Another Update

I have been away for a bit as we have just finished moving from Madison, WI to the small town of Luxemburg, IA.  I have also been continuing to modify the Strata plan so that I can ensure we ship an OS that is actually usable day to day rather than just another technology demo.  More updates to come.

Long Weekend

Just another quick note on Strata progress.  Not much in the way of new milestones to report today.  I've been continuing work on the file manager and other core apps and things are progressing pretty well.  This weekend is a Labor Day weekend in the US and I will be using the long weekend to focus as completely on Strata as possible.  I will be posting more updates with screenshots of the as yet unseen Aria Desktop (The screenshot on the project homepage was a proof of concept and does not reflect the final UI design) over the weekend.  Things have been quiet on the forums and in the comments here but I will keep on posting and keep on working on getting that pre-alpha release out.

Strata Update

Just a quick update on Strata development.  Since my last update...

• Application filesystem structure has been worked out
• Progress made on the file manager
• Main desktop and menu system design is complete and coded
• Local/Remote mode recognition is in place
• Ubuntu 10.04 base system and Aria xsession are complete (you can now boot the system and log directly into the Aria desktop)

Work continues towards the pre-alpha release.  Hopefully the next update will include screenshots or possibly a screencast showing the implemented Strata features.

New Blog

I have decided that in order to keep everyone updated on the progress of Symphony Strata I should be posting a lot more information on the development process.  I currently try and spend as much of my free time as possible working on Symphony while still working full time as spending time with my wonderful fiancée and our kids.  That is never as much time as I would like to be able to devote to the project but I am determined to see Strata released.

I am currently working towards the first pre-alpha release of Strata which will let other developers jump in and help move the project forward.  Strata, like Symphony before it involves a lot of open source projects and in many cases we are using their code in ways they may not have envisioned.  So, the first update here should give you some background on the direction I am going:

• The local Strata desktop will utilize a mozilla derived renderer as the original SymphonyOS releases did.  
• The majority of the Strata applications will be served by a web server (most likely lighthttpd) running on two non-standard ports.
• The Orchestra server from legacy SymphonyOS may make an appearance.
• The release will include some X11 applications which will be run locally via the use of mozplugger to render them inside the desktop environment. When accessing the system remotely an application container will be created sharing the application via a vnc server in combination with an HTML5 vnc client (the vnc functions will be included but not fully functional in the first alpha).
• Your Strata desktop, installed on your home machine will allow you to log in and access your files, apps, music, videos, images, bookmarks, etc from any web browser using the native desktop environment.

Currently I have a Strata desktop running in a Mozilla PRISM window on my Ubuntu laptop.  I can currently run web apps (like the file manager) along side X11 applications (Google Chrome) from within the Prism application window using a javascript window manager.  The key things I need to complete before the pre-alpha is released are:

• Standardize the web app filesystem to make it easy to develop new applications
• Complete the strata main menu system
• Complete the mode switching portion of the system that allows the environment to know if it is dealing with a local, remote, or mobile user.
• Complete various work on applications (basic media player functionality, file manager functions, code editor).

In order to keep myself motivated and moving forward I am going to attempt to provide at least two updates per week via this blog throughout the development process.