Peppermint OS
Encyclopedia
Peppermint | Linux OS is a cloud-centric OS based on Lubuntu
, a derivative of the Ubuntu
Linux operating system
that uses the LXDE
desktop environment
.
s (SSB's) leveraging web applications available over the Internet (e.g. Google Docs, pixlr). Some example SSB's are provided ready made with the distribution.
It is nonetheless possible for users to install applications natively from Ubuntu compatible repositories. Peppermint OS ships with mintInstall and Synaptic to facilitate this.
Peppermint's developers have written about the philosophy underlying these principles in terms of providing a familiar environment for newcomers to Linux which requires relatively low hardware resources to run.
. The developers originally wanted to make use of configuration and utilities sourced from Linux Mint
coupled with an environment that was less demanding on resources and more focused on web integration. They felt that the concept was a "spicier" version of Mint so the name Peppermint was a natural fit.
Pre-alpha development builds consisted of a wide array of potential directions before the decision to fork Lubuntu
was made. There was quite a bit of experimentation with KDE
, E17
, Adobe Air, and several different code bases during January and February 2010. Alpha builds using the Lubuntu 10.04 code base started in March 2010. Peppermint was released to a small group of private beta testers in April 2010 where it remained private until the first public release.
Peppermint OS One was released to the public on May 9, 2010. In less than a week, it received over 25,000 downloads. It soon outgrew its web host and switched to VPS.NET. VPS.NET became the first official sponsor of the Peppermint project.
On June 20, 2010, Peppermint Ice was released to the public. It sported Chromium as the default browser and featured a blue and black theme to distinguish it from Peppermint One.
On June 10, 2011, Peppermint Two was released to the public. Combining aspects from the two previous editions, it packaged Chromium as its default browser alongside the Ice application for creating Site Specific Browsers. It was also the first edition of Peppermint to be available in both 32 and 64 bit versions.
Kendall Weaver - Co-founder, Lead Developer, and CTO of Peppermint, LLC
Nick Canupp - System Tester, Kernel Developer, Package Maintainer, Forum Admin
Scott Anderson - Support Leader, Forum Admin, Package Maintainer
Zach Nielsen - Community Support, Forum Moderator, Package Maintainer
cxexa - Community Support, Forum Moderator
Jason Chappelear - Community Support, Forum Global Administrator, Moderator
Ikey Doherty - Developer
Thomas Beckett - Legal Support
Native Applications
fashion. Periodically a re-spin is released which incorporates minor bug fixes and recent updates pre-installed.
Peppermint Two
Peppermint One
Peppermint Ice
Lubuntu
Lubuntu is a lightweight Linux operating system based on Ubuntu but using the LXDE desktop environment in place of Ubuntu's Unity shell and GNOME desktop...
, a derivative of the Ubuntu
Ubuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
Linux operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
that uses the LXDE
LXDE
LXDE is a free and open source desktop environment for Unix and other POSIX compliant platforms, such as Linux or BSD. The goal of the project is to provide a desktop environment that is fast and energy efficient...
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...
.
Design Principles
Peppermint OS ships with few native applications and a traditional desktop interface. In place of traditionally native applications for common tasks (word processing, image editing), it ships with the custom Ice application to allow users to create site-specific browserSite-specific browser
A site-specific browser is a software application that is dedicated to accessing pages from a single source on a computer network such as the Internet or a private intranet. SSBs typically simplify the more complex functions of a web browser by excluding the menus, toolbars and browser chrome...
s (SSB's) leveraging web applications available over the Internet (e.g. Google Docs, pixlr). Some example SSB's are provided ready made with the distribution.
It is nonetheless possible for users to install applications natively from Ubuntu compatible repositories. Peppermint OS ships with mintInstall and Synaptic to facilitate this.
Peppermint's developers have written about the philosophy underlying these principles in terms of providing a familiar environment for newcomers to Linux which requires relatively low hardware resources to run.
Nomenclature
Peppermints namesake is Linux MintLinux Mint
Linux Mint is a Linux-based computer operating system best known for its usability and ease of installation, particularly for users with no previous GNU/Linux experience...
