[HN Gopher] JingOS: Linux Distro Inspired by the iPad
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       JingOS: Linux Distro Inspired by the iPad
        
       Author : throwaway888abc
       Score  : 405 points
       Date   : 2021-01-17 03:24 UTC (19 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.jingos.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.jingos.com)
        
       | samwestdev wrote:
       | Why do people put copyrighted words (like iPad) in their copy?
       | Just called a tablet-style OS so Apple won't go after your ass.
        
         | ericls wrote:
         | looks like they are in China
        
         | tomcam wrote:
         | The word you're looking for is trademarked, not copyrighted.
         | Anyway, IANAL but in the USA it's perfectly legal to describe
         | something as iPad-like in sales copy as long as it doesn't look
         | like you're attempting to deceive the user that it is an Apple
         | product.
         | 
         | Practically speaking, I agree completely. Apple could just file
         | some bullshit motion for shits and giggles and the only
         | practical thing to do would be to take it down or get
         | bankrupted by a baseless lawsuit.
        
         | tyingq wrote:
         | It's not a new thing :)
         | https://images.computerhistory.org/revonline/images/50000439...
        
         | BuzzwordBingo wrote:
         | What's the point of blatantly ripping off a design if you can't
         | brag about it?
        
       | denysvitali wrote:
       | This could look awesome on my Pixel C!
        
         | jasonvorhe wrote:
         | What would I have given for a second iteration on that device
         | and form factor. Next to the 2nd Chromebook Pixel, the Pixel C
         | was the most perfect device from Google.
        
       | retpirato wrote:
       | You realize elementary os exists right?
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_OS
        
       | 29athrowaway wrote:
       | LibreOffice is not my go-to choice anymore for office suites on
       | Linux.
       | 
       | FreeOffice from SoftMaker is my choice now.
        
         | himujjal wrote:
         | Same here. But I use onlyoffice. And its been serving me good
         | till now. Plus I like the tabs thing. I installed it on my
         | friend's laptop which is super old, it seems to work better
         | than MS Office 2016 too
        
       | pratio wrote:
       | A lot has already been said about them copying or borrowing or
       | just getting their inspiration from Apple, so I'll skip that.
       | Unless they fully opensource the code it is unlikely to get any
       | traction. And if it is really based on Linux we're likely going
       | to see UI and UX issues, An OS is more than just a some fancy
       | icons and modded apps. The transitions that they show in the demo
       | are not easy to achieve as in stability of the software. It looks
       | very clean but unlike elementary OS, it doesn't feel authentic. I
       | don't know what obsession people have with Apple but they aren't
       | the only company getting designs and UX right. These avenues are
       | unfortunately killing independent and new design ideas.
        
         | alexfromapex wrote:
         | I don't think there's an obsession with Apple so much as there
         | is an obsession with the minimalism and an alignment of the
         | design goals into an ecosystem that Apple has demonstrated.
        
           | pratio wrote:
           | You're not wrong about the alignment of design but it is
           | definitely not minimalist design. I've been using and
           | upgrading iPads for the last 6 years and with each release
           | the menus and options are becoming more convoluted. But there
           | is a certain consistency across all Apple devices which does
           | make it easy.
           | 
           | JingOS seems heavily inspired as in a massive lack of any
           | original concept. Even the browser shown in the demo looks so
           | much like safari. The notifications on the corner. The swipe
           | up gestures etc.
           | 
           | Even the design story of icons is heavily inspired.
        
             | machello13 wrote:
             | > with each release the menus and options are becoming more
             | convoluted. But there is a certain consistency across all
             | Apple devices which does make it easy.
             | 
             | Honest question, how do you add more features + abilities
             | to an OS without adding more menus in more places?
        
               | pratio wrote:
               | I am not saying that new features don't need menus but
               | maybe they could be simplified? The copy, paste select
               | system on iOS is poor IMO. The new tab/ new private tab
               | has been done better on chrome. What I wished to say in
               | the original comment was that if new ideas aren't given a
               | chance we might never see something different, might be
               | radically different and we might just like some things
               | about it.
        
           | sangnoir wrote:
           | There definitely is an obsession with Apple in a subset of
           | the "design community" - I've seen lots of aping of
           | aesthetics with no functional justification (such as web
           | sites with brushed aluminum and linen textures which became
           | popular _after_ OS X releases that featured the same cues)
        
         | app4soft wrote:
         | The worst thing is there that title should be: _" Linux Distro
         | Inspired by the iOS"_.
         | 
         | iPad is a device, not OS.
        
           | cueo wrote:
           | Thanks for your clarification. I wasn't able to make head or
           | tail of the title without reading your comment.
           | 
           | /s
        
           | TulliusCicero wrote:
           | This seems needlessly pedantic since even Apple uses the term
           | iPadOS.
        
           | asidiali wrote:
           | iPad-flavored iOS is different than iPhone-flavored iOS.
           | 
           | Even Apple calls it iPadOS:
           | https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-14/
           | 
           | Their title seems accurate.
        
             | app4soft wrote:
             | iPad (device) != iPadOS (OS)
        
               | asidiali wrote:
               | Ok, yes, what's your point?
               | 
               | iPad != iPadOS != iOS which was your original
               | modification to the title.
               | 
               | My point is, it's iPad specific. So iPad/iPadOS is fine
               | here, and not iOS.
        
         | FreddGreen wrote:
         | I think it will get traction because there are tonnes of low
         | end windows tablets out there that only have 2 gb ram and 32 gb
         | storage that can barely even run windows and jing os which is
         | using a modified plasma mobile will be way faster on these low
         | end windows tablets
        
           | pratio wrote:
           | The low end tablets will meet the same fate as the low end
           | android ones. Applications developed using the high end
           | devices in mind will run painfully slow or perform miserably
           | on the lower end ones. The higher end tablets might come with
           | extra graphics support and such which would leave developers
           | flummoxed on which devices to target.
           | 
           | Of course gaining traction as a closed source Chinese OS
           | would be very difficult and unless we can see some code
           | ourselves and run it locally, its all just speculation.
        
           | FreddGreen wrote:
           | https://forum.jingos.com/t/jingos-roadmap-v1-0-published-
           | on-... shows it is based on Ubuntu 20.04 and Plasma Mobile if
           | you want a source for "jing os which is using a modified
           | plasma mobile"
        
         | fartcannon wrote:
         | I don't know why people think Apple even has a good UI. Because
         | it all looks the same? None of it makes any sense if you have
         | any experience other than Mac/iOS.
         | 
         | Let us never forget that we are holding it wrong.
        
       | footrot wrote:
       | It must be fun writing an essay on a tablet. Do you think tablets
       | will defeat laptops?
       | 
       | Or do most pad users have a physical keyboard for text entry?
       | 
       | I would be interested in the touchscreen keyboard detail here.
       | 
       | I have Gboard on Android, has this space matured?
        
         | yoz-y wrote:
         | > Or do most pad users have a physical keyboard for text entry?
         | 
         | When I listened to productivity podcasts the consensus seemed
         | to be yes, people who tend to do a lot of typing on tablets
         | hook them up to keyboards.
        
         | pjmlp wrote:
         | Basically hybrid will win, as on the Windows side, Microsoft is
         | winning over Android by having laptops with detachable
         | keyboards, turning most non gamer Windows laptops into Surface
         | Pro clones.
        
       | slim wrote:
       | this is exactly what I was looking for. but something is
       | suspiciously not visible in the demo video : the soft keyboard.
        
         | input_sh wrote:
         | Absolutely agree. From my experience with other distros,
         | navigation is flaky, but usable with some modifications.
         | 
         | Software keyboard is always just terrible to use, making
         | anything other than scrolling social media or reading
         | articles/books a painful experience.
        
       | duckfang wrote:
       | From their discord, this is just more gongkai "loot open
       | source/GPL and be closed source"-ware
        
       | Bud wrote:
       | "Inspired by"? They've directly copied all kinds of UI.
        
         | ibejoeb wrote:
         | I suspect the name is a play on jingoism
        
           | solstice wrote:
           | No it isn't. See their About page
        
             | garmaine wrote:
             | Two things can be true.
        
