How to see the installed device in endless. Endless OS what is it. Switching from GPT to MBR and vice versa

Free operating system based on Linux. It offers a beautiful user interface, a somewhat limited application manager, and tons of educational software.

Endless OS is mainly used to teach computers all over the world, so the company made an imitation of the smartphone interface. Instead of an application menu, it uses shortcuts arranged in a grid on the desktop. It looks like an iPhone. You can add/remove applications and create folders to organize them.

Right above the apps is a search bar where you can search for files and apps. At the top of the screen is a minimized applet that displays informational notes such as "masterpiece of the day", "quote of the day" and "word of the day".

Endless OS Apps

Endless OS has a long list of supported apps, and it's up to you to determine the length of the default app list by choosing either a basic or full install.

The base installation contains basic applications such as Google Chrome, WhatsApp, VLC, LibreOffice, etc., while the full version contains a complete set of educational programs designed for Endless OS users.

Google Chrome comes with a customized start page created with the explorer plugin. It also comes with Adblock preinstalled.

Graphical environment EndlessOS

EndlessOS uses what I guess can be called "Endless Desktop" - a custom fork of GNOME 3. The desktop environment is really pretty and easy to work with.

Some may say that you do not have the ability to view everything installed applications in one place all at once, but this is not on my list of necessary features if I can do my job and feel comfortable.

The Endless OS icon at the far left of the taskbar does not bring up the application. It toggles between desktop view and "last used app". The only way to see all installed apps at once is to visit the app store.

In any case, the collection of apps is amazing and you can always easily add/remove any of them from the app store.

Endless OS App Store

Endless OS uses root file system only for reading. This means that the app store is good for managing only the apps available in it.

The file system that Endless OS runs on only supports Flatpak applications and is managed by OSTree.

Every year there are more and more systems based on Debian. Each of them tries to get closer to the convenience and ease of use of GNU / Linux at home, which their “ancestor”, suitable for server solutions, cannot boast of. This article will cover how to install Endless OS from a flash drive.

System features: supports only 64-bit architecture, has its own desktop based on GNOME, automatic disk partitioning during installation.

RAM	2GB+
CPU	x86-64
video card	128 MB
HDD	16 GB+

Preparing to Install Endless OS

To install the OS, we will use a USB drive. Go to the Endless website. In chapter Free Download select the tab with the system on which you will burn the flash drive (for example, Windows) and click Download Now.

For Mac or Linux, specify the base system type (Multilanguage).

To use the Etcher utility, which is supported on Windows and GNU/Linux. First you need to specify the file, then the recording location and click Flash!.

Step 1. Launching the installer

Insert the drive and restart your computer. During the POST test, press the boot device selection button (usually F11 or F12 depending on the BIOS model) and select the flash drive with the OS → Enter.

Step 2. Language selection

Select Endless OS language to be used after installation → Further.

Step 3Format the drive

Press the button. The system will make the markup automatically, without the possibility of manual distribution.

Step 4. Confirmation of the selected OS

A unique step in all existing GNU/Linux OSes, it will ask you to confirm if the Endless OS distribution is indeed the system you want to install. Based on your choice of image when downloading from the site. Click to continue Further.

Step 5. Selecting a drive

Specify the disk or partition where the system will be installed and the size of which must be at least 25 GB. Confirm that you agree with the complete deletion of all files on the selected partition by checking the appropriate box → Further.

Step 6 Installation

The system installation process will begin.

At the end of the process, click power off. During the restart, remove the flash drive from the computer.

Step 7Customize the Keyboard

After the system boots, the installation of additional components will continue. First, specify the language for which keyboard layouts will be selected → Further.

Choose a specific layout. Please note that here, by analogy with Deepin OS, Russian keyboards differ slightly in the location of some buttons. Click preview for familiarization. Once selected, press Further.

Step 8. Selecting a time zone

Set your time zone by selecting the city closest to you → Further.

Step 9. Set up online accounts

If necessary, add accounts available social networks or services for integration with the OS. Click Skip to delay or not perform this action.

Step 10. Create a user

Write a name account. Turn on the toggle switch for password protection Password protected → Further.

Step 11. Create a password

Enter a password and confirm it. If necessary, in the field password reminder write a phrase to remind you of your password if you forget it → Further.

Step 12: Finishing the installation

This will complete the installation. Click Get started with Endless.

