The ZevenOS Project

[llelectronics]

ZevenOS is a Ubuntu based distribution with a touch of BeOS.

Since 2001 BeOS is no longer developed. We took some of the main advantages of BeOS and integrated them into our distribution

Including i.e. :

– Performance

– Compatibility and Ability to run on old Hardware

– Easy to use Interface (oriented at BeOS)

Therefor we recreated and recoded some of the basic BeOS programs for Linux.
Here is a desktop screenshot (do you get the BeOS feeling ?)

http://www.zevenos.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/2009-02-25-120442_1024x768_scrot.png

We added also some other programs, especially multimedia apps are included, like a SUPER Encoder that allows you easily encode or transcode audio and video files to any given format.

http://www.zevenos.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/2009-02-25-121534_1024x768_scrot.png

For Computerbeginners and Netbook users, we have an easy to use and fast graphical user interface that lets you start applications and manage settings.

http://www.zevenos.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/magi2-b491.png

The kernel version we are using is Kernel 2.6.27 wich is provided by Ubuntu 8.10 “Intrepid Ibex”

We included Ndiswrapper to have a larger support for Wifi cards with using the Windows Inf Drivers.

On the Desktop we are using the fast and lightweight Sawfish (Window Manager) Sawfish provides several themes. The standard theme is a BeOS look a like.

The default filemanager is Thunar which includes thunar-volman for handling HAL and Devices like Network Shares or external Hard Drives

The Office Suite consists of Abiword (for Word Processing) and Gnumeric (Spreadsheet)

For Multimedia Playback we included audacious (for mp3 playback) and Rhythmbox (for Music Management) and Mplayer (Videoplayer) + Avidemux (Video Editor).

Systemrequirements:

Intel Pentium or compatible CPU with minimum 500 MHZ

192 MB RAM

3 GB free HD Space

16 MB Graphicscard

Mouse, Keyboard and Monitor


It would be very nice to have new programmers, new hardware, document writers, graphic designers and more to support the work of ZevenOS .

Programmers that help porting the OpenBFS Driver to Linux.

Document writers that write small tutorials on how to use applications on ZevenOS

Graphic Designers to support us with fantastic new wallpapers, bootscreens and websites.

So if you think you can or want help or just test the distro, please visit our website : http://www.zevenos.com

[hansdown]

Hi llelectronics.

Thanks for that.

I think I'd like to do some distro testing.

[hansdown]

Downloaded the live cd from the mirror.

The torrent has no traffic at this time.

The live cd runs beautifuly. A dual boot may be in order.

[Rokurosv]

I've always been curious about this, I've never tried BeOS but it seems like it was an awesome OS. Is this Linux with some BeOS theme or does it integrate componentes of BeOS or something like that? It looks interesting

[hansdown]

Hi Rokurosv.

A fairly good history can be seen here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS

[Grant A.]

Isn't Haiku pretty much BeOS? I don't quite see in recreating all of this stuff for Linux when it already exists.

TBH, it may be better to merge your efforts to recreate BeOS with the already strong Haiku project, rather than scatter around man power by working on different projects for the same cause.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_(operating_system)

[hansdown]

This part is interesting.

Work on the operating system continues; Haiku can now be booted and is semi-usable. Much work remains before a release can be made. Network and Universal Serial Bus (USB) functionality is under heavy development, and the media_server lags behind the other components. Haiku is still quite unstable, as should be expected in its pre-release state, as crashes are prevalent. A date is not set for a release. As of January 2006[update], project developer Stephan Aßmus suggests that at the current level of development, R1 is at least a year away, maybe two.[3]

Zevenos is operational now.

[hansdown]

Update.

Zevenos is based on ubuntu 8.10

The desktop is gnome with some strikingly different twists.

[llelectronics]

The Desktop is not Gnome. Its based upon XFDEsktop , Thunar, our own Deskbar aswell as sawfish as our window manager.
This is very important and what makes it faster and lighter then Xfce (Xubuntu) and Gnome (Ubuntu).

We are also great supporters and testers of Haiku aswell. But as Haiku isn't/wasn't stable enough to use it from a day to day basis, we created two years ago ZevenOS. Haiku still needs at least this year to bring out Alpha 1 and it will take a lot more to release R1. But most of the old BeOS lovers want a stable desktop now.

Much happened since the start of the project in 2007 and we cloned some of the old BeOS apps and modernized them.
We are also using extended attributes filesystems like ext3 and jfs bring with them. So you kinda get what BFS had back then.

[llelectronics]

Update:
We released version 1.9 (2.0 Preview) based upon Ubuntu 9.04 :)

Feel free to test and comment

http://www.zevenos.com

[0per4t0r]

The icon to install is borrowed from ubuntu. In fact, it has the ubuntu logo. But, still, it looks nice.

[llelectronics]

It is in fact a Ubuntu system underneath the GUI. :)

We are using the same installer.

