Welcome to PC/OS

So what's unique regarding PC/OS. It's the first Linux based distribution that provides ease of use out of the box. It provides all multimedia codecs out of the box, an easy to use and simplified interface. Great compatibility with older hardware to help you extend your hardware and software investments. Being based on Ubuntu Linux all software and hardware that is compatible with Ubuntu is compatible with PC/OS. Our mission statement is summed up in two words "Simplified Computing"


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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Revisiting the past

So the questions have been rolling in and so we decided to answer some of the questions.

First, why are we going back and revisiting the original GUI concept?  The fact is we improved upon it.  We had a lot of people that loved the original look and feel, Cris the GUI guy pretty much revamped everything from the Murrina engine, matching it up with the SVN version and highlighted the window controls more.  We here at PC/OS live by our mission statement, simplified computing and it appeared to many of us that we were getting away from that so we applied the brakes and said whoa.  Lets get back on track and thats what we did.  We went from ground zero and restarted.  While some loved some aspects of PC/OS 2009, we created a hybrid of that and the original design.  The single shelf with the original GUI concepts.

Second, why include GNOME.  Well there are a lot of GNOME users in the SMB and home office userbase who dont want to change to XFCE, so we included the GNOME desktop for those people and put it in the retail version.  Will we do a KDE release?  That is being undertaken by another developer who will be responsible for that branch.  When KDE 4 reaches that level of maturity to where I feel comfortable putting my name and brand on it it will be released.  Myself and that developer have come to that understanding and he agrees wholeheartedly.  The KDE release and the E17 release when that comes to fruition will be placed in the unsupported section of the FTP site.  Those developers will be responsible for those releases.  Just so we have an understanding only the retail release of PC/OS OpenWorkstation will have the GNOME desktop.  Open64 Workstation being also a retail product will have GNOME included.  OpenDesktop and Open64 Desktop if there is one will NOT have GNOME, you can easily go to the repositories and install it at your own free will.  The 2009v2 release ends the LTS releases and maintenance packs will be released for those systems.  Rolled up ISO's will happen only when/if Ubuntu 8.04.3 is released.  Maintenance Packs  only update core applications and base system, any other updates are the responsibility of the user.  PC/OS 10 will be based on the newer Ubuntu releases.  PC/OS 10 will be a DVD release with Multimedia Packs and Developer packs offered separately.  Integration will happen with the retail releases only.  OpenCore and WebStation are not affected and will remain CD ISO's.  Webstation is a Web 2.0 app release so only things like multimedia playback are handled offline.  We may consider Firefox for WebStation due to Gears support.  OpenServer 8.5 will be released over the summer with the next server release coming with the next LTS release.

Third, it seems like PC/OS is becoming serious business.  It is becoming very serious.  Our distrowatch ranking is going up and we take this seriously and will act responsibly.  We are accountable for our releases, we are accountable for the success, we are accountable for the quality and we take that very seriously and are not taking our standing lightly.  Feedback is very important so keep it coming.  Good and bad, we appreciate it all.  Right now we have grown to 7 developers, with 2 only being responsible for KDE and E17.

Lets get crackin.

Posted by Roberto J. Dohnert at 11:38 PM

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PC/OS Roots

PC/OS roots are derived from the Ubuntu distribution. Ubuntu is created and maintained by Canonical Inc. and has a vast community support system. By basing PC/OS on this outstanding base we cover two grounds, a lot of the problems and fixes are in line with Ubuntu. Many fixes for Ubuntu and Xubuntu work on PC/OS. All software compiled for Ubuntu runs on PC/OS and should anything happen to PC/OS users can still get their fixes from Canonical and maintain their distribution and makes the migration smoother. The desktop is based off of XFCE and is laid out similar to the BeOS. PC/OS does not aim to be a ground up reimplementation of the BeOS but to be as simple to use as the BeOS was. The XFCE desktop is light,modern and powerful. It can be used to power the newest workstations as well as older hardware allowing you to get the maximum potential out of your investment.

What can I do with PC/OS

It is your computer, do with it what you want. if you want to watch that Windows Media file, go right ahead. Your music files not in .ogg, thats fine by us. Do you want to watch that flash video on YouTube? go ahead.

Of course, we do encourage the open route. Open Source doesn't survive without contribution but you as users should have the freedom to do whatever it is you want to do.

We also encourage consistency. XFCE is our desktop, not GNOME, not KDE, not TWM, not PWM. of course in accordance with our first part of the mission statement the others are available for download and installation.