       | alisausa wrote:
       | I was a really bad girl. Punish me with your dick in my mouth. -
       | https://adultlove.life
        
       | alexfromapex wrote:
       | Why did OP use a throwaway? The timing of this is a little
       | strange, when considering it has a Chinese element
        
         | jaredwiener wrote:
         | A throwaway with a lot of karma and a pretty extensive
         | history....
        
       | poutine wrote:
       | Apple isn't going to like this. Good luck!
        
       | michaericalribo wrote:
       | Awesome! Its exciting to see new applications of *nix OSes that
       | are design-forward and targeted towards modern computing
       | paradigms / platforms.
       | 
       | I'm a grumpy graybeard who likes Arch on my laptop and Debian on
       | my server...but cosmetics and familiar visual vocab and adopting
       | industry ux practices--these are undeniable obstacles that must
       | be overcome before "the year of the Linux desktop " :)
        
         | gh02t wrote:
         | I don't want to be too hard on this project, but is it really
         | "design-forward" when it's blatantly and explicitly copying the
         | look and feel of iOS/iPadOS? Originality seems like an
         | important component of good design.
        
           | TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
           | Way more people use an iOS or iOS-like UI than any tradition
           | *nix GUI.
           | 
           | I read the parent to mean that indicates the present mobile
           | is experience a step forward in that context.
        
           | kstenerud wrote:
           | "Picasso had a saying -- 'good artists copy; great artists
           | steal' -- and we have always been shameless about stealing
           | great ideas."
           | 
           | - Steve Jobs
        
             | Qwertious wrote:
             | >Picasso had a saying -- 'good artists copy; great artists
             | steal'
             | 
             | I obviously can't say what Picasso thought that meant, but
             | I have a theory on what it actually means:
             | 
             | "Copying" vs "Stealing" refers to how well you break it
             | down and use the underlying components of a design.
             | "Copying" is more or less just mimicking the feature with a
             | few tweaks, whereas "stealing" is redesigning it from first
             | principles based on what the best ideas in it seem to be,
             | and _making it your own_.
             | 
             | For example (not necessarily a good one, I don't claim to
             | be a "great artist"), take regenerating health in COD: the
             | idea _appears_ to be removing persistence between
             | engagements, by resetting health back to full after you 've
             | stopped being shot.
             | 
             | Okay then, why not have regenerating ammo or regenerating
             | grenades?
             | 
             | Well, it _looks_ like it 's a stealth nerf against really
             | good players - after a few fights without being killed, you
             | have to fight without grenades, VS freshly respawned
             | players (who statistically are the players who die more
             | often) who _do_ get grenades. Unless the player was
             | conserving grenades through early fights, which is also a
             | disadvantage (if self-imposed).
             | 
             | Okay, what can we do with this?
             | 
             | Well, if you're playing a highly competitive game then
             | perhaps add "regenerating grenades", else add some sort of
             | bonus score for getting killstreaks.
             | 
             | If you're making a more casual game, then you can amp the
             | regeneration effect up by giving more low/single-use items
             | that are essentially a quiet buff for newbies who'll die
             | before they get a kill anyway.
             | 
             | Maybe you could add a pool of none regenerating health to
             | limit the effectiveness of it on pro players, without
             | removing it entirely? Like armour that you spawn with, that
             | blocks e.g. 10% of damage but slowly breaks as you take
             | more and more damage?
             | 
             | Point is, this all started with regenerating health, yet
             | now it's informing grenade stuff. If you'd just directly
             | copy/pasted "perFrame: health++" with minimal changes then
             | you'd miss out on a ton of useful tools here.
             | 
             | EDIT: also, you could take the mechanic in a different
             | direction entirely - what would happen if everyone _lost_
             | health outside of battle instead of _gaining_ health? Maybe
             | combine that with gaining some health after every kill, so
             | people are forced to get into battles to stay alive?
             | 
             | Or, what if health was _always_ regenerating, instead of
             | only regenerating when you 're not being shot at?
        
             | clusterfish wrote:
             | If you're gonna steal, better damn make sure your output is
             | better than the original. Otherwise it'll have a cheap
             | knockoff feel to it.
             | 
             | Copying Apple's style of e.g. the settings icon is just
             | that, copying. Nothing to be proud of, and just tells me
             | the developer has their priorities wrong if they think this
             | style is part of what needs stealing to give the user a
             | good experience.
        
             | goodcjw2 wrote:
             | I guess "steal" means that it's a more advanced way of
             | "copying", i.e. you can get away with grabbing others' idea
             | without being noticed and can still be considered as
             | "original".
             | 
             | To do that, one needs to get the essence, the principle,
             | and the deep underlying logic of another work, rather than
             | simply copying something at the surface level.
        
             | alpaca128 wrote:
             | This quote is not from Picasso, it is in fact much
             | older[0]. The stealing part of this phrase was more about
             | how great artists make existing ideas their
             | own("stealing"), reinterpreting them on the way.
             | 
             | [0] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/03/06/artists-steal/
        
               | wyattpeak wrote:
               | That was Jobs's error, though, not the parent's. And the
               | fact that Jobs said it is the relevant point.
        
           | mickael-kerjean wrote:
           | The only thing that matter to me is can it run a terminal and
           | can it run emacs. With the ipad/iphone failing on both those,
           | this is quite forward to me
        
             | michaericalribo wrote:
             | I'm not advocating that you _should_ do this, but you
             | definitely _could_ do _at least_:
             | 
             | Install an ssh app (they exist for iOS. I've used them.
             | They're ok! They'd be better w a paired Bluetooth keyboard,
             | easy to come by) Log into your server of choice--even just
             | your personal machine on your LAN Hack away in emacs
             | 
             | This has the added benefit of not requiring local access to
             | files on your mobile device, or setting up yet another
             | custom dev environment on a new system
             | 
             | Now that I mention it, I _do_ want to try this!
        
           | eyelidlessness wrote:
           | Good design explicitly values borrowing/stealing. Unlike the
           | tech rat race, UI design is very happy to credit inspiration.
        
             | gh02t wrote:
             | Sure, but I don't think this is "inspiration" so much as
             | blatant, wholesale copying, at least if the screenshots and
             | copy on the page are representative. ElementaryOS borrows
             | heavily from Apple style without being an outright copy,
             | that seems way less icky to me.
        
       | exabrial wrote:
       | I always thought, if a vendor ever wants to encroach into Apple's
       | territory, literally all they have to do is the same formula:
       | Commercially supported Unix operating system with a polished UI +
       | hardware. If you want to approach the enterprise market, you need
       | an excel and word clone. For the consumer market, a polished and
       | solid (crash free) browser with GPU acceleration is probably the
       | #1 feature.
       | 
       | Obviously not that simple in practice but what certainly _doesnt_
       | work is sexy hardware running the turd that is windows.
        
       | yewenjie wrote:
       | Is there any easy to setup Linux software for touch-screen
       | keyboard and auto detecting rotations in 2 in 1 laptops?
        
         | zozbot234 wrote:
         | Should work out of the box in current GNOME, assuming that the
         | hardware side is properly supported.
        
         | maelito wrote:
         | Wondering the same thing, using an XPS 2-in-1.
        
       | janandonly wrote:
       | I am happy to see projects that make Linux look beter or more
       | user friendly.
       | 
       | But to truly catch up with iPadOS one needs to recreate not just
       | the UX but also powerful features that it comes with
       | 
       | * can the Photo app recognize faces? or landscapes ?
       | 
       | * can the Notes app do OCR on pictures and PDF's?
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25805137
       | 
       | * is there an iCloud like function that synchronizes in the
       | background?
       | 
       | It is not just the UX that makes 70+ year olds be able to work
       | with an iPad, it's the whole package.
        
         | tgv wrote:
         | What's really difficult IMO is getting the development
         | environment right, plus the app store. Without that, it's
         | nothing but another bit of eye candy.
        
           | himujjal wrote:
           | Its linux. All sorts of apps could run on it. Plus most of
           | the apps these days are going cloud and PWA. That well could
           | be of a huge advantage.
           | 
           | Plus its by China. Once this device goes mainstream among
           | people as a laptop replacement, expect Linux to come up with
           | a huge number of Chinese apps.
        
           | epse wrote:
           | Isn't the app store and development experience exactly what
           | people keep complaining about for Ios?
        
             | emteycz wrote:
             | No, non-Apple users are complaining, Apple users generally
             | like the experience.
        