[liquid boy]

just downloaded 1.9 and tried it out last night. it's pretty sweet, maybe a few things with the deskbar that could polish it up a bit (maybe having the system tray in the bar, and the menu icon change colour slightly when pressed down) i don't know if these are possible, as i'm not a programmer, just musician :)
but otherwise, a pretty sweet set up.

well done

[NormanFLinux]

BEOS on Ubuntu? This is one of those arguments that will never end! ;)

[the Arbiter]

is there a haiku theme for sawfish wm?

[llelectronics]

There will be a Haiku Theme included in Version 2.0

Btw.
VERSION 2.0 (http://www.zevenos.com) is out ;)

[NormanFLinux]

Cool!

I'm downloading it now and look forward to checking it out!

[NormanFLinux]

It does look and feel like Haiku... but the underlying shell is Ubuntu. It combines the best of Linux and what BEOS used to be. Wireless works out of the box and the rest is intuitive. It should definitely be checked out by Haiku fans! ;)

[UbuntoJO]

ZevenOS is cool enough to garner my attention...I think I'm going to dual boot it. Great Job guys!

[toupeiro]

ZevenOS is cool enough to garner my attention...I think I'm going to dual boot it. Great Job guys!

Just curious, but fanboy enthusiasm aside, what does this actually provide that ubuntu can't or doesn't?

[NormanFLinux]

Its stock Xubuntu modified with a BEOS GUI interface. If you liked BEOS, you'll like ZevenOS.

[UbuntoJO]

Its stock Xubuntu modified with a BEOS GUI interface. If you liked BEOS, you'll like ZevenOS.

they replaced xfwm with sawfish wm also...it goes a little deeper than retheming.

that other question I won't lower myself to even answer it. ;)

[toupeiro]

they replaced xfwm with sawfish wm also...it goes a little deeper than retheming.

that other question I won't lower myself to even answer it. ;)

Lower yourself enough?! I'm sorry, but I hardly think uprooting an entire OS for essentially the same thing sans a wm change warrants the effort unless it can provide something more than nostalgic shininess. I want to know where the beef is, basically. Sorry if thats beneath you. ;) Sorry if that screams elitism to me enough to stay far away from it.

[UbuntoJO]

Lower yourself enough?! I'm sorry, but I hardly think uprooting an entire OS for essentially the same thing sans a wm change warrants the effort unless it can provide something more than nostalgic shininess. I want to know where the beef is, basically. Sorry if thats beneath you. ;) Sorry if that screams elitism to me enough to stay far away from it.

I can't stoop to a question with the term "fan-boy" in it. Also, all linux distro's can do just about the same thing right? But you know that so,

OK...to answer your question since I've already stooped :razz: , I'm using Ubuntu 9.10 x 64 right now. I went back to Ubuntu from Slackware just because programs were easier to find. With stability being key to me, I might consider ZevenOS if I kept the stability and easy program availability (which it should) if I could pick up some speed on the desktop, and I just plain liked the look and feel of it.

Don't know what else to tell you but check out the liveCD. Check it out and tell us what you think about it....distro hopping is a major sport around these parts....:)

[SLEEPER_V]

I can't stoop to a question with the term "fan-boy" in it. Also, all linux distro's can do just about the same thing right? But you know that so,

OK...to answer your question since I've already stooped :razz: , I'm using Ubuntu 9.10 x 64 right now. I went back to Ubuntu from Slackware just because programs were easier to find. With stability being key to me, I might consider ZevenOS if I kept the stability and easy program availability (which it should) if I could pick up some speed on the desktop, and I just plain liked the look and feel of it.

Don't know what else to tell you but check out the liveCD. Check it out and tell us what you think about it....distro hopping is a major sport around these parts....:)

I tried the download and had a heck of a time getting it. Zeven site was no help.

[SLEEPER_V]

I finally got a torrent with seeders. I'm seeding and installing virtually now. I'll see how I like it.

[toupeiro]

I can't stoop to a question with the term "fan-boy" in it. Also, all linux distro's can do just about the same thing right? But you know that so,

OK...to answer your question since I've already stooped :razz: , I'm using Ubuntu 9.10 x 64 right now. I went back to Ubuntu from Slackware just because programs were easier to find. With stability being key to me, I might consider ZevenOS if I kept the stability and easy program availability (which it should) if I could pick up some speed on the desktop, and I just plain liked the look and feel of it.

Don't know what else to tell you but check out the liveCD. Check it out and tell us what you think about it....distro hopping is a major sport around these parts....:)

Wow, you're very hyper-sensitive to the term "fan boy" I obviously hit a nerve, thus you're probably exactly the opinion I was trying to avoid. I don't really care about uprooting an entire OS for the sake of getting a different window manager. This is linux, I can run sawfish if I want to. When it comes to linux, a Window manager by default is a pretty empty reason to change the whole framework, especially when the majority of the framework will remain the same in the sense of ZevenOS to what I am running already. I was hoping there was something more to ZevenOS that would be intriguing and worth the effort. I was hoping to get some real meat and potatoes responses of the differences without all the Nostalgia of being tied to a dead OS that had great potential, but it appears ZevenOS is just another ubuntu variant in shiny new wrapping. Thats fine, I was just curious if it was more than that.. You want to get defensive over the use of Fan boy, that pretty much gives me a generalized idea of who this distribution is geared for. BeOS lovers will rejoice, I am sure, but obviously something I'll pass on.

