Kate OS
Encyclopedia
KateOS is a Linux distribution
originally based on Slackware
. It is designed for intermediate users. Its package management system uses so called TGZex (.tgz) packages, which unlike Slackware packages support dependency tracking (optional), internationalized descriptions, and are much easier to update. There are two native tools for package management: PKG and Updateos.
The current version of KateOS is KateOS III (3.6), and is also available as a Live CD
.
Kate Linux 1.0 Rabbit (series I)
The first version of the system was published on 2004-10-09. The system was based on Slackware 9.0 but unlike Slackware, it used the PAM
authentication mechanism, and possessed an enriched package set. Due to the problems with the main server which worked only infrequently, hardly anyone learned about the existence of Kate 1.0. After a move to another server, the project has begun to gradually acquire users. After some time, Kate 1.0.1 (a fix release including UpdatePack 1), and a Live version were published.
Kate Linux 2.0 Zyklon
(series II)
Version 2.0 was published on 2005-04-09, and was no longer based on Slackware. It was a long-term edition, the base for further development. It was also the first edition using Linux 2.6.
On 2005-05-06 the name of the project has been changed to KateOS.
On 2005-05-22 version 2.0.1 was published, providing a tool for managing and remote updating the TGZex packages. The tool was called Updateos, and was written by Piotr Korzuszek.
On 2005-06-23 version 2.1 was published. Updateos now could install packages remotely.
On 12 August 2005 the first Live edition of series II was published. It had a more distinctive graphical design, used the squashfs
technology (2 GB of data packed on just one CD) and unionfs
. It detected the hardware and configured the X Server
automatically.
On 2005-10-13 the last version of series II was published - 2.3. Updateos gained new possibilities, and the system had a better hardware autodetection with the Discover tool.
KateOS 3.0 Virgin (series III)
On 12 April 2006 the first snapshot of KateOS 3.0 was published.
On 2006-07-09 the long awaited version 3.0 was published. It has entirely been built from scratch, based on the most up-to-date components. The packaging system has been completely rewritten resulting in the PKG and Updateos2 tools, and the libupdateos and libsmarttools libraries. Again the functionality of the TGZex packages has been widened, this time to include dependency tracking and descriptions in many languages. The installation process has been simplified to allow a full install in just 15 minutes. The system used udev
, D-Bus
and HAL
to detect hardware and mount devices automatically.
On 4 August 2006 the first Live edition of series III was published. It was aimed to demonstrate the possibilities of KateOS 3.0, and to be used as a data rescue system. The CD contained 2GB of data, including the Xfce
desktop environment and many office and multimedia applications. It detected and configured hardware automatically, yielding a fully usable system in a few minutes' time.
On 7 October 2006 version 3.1 was published. It contained fixes, and the updated GNOME
desktop environment. It was the first edition of Gnome adjusted especially to the KateOS system. It also included Update-notifier, a daemon
whose system trace icon changes and blinks when update possibilities are discovered. It let the user easily chose packages to be updated and update them. It was based on the libupdateos library, and only supported the KateOS packages and repositories.
On 21 December 2006 version 3.2 was published. Apart from fixes and updates, it included a new tool, KatePKG. KatePKG is a graphical package manager written in PHP
with the PHP-GTK
library, making KateOS the first system to include this library in the default distribution. It allows the user to easily install, update, and remove packages from the system. It supports any number of repositories, including local ones (located on the user's hard drive). Also, the libsmarttools library has been thoroughly reviewed and optimized, resulting in up to a 60% speed boost in the applications using it (such as Updateos2). With this version KateOS has switched its bootloader from LILO
to GRUB
, hoping that it would better satisfy users' needs and make kernel updates easier.
On 17 September 2007 version 3.6 was released after eight months of development. This version brought several new and updated features to KateOS such as software driven suspend mode, improved internalization support, and the addition of several new programs such as KateLAN and Realm to help make configuring the system more user friendly. The Live CD
version of 3.6 was the first KateOS to sport an on disc installer called Install Agent, allowing the user to directly install to their hard disk after trying the system live.