               | bbekiaris wrote:
               | Well in my experience people who don't complain about the
               | App store never used any other app store in their life.
               | For what I know they even think that the app store is
               | Apple's invention.
        
               | emteycz wrote:
               | Because it actually is... Android Market was introduced
               | months after App Store. Obviously programmers know that
               | fundamentally it's extension of some ideas from the Linux
               | world, but that is very irrelevant to the users, and the
               | basics of "download an application from a registry" are
               | not what makes the great App Store experience.
        
               | nanis wrote:
               | >> even think that the app store is Apple's invention
               | 
               | > Because it actually is...
               | 
               | It most certainly isn't. Based on personal use, Nokia's
               | Download![1] comes to mind.
               | 
               | Looking at an archived page[2]:
               | 
               | >* Browse, preview, buy and download direct to your phone
               | 
               | >* Read descriptions of offers from popular brands and
               | local providers
               | 
               | >* Test free trials of some content and applications
               | before you buy
               | 
               | >* Choose from the latest selection with regular updates
               | 
               | [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Download! [2]: https:/
               | /web.archive.org/web/20061209073944/http://www.nokia....
        
               | pjmlp wrote:
               | Today I learned that the app stores for Windows CE/Pocket
               | PC, Symbian, J2ME, BREW, Blackberry never existed.
        
             | tgv wrote:
             | Devs complain about XCode, but the libraries/frameworks are
             | great. Publishing to the app store is pretty easy, and
             | there are hundreds of millions of potential customers,
             | which are there because the curation of the app store is
             | good (enough). If you want to know what happens when your
             | IDE is OK-ish, but the other aspects fail, look at
             | Microsoft's presence in the mobile phone market.
        
               | pjmlp wrote:
               | If Microsoft kept WP 8 compatible with WP 7, just adding
               | the C++ support game studios were asking about (NDK
               | style), without rebooting the whole thing into an
               | incompatible mess across mobile, tablets and desktop, it
               | would have had much more developer love.
               | 
               | But Sinosfky and his supporters had to push their anti-
               | NET agenda, followed by clever decisions like killing
               | C++/CX as well, and here we are.
        
         | xalava wrote:
         | I don't use any of this on an iPad and I miss every day some
         | functionalities : a convenient terminal, a fully fledged text
         | editor, a complete and free photo editor ...
        
         | Uehreka wrote:
         | For me personally, I don't care if it's got all of Apple's
         | bells and whistles, what I personally want is:
         | 
         | - A tablet OS that looks approximately as nice as iPadOS and
         | works approximately as well. With a Springboard-ish
         | homescreen/app paradigm.
         | 
         | - The ability to run a terminal
         | 
         | - The ability to run apps in full screen and swipe between them
         | 
         | - Access to the most popular handful of apps (Chrome, VS Code,
         | Slack, Discord, Zoom, etc.)
         | 
         | This already looks a lot nicer than a lot of "pretty" Linux
         | distros I've seen, I'll be curious to read the reviews next
         | month.
        
           | reacharavindh wrote:
           | This. I use my iPad Pro as a glorified Netflix, YouTube, and
           | sketching machine. It's hardware is good and lays there under
           | utilised.
           | 
           | If a tablet could get close iPad in usability and hardware
           | and yet open it up to have a full terminal and ability to
           | install local Linux apps. That'd be a great productivity
           | tool, and an excellent mobility device.
        
       | bArray wrote:
       | Also discussed here just 17 days ago:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25580608
        
         | timbit42 wrote:
         | With only 2 comments.
        
       | someperson wrote:
       | Is the project developed publicly? Where is the git repository
       | with sources (under a FLOSS license)?
        
       | Hamuko wrote:
       | It looks so inspired that Apple legal might also be inspired.
        
         | iFreilicht wrote:
         | The company making JingOS is based in China. Not sure Apple has
         | much legal leverage there.
        
           | dathinab wrote:
           | You mean besides:
           | 
           | - making it illegal to import any product having it installed
           | 
           | - making it illegal to host a copy in the US/EU/UK and
           | probably other places, too
        
             | justaj wrote:
             | Does that also mean that you won't be able to download the
             | distro if Apple successfully files a copyright violation
             | against the company behind JingOS?
        
               | dathinab wrote:
               | Legally seen it could lead to this, I guess?
               | 
               | But practically you could just download it from idk. a
               | server not in the US/EU/UK, or a server in the US/EU/UK
               | which doesn't know (or care) about the problem. Or from a
               | torrent or similar.
               | 
               | Furthermore (assuming Apples sues and wins a case) I
               | don't think they will bother trying preventing a (for
               | them) small amount of private people from using it.
               | Through if it becomes more successful it's likely another
               | matter.
               | 
               | What they care about is that you can't buy a tablet of
               | which the UI looks, feels and behaves like iOs.
               | 
               | I just fear this might be _ab_ used by Apple or other
               | entities as an argument why devices should be looked down
               | and users must not be allowed to install their own Os as
               | this would lead to all kind of fraud and lost revenue.
               | (Just to be clear I'm fully aware that for a tech aware
               | person this argument makes no sense, but propose it to an
               | old politician who doesn't really understand anything IT
               | related and they might believe you, and at least in
               | Germany we have way to many tech incompetent
               | politicians...)
               | 
               | EDIT: Also in the parent post I probably should have used
               | the term distribute inside of the EU/US/... Anyway I'm
               | not a lawyer so the exact terminology might not be quite
               | right.
        
         | anaganisk wrote:
         | Well it comes from a chineese company, Im sure they're good as
         | long as apple still has critical assets in china.
        
           | jstummbillig wrote:
           | Or not, as long as Apple has critical assets in China?
        
             | taneq wrote:
             | Depends whether they're more critical to Apple or China,
             | really.
        
         | merb wrote:
         | besides the notification center it more or less looks like a
         | clone.
        
       | bArray wrote:
       | > Available from Jan 31, 2021
       | 
       | So, is this going to be a paid for product? I am looking at what
       | looks like is their GitHub page, and it's basically empty?
       | https://github.com/JingOS-team
        
         | orblivion wrote:
         | According to their FAQ they plan to update their Github repo
         | every half year: https://forum.jingos.com/t/faq-about-
         | jingos/243
         | 
         | Seems weird to me.
        
         | pekinlcc wrote:
         | Will update Github Project before Jan 31. And the OS will be
         | free forever. https://www.jingos.com/faq/
        
           | admax88q wrote:
           | That page doesn't really answer the question.
        
             | mynameisvlad wrote:
             | It links to a forum FAQ which does:
             | https://forum.jingos.com/t/faq-about-jingos/243
        
               | apatters wrote:
               | If they comply fully with the GPL then this could be a
               | great new linux distro! If they don't then I will avoid
               | it.
        
         | someperson wrote:
         | The popular web server Nginx started in Russia almost 20 years
         | ago. Nobody would have used the software of such dubious origin
         | if it was closed-source. Being open-source allowed many more
         | eyeballs and developers which increased trust in the project.
         | 
         | With the current geopolitical landscape, projects from Russia,
         | China and increasingly the United States must be open-source to
         | become widely used and trusted.
         | 
         | If China-based JingOS aren't developing their work publicly,
         | for most developers it may as well not exist.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | im3w1l wrote:
           | Wouldn't a license that allows seeing and building the code,
           | but not redistribution be sufficient for that?
        
             | kstenerud wrote:
             | No, because it would add the friction of each licensee
             | having to audit the code themselves rather than the crowd
             | sourced approach of open source.
        
             | outsomnia wrote:
             | No.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | rapsey wrote:
         | Well it did answer my question what this is written in. They
         | use QT.
        
         | freedomben wrote:
         | Looks like it will eventually "step by step"[1]
         | 
         | > _JingOS is based on Ubuntu 20.04, KDE v5.75, Plasma Mobile
         | 5.20. We will replace the framework from Plasma Mobile to
         | JDE(Jing Desktop Environment) later this year._
         | 
         | > _The project will open-source step by step on GitHub: JingOS-
         | team_
         | 
         | [1]: https://forum.jingos.com/t/jingos-roadmap-v1-0-published-
         | on-...
        
       | xwdv wrote:
       | "New Linux Distro" here just means a new graphical environment.
        