Edit: For the record, If someone comes out with Amiguntu and makes it look like Workbench 1.3, my first exposure to computing, as much of an amiga fan that I am, if its ubuntu underneath, I'd still stick with ubuntu. :) Just so you don't think I'm picking on BeOS fan boys. We're all a fan of something. I don't see why it has to always be taken so derogatorily.

edit #2, since this is all based on *buntu, any chance you know of a repo where I can just add the changes to an ubuntu machine I am already running? I think that would be a much more unobtrusive way to make ubuntu look and feel like BeOS. Realistically, if someone liked the Live CD, they'd want to install it. Why should they have to reinstall everything and recover from backup if the changes are only cosmetic?

[koleoptero]

Can't someone change the screenshots in the first post with thumbnails?

[UbuntoJO]

Wow, you're very hyper-sensitive to the term "fan boy" I obviously hit a nerve, thus you're probably exactly the opinion I was trying to avoid. I don't really care about uprooting an entire OS for the sake of getting a different window manager. This.....snip....

lol...it was tongue in cheek.....I hear ya...I keep all my work in an XP virtual machine, so switching distro's is about a half hour task really. I even use my XP-VM under Win7Pro (old vertical market programs flaky in 64 bit).

I'm always on the look-out for something 'cool', cool to me is stable and snappy....I don't know if this one is it or not....they need to change everything to english first.

PS: I'm too old to be call a 'boy anything', but thanks for the compliment :p

[NormanFLinux]

It ships with its own tools so its more than just *buntu with a BEOS wrapping. Preserving the ease of use BEOS was famous for in a Linux kernel is a challenge. The reason for *bunu is its true, tested and tried. No need to completely reinvent the wheel.

[UbuntoJO]

It ships with its own tools so its more than just *buntu with a BEOS wrapping. Preserving the ease of use BEOS was famous for in a Linux kernel is a challenge. The reason for *bunu is its true, tested and tried. No need to completely reinvent the wheel.y

The only thing that turned me off was that 'static' menu....but they said they are working on creating a dynamic menu. i.e. new apps getting listed under 'more applications' rather than automatically categorized. YEs, I could tell is much more of an effort than retheming...that's what made me interested in it.

To go global, they need to make it ALL english...just a few bits are not.

[NormanFLinux]

Agreed. To really bring the ease of BEOS to *buntu means some additional improvements would be welcome. Its not just a simple retheming of Xubuntu. There's a conscious effort made to use the menu layout and features that made BEOS so beloved. It would be better to have Haiku up to speed but in the meantime the modern Linux kernel supports modern hardware and is easily configurable.

It looks like a distro with a promising future.


There are a few menu settings in German but I think that's in the LiveCD. Selecting English at the default installation should take care of naming issues and the few that are not can be renamed.

[llelectronics]

Newsupdate:

ZevenOS 3.0 is now out ;)
Get it fresh from http://www.zevenos.com

So the project is not dead ;) It still is alive. The release cycle is set to 1 year. So expect the next version to arrive November 2011

[bjnueva8623]

So this does everything that BeOS was able to do? Like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ticLQ4T_wVg

[llelectronics]

You can run more than 1 video thats true. ;)
Some other features especially multimedia features were added so audio and video editing becomes easier.
Its also optimized for speed and low ressource consumption.
As its based on Linux (and Ubuntu especially) it cannot compare to every detail and every feature that BeOS had back then.

[bjnueva8623]

Thank you for responding.
I was mostly interested in the Real Time Audio Control app at about 2:44 into the video. Does ZevenOS have anything similar to that?

[llelectronics]

Apparently not as we are using Ubuntus 10.10 base which is based upon Pulseaudio.
But you have always the option to install the realtime kernel together with Jack.

[NormanFLinux]

It can't be compared to Haiku. But compared to the previous version, it boots fast and now the Deskbar links can be edited. In the future, it would be cool to be able to add and remove icons from the Deskbar just like on a dog through native drop and drag support.

Docky is the biggest improvement over the deprecated Zeebar in that program icons can now be dragged to the dock from the usr/share/applications folder where they reside. There's no longer a need to edit icons and get program launchers set manually. I like it.

That works well with the BEOS feel of this distro.

[NormanFLinux]

It can't be compared to Haiku. But compared to the previous version, it boots fast and now the Deskbar links can be edited. In the future, it would be cool to be able to add and remove icons from the Deskbar just like on a dock through native drop and drag support.

[Total Noob]

I am using ZevenOS based on Ubuntu 9.4.

While most of the Xfce dropdown menu items appear in English, a number of them are in German or a similar language. Some of the dropdown menus have some items in English and others in the other language.

All my apps are in English, but I could not tell, for example, which menu item was "paste" so I could move files around and onto my desktop without opening File Browser.

I also could not find a settings or preference tab that would allow me to change everything to English.

Is there a way of doing that? I don't know any of that other language and the icons are too small to be able to pick them out.

Thanks.