Endless OS installation is complete and the system is now ready to use.

conclusions

This article has covered how to install Endless OS. The system is based on Debian GNU/Linux and provides more user-friendly and user-friendly management. The OS works only with 64-bit architecture and automatically partitions the disk, so you should prepare the partition yourself before installation.

What does the average Linux distribution look like? Usually this is some kind of system, like a constructor, assembled from thousands of packages, plus various desktop tweaks, possibly its own installer and configuration system. In any case, almost all distributions are similar and based on the same idea: package + package + package = OS. Endless is completely different, there are no packages per se at all, but there is the concept of an atomically updatable base system and Flatpak sandboxes.

At the beginning of time, when UNIX took its first steps on the planet, there were no third-party software, and no problems associated with managing it. If you needed to install some application, it was enough to compile it and put the resulting binary in the /bin directory.

When the number of applications began to increase and their complexity increased, problems began to appear. An application could not only consist of a single binary, it could include a number of libraries, man pages, configuration files, and much more. The idea was to use the install recipe in the application build instruction (Makefile) to install everything you need with a single make install command.

It all worked until UNIX went mainstream and began to fork and clone. The problem was no longer the convenience of installation, but the fact that there were already many applications themselves, they could depend on each other and require modification to work correctly in one or another UNIX-like OS.

This is how the BSD ports system was born. In essence, it was a collection of recipes that allowed you to download, patch, compile and install applications in automatic mode. With its help, the application could be correctly deleted, so that there were no tails left in the system.

The beauty of the ports system was that it allowed not only to install and remove applications built from sources, but also to form binary packages from the same sources. It soon became clear that it was much more convenient for users to install ready-made packages, instead of waiting for the compilation to finish. The era of package managers has begun.

In Linux distributions, the package manager is the de facto standard. Unlike the same BSDs, where there is a clear boundary between the indivisible base part of the system and the set of ports/packages installed on top of it, GNU/Linux distributions consist exclusively of packages. Kernel - a separate package, a basic set of utilities command line- another package, the libc library (the main part of the system after the kernel) - another package.

This division is not accidental, it is the very essence of GNU/Linux - many components written by different people that work together. But this approach has many problems. Preservation of dependencies between packages must be strictly controlled; replacing just one system package can render the entire system unusable. To upgrade the distribution to new version you have to come up with crutches: you need to update all the basic components of the distribution so that the system does not remain in a borderline state (when some packages are updated, and some are not).

And of course, the limitation known to all Linux users, when you simply cannot install two different versions of the application. The contents of the package are copied to the system directories instead of their allocated directory, and even if installation to a dedicated directory is possible, there will certainly be dependency problems: the application requires the libxyz.1.2 library, and libxyz.1.3 is installed on the system, and its version cannot be downgraded because the package manager will start grumbling that the abc and bca applications require exactly version 1.3.

In general, everything is difficult. But there are several methods to solve these problems today, and all of them are embodied in Endless OS.

With a customized desktop . Endless OS is unlike any popular desktop distribution. Although Endless OS and is based on Debian, but its approach to software management and system updates is significantly different. In fact, apt or any other system management package has been dropped, since the distribution uses Flatpak to provide applications to users.

Endless OS

Endless OS is the brainchild of the young company Endless Mobile, which specializes in the production of low-cost compact computers for developing countries. A typical representative of the Endless Mobile target audience is an African from a remote village, where even mobile connection- it's a luxury. Therefore, Endless Computer is not just inexpensive, but also an intuitive computer that does not require an Internet connection.

Computer Endless Mini, the size of a children's ball

The full image of Endless OS weighs about 14 GB and includes more than 100 applications for all occasions and more than 50,000 Wikipedia articles, as well as various tutorials. There is also a 2 GB base image containing only the essentials. Everything else can be installed from the app store

Endless OS uses a heavily modified version of GNOME called the EOS Shell as its desktop. This is indeed a very simple environment, devoid of many of the concepts of standard desktops. It's more like a tablet or phone interface than a desktop one: a task switcher with a tray, a set of icons and folders on the desktop, and a search bar that searches Google and the hard drive at the same time.

The installer matches the desktop - as simple as possible and does not ask too many questions. The first download starts with an interactive tutorial that will explain where everything is, how to listen to music, watch videos and install third-party software.

