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We recently discovered DahliaOS, an operating system created by Google and described as the Fuchsia kernel plus a module loader and HAL. So what exactly does that mean? And why do we care? Fuchsia has been written about before, but most of the reports focus on its history rather than what it could become. DahliaOS offers insight into how Google could put Fuchsia to use by giving us a more realistic picture of what it could be used for in the future.
Getting to know the team
DahliaOS is a new operating system being developed by a small team of experienced developers. The team is led by Bevan Campbell, who has worked on several other open source projects including the Linux kernel.
Other members of the development team include Stephen McGruer, who has previously built an operating system for an electric car and had a hand in developing Apple’s iOS; and Joanna Chen, who founded her own company and produced award-winning software before coming to work on DahliaOS. Currently, the team of three engineers is working out of their homes with no corporate backing.
Bevan believes that this project can take on such giants as Microsoft and Apple because it offers something new that they do not. If you look at Windows 8 or 10, those are fairly traditional desktop interfaces but with finger input as well as keyboard input, he said.
But what we are building with Dahlia is a system where you can have your desktop interface running alongside apps that look like web pages or documents you would find on mobile phones or tablets. And I think there will be many more benefits that we haven’t yet thought about.
The team hopes to complete their first release by December 2017 and have beta versions available in the near future.
Key features
DahliaOS is a new operating system that is being developed by Google. It is based on the Linux kernel and has a modular design. This means that it can be easily customized for different devices. DahliaOS also has a unique user interface that is based on the Material Design language. This operating system is still in development, but it shows promise for what it could become.
As Google continues to develop this OS, we will see more features come out of it. For now, though, I am excited about what it could become. There are many different aspects that I like about this operating system. The UI is aesthetically pleasing and responsive. It is customizable which makes sense since it’s designed for a variety of devices with varying specs. And with its focus on security, DahliaOS would make an excellent choice for anyone looking to get rid of Windows or Mac OSX (or whatever they’re using).
With such little information available on the project right now, all I can do is speculate. But it looks promising so far! One of my favorite things about DahliaOS is how easy it is to use. The command-line terminal was simple enough for me to navigate without needing help from anyone else and the UI looks great as well.
Security seems tight as well – with multi-layered access control, application sandboxing, and other various measures in place; users should have nothing to worry about when using this operating system. Other than these few details, there isn’t much else I know about DahliaOS at the moment. All I can say is that it’s going to be awesome!
Full list of features
If you’re interested in trying out DahliaOS for yourself, head over to the website and download the latest version. Once you have it downloaded, unzip the file and open the DahliaOS folder. Inside, you’ll find a file called dahlia.img. This is the disk image that you’ll need to write to a USB drive. Once done, insert the USB drive into your PC or Mac and restart your computer.
Boot from the USB key by holding down the Option key while powering on your machine. You should then see a boot menu asking which device you want to boot from. Choose your USB key and proceed with installation instructions until you get to disk where it will ask what partition type (i.e., MBR or GPT) as well as which system partition size (i.e., 100 MB).
Download instructions
If you’re interested in trying out DahliaOS for yourself, you can find instructions for downloading and installing the operating system on the official website. Keep in mind that DahliaOS is still in development, so it’s not recommended for use on your primary device. But if you have a spare computer lying around or want to test out what a potential new OS from Google might be like, now you know where to start! It has a clean,
simple design with one-click access to all of the important features of an OS – email, messaging, files and more. One thing I really love about DahliaOS is how fast it loads apps; because there are no desktop programs or heavy apps loaded by default, everything boots up within seconds. It also has many of the same features as Android Pie without having the extra load time (I’m looking at you Facer!) which means it should be ready for use on a phone sooner than expected.
Some people may find this disappointing though, as they were expecting something completely different. DahliaOS is essentially just another take on Android – but the difference between the two doesn’t seem drastic enough to warrant switching over anytime soon. For anyone who wants to get an idea of what Google could do in terms of UI/UX, this will serve well until we see some actual innovation coming from them again.
