Standing On (SolusOS) Two Legs

Hello everyone!

Sorry there hasn't been much news recently - Ikey and I have been working at a feverish pace to get ourselves up to where we want to be with SolusOS 2.  Today, I would like to post a quick update to share with the community on what we are doing with regards to SolusOS 2.  You can see some screenshots at the bottom of the page!

Ikey and I have a fully working bootable system that are currently experimenting with internally to build upon.  It does not look like much now, but that will be changing in the very near future.  It is a command line system at the minute, but it does have some key features.

This system, first and foremost, does use the PiSi package manager as we had originally intended.  This is a very powerful piece of software for managing systems and offers so much control in an easy to use manner.  We have always been impressed with this piece even years ago, and had always hoped we would be able to use it.  SolusOS 2 brings this to the user community, and we could not be happier with it.  It will allow us to address concerns with large package downloads, enable easier customizations, and allow us to get newer software into the repository faster.

This item will probably be the most shocking to many of you.  This system will not be based on Debian.  "What is it based on?", you may be asking.  Good question.  We decided to take a larger step forward than originally anticipated, and get back to the roots.  In following with a motto Ikey and I have always stood by, ("Innovate, not imitate"), we made the decision not to be based on any current distribution.  We evaluated many different bases, spent many sleepless nights debating, and could not make a good decision on any of them because it would have required a lot of modification to the bases.  Out of respect and hard work of other "base" distributions (Debian, Slackware, Arch, et. al) we opted to start from the ground up instead of trying to retrofit our vision into their work.  We felt in order to do it right this was the only solution, and does not diminish integrity of our design or someone elses work.

What does this mean exactly?  We have built our own base from the source system components out there, resulting in a purely bootstrapped system that we are proud of.  This is SolusOS as we have imagined it.  Going forward we retain ownership of our base, can collaborate on design, and there is no "upstream" that are providing us with packages.  In creating our own system, we are able to draw from other brilliant distributions where necessary, and create our own solution where we think it is best.  We are not bound to anyone else, and think that is a good thing.  It will allow us to deliver an experience we can be happy with to everyone, because without you there is no SolusOS.

This of course, does not come without downsides.  The amount of work, as you can imagine, is absolutely immense.  We are creating a full repository of packages for the system and aim so there is not going to be software missing, and so far great progress has been made (and continues to be made).  Driver support will be as good if not better than it is currently.  Not having an upstream puts us in a very busy position here, but it's one we embrace with open arms.

Exciting things are happening, and we look forward to sharing them!  Take a look at the screenshots below!

Justin