xPUD

About xPUD

Design From the Ground Up

xPUD is an unique Linux distribution, consisting mainly of a web browser and a media player, with a simple user interface on top. It can turn your computer into a kiosk-like station by leveraging web technologies, making surfing and watching movies as easy as pie.

Thin and Rich at the Same Time

It's fast, on average booting within 10 seconds (demo on YouTube), and it's small, too. Core image is weighing in at under 35MB, yet it still remains binary compatible with most major Linux distributions like Ubuntu or Fedora. So xPUD can not only be a great platform to deliver Web Apps, but it's also suitable for use on Netbooks or All-in-one PCs.

Basic Principles of Design

We're trying to achieve the following goals in this project:

• lightweight and fast booting
• applications for daily use
• easy-to-use user interface

So we create mkxpud, an image generator that extract files directly from a working Linux system. By doing so, we can keep binary compatibility with other Linux, while minimize the rootfs.

“plate” User Interface

Our experimental web-based user interface, plate, is a combination of Mozilla Gecko Runtime and desktop integration with the underlying Linux stack. The main features are composed of four activity-based tabs, including Home Screen, Application Menu, File Browser and a Setting Center.

By leverage web technologies, we can have the advantages of web application like rapidly developing and easily mash-up, also made it possible to develop a platform-independent environment.