Hello Norman and Genodians, I want to share my plans for the first time. In 2024, I plan to finally start using Sculpt OS. The only thing keeping me is the dependency on some familiar Linux software. I would like to have a headless virtual machine with Linux, and to have Linux applications as native Nitpicker windows, to experience something similar to Qubes OS. I already have an early prototype working on Genode Linux, forwarding windows from the host system (see short video [1]). However, there's still a lot to be done before publishing. This is my plan for the year 2024.
[1] https://vanner.me/genode_wayland.mp4 -- Best Regards Ivan Loskutov -- Best Regards Ivan Loskutov On Thu, Dec 21, 2023 at 4:58 PM Norman Feske <norman.fe...@genode-labs.com> wrote: > > Hello everyone, > > in his most recent posting, Credric already noted that now is the time > of year again to reflect on our achievements of this year and to > anticipate topics to pursue next year. To keep up with this fine > tradition, let me kick off our road-map discussion with my personal > perspective. > > > Reflections of 2023 > > As indicated by the overarching theme of the last roadmap "Rocking the > platforms we support!", Genode's four releases of 2023 had a strong > focus on low-level platform work. This has been especially visible on > modern PC platforms like the Gen12 Framework laptop I have under my > fingertips right now. At the beginning of 2023, Sculpt OS was in > principle working on this machine, but with compromises that spoiled the > user experience: fan noise, an erratic touchpad (using the firmware's > PS/2 emulation), Fn key having no effect, strange issues when > re-plugging an external display, and no indication of the battery state. > In the meantime, not only are all these rough edges gone, but we even > gained the ability to exercise precise control over the machine' > performance/frequency/temperature/power characteristics using an > interactive GUI. I think it's fair so say that Genode advanced far > beyond the state of "working" and has entered the territory of "rocking". > > I wish to name four further personal highlights of the year: > > First, we got the mobile version of Sculpt OS into the hands of a pilot > group of users who provided instructive feedback to us. From my > perspective, the system-update mechanism that I created for this purpose > turned out to be an almost pivotal point in the evolution of Sculpt OS > because it reduces the effort and risk of test-driving experimental > versions to almost zero. It was a pleasure to see how e.g., Johannes > leveraged this new way of gathering feedback for his IOMMU line of work. > Providing system images for testing has become a second nature. > > Second, the road map for 2023 envisioned Sculpt OS running on our custom > base-hw kernel on the PC. We identified DMA protection and > virtualization support as the two remaining showstoppers. With much > excitement, I followed how both of these deeply technical topics got > covered over the course of the year. > > Third, Goa finally emerged from a personal project of mine to an > official Genode project led by Johannes. I'm stunned how much the > project benefited from this change. All of the remaining backlog of my > vague plans - I'm thinking of the index-project support or bash > completion - got eventually realized in a way true to the spirit of the > project. The fate of the Goa tool makes me immensely happy. > > Fourth, during the first half of the year, I found myself intensively > working on Genode's new debug-monitor component, pursuing the idea to > implement a debugging instrument as a specialized version of init > augmented with the GDB protocol. This engagement was pretty much > motivated by a customer. The result of my initial work then seamlessly > transitioned into the hands of Christian Prochaska who did a marvelous > job with steadily advancing this line of work towards our joint vision > of on-target debugging on Sculpt OS. The technical feats > notwithstanding, I found the frictionless way of collaborating a pure joy. > > Besides the highlights above, one topic close to my heart was the > creation of the dialog API that I designed as necessity to make the code > of Sculpt's administrative user interface maintainable and easy to > extend in the longer run. > > Plans for 2024 > > After concentrating so intensively on topics below the surface, I now > long for reaping user-visible rewards. Speaking of the dialog API just > mentioned, I see potential in using this new infrastructure for > Genode-native applications and immediately think of the file manager > that I already wanted to tackle this year. But I also have plenty of > ideas to make Sculpt OS more user friendly. What about presenting the > README files of software packages directly in the GUI? Making the > component graph scrollable? Allowing the user to select an arbitrary > directory as a file system to a component? Buttons for saving the > current deployment or the settings? > > Beyond Sculpt's administrative user interface, I'd also like to attend > the GUI stack. I think of refining the GUI-session interface to remove > tearing artifacts, to better support desktop-UI-paradigms like > drag'n'drop, and to explore the opportunity of using nitpicker's > mechanisms at the application-level, not only at the window-composition > level. > > Hence, I'd condense my ambition for the next year to "Sculpt OS usability". > > Device-wise, I'm going to continue my engagement with the PinePhone and > look forward to the upcoming MNT PocketReform laptop. > > > Above I presented my personal view. How about your's? I would very much > appreciate you sharing your feedback, ideas, concerns, and plans > regarding Genode. > > How are your interests aligned with the perspective shared above? > > Do you see specific pain points that deserve the attention of Genode's > core developer team? > > What is your perspective on Genode's past year's accomplishments? > > Can you share your ambitions or even concrete plans? > > How and where would you like to see Genode at the end of 2024? > > > Cheers > Norman > > -- > Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske > Genode Labs > > https://www.genode-labs.com · https://genode.org > > Genode Labs GmbH · Amtsgericht Dresden · HRB 28424 · Sitz Dresden > Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth > > _______________________________________________ > Genode users mailing list > users@lists.genode.org > https://lists.genode.org/listinfo/users _______________________________________________ Genode users mailing list users@lists.genode.org https://lists.genode.org/listinfo/users
