FydeOS

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wove
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FydeOS

Post by wove »

I tried Neverware some years back. It is an open source ChromeOS disto, make for schools mainly. It is compatible with the ChromeOS eco system. FlintOS was a similar project being done in the UK. I found them more interesting in they were trying to get Android apps working and Linux working. FlintOS was brought to a halt when they were purchased by Neverware.

In keeping with open source though the project lives on. They were picked up by a Chinese group and became FydeOS. I had tried it a couple times and it was always very buggy. They are now up to version 10, and I gave that a try. It is a nice easy to use system. Fyde Innovations the company behind development even makes and sells Fyde computer devices.

It is a ChromiumOS. It features a 2 click install to get the Google Play store working. Just one click if you wish to just side load Android Apps. And it also has a one click setup to enable the Linux subsystem. The system picked up my play store apps from my tablet and they appeared in the launcher. The Linux subsystem is based on Debian. Clicking on the "Linux" app opens a terminal. apt install Kate and it gets Kate, the dependencies, installs everything and places a Kate icon in Launcher. Click on the Kate icon and Kate opens right up.

It is interesting and you can get it at fydeos.com. You will need to use translation for the site is Chinese only. Etcher will burn the compressed image to a USB stick. FydeOS launches in Chinese as well. There is a button with a globe on it when it first opens, and you can click that button to select your language. Then it is pretty much just like Chrome OS. Another interesting thing is that FydeOS fleshes out the USB stick and you can fully run and configure the OS right from the usb stick, so there is no need to install it to the hard drive to make it work.

bill
wove
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Re: FydeOS

Post by wove »

The bi-monthly Pine newsletter said that FydeOS is expected to release a version for the Pinebook Pro in the next couple weeks. FydeOS might make a fine OS for the Pinebook Pro. You would have ChromiumOS, Android and Debian all in one package. FydeOS runs from a thumb drive so I have a USB stick setup so I can mess around with it, and it works very well.

I am not a user of Chrome/Chromium, but with a couple Android apps and everything Debian available I do not need to use the ChromiumOS part of things for anything beyond a launcher.

bill
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crosscourt
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Re: FydeOS

Post by crosscourt »

How light an OS is it?
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wove
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Re: FydeOS

Post by wove »

I am not aware of a resource monitor for Chrome OS, so I do not know how many resources it uses. It is a less than 2GB download, and uses ~4GB when installed. The Android app compatibility uses Anbox, and Linux in runs in a container. I would think that would eat up lots of resources. At the same time looking at the list of devices that ship with FydeOS as the operating system, one sees a big number of very low resource and inexpensive tablets and laptops.

bill
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crosscourt
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Re: FydeOS

Post by crosscourt »

I meant more in terms of how it performs on your hardware. Is it a quick OS in use and does it lag for most of what you do.
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wove
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Re: FydeOS

Post by wove »

Ah, I have been running it from a USB2 stick, which makes it somewhat slow to boot up. It seems to do a good job of cacheing items after they load, so it gets snappier the more you use it. The preformance overall is not bad at all.

Mostly I have just been messing around with items. It runs Android apps as well as my tablet. Beyond a text editor I have not installed any other Linux apps. Chromium is snappy for a browser, but then you have to keep in mind that I find Konqueror on Trinity to be a very nice browser.

bill
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