In today's open source roundup: Evolve OS could be a contender for the most user-friendly distro. Plus: GDC and the next version of OpenGL, and episode 2 of the Game of Thrones adventure released for Android Evolve OS and user-friendliness Evolve OS is not exactly in the same league as Ubuntu or Linux Mint in terms of being known by Linux users. But that might be about to change with the release of the first Evolve OS beta. A writer at TechRepublic is considering switching to Evolve OS and dropping Ubuntu. Jack Wallen at TechRepublic reports: In 2014, a new distribution appeared out of nowhere, one that cut straight to the heart of the matter and promised to deliver a Linux distribution like no other. That distribution is Evolve OS. For the longest time, the distribution was in a state of limbo, and the best you could do was download an alpha and hoped it would run. I tried a number of times and finally opted to just install the Budgie desktop on a Ubuntu distribution. That attempt gave me an idea of how Evolve OS would look, but not much more. If you’re a fan of Chromebooks but long to be able to add an addition layer of usability and power on top, Evolve OS is for you. If you’re looking for the epitome of elegance on a desktop, Evolve OS is for you. If you’re looking for the single lowest barrier to entry for Linux, Evolve OS is for you. More at TechRepublic The Evolve OS site has more information: Evolve OS is a Linux distribution built from scratch, using a forked version of the PiSi package manager (maintained as “eopkg” within Evolve OS). It is available as an installable LiveCD, and is only available for x86_64 computers (64-bit). EFI support is on the roadmap, however the installer hasn’t yet been ported. We use the Budgie Desktop by default, which in turn is tightly integrated with the GNOME stack to reduce technical debt and needless overhead. More at Evolve OS You can download the Evolve OS beta via these links: Ireland (Ikey’s Mirror) Netherlands (Alejandro’s Mirror) Italy (TuxPT’s mirror) USA (RaynoVox’s mirror) Torrent (Linuxtracker) Game Developer’s Conference and the next version of OpenGL The open source OpenGL API may have a successor waiting in the wings, according to PC World. News could be coming from a panel at the Game Developer’s Conference on March 5. Hayden Dingman reports for PC World: The hope here is not only for better performance out of this new API, but also more compatibility with DirectX. That would make it easier for developers to port their games from Windows to Linux and Macs, potentially increasing the viability of competing game platforms—you know, like Valve’s fabled and as-yet-unreleased Steam Machines. Surprise! Valve is directly involved with the GDC panel where all this will all be announced: “glNext: The Future of High Performance Graphics (Presented by Valve).” Employees from EA, Unity, and Epic will also be on-hand for the reveal. That’s all we know right now. There’s no word when glNext will be available, what hardware it’ll be compatible with, or if it’ll reduce CPU bottlenecks as both DirectX 12 and Mantle do. More at PC World Here’s a description of the panel and a link to the event on the GDC site: Join us for the unveiling of Khronos’ glNext initiative, the upcoming cross-platform graphics API designed for modern programming techniques and processors. glNext will be the singular choice for developers who demand peak performance in their applications. We will present a technical breakdown of the API, advanced techniques and live demos of real-world applications running on glNext drivers and hardware. More at Game Developer Conference This tantalizing bit of information resulted in a long discussion thread on the Linux subreddit: Kigurai: “Not only by valve. The first name is the guy from EA/Dice responsible for a lot of parts in the frostbite engine that powers pretty much anything from EA these days. Like Battlefield 4.” Drewsmith: “I kinda get the impression that the opengl standards are a super political thing. I hope this doesn’t just lead to another competing standard.” MrSchmellow: “Inb4 CAD lobbyists shut them down again. IIRC it’s a third attempt to modernize opengl, and both previous failed because of “designed by comittee” and legacy stuff (like 20 yrs old internals of various CAD/CAM/CAE systems). Still, I want to believe.” Hyperion2011: “I suspect that this is going to either be a branch off of gles, which the cad people don’t care about, or be an entirely new spec that will not actually having anything to do with opengl beyond also being a khronos group initiative.” Burning_Iceman: “It’s possible they’ll call it “OpenGL 5”, but probably not. In which case there will not be an “OpenGL 5”. It will most likely not be called “glNext” either. That’s just the working name.” More at Reddit Episode two of Game of Thrones adventure released for Android Game of Thrones has its own adventure game on Android, and the second episode of the game has been released. Andrew Grush reports for Android Authority: Last week we learned that Games of Thrones Episode 2 was coming to Android on February 5th. As scheduled, “The Lost Lords” has arrived as an in-app purchase for the Game of Thrones app, priced at $4.99. For those that didn’t play the original, the game is based on the HBO series of the same name (and the books by George R. R. Martin, of course) and let’s you make decisions in the role of House Forrester and House Stark. Like with other Telltale series, you control various characters and the action is of the “choose your own adventure” type. More at Android Authority Here’s a sneak peek at episode two via YouTube: Did you miss a roundup? Check the Eye On Open home page to get caught up with the latest news about open source and Linux. Software DevelopmentOpen SourceTechnology Industry