         | pjmlp wrote:
         | With zero features for a table optimized development framework
         | stack most likely.
        
         | brutal_chaos_ wrote:
         | Yep as it is based on Ubuntu
        
       | 533474 wrote:
       | Why inspired by Apple?, why not make their own thing instead of a
       | knockoff? They r talented individuals they can totally make their
       | own thing
        
         | onedognight wrote:
         | Many members of this site cut their teeth reimplementing
         | proprietary Unix from scratch, e.g. the entire GNU project.
         | Having an open source version of something is a laudable and
         | noteworthy goal. Often many improvements are implemented along
         | the way, since one doesn't have to do the original design, e.g.
         | the entire GNU project. I for one, am happy to see this.
        
       | alisaus1 wrote:
       | Top burny busty chicks only on this site! Follow the link, and
       | you won't be sorry! - https://adultlove.life
        
       | paxys wrote:
       | Looks pretty, but I'm curious why it is an entire distro instead
       | of a desktop environment or theme. Any idea what it is based on?
        
         | brutal_chaos_ wrote:
         | The link says Ubuntu
        
       | mahrain wrote:
       | This thread is full of shilling and what feels like bot posts in
       | order to push this post to the top. Typical, sorry to say
       | "chinglish" spelling mistakes give it away. It would be good if
       | mods would look into this. Any way to trigger that action?
        
         | dang wrote:
         | This comment breaks the site guidelines. If you read them
         | you'll see that the way to "trigger mod action" is to email us,
         | not post insinuations of shilling in the threads.
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
         | notum wrote:
         | It's pathetically obvious and quite obnoxious. I wonder how
         | often is the HN system gamed in the same manner but with better
         | English?
         | 
         | Some mod attention would definitely benefit this thread.
        
       | alisaus2 wrote:
       | Top burny busty chicks only on this site! Follow the link, and
       | you won't be sorry! - https://adultlove.life
        
       | throwaway4good wrote:
       | This is great work; absolutely something the Linux world needs.
       | 
       | Only I wish they would divert more from MacOS X / iPad OS in
       | terms of colours and loose the reference to iPad in the marketing
       | copy.
        
       | ericls wrote:
       | why a distro? why not a desktop environment?
        
         | iFreilicht wrote:
         | They're doing both!
         | 
         | > JingOS is based on Ubuntu 20.04, KDE v5.75, Plasma Mobile
         | 5.20. We will replace the framework from Plasma Mobile to
         | JDE(Jing Desktop Environment) later this year.
         | 
         | > The project will open-source step by step on GitHub: JingOS-
         | team[1]
         | 
         | So later this year, hopefully, you'll be able to install JDE on
         | any tablet running Linux, though I suspect it won't be 100%
         | smooth from the get-go.
         | 
         | [1]: https://github.com/JingOS-team
        
       | popcorncowboy wrote:
       | Unfortunate name [0] :| or perhaps it was intended? Very clever
       | then.
       | 
       | 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingoism
        
         | FooBarWidget wrote:
         | As a non-native English speaker, the first thing that came to
         | my mind was jingle bells, not jingoism.
        
         | dathinab wrote:
         | I don't follow.
         | 
         | It's clearly <Jing><Os>, and Jing sounds like something which
         | is likely a Mandarin (or other Asian language) word. And Os is
         | a widely accepted name suffix for operating system.
         | 
         | And it turns out it is
         | (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jing_(Chinese_medicine)) and
         | it's a widely used/known word, too.
         | 
         | Additionally Jingoism, isn't really that commonly used. Most
         | non-native speaker which are not reading certain political news
         | outlets likely have never heard about this word before (like
         | me). It's definitely not part of the vocabulary thought in (non
         | native) english school courses.
         | 
         | Lastly, where would we end up if we have negative sentiment,
         | every time a wrongly pronounced word happened to sound similar
         | to a word in another language which has negative sentiment
         | attached with it. At that point we probably would need to
         | remove a non small part of names and the english language
         | because wrongly pronouncing it makes it sound like a bad word
         | in some other language...
        
           | ylyn wrote:
           | Their about page[1] says the jing in their company name
           | (Jingling) is Jing , meaning whale. I don't know if that
           | extends to the OS name as well. (They use "JingOS" even in
           | Chinese prose.)
           | 
           | [1]: https://www.jingos.com/about/
        
             | dathinab wrote:
             | It probably should and given the branding I thing it makes
             | sense to not mix Hanzi and Latin Characters.
             | 
             | It's just that there is:
             | 
             | - Jing = Jing
             | 
             | - Jing as simpl. of jing = Jing
             | 
             | - Jing as simpl. of jing = Jing
             | 
             | - ...?
             | 
             | I wouldn't be surprised if they did consider this similar
             | words when creating JingOs as JingOs is the essence (Jing )
             | which becomes the structure they wave their ecosystem and
             | as such success around (like Warp~Jing  is for weaving
             | fabrics).
             | 
             | Or this is just a nice coincidence ;=)
             | 
             | But either way interpreting <Jing><Os> as a call out to
             | <jingo><-ism> is very far fetched.
        
         | roadbeats wrote:
         | People are full of "news" these days. Haven't you ever heard of
         | the word "jing" ?
        
         | SquareWheel wrote:
         | Wow, yeah. That was my first thought upon seeing the name.
         | Definitely could have picked something better.
        
         | pekinlcc wrote:
         | Jing means Whale, so does the logo.
        
           | dathinab wrote:
           | It's not that simple, depending on the Mandarin writing it
           | can also refer to "essence" and probably some other things.
           | 
           | It's appearing in traditional Chinese medicine and seems to
           | be a fairly important concept there.
           | 
           | It also seems to be used as a name.
           | 
           | So Jing is _a fairly wide spread well known mandarin word_
           | but a Jing + OS + wrong pronoun-cation sounds similar to a
           | not that widely known english word which seems to have gone
           | out of fashion quite a while ago...
        
             | pekinlcc wrote:
             | Yes, you know a lot about Chinese. But the Jing of JingOS
             | means Whale specifically. You can check here:
             | https://www.jingos.com/about/
        
         | hnarn wrote:
         | The company is called Jingling which seems to be a Chinese
         | city, so I highly doubt they named it after some obscure
         | English expression.
        
           | lvturner wrote:
           | They are also based in BeiJING(Bei Jing )where Jing (Jing )
           | can be taken to mean capital.
        
           | nanis wrote:
           | > I highly doubt they named it after some obscure English
           | expression.
           | 
           | It's not that obscure if a nonnative speaker's first reaction
           | is to think "why would anyone want to call a distro by that
           | name"?
           | 
           | It doesn't matter that there is a perfectly reasonable
           | alternative motivation for it ... It's just, you'll never
           | find me wanting to be heard saying "I think you should use
           | jingos!"[1]
           | 
           | Interestingly, it turns out, someone else thought it would be
           | a good brand name too.[2] So you are not alone.
           | 
           | [1]: https://www.bennetyee.org/http_webster.cgi?isindex=jingo
           | &met... [2]: https://buyjingos.com/
        
             | footrot wrote:
             | It's odd though how names just stick. IPad is the ugliest
             | of names and so are most of the other IPrefixed names. I
             | get some of these choices were to break from dictionary
             | words, but I find them vile! In my mind I placate by saying
             | info-pad.
             | 
             | My initial allergy does fade over time. That's
             | advertising/normalisation for you.
             | 
             | Patio Cola.
        
           | blaesus wrote:
           | The company has an account on Bilibili[0], where its Chinese
           | name is specified as Jing Ling . Jing , romanised as Jing,
           | means "whales" (the animal). So JingOS would be "WhaleOS".
           | 
           | (Ling , romanised as Ling, is another water animal known as
           | "mud carp".)
           | 
           | [https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Za4y1n7pY]
        
           | adam-a wrote:
           | While I agree it's probably not intentional the word is
           | pretty common in British English.
        
             | hnarn wrote:
             | Obviously "pretty common" is, just like "obscure",
             | completely subjective. I consider it obscure, but all I can
             | say from looking it up is that at least according to Google
             | Ngram, it's about 1/10 as common as "patriotism", which is
             | saying something as that's been a declining word for a
             | century. It's less common than "chauvinism", "sectarianism"
             | and "xenophobia". In fact, tripling the popularity of
             | "jingoism" still wouldn't make it as popular as any of
             | those. It also peaked in the early 1900s and has since been
             | on a low plateu, which again, _I consider_ a marker of
             | obscurity.
        
