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Vanilla os

Introduction

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accross
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vanilla
os foreign
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video
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welcomeappears to anotherbe videorealy frominteresting. explaining
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gnome
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im
this time we're going to check out
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vanilla OS
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thinking this is apotentially very nudistro it only had its
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first stable release in December 2022
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and it's a very interesting distro
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because it's immutable which means that
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core partsone of the best options in the future if they stick with it. also theres only two updates per year and a roling release but you have to manually enable rolling releases

tl;dr

its stable asf, and you can run any app on it!

 A Unique Solution to Distro Hopping

Vanilla OS is a Linux distribution designed to eliminate the need for distro hopping, a common practice among Linux users who switch between different Linux distributions to find the ideal balance of stability, hardware support, and application access. Vanilla OS offers these features within a single, highly stable base.

Immutability and Atomicity: Enhancing Security and Stability

One of the distinguishing features of Vanilla OS is its immutable and atomic nature. The base system is locked down, preventing both applications and users from writing to it, except for certain directories like the home folder or partition and the /etc and /var directories. This design principle significantly bolsters the system's security.

Updates in Vanilla OS are lockedapplied down

atomically,
meaning
each
0:34
update
either they'recompletes readsuccessfully or, if any issue arises, the entire operation is reverted, leaving the system unaltered. This ensures that any reboot will either return the system to its previous state or update it successfully.

Innovative Software Installation with 'apx'

Vanilla OS introduces 'apx', a package manager that allows software installation from any source, including all distro containers. This innovative approach enables Vanilla OS to run virtually any software developed for Linux, addressing the issue of distro packaging fragmentation.

Intuitive User Experience

Vanilla OS prioritizes user-friendliness in its design. The intuitive installer guides users through the necessary steps, and post-installation, users can customize their experience, choosing between dark and light mode, enabling support for Flatpak and AppImage, and selecting their preferred apps. This user-centric approach makes Vanilla OS accessible to both beginners and technically inclined users.

Is Vanilla OS the Future of Linux Distributions?

Vanilla OS represents a promising concept that could potentially shape the future of Linux distributions. It provides access to virtually all Linux-developed software at native speeds within a highly stable base. However, it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. Users who only toneed increasesoftware security

