EasyOS Kirkstone-series 5.3.1
EasyOS was created in 2017, derived from Quirky Linux, which
in turn was derived from Puppy Linux in 2013. Easy is built in woofQ,
which takes as input binary packages from any distribution, and uses
them on top of the unique EasyOS infrastructure.
Throughout 2020, the official release for x86_64 PCs was the
Buster-series, built with Debian 10.x Buster DEBs.
EasyOS has also been built with packages compiled from source,
using a fork of OpenEmbedded (OE). Currently, the Kirkstone release of
OE has been used, to compile binary packages for x86_64.
Earlier releases of EasyOS compiled in OE are the
Dunfell-series and before that the Pyro-series. They have also been
compiled for aarch64 and EasyOS runs on the Raspberry Pi4.
The last release of the x86_64 Dunfell-series was January 10,
2023, version 4.5.5. The announcement and release notes are here:
https://bkhome.org/news/202301/easyos-dunfell-series-version-455-released.html
The version number is for EasyOS itself, independent of the
target hardware; that is, the infrastructure, support-glue, system
scripts and system management and configuration applications.
The latest version is becoming mature, though Easy is an
experimental distribution and some parts are under development and are
still considered as beta-quality. However, you will find this distro to
be a very pleasant surprise, or so we hope.
4.99 release notes
Version 4.99 is a Release Candidate for 5.0. Here are relevant
blog posts:
- mount-img
asks read-only or read-write — February 18, 2023
- The
langpack PETs are gone — February 17, 2023
- The
next-generation MoManager — February 16, 2023
- Enhanced
auto-translated local help — February 14, 2023
- Continuing
internationalization integrated into easy.sfs — February 13, 2023
- easy.sfs
internationalized, langpack PETs abandoned — February 10, 2023
- Fix
for Firefox getting deleted when SFS layers change — February 08,
2023
- FF
download improved — February 06, 2023
- Chromium
bumped, more pkgs compiled in OE — February 05, 2023
- Escaping
characters in translation strings in initrd — January 25, 2023
- xloadimage
and xserver-fb added to Kirkstone build — January 23, 2023
- Bringing
back run GTK apps in the initrd — January 23, 2023
- First
bootup 2-letter language asked in initrd — January 13, 2023
- Automatic
translation added to MoManager — January 08, 2023
- Started
developing automatic language translation — January 06, 2023
- gcc
problem in Kirkstone-series — December 25, 2022
- Meta-quirky
Kirkstone git repository created — December 20, 2022
- Kirkstone-series
packages rolled back and forward — December 07, 2022
- EasyOS
advancing to Kirkstone-series — December 05, 2022
In a nutshell, packages are compiled in the Kirkstone release
of OpenEmbedded, and EasyOS now has international translations builtin,
langpack PETs no longer used, nor are there separate per-language
builds.
4.101 release notes
Lots of bug fixes.
5.0 release notes
This is it, version 5.0-final, the official start of the
Kirkstone-series. More bug fixes, tweaks and some updates:
5.1 release notes
The big news is the "AppImage Installer".
5.1.1 release notes
Some small but important bug fixes. One package bump, AppImage
Installer improvements.
5.2 release notes
A complete recompile in OE and more AppImage Installer
improvements:
5.2.1 release notes
Significant improvements to Appi, the AppImage Installer, and
integration of the three package managers.
5.2.2 release notes
The big news is support for installing Flatpaks.
- Preventing
proliferation of dbus-daemon instances — April 15, 2023
- Maybe
fix monitor VertRefresh range — April 15, 2023
- Flatpak
does not work with ext4 folder encryption — April 10, 2023
- Empty
folders not recognized by git — April 09, 2023
- Package
manager tutorial updated — April 08, 2023
- Package
manager wrapper improved — April 08, 2023
- AppImage
Installer update fix — April 08, 2023
- Flatpak
Installer — April 07, 2023
- Flatpak
compiled in OE — April 06, 2023
- gnupg
signed-key-pair created in initrd — April 05, 2023
- Always
ask for root password at first bootup — April 05, 2023
- gnupg1
static compile in OE — April 05, 2023
- fr
and ru translation updates — April 04, 2023
...wow, as usual a feverish pace of development.
5.2.3 release notes
Fantastic rationalization of the "app" and "setup" desktop
icons.
5.2.4 release notes
Version 5.2.4 is identical to 5.2.3, except for script
/usr/local/easy_version/easy-update. The reason is explained here:
You do not need to update to 5.2.4. For any earlier release in
the Kirkstone-series (5.0+), download the script, remove the ".gz" off
the end (it is not really compressed) and replace the script at
/usr/local/easy_version/easy-update. The script is here:
https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64/releases/kirkstone/2023/5.2.4/easy-update.gz
Then wait for Easy 5.3 to be released, which will have the new
fscrypt v2. Then, when you click on the "update" icon, it will run the
new script.
If you boot Easy without a password, then this change in
fscrypt won't affect you. You won't need the new script, can just
update when 5.3 is released.
Or, if you boot without a password, but would like to change
to encrypted folders, then install the new script, and you will get the
opportunity to enter a password at first bootup after the update to 5.3.
If you are new to EasyOS, recommend that you wait for version
5.3.
5.3 release notes
The first release with fscrypt v2; please read the above to
update.
There are many more fixes and improvements not reported above.
See github commit history up-to today:
https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commits/3775c7c01d9cda9c16ada67f1aa0d4ec769af04a
5.3.1 release notes
Important fixes and improvements.
Plus fr and es translations. And more, see recent commits:
https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commits/a723c6b60c6ff2c0d5b10a3702a5692f386c2c1b
About EasyOS
Why would you choose EasyOS instead
of some other Linux distribution?
For a quick overview of how EasyOS is different from other
Linux distributions, read this:
https://easyos.org/about/how-and-why-easyos-is-different.html
You will notice that the download is quite small, yet contains
just about every application you would ever need, such as
Firefox|Chromium browser, LibreOffice, Gimp, Dia, Inkscape, Planner,
Homebank, Osmo, NoteCase, Celluloid and Audacious. There are powerful
system managers, such as NetworkManager, EasyContainers,
EasyVersionControl and BluePup.
BluePup for example, is a bluetooth manager, unique to EasyOS.
Another unique tool is 'easydd', a GUI or CLI tool for writing an image
file to SD-card or USB-stick.
Links
Website: https://easyos.org/
News: https://bkhome.org/news
Forum: https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewforum.php?f=63
We are very grateful to Ibiblio
for hosting EasyOS, right from the start:
https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64/releases/dunfell/
EasyOS has one mirror of ibiblio.org, thanks to NLUUG, here:
https://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/easyos/
Legal statement: https://easyos.org/about/legal-disclaimers-miscellania.html
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