A Brief introduction into openSUSE MicroOS Desktop, openSUSE's immutable Desktop operating system, and announcing the move of openSUSE MicroOS Desktop (GNOME) from [ALPHA] to [BETA] quality.
PictureopenSUSE MicroOSDesktopHackweek 20 Progress26 MARCH 2021
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Copyright © SUSE 20212RichardBrownMicroOS Release Engineer[email protected]@sysrichAbout MyselfopenSUSE contributor since it beganSUSE employee since 2013Passionate advocate of rolling releasesFormer Customer (Systems Manager), QA Engineer, openSUSE Board Member &openSUSE ChairpersonCurrently Linux Distribution Engineer in Future Technology Team focusing on tworolling distributionsopenSUSE MicroOS – Single Purpose Self Administering OSopenSUSE Kubic – MicroOS for Kubernetes & ContainersPhotographer in spare time
Copyright © SUSE 20213Why is MicroOS?Computers are no longer onlylaptops, desktops, and servers.People no longer use laptops,desktops and servers the same wayas they used to.
Copyright © SUSE 20214Regular Linux isNOT good enoughTraditional Linux is like a Swiss ArmyKnifeLots of Services & Features- with increased chances ofincompatibilities between services- and increased risk of complexfailures
Copyright © SUSE 20215openSUSE MicroOSopenSUSE MicroOS is bothpredictable & immutable. It cannotbe altered during runtime.MicroOS is reliable with automatedupdates and automated recoveryfrom faulty updates.MicroOS is small with only what isneeded to run it’s “one job”.Applications/Services are expectedto be Containerised or Sandboxed.
Copyright © SUSE 20216SLE MicroSLE Micro is both predictable &immutable. It cannot be alteredduring runtime.SLE Micro is reliable with automatedupdates and automated recoveryfrom faulty updates.SLE Micro is small with only what isneeded to run it’s “one job”.Applications/Services are expectedto be Containerised.
Copyright © SUSE 20217MicroOS ArchitectureopenSUSE MicroOS is a rolling releasebased on openSUSE Tumbleweed.MicroOS is wholly built, developed,and tested as part of theTumbleweed release process.Any test failure detected before therelease of either Tumbleweed &MicroOS can prevent the release ofboth distributions.SLE Micro is a regular release basedon SUSE Linux Enterprise.
Copyright © SUSE 20218TransactionalUpdatesAny change to a system should beapplied reliably, reproducibly, andreversibly.Transactional Updates are:- Atomic- Either fully applied, or not at all- Applied without impactingthe running system
Copyright © SUSE 20219RollbackIn the event of a failure/unwantedbehavioural changeImmutable: Nothing has changed ondiskRollback is done by booting an oldsnapshotThis can be done as often as wanted
Copyright © SUSE 202110Health CheckChecks for errors during boot phaseError with new snapshot? Rollback tolast known working snapshotError with already successful bootedsnapshot? Try reboot, else shutdownservices, inform adminNeeds access to harddisk
Copyright © SUSE 202111ToolboxMicroOS’ read-only root filesystemraises some challenges:- Reboot needed to install additionaltools- Situation after reboot is differentthen beforeToolbox:- Launches small, privilegedcontainer- Root filesystem available below/media/root- zypper to install the necessary tools- Persistent between usages
Copyright © SUSE 202112My openSUSE MicroOS Life
Copyright © SUSE 202113MicroOS DesktopopenSUSE MicroOS Desktop isMicroOS where the ”one job” isrunning as a Desktop.MicroOS Desktop provides only aminimal base system with a DesktopEnvironment and Basic ConfigurationTools ONLY.All Applications, Browsers, etc areprovided by FlatPaks from FlatHub.
Copyright © SUSE 202114Who is the MicroOSDesktop for?It is not for everyone. Your Tumbleweed & Leap Desktops areSafe :)It should be perfect for lazy developers, who no longer wantto mess around with their desktop and just ”get stuff done”,especially if they develop around containers.It should also appeal to the same audience now more usedto an iOS, Chromebook or Android-like experience where theOS is static, automated & reliable and the Apps are themain thing the user cares about.
Copyright © SUSE 202115MicroOS Desktop GoalsMicroOS Desktop should be reliable, predictable &immutable, just like regular MicroOS.MicroOS Desktop should be less customisable than regularopenSUSE Tumbleweed/Leap.MicroOS Desktop should be small, but not at the expense offunctionality. Printing, Gaming, Media Production and muchmore should all work.MicroOS Desktop should just work “out of the box”.
Copyright © SUSE 202116MicroOS Desktop Status before Hackweek 20MicroOS Desktop should be reliable,predictable & immutable, just like regularMicroOS.MicroOS Desktop should be less customisablethan regular openSUSE Tumbleweed/Leap.MicroOS Desktop should be small, but not atthe expense of functionality. Printing, Gaming,MultiMedia are all valid use cases.MicroOS Desktop should just work “out of thebox”.
Copyright © SUSE 202117Hackweek 20 Changesgnome-branding-MicroOSIntroduced custom MicroOSconfig for GNOMEContains ‘mod-firstboot’ whichautomatically configures flathubper user and installs defaultapplications from flathubPackageKit with txupd and libdnfNow uses libdnf andtransactional-updates forupdating system RPMs via GNOMESoftwareUses GNOME Software forinstalling flatpaks from flathubSELinux by default, tuned btrfsDeploys with SELinux by DefaultBTRFS now has CoW enabledfor /home
Copyright © SUSE 202118MicroOS Desktop Status after Hackweek 20MicroOS Desktop should be reliable,predictable & immutable, just like regularMicroOS.MicroOS Desktop should be less customisablethan regular openSUSE Tumbleweed/Leap.MicroOS Desktop should be small, but not atthe expense of functionality. Printing, Gaming,MultiMedia are all valid use cases.MicroOS Desktop should just work “out of thebox”.
Copyright © SUSE 202119Now in [BETA]Available in MicroOS ISO Image 20210326- or maybe a little laterhttps://microos.opensuse.org/
Copyright © SUSE 202120Thanks ToNeal GompaDario FaggioliSasi OlinTommy, sy_be and others
Copyright © SUSE 202121Join the Fun[email protected]- Mailing list#kubic on irc.freenode.net- IRCopenSUSE:Factory & devel:kubic onbuild.opensuse.org- Build Service
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