution using FreeBSD and similar to macOS
Simon Peter, creator of the AppImage self-contained package format, has released the helloSystem
0.7 distribution, based on FreeBSD 13 and positioned as a system for ordinary users,
to which macOS hobbyists who are unhappy with Apple's policies can migrate. The system is
free of the complications inherent in modern Linux distributions, is under complete user
control and allows former macOS users to feel comfortable. To get acquainted with the distribution
kit, a 791 MB boot image (torrent) has been generated.
The interface resembles macOS and includes two panels - the top one with the global menu
and the bottom one with the application bar. The panda-statusbar package developed by the
CyberOS distribution kit (formerly PandaOS) is used to form the global menu and status
bar. The Dock is based on the cyber-dock project, also from the CyberOS developers. To manage
files and place shortcuts on the desktop, the Filer file manager is being developed,
based on pcmanfm-qt from the LXQt project. The default browser is Falkon, but Chromium
is optionally available.
ZFS is used as the main file system, and exFAT, NTFS, EXT4, HFS +, XFS and MTP are supported
for mounting. Applications are delivered in self-contained packages. To launch applications,
the launch utility is used, which finds the program and analyzes errors during execution.
The system for building Live images is based on the toolkit of the FuryBSD project.
The project is developing a series of proprietary applications, such as a configurator, an installer,
a mountarchive utility for mounting archives into a FS tree, a utility for recovering data
from ZFS, an interface for partitioning disks, a network configuration indicator, a utility
for creating screenshots, a Zeroconf server browser, an indicator for setting volume,
utility for setting the boot environment. For development, the Python language and the
Qt library are used. Supported components for application development, in decreasing
order of preference, include PyQt, QML, Qt, KDE Frameworks, and GTK.
The main innovations in helloSystem 0.7:
Migrated to FreeBSD 13.0 codebase (previous release was based on FreeBSD 12.2).
A new architecture for working in Live-mode has been implemented, which works without
a RAM disk, without changing the root partition and without copying the system image to RAM.
Instead of the ZFS file system, the UFS file system is compressed using uzip. The start
of the launch of the graphical environment has been moved to an earlier stage of loading.
As a result, the size of the live image was reduced from 1.4 GB to 791 MB, and the boot
time was reduced by three times.
Compatibility with the Ventoy toolkit is provided, which allows you to boot several different
iso images from one media.
Added support for exFAT file system. A separately downloadable set contains files
for application developers, including compilers, header files, and documentation.
Improved compatibility with older NVIDIA graphics cards (added several different NVIDIA driver
versions).
The design of the loading process has been changed. By default, the text console is not
provided. Added translations for many applications,
configurator dialogs and utilities.
In addition to the default Falkon browser, the ability to quickly install the Chromium,
Firefox and Thunderbird packages with support for the global menu and native window decoration
is provided.
The menu provides display of hot keys leading to the call of the corresponding menu items.
Provided visual highlighting of selected menu items. By default, the display of icons in
the context menus is stopped.
Implemented the ability to change the volume and brightness of the screen through the corresponding
multimedia buttons on laptop keyboards
In the terminal emulator, Command-C and Command-V commands work in line with the processing
of these commands in other applications (to execute Ctrl-C, you need to press Command-Shift-C
or Ctrl-Command-C).
Added support for system sounds in the file manager and sound warnings in the message
dialog. If it is impossible to start a graphical session
for a certain time, an error message with useful information about the equipment is
displayed.
The file manager provides support for renaming disk partitions (by executing the diskutil
rename command), displaying their text labels and linking icons to the partition. Added
the ability to open a disk image by double clicking.
Added makeimg utility for creating disk images. Added a utility call for formatting disks
to the context menu.
Removed the program for keeping sticky notes from autorun.
For audio devices, the ability to call the equalizer is provided.
Fully unfinished experimental possibilities are collected in the "Under Construction"
section. Utilities are available for testing for installing package updates and applying
patches from FreeBSD, writing to optical disks, loading kits with additional applications
and installing the Debian Runtime with an environment for running Linux applications.
Thanks for watching,
I hope you enjoyed this video,
If you did hit that thumbs up button, it helps me to make good content for you, other then
that, I will see you in tomorrow's video, peace out.