Do you know jOS?

[JSM]

No, of course not, because it only exists in my imagination, since the 90s, when I was still working as a computer science engineer.

What is jOS?

It can be pronounced as it is spelled or as "Joe's". jOS has two components, jOSclient and jOSserver. There is simple communication between the two via the Internet, generally with the help of binary files or, in the case of slow Internet, with compressed binary files.

What does jOS do?

jOSclient is installed on the local computer and provides a minimal channel between the physical layer and the presentation layer (ISO / OSI). It can establish an internet connection to jOSserver and transmit and receive data. It can pack and unzip compressed files. It can recognize the local hardware and operate it with the binary data from jOSserver.

jOSclient is installed on an internet server and communicates with jOSclient. There is a normal internet server, an application server and a file server.

How do you work with jOS?

The user installs jOSclient on his local computer and starts it. jOSclient creates the channel between the physical and the presentation layer, detects the hardware, establishes the internet connection and sends the data to jOSserver.

jOSserver replies with a first binary data packet, which is forwarded by the jOSclient to the corresponding hardware unit. The package already contains the correct binary code for the hardware of jOSclient. First the user sees the jOSserver login screen. There he opens an account and logs in. Then he chooses the operating system he wants. jOSserver configures the user account for the desired operating system (user data, home, etc.) and forwards the user to the application server, where the desired operating system is already installed as a multi-user system.

The user sees the desktop of the operating system he has chosen, selects his default applications (browser, email, word processing, etc.), which are already installed, and starts working. The next time the user logs in to jOSserver, the user will automatically see his desired desktop again. If the user wants a different operating system, he selects it when he logs in and sets it to default or only works with the new operating system in this session.

Is it safe?

It is no less secure than installing the operating system on the local computer. Who knows the kernel of the operating system in detail? Who knows what the internet provider does with the data? Who knows what the email provider does with the data? Who knows what duckduck does with the data? Specialists know, normal users don't. But everyone knows what facebook and google are doing with the data!

I give an example:
One surfs the internet. After a few minutes the browser becomes very slow and one wonders why. In the system monitor you can see that the CPU utilization is almost 100%, there is a constant and low hard disk access and the wlan0 up is very busy. After 1-2 minutes everything is back to normal. What happened? The browser, the adblocker, facebook, google ... or the kernel? A normal user doesn't know because they won't do a wlan hack to find out. He's just annoyed that he can't work normally in those 1-2 minutes.

There is no data problem if the data is clean. Or to put it another way, when your ass is clean, you can pull your pants down.

Who should finance jOS?

Sure, the user. A normal user buys a new computer for $ 500-1000 every 5-10 years. So his computer costs him $ 50-250 a year. This is why the user can also pay something for jOS, where he receives his desired operating system, applications and file storage for free and completely installed. In addition, the user can use his hardware for much longer because it only requires little RAM and normal processor power.

And how about the internet connection?

Surely you have heard that there are people who think everyone needs a high speed internet connection? Ok, then everything is fine.

[windundgeist]

Someone told me, that Fedora CoreOS could be what I am thinking about. Has someone used it ever? Is it working like my jOS idea, but only with Red Hat?

[windundgeist]

After a few days of absence and reflection, I started a small project, LinuC.

The first idea was to make a website where inexperienced users can learn how to install a little Linux on an old computer. Only the first and most important steps, i.e. installation, configuration. The new user can find out the rest on the distribution's website.

The second idea was to have a distribution that combines the advantages of different distributions and can also be a "jOS", i.e. a client-server solution with an application server on the Internet. Then this morning I thought that TinyCore could be the right basis for such a solution.

The website is only a few days old and doesn't contain much information yet. There are sections in the sidebar.

Welcome describes the basic idea and the motivation. It is practically complete.

Preparation describes how the user prepares for the installation and how it basically works. There is no information here yet.

Distributions will contain the detailed instructions. So far there are only the first recommendations at LinuC favorites. TC is not included because it is something special for new users.

Extensions will provide information about the most important and good applications and tools. Eventually also about web hosters and other open source projects.

Various will be a collection of information, for example how to create a swapfile or how to do a multiboot installation.

LinuC internals  contains the "history" of the project and also my ideas for a LinuC OS.

I would be happy if you check it out and tell me what you think of these ideas. LinuC has not yet been translated, but there is an automatic translation function for 4 languages ​​in the upper right corner.

http://linuc.mipropia.com

[windundgeist]

I've been here on this forum since May 1st, 2021. First as a beginner who was just interested in TinyCore. And I'm still interested! In the meantime I've also discovered that there is dcore and I'm interested in that too.

I have been working on LinuC since June 1, 2021. It is a tutorial webpage for beginners who want to install a small Linux system on their computer. That's why my own preference now only counts for me personally, but not for LinuC.

I would have liked to recommend TinyCore, or rather dcore, as the only really lightweight distribution on LinuC. Unfortunately, I can't do it, because it would lead new users down a path that would take several days and result in an installation that is small and special, but only offers hopelessly outdated applications. That would not be responsible, as there are other distributions, for example Q4OS, which provide the user with a fully functional installation that can be expanded with current applications, after 2 hours! And it works well with 1GB RAM 

dcore might be a better solution, but my Friday and Saturday attempts to find a normal installation method were unsuccessful. So dcore is not suitable for LinuC at the moment.

