Where I've Been At + CommonArch

End of the article; or perhaps not quite.

The past few months have been a tumultuous bunch, there is no denying that. And yet here I am, typing this blog post out without any idea of what is to be said next.

blendOS is finally at a point where it might be described as stable, if only for Linux veterans. As one of the few Arch Linux-based distribu- ahem, atomic (and immutable) distributions out there, it serves as a lovely alternative to other, perhaps less customisable, atomic Linux distributions out there, its declarative nature attracting many.

Meanwhile, Ubuntu Unity has an active user-base that continues to enjoy the nostalgic eye-candy Unity7 can suffice as, while eagerly awaiting the release of a stable Lomiri, one that can finally take the desktop throne; the UBports team must be thanked for their efforts to make this dream a reality.

On the other hand, there existed several projects also maintained and led by yours truly that saw their unofficial demise a long time back. Among those was Ubuntu Web, a Linux distribution that sought to take the place of ChromeOS, while retaining the privacy-friendly nature many have to come to expect of Linux-based operating systems (unfortunately, security is more often than not overlooked).

Although clearly appreciated by the community as an idea (I still recall being the feeling of awe upon witnessing the influx of hundreds of followers every few hours following the day it was announced on Twitter, back when I was about 10), its broadening scope was not met with as many encouraging words; those same ideas trickled down to my other projects, but (at the time) 11-year old me eventually took the decision to end Ubuntu Web as a project.

UbuntuEd witnessed a similar quietus. Also among the projects I had released at the age of 10, it was not nearly as well-received (or rather, there was a lack of reception if it may be described as such) by the Linux community; in hindsight, an education-oriented operating system was not likely to achieve nearly the same level of success, but that did not matter. I was disheartened by the underwhelming response, and soon abandoned this project.

This brings me to the present day.

It has been an ambition of mine to revive those projects in another form. And I have finally had the chance.

Over the past few months, I have been working on a new distribution framework, one that would enable one to build a Linux distribution atop our efforts at blendOS. As I had alluded to earlier, blendOS has always had a tendency to retain an advanced user-base, one that a certain degree of familiarity with computers is expected of.

I seek to change that with CommonArch. It is a project I have dedicated several dozens of hours to, in an endeavour to build a toolkit for the purpose of building easy-to-use atomic Arch Linux-based distributions. Much alike Universal Blue (which served as a huge inspiration for this project, given the almost-uncanny resemblance!) and Vanilla OS (more on this below), I have opted to ship the operating system as an OCI (container) image.

Consequentially, this framework also enables you to build an ISO from any Arch Linux container image; I plan to extend this to images of other Linux distributions too.

To demonstrate this functionality, I have built a workstation image.