================================================ Genode Labs Newsletter - August / September 2018 ================================================ Content 1. Sculpt OS with Visual Composition (VC) 2. Genode OS Framework 18.08 released 3. Introducing the Genode Component Public License 1. Sculpt OS with Visual Composition (VC) ----------------------------------------- We proudly announce the third incarnation of our Genode-based general- purpose operating system called Sculpt! This release - nicknamed Sculpt with Visual Composition - introduces a new graphical user interface for installing and deploying system components from downloadable software packages. Users no longer need any command- line skills in order to explore the system. That said, to enjoy the system to full extend, the text-based interface is still there, empowering well-versed users to customize and control the system. Sculpt is available as a ready-to-use disk image that can be booted directly from a USB stick on commodity PC hardware: https://genode.org/download/sculpt The release is accompanied with updated documentation that covers everything from a quick-start guide, over an architecture description, to advanced topics like building the system from source: https://genode.org/documentation/articles/sculpt-tc 2. Genode OS Framework 18.08 released ------------------------------------- End of August, version 18.08 of the Genode OS Framework was released. This version is primarily focused on device drivers. All Linux-based drivers such as the Intel wireless stack and Intel graphics driver are now based on the kernel version 4.16.3, which greatly improves Genode's compatibility with modern PC hardware. The USB driver received special attention as its former monolithic structure is now broken up into separate components for the host-controller driver and the USB device drivers. This further improves the resilience of the system. The huge driver update comes at the right moment for third stage of Sculpt OS. The release features all the ingredients needed for the "visual composition" user interface that enables the user to manage system components using an interactive graph. Further highlights of version 18.08 are a new microcode-update mechanism for Intel processors, SMP for our custom microkernel on the x86 architecture, extended support for the Ada programming language, the ability to route network traffic between an arbitrary number of physical network interfaces, and a new way to select the networking stack of a component between lwIP and Linux TCP/IP by a mere configuration change. The new version is described in full detail in the accompanied documentation: https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/18.08 3. Introducing the Genode Component Public License -------------------------------------------------- Since founded ten years ago, Genode Labs pursues the Genode project based on a dual-licensing business model, which allows us to fund the development of Genode as an independent team. Our licensing business is enabled by the combination of the AGPLv3 as a strong copyleft license with the library-like nature of Genode. Until today, this model is limited to our company. To foster a sustainable ecosystem around Genode, we wish to enable others to pursue a similar business model while maintaining the spirit of open collaboration and free software. We eventually crafted a new license called "Genode Component Public License" (Genode CPL) specifically for components developed by 3rd parties, outside of Genode Labs. The rationale, license text, and FAQ are available here: https://genode.org/documentation/articles/component_public_license As of today, the document is a draft. We plan to finalize it by the end of October and welcome any feedback about it, either by writing to licensing@genode-labs.com or to Genode's mailing list. About the newsletter -------------------- If you have friends or colleagues who might be interested in our projects, we would appreciate you to forward this email. If you received this newsletter as a forwarded email, you may subscribe to the newsletter here: https://genode-labs.com/newsletter In the case of receiving this newsletter unintended, you can cancel your subscription at any time by replying to this email with the subject set to "unsubscribe". Best regards -- Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske Genode Labs https://www.genode-labs.com/ · https://genode.org/ https://twitter.com/GenodeLabs · /ˈdʒiː.nəʊd/ Genode Labs GmbH · Amtsgericht Dresden · HRB 28424 · Sitz Dresden Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth
