Solus releases version 1.0 of its operating system

Developer group The Solus Project has released the first version of its Solus operating system. Solus 1.0 is intended for use on desktops and is only suitable for 64-bit computers. It distinguishes itself with its own desktop environment.

Solus OS is based on the Linux kernel, according to the developers. In the case of version 1.0, Linux kernel 4.3 is the base. The Solus Project is focused on developing a Gimp toolkit-based desktop environment, Budgie. Because the environment is built with gtk, it connects to the underlying Linux base of the Solus operating system. The Budgie desktop environment is based on the free desktop environment Gnome and is updated every time Gnome gets an update.

Solus 1.0 has the Raven utility on board. Raven serves as a notification and customization center. This is where the notifications gather, but it also provides access to options such as customizing the gtk theme. The developers also provide an application center with Solus 1.0. This center is called eopkg and in it users can sort and delete applications. In addition to these two proprietary additions, the operating system includes Firefox, Thunderbird and media player VLC.

The Solus Project developers indicate that there are problems with the operating system. For example, the problem is that amd drivers do not support the Linux kernel on which Solus 1.0 is based. Problems like this are what the developers want to solve in the future. To this end, they have put a roadmap online that indicates when which updates should appear.

In December 2016, The Solus Project plans to release version 2.0. In total, versions must receive support for two years and version 1.0 will therefore receive updates until December 2017. The complete overview is on the website of The Solus Project and Solus 1.0 is also available for download there.