From 2be43cc479dfd4cfb621f14381330c708291e324 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christian Cleberg Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2024 19:46:20 -0500 Subject: conversion from Zola to Weblorg --- content/blog/2022-09-17-serenity-os.org | 110 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 110 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/blog/2022-09-17-serenity-os.org (limited to 'content/blog/2022-09-17-serenity-os.org') diff --git a/content/blog/2022-09-17-serenity-os.org b/content/blog/2022-09-17-serenity-os.org new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1fc6a27 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2022-09-17-serenity-os.org @@ -0,0 +1,110 @@ +#+date: <2022-09-17> +#+title: Serenity OS: Testing Out a Unique System +#+description: + + +* Overview + +[[https://serenityos.org][SerenityOS]] 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: + +#+begin_quote +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. +#+end_quote + +* 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: + +#+begin_src sh +git clone https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity && cd serenity +#+end_src + +** Build + +Note that I followed the +[[https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/blob/master/Documentation/BuildInstructions.md][Build +Instructions]] 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: + +#+begin_src 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 +#+end_src + +Next, make sure you're inside the =serenity= directory created earlier +during the git cloning process and process to build the toolchain: + +#+begin_src sh +Meta/serenity.sh rebuild-toolchain +#+end_src + +Once the toolchain is built, you can Build and run the OS! + +#+begin_src sh +Meta/serenity.sh run +#+end_src + +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. + +There is also a "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, such as a system monitoring +tool. + +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. -- cgit v1.2.3-70-g09d2