Enchantment OS Files

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Enchantment OS: Linux Simplified for Home and Office
A consumer friendly software system, derived from Debian, 
       Xfce desktop environment, and Ubuntu Snap 
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Enchantment OS is a Free/Open Source (FOSS) Linux distribution, tailored for ease of use, reliability and performance. It makes stable, secure Linux software goodness more accessible to nongeeky consumers and small business owners. Based on interviews and user trials with more than 200 real-world consumers fom California to Florida, Enchantment OS has more of the features and apps that consumers need and less of the shiny nerdy stuff that they don't. Enchantment OS offers surprising performance on old and new PC hardware-- even when booted from USB flash drives. It features a familiar desktop layout and a prominent app Menu button in the lower left corner. This Linux distribution is accompanied by an easy-to-read full-color paperback user book--Enchantment OS: Linux Simplified for Home and Office.

www.enchantmentos.com

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Enchantment OS 24 Features
--------------------------

 - 
 - Simplified for home and office use by non-geekish consumers
 - Derived from Debian 12 Stable and Ubuntu 24.04 Linux distos
 - Supports AMD64 PC and notebook systems
 - Free/Open Source (FOSS) Linux operating system, under GNU 
   General Public License (GPL) 2 and 3
 - Consumer friendly apps, thoughtfully curated for ease of use,
   reliability, and speed on old and new PC hardware
 - Simple, familiar desktop layout, a lower toolbar and 
   prominent app MENU button at bottom left
 - Lightweight Xfce desktop environment boots and runs fast on 
   leaner, greener PC hardware and rescued older computers.
 - Open source Firefox Extended Service Release web browser 
 - Custom install utilities for optional Ubuntu Snap app store 
   and non-free Chrome browser and proprietary drivers
 - Custom accessory, game, and education apps include 
   EnchantClock, LeWord (5-letter word guess game),
   and AIchat (a simple, privacy-oriented AI chat sampler) 
 - LibreOffice word processing app is included. The entire 
   Libreoffice suite may be added with a single click.
 - Serene land and seascape desktop backgrounds from Doc Kelley
 - (Update In progress) Easy-to-read full-color paperback user 
   manual,"Enchantment OS: Linux Simplified for Home and Office"





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Revision Notes ench-24.beta.4-amd64 == ench-24.rc.1-amd64
 - Beta.4 promoted to Release Candidate status
 - Appropriate for test and evaluation by consumer and
   small business users

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Date: 20240724
PRETTY_NAME="EnchantmentOS GNU/Linux 24 (bookwormish)"
NAME="EnchantmentOS GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="24.beta.4-amd64"
VERSION="24 (bookwormish)"
VERSION_CODENAME=bookwormish
ID=enchantmentos
HOME_URL="https://www.enchantmentos.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.enchantmentos.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://www.enchantmentos.com/"
Live image: ench-24.beta.4-amd64.iso 
64-bit, AMD64 Beta Version
Linux kernel: 6.1.0-22-amd64(x86_64)
Forked primarily from: debian-live-12.6.0-amd64-xfce.iso
Xfce Desktop Manager: 4.18
Ubuntu snapd: 2.57
Test Version: Recommended for Testing and Evaluation

------------------------------------
Improvements from previous versions:

 - Built primarily from Debian 12.6 Xfce Stable, with Debian Long
   Term Support (LTS). 

 - Enabled the Application Menu on the xfce desktop popup by 
   default. Open xfce desktop popup with a right-click or key 
   mappings: Alt+F1 or Ctl+Esc, whenever you don't want to move the 
   cursor all the way down to the MENU button. 

 - Mugshot package added to fix whisker menu error and allow
   user to update personal icon/photo.

 - Updated uca.xml config file to add right-click search and
   print functions to Thunar File Manager.

 - Enchantment OS installer (Calamares) launcher label
   updated to ENCH prefix.

 - Live grub and bios boot menus updated to EnchantmentOS labels.

 - Added custom icon for EnchantClock (dpkg-reconfigure locales)

 - Updates to user book for EnchOS 24 complete
   
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Known Issues:

 - "ACPI" error notifications are sometimes seen when booting
   the current EnchOS 25, with Linux kernel 6.x, on older 
   motherboards and older BIOS/EFI firmware that lack
   ACPI support to control hardware resources and power
   management. It appears to be OK to ignore these notifications
   on older PC systems.

 - AiChat, Game and Education app: There is an upstream service
   interruption for AI Large Language Model menu item #2, 
   "opengpts--open access GPT-3." This affects the AiChat app and 
   the underlying tgpt CLI app. The tgpt developer and user 
   community don't know if this interruption is temporary. We
   will update AiChat in future EnchOS releases as needed. The 
   other three menu selections, "phind," "koboldai," and 
   "blackboxai" are working normally.

 - Installing the Snap Store software app with the custom AddStore
   utility can take a long time on older systems with limited 
   memory or slow internet connections. Document in book.

 - The time zone should be manually set in the Time and Date 
   (time-admin) settings utility. The Auto setting currently
   returns an "NTP support" error message. (Known Debian error)

 - Storage/disk device information is currently not displayed
   by the System Profiler and Benchmark (hardinfo) utility. This
   should be addressed in a future update. However, the Disks
   utility in the MENU Accessories tab, can provide detailed 
   storage device information and diagnostics.

 - preferred applications (MIME types) do not stick permanently.
   File types open with the last app used for that file types.

 - persistent storage on live USB drives not implemented in 
   this release.



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Hints:

 - In live session use, booted directly from a USB drive, the 
   default live user account has a password, "live." This is 
   a characteristic of Debian Linux and differs from Ubuntu 
   distros and earlier versions of Enchantment OS. If the system
   times out and blanks the screen, or if you put it in sleep
   mode to take a break, you'll be prompted to enter this
   password to resume the session.

 - Recommend installing the Snap Store software app, using the 
   custom AddStore utility, especially on newer, more capable 
   systems. This open up a broad world of reliable, containerized 
   open source apps and non-free apps, too.

 - Recommend Ublock Origin and Privacy Badger browser extensions 
   for security and privacy on Firefox and optional Chrome browsers. 
   They should be manually enabled for Incognito/Private Mode use.
   
 - The optional Google Chrome web browser is easily installed with 
   the custom AddShinyMetalBrowser utility and is often preferred for
   business use. However this is a very heavy, resource-hungry app 
   that intrudes on personal privacy and is not recommended for
   daily consumer use. 

 - Recommend the open source Brave web browser for daily, personal
   use. It is easily installed from the Snap Store software app. 
   Brave's built-in privacy and security features are robust
   and ready-to-use, without complicated set up. Privacy extensions 
   are not needed for the Brave browser.

 - Recommend the PODDR podcast app, easily installed from the Snap
   Store. It's simple to use and can search and access a wide
   variety of popular podcasts at no charge.




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Enchantment OS

Email Doc Kelley at kelley(at)enchantmentos.com