               | afavour wrote:
               | To me the fact that Ngram shows the word "patriotism" on
               | the decline throws doubt on using it for any measure like
               | this. Within the US "patriotism" is used very commonly.
               | It leads me to wonder whether Ngram leans too heavily on
               | scientific or academic literature and not on the words
               | that people actually use in everyday conversation.
               | 
               | Does Ngram scan social media, TV or (to a lesser extent)
               | newspapers? If not I'm dubious about the utility here.
        
               | yorwba wrote:
               | Unless there's a Google Ngram distinct from the Google
               | Books Ngram Viewer https://books.google.com/ngrams/ ,
               | their statistics are entirely based on material available
               | in Google Books, which might include some newspapers, but
               | probably not social media or TV.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | Grustaf wrote:
               | You can't open an issue of The Economist without seeing
               | Trump or some dictator being accused of jingoism.
        
               | GordonS wrote:
               | And how common is it to be a reader of The Economist?
        
               | usr1106 wrote:
               | I have used English as my daily working language in
               | software development for over 20 years and had never
               | heard it before.
               | 
               | Well, we don't discuss a lot of politics in international
               | teams, that's a taboo topic especially when working with
               | Chinese colleagues. And for Trump we have only one word,
               | that I don't want to repeat here.
        
               | Grustaf wrote:
               | The English needed to discuss software is pretty limited.
        
               | Grustaf wrote:
               | Extremely common, it's the standard magazine for
               | economics and politics.
        
               | GordonS wrote:
               | Maybe, but it's not "extremely common" to read _any_
               | high-brow publications on politics and economics.
        
               | chris_wot wrote:
               | Well, it's used frequently in counties that used to be
               | part of the British Empire it appears. Australians use it
               | all the time.
        
               | GordonS wrote:
               | I'm a Brit, pushing 40. I'm educated to degree level (1st
               | class, FWIW), and very well read (including the venerable
               | Pratchett, though I don't think I have read Jingo yet).
               | 
               | I think I heard the word "jingoism" for the first time
               | ever around 5 years ago. It is _not_ a word one hears
               | very often, and it certainly didn 't come to mind from
               | "JingOS".
               | 
               | If you often read high-brow political publications you
               | may come across "jingoism" on the daily, but that is
               | obviously not a huge cross-section of the public.
               | 
               | TBH, kind of bizarre how strongly this jingoism thing is
               | being pushed in this thread.
        
             | antihero wrote:
             | I think it could very much find its place repurposed within
             | a capitalist context to describe the behaviour of big tech
             | companies.
        
             | hrktb wrote:
             | I did know what jingoism is, but only barely, and mostly
             | from history lessons and didn't think about it at all
             | looking at the OS name.
             | 
             | I agree that is still used, but arguably in very
             | specialized contexts, and has many better and less
             | idiomatic alternatives that make it a poor choice in many
             | publication, helping it become rarer.
             | 
             | I expect a lot of concept names not directly bound to the
             | concept itself to slowly disappear, the same way calling
             | dinnerware "china" won't stand for a lot more generations I
             | think.
        
           | Grustaf wrote:
           | Not very obscure, but sure.
        
             | hnarn wrote:
             | Why isn't it obscure? Because you know it?
        
               | ynx wrote:
               | I heard the word throughout my (American) upbringing - it
               | might not be used as much internationally but it's
               | definitely not obscure by any stretch.
        
               | wilsonrocks wrote:
               | I think it might be used more in places that have history
               | with European (maybe just British?) Colonialism.
        
               | noir_lord wrote:
               | I mean Terry Pratchett (very popular English language
               | author) wrote a book literally called Jingo
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingo_(novel)
               | 
               | It's not a word you'd hear every day but it's a word I'd
               | bet on the majority of genuinely literate people to
               | understand.
        
               | hnarn wrote:
               | The HN filter bubble truly can be a staggering thing
               | sometimes. I never knew I wasn't genuinely literate, but
               | you learn something every day.
        
               | emteycz wrote:
               | They said that the majority of genuinely literate people
               | will know it, that doesn't say _anything_ about you.
        
               | hnarn wrote:
               | It's still staggeringly elitist and unaware to assume
               | that "genuinely" literate people (whatever that means)
               | should not only know of Pratchett but also know his
               | entire bibliography by heart. While it may come to a
               | shock for English speakers from the UK and the US, not
               | everyone that speaks English are American or British, and
               | may not be primarily interested in literature from those
               | countries.
        
               | jmmcd wrote:
               | > It's still staggeringly elitist and unaware to assume
               | that "genuinely" literate people (whatever that means)
               | should not only know of Pratchett
               | 
               | The comment you're referring to didn't say that, or
               | suggest it. So this is one red flag for your "genuine"
               | literacy :)
        
               | emteycz wrote:
               | Genuinely literate people mostly know Pratchett, it's a
               | extremely well known author consistently topping charts
               | whose books are available in nearly every language of the
               | world, very popular in Russia as well as Finland as well
               | as Czechia and elsewhere. It shocks me (a Czech person)
               | you'd claim otherwise, some of his books are actually
               | required reading here - we read foreign literature just
               | as much as local. It never struck me as elitist, this is
               | pure merit - you're making it about nations but it's just
               | about Pratchett being that good.
        
               | gammalost wrote:
               | Looked up that book on two different online stores in
               | Sweden cdon and bokus. On both of them the book had zero
               | reviews. Are swedish people not literate?
        
               | emteycz wrote:
               | I am very sure Pratchett is well known even in Sweden.
               | What are the reviews for Romeo and Juliet? And again -
               | not knowing Pratchett doesn't say that one isn't
               | literate. The statement is "most genuinely literate
               | people will know Pratchett". Stop being so defensive for
               | nothing, nobody is attacking your intellect here...
        
               | gammalost wrote:
               | Besides not really sure how I am being "so defensive"? I
               | made one comment agreeing with somebody
        
               | emteycz wrote:
               | > Are swedish people not literate?
               | 
               | You're turning my statement around and perceive it as if
               | I was suggesting Swedish people are not literate. That's
               | not what I'm saying yet you're defending the Swedes.
        
               | gammalost wrote:
               | You made a broad statement and I used it to ask a broad
               | question
        
               | gammalost wrote:
               | My bad, meant adlibris not bokus. Bokus has 3 reviews on
               | it. But here's the difference on adlibris.
               | 
               | https://www.adlibris.com/se/bok/romeo-and-
               | juliet-97804862755...
               | 
               | https://www.adlibris.com/se/bok/jingo-9781473200258
        
               | Grustaf wrote:
               | How many books at all have reviews on Bokus? Never seen
               | any.
               | 
               | Not that I'd want to put Pratchett in the literary canon,
               | just making a point about Bokus.
        
               | gammalost wrote:
               | Yeah bokus is kind of weird. I meant adlibris, my bad
        
               | reikonomusha wrote:
               | Your assertion about what a majority of literate people
               | know is almost surely false.
        
               | andrewinardeer wrote:
               | If it's relevant my cat is name Jingo.
        
               | noir_lord wrote:
               | Wanted to name mine Greebo but was over-ruled.
               | 
               | In hindsight probably a good idea, not a self-fulfilling
               | prophecy you'd want.
        
               | chris_wot wrote:
               | It's not that it's obscure because you do _not_ know it,
               | that's for certain.
        
       | chimen wrote:
       | Will it receive an "update" from the supreme leader some time
       | next year?
        
       | modmans2nd wrote:
       | Perhaps a less phonetically terrible name?
        
       | freebuju wrote:
       | This reminds me of DeepinOS though it's intentions are a bit
       | different. The obsession the Chinese people have with iOS is
       | insane though from a UX/UI it seems justifiable given user demand
       | on this front. Simple gets the job done.
       | 
       | It explains why for ex. Xiaomi themes it's mobile OS (MIUI) to
       | appear more iOS-ish.
        
