The following is a preview of applications that I was working on this year. These apps will be released next year if ready, or in 2025.
These new apps are still unnamed. Please let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions for names.
App Manager
This is a new Gtk4 app for managing Apt packages, Flatpaks, Snaps, and AppImages. Unlike the Ubuntu and Gnome app centers which are heavier, this is a lightweight app with a traditional listview layout. Gtk4 brings better performance than Gtk3, with GPU acceleration for the UI and efficient handling of large lists.
Synaptic is still the gold standard when it comes to package management on Ubuntu-based distributions. This app aims to provide a traditional UI that is easier to use for beginners and experts alike. You can view and edit repositories, browse packages in repositories, embed public keys into the source file, and more.
The Flatpak and Snap manager provides instant search for thousands of Flatpak and Snap packages that are available for installation. You can view and manage installed packages, or even disable Flatpak and Snap support completely in case you don’t need it.
New System Restore App
This is a new app similar to Timeshift that uses Borg as the storage backend instead of using Rsync or Btrfs snapshots.
- Borg snapshots are very space-efficient and require less disk space than Rsync snapshots. For example, if a 1 GB file changes by 1 KB, the new snapshot will store only the 1 KB that has changed, unlike Rsync snapshots which will store the 1 GB file again.
- Snapshots are compressed using ZStd which reduces the size by 60%
- Snapshots are encrypted for better security
- Snapshots can be copied/moved to any location, unlike Rsync and BTRFS snapshots which are difficult to move
Timeshift was created way back in 2013. Over a decade it slowly accumulated options and settings that went beyond its original purpose and increased the complexity of the restoration process. Most people today use Timeshift to backup their personal data which is not what it was designed for.
The new app is much easier to use than Timeshift and has very few settings. It is designed for a single purpose – to protect the operating system and to revert the system to a previous state in case of issues. This allows for a much simpler design and a more robust restore process.
Service Manager (Gtk4)
A Gtk4 port of service manager.
BTRFS Snapshot Manager
This is a new app for managing BTRFS subvolumes and snapshots. You can create new subvolumes, create snapshots for subvolumes, and enable/disable compression at the subvolume level. Snapshots and settings can be customized for each subvolume independently. It can gracefully handle nested subvolumes created by apps like Docker, backup and restore the EFI partition, and more.
New Hugo Blog
There’s a new version of this website hosted at blog.teejeetech.com. This new site is statically generated using Hugo and is composed entirely of HTML, CSS, and Javascript files. There is no WordPress, PHP, MySQL, or any of the dynamic technologies that are found in modern websites. This makes the website very lightweight. The new site can load in less than a second even on old systems.
The site is still a work in progress, as I need to find replacements for some conveniences that WordPress provides. The new site will co-exist with the main site at teejeetech.com till it is ready.
The new system restore app looks really good, and both in appearance and simplicity of function is a natural complement to Homi. As to a name? Maybe Rooti?
Happy to see hard work in development. Any comment as to why you you continue to promote Zinc Linux knowing that ZincLinux/Zinc Linux was released two years prior?
No one’s going to make any legal claims, but it’s just a matter of respecting the public at large and common decency. Wish you good health and success. -ZincLinux dev
The distribution is renamed to “Asmi”. I think you missed the previous post.
https://teejeetech.com/2023/10/14/asmi-23-10-formerly-zinc/
I was not aware that ZincLinux existed. You should have contacted me sooner. Wishing you all the best for your project.
Exciting new apps on the way Teejee!
As for suggestions regarding names:
App Manager -> AppMan
System Restore App -> Wayback
Service Manager -> Servager
BTRFS Snapshot Manager -> BetterSnap
Thanks for the suggestions. AppMan, BetterSnap, Wayback, are already used by other software on Linux.
System restore app suggestion – Rooti (to complement Homi)
Thanks for the suggestion
Is Pika backup complementary to Aptik?
Pika backup is similar to Baqpaq and meant for daily backups. You need to specify the folders to backup and it will take backups at regular intervals. It will keep multiple snapshots of files so that you can get the earlier version if needed.
Aptik is for one-time migration of data and settings from one system to another. It is meant to be used when reinstalling the system, or when moving from one Debian/Ubuntu-based distribution to another one.