An important update has released for feren-os-majorupdate. If you haven't updated to version 2018.07.0.0.1 or above, and haven't Major Updated yet, you should upgrade that package now, as well as make sure that 'feren-ppas' is up to date too.
Well, you've all waited patiently for this moment, and now I'm happy to announce that I have dropped all the packages required for upgrading Feren OS to an Ubuntu 18.04/Mint 19-based Feren OS.

Here's what you need to do:
1. Go into Update Manager
2. Hit 'Refresh'
3. Once the updates list has been refreshed, select 'feren-os-majorupdate' to be updated, and hit 'Install Updates'
4. Restart the system when you want to begin the long update process, and confirm that you'd like to update there and then the next time Feren OS boots.

If you can't find an update for 'feren-os-majorupdate', here's what you need to do:
1. Go into Software/Software Manager
2. Search for 'feren-os-majorupdate'
3. Go to 'feren-os-majorupdate' (Package) and install it
4. Restart the system when you want to begin the long update process, and confirm that you'd like to update there and then the next time Feren OS boots.

NOTE: If you still have 'feren-system-packages' installed, then that package should pull down the 'feren-os-majorupdate' package for you onto the system, assuming it's up to date.

For businesses, you can still schedule the Major Update if you haven't already done so, by checking this blog post.

Again, thank you everyone for waiting patiently for this update path to be added in, and a huge thanks to those who helped test the Major Updater, as well, thanks to all the hard work, the general users should now be able to comfortably update over to 18.04-based Feren OS.
PS: If you do catch wind of an error relating to the package 'acpid', don't worry about it. I know about that issue, and so implemented a next-boot script that then fixes that issue automatically for you the next time Feren OS boots after the Major Update, before then clearing out the remains of the Major Updater, now it's then not needed, for now, so that you can get right back to managing installed applications, packages, etc.
Oh, and regarding the ISO: That's coming a little bit later, I was mainly focusing on the upgrade path for now, and so haven't yet started on the next snapshot's ISO (based on Mint 19.0 Cinnamon).

So, here's good news, and also a mandatory "please help me test stuff" message, regarding the Feren OS Major Update Utility, which is coming (hopefully) very soon to facilitate the upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04/Mint 19 for current Feren OS Users.

So, the good news is that throughout all my testing, I can confirm that the utility can now successfully be booted directly into in its own graphical step of the boot process, to make sure that the least amount of damage can be done to Feren OS during the base update, as well as successfully update to 18.04 while keeping all the Feren OS and Mint goodness in the OS, on the following hardware:
- Virtual Machine (Tested in VirtualBox)
- Intel (HP Pavilion dv6 Tested)
- AMD (Lenovo Yoga 510 Tested)

However, here comes the mandatory "please help me test stuff" message: NVIDIA. You might have already noticed that there's a mention of all the common hardwares that Feren OS is known to install on, BUT NVIDIA. This is because of unfortunately I have, as of right now, got NO machines to test which have NVIDIA Hardware on them, and so can't test the Major Updater / Update Process on NVIDIA Hardware, which is where you people come in.

So, as I promised, now that the GCSEs are (hopefully) over for me, Feren OS development shall resume as it was very soon.

Short post, I know, but most of what I would mention here's already in the Post GCSE Agenda Post, so... check there.

Hello people, 

This will be a relatively quick blog post, but since I've got a week to spare in-between GCSEs, I might as well do some more preparation work for Feren OS, in order to hopefully make the wait worthwhile, so... here's my agenda on what I want to do for Feren OS:

• Check what applications are running in a Live Session of Feren OS, and try to see why the OS is so laggy in VMs, and whether it's not just Cinnamon making the OS slow AF in a VM, and then remove any unneeded bits where found.
• Figure out how to get the Upgrader, to Ubuntu 18.04, to consistently show across all Feren OS Devices, during boot time or shutdown time, as intended.
• Finish the Update to Ubuntu 18.04 script, and push it to Feren OS Users on Stable, from Earlybird.
• New Feren Theme Style
  
• New Inspire Icon Theme Style
• De-bloat where possible
• Bug fixes as no product is ever perfect
• Some tweaks to Feren OS stuff, to make the OS more safe, and better
• Switch to Ubuntu base from Mint base

If you're seeing this, then Feren OS is about to or has already entered a development suspension. This development suspension will be in effect during the 14th of May, to 15th of June, once that period of time is over, Feren OS will resume development once more, with more exciting updates in the works for Feren OS, outside of the 18.04 Upgrade. This also affects Phoenix Linux development, as this time will be taken to revise and tackle the British GCSEs. Good Luck, Year 11s.

