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Operating Systems GUI Software Linux

SymphonyOS Alpha 4 Released 28

Posted by timothy from the quiet-that-damn-woodwinds-section dept.
Whafro writes "Symphony OS Alpha 4 has been released. While an alpha release might not seem like news, this will be the first release that will function sufficiently to be used as a primary OS. As users are anxiously awaiting the ISOs to make their way to the mirrors, Ryan, Jason, and company are now setting their sights on Beta 1. SymphonyOS is a Linux distribution currently based on Knoppix that is a distinct turn away from the norm in terms of OS user interface design."
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SymphonyOS Alpha 4 Released More

SymphonyOS Alpha 4 Released

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  • Looks really cool from the screenshots. I can't wait to try it out. I love the idea of a radically different UI.

    Kinda wish there was a LiveCD version though, so I wouldn't have to actually install it just to try it.

    Still, I'm excited about it. Let the Symphony begin!

  • This is the first sensible approach towards innovation in GUIs and desktop operating systems I have seen in a long time. Unlike so many other efforts, these people are addressing the question of how to actually improve human computer interaction, while relying on tools that work and that lots of people understand (HTML, Perl, etc.).

    Most of the other desktop efforts (including commercial ones) start from a systems programming perspective and demand that you first throw out all the tools you already know; an

  • The UI development on SymphonyOS is simply magnificent; I look forward to getting many of the desktop aspects implemented on my Debian system.

    One thought -- the controls on windows are not easily accessed; MacOS resolves this issue by moving menus to the top of the screen, so that you can run your mouse up there and only deal with horizontal manuvering.

    How about when you hold alt, the mouse is trapped inside the current window? This lets you use the corners for four buttons, and with some creative posi

  • The previous release of Symphony OS was nice to get a first look, but over all, it was disappointing. The UI is still a little clunky, and there was not much in the way of system configuration / customization. On top of that, there is not much pre-loaded software, so you are kinda stuck once you exhaust Firefox/Thunderbird. I guess I will have to be patient and wait for v1.0 (whenever that may be) to get what I am looking for.

  • DM (Score:1)

    by markild ( 862998 )
    It seems to me that the big thing about this (and it looks awesome!) is the desktop manager.

    What I would love to see is my already configured non-alpha Linux set up with the Mezzo desktop manager.
    • According to the roadmap, Symphony will be moving to Progeny and using the Componentized Linux basis... so that will be easily done when it's complete
  • The four corners of my screen are already either showing a corner of a window or Showing the Start menu, the clock, and all along the top is a bar for clicking on Application icons. The first one is Firefox and the second one is the Command Prompt. A link to my Media folder is up there too.
  • What I find most amusing about this project is that it uses the most unrestrictive Window Manager, FVWM, and turns it into a very restrictive user interface.
  • Do they really need to make a new distribution just for a desktop? I don't understand why it can't just be a piece of software that works across many distributions and OS's like KDE or Gnome.
    • Well, from my look at the previous release and such. I thought that it was only just a demo environment to test their new GUI ideas. I really hope that they are able to release it seperately. I want to try it out on my Slack system.
      • I think it will definatly be an option. With Beta 3, one simply had to copy some folders over from the live cd (plus make sure FWVM was installed). Search the SymphonyOS forums for "gentoo" for more info.

        Hope this helps
        • Did a search for "gentoo" and didn't find the information.

          I've been wanting to try out symphonyos for awhile, but the disk doesn't boot on my system. I think it's something with my sata drives. I just don't care enough to figure it out. Also the os part of symphonyOS just bugs me. If it's a desktop call it a desktop.

          I'm just waiting to be able to apt-get (emerge, pacman, whatever) mezzo (symphony, orchestra, whatever the hell), edit some rc for my preferences and boot it up. Kind of like I do for XFCE.
            • Thank you for the link. That is about as basic as it gets, aside from the apt/emerge/pacman I mentioned earlier. I'm surprised they don't offer the units as a download from their site.

              Now to bed, tomorrow I will definitely be trying it out.
              • When SOS converts to Componentized Linux in beta 1, mezzo, orchestra, and all of the other components will be available as individual components themselves.

                The reason why this is an OS is because these are, in fact, different components that will be designed to work together to provide a cohesive experience, like OS X. GTK/QT will be themed, packages will be done specially for SOS to maximize ease of installation for newbies, and many system/config utilities will be written in orchestra.

                It's not just about
  • But this looks like *extremely* amateur design to me.

    Is it innovative in the sense that it looks so bad that no one with a UI / Experience Design clue would have ever produced something like this and owned up to it?

    I'm not trying to troll. Really. But E17 has way more promise than this.

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