Enso OS: A simple operating system for everyone, able run on any machine
enso-os.site
enso-os.site
When I look at ElementryOS, PopOS, PureOS, Etc...OS they all seem to ignore the irony that someone savvy enough to discover an obscure distro might not need everything to be a user friendly macOS-esque experience. It's rehashed, conceited, and insignificant. I could take Ubuntu Mate and tweak it with conky, i3wm and call it whateverOS, but I wont because I know anyone who ever found it could easily do the same first themselves. That's the great thing about Linux that we keep ignoring. Most people dont care about your config setup, it's still Ubuntu at th end of the day.
I'd argue that community developed *nix systems without corporate funding will never be for the masses. If you want to make an impact on Linux, fix upstream instead of adding onto the heap with abandoned projects that attempt to make the lives easier for a consumer demographic that has other interests than the OS that runs their internet browser and word processor.
Some of these savvy people discover these OS's and think they might be a perfect fit for their non-savvy relatives.
However once you (need to) go just a little step beyond the bounds of what the OS creator set for you everything simple comes crumbling down again and you are stuck with the complicated mess that is the Linux Desktop where freedom and customization is both its greatest feature and its greatest weakness.
Sure, I’m technically capable of doing all this myself. I don’t need the macOS-esque user friendliness. But I also don’t need takeaway food. But sometimes, home cooking is just a chore, yknow?
Most people want to be productive with their computers quickly, including most skilled users. If you like configurability, there's a plethora of options.
I deployed it on an old laptop for my relatives and it's been a worry-free experience since.
I had to deploy some non-free softwares (ex: Spotify, Google Chrome) but since they have their own APT repo they are kept up-to-date with the system updates.
In fact, Enso OS is pretty much a mix of Xubuntu and elementaryOS:
> The window manager is a fork from gala https://github.com/nick92/Enso-OS/tree/master/galal
> The Greeter is a fork of pantheon-greeter https://github.com/nick92/Enso-OS/tree/master/greeter
> The application menu is a fork of slingshot-launcher https://github.com/nick92/Enso-OS/tree/master/panther_launch...
> It also uses elementaryOSs AppCenter (renamed to App Hive) https://github.com/nick92/apphive
Well done, we've never had those on computers ever before.
Sure it's mostly just Xubuntu, a retheme/reskin of XFCE, with some personal touches in environment, bundled applications - but clearly there's been time and effort spent on configuring it well, to keep everything simple to use, with a feel-good presentation. I can see value in that.
The project also has wholesome and healthy goals, of being able to run on old computers/laptops, while respecting the users' privacy. There are certainly other "OSes" with similar goals, but I'd say, it's a positive contribution.
Using older hardware almost assuredly means using more power than more modern systems.
I've spent many, many hours over the years using and configuring Linux, and I keep coming back to the same conclusion.
Yes, Linux has much better privacy than Windows, but for many people, that's not a strong enough reason.
That is how I slowly moved back from a Linux zealot during university, into Windows/MacOS land as desktop OS.
If you want to use a non-mainstream programming language, chances are it won’t support windows.
Package managers are nice.
Using it on the desktop will help you become more familiar with the the server variants (applicable to both windows and Linux).