ROSA team is pleased to present an Alpha 2 version of ROSA Desktop 2012 operating system. Major changes from the first Alpha release include basic UEFI support and update of key system components and user applications. We have also significantly improved functionality of ROSA brand-name applications: SimpleWelcome, RocketBar, StackFolder, KLook and TimeFrame.
You can download ROSA Desktop 2012 Alpha 2 here.
In modern computers BIOS is replaced with a new interface between an operating system and platform firmware – Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). Basic UEFI support was added to the Alpha2 version of ROSA Desktop 2012 to allow launching the system on a broad range of modern desktop machines, except for Apple hardware.
ROSA Desktop 2012 Alpha ROSA Desktop 2012 Alpha 2
Kernel 3.5.1 Kernel 3.5.5
GRUB 0.97 GRUB2
dracut 17 dracut 23
Plasma Desktop 4.9.0 Plasma Desktop 4.9.2
LibreOffice 3.4.5 LibreOffice 3.6.2
Firefox 10 Firefox 15
Thunderbird 10 Thunderbird 15
SimpleWelcome 1.х SimpleWelcome 2.x
TimeFrame 1.х TimeFrame 2.х
Migration to a new version of GRUB2 boot loader allowed to achieve better compatibility with alternative operating systems. We have also continued to migrate to KDE Control Center as a single point of system configuration to resolve a problem of duplicated configuration tools inherited from Mandriva.
Fig. 1. GRUB2 interface
The changes also concern the QEMU emulator aimed to simulate a personal computer. The emulator was significantly improved and migrated to systemd.
For graphical effects, OpenGL is now used by default. This allows to use additional features of a compositing manager such as “blurriness” of semi-transparent windows and the “desktop” cube.
Fig. 2. A new view of the window switcher
Significant amount of work was carried out concerning ROSA brand-name applications for the KDE desktop. SimpleWelcome, SysTray, KDM and TimeFrame were rewritten from scratch in QML. Design of applications was reworked and new functionality was added. For example, SimpleWelcome allows now to group and move icons, and also preview recent document; user list in KDM is now implemented as a feed (“carousel”); in TimeFrame, support for Facebook and VKontakte social networking services was added (comments, ‘likes’, filtering events in a feed according to account type).
Fig. 3. Grouping icons in SimpleWelcome
Fig. 4. New TimeFrame interface
Fig. 5. Social networking services in TimeFrame
Thanks to optimization of its internal structure, the RocketBar panel now consumes less resources, especially when moving elements or changing its size. We have also implemented tighter integration between StackFolder and KLook tools (now content management functions are available such as scrolling, paging, etc.)
Due to introduction of additional intermediate Alpha2 version of ROSA Desktop 2012, we have reviewed the distribution roadmap; however, the final release date remains the same.
ROSA Desktop 2012 is developed as a free project. After a testing period that will take about 2 months, the distribution will be available to everyone for free. On the basis of Desktop 2012 platform we will also prepare a certified version and an enterprise solution with paid technical support.
- Issues and suggestions can be reported in buzillga.
- You can discuss the distribution and ask question in our forum.