. The developers originally wanted to make use of configuration and utilities sourced from Linux Mint
Linux Mint
Linux Mint is a Linux-based computer operating system best known for its usability and ease of installation, particularly for users with no previous GNU/Linux experience...
coupled with an environment that was less demanding on resources and more focused on web integration. They felt that the concept was a "spicier" version of Mint so the name Peppermint was a natural fit.
History
Peppermint OS was initially conceived at the Black Rose Pub in Hendersonville, NC, USA during a night of drinking and discussion about the future of desktop Linux. Peppermint was originally designed to be a social media-centric distribution.Pre-alpha development builds consisted of a wide array of potential directions before the decision to fork Lubuntu
Lubuntu
Lubuntu is a lightweight Linux operating system based on Ubuntu but using the LXDE desktop environment in place of Ubuntu's Unity shell and GNOME desktop...
was made. There was quite a bit of experimentation with 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...
, E17
Enlightenment (window manager)
Enlightenment, also known simply as E, is a stacking window manager for the X Window System which can be used alone or in conjunction with a desktop environment such as GNOME or KDE...
, Adobe Air, and several different code bases during January and February 2010. Alpha builds using the Lubuntu 10.04 code base started in March 2010. Peppermint was released to a small group of private beta testers in April 2010 where it remained private until the first public release.
Peppermint OS One was released to the public on May 9, 2010. In less than a week, it received over 25,000 downloads. It soon outgrew its web host and switched to VPS.NET. VPS.NET became the first official sponsor of the Peppermint project.
On June 20, 2010, Peppermint Ice was released to the public. It sported Chromium as the default browser and featured a blue and black theme to distinguish it from Peppermint One.
On June 10, 2011, Peppermint Two was released to the public. Combining aspects from the two previous editions, it packaged Chromium as its default browser alongside the Ice application for creating Site Specific Browsers. It was also the first edition of Peppermint to be available in both 32 and 64 bit versions.
Team
Shane Remington - Co-founder, Project Leader, and COO of Peppermint, LLCKendall Weaver - Co-founder, Lead Developer, and CTO of Peppermint, LLC
Nick Canupp - System Tester, Kernel Developer, Package Maintainer, Forum Admin
Scott Anderson - Support Leader, Forum Admin, Package Maintainer
Zach Nielsen - Community Support, Forum Moderator, Package Maintainer
cxexa - Community Support, Forum Moderator
Jason Chappelear - Community Support, Forum Global Administrator, Moderator
Ikey Doherty - Developer
Thomas Beckett - Legal Support
Packaged software
Cloud Applications- Editor by Pixlr (Image Editor)
- Express by Pixlr (Photo Editor)
- Pixlr-o-Matic (Photo Filter App)
- Last.FMSSB
- Seesmic Web
- The Cloud Player
- YouTube
- eBuddy
- Google Calendar
- Google Docs
- Gmail
- Google Reader
- Peppermint Bug Tracking
- Peppermint Forums
Native Applications
- Chromium Web Browser
- Dropbox
- Guayadeque (Music Player)
- Ice
- X-Chat (IRC Client)
- Transmission (Torrent Client)
- Gnome-Mplayer (Media Player)
Release history
Peppermint OS uses a hybrid release schedule. Updates are rolled out as needed in a rolling releaseRolling release
In software development, a rolling release development model refers to a continuously developing software system; this is opposed to a standard release development model which uses software versions that must be reinstalled over the previous version...
fashion. Periodically a re-spin is released which incorporates minor bug fixes and recent updates pre-installed.
Peppermint Two
- Initial Release June 10, 2011
Peppermint One
- Initial Release May 9, 2010
- Respin 05222010 - Released May 22, 2010
- Respin 06172010 - Released June 23, 2010
- Respin 08042010 - Released August 9, 2010
- Respin 01042011 - Released January 4, 2011
- Kernel updated to 2.6.35, HAL completely removed, Screenshot app replaced with PyShot, some low level utilities and user level apps updated (GNU Coreutils, Samba, PCManFM, LXTerminal, Firefox, and others).
Peppermint Ice
- Initial Release July 20, 2010
- Respin 10012010 - Released October 2, 2010
- Respin 20110302 - Released March 7th, 2011
- The LFFL repository was been added. Some region specific SSBs, such as Hulu and Pandora, were removed from the default installation. Some space saving optimizations were made to the .iso.