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written
with andai, user errormodified by making their core
1:00
components read only
1:03
immutable operating systems have also
1:05
been around for many decades for example
1:08
some early mobile devices run Windows CE
1:12
which was pre-installed on read-only
1:15
memory chips so Windows couldn't be
1:18
corrupted by either the user or malware
1:22
more recently several immutable Linux
1:25
distros have been created
1:27
these include bottle rocket which was
1:30
developed by Amazon to run on its Cloud
1:33
servers
1:34
other examples include Talos Linux
1:37
Fedora silverblue and most recently
1:40
vanilla OS
1:42
this latest immutable distro is based on
1:45
Ubuntu and is intended to be more
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beginner friendly than its Rivals
1:50
however some prior Linux experience is
1:53
still recommended
1:55
whilst the idea of a demutable OS may be
1:59
appealing it also presents some
2:01
practical challenges
2:03
not least with the Linux root directory
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in vanilla OS set to read only How could
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a user save files and get updates
2:12
well to answer the first question a few
2:15
paths including we use a home and
2:17
configuration directories are still
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writable
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meanwhile a utility called a b root
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facilitates updates and other essential
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installs it does this by managing two
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root partitions A and B one of which is
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always the present root and the second
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or was the future
2:38
as for developers of vanilla OS explain
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drivers and updates are installed by
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starting a transactional shell in the
2:45
second route partition if the
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transaction succeeds the changes are
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applied using an overlay and synced with
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the current route on reboot if the
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transaction fails no changes are applied
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due to a property known as atomicity
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this clever approach allows vanilla OS
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to apply changes entirely in the
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background to a non-live partition with
3:09
successful changes delivered to the user
3:11
on reboot
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however it does mean that more drive
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space is required as each root partition
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is about 20 Gigabytes in size
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to install applications vanilla OS has
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its own package manager called apx as
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well as providing optional support for
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flat pack and app image with SNAP
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support promised for the future
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when using apx applications are
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installed into containers given that
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flat packs are also containerized and
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app Images effectively so this means
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that software installations are isolated
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from the core operating system
3:52
right now that we understand the theory
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of vanilla OS let's see how it currently
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performs in practice
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so let's click on get the OS 2210 like
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that which takes us across to GitHub we
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can scroll down and find the iso there
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it is let's download that like that and
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when the file is downloaded I'll write
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it to a USB drive using Ballina etcher
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and note that the USB drive needs to be
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at least eight gigabytes in size and
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that vanilla OS requires a drive at
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least 50 gigabytes in size for
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installation
Bare Metal Test (installation)
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thank you
4:33
right here we are booting up from our
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vanilla OS live USB drive on my I5 test
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rig and this has got an Nvidia graphics
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card so I've picked this system
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deliberately to see how vanilla OS deals
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with that
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and here we are in the live system where
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we can either try vanilla Os from a USB
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drive or we can do an install I'm going
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to go straight to the install like that
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well I'll just pick my language
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and continue and I'll now pick the
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keyboard layout
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there we go I now have to sort out time
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and then on this screen we need to pick
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a disk which will pick down there and
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we'll configure
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and here the default option is to use
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the entire disk which will be erased
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there is an option here for manual
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partitioning but I'm going to stick with
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entire disk
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and with that said we will continue and
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it now wants us to confirm changes it's
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going to blank this entire disk so it's
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a good idea it confirms which we will
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that's okay and now of course we need to
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set up a user
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there we go and we can continue and
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there we are we're now all set up to
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install vanilla OS
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and guess what it's all done so we can
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now reboot
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and there we are I'll just uh log in
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that was all rather painless and we've
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now got a first Setup Wizard which will
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take us through the rest of the process
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so let's start doing that
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don't know if it got it or not there we
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have it got it that time let's come back
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to the other part of the screen now
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obviously because it's summer trouble
6:16
there which color screen should we have
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we'll go with light colored for now and
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now we have a choice of package manager
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and here I think we'll leave both flat
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pack and app image in place so we'll
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just click on next
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we've now got applications we've got
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core applications there which has ticked
