Skip to content

Genesis OS v2.1.0

Choose a tag to compare

@prilugano992-cmyk prilugano992-cmyk released this 20 Jul 21:22
f31c8e1

Genesis OS 2.1 - Release Notes

Version: 2.1
Developer / Maintainer: Lucas Prado Coelho


🚀 What's New in 2.1

🌐 Browser & Connectivity

  • Internal Pages: Added built-in browser support for system pages using the genesis:// protocol (e.g., genesis://home, genesis://about, genesis://help, and genesis://system).
  • Serial HTTP Gateway: Added support for external web browsing through a serial-port HTTP helper proxy.

🔊 Audio & System

  • PC Speaker Driver: Added support for the PC speaker driver.
  • Linux Subsystem: Introduced a lightweight Linux subsystem for driver support and extended system utilities.

💻 Desktop & Performance

  • Clean Boot: The desktop now starts with no windows open by default.
  • Background Caching: Added wallpaper caching to improve rendering performance.
  • UI Polish: Removed the legacy "MODULAR DESKTOP READY" overlay from the default wallpaper.

🐛 Bug Fixes & Improvements

  • Paint App: Fixed a bug where drawing occurred while merely hovering the cursor.
  • Light Theme: Fixed rendering and visual issues in Light Mode.
  • About App: Updated the credits to correctly attribute the project to Lucas Prado Coelho instead of Genesis Team.
  • Codebase Cleanup: Reorganized and cleaned up the project repository for the 2.1 release.

🌐 External Web Browsing via Serial Helper (Real Hardware)

Genesis OS can access external websites by routing HTTP requests through a helper application running on a host computer over a serial connection.

🔄 How It Works

  1. Genesis Browser sends an HTTP request through the COM1 serial port.
  2. A host computer running the helper script receives the request and performs the HTTP request over the internet.
  3. The host computer sends the HTTP response back to Genesis OS through the serial connection.

🛠️ Setup Guide

1. Hardware Connection

Connect the Genesis OS machine's COM1 serial port to a host computer using either:

  • A straight-through RS-232 serial cable, or
  • A USB-to-Serial adapter.

2. Host Helper Setup

Make sure Python 3 is installed on the host computer, then run:

# Install the required dependencies
pip install requests pyserial

# Start the HTTP helper
python tools/http_helper.py

3. Accessing the Web

Launch the Browser application in Genesis OS and navigate to any HTTP URL, for example:

http://example.com

⚠️ Technical Notes

  • Internal Pages: genesis:// pages are handled entirely by Genesis OS and do not require the serial helper.
  • Protocol Support: Only unencrypted HTTP is currently supported. HTTPS is not yet available.
  • Connectivity: The host computer must remain connected to the internet while the helper is running.