BeleniX
Encyclopedia
BeleniX is an operating system distribution built using the OpenSolaris
source base. It can be used as a Live CD
as well as installed to hard disk
. From the information provided on the BeleniX website, it may appear that currently, BeleniX is compiled only for 32-bit execution (at i586/Pentium op-code based). This is compounded by the lack of clarity on the Belenix site as to whether the BeleniX distribution supports true 64-bit (i.e., x86-64/AMD64
) Solaris kernel and userland. However, oblique references from the BeleniX team members have indicated that as of BeleniX 0.7, their live CD contains both 32-bit and 64-bit installation files. Initially developed as a Live CD along the lines of Knoppix
to showcase OpenSolaris technologies, Belenix went on to become the initial base for Sun's OpenSolaris distribution. A number of technologies pioneered in the Belenix project have gone on to become full projects in their own right within the OpenSolaris ecosystem.
BeleniX is focused on using KDE
for its desktop environment
, although XFCE
has also been supported since the beginning of the distribution. An upcoming release will also include first-class support for GNOME
. The BeleniX dev team focuses on technology and on innovation, and aims at working with all communities, including other OpenSolaris based distros such as MilaX
, Nexenta OS
, and SchilliX
. The name and logo are references to the Celtic god of light, Belenus
.
.
While the focus of BeleniX is on the developer desktop, it is also stable and scalable enough to work as a workstation or development server environment. This is mainly due to the quality of the underlying OpenSolaris kernel and userland environment.
BeleniX thus is also a first-class OpenSolaris development environment and is completely self-hosting. Every package included in BeleniX is built on BeleniX itself, including the OpenSolaris kernel. BeleniX aims to be an easy-to-use distribution that gently exposes the power of OpenSolaris. The Live CD format makes OpenSolaris more easily approachable, and boots within two to three minutes from a CD-ROM. It also aims to encourage innovation by bringing in new features and usability enhancements and increasing community participation.
was ready for people to make use of.
Over a period of time, BeleniX was developed further and grew in popularity. Non-Sun contributors also joined in the effort developing it into a FOSS
community project. BeleniX was the first OpenSolaris distribution to bundle a complete working Xorg X11 GUI environment.
Over the years a number of critical innovations sprung out of the BeleniX project which were later incorporated into the OpenSolaris distributions from Sun. In fact the first beta release of Sun's OpenSolaris distro was largely based on BeleniX. BeleniX was the second OpenSolaris distribution to appear, after SchilliX
, and the first to provide an auto-configuring Xorg based GUI
. It introduced various missing technologies in OpenSolaris. Some of the important innovations include:
Project Indiana has leveraged all these technologies and has served as a starting point for it. Taking this and other technologies developed for Indiana in account, the future focus for BeleniX has been set to evolve and grow as a source-level Indiana derivate with focus on the KDE desktop, and to make a fully featured and functional OpenSolaris distro based on KDE.
Check the LiveCD Features Timeline in References to see a chronological account of BeleniX development till the release of the OpenSolaris distro by Sun in 2008.
3.4.3, newer packages including KDE4 being increasingly built with Gcc 4.4. There are some packages, especially the GNOME components derived from the JDS
project, that are being built with Sun Studio
12. These are being actively migrated to Gcc 4.4. The team aims to eventually have all of BeleniX built on the completely FOSS toolchain Gcc.
in its present state due to various technical reasons, and is considering alternatives including the deb
format and the RPM5
format along with the Smart Package Manager.
OpenSolaris
OpenSolaris was an open source computer operating system based on Solaris created by Sun Microsystems. It was also the name of the project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around the software...
source base. It can be used 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...
as well as installed to hard disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
. From the information provided on the BeleniX website, it may appear that currently, BeleniX is compiled only for 32-bit execution (at i586/Pentium op-code based). This is compounded by the lack of clarity on the Belenix site as to whether the BeleniX distribution supports true 64-bit (i.e., x86-64/AMD64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
) Solaris kernel and userland. However, oblique references from the BeleniX team members have indicated that as of BeleniX 0.7, their live CD contains both 32-bit and 64-bit installation files. Initially developed as a Live CD along the lines of Knoppix
Knoppix
Knoppix, or KNOPPIX , is an operating system based on Debian designed to be run directly from a CD / DVD or a USB key , one of the first of its kind for any operating system. Knoppix was developed by Linux consultant Klaus Knopper. When starting a program, it is loaded from the removable medium...
to showcase OpenSolaris technologies, Belenix went on to become the initial base for Sun's OpenSolaris distribution. A number of technologies pioneered in the Belenix project have gone on to become full projects in their own right within the OpenSolaris ecosystem.
