Enchantment OS Files

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Enchantment OS: Linux Simplified for Home and Office
A consumer-friendly software system, built on Linux, Debian, 
       Xfce desktop environment, and Ubuntu Snap 
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UPDATE: 
	20260629: Beta.3 test release of Enchantment OS 26
        20260621: Beta.2 test release of Enchantment OS 26
	20260611: Beta.1 test release of Enchantment OS 26

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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 and small business owners 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 and run from USB flash drives. It features a familiar desktop layout, with a prominent app Menu button in the lower left corner and intuitive window borders, with "File, Edit, View, Help" pull-downs. Enchantment OS 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 26 Features
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 - Simplified for home and office use by non-geekish consumers
 - Derived from Debian 13 Stable (Trixie) and Ubuntu 26.04 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, reliable apps, thoughtfully curated for ease of use,
   reliability, and speed on old and new PC hardware
 - Simple, familiar desktop layout, a lower tool bar 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.
 - Stable, reliable open source Firefox Extended Service Release web browser 
 - Custom install utilities for popular non-free software apps
 - Custom accessory, game, and setup apps utilities for ease of use
 - LibreOffice office suite is included and ready to use.
 - 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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PRETTY_NAME="EnchantmentOS GNU/Linux 26 (trixi-ish)"
NAME="EnchantmentOS GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="26"
VERSION="26 (trixi-ish)"
VERSION_CODENAME=trixi-ish
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.3-amd64.iso 
64-bit, AMD64 Beta Test Revision
Linux kernel: 6.12.86+deb13-amd64
Forked primarily from: debian-live-13.5.0-amd64-xfce.iso
Xfce Desktop Manager: 4.20
Ubuntu snapd: 2.68
Beta Test Revision: recommended for Testing and Evaluation

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Revision Notes ench-26.beta.3-amd64, 20260629
 - Beta Test Revision: appropriate for testing and evaluation 
   by consumer and small business users

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EnchOS 26 Beta.3 Revisions from Beta.2:

 - Add Downloads and Documents destination to "Places" side pane on Thunar file manager.
 - Fix paradoxical self-reference for checksum files, sha256sum.txt and md5sum.txt at the iso root
 - Replace debian-help app with custom "GetHelp!" utility, with excerpts from the user book, Enchantment OS: Linux Simplified for Home and Office. 
 - Add prompt for private mode viewing to Duck.AI app launcher.
 - Add prompt for sudo mode to Bleachbit app launcher.
 - Correct the Software Manager launcher to make the app visible in the Settings GUI window.

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Revision Notes ench-26.beta.2-amd64, 20260621
 - Beta Test Revision: appropriate for testing and evaluation 
   by consumer and small business users

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EnchOS 26 Beta.2 Revisions from Beta.1:

 - Replace custom non-free software install utilities (addwifidriver26, addnvidiadriver26, addshinymetal, and old MS-TTF) with new, simple-to-use, unified AddNaughtyBits utility.
 - Update the custom LanguageSupport utility (language locale settings) for clarity and ease of use.
 - Fix menu placement for EnchantClock accessory.
 - Hide launchers for CLI diagnostic functions to simplify GUI menu.
 - Correct generation of sha256sum.txt and md5sum.txt files in iso. These contain checksums for every file in the bootable iso image. Thanks to my friend, Graham Constantine in Sydney, for finding the error.
 

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Revision Notes ench-26.beta.1-amd64 20260611
 - Beta Test Revision: appropriate for testing and evaluation 
   by consumer and small business users

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Improvements and Revisions from EnchOS 24:

 - Built primarily from Debian 13.5 Xfce Stable, with Debian Long
   Term Support (LTS). 
 - Built-in applications now include:
 	- Entire LibreOffice suite, pre-installed
 	- Simplified app launcher for Firefox browser in Private Mode
 	- Custom app launcher for Duck.AI web portal, for much safer,
 	  much more private access to popular online AI models. Users
 	  are anonymized by DuckDuckGo.
 	- Gnome Software Center, for improved performance and utility in 
 	  finding and installing new apps, including Snap packaged apps
 	- Baobab, Disk Usage Analyzer
 	- APhotoToolLibre, a simple, versatile photo editor, accessed 
 	  from the Ristretto photo viewer app
 	- SSH client and server utilities and net-tools are included
 	- Flite utility for Text-to-Speech, replacing espeak
 	- Naps2Scanner app for more robust connection to document scanners
 	- Simple, effective office apps for arranging and annotating
 	  pdf files, complementing existing Atril viewer and Libre Draw apps
 	- Greatly improved Hardinfo2 (System Profiler and Benchmark) utility
 	- Custom EnchantClock, now based on dsclock, instead of cairo-clock
 - Improved consistency for default dark theme on both Xfce and Gnome apps
 - Clean, intuitive graphical user interface for custom EnchOS utilities
 - Gnome Software Center simplifies app and system software updates
 - NTP automatic time and date support are fixed in Debian 13
 - Preferred applications (MIME types) for photos and graphic image files
   are now consistent and reliable.
 - New, serene desktop background images; photography by Doc Kelley
 - Updates to user book for EnchOS 26 (in progress)
   
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Known Issues:

 - Custom EnchOS utilities, AddNVIDIADriver and AddWifiDriver, are not
   yet completely tested at first Beta release. They simplify installation
   of non-free, proprietary drivers for graphics and wifi components from
   vendors who do not play nice with open-source principles and communities.

 - Persistent storage on live USB drives is not yet implemented in 
   this release.

 - Mugshot app bug does not access camera, when replacing MENU user thumbnail
 
 - 
   

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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 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 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 Software Center. 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