diff --git a/_posts/2023-12-21-agama-7.md b/_posts/2023-12-21-agama-7.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..59a695f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2023-12-21-agama-7.md @@ -0,0 +1,118 @@ +--- +layout: post +date: 2023-12-21 12:00:00 +00:00 +title: Announcing Agama 7 +description: Year 2023 comes to an end with a new version of our next-generation installer +permalink: blog/2023-12-21/agama7 +tags: +- Project +- Programming +- Systems Management +- YaST +- Agama +--- + +It's vacation season at Europe and most of the YaST development team will be busy for a couple of +weeks singing Chistmas songs, celebrating the arrival of a new year and opening presents from the +Three Wise Men. But we didn't want to leave the openSUSE fans idle for so long. So we decided to +release another prototype of Agama, so you can have fun testing it and giving us feedback. + +Meet Agama 7 and its corresponding [Agama Live ISO +images](https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/systemsmanagement:/Agama:/Devel/images/iso/) for +testing. + +## Localization Settings for the Target System {#l10n} + +One of the biggest changes compared to previous versions is the possibility to fully configure all +the localization aspects of the target system to be installed. That includes the language, the +keyboard layout and the time zone. + +{% include blog_img.md alt="Localization" src="l10n-mini.png" full_img="l10n.png" %} + +Note these aspects don't affect the Agama interface. The language used by Agama during the +installation process is determined by the browser, although it can be changed through the Agama +sidebar as already explained [in our previous blog post]({{site.baseurl}}/blog/2023-10-25/agama5). + +## Keyboard Selector for Local Installation {#keyboard} + +But what happens when the browser you are using to connect to Agama is not in a remote machine +properly configured but is the full-screen browser offered by the Agama Live testing image? Don't +worry, your localization needs are also covered. + +As you can see in the description of [this pull request](https://github.com/openSUSE/agama/pull/917), +the Agama sidebar can also be used to change the keyboard layout if the browser is running in the +same system that is executing Agama, like is the case of Agama Live. + +We plan to create a proper welcome screen for users that don't know enough English to reach that +sidebar, but meanwhile we hope the current options will be enough both to use Agama in your +preferred language and to get a properly localized system as result of the installation. + +## Reduce RAM Usage in the Testing Image {#zram} + +Talking about the Agama Live testing image we recently reduced the RAM required to succesfully +install openSUSE with it. In fact, Agama's memory usage has not changed much, but we enabled +[zram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zram) by default in the live image and now everything should +work better in system with limited amount of RAM. If you want to disable zram, just open a terminal +and execute the following command. + +``` +systemctl stop zramswap +``` + +To be honest, we cannot foresee any good reason to disable zram, so let's us know if you think we are +mistaken in that regard. + +## Installation of openSUSE MicroOS {#microos} + +We also reorganized the Agama configuration included in the openSUSE flavor of Agama Live. Now you +can use the very same testing image to install both openSUSE Tumbleweed and openSUSE MicroOS. + +{% include blog_img.md alt="Product Selection" src="product-mini.png" full_img="product.png" %} + +## First Step to Simplify Selection of Software {#patterns} + +TO BE WRITTEN + +Show curated list of patterns for each product (early preview, first step) + +## Registration Support {#registration} + +TO BE WRITTEN + +As you may know, some products SUSE Customer Center. +Both Web UI and CLI (auto-installation) + +## More Customization Options {#storage} + +TO BE WRITTEN + +Select filesystem type (including snapshots) +Policy to make space + +## Other Improvements + +TO BE WRITTEN + +Preserve installation logs +Improvements in internationalization (some messages were not translatable) +Accesibility improvements in the web UI (by adding aria-label, aria-live-region and aria-busy attributes +Support for network bonding + +## The Year of Agama {#future} + +Agama 7 is the first protype we could consider to be "functional enough". It finally covers all the +areas we consider as essencial during the installation of the system: localization, network +configuration, storage setup, authentication basis (including the optional creation of a first user) +and an intentionally simplistic selection of the software to install. + +Of course, all those areas need to evolve much further and that's exactly the goal for this new +year - take Agama to the next level in which it could even replace YaST for some scenarios and +distributions. + +Your contributions and opinions are an important element for that. So don't hesitate to contact +the YaST team at the [YaST Development mailing +list](https://lists.opensuse.org/archives/list/yast-devel@lists.opensuse.org/), our `#yast` +channel at [Libera.chat](https://libera.chat/) or the [Agama project at +GitHub](https://github.com/openSUSE/agama). + +See you again in 2024! diff --git a/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/l10n-mini.png b/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/l10n-mini.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1a165d9a Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/l10n-mini.png differ diff --git a/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/l10n.png b/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/l10n.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..32a0ac7c Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/l10n.png differ diff --git a/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/product-mini.png b/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/product-mini.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f9857ac8 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/product-mini.png differ diff --git a/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/product.png b/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/product.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..55c16124 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/images/blog/2023-12-21/product.png differ