Endless Operating System

#1

Post by peterdemin » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 3:46 PM UTC

Re: Endless Operating System

#2

Post by khaledh » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 4:43 PM UTC

This seems to be just another GNU/Linux distribution.

I think the word "operating system" should be reserved for systems with sufficiently original kernel and/or system code.

Re: Endless Operating System

#3

Post by riffic » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 4:45 PM UTC

they seem to be positioning itself the same way Ubuntu was back in 2004 or so, before Canonical made a hard pivot into where they are today. That space isn't an easy one to operate in.

This is the distrowatch page describing the technical details underpinning Endless:

https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=endless

Re: Endless Operating System

#4

Post by GNOMES » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 4:46 PM UTC

khaledh wrote: post #2

This seems to be just another GNU/Linux distribution. I think the word "operating system" should be reserved for systems with sufficiently original kernel and/or system code.

I couldn't locate anywhere on the site where it noted the upstream distro.

For those that are curious, I found on Distrowatch that it's based on Debian.

Re: Endless Operating System

#5

Post by geocrasher » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 4:52 PM UTC

"useful resources for students and families"
"and even works without internet access."

"free for individuals and non-commercial use up to 500 computers"

I'm confused- who are they targeting? At endlessos.org, I found this:

"We're not changing the way technology works... we are working to make it better.

We develop our tools to meet the needs of real users with diverse technical challenges to work with.

We design them with access, agency, and usability in mind. This approach allows us to create as much positive impact as possible for our communities."

Am I the only one who finds such marketing speak to be a sure sign to run the opposite direction and stick with a well known FOSS distro?

Re: Endless Operating System

#6

Post by offtop5 » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 5:00 PM UTC

Actually I think students need to learn to use apt. I swear, the entire reason I got comfortable with the command line is because when I was 16 I couldn't afford a Windows license, and I ordered a free Ubuntu CD.

I'm still very good with the terminal and it serves me well in my six-figure career

Re: Endless Operating System

#7

Post by marcodiego » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 5:01 PM UTC

geocrasher wrote: post #5

"useful resources for students and families" "and even works without internet access." "free for individuals and non-commercial use up to 500 computers" I'm confused- who are they targeting? At endlessos.org, I found this: "We're not changing the way technology works... we are working to make it better. We develop our tools to meet the needs of real users with diverse technical challenges to work with. We design them…

AFAIK they are aiming the educational market. With some emphasis on developing countries and non-connected schools. The OS, for example, comes "with over 50,000 Wikipedia articles".

Re: Endless Operating System

#8

Post by dylan-m » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 5:03 PM UTC

GNOMES wrote: post #4

khaledh wrote: post #2

This seems to be just another GNU/Linux distribution. I think the word "operating system" should be reserved for systems with sufficiently original kernel and/or system code.

I couldn't locate anywhere on the site where it noted the upstream distro. For those that are curious, I found on Distrowatch that it's based on Debian.

Yep, Endless OS is built on Debian, although it has an immutable root filesystem with ostree. Users don't really touch Debian packages. System updates (and rollbacks) all happen atomically, with a reboot. This is a bit more ordinary now, but Endless has been a pioneer in that space. For desktop apps, it is focused on Flatpak, including a large library of Endless-specific offline content and learning apps in its own flatpak repository. Many of these have moved to Flathub, such as https://www.flathub.org/apps/details/com.hack_computer.Clubh....

There is a lot of stuff in Endless OS to improve the experience for users with limited connectivity. That's why there are so many simple apps with big content libraries, why ostree is very useful, among other things. We do a lot of stuff upstream, but you can get a pretty good idea what we're all doing over at https://github.com/endlessm/.

Re: Endless Operating System

#9

Post by jordache » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

offtop5 wrote: post #6

Actually I think students need to learn to use apt. I swear, the entire reason I got comfortable with the command line is because when I was 16 I couldn't afford a Windows license, and I ordered a free Ubuntu CD. I'm still very good with the terminal and it serves me well in my six-figure career

think about barrier of entry.

Your anecdotal life story of overcoming early challenges with linux, that benefited your subsequent career is likely not scalable to the entire human population.

I think any reasonable person will align with the notion that low barrier of entry, coupled with an engaging curriculum to grow their level of computing expertise, will net much greater success.

Re: Endless Operating System

#10

Post by crooked-v » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

offtop5 wrote: post #6

Actually I think students need to learn to use apt. I swear, the entire reason I got comfortable with the command line is because when I was 16 I couldn't afford a Windows license, and I ordered a free Ubuntu CD. I'm still very good with the terminal and it serves me well in my six-figure career

I'd add to that: 'toy' CLI programs like fortune, cowsay, figlet, rev, etc, and some simple examples on how to wire them together using pipes, redirection, and substitutions.