Installer

The set of software in the 2 GB version is quite standard: Google Chrome, LibreOffice, Totem video player, Rhythmbox audio player, Shotwell photo viewer, Duolingo language learning program, file manager, calculator, preferences (GNOME default settings), terminal (can only be launched via search).

App Store

The app store is convenient. It is enough to click install, and the application will be installed without a single question, much less a request for superuser rights. All applications are distributed in the form of self-contained packages. The installer places them in the /var/lib/flatpak/app directory, and when launched, it creates a virtual environment in which the application will run (we'll talk about this later).

OSTree

In Endless OS, there is no concept of a package manager, and there are no packages themselves either. The entire base part of the distribution, that is, the very system, the image of which weighs two gigabytes, is one monolithic indivisible piece. You cannot replace certain parts of it, as in other distributions, or remove unnecessary software. It's one single system, just like Windows or macOS.

However, unlike the same Windows and macOS, the base part of Endless OS does not have a fixed state. All of its files are stored in a Git-like OSTree repository. This means that upgrading to a new version of a distribution does not happen "live", as in other distributions, which roll updated packages directly onto a working system. Instead, eos-updater downloads the modified files to the repository and then hardlinks them in the root directory. For example, /bin/bash on Endless OS is simply a hard link to one of the files in the /ostree/repo repository. If bash is also updated during a system update, eos-updater will remove the old link and create a new link to another file in the repository.

OSTree repository

Compared to the classic package-based approach, OSTree provides many advantages. It allows you to make the update atomic, when the system does not transition to a new updated state until it is completely ready for this. On regular Linux, package installation can be interrupted and get an inconsistent system state, which can lead to a complete failure of the OS and the need to reinstall. Here it is excluded.

Moreover, due to the fact that OSTree keeps a history of changes, the OS can be rolled back to a previous state. In other words, the system allows you to downgrade, and without having to download and reinstall anything. The whole operation takes just a few seconds.

Well, the last. Although Endless OS does not support this, OSTree allows you to create multiple installations of the same OS at once. different versions. All their files will be stored in one repository, so you don't even have to waste disk space.

flatpak

The base installation of Endless OS is not writable. It cannot be modified, which means you cannot install packages or build an application from source and install it with ./configure && make && make install . Instead, Endless OS offers to install software in the form of self-contained Flatpak packages.

This is an implementation of the idea, as old as Linux itself, that applications should be installed in separate directories instead of copying their files into directories on the system itself. Flatpak doesn't just put applications in separate directories, allowing you to install multiple versions of the same application and solve dependency issues. For each application, it also forms its own sandbox, limited using the mechanisms of namespaces, cgroups, seccomp, allowing you to control access to certain resources of the machine. For example, an application can be denied access to the Web, and the scope of the file system can be limited to the user's home directory.

Each application has a metadata file that describes not only the application itself, but also its permissions.

All applications installed with Flatpak are located in the /var/lib/flatpak directory. When an application is launched, Flatpak forms the environment necessary for its operation on the fly. In particular, a root file system is created specifically for the application in random access memory(tmpfs), the /usr directory of the main system, the /proc , /sys and /dev directories with a limited set of device files are connected to it in read-only mode, /etc is created with the minimum set of configuration files necessary for operation. Access to "dangerous" system calls is restricted using seccomp. If necessary, the user's home directory is connected in read-write mode, access to the necessary OS functionality is allowed.

Each application has a metadata file that describes not only the application itself, but also its permissions.

An application launched with Flatpak is cut off from the main system and runs in its own environment. Yes, it has access, for example, to the /usr directory, but cannot modify it. It does not see the processes of the main system, does not see users' personal files (by default), cannot work with hardware, and cannot get out of its virtual environment.

However, due to these same sandboxes, Flatpak is useless when it comes to system applications. That is why Endless OS is divided into two parts, one of which is basic, and the second is a set of Flatpak format applications that work in sandboxes.

• Endless OS is ranked 171st by distrowatch.com.
• Until mid-2016, Endless OS was distributed only in source form.
• Representatives of Endless Mobile are members of the GNOME Foundation's oversight board.
• The Endless Mini was the reaction choice for CES 2016.
• The cheapest Endless computer is $79, the most expensive is $229.

Conclusion

Endless OS is not the only operating system that uses OSTree for atomic system updates. OS is built on OSTree to run containers

When buying a laptop or computer, usually Windows 7/8 or Linux is already installed on it (the latter option, by the way, helps to save money, because Linux is free). In rare cases, cheap laptops may not have any OS at all.

