Part 1

Background

This report contains information about the WattOS distribution. WattOS is a lightweight Ubuntu-based Linux. It was developed by Ronald Ropp, a technology consultant based in Portland, Oregon. WattOS celebrated its fourth release on August 14th 2011. It can be downloaded here and is approximately 540MB. WattOS is accessible to regular users and does not require command line expertise to use.

"The goal is to balance responsiveness, function and footprint and to maintain a somewhat minimalist interface so you do not lose a quick, efficient way to move around your apps and desktop space while not having to be a command line ninja to do so." Linux journal article

Release History

R4 released August 14th 2011.
R3 released January 10th 2011.
R2 released June 23rd 2010.
1.0 released July 17th 2009.

Installation

A WattOS iso is available for downloadhere. The installation described in this report was installed in a virtual environment using VirtualBox. VirtualBox is available for download and can be installed using the wizard provided. I mounted the WattOS iso on a virtual drive and used it to create a new virtual machine in VirtualBox. Afterwards the VirtualBox new virtual machine wizard was used to configure the instillation.

Steps In New Virtual Machine Wizard

The amount of RAM available to WattOS was configured.
A hard disk was created for WattOS, this launched a 'Create New Virtual Disk' wizard.
The wizard provides the user a choice of creating a fixed sized disk or a disk with a dynamic size. I chose a dynamic size.
The wizard provides the option of choosing a location for the hard disk to reside on the host OS.
Start the newly created machine, this starts the 'First Run' wizard.
Select the drive containing the WattOS iso.

After a brief pause WattOS will boot and show the user this screen:
At this point the user may press tab to configure the system.
If tab is pressed a prompt appears.
I selected the option labeled install, afterwards an installation wizard opened to guide me through the installation process.

Steps In WattOS Installation Wizard

User selects a language.
User is given the option of erasing the drive specified for WattOS's installation or to specify a partition.
User specifies location and timezone.
User specifies keyboard layout.
User specifies username and computer's name.

The duration of the installation is approximately 2min. Upon completion WattOS displays a dialog informing the user that the computer must be restarted. After rebooting the user is presented with WattOS's Desktop: a green background prominently featuring an dragonfly. There are four applications on the desktop and a task bar at the bottom of the screen.

Basic Operation

The Sylpheed email client is installed and can be configured to connect to several types of servers. All functionality associated with email clients is present.(compose, structured email hierarchy, drafts, address book search etc.)Figure 1

Audacious audio player is installed and can be used to create play lists and of course play songs. Figure 2

Chromium Web Browser is installed and works. Downloading works as expected. Figure 3

The File Manager has all functionality expected in a modern OS. Figure 4

The System task manager functions much like the windows equivalent and can be customized to display different information. Figure 5

A power manager is supplied that can configure your system's power saving behavior. Figure 6

Usage Evaluation

WattOS accomplishes it's goals. It remains responsive even under heavy load. The applications installed start quickly and accomplish all routine tasks users perform. WattOS only requires 256MB to install and 100-120MB whilst running and can be run using a 366MHZ processor.

Part 2

Coming soon...

Part 3

Coming soon...

References

Reed, Michael "Developer Interview: Ronald 'wattOS' Ropp" Apr 25, 2011 http://www.linuxjournal.com/ <references />