Snakeoil OS began as an “image” of my Linux music machine as of Feb 29 2016, and unleashed into the Internet on the very same day.

The self mockery name of “Snakeoil” was chosen because of its polarising nature. Reason for this name? Whether we like it or not, we audiophiles are really self-righteous, opinionated jerks (to various degrees). I adore this name - beauty is in the eye of the beholder; what is Snakeoil to one may well be holy grail to another (and vice versa). This name demonstrates the power of language, how a single word can instantly cause a person to react negatively, or spark another’s curiosity. The power of words, like the power of music, is what defines us, the emotions from what we interpret, see and hear identifies who we are and what we represent.

Anyway, one of the design goals of the SnakeoilOS is to design an intuitive user-interface, that anybody in their 50s with zero computing knowledge is able to use. The end result unfortunately is really a hastily applied PHPcode, a crude 90’s web interface look. It is functional, and it is also embarrassing. The old PHP has to go!

With Snakeoil OS more than a year old now, and after communicating with the users out there. I’m now working on the next generation of Snakeoil. This time based on 21st century stuff with all the important buzzwords invented by millennials - Angular4, Javascript, asynchronous communications, HTML5, REST.

Here are two quick videos demonstrating the new web application (Note these are based on the current development, and subject to change).

As of today, I’m only about 46% done, so there is no ETA as yet. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. For the latest updates, refer to the RFC thread in the forums. I welcome any suggestions you have to make Snakeoil OS better.