Actually, this happened with one Dell Inspirion 15 3000 series laptop, on which I was asked to install Windows 7, instead of the pre-installed Linux (Ubuntu). I think the reasons why they do this are obvious:

- more often HDD a new computer / laptop is broken not very conveniently: either you will have one system partition for the entire volume hard drive- the “C:” drive, or the partition sizes will be disproportionate (for example, why do they make 50 GB on the “D:” drive, and 400 GB on the system “C:”?);

- there are fewer games in linux. Although today this trend has begun to change, it is still far from Windows of this OS;

- it’s just that Windows is already familiar to everyone, and there is neither time nor desire to learn something new ...

Attention! Although software is not included in the warranty (only hardware is included), in some cases, reinstalling the OS on a new laptop / PC can cause all sorts of warranty issues.

1) Preparing a bootable USB flash drive / disk with Windows

The first and most important thing to do is prepare bootable flash drive(You can also use bootable DVD disc, but with a flash drive it is more convenient: the installation is faster).

To burn such a flash drive you need:

- installation disk image in ISO format;

- flash drive 4-8 GB;

- a program for writing an image to a USB flash drive (I usually always use UltraISO).

The algorithm of actions is simple:

- insert the flash drive into USB port;

- format it in NTFS (attention - formatting will delete all data on the flash drive!);

- run UltraISO and open the installation image with Windows;

- how to create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows: XP, 7, 8, 10;

- correct BIOS settings and correct notation bootable flash drive;

- utilities for creating a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP, 7, 8

2) Network drivers

Ubuntu was already installed on my "experimental" DELL laptop - therefore, the first thing it would be logical to do is to set up a network connection (Internet), then go to the official website of the manufacturer and download the necessary drivers (especially for network cards). Yes, he actually did.

Why is this needed?

Simply, if you do not have a second computer, then after reinstalling Windows, most likely neither wifi nor a network card will work for you (due to the lack of drivers) and you will not be able to connect to the Internet on this laptop in order to download these very drivers. Well, in general, it is better to have all the drivers in advance so that there are no various kinds of incidents during the installation process and windows settings 7 (even funnier if there are no drivers at all for the OS you want to install ....).

- software for updating drivers

3) Backup documents

Save all documents from the laptop hard drive to flash drives, external hard drives, Yandex drives, etc. As a rule, the partitioning of the disk on a new laptop leaves much to be desired and you have to format the entire HDD completely.

2. BIOS setup for booting from a USB flash drive

After turning on the computer (laptop), even before Windows boot, first of all, the BIOS takes over the management of the PC (eng. BIOS is a set of microprograms necessary to provide the OS with access to the computer hardware). It is in the BIOS that the computer boot priority settings are set: i.e. first boot it from the hard drive or look for boot records on the USB flash drive.

1) To enter the BIOS - you need to restart the laptop and press the button to enter the settings (when turned on - this button is usually always shown. For Dell Inspirion laptops, the login button is F2).

Buttons for entering the BIOS settings:

Here, to install Windows 7 (and older operating systems), you must set the following parameters:

- Boot List Option - Legacy;

- Security Boot - disabled.

By the way, not all laptops have these parameters in the BOOT fold. For example, in ASUS laptops- these parameters are set in the Security section (for more details, see this article: .

3) Changing the download queue…

Pay attention to the download queue, at the moment it is (see the screenshot below) as follows:

1 - the Diskette Drive will be checked first (although, where does it come from ?!);

2 - then the installed OS will be loaded on the hard disk (then the download sequence simply will not reach the installation flash drive!).

Using the "arrows" and the "Enter" key, change the priority as follows:

1 - boot from the USB device first;

2 - the second boot from the HDD.

4) Saving settings.

Actually, that's all, the BIOS is configured, you can proceed to Windows installation 7…

3. Installing Windows 7 on a laptop

(DELL Inspirion 15 series 3000)

1) Insert a bootable USB flash drive into a USB 2.0 port (USB 3.0 - marked in blue). Windows 7 cannot be installed from a USB 3.0 port (be careful).

Turn on the laptop (or restart). If the BIOS is configured and the USB flash drive was properly prepared (it is bootable), then the installation of Windows 7 should begin.

2) The first window during installation (as well as during recovery) is an offer to select a language. If it is correctly defined (Russian) - just click next.