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we obviously want them I'm going to want
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office as well I think and also common
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utilities let's just check what's going
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on here libreoffice's office that's
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hardly a surprise and um common
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utilities what's in there what am I
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installing there that looks pretty
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useful to me we'll go with all that lot
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as well and next
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and now it's asking do we want to
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install time shift to make snapshots of
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our system or it's a good idea we'll do
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that do we want NVIDIA drivers yes it's
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picked up with that we've got a Nvidia
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graphics card so let's uh install
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drivers for that that's good do we want
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restricted codecs so we can play video
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and audio things like that absolutely we
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do we'll do that as well and finally
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we've got extra settings do we want that
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there no I don't think we do and there
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we are it's all come up I just need to
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give it my password now
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and it will now get on with installation
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2.0
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and here we are it's now finalizing I
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think if I click at the top it'll show
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us what's going on there we are I move
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things again never mind and we'll just
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let it continue
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and there we are it's finished all done
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we can close this down and so far at
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least this immutable OS is proving to be
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beginner friendly
Vanilla GNOME
8:00
greetings here I am back again and I've
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been testing things out and everything
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is very responsive and stable
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as you can see I've changed the desktop
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background we've got lots of choices
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available although I think I picked the
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most exciting and I've also made a few
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scaling changes
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as we can also see vanilla OS has a
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vanilla version of The Gnome desktop and
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apparently it was initially called
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vanilla OS because it offers a version
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of Ubuntu with vanilla gnome and if
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you're wondering it is pronounced gnome
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due to a double acronym and has nothing
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to do with tiny Stone goblins
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anyway love it or lose it on the vanilla
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gnome desktop like this we don't have an
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applications menu
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top right there was a system menu to
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allow us to do things like changing
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power settings or to a log out shut down
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things like that but if we want to
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launch an application we have to click
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top left and then go down to the dash
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which comes up on the bottom of the
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screen with a great piece of interface
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design that is and then from here we can
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either launch your favorite application
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or click on all applications and launch
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for example the calculator
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alternatively to bring up a dash rather
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than clicking on activities we can press
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the Super Key otherwise known as the
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Windows key on the keyboard so if I do
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that like that it brings up the dash and
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I can now just start typing I could type
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for example Libra and that would allow
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me to launch LibreOffice writer
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and talking of LibreOffice you may
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recall we installed this using the first
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Run Wizard but I found that when I first
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tried to run it it wouldn't work and the
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only way I got it to work was to do a
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reboot so I imagine that something to do
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with immutability
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anyway backwards of vanilla gnome
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desktop I should point out we don't have
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maximize and minimize controls on our
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windows and that doesn't stop us
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maximizing windows we can just click to
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maximize like that and click it will
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store again or we can drag to maximize
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by get it right like that and we can
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drag drag back like that and if we want
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to minimize a window well that's a bit
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more of a challenge
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now I'm sure there are people in the
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comments saying Chris you should just
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install gnome tweaks or you should just
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learn to work differently to embrace the
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vanilla gnome desktop
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however personally I do hope that the
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next release of vanilla OS include an
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option in the setup wizard to restore a
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dock and windows controls like we have
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in Ubuntu and which would make things
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far more accessible to 99.99 of computer
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users on the planet
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there is no doubt at all that vanilla OS
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is a really Innovative distro it offers
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something new it's a fantastic piece of
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development with a really beginner
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friendly setup and so it would be a
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great shame if the decision to stick
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with this vanilla gnome desktop prevents
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people from migrating to this otherwise
