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diff --git a/content/blog/2022-09-17-serenity-os.md b/content/blog/2022-09-17-serenity-os.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d58805c --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2022-09-17-serenity-os.md @@ -0,0 +1,117 @@ ++++ +date = 2022-09-17 +title = "Serenity OS: Testing Out a Unique System" +description = "A quick look at the Serenity operating system." ++++ + +## Overview + +[SerenityOS](https://serenityos.org) is a unique operating system (OS) +that I have seen pop up in my news feed a few times over the last few +years, but I have never had time to test it out until now. + +Testing out this system brought back fond memories of yellowed, +modem-screeching, 100-pound computers that brought so many fond memories +to my youth. + +Per their website: + +> A graphical Unix-like operating system for desktop computers! +> +> SerenityOS is a love letter to '90s user interfaces with a custom +> Unix-like core. It flatters with sincerity by stealing beautiful ideas +> from various other systems. +> +> Roughly speaking, the goal is a marriage between the aesthetic of +> late-1990s productivity software and the power-user accessibility of +> late-2000s *nix. +> +> This is a system by us, for us, based on the things we like. + +## Building + +Your first question may be "Where's the iso?" and the answer is... +there are none. SerenityOS does not provide pre-built images for +testing. You must build the images yourself. This seems intentionally to +limit participation to only those who are truly interested enough to +learn how to build the OS. + +### Clone + +In order to get started, you'll need to clone the source repository: + +```sh +git clone https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity && cd serenity +``` + +### Build + +Note that I followed the [Build +Instructions](https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/blob/master/Documentation/BuildInstructions.md) +in the SerenityOS repository as of commit +`660d2b53b1206e868d5470eee80b5e62d7e30da7`. Things may have +changed since my installation, and you should double-check the +instructions first. + +Regardless, I want to repeat my steps here to illustrate any errors or +differing commands I needed to run in order to build and run SerenityOS. + +Since I am running Fedora, I needed to install these packages in order +to build the OS images: + +```sh +sudo dnf install texinfo binutils-devel curl cmake mpfr-devel libmpc-devel gmp-devel e2fsprogs ninja-build patch ccache rsync @"C Development Tools and Libraries" @Virtualization +``` + +Next, make sure you're inside the `serenity` directory +created earlier during the git cloning process and process to build the +toolchain: + +```sh +Meta/serenity.sh rebuild-toolchain +``` + +Once the toolchain is built, you can Build and run the OS! + +```sh +Meta/serenity.sh run +``` + +After this process is completed, the image should run automatically and +launch. + +## Issues + +I played around in SerenityOS for an hour or two in order to see what I +could do and had a lot of fun with it. The only issue I ran into was a +lack of working internet. I didn't try very hard, but I could tell that +the main network link wasn't connecting to my Fedora host properly. + +## Screenshots + +The initial launch of the image displays the SerenityOS desktop, with a +simple terminal already launched: + + + +Here you can see the Fire application (literally just shows fire +burning), a browser with the local Serenity Browser page loaded, and a +text editor. + + + +I also poked around the system utilities and found most tools you'd +expect to find within a standard desktop. + + + +Lastly, I noted that the default desktop contains numerous pre-defined +themes to choose from. This is a small piece, but it's actually +wonderful to see desktop developers consider theming directly out of the +box rather than using an addon-based mentality. + + + +I didn't take a screenshot of the other pre-installed games, but I did +spend nearly 30 minutes playing Solitaire before remembering that I was +supposed to be writing a post about the OS. |