A few weeks ago I set out to put blendOS to the test, which is one more Rudra Saraswat project, but at the same time, it's not just one more. It is based on Arch Linux, but packages from other distros such as Ubuntu and Fedora can be installed. In addition, it also supports Android apps, for which you rely on stores F-Droid and Aura, being able to download the second from the first. This week the young and ambitious developer has released blendOS v3, codenamed "Bhatura" and at the moment in beta phase.
Having tested in a virtual machine that it was possible to install software from the Ubuntu repositories, and seeing there the android software stores, I can say two things: the first is that the concept looks good, but the second is that whoever is developing it has a lot going on and we will have to see if this project goes ahead or stays on the road like UbuntuEd.
blendOS v3 supports Android via Aura Store and F-Droid
To be fair and totally honest, I have to say that I did see the Android options, but I was not able to run them. In a virtual machine they do not work, since they are based on waydroid, and where I could test the USB has 4GB of RAM, it is limited and, perhaps for this reason, it was not able to open them. But the possibility does exist and it is one of its strengths.
blendOS v3 is the third version of this promising operating system, and will introduce many novelties, beginning because now supports 9 distros: Arch (the main one), AlmaLinux 9, Crystal Linux, Debian, Fedora 38, Kali Linux, Neurodebian Bookworm, Rocky Linux and Ubuntu 22.04 and 23.04. The list goes up to 10, but Ubuntu is available in the latest LTS version and the latest stable. blendOS v2 also supported Ubuntu 22.10, but it has now reached end of life and has been dropped from this list.
Updates through ISOs
One of the most important novelties is that now update through ISOs. It is an unprecedented update system in Linux, since it is normal for everything new to be downloaded from repositories and in separate packages. blendOS is an immutable system, and updates flush everything new together. It is somewhat reminiscent of a mobile operating system where, instead of adding certain patches, they download a whole image before starting the update.
When blendOS v3 reaches its stable version, Zsync will be used to significantly reduce the size of the update. When the update has completed successfully, a message will be displayed at login so we can differentiate between a normal start and one that occurred after applying the update.
Saraswat has created from scratch a tool called Assemble, and is intended to act as a repository tool for blendOS to build images and packages, eliminating the need for a repository. It's like repo, a tool used on Android/LineageOS images, and it supports manifests and makes it very easy to create a blendOS remix, just by adding a profile that would take up 5-6 lines.
Cheer up, Rudra. Can
Linux in general has its moments, some higher and others lower. Right now we are at a point where most are switching to Wayland and PipeWire, which will make everything better in the future, but at present it doesn't work perfect in all scenarios. It is constantly evolving, and the hopping distro Is the order of the day. I usually stick with a distro that works well for me until it doesn't, and they're all different.
But blendOS is a very ambitious project that aims to be, as they say, one to rule them all. Its base is the best it could be, and being able to install packages from the most popular distros is a “hoot”. Another important point is Android support, something that was already promised by Ubuntu Web now seems to have been abandoned.
So the question here is: a Linux that supports all kinds of Android packages and apps after a fresh install and is also hard to break? If the intention is to use it as it is, yes. Will it go ahead? I have my doubts. You will have to leave some of your projects aside. Who knows, we could be at the birth of the future of Linux.