Yesterday I gave TinyCore another chance and tried to get a minimal installation, exclusively with the help of the wiki and FAQ, without asking questions in the forum. The purpose of this final test was to see if new users would put a lot of pressure on the TinyCore forum with their questions. The result is yes. I was able to solve some things with the wiki and FAQ, others don't work. I strongly recommend that you build a new documentation that is up to date and tested!

Here are some tips:

Works:
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/doku.php?id=wiki:persistence_for_dummies
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/doku.php?id=wiki:firewall
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/doku.php?id=wiki:mouse
http://www.tinycorelinux.net/faq.html#keyboard
http://www.tinycorelinux.net/faq.html#c_p

I was able to install a relatively modern browser, Vivaldi.

I was able to install a filemanager, fluff (my favorite!)

I was able to set my keyboard (es)

I was able to create a swapfile and make it permanent

I was able to adjust the swappiness

I was able to prevent the zram

I was able to install the firewall

Don't work:
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/doku.php?id=wiki:sound_setup_using_oss
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/doku.php?id=wiki:using_xorg_over_xvesa

I couldn't set my screen resolution correctly. The picture is stretched in width. All possible options didn't work, also 915resolution.

I couldn't install Xorg following the wiki instructions. When I run the install commands, I just get the man.

I couldn't install OSS. The App search function did not produce any results.

I couldn't set any other interface language, for example Spanish.

At this point I made the decision not to recommend TinyCore on LinuC.

I hope to have translated LinuC into Spanish, German and French by the end of July. Then I'll stop by the TinyCore forum to see if anything has improved. dcore with a graphical installer, for example!

Have a good time!
Patrick
http://linuc.mipropia.com/

[Juanito]

oss is basically deprecated in recent versions of linux and hence not available in recent versions of tinycore.

In recent versions of tinycore, Xorg-7.7 “just works” for most hardware and resolutions.

The wiki is user maintained except that server problems prevent access at the moment.

@JasonW is the dCore maintainer.

[windundgeist]

@Juanito

Always a pleasure to meet you  You do a lot for TinyCore, I see it in many extensions. Thanks!

So it is time to remove the OSS instructions from the wiki.

Xorg does not work because the install command does not work as stated in the wiki. There are a ton of posts on this in the forum, unfortunately completely disorganized.

The server problem seems to have been going on for a long time! The instructions in the wiki for Xorg use a version that is years ago.

If the TinyCore community wants to make an installer for dcore, then just do it. Why should I manage this? I also posted it in the forum for dcore, so JasonW will probably find it. Or does he not look there?

So, I take care of LinuC, you take care of TinyCore and dcore. I am motivated, maybe you too.

"You" stands for the TinyCore community 

Have a nice July 4th!

[windundgeist]

LinuC got a little better ... at least the CSS. What you don't have to learn just to design a website? Performenc is still bad and mipropia sends me an email every other day telling me to please switch to the paid version. Yes, but with what money? The only support request I made about wordfence has not been answered for 3 weeks. And the optimization of the website with cache damages the functionality of the forum a lot. Maybe outsource forum? Or exclude from the cache? So I have to learn more instead of just being able to do translations. I use Falang, it uses "entity translation". Only the TOC is not translated because it is generated directly from the base page during runtime. And the translations of Falang are in the page headre. Too bad. But the Falang developer will be watching this after his vacation. And maybe the developers of Better Docs, my document management tool, too. Almost the entire Linux world doesn't seem to like my website. Least of all the Devuan and antiX people. Systemd ... what the heck. If you don't want to use it, you shouldn't use it, but why bullying and hacker attacks? In addition, I don't have a distribution, just a website with instructions.

Ok, systemd. How is it with TC and dcore? Does TC use systemd? Does dcore use systemd? Do you also think that the "systemd people" are really bad and want to control the entire Linux world? Or are the hackers the only that have problems with systemd? I find small Linux distributions with or without systemd. The ones with systemd cause fewer problems, I see.

[Rich]

Hi windundgeist
TC does not use systemd.  I don't know about dcore.

[windundgeist]

@Rich

Hi Rich, hope you are fine.

Ok, so TC without systemd because it has to be so small. dcore with systemd (or parts of it) to make it easier to extend? I hope that there will be a graphical installer for dcore soon (or that I can find it, if it already exists).

Unfortunately, I don't have time to continue researching TC and dcore until the end of July. But in August I will be ready. A few days ago, LinuC was attacked by hackers! I think it was a combination of methods. The side could not be reached any more, so probably a Ddos attack. htaccess was corrupt and style.css of the WP topic was just empty! Since I didn't know what else was broken, I installed the backup and lost 3 days of work. That's why I'm a little behind with the translations. It's not that easy to translate something like this, because the Linux expressions in other languages ​​often make no sense and of course do not match the commands and codes that you need in the terminal and for editing the files. In addition, my Spanish is bad and my French is very bad!