BOINCOS Beta v2.0.1 Release
Introduction
The following is an announcement about the new version of BIONC OS for both the Minimal and Standard Spin of the OS. In general it was just a few simple updates that rejuvenated the base system and fixed a few bugs so I've made it a sub-version. In addition to this, I'm excited to announce that the new page of our website (for BOINC OS Experimental) is finalised and ready to be viewed!
I was expecting to release v2.1 this weekend due to my intended inclusion of a hybrid BIOS and UEFI boot system but unfortunately after 5 hours of trying various methods, I never came to a complete and working system. This feature is important for individuals with older hardware to be able to use the BIONC OS system and utilise their idle hardware.
But apart from this setback, there are some interesting developments occurring so enjoy the rest of the post!
The BOINC OS Experimental Webpage
I must express my great gratitude to my friend Benjamin Collings for his amazing work in making this website come together. He is a web developer and I recommend you check out some of his works.
I promised him a cut of this post's earnings so show him some love!
BOINC OS Changelog
There were not many significant changes so I should be able to describe what has happened in list-form:
- Rejuvenated the base system: Performed a system upgrade for both OSs. The standard spin was just yearning for this.
- Added hostname changing: This allows you to change your machine name from BOINCOS to something more recognisable. This is also good for reducing the amount of machine names called "BOINCOS" on some of the statistic sites and also if you use multiple computers with this OS.
- Lowered the compressed image size for the Standard Spin substantially.
- Fixed a bug when loading the BOINC daemon in the BOINC OS Minimal spin.
- Removed the ext4 journal for BOINC OS Minimal: This reduces wear and tear on USB drives, reducing the system's impact. This change will also cover the Standard Spin as time comes.
Torrent Testing
I've begun a trial for distributing BOINC OS through bittorrent, however I don't think they'll reach the website just yet as I am getting used to packaging them effectively. But for those that are interested, here are the associated links:
BOINC OS Standard:
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:usd6wdjqjfkphayjezyugs73fi7w2ssp&dn=BOINCOS-Graphical-XFCE-Beta-v2.0.1.img.zip&xl=1358459996&fc=1
BOINC OS Minimal:
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:f4i4jrta2ppwz7hahp2slir7t7tze4xv&dn=BOINCOS-Minimal-v2.0.1&xl=840292054&fc=3
Up Next
By the next update, you should see some more accessibility and localisation controls be built into the BOINC OS Helper for the minimal spin and I have a really friendly programmer from the Gridcoin Discord chat who is going to help me out. But unfortunately school is kicking back in so you might see a bit more slower development as I attempt to juggle responsibilities.
Final Words
As always, I've enjoyed programming and setting this system up for everyone, and it makes me happy to be receiving feedback and emails from users using the system.
Also something that I've neglected to say for many of these posts, Steemit donations and upvotes do help development a lot. It is my main source of donation revenue and I thank all those who have been supporting me over the time of development!
This seems like a great idea!
It got me thinking one step further about having a small preconfigured virtual machine that I could quickly move to any of my computers and continue CPU crunching from where it left off.
As a suggestion, you should really provide some comparison on the site between the 3 distro versions' features and install sizes.
Thanks for the reply!
We already have VirtualBox support planned and you can find the description of it here along with various other projects coming up.
As for your suggestion about the website, I think that enough information is provided through the graphics, small descriptions and names of the OS spins but your idea will be noted for when we decide to rejuvinate the website in the future. Simplism is key to effectiveness here.
Correct me if I am wrong. This is an OS with preconfigured BOINC and attached projects?
The OS is preconfigured with BOINC, yes, but you get to choose the projects just like if you were to install BOINC for the first time.
Okay, does it have GPU drivers already installed?
Yep, It's meant to work with just about anything right out of the box. Enjoy!
If you need a user manual for help, you can find that here and if you would like to report a problem or need some help, feel free to contact me at: boincosdelta@gmail.com
Thank you for anwsers. Gonna to test that out.