BeleniX is focused on using KDE
KDE
KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
for its desktop environment
Desktop environment
In graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface derived from the desktop metaphor that is seen on most modern personal computers. These GUIs help the user in easily accessing, configuring, and modifying many important and frequently accessed...
, although 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...
has also been supported since the beginning of the distribution. An upcoming release will also include first-class support for 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...
. The BeleniX dev team focuses on technology and on innovation, and aims at working with all communities, including other OpenSolaris based distros such as MilaX
MilaX
MilaX is an OpenSolaris Live CD distro designed to fit on a business-card sized miniCD. x86 and SPARC versions are downloadable in bootable ISO 9660 and USB disk images. The Live CD can also be used to install the operating system to a hard disk through with ZFS-boot support. MilaX can be...
, Nexenta OS
Nexenta OS
Nexenta OS, officially known as the Nexenta Core Platform, is a computer operating system based on OpenSolaris and Ubuntu that runs on IA-32- and x86-64-based systems. It emerged in fall 2005, after Sun Microsystems started the OpenSolaris project in June of that year. Version 1.0 was released in...
, and SchilliX
SchilliX
SchilliX is a Live CD operating system distribution based on OpenSolaris. It was released on 17 June 2005, three days after the first release of OpenSolaris. Its developers claim that it is the first OpenSolaris distribution...
. The name and logo are references to the Celtic god of light, Belenus
Belenus
In Celtic mythology, Bel, Belenos was a deity worshipped in Gaul, Cisalpine Gaul, and Celtic areas of Austria, Britain and Spain. He is particularly associated with Cornwall, West Cornwall being anciently called Belerion, the place of Bel...
.
Design and principles
BeleniX aims to have the latest stable revisions of most software, and packages are continuously pushed in the package repository with this aim in mind. However, in many cases bleeding-edge software is pushed out to help validate it and try out new features. Due to these reasons BeleniX also includes a lot of third-party drivers that may not be found in the official OpenSolaris distribution from SunSun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
.
While the focus of BeleniX is on the developer desktop, it is also stable and scalable enough to work as a workstation or development server environment. This is mainly due to the quality of the underlying OpenSolaris kernel and userland environment.
BeleniX thus is also a first-class OpenSolaris development environment and is completely self-hosting. Every package included in BeleniX is built on BeleniX itself, including the OpenSolaris kernel. BeleniX aims to be an easy-to-use distribution that gently exposes the power of OpenSolaris. The Live CD format makes OpenSolaris more easily approachable, and boots within two to three minutes from a CD-ROM. It also aims to encourage innovation by bringing in new features and usability enhancements and increasing community participation.
History
After the announcement of the OpenSolaris project, BeleniX was started as a private project by a few Sun employees working at Sun's India Engineering Centre in Bangalore, India, in the year 2005. Their aim was to have something along the lines of Knoppix to showcase OpenSolaris to end users. In a few weeks' time, an ISO imageISO image
An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...
was ready for people to make use of.
Over a period of time, BeleniX was developed further and grew in popularity. Non-Sun contributors also joined in the effort developing it into a FOSS
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
community project. BeleniX was the first OpenSolaris distribution to bundle a complete working Xorg X11 GUI environment.
Over the years a number of critical innovations sprung out of the BeleniX project which were later incorporated into the OpenSolaris distributions from Sun. In fact the first beta release of Sun's OpenSolaris distro was largely based on BeleniX. BeleniX was the second OpenSolaris distribution to appear, after SchilliX
SchilliX
SchilliX is a Live CD operating system distribution based on OpenSolaris. It was released on 17 June 2005, three days after the first release of OpenSolaris. Its developers claim that it is the first OpenSolaris distribution...
, and the first to provide an auto-configuring Xorg based GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
. It introduced various missing technologies in OpenSolaris. Some of the important innovations include:
- Auto-Configuration of interfaces prior to NWAM
- Complete working Xorg X11 environment, which later resulted in the Fully Open X project
- On-The-Fly Loopback Decompression of CD contents
- New Algorithm for file placement optimization leveraging DTraceDTraceDTrace is a comprehensive dynamic tracing framework created by Sun Microsystems for troubleshooting kernel and application problems on production systems in real time...
profiling - Implementation of read-ahead and I/O scheduling in the HSFS(ISO9660) filesystem in OpenSolaris
- Live CD built toolkit
- First OpenSolaris distro to provide a NTFS and Ext2fs mount capability
- First OpenSolaris distro to provide advanced Xorg auto-configuration capability
- First OpenSolaris distro to be able to run a fully functional Java 5/6 environment
- First OpenSolaris distro to provide a basic port of GNU PartedGNU PartedGNU Parted is a free partition editor, used for creating, destroying, resizing, checking, and copying partitions, and the file systems on them. This is useful for creating space for new operating systems, reorganising hard disk usage, copying data between hard disks, and disk imaging...
