What, exactly, is the status of WattOS?

[lonewolf]

I used WattOS years ago on computers that were just a little old for the latest and greatest mainstream distros. I really liked it. It seems I was using R4. Does that sound about right? After that WattOS kind of disappeared. I happened to catch mention of R12 being released while I was nosing around Distrowatch. I downloaded it and it looks like I might be interested.

My questions regard the status of the OS and the future. Can someone offer at least a brief explanation of where it's at and where it's going? I don't want to load my 4 laptops up just to find out that software updates aren't available or, even worse, finding out that R12 is the end of the line.

[cheiron]

Hiya


I understand your comments and where you are coming from here with what you are saying.


From watt (pardon the os pun) i understand.. I do believe the OS is back as it was originally. we have a new discord server and the new distrowatch listing as you saw.
It was the covid outbreak that stopped the original timeline of wattOS due to the owner's real life commitments hospital related work. I got covid myself also and yeah.. you can see why things went stale.


We did a trial beta last year with selected invites to see what the current donor platforms were like with their older hardware compatability and we have been alpha testing the new R12 for a while, before we went public to announce open public beta testing.


Once the public testing was over, we then released the R12 which is based on Debian 11, and the new discord server.


We have been busy already over there with demand on downloads and support and bits..


So i hope that has answered some of your questions. Obviously i am only a site mod here.. but Leenie and Myself have been with this project now for what.. gah.. 8 years for me.. 11 or so for Leenie.. and we have kept the push going


Now.. R12 atm is a hybrid uefi/bios iso in a 64bit flavour.. Biff is mulling over 32bit if there is enough request for it.. so yeah.. there we have it.


If you are happy to join us over on the discord.. Biff is alot more active there as things have taken off like wildfire as you can imagine, we'll be able to provide more info in almost live time.

[lonewolf]

Thanks for the reply, cheiron. I guess what you are trying to tell me is that things are supposedly back to the way things were back around R4. If that's truly the case, I'm prepared to install and give R12 a real try out. I just don't want to get all cozy and comfortable with a distro and then have things fall apart on me.

As for Discord, I most definitely will not be joining you there. Discord is simply a social media website like Facebook. I don't, and won't, have a thing to do with such sites. I value my privacy a whole lot more than that. I did make an attempt at joining and visiting the site, just for grins and giggles. What you see in the video below is what I get when I try to login. I don't do things like that, ever. So, I'll be posting right on this forum when I need any assistance.

Hmm. I don't see a specific way to include a video other than just inserting the link to the video I posted on my Fotki page. I guess that could be my first request for assistance. How are videos supposed to be included? Am I not seeing something?

https://images34.fotki.com/v1681/photos/2/3733132/14239300/creenrecorder20221130_10_01_30-video.mp4

[cheiron]

Hiya


yeah no worries on the discord. we're keeping this forum running also. it was just another platform, the discord
I'll drop a message for Biff to look in here for you and update

[lonewolf]

OK. Thanks for letting Biff know. I keep running that name through my head. Was he ever in charge of a different distro? Every time I run his name through my head I get a little twinge of familiarity.

As for R12, I spent a couple hours this afternoon installing it and tweaking it. I screwed up really badly in some of my tweaking and managed to Bork my own system. Yeah, go ahead and laugh. i can take it. I screwed up and I'm certainly not too big to admit it. I'm preparing to try it a second time. I'll definitely NOT do a couple of tweaks I am used to doing on Mint. There is obviously just enough difference between the two distros that a few of my tweaks are no longer useful. LOL! Oh, well,,,,,

I'll post up as soon as I get it installed, tweaked, and running the way I want it to. Believe it or not, one of the things I seem to be having problems with is the color or other appearance of the taskbar. I guess what I need are a few images that can be used for taskbar appearance. I tried using just a color and I could never find the right shade to compliment the rest of the desktop.

So, would anyone know where I can download images that can be used for the taskbar?
.

[cheiron]

atm there is a bug with the theme managaer.. i think its down to the aidwaita. when you change theme it doesnt auto update.. you have to logout/in again of watt.. and the changes stick


if i understand your question correctly

[leenie]

@lonewolf I validated Discord account with email. I never had to enter my phone number. Hope to see you there.

[lonewolf]

I spent nearly every minute of every hour yesterday afternoon and evening trying to get R12 installed and tweaked. I kept running into little glitches that prevented me form applying some tweaks I prefer for my installs. So far, I haven't managed to get through more than about half my tweaks without Borking the system. I'm going to try again from now until about noon. I'm hoping to determine exactly what I can and can not do to R12.

I used to be able to do this crap for two or three days, working around the clock. Anymore, I run out of steam after a few hours. Ahhh, the joys of the "golden years". What a laugh!

[JBHoren]

@lonewolf I validated Discord account with email. I never had to enter my phone number. Hope to see you there.

I wish the option to validate via email was offered, 'cuz I don't have a cellphone (and have no plans to acquire one).

[leenie]

@JBHoren you can validate by email! Please look again.

[lonewolf]

No, I'm going to have to agree with JBHoren. As soon as I click on the "Start Verification" button, I immediately get the "Enter a Phone Number" screen you see below. There is no other option given. It's either a phone number or nothing. I guess I'll choose nothing. That's exactly why I won't proceed with Discord. It's just like every other social disease website out there. Nothing but grief can be had by visiting any such social disease site.

As for making WattOS work for me, I gave up about 2 hours ago. I'm completely unable to apply certain tweaks I insist on having on any system I run. I've proceeded with another distro that uses slightly more resources than R12, but allows me to apply every one of my tweaks. I gave it a whirl, but to no avail.







.

[lonewolf]

I thought I'd try one, last time to get ANY info on the status of this distro. I keep searching the web and just found a whole webpage explaining how WattOS is to become ViaOS. What's that supposed to be about? So, is WattOS officially dead then?

As for the crappy Discord thing. It totally sucks. I just now tried to login. I was again hit with a double verification line of crap. First, I was told to check my email as there would be a link to verify. I checked and there was. I clicked the link and was presented with ANOTHER verification that was to be a text message to the phone number I was to enter. Let me say this. If I have to have a damned cell phone to verify my identity for a forum about a Linux distribution FOR A DAMNED COMPUTER, I'm out. Period. I know I'm not the only person that feels the same as I do. I am currently involved in a discussion about this very thing on a REAL Linux forum. The majority of guys seem to agree with me. There is absolutely NO SENSE in a computer distro's forum requiring a phone for verification.

So, either fix the problem, or move the forum back here where it should be. Using a stupid social media site for a distro forum makes absolutely NO sense. It's crap like this that keeps a distro that is already on life support from taking on new life. If you truly care about getting WattOS back to where it once was, start acting like it.

[leenie]

@lonewolf Did you see the date on the article about ViaOS? This project was scrapped a long time ago.
There is no problem with signing up with our forum with email using browser. Do you use the browser or app to try to access our forum on Discord?

[cheiron]

Went to google.... typed Wattos ... and got a buttload of up to date results on our new R12!


https://www.google.com/search?q=wattos&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB917GB917&oq=wattos&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0i10i512j69i61j69i65l3j69i60l2.1297j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[blaze]

This phone number thing seems like some kind of weird two-factor authentication is enabled?

And for the consideration about privacy, well I am on the internet.