We know Fuchsia OS as something Google is working on – as an alternative to Android or maybe ChromeOS.
The most interesting aspect of this project is that it is open source in nature.
Unfortunately, you will not find it on GitHub anymore where it first appeared in 2016 because they’ve moved the project to Google Git.
Even though we still don’t have enough information on Fuchsia OS. There are a few things that you should know in this article.
Fuchsia.dev Official Website For Development Info
On July 2019 – Google launched the website for Fuchsia OS development.
The official website contains a lot of relevant information on the development and the process of contributing to its development.
Even though with a lot of officially maintained pages on the website -there’s still no concrete explanation on what Fuchsia aims for.
Is Fuchsia OS Going to Replace Android and Chrome OS?
Yes and no.
Google hasn’t mentioned anything officially for Fucshia OS. They have neither denied nor admitted to the fact that it could replace Android or Chrome OS.
It is a long shot to predict what exactly is Google planning to do with Fuchsia OS – but it is surely going to replace something significant if the project succeeds.
Is Fuchsia OS Open Source?
Well, yes because that’s what Google announced it initially. It’s just that you will no longer find the project on GitHub.
The project first appeared on GitHub in 2016 but then decided to use their own Google Git portal for the source code.
I believe that they would release the source code after the project reaches to a certain stage.
Fuchsia OS is Not Linux
Fuchsia is tailored as a modular operating system based on Google’s own Zircon kernel.
So, you should not consider it something based on Linux – it is totally something new.
You can learn more about the Zircon kernel on their official website.
Supported Hardware
Even though we are not sure if Fuchsia OS is something targeted for Chromebooks or smartphones. We do have an idea of its current hardware supported as per the information available in its official development site.
For now, a developer can test Fuchsia OS on Pixelbook, Intel NUC, Acer Switch Alpha, iMX8M EVK board, HiKey960 board, and a few others.
You can find the list of supported hardware and the instruction to install it on its development page. You should observe the hardware list in a dropdown list on the left sidebar when you load up the web page.
IoT Devices Over Android/Chrome OS
Everything we mention remains to be speculative until Google officially confirms anything.
However, in a report, Google made some references at the Google IO developer conference hinting that Fuchsia OS could be something very specific for IoT devices and may not be as exciting as an Android or Chrome OS replacement.
So, either Fuchsia OS is going to be something big – or it’s going to be tailored for a specific task.
What’s Under-the-hood?
If you are curious about the programming language, the Fuchsia Interface Definition Language (FIDL), the flutter module, and so on – the best place would be to check out the official Development documentation.
It seems that it supports multiple programming languages that include Dart, Python, C/C++, Rust, and more.
Wrapping Up
We shall keep the article up-to-date with every new Fuchsia OS update that we come across. Unfortunately, there are no recent UI demos – so we do not have an idea about its user experience.
If you find some UI screenshots on the Internet, make no mistake, 9to5Google has confirmed that they are not what you’re looking for.
What do you think of Fuchsia OS in its current early development state? What are your expectations from it?
Let me know in the comments below.