Damian Rakowski, the 'project initiator, leader, and 1st developer', stated that the project was named after a friend and because the name Kate is "simple, nice and everybody knows it." http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/1611
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...
originally based on Slackware
Slackware
Slackware is a free and open source Linux-based operating system. It was one of the earliest operating systems to be built on top of the Linux kernel and is the oldest currently being maintained. Slackware was created by Patrick Volkerding of Slackware Linux, Inc. in 1993...
. It is designed for intermediate users. Its package management system uses so called TGZex (.tgz) packages, which unlike Slackware packages support dependency tracking (optional), internationalized descriptions, and are much easier to update. There are two native tools for package management: PKG and Updateos.
The current version of KateOS is KateOS III (3.6), and is also available as a Live CD
Live CD
A live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...
.
History
The KateOS project was founded at the end of 2003. The founder and current leader is Damian Rakowski.| KateOS version | Release date |
|---|---|
| 1.0 | 9 October 2004 |
| 2.0 | 9 April 2005 |
| 2.1 | 23 June 2005 |
| 2.3 | 13 October 2005 |
| 3.0 | 9 July 2006 |
| 3.1 | 7 October 2006 |
| 3.2 | 21 December 2006 |
| 3.6 | 17 September 2007 |
Kate Linux 1.0 Rabbit (series I)
The first version of the system was published on 2004-10-09. The system was based on Slackware 9.0 but unlike Slackware, it used the PAM
Pluggable Authentication Modules
Pluggable authentication modules are a mechanism to integrate multiple low-level authentication schemes into a high-level application programming interface . It allows programs that rely on authentication to be written independent of the underlying authentication scheme...
authentication mechanism, and possessed an enriched package set. Due to the problems with the main server which worked only infrequently, hardly anyone learned about the existence of Kate 1.0. After a move to another server, the project has begun to gradually acquire users. After some time, Kate 1.0.1 (a fix release including UpdatePack 1), and a Live version were published.
Kate Linux 2.0 Zyklon
Zyklon B
Zyklon B was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide infamous for its use by Nazi Germany to kill human beings in gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust. The "B" designation indicates one of two types of Zyklon...
(series II)
Version 2.0 was published on 2005-04-09, and was no longer based on Slackware. It was a long-term edition, the base for further development. It was also the first edition using Linux 2.6.
On 2005-05-06 the name of the project has been changed to KateOS.
On 2005-05-22 version 2.0.1 was published, providing a tool for managing and remote updating the TGZex packages. The tool was called Updateos, and was written by Piotr Korzuszek.
On 2005-06-23 version 2.1 was published. Updateos now could install packages remotely.
On 12 August 2005 the first Live edition of series II was published. It had a more distinctive graphical design, used the squashfs
SquashFS
SquashFS is a compressed read-only file system for Linux. SquashFS compresses files, inodes and directories, and supports block sizes up to 1 MB for greater compression...
technology (2 GB of data packed on just one CD) and unionfs
UnionFS
UnionFS is a filesystem service for Linux, FreeBSD and NetBSD which implements a union mount for other file systems. It allows files and directories of separate file systems, known as branches, to be transparently overlaid, forming a single coherent file system...
. It detected the hardware and configured the X Server
X Window System
The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...
automatically.
On 2005-10-13 the last version of series II was published - 2.3. Updateos gained new possibilities, and the system had a better hardware autodetection with the Discover tool.
KateOS 3.0 Virgin (series III)
On 12 April 2006 the first snapshot of KateOS 3.0 was published.
On 2006-07-09 the long awaited version 3.0 was published. It has entirely been built from scratch, based on the most up-to-date components. The packaging system has been completely rewritten resulting in the PKG and Updateos2 tools, and the libupdateos and libsmarttools libraries. Again the functionality of the TGZex packages has been widened, this time to include dependency tracking and descriptions in many languages. The installation process has been simplified to allow a full install in just 15 minutes. The system used udev
Udev
udev is the device manager for the Linux kernel. Primarily, it manages device nodes in /dev. It is the successor of devfs and hotplug, which means that it handles the /dev directory and all user space actions when adding/removing devices, including firmware load.-History:udev was new in Linux...