       | dathinab wrote:
       | This looks like a legal nightmare.
       | 
       | I mean there are all kinds of protections of visual thinks like
       | e.g. design patents.
       | 
       | I would be highly surprised if this doesn't violate at least one
       | or two apple hold still valid design patents or other protection
       | mechanisms.
       | 
       | Because lets be honest design/visual wise it's less iPad/iOs
       | inspired but a bland clone of the iOs design on iPad with
       | some/many minor but in the grater picture irrelevant changes.
        
         | SmileyJames wrote:
         | It's a Chinese company
        
           | twelvechairs wrote:
           | > We are based in Beijing and California.
           | 
           | from their 'about' page
        
             | Grustaf wrote:
             | They can still be a 100% Chinese company.
        
         | runawaybottle wrote:
         | A bland ios clone is still miles ahead of any ui the other
         | distros have.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | viktorcode wrote:
         | This does, but there won't be anyone using this distro for
         | commercial purposes outside of China, so IP rights won' be
         | enforced.
        
         | hjek wrote:
         | Apple has a patent on _scrollbars_. There 's no avoiding that
         | legal nightmare.
        
           | sonthonax wrote:
           | It probably won't be sold using large distributors in the
           | USA, and Apple won't have a legal case in China.
           | 
           | In a way, the USA brought this upon themselves. Global
           | intellectual property rights are prerequisite for
           | international trade in services. But they also require
           | international concorde on what they are.
           | 
           | America has shot itself in the foot by diverging from
           | international standards of copyright and intellectual
           | property. And it's really myopic: for example, Disney will
           | marginally increase the value of their IP holdings by
           | lobbying for a perpetual license to Mickey Mouse; but it will
           | also preclude Disney from ever trading their IP on equal
           | terms with China.
        
         | amelius wrote:
         | It's a user interface, therefore it has to be familiar. What if
         | cars all had the steering wheel in a different location?
        
           | zepto wrote:
           | Android doesn't look like this kind of exact knockoff, but
           | somehow it's usable.
        
           | dathinab wrote:
           | Design patents can not be applied to purely functional
           | aspects, so no you can keep you wheel round and on the for
           | your country correct side.
           | 
           | But you can have a design patent for the "looks and feel" of
           | your headsup display to some degree. You can't make it cover
           | what is one the display or that important parts are
           | highlighted. But you can potentially cover the color pallet
           | and how exactly you arrange information of the same not high
           | importance level.
           | 
           | I.e. in context of JingOs the way they cluster settings
           | especially combined with the used color schema and similar
           | aspects are very likely covered by design patents.
           | 
           | Similar that notifications are a list of swipe-able settings
           | in a box can't be covered by design patents, but that it has
           | that graish color with that level of transparence, rounded
           | corners, and similar might very well be covered.
           | 
           | I personally don't like design patents but they are a thing
           | which exists.
           | 
           | Lastly the copy is so close that it might not just cause
           | conflicts with design patents but also with copyright on the
           | visual parts (not the underlying code!) of iOs.
        
             | amelius wrote:
             | You are probably right, but all these constraints are going
             | to make old people and visually impaired people confused
             | when switching to a different brand.
             | 
             | Would it be allowed for a vendor to add a button which
             | makes the interface looks like a competitor's interface?
        
           | Grustaf wrote:
           | Windows is much more different from iOS than this. So is KDE,
           | ChromeOS etc. Even Android is. This is a straight copy, why
           | pretend otherwise?
        
           | eznzt wrote:
           | Then you would end up like England.
        
           | ben_w wrote:
           | Clone is a subset of familiar -- you don't need to call your
           | story about a wizard school "Barry Trotter and the
           | Alchemist's Gem" just to set your audience's expectations,
           | for example.
           | 
           | (I'm not a lawyer so have no idea if this JingOS legally OK
           | or not, but there is a difference between familiar and
           | clone).
        
         | weare138 wrote:
         | Not a lawyer here but have UI design patents ever held up in
         | court? All modern UI is derivative in some way. Apple lost a
         | case to Microsoft on similar grounds.
         | 
         | > _The court ruled that, "Apple cannot get patent-like
         | protection for the idea of a graphical user interface, or the
         | idea of a desktop metaphor [under copyright law]._
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer,_Inc._v._Micros...
         | .
        
           | Grustaf wrote:
           | Didn't they win the billion dollar lawsuit when Samsung
           | copied iOS almost as blatantly as this?
        
             | weare138 wrote:
             | That case was a huge convoluted mess. If I understand it
             | correctly the UI patent claims were rejected and the case
             | came down to 3 hardware design patents, D618,677, D593,087,
             | and D504,889. But the case is so involved you damn near
             | need a law degree just to follow it.
        
             | thrill wrote:
             | That's the same suit that Apple claimed dominion over
             | rounded corners, too, isn't it?
        
           | dathinab wrote:
           | Note that Apple was able to use their slide to unlock design
           | patent and that Apple in the linked curt case tired to "get
           | patent-like protection for the idea of a graphical user
           | interface [..]".
           | 
           | In this case it's not about the idea about a GUI but the
           | _very_ specific way the GUI was made wrt. non-functional
           | aspects of the GUI.
           | 
           | And even if there is no enforceable design patent there is
           | still copyright and trademark protection. E.g. look at the
           | settings icon which is basically screams "lets change the
           | settings icons just enough to not be a copyright
           | infringement". That icon is trademarked by Apple and the
           | JingOs variant has still quite many of the points which
           | define the Apple trademark, enough to open potential for a
           | case. (They have 3 connection from the gear ring to the
           | center at the exact same position, a "dot" at the center, a
           | inner ring (but just one color instead of an gear) and the
           | gear background color doesn't stretch to the sides of the
           | icon (I have no idea why they didn't change that, it would be
           | more different _and_ look better), they also replaced light
           | silver with white. Anyway I would guess a trademark case for
           | this detail has a good chance, especially given that this
           | icon looks different enough to the other icons to not fit in,
           | making it super clear that they somewhat forcefully wanted to
           | make it look as much like Apple as possible. Instead of just
           | using similar visual clues).
        
       | dr_zoidberg wrote:
       | I found it amusing how on the one side we're being told is a
       | full-fledged Linux under the hood, and on the other side they
       | felt it was worth noting that it comes with a native calculator
       | app.
        
       | NiekvdMaas wrote:
       | Looking at the launch video [0], this looks very professional
       | done. Which company is behind this? I can't find any info on the
       | site. Is this team related to Huawei?
       | 
       | 0. https://youtu.be/3E0ADUIiFzA
        
         | monsieurbanana wrote:
         | > Which company is behind this?
         | 
         | This is the only thing I found with some limited googling:
         | 
         | > Our team is very experienced in making gadgets. They are
         | experts from Xiaomi/OPPO/Google/Ubuntu and other Consumer
         | Electronic Companies. So what we are talking about here is not
         | a low-end tablet for geeks and Linux users. It will be designed
         | just like a tablet for consumers with the best quality we can
         | achieve.
         | 
         | From: https://www.facebook.com/JingOSfb/posts/the-idea-of-
         | making-a...
        
           | 867-5309 wrote:
           | sounds a bit like OnePlus's OxygenOS
        
             | freeone3000 wrote:
             | OxygenOS is an Android fork (or reskin, if you're being
             | less generous). It's much harder to get linux to behave
             | reasonably on a tablet if you're not starting with Android.
        
           | treszkai wrote:
           | > Our team is very experienced in making gadgets. They are
           | experts from Xiaomi/OPPO/Google/Ubuntu and other Consumer
           | Electronic Companies.
           | 
           | Interestingly, JingOS's About page [1] uses similar words but
           | different companies:
           | 
           | > Our team is very experienced. They are experts from Lenovo,
           | Alibaba, Sumsung, Canonical/Ubuntu, Trolltech and other
           | famous IT Companies.
           | 
           | [1]: https://www.jingos.com/about/
        
             | 0df8dkdf wrote:
             | Wouldn't be surprised as it seems to be based in China.
             | There are no shortage of tech talents that used to work in
             | these big IT companies. Be interested to see how they stay
             | true the FOSS principles and make this OS support more
             | devices.
             | 
             | Any competitions to existing duopoly are good.
        
             | Rochus wrote:
             | > _Trolltech_
             | 
             | Trolltech, the creator of the Qt framework, became part of
             | Nokia in 2008 and doesn't exist any more as a company
             | since. So it's a rather strange reference.
        
