Recently Barry Kaller, founder of the Puppy Linux project, unveiled the release of the new version of experimental Linux distribution EasyOS 4.0 trying to combine Puppy Linux technologies using container isolation to run system components.
Each application, as well as the desktop itself, can be launched in separate containers, which are isolated using their own Easy Containers mechanism. The distribution package is managed through a set of graphical configurators developed by the project.
About Easy OS
Of the most important features that stand out from EasyOS we can find:
- Each application, as well as the desktop itself, can be run in separate containers, which are isolated using their own Easy Containers mechanism.
- It runs as root by default with privileges reset on startup of each application, as EasyOS positions itself as a one-user live system (optionally, it is possible to run under the user's 'place' without privileges).
- The distribution is installed in a separate subdirectory and can co-exist with other data on the drive (the system is installed in /releases/easy-4.0, user data is stored in the /home directory, and additional application containers are placed in /releases/easy-XNUMX). /containers directory).
- Encryption of individual subdirectories (for example, /home) is supported.
- It is possible to install metapackages in SFS format, which are images mountable with Squashfs that combine several regular packages.
- The system is updated in atomic mode (the new version is copied to another directory and the active directory is changed with the system) and supports rollback of changes in case of problems after the update.
- There is a run-from-RAM mode where the system copies itself to memory on boot and runs without accessing disks.
- To build the distribution, the WoofQ toolkit and package sources from the OpenEmbedded project are used.
- The desktop is based on the JWM window manager and the ROX file manager
Main novelties of EasyOS 4.0
In this new version of the system that is presented, we can find that significant structural changes were made, which made it possible to speed up the launch of programs and increase the responsiveness of the interface. It is noted that it is quite possible to work with the distribution on a system with 2 GB of RAM.
The system is completely rebuilt from OpenEmbedded-Quirky (revision-9) and Linux kernel has been updated to version 5.15.44. In addition to this, normal operation is highlighted, all operations are performed in RAM without being written to disk.
On the desk, the save icon is proposed for an unscheduled reboot of the results of the work stored in the RAM in the unit (in normal mode, the changes are saved when the session ends).
To compress the Squashfs file system, the lz4-hc algorithm is used which, combined with the work of RAM, made it possible to significantly speed up the launch of applications and containers.
The distribution of the img image in compressed form has been stopped to simplify its copying on the media.
Of the other changes that stand out from this new version:
- Simpler labels for desktop icons
- iotop partially broken in Easy Dunfell and Bookworm
- Zram with lz4 compression in kernel
- Correction of IO schedulers for the Linux kernel
- mksquashfs in initrd updated with lz4 support
- Statically compiled f2fscrypt utility in OE
- EasyOS .img file is no longer compressed
- JWMDesk and PupControl PET collided
- EasyShare now supports Android screen sharing
- scrcpy compiled in OpenEmbedded
- Phone DroidCam audio works
If you are interested in knowing more about this new release, you can consult the details In the following link.
Get EasyOS 4.0
For those who are interested in being able to try this Linux distribution, they should know that the size of the boot image is 773 MB and that they can obtain it from its official website. The link is this.