, D-Bus
D-Bus
In computing, D-Bus is a simple inter-process communication open-source system for software applications to communicate with one another. Heavily influenced by KDE2–3's DCOP system, D-Bus has replaced DCOP in the KDE 4 release. An implementation of D-Bus supports most POSIX operating...
and HAL
HAL (software)
HAL was a software project providing a hardware abstraction layer for Unix-like computer systems.HAL is now deprecated on GNU/Linux systems, with functionality being merged into udev as of 2008–2010...
to detect hardware and mount devices automatically.
On 4 August 2006 the first Live edition of series III was published. It was aimed to demonstrate the possibilities of KateOS 3.0, and to be used as a data rescue system. The CD contained 2GB of data, including the Xfce
Xfce
Xfce is a free software desktop environment for Unix and other Unix-like platforms, such as Linux, Solaris, and BSD – though recent compatibility issues have arisen with regard to BSD Unix platforms...
desktop environment and many office and multimedia applications. It detected and configured hardware automatically, yielding a fully usable system in a few minutes' time.
On 7 October 2006 version 3.1 was published. It contained fixes, and the updated GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
desktop environment. It was the first edition of Gnome adjusted especially to the KateOS system. It also included Update-notifier, a daemon
Daemon (computer software)
In Unix and other multitasking computer operating systems, a daemon is a computer program that runs as a background process, rather than being under the direct control of an interactive user...
whose system trace icon changes and blinks when update possibilities are discovered. It let the user easily chose packages to be updated and update them. It was based on the libupdateos library, and only supported the KateOS packages and repositories.
On 21 December 2006 version 3.2 was published. Apart from fixes and updates, it included a new tool, KatePKG. KatePKG is a graphical package manager written in PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
with the PHP-GTK
PHP-GTK
PHP-GTK is a set of language bindings for PHP which allow GTK+ GUI applications to be written in PHP. PHP-GTK provides an object-oriented interface to GTK+ classes and functions.- History:...
library, making KateOS the first system to include this library in the default distribution. It allows the user to easily install, update, and remove packages from the system. It supports any number of repositories, including local ones (located on the user's hard drive). Also, the libsmarttools library has been thoroughly reviewed and optimized, resulting in up to a 60% speed boost in the applications using it (such as Updateos2). With this version KateOS has switched its bootloader from LILO
LILO (boot loader)
LILO is a generic boot loader for Linux.-Overview:LILO does not depend on a specific file system, and can boot an operating system from floppy disks and hard disks. One of up to sixteen different images can be selected at boot time. Various parameters, such as the root device, can be set...
to GRUB
GNU GRUB
GNU GRUB is a boot loader package from the GNU Project. GRUB is the reference implementation of the Multiboot Specification, which provides a user the choice to boot one of multiple operating systems installed on a computer or select a specific kernel configuration available on a particular...
, hoping that it would better satisfy users' needs and make kernel updates easier.
On 17 September 2007 version 3.6 was released after eight months of development. This version brought several new and updated features to KateOS such as software driven suspend mode, improved internalization support, and the addition of several new programs such as KateLAN and Realm to help make configuring the system more user friendly. The Live CD
Live CD
A live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...
version of 3.6 was the first KateOS to sport an on disc installer called Install Agent, allowing the user to directly install to their hard disk after trying the system live.
Additional information
All new KateOS releases are supported for around two years. Users are encouraged to update via the updateos command to newer versions of the distribution, although major version updates (series updates), e.g. II--->III are not recommended.Damian Rakowski, the 'project initiator, leader, and 1st developer', stated that the project was named after a friend and because the name Kate is "simple, nice and everybody knows it." http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/1611
Further reading
- Preston St. Pierre (May 10, 2005) Review: Kate OS 2.0, Linux.comLinux.comLinux.com is the name of a website owned by the Linux Foundation. The site is currently a central source for Linux information, software, documentation and answers across the server, desktop/netbook, mobile, and embedded areas. Linux.com offers free Linux tutorials, news and blogs, discussion...
- Michael LarabelMichael LarabelMichael Larabel is the founder of Phoronix, a Linux advocate and consultant and the director of software development for Reside@HOME.Michael Larabel received a great deal of attention for starting the ATI Technologies Redblog and issuing The State of ATI Linux in the early days of operating Phoronix...
(February 12, 2007) KateOS 3.2: Installation Made Easy, michaellarabel.com