2023: A year of delays
So, we’re finally at the end of 2023. Welcome back to the yearly article where we look back on what has happened in Feren OS over the last year.
To say things didn’t quite go to plan in the second half of this year is definitely the understatement of the century — the upcoming Feren OS release was meant to be released already, but alas due to life and plenty of other factors it is still in the works.
Still, might as well reflect on what DID happen… because this year is a historic one for one other major reason.
Feren OS 2023.01
Feren OS 2023.01 started off the year, as the second final release of the current Feren OS era, that being Ubuntu 20.04-powered Feren OS. 2023.01 did not bring anything major to the table, being a mere ISO refresh with new wallpapers, owing to work on the upcoming release taking priority.
Feren OS 2023.04
After that came the currently latest Feren OS release, 2023.04, made to mark the end of two eras — Ubuntu 20.04 basing for Feren OS releases, and something we will talk about next, respectively.
Due to the latter, Feren OS 2023.04 broke a fair number of traditions when it comes to Feren OS updates, especially with regards to wallpapers — unlike all other releases so far, this release’s wallpapers largely consisted of wallpapers seen in Feren OS’s past, as well as the debut of some scrapped Feren OS wallpapers, as this release celebrated Feren OS’s history over the past 8 years, ahead of…
The death of Feren OS Classic
This is, by far, the defining event of this entire year. After 8 years of love, blood, sweat and tears, Ubuntu 18.04, the final base of Feren OS Classic, reached its end of life, resulting in Feren OS Classic also reaching its own end of life.
Truthfully, I had way more planned for Feren OS Classic before its bow-out this year, including the upcoming Feren OS’s Store being backported to it, but alas I am happy that it got to end the way it did regardless. It got the current Feren OS design, and a full-out celebration of its history in the days before it met its lifetime’s end.
Feren OS Classic will not be forgotten, as it will forever stand as a critical factor in my life, and one of the largest contributing factors to Feren OS’s success as a whole so far. With due time, all your answers will finally be explained — why Feren OS Classic had no future past Ubuntu 18.04, and why it mattered so much to me — for now, work continues on the upcoming Feren OS release, and then Ubuntu 24.04-based Feren OS preparation soon after that.
It’s still bittersweet, but in end, it was for the best. o7, Feren OS Classic.
“Feren OS Upcoming” Alpha 1 and Alpha 2
As the last major event of this year, the ever-delayed “Feren OS Upcoming” (temporary name) had its first two alpha releases, bringing with them an assortment of significant changes, including a fundamentally overhauled system component-set, new configurations, better language changing support for home folders, new user experience enhancements, the Ubuntu 22.04 base, and way more.
Onward.
By the day, the first beta release is getting ever closer, with the final hurdle before a beta release can happen being the debut of a complete enough Feren Storium experience — that is, a mostly complete Feren Storium Test Interface with near-complete APT, Snap, and Flatpak management built into it. Fortunately, a lot of the hurdles towards reaching a Storium of that state have been finally passed, so… depending on real-life events… we should finally start seeing the beta release being tested in a few months.
As for Ubuntu 24.04? If it isn’t obvious, Ubuntu 24.04 will be a minor Feren OS update, potentially being the debut of KDE Plasma 6 in Feren OS among other things, depending on how long such a transition of the Feren OS experience from KDE Plasma 5.27 to 6.0 takes.
If KDE Plasma 6 coming to Feren OS is decided to be moved to the inevitable Ubuntu 24.04 based Feren OS release, it will be said release’s main focus, otherwise said release’s main focus will just be porting what is present in Feren OS by that time to the new base.
There is still more than half a years worth of waiting before that happens, though, owing to KDE neon’s likely preparation time before they jump to that version of Ubuntu, so while the upcoming Feren OS release is taking irritatingly long to finish, there is still plenty of time to prepare for the rebase after the upcoming rebase, currently.
That being said, get excited for the transition to KDE Plasma 6 in Feren OS, as there is a radical change in the works, slated to happen with the Feren OS transition to KDE Plasma 6.
Additionally, get excited in general, as plans for future updates to Feren OS after those include a Transfer Tool refresh, and toolkit switch, with an assortment of new features and integration into other new planned projects in the works for KDE Plasma users, including Feren OS users.
While the dreams of 2022 me were not successfully reached this year, stay tuned as, for realsies this time, 2024 is going to be a JAM-PACKED YEAR for Feren OS users. 🤞🤞
Remember that you can see progress on the upcoming release at https://github.com/orgs/feren-OS/projects/11.
