6. Status and Limits¶
amadeOS is in active development and has not had its first release yet. This chapter says honestly what works, what has been tested and what has not, so you can decide whether amadeOS fits your needs today.
What works¶
| Area | State |
|---|---|
| Live system | A bootable image for USB sticks, for PCs with BIOS or UEFI. Tested in the QEMU virtual machine. |
| Installation | The assistant Install amadeOS installs the system onto a hard disk, on a whole disk or on a free partition. A whole-disk installation with BIOS boots into the desktop in QEMU. |
| Login | Login screen with language and time zone, password check through PAM. |
| Desktop | Window manager with Motif frames, four workspaces, desktop menu, Front Panel with drawers, screen lock and screen saver. |
| Settings | Colour, text size, backdrop, keyboard, mouse, beep, screen, windows and clipboard. |
| Languages | English, Deutsch, Français, Español, Italiano. |
| Network | Ethernet by itself; wireless networks through a text dialog. |
| Printing | Network and USB printers without drivers (IPP Everywhere, AirPrint); Print Manager for printers and jobs. |
| Applications | Text Editor, Mailer, Calendar, File Manager, Image Scan, Fractals, documentation viewer and 15 games work; WritePad, Audio Station and Video Player are at an early stage. |
| Web | Firefox ESR, preconfigured for privacy. |
What is not tested yet¶
- Real hardware. So far amadeOS has been tested mostly in virtual machines. Graphics acceleration, wireless firmware, sound, suspend and resume, several monitors and booting from a USB stick on many different computers still need testing. Reports from your own computer are very welcome.
- The UEFI installation and the installation next to Windows are being tested in QEMU, not yet on a real machine.
What amadeOS does not do yet¶
Planned
- An amadeOS package repository, so that amadeOS and its applications are updated like Debian, not only through a new image (M16).
- Disk encryption and a separate home partition in the installer (M14).
- The Startup control of Settings.
- A first release with a documented release process, signed images and release notes (M12).
Limits by design¶
Some things amadeOS leaves out on purpose:
- X11, not Wayland. amadeOS uses the Xorg display server. Wayland may be considered later, once the desktop is complete on X11.
- No visual effects. No transparency, shadows, blur or animations; see chapter 5.
- The live system forgets. Changes you make in the live system from the USB stick are lost at the next start. To keep your work, install amadeOS (chapter 14).
- No automatic updates behind your back. amadeOS tells you about updates and installs them when you ask (chapter 52). Only security updates can be installed automatically, and only once you turn that on.
Should you use amadeOS today?¶
amadeOS is ready to try: start the live system, look around, use the applications, report what you find. It is a good system for a spare computer, for learning, and for anyone who wants to help shape it.
It is not yet the system for a computer whose data you cannot afford to lose, or for work that must not be interrupted. Keep a backup, and wait for the first release before you rely on it.
The current state is always in the ROADMAP, and bugs and ideas go to the issue tracker.