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excellent highly secure operating system
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talking of excellence in addition to
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being speedy and stable vanilla OS has
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got great documentation let's just uh
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show you that let's go to the web using
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a web browser here it's actually called
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Web here we are on the vanilla OS site
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let's go to the handbook that's the
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documentation bring that up like that
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and as I said this is this is really
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great documentation so for example if
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you want to install it in a virtual
11:26
machine there's a great guide here and
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they've gone to a lot of trouble there's
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lots and lots of screenshots everything
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is really really clearly laid out this
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is very beginner friendly we've got much
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better documentation here with this new
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distro than we find for many older
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distros
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the other thing I want to show you is if
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we go back to our little Dash so I want
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to show the control center let's go
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across to vanilla OS control center like
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that and here in updates I like the fact
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we can schedule our updates weekly or
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monthly I like that and we can turn on
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or off automatic updates very quickly
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and we also have what are called smart
12:02
updates so the system if we turn that on
12:04
will not update if it's very busy or if
12:07
you're on a laptop and the batteries are
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low
12:10
the other thing we can see here is
12:12
subsystem I find this fascinating this
12:15
shows us the containers in which
12:17
applications may be installed and as you
12:20
can see we've got a subsystem here for
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the standard apx managed applications
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apx are now understand should be
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pronounced Apex in the context of
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vanilla OS and in addition to this
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subsystem we could add if we want other
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subsystems for Fedora for open Souza for
12:36
archery looks Etc this really is a very
12:39
innovative distro
12:41
and just to show you how things work I
12:43
also want to take you to disks let's
12:45
just go across here and go to utilities
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and disks like that and if we pick the
12:50
SSD on which our system is installed we
12:52
can see we've got our two root
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partitions A and B we can see
12:57
immutability in action on this system
13:01
and with this before our eyes I think
13:04
it's now time to try and install some
13:07
applications
Installing Apps
13:13
inevitably installing software in an
13:17
immutable distro like this has the
13:19
potential to be more challenging than in
13:21
a regular operating system
13:24
so I therefore thought we should set
13:26
ourselves a target of adding these
13:30
so how are we going to install them
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well the easiest ways to use the
13:36
graphical genome software stall so let's
13:38
fire it up like that and do a search for
13:41
our first application which is
13:43
Firefox like that there it is that was
13:47
nice and easy and we'll just click on
13:49
install and cross our fingers
13:53
and there we are it's finished and does
13:55
it work straight away or something else
13:57
is happening let me see it go on there
13:59
we are and uh
14:01
live demos are always fun aren't they is
14:03
it going to open yes that's working
14:05
absolutely fine so let's try now to the
14:08
other applications I wanted to add in
14:10
should be fairly straightforward we'll
14:12
start with
14:14
there we are
14:16
and install
14:18
lovely jubbly and we'll now go back and
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do a inkscape Escape Escape like that
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which is a fantastic vector graphics
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package a great Adobe Illustrator
14:28
Alternatives will install that as well
14:32
very good and we'll now go back and do
14:34
the audacity audio editor
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fantastic and next here we'll install
14:42
the Caden live video editor
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once again we seem to have success so
14:52
we'll now just add in solitaire
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there we go and finally we'll do a
14:58
search for lender
15:02
although before we launch this let's
15:03
just check everything else has worked
15:05
let's just look in our applications
15:06
because things been added in are they
15:08
all sitting there have we got things
15:10
that will run can we run up for example
15:12
uh
15:14
it seems we can let's just try some of
15:17
the others I'm being very impressed with
15:19
this so far I thought it'd be difficult
15:20
to get things working in this immutable
15:22
distro but it seems that's not the case
15:23
let's just take those as the defaults
15:25
here and inkscape that's absolutely fine
15:30
yes inkscape is clearly working as well
15:33
this is a very good what else do we
15:36
install I forgotten already well also on
15:38
my list oh Audacity Of course because
15:39
audacity going to work
15:41
but a first one plug-in stuff and I'm
15:43
sure it'll come up looks like it's going
15:44
to work it is that's that's fine as well
15:47
and finally here I think we had
15:49
something else which was oh it was Caden
15:51
live wasn't it the video editor actually
15:52
that'll be an interesting one to a check
15:54
because Caden live normally installs a
15:57
few things on first boot but no no all
15:59
there this is this is very impressive so
16:03
the only thing I've got left to install
16:04
is blender so let's press the final
16:07
install button let blender install on
16:10
our system I hope you've been keeping up
16:12
with my recent blender tutorials
16:15
and there we are that's finished as well
16:18
hopefully blender is now down in our
16:21
little set of applications is it going
16:23
to be down here somewhere there it is
16:25
can we now or not blender
16:28
it looks like we can oh it's the latest
16:30
version just come out isn't it very very
16:33
exciting so we'll just have to run
16:34
through that there we are that's fine
16:36
and we can do a normal blendery stuff
16:38
messing around with a cube that's very
16:41
exciting
16:42
but you may be thinking you forgot
16:45
Solitaire Chris of course I didn't
16:46
forget Salter would I forget salta that
16:49
could not possibly be the case it's over
16:51
here somewhere isn't it where's
16:53
Solitaire gone I've lost it I've gone
16:55
past it in my excitement you must be
16:57
here somewhere there it is and as it
17:00
comes up and I resize things for Optimum
17:02
play I would just point out we've just
17:05
managed to install a load of
17:06
applications very easily in this
17:09
immutable distro and we haven't even
17:11
gone near the terminal although if you
17:14
want to install applications in the
17:15
terminal you can use the command line
17:17
Apex package manager where you would
17:20
install things like for example blender
17:21
by typing the command apx install
17:24
blender no need for a sudo because Apex
17:27
Works in user mode
17:30
anyway I'm not going to test to see if
17:32
solto is working properly that might
17:35
take me some time and so we'll now speed
17:37
on through to the end of the video
A Daily Driver?
17:47
vanilla OS is a bold attempt to create a
17:51
new immutable distro
17:53
personally I'm not going to be
17:55
installing it as my own daily driver
17:57
just yet but I am very interested in the
18:00
concept of an immutable operating system
18:03
and so I'm going to keep a close eye on
18:05
the development of vanilla OS
18:09
but what about you are you attracted to
18:11
the idea of an immutable operating
18:14
system do let us all know down in the
18:16
comment section
18:19
but now that's it for another video if
18:22
you've enjoyed but you've seen here
18:23
please press that like button if you
18:26
haven't subscribed Please Subscribe and
18:29
I hope to talk to you again
18:30
very soon
18:33
foreign
me...
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