Announcing the 64-bit KahelOS Desktop Installer version 12-25-2009

We kept our promise to release it within the week. We are pleased to give you the 64-bit version of the KahelOS Desktop Installer and now available for download. http://sourceforge.net/projects/kahelos/files/kahel-desktop-122509-x86_64.iso/download

KahelOS tries to maintain a complete Gnome distro using only just 1 CD installer. This 64-bit KahelOS Installer has included OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Evolution, Banshee, Tracker, Empathy, Gnote, F-spot and much more.

By default, the complete 'base-devel' packages are on the i686 version. However on x86_64, some 'base-devel' packages have not been included on the x86_64 ISO installer, due to the fact that the 64-bit packages are larger than the 32-bit packages. But If one wishes to use a x86_64 version of KahelOS, simply type pacman -S base-devel to install the base-devel packages.

What are the advantages of a x86_64 KahelOS Desktop over its i686 version?

- Speed Boost - A 64-bit application will run much faster than a 32-bit application when compiled natively for 64-bit CPU. The packages included in the 64-bit Kahel OS version are compiled specifically for 64-bit Architecture.

- Memory Allocation - A 64-bit OS can allocate a minimum of 4GB to 16 exabytes of memory for applications, which implies that applications have more access to hardware RAM than before.

- Processing Power - Images and videos rendered and processed on a 64-bit OS is much detailed and crispier. Rendering is also faster on a 64-bit OS.

Try it for yourself and find out to see the difference.

Kahel OS (Desktop Edition) DAEMONS and SERVICES.

check this post by joelbryan: http://forum.kahelos.org/topic/kahel-os-desktop-edition-daemons-and-services

Here's a brief explanation about the Kahel OS changes regarding the DAEMON process on the 122509 release, these changes does not came from Arch Linux but is exclusive for Kahel OS.

If you have noticed, the Kahel OS boot process is really fast, and GDM came up almost instantaneously. This is because the Kahel OS daemons have been changed to speed up the boot process and allow GDM to start up much quickly. The daemons have been divided into two groups, the DAEMONS and SERVICES. The DAEMONS starts up the important applications to load GDM, while the SERVICES will start after the GDM shows up and a user logged-in.

All DAEMONS and SERVICES will be executed as root, also DBUS will be automatically loaded by GDM so all SERVICES that calls dbus will find it. DBUS will run as system-wide message bus at the initial DAEMONS list and as a per-user-login-session daemon when a user logged in.. However if you prefer DBUS to run as a session message bus (this will affect avahi-daemon), remove the initial dbus on the DAEMONS list.

Kahel OS has a script /usr/bin/kahel-generate-rc for the generation of /etc/rc.conf, it is recommended that you modify the file /etc/kahel-system-profiles.conf if you plan to create an rc.conf profile.

The file /etc/kahel-system-profiles.conf contains the following lines:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# /etc/kahel-system-profiles.conf - Generator configurations for Kahel OS Linux
#

## This values will be parsed by 'kahel-generate-mkinitcpio' use to generate
## a mkinitcpio.conf file with KMS support.

KERNEL_MODULES="crc32c libcrc32c btrfs ext4 udf nilfs2 ahci"

## This values will be parsed by 'kahel-generate-rc' use to generate an rc.conf
## with Kahel OS's daemon execution and management.

USER_MODULES="acpi-cpufreq cpufreq_stats cpufreq_powersave cpufreq_userspace cpufreq_ondemand cpufreq_conservative freq_table cfg80211 lib80211 lib80211_crypt_wep lib80211_crypt_ccmp lib80211_crypt_tkip fuse usblp usb_storage"
DAEMONS="preload @syslog-ng @hal @gdm"
SERVICES="rpcbind fam @networkmanager @crond @alsa @cpufreq @avahi-daemon @bluetooth @cups @mono"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The script 'kahel-generate-rc' uses the USER_MODULES, DAEMONS and SERVICES fields, all compatible with the parameters that you use with /etc/rc.conf, so (!) to disable and (@) to start at background.

The USER_MODULES is the pre-seeded modules that you wish to be loaded by rc.conf MODULES by default. Also 'kahel-generate-rc' autodetects your modules then installed it along with your MODULES in rc.conf, 'kahel-generate-rc' smartly checks for any duplicate entries against the autodetected modules then it will remove one of them and retain only 1 entry.

The DAEMONS is the default daemons that will be loaded upon startup and load GDM.
The SERVICES is the daemons that will be loaded after GDM and when a user logged in.

The script 'kahel-generate-rc' will write rc.conf on your current working directory as default, unless you supplied it with '--install' parameter.

To install your changes, simply type 'sudo kahel-generate-rc --install', after that review the changes made by the script via editing /etc/rc.conf.

Then after that, you can reboot your system with your new configurations.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

- Joel Bryan Juliano

KahelOS Linux (Desktop Edition) Installer version: 12-25-2009

Sharing and giving, that's the Spirit of Christmas.

And so on this very day of “Gift-Giving”, three months after our first installer release 09-09-2009, we give you the new KahelOS Linux (Desktop Edition) Installer Version: 12-25-2009 . Download KahelOS Linux Installer at http://www.kahelos.org/downloads.php

KahelOS Linux now has Kernel 2.6.32, Xorg 7.5 and Gnome 2.28.2 by default.

One may ask, what is new, is it worth-giving and worthy of sharing your experiences and thoughts about this new KahelOS Linux (Desktop Edition) Installer?

We are glad to impart the new KahelOS Linux Installer developed to make it much more simple, easier and refreshing to use.

How is this possible?
-The setup installation has been simplified. The user is no longer required to type /kahel/setup at the installer boot, instead the installer will automatically just appear upon bootup.

-KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) is automatically detected as it has been installed by default, which means faster boot process, faster X server load, seamless graphical 3D effects, faster graphics, and an improved animated boot sequence.

-Faster bootup - the startup process has been tweaked enormously to speed up the boot process even on modest hardware configurations, also KMS helps the loading of GDM which makes the login screen appear faster. Still 'fastboot', is a feature long before enabled on Kahel OS.

What makes it better and sweeter is that 'fastboot' now operates without any delay. Modules have been initially pre-seeded upon installation so the system would not waste time on auto-detecting kernel modules.

Why is KahelOS Linux faster than before?
We have introduced an innovative change to the way daemons are loaded on startup. The traditional approach is to load all the daemons one by one or concurrently at startup before the GDM GUI appears. This approach is much slower because the system is sharing more resources on other daemons instead of just loading the GUI.
Now, KahelOS just loads the GDM GUI making the GUI instantly appear, then loads the rest of the daemons when a user has logged-in.

In addtion, KahelOS Linux is now a 100% GNU distribution. We tacitly did not ship any non-free, licensed-encumbered and proprietary software (gstreamer-bad/ugly/ffmpeg plugins, adobe flash plugin), to maintain a pure open source distro and to promote open standards (theora/ogg). However, the user can easily be capable to install those packages if they need them.

Some application choices have been incorporated with mainstream users in mind. This also resulted in the deletion of unecessary libraries and applications with recursive/duplicate functionalities .
-Firefox is the default web-browser
-Empathy is for IM and VoIP
-OpenOffice.org is the default Office Suite
-F-Spot for managing photos, and Beagle for managing MP3's and Videos
-Dejavu (off-spring of Bitsream) is among the default fonts in lieu of Bitsream Vera as Dejavu covers all the features Bitsream has.

-The familiar filesystems available todate on most distribution have been added, (i.e. XFS, JFS, VFAT) primarily because many are still hooked on using such filesystems. The next generation filesystems (NILFS2, BTRFS, EXT4), on the other hand, are still available as it is already handy even in the KahelOS installer version 09.09.2009.

Some enhancements are named here for those looking for advance features and stability:
-KahelOS is the first distro to release with GCM and has been tested to be stable. Gnome-Color-Manager is by default installed, along with free and public domain ICC profiles like the compatible version of Adobe RGB (1998) http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/adobergb.html". GCM gives users the ability to change their ICC profile.

-Due to the unstability of GNOME PackageKit as of this date, we have replaced it with a more stable 'gtkpacman', which is similar to Synaptics Package Manager.

-While on other Linux Distributions 'Hibernate' incur complications (as they rely on hardware ACPI extensions which is not available on all computers), Hibernate and Suspend works perfectly with KahelOS Linux. The simple solution was to change the installation method which incidentally also resolves the kernel not to be choked when loading the filesystem module.

-Metacity Compositor has been placed in lieu of Compiz, due to the white screen bug we have encountered previously. Metacity Compositor does not require a recent video hardware, and will run on almost every user and still having a nice graphical effect without necessitating a new video card.

-In place of the braille fonts (ttf-ubraille) is the GNU FreeFonts which contains a braille writing system, the reason for removal of ttf-ubraille is because it is unusable for normal users without a braille printer and even if it's available nothing will be printed on the screen if someone use the fonts.

-KahelOS Linux goes International – KahelOS Linux now supports displaying all major languages available; all asian fonts have been added, as well as language translations by default. Moreover, SCIM (Smart Common Input Method) platform have been included to support inputs from all other languages.

-Better Desktop Search - beagle have been replaced by tracker, a much faster and lighter desktop indexing application.

-Easy VPN via NetworkManager - 3 VPN sub-systems have been added to NetworkManager.

-yaourt – a BSD's port-like source code package installation is by default on KahelOS Linux. This provides the users freedom to install their choice packages and applications that they can truly build for themselves.

-With the utility of Gnome 2.28, users will experience a faster and easier desktop they have not seen before and with the rolling release updates model, users can install the newest applications whenever they want it.

Patience is a virtue, so please do wait for more to come.
-Installation Guide (in English) will follow within the next week
-64 bit testing is ongoing and is underway
-KahelOS repository and mirror in early January 2010.

A spark of KahelOS and F/OSS at QCPU

Before school comes to a temporary halt to make way for the Holidays, Quezon City Polytechnic University (QCPU) Students of Computer Science and Information Technology invited team 8layer to introduce KahelOS on December 11, 2009 at their Novaliches Campus.

There were about 200 students (Freshmen and Senior Year) who gathered at their Multi-purpose hall anxious and curious of what their co-students and faculty member, Mr. Luis Soriano have in store for them.

It was about fiteen past one in the afternoon when we decided to start the session so that we may finish early and students won't be caught at traffic, yet we finished at around 5pm. This only meant for us that the 8lien and Team KahelOS invasion which was merely an offshoot for students to open and expand their horizon on IT is promising. Lest, give the students a bird's eyeview of what they have been missing, the beauty and prowess of Open Source Technologies.

At the onset, we were quite wary on how we can carry through to convey and somehow be understood by more than 200 students but surprisingly we can only see eager faces and garnered a participative audience.

Deng opened the session by touching on the essential and elemental principle and concept of why should one be abreast with and study Open Source. Meric provided the hall with a glimpse of the KahelOS and other F/OSS available for use and study. While Agi on the other hand, had the challenge of conveying principle of programming but really did dwell more on tips on how to be a good programmer and basic of programming using F/OSS Tools and Applications.

In the Philippines, Open Source is barely and rarely part of the school curriculum. That is why with KahelOS through its team and Philosophy, we aim to bring Open Source and the value of learning and innovation to one student at a time.

maligayang pasko mula sa mga 8liens!