Ars Technica publishes preview of Google Fuchsia OS on Pixelbook

Ars Technica has published a preview of the current version of Fuchsia, a new operating system from Google for laptops and smartphones. The lockscreen, homescreen and the file manager work, but many apps do nothing for the time being.

The home screen contains the time and some status icons, with some cards below that are reminiscent of Google Now cards. In addition, there is a search bar that allows users to find apps on the device, according to the Ars Technica preview.

The multitasking function also works. Thumbnails with maps of open apps appear on the top half of the home screen. Users can drag those apps on top of each other to see them in split screen. If the user drags them exactly on top of each other, they will appear in tabs. Fuchsia splits the title bar in half and users can quickly switch between apps without having to call up another menu.

The touchscreen, input via a touchpad and connecting devices via USB work on Fuchsia, which is remarkable, because Fuchsia does not run on Linux, but has its own kernel under the name Zircon. The installation works because after installing a bootloader, the necessary files are streamed to a Pixelbook.

Google hasn’t announced anything about Fuchsia yet, such as when it will be released and what devices it will run on. In addition, it is unclear why the search giant needs a third operating system in addition to Android and Chrome OS.