         | pekinlcc wrote:
         | https://www.jingos.com/about/
        
         | deaddodo wrote:
         | I don't know if there's any shared code, but it looks like it's
         | related to this Chinese project:
         | 
         | https://fydeos.com/
        
           | NiekvdMaas wrote:
           | Not sure if it's the same company, but this ICP number also
           | owns flintos.com;
           | 
           | https://icplishi.com/%E4%BA%ACICP%E5%A4%8716065045%E5%8F%B7/
        
             | deaddodo wrote:
             | FydeOS used to be FlintOS
        
           | throwbacktictac wrote:
           | There is a link to https://fydeos.com/ at the bottom of the
           | page. Fydeos is a friend project.
        
           | monsieurbanana wrote:
           | Who from HN would install a Chinese OS by choice? We have our
           | own privacy issues from western companies, but at least we
           | can hold them (minimally) accountable.
        
             | throwaway4good wrote:
             | If you are in Europe or any other place than the US, you
             | are basically powerless to American big tech.
             | 
             | Encouraging competition and using software from smaller
             | companies, Chinese or not, is our only chance to level
             | this.
        
               | monsieurbanana wrote:
               | I wouldn't say Europeans are powerless against american
               | companies. Legally speaking, yes, but then so are
               | Americans themselves. The only thing we can do nowadays
               | is public outrage. Doesn't matter who writes the medium
               | blog post, as long as it hits MAJOR_SOCIAL_NETWORK
               | frontpage.
        
             | usr1106 wrote:
             | Well, if it is truly open source and has reasonably
             | reproducible builds, I would absolutely use it.
             | 
             | Unfortunately most Chinese suppliers don't take their GPLv2
             | obligations very serious when it comes to Linux kernel
             | drivers for example. If these new(?) players do, I can only
             | applaud it.
        
               | monsieurbanana wrote:
               | The lack of transparency in who they are isn't really
               | raising my hopes...
        
       | throwaway4good wrote:
       | I suppose it is a matter of approach.
       | 
       | But if you have a group with the design chops capable of
       | producing this; then surely you can make so it doesn't look like
       | a deliberate Apple copy?
       | 
       | Just look at the comments here in this thread; half of the
       | reaction is about this is a rip off of Apple and legal this and
       | that, ignoring what a massive contribution a well-designed tablet
       | UI is.
        
         | Grustaf wrote:
         | Well, so far it's only a concept video, right? A concept video
         | where the design is taken from iPadOS whole cloth.
        
       | alexfringes wrote:
       | (null)
        
         | Jkvngt wrote:
         | Mian Xiang Wei Lai De Yun Qu Dong Cao Zuo Xi Tong
         | 
         | Geng Kuai Su , Geng Jian Dan , Geng Gao Xiao , Geng An Quan ,
         | He Xin Ji Zhu Zi Zhu Ke Kong
        
       | gjsman-1000 wrote:
       | The real danger is that if the code is open-source, I could fully
       | see knockoff or counterfeit devices taking this project,
       | replacing the icons with rips from iPadOS, and trying to sell it.
        
       | oaiey wrote:
       | If just they would focus all this work in one desktop environment
       | and its app instead of having yet another fork.
       | 
       | As awesome as this is, this is no contribution to the Linux
       | Desktop.
        
         | captainmuon wrote:
         | But there is no single "Linux Desktop". If these people would
         | contribute to e.g. Gnome instead, they might help improve Gnome
         | but they couldn't realize _this_ idea.
         | 
         | Personally I think there is little benefit to having one single
         | Linux desktop that is equivalent to Windows or macOS, just with
         | a different theme and a different kernel. Desktop Linux is
         | about choice (TM).
        
           | pjmlp wrote:
           | Hence why all successful consumer OSes that have the Linux
           | kernel running underneath them, have nothing to do with that
           | choice freedom.
        
           | oaiey wrote:
           | Well that is a good idea. But it has a problem: dev and ux
           | capacity. When you try to make 20 different than you split
           | your force into 20 different projects. Apple and Microsoft do
           | not have this problem and will therefore always lead the
           | pack.
        
             | himujjal wrote:
             | Exactly my point. The Linux is all about choice argument
             | means workforce distribution.
             | 
             | Sure, for different hardware (RPi, Tablets, PC, Mobile etc)
             | different distros/DEs make sense. But for a single similar
             | hardware, (PC for example) I never understood why distros
             | like Manjaro and KDE neon are separate. Wish those teams
             | were together and built a kick-ass serious competitor.
        
       | hvaoc wrote:
       | For Linux users, we look for credible source for something as
       | important as Operating Systems. Usually from known entity or open
       | source community. It would be great if you can clarify.
       | 
       | Also since it is just getting started, you would be better off
       | not using iPad, Apple kind of words. Instead use neutral terms
       | like Linux OS optimized for Tablets, before it is too late.
       | 
       | Also heavy influence of Apple Marketing on your preview video, it
       | would serve you well if you have the actual working copy of the
       | OS on a tablet shown as demo as well. Hope you are making that
       | video as well.
        
         | yitchelle wrote:
         | The headline is rather confusion. At first glance, I thought
         | that there is a Linux distro for running on the iPad. but that
         | is clearly not the case.
        
         | hangtwenty wrote:
         | It's great to give feedback, it's also good to remember: not
         | every distro (or project, in general) is trying to court every
         | user or every audience. To me that's the beauty of FOSS, it's
         | open ended.
        
         | echelon wrote:
         | I'm scratching my head as to why they mentioned "iPad" as well.
         | 
         | Android is already a Linux tablet OS. It's like they ignored
         | the elephant in the room. Ubuntu also runs on tablets. (edit:
         | this is based in Ubuntu!)
         | 
         | Besides that point, Apple is pretty much the opposite of free
         | computing. It's a gross comparison.
         | 
         | Edit: Looking at their Reddit timeline, it appears as though
         | they've made a lot of progress in a few short months, so I
         | applaud that. I just wish people would stop trying to copy
         | Apple at everything. It's a turn off.
        
           | Toutouxc wrote:
           | They're copying the iPad because it's the only tablet that
           | doesn't suck and sells in any meaningful numbers.
        
             | lostlogin wrote:
             | Isn't the Surface line selling ok?
             | 
             | I can't stand them, but those that have them seem to love
             | them.
        
             | pjmlp wrote:
             | Windows tablets, aka laptops with detachable keyboards, are
             | also doing pretty well.
             | 
             | Android keeps having problems because Google is unable to
             | drive the ecosystem to actually care, what a surprise.
        
               | girvo wrote:
               | That's almost in spite of Tablet Windows though.
        
               | pjmlp wrote:
               | That is to be expected.
               | 
               | There are plenty of countries where iPads are out of
               | reach for regular consumer, and Android Tablets are in
               | practice phones with bigger screens, given how little the
               | ecosystem cares about them, so that leaves Windows
               | devices as only choice for consumers.
        
               | thaumasiotes wrote:
               | > Android Tablets are in practice phones with bigger
               | screens
               | 
               | How do iPads differ?
        
               | Toutouxc wrote:
               | iPad apps are made for the iPad with the form factor in
               | mind. There is almost no tablet ecosystem on Android.
        
             | herbst wrote:
             | What are people doing with their tablets that a iPad is a
             | meaningful benefit?
             | 
             | I could read my shitter news on any device with a screen,
             | as well as control my smart home.
        
               | reikonomusha wrote:
               | Could you also easily clone Dropbox's functionality with
               | a server and rsync? :)
        
               | mattdeboard wrote:
               | My ipad is my primary non-work computer.
        
               | pjmlp wrote:
               | Desktop replacement for pen based workflows, like
               | drawing, designing diagrams, architecture sketches, UI
               | mockups,...
               | 
               | When coupled with keyboard, office like workflows,
               | coupled with the pen to do the drawings instead of trying
               | to use the mouse as pencil since many users have done
               | during the last couple of decades.
               | 
               | Programming on the go with environments like Playgrounds,
               | Pythonista, Continuous, Shaderific.
        
               | Toutouxc wrote:
               | Well, I could probably do my work on a Raspberry Pi, yet
               | here I am with a MacBook. Ease of use. Aesthetics. Speed.
        
