Some questions about Pure OS :)

PureOS
#1

Hi everyone, :slight_smile:
I’m interested to install PureOS as my second operating system on a double boot Linux pc.

As I’m interested to install a long term supported or perhaps rolling Debian based free and open source distribution in order to avoid reinstallations in the immediate future on my SSD disk, I’d like to inform me please, about how long is the latest version of PureOS going to be supported.
Also is PureOS Debian based and if so on what Debian flavour’s repositories are PureOS’s repositories based on? Stable, Sid?

I’m asking becuse I was unable to figure out from the PureOS website if this distribution is a rolling one or an upstream, stable etc one.

Thank you in advance for the information. :slight_smile:

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#2

Yes, PureOS is based on Debian. There are two variants of PureOS: Amber (the old one) and Byzantium (the new one). See the comment from Kyle here:

4 Likes
#3

Hi Skalman and thank you for the reply.
I downloaded a live image iso from the main website the Hepheaestus 9 one. The iso image has the following name.

pureos-9.0-gnome-live_20200806-amd64.hybrid.iso

Is that the rolling version? I’m asking because I didn’t see any other option on the downloads page.

#4

It is current LTS version (doesn’t roll). Also and besides PureOS Live image you already linked to, here is link to Amber Plasma:
– PureOS-9.0-Plasma-Live_20200806-amd64 ISO in Hybrid mode.

And here are links to the recent PureOS Byzantium Live images (upgradable to the most recent Linux Kernel):
– PureOS-10~devel-Gnome-Live_20201120-amd64 ISO in Hybrid mode and
– PureOS-10~devel-Plasma-Live_20201120-amd64 ISO in Hybrid mode.

As I understand (just relying on my experience as user) Debian Bullseye is currently Testing, same as PureOS Byzantium (10~devel, by issue date let me guess that it is in Alpha 3 stage) so I’d expect that sometimes around/after June/July this year Byzantium will become Stable (weeks to count down, just speculating). Please remember this is just my thought, but I’d choose PureOS Byzantium Live image for install anyway (should be already, stable/mature enough, after apt upgrade of course).

As some kind of basic orientation (somehow related to your previous questions), this PureOS distribution(s) definition should help you further:

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#5

Thank you very much.
So the Byzantium is the latest and rolling one while the one that is available on the PureOS website is the stable one that once upon a time was the rolling one! :smiley:
Did I get it right? lol

It is not that I mind that much about what is the name of each release or what exactly is the practice that PureOS’s developers follow. I just wanted to know how long each release is supposed to be supported in order to avoid reinstallations on the SSD disk. These disk are somewhat more “sensitive” than the other ones particularly if you repartition them. I installled already something that didn’t work for me and that is the reason why I formated the disk and I 'm looking for something else.

I know about PureOS approach regarding software freedom because I came directly from the gnu.org distro page to that of puroOS.
I mean I checked the list of the distros and downloaded a couple of live iso images to test and decide.

I have made up my mind that I need one that is rolling and also debian based in order to be compatible with some third party but working drivers that I have available for my scanner.
I thought originally and just for the sake of change to install an Arch or Arch based distribution but then I remembered that I have to make the scanner work and I changed my mind and decided to go for one with all free software, that either way I use on all the rest of the applications that I run on my pc.

Thank you very much for the information. :smiley:

ETA: Irrelevant. But what is Plasma? New GUI on the block?? :laughing:
I like GNOME and Mate. These are ny interchangable GUIs. as both work for me the same.

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#6

KDE Plasma is another desktop environment. It was developed around the same time as when GNOME started.

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#7

Ah… KDE…That is how I know it.
Ok I installed the v. 9 of PureOS as the 10 one did some strange loop things while I was testing it from the live cd. So I decided not to risk to install it but go for the stable one and perhaps make a dist upgrade later on.
With a few tweaks it looks and works just fine.