3) In the next step, you just need to click the install button.

5) In the next step choose " full installation”, point 2 (the update can be used if you already have this OS installed).

6) Disk partitioning.

A very important step. If you do not correctly partition the disk into sections, this will constantly interfere with you when working at the computer (and you can lose a lot of time to restore files) ...

The best way, in my opinion, is to split the disk into 500-1000GB, thus:

- 100GB - on Windows OS (this will be the "C:" drive - it will have the OS and everything installed programs);

- the remaining space is the local disk "D:" - it contains documents, games, music, movies, etc.

This option is the most practical - in case of problems with Windows, you can quickly reinstall it by formatting only the "C:" drive.

In cases where there is one partition on the disk - with Windows and with all files and programs - the situation is more complicated. If Winows does not boot, you will need to boot from the Live CD first, copy all documents to other media, and then reinstall the system. In the end, you're just wasting a lot of time.

If you are installing Windows 7 on a "blank" drive (on new laptop) - then the HDD, most likely, does not have the files you need, which means you can delete all partitions on it. There is a special button for this.

When you delete all partitions (attention - the data on the disk will be deleted!) - you should have one partition “Unallocated disk space 465.8 GB” (this is if you have a 500 GB disk).

Then you need to create a partition on it (drive "C:"). There is a special button for this (see screenshot below).

Determine the size of the system disk yourself - but I do not recommend making it less than 50 GB (~ 50,000 MB). On my laptop, I made the size of the system partition about 100 GB.

Actually, then select the newly created partition and press the button next - it is into it that Windows 7 will be installed.

7) After all the installation files from the flash drive are copied to the hard disk (+ unpacked), the computer should go to reboot (a message will appear on the screen). You need to remove the flash drive from the USB (all the necessary files are already on the hard drive, you won’t need it anymore) so that after rebooting, the download from the flash drive does not start again.

8) Parameter setting.

Automatic update - I recommend disabling it altogether, or at least checking the box next to the item - “Install only the most important updates” (the fact is that auto-update can slow down the PC, and it will load the Internet with downloadable updates. I prefer to update - only in manual mode).

9) Installation completed!

Now you need to configure and update the drivers + configure the second hard disk partition (which will not be visible in "my computer" yet).

4. Formatting the second partition of the hard disk (why the HDD is not visible)

If you completely formatted your hard drive when installing Windows 7, then the second partition (the so-called local hard drive "D:") will not be visible! See screenshot below.

To fix this, you need to go to the panel Windows controls and go to the administration tab. To quickly find it, it is best to use the search (on the right, above).

Then you need to start the "Computer Management" service.

This tab will show all drives, both formatted and unformatted. Our remaining hard drive space is not used at all - we need to create a “D:” partition on it, format it in NTFS and use it ...

To do this, right-click on the unallocated space and select the "Create Simple Volume" function.

Then choose the NTFS file system and volume label: give the disk a simple and understandable name, such as "local".

That's all - the disk connection is complete! After the operation, a second disk "E:" appeared in "my computer" ...

5. Installing and updating drivers

If you followed the recommendations from the article, then you should already have drivers for all PC devices: you only need to install them. Worse, when the drivers begin to behave unstably, or suddenly do not fit. Let's look at several ways to quickly find and update drivers.

1) Official sites

This is the best variant. If there are drivers for your Windows 7 (8) laptop on the manufacturer's website, install them (it often happens that the website has either old drivers or none at all).

DELL - www.dell.ru/

ASUS - www.asus.com/UK/

ACER - www.acer.ru/ac/ru/RU/content/home

LENOVO - www.lenovo.com/ru/ru/

HP - www8.hp.com/en/en/home.html

2) Update in Windows OS

In general, Windows OS, starting from 7, is quite “smart” and already contains most of the drivers - the main part of the devices will already work for you (perhaps not as well as with “native” drivers, but still).

To update in Windows, go to the control panel, then go to the "System and Security" section and launch the "Device Manager".

In the device manager, those devices for which there are no drivers (or some conflicts with them) will be marked with yellow flags. Right-click on such a device and context menu select "Update Drivers...".

3) Spec. programs for finding and updating drivers

A good option for finding drivers is to use special. programs. In my opinion, one of the best for this is Driver Pack Solution. He represents himself iso image 10GB - which has all the main drivers for the most popular devices. In general, in order not to hurry, I recommend that you read the article about best programs to update drivers -