- First OpenSolaris distro to provide a complete KDE 3.5.x environment
Project Indiana has leveraged all these technologies and has served as a starting point for it. Taking this and other technologies developed for Indiana in account, the future focus for BeleniX has been set to evolve and grow as a source-level Indiana derivate with focus on the KDE desktop, and to make a fully featured and functional OpenSolaris distro based on KDE.
Check the LiveCD Features Timeline in References to see a chronological account of BeleniX development till the release of the OpenSolaris distro by Sun in 2008.
Software and toolchain
The BeleniX team aims to ensure that all packages co-exist on the same system, while ensuring that the latest versions of the package are built with the latest compilers. As a result, Belenix has so far had KDE 3.5.9 built with GCCGNU Compiler Collection
The GNU Compiler Collection is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages. GCC is a key component of the GNU toolchain...
3.4.3, newer packages including KDE4 being increasingly built with Gcc 4.4. There are some packages, especially the GNOME components derived from the JDS
Java Desktop System
OpenSolaris Desktop, formerly Java Desktop System , is a desktop environment now developed by Oracle Corporation available for Solaris, and formerly Linux....
project, that are being built with Sun Studio
Sun Studio (software)
The Oracle Solaris Studio compiler suite is Oracle's flagship software development product for Solaris and Linux. It was formerly known as Sun Studio...
12. These are being actively migrated to Gcc 4.4. The team aims to eventually have all of BeleniX built on the completely FOSS toolchain Gcc.
Desktop environments
Belenix has so far positioned itself as a KDE distribution, while also providing XFCE. Upcoming releases will also provide GNOME.- KDEKDEKDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
3.x and 4.2.4(upcoming) - XFCEXfceXfce 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...
- GNOMEGNOMEGNOME 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...
Installation
BeleniX today uses the same Caiman Installer and libraries that are used in Sun's OpenSolaris distro. Going forward there are plans to re-implement the Installer GUI in Qt4 while still using the underlying Caiman Installer libraries.Packaging
The Belenix team presently continues to use SVR4 packaging, which is what Solaris has provided to date. The team does not intend to use IPSImage Packaging System
The Image Packaging System, also known as IPS or pkg, is a cross-platform package management system created by the OpenSolaris community in coordination with Sun Microsystems...
in its present state due to various technical reasons, and is considering alternatives including the deb
Deb (file format)
deb is the extension of the Debian software package format and the most often used name for such binary packages. Like the "Deb" part of the term Debian, it originates from the name of Debra, erstwhile girlfriend and now ex-wife of Debian's founder Ian Murdock.Debian packages are also used in...
format and the RPM5
RPM Package Manager
RPM Package Manager is a package management system. The name RPM variously refers to the .rpm file format, files in this format, software packaged in such files, and the package manager itself...
format along with the Smart Package Manager.
External links
- BeleniX Home Page
- BeleniX FAQ on Genunix OpenSolaris Wiki
- Linux Format Magazine based its initial review of the OpenSolaris Platform on BeleniX
- Another review of OpenSolaris distributions from Linux Format
- The OpenSolaris Distributions are mentioned in the OpenSolaris Bible with credit given to BeleniX for its contributions:http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470385480, http://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=belenix&x=0&y=0
- Phoronix review of BeleniX 0.6
- Phoronix review of BeleniX 0.7
- BeleniX was one of the top 20 winners of the FOSS India Award 2008:http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/entry/belenix_wins_foss_in_award, http://www.efytimes.com/efytimes/24867/news.htm
- The initial BeleniX team was in the primary Times Of India newspaper
- An early BeleniX developer Anil Gulecha who put BeleniX on a thumb drive was featured in the front page of Times Of India
- SUN's CEO Jonathan Schwartz linked to Anil's and others TV interview video
- Serverwatch article on BeleniX
- BeleniX mentioned in ElReg
- Linux.COM articles on BeleniX:http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/50315, http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/114309
- Eweek Article mentioning BeleniX
- BeleniX mentioned in The Hindu
- BeleniX 0.4.1 was the basis for Project Indiana/Caiman