You're seeing this right, you can now upgrade early to Ubuntu 18.04 on Feren OS, with the WIP Upgrade Script. Since this is a WIP, however, a lot of theming and some software and so on will not be available and/or will be broken.
Please do not do this on your daily driver, unless you know how to recover from the loss of the Cinnamon Desktop Environment, as this script is still WIP, and has only been tested by me on AMD and Intel Hardware, and so I do not know if the OS or Cinnamon will break on other hardware. If it does, try to comment down below the contents of your HOME FOLDER/.xsession-errors on that system (the file is hidden), so that I can try and find the cause and the solution to it.

As The Feren OS Dev, I always strive to find ways to improve the core design and usability of Feren OS to make it one of the best, and one of the ways I've conveniently found of recent days is exploring methods to push the Feren Brand, and that is why, today, I'm proud to announce Feren OS Blue, the newest addition to the Feren OS Family.

It's that time of the year again, y'know, the end of the year... Anyways, time to recap what happened feren-wise. Though, I can tell you now, boy was this a good year for feren OS so far.

Yep, the moment I got word that Linux Mint dropped their Sylvia ISO onto their Download Servers, under the "Stable" folder, I started working on the seamless update from the ISO's base of Mint Sonya, to the new base of Mint Sylvia (18.2 => 18.3). To be honest, for a first try at doing this (all previous Mint Updates came as feren OS Releases), the update process is seamless, and very easy.

For a newbie to switching to feren OS, the requirement of taking data to somewhere else, before installing feren OS over Windows, then restoring the data and settings, that is quite the chore, isn't it? Well, now you don't have to do that anymore. Now, say hello to feren OS to/from Windows Transfer Tool.

After many failed incarnations, and so close to the potential demise of the 32 Bit System Architecture, I can now finally announce, the x32 Version of feren OS has RETURNED, being the FIRST feren OS for x32 Machines, since the failure that was the 2015.X Series.

After a long time, LOTS of blood, sweat and tears put into it, and lots of password entering, feren OS can now finally say it's a Rolling Release Operating System built on the foundations of Mint, designed to be Stable. This Snapshot is based on Linux Mint 18.2, and is a defining point for feren OS as a distribution.

Today marks 2 Years since the release of feren OS 2015.0 BETA, and while the 2015 series might've been an underestimated failure, or you could say, a great lesson in the ways of distribution-making, but there again, that was probably Ubuntu Builders fault partly too...

Wow, sorry guys that I didn't notice this for a while, but it turns out feren OS has hit its 50,000th download, and is already aiming at 55,000 Downloads! Thanks so much everyone, I couldn't of reached this milestone without your support and all the press coverage feren OS have received with both 2016.2 Lucid and especially 2017.0 Murdock! You know, when I made Murdock (we'll all miss you, Ian Murdock), I wasn't expecting it to reach greater heights than it ended up doing compared to Lucid. But, as I just said, it's surpassed the popularity that Lucid gave the OS by a milestone, even getting reviewed by the guys at Linux.com, and even getting a mention in Linux Format under the "Distro watch" page of one of their issues. I couldn't of got this far without all you people, I can't thank you enough!

As times go by, I hope to continuously improve feren OS, and with the Rolling Release Switch, this will become a lot easier, and will help keep the fixes in sync with every user, rather than having to make another ISO, and a script for installing the Modifications an update may include.

Features in the back-burner for 2017.08 include a Accent Colour Changer Program that works with the Windows 8, 10 and feren OS Themes included in Themer as well as a Major Updater Tool for when Ubuntu releases an LTS Upgrade every two years, to install these updates in a more stable environment.

As I've said, thanks for everything everyone! I couldn't of got this far without you, and after everything I've been through, it's more than satisfying to see the distribution becoming a success with time, and I have even higher hopes for the OS even still, past this... Let's just hope I get the GCSEs over in the best way possible, so that these plans of mine will be able to happen with less issues...

Here's to more success in the future!

Exams, welp, we gotta do them some day in our life, don't we? After September in 2017, feren OS development will be slowed down for a long period, if not put to a temporary halt, because I'll be a Year 11 at that point, and Year 11 is where you really need to focus on revision for the big one, the GCSE Exams. So, because of that, don't expect as many releases in 2018 as would happen otherwise, and, good luck to everyone else who will have GCSE Exams next year too!

There might also be a chance that this might stay like this because of jobs, and so on, don't worry, feren OS will still be alive and kicking, in fact, we're inching closer and closer to the time when feren OS may possibly be in its true heyday, the day Linux is finally known to the world, the day, when feren OS is backed by it's own company, no spying or anything malicious added, of course.

Just a quick one to let you guys know, wanted to get it off of my throat, so yeah, now you know...