Thank you very much for your help. :smiley: :smiley:

1 Like
#8

hello and welcome ! ubuntu is releasing the 21.04 images in a few days (15 april is the release if i’m not mistaken). Around this time the version is basically 21.04.0 and after that it goes to 21.04.1 then 2 and so on.

you might want to try PureOS Byzantium (devel-v-10) in june or july around the time Ubuntu is a few months in this release or look at the LTS of ubuntu when in next changes it’s release number to see if anything of importance has changed with PureOS-devel image.

right now the PureOS-10-Byzantium-development image has been the same one since it’s release from november so that might be why you preferred to stay on the stable channel. there is also the bleeding-edge from Debian that is called “Sid” from the Toy Story character but that is probably too bleeding edge for you or me … :wink:

#9

Thank you for the information but there is always some sort of problem with the new releases. I’m using Linux the last 16 years and by experience I can tell that all new releases have some issues that get solved in the process.

As I said previously I tried at the beginning to install the Linux Mint 20.1 on the second disk in order to take advantage of the longer support of this release.
But it didn’t want to work at all as the Mate GUI that it uses broke, the system didn’t want to install or uninstall any applications and generally speaking it did its own things.
I tried also the Byzantium live image and it didn’t performed that well as the stable one.

But honestly now I don’t have neither the mood nor the energy to bother fixing things until the next update/upgrade.
I need a working pc because I rely on it for my work.
In order to get an idea about how I use my pcs, I wouldn’t even bother to change the old pc if it wasn’t ready to die after 20 years of constant hardware upgrades. ( it is a matter of principle for me not to throw away a pc that can still work).
But that old pc was in such terrible condition that it couldn’t take another hardware upgrade and that is the reason why I had to buy a new one and get again in the process of having to make new installations after a very long time of not bothering to do any.

This is what Linux is made for after all ( in case you haven’t realised it yet). To have it there running and forget that it even exists! lol

#10

i know what the Liberated-Linux-Kernel is for but i do NOT KNOW what the regular non-liberated Linux-kernel is FOR … the non-Liberated one contains one or more blackboxes in there so i would not adventure further than this …

the Debian distribution has 3 ‘moving-forward-channels’ :

  1. Stable (current Buster. packages stay frozen until the next release and only security updates get in if you let them)
  2. Development-Testing (currently Bullseye 11 < middle ground updated packages and so-so security)
  3. Development-Bleeding (codenamed ‘Sid’ or the bad boy < likes to mess things up so it’s only if you know how to live on the bleeding-edge)

PureOS is based on the first two. One of the differences is that it has a liberated-Linux-kernel out-of-the-box and if you don’t do anything to mess that up then that IS how it is going to STAY.

#11

Thank you for the information but I have to inform you that I wasn’t able to fix any of the errors and misbehaviours that I encountered though I installed the non free firmware, I tried to mount the swap partition with any way available and find out what caused these errors. but with no results.
Unfortunately and though I tried with whatever experience I have to make it work, it doesn’t work for my setup.
So in my case we are not talking about how PureOS is going to stay but if it works without pushing the pc’s hardware to its limits. It is about theory vs practice and idealism vs productivity.

My PureOS installation might look perfect with the tweaks and hacks I made in order to make it look this way, but it doesn’t work as smoothly as it should work out of the box.
This doesn’t affect that much me as I’m somewhat more experienced on using linux but it might be catastrophic in case the aim is to attract more people to this distribution because if this operating system doesn’t work without the non free firmware and it can’t detect that firmware even after it is installed then it excludes a considerable number of potential users that have these kind of pcs that work only with non free firmware.
Computers are not that cheap to purchase and people will not throw their machines, older or newer ones, to the bins in order to find something that works with PureOS. They will probably try an/any other distro, not because they hate that particular distribution, but because they install an OS in order to help them do their job and not the other way round. Spend I mean their time to make the OS work smoothly and optimally.

My suggestion is that the official release should come with clear and accurate instructions on how those who have pcs that work with non free firmware will be able to make it work. Or with a list of the hardware that is not supported.

Anyway. I want to thank you all for your contribution and your help and I wish you the best in the future.

Thank you very much.
Bye, :slight_smile:

4 Likes
#12

LEAD with that next time :wink:

all the best !