           | hangtwenty wrote:
           | Comparing to a $GOOG tablet would raise privacy questions
           | pretty quickly, I think
           | 
           | This isn't an A vs B thing to me, it's just that comparing to
           | an ipad says something to a lot of users, and quickly. If
           | this project succeeds, it will give some alternatives to
           | closed-ecosystem things, to new/other people (with a cheaper
           | cost to them). So the reservations about Apple are actually
           | reasons to support this project, in that way. Thoughts?
        
           | iFreilicht wrote:
           | The iPad is the only device I own that's not running Linux.
           | It is so damn good for the price, the UI is so smooth, so
           | well designed, there is just so much polish. I bought the
           | 128GB version with a pencil for 350EUR used.
           | 
           | I am longing for a Linux alternative, but any Android tablets
           | of similarly high quality are just so much more expensive,
           | and actual Linux is still far away in terms of usability.
           | 
           | What I want is an iPad, but with Linux. I'm sure I'm not the
           | only one, and Jingling knows that.
        
           | mintone wrote:
           | The reply that's missing for you is that the UI is clearly
           | (to an iPadOS user) heavily inspired by that of the iPad -
           | they are making that the selling point:
           | 
           | > iPadOS-like UI and UX
           | 
           | And WRT your other comments, you're probably not the target
           | for this. I run dozens of Linux machines for work stuff but
           | everything in my personal ecosystem is Apple because I don't
           | find config fun. Different horses for different courses.
        
           | monsieurbanana wrote:
           | > Besides that point, Apple is pretty much the opposite of
           | free computing. It's a gross comparison.
           | 
           | Isn't that what they said? They stated that one of the
           | reasons to create a new OS is that Apple is a closed
           | platform. You can't blame them to go further than that in a
           | marketing video, it's not like they're posting anonymous
           | comments on an internet forum.
        
           | mattdeboard wrote:
           | I wouldn't have even bothered to click the link if they
           | hadn't used the word ipad.
        
           | emteycz wrote:
           | What's elephant for you is a fly for most others. My
           | grandmother is afraid of things like Ubuntu.
        
           | hindsightbias wrote:
           | > turn off
           | 
           | Speaking as a hacker or a consumer?
           | 
           | "Apple's domination of the global tablet market continued in
           | the third quarter of 2020, according to market research firm
           | Canalys, with iPad shipments seeing an estimated 47% year-
           | over-year growth rate thanks to coronavirus trends."
           | 
           | The market is speaking, and consumers don't care about what
           | the OS is. They never have, and never will.
           | 
           | https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/11/12/apple-extends-
           | mas...
        
             | Grustaf wrote:
             | On the contrary, people care very much about the OS and
             | they want iOS.
        
               | pjmlp wrote:
               | They are also quite happy using devices with Windows,
               | ChromeOS, WebOS and Android.
               | 
               | Just not pure GNU/Linux or BSDs (other than those
               | packaged by Apple and Sony).
        
         | Uehreka wrote:
         | Hard disagree on the "Apple kind of words" stuff. The iPad is
         | the best tablet. I wish there were good competitors, I'd buy
         | them, but there aren't. To the extent someone can make a tablet
         | OS with the look and affordances of iPadOS but with the added
         | ability to do stuff iPadOS won't allow (like writing/compiling
         | code), they should absolutely be encouraged to do so.
        
           | herbst wrote:
           | Why? Sure samsung ships a horrible android, but in what
           | things is a clean real android behind iOS?
        
             | charrondev wrote:
             | Are there any android tablets with a decent chip in them?
             | Almost everyone I've seen is using a very weak CPU.
             | 
             | The iPad chips just run away from even the top end android
             | tablets. Maybe I wouldn't care as much but my experience on
             | android tablets is they are just laggy. Slow to open
             | things, little stutters throughout the OS, etc.
        
               | f1refly wrote:
               | 1. This was about software, not about the hardware it
               | runs on. 2. Vanilla android runs very, very smooth
               | because the hardware is optimized for the way it works.
               | If the android tablets you saw where laggy, that's most
               | likely because of the abominations android has been
               | warped into by the manufacturer. My android phone is four
               | years old and still buttery smooth.
        
           | tluyben2 wrote:
           | Yeah, if the ipad pro would run a real OS (like linux) it
           | would be the only device I would have.
        
             | pjmlp wrote:
             | iPad OS is a real OS, not every real OS has to be an UNIX
             | clone with a CLI.
        
               | tluyben2 wrote:
               | Well, I think you know what I mean: allowing some degree
               | of software freedom. I do not need a cli: ide and
               | compiler though...
               | 
               | My iPad pro is fast enough to do my dev work but I cannot
               | run the tools to do dev.
               | 
               | Your comment is a bit weird as you know very well what
               | people here mean: iPad is generally seen as something you
               | cannot produce things on. I do not agree with that:
               | unlike others here, I type as fast on the keyboard of the
               | pro (not the new one: not tried that) as on my MacBook
               | and Lenovo. But it just misses the applications as they
               | are forbidden. My wife is a writer and she needs nothing
               | else. The only thing I am saying is that for me the
               | walled gardens and particular not compiling restrictions
               | make it a bitter sweet device: I love it but I cannot do
               | my work on it.
        
       | footrot wrote:
       | So if this is a good tablet design/UI, what is wrong with Gnome3?
        
       | tomc1985 wrote:
       | I wonder if this is going to be the OS of choice for flea-market
       | iPad counterfeits/knockoffs... the Files screen even says "On my
       | Pad" in the shown screenshot. Everything looks close enough to be
       | able to possibly fool an untrained eye.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | iFreilicht wrote:
         | And the makers of JingOS, Jingling, are a China-based company
         | working on the JingPad, an ARM tablet designed to run Linux
         | OOTB. I'm sure we'll see a lot of variants of that quite soon
         | after their release in July, and many people having fun hacking
         | them.
        
           | toyg wrote:
           | Aah, that explains the name! I was banging my head trying to
           | understand what was "jingoistic" about this OS...
        
             | MeinBlutIstBlau wrote:
             | Haha my mind thought the same thing!
        
         | zhobbs wrote:
         | I would think an Android skin would still be preferable. Much
         | bigger ecosystem of touch optimized apps.
        
           | Razengan wrote:
           | > _Much bigger ecosystem of touch optimized apps._
           | 
           | What?? Hell NO!
           | 
           | Most Android "tablet" apps are upscaled phone apps, if even
           | that. The last time I checked, apps specifically developed
           | for Android tablets were far fewer (and worse) than apps
           | specifically made for iPads.
        
             | smegma2 wrote:
             | The parent comment was comparing Android with JingOS, not
             | iOS.
        
         | footrot wrote:
         | Pad is also a star trek throw back, and a word. I don't see why
         | apple should have dominion on that word. Short and succinct.
        
           | ben_w wrote:
           | They have dominion of the word "Apple" in the context of
           | consumer electronics, and "Pad" is easy to misread in context
           | as "iPad", leaving open the reasonable possibility of
           | customer confusion. That's basically what trademarks are both
           | for and there to prevent.
        
             | seniorivn wrote:
             | This Pad thing only relevant because they copycat all up/ux
             | 
             | It would be totally justified to call new/innovative
             | tablet/OS a Pad
        
               | cpuguy83 wrote:
               | It would be Apple's obligation as a trademark holder to
               | try and stop it, however.
               | 
               | The word may be too generic, but the intent seems
               | specifically to confuse.
        
               | tomc1985 wrote:
               | What, have we forgotten all the maxipad jokes from when
               | iPad was introduced??
        
           | afavour wrote:
           | I don't think the OP is suggesting Apple have dominion over
           | the word. But the word _in combination_ with this UI would be
           | difficult to defend in court.
        
           | zepto wrote:
           | PADD is the start trek term, not the word pad. It's an
           | acronym.
           | 
           | Very different from iPad.
        
       | 0dayz wrote:
       | To be honest if it doesn't install and use flatpak/snap for apps,
       | then I think its only a glorified desktop DE.
        
       | 0df8dkdf wrote:
       | _JingOS is a full-function Linux based on Ubuntu_
       | 
       | Why on Ubuntu not Debian? If you forking something fork from more
       | legit upstream distro. What are they including in Ubuntu that
       | Debian doesn't have concerns me due to Ubuntu's track record.
        
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