0.9.0 release notes

content/news/release-0.9.0.md

@@ -34,10 +34,47 @@ and Release 0.9.0 is packed with many improvements and cleanup. Here are just a
 - A [FAQ](https://www.redox-os.org/faq/) was added to the website
 - A [developer FAQ](https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch09-07-developer-faq.html) was added to the book
 
+## Stability and Performance Improvements
+
+Jeremy Soller and 4lDO2 did massive improvements to stability and security, fixed many bugs, from easy to very hard.
+
+We would like to thank 4lDO2 a lot for his massive work to improve the kernel and user-space daemons.
+
+You can read about part of the 4lDO2 journey to improve the kernel on the following posts:
+
+- [RSoC: on-demand paging](https://www.redox-os.org/news/kernel-8/)
+- [RSoC: on-demand paging II](https://www.redox-os.org/news/kernel-9/)
+- [Significant performance and correctness improvements to the kernel](https://www.redox-os.org/news/kernel-10/)
+
+Jeremy rarely write posts and prefer to contribute in silence and report the progress later in the Matrix community.
+
+## Software Updates
+
+Our toolchains received some updates and currently our Rust, C and C++ toolchains use the latest stable versions or close to it, it's a great achievement compared to other OS projects that use very old toolchain versions (limiting the program compatibility)
+
+Beyond the toolchain updates, we also updated important cross-platform libraries used by most programs and some important programs.
+
+## Documentation
+
+Our documentation was improved massively thanks to Ron Williams and Ribbon, in 2023 we covered many missing things in the website and book, removed most of the obsolete information and documented almost all build system commands.
+
+Ron Williams and Ribbon did a hard work to make our website and book extremely rich in information for end-users, Rust programming newbies and veterans, and operating system development newbies and veterans.
+
+We are glad to say that our website and book answer most of the end-user and developer questions about Redox.
+
+You can read about the Ribbon's documentation adventure on [this](https://www.redox-os.org/news/documentation-improvements/) post and on the monthly updates.
+
+## Matrix
+
+In 2023 we migrated from Mattermost to Matrix to fix some management problems, this big change helped us to improve many aspects of our community interaction.
+
+You can read more about it on [this](https://www.redox-os.org/news/community-announcements-1/) post.
+
 ## Discussion
 
-Links where this release is discussed will be added here. To contact me
-directly, view the links on my personal website: https://soller.dev/
+Links where this release is discussed will be added here.
+
+(To contact us, join in our Matrix space on [this](https://www.redox-os.org/community/) page)
 
 - [Hacker News]()
 - [Mastodon]()
@@ -49,65 +86,58 @@ directly, view the links on my personal website: https://soller.dev/
 
 ## Images
 
-It is recommended to try Redox OS in a VM before trying on real hardware. See
-the [supported hardware](#supported-hardware) section for details on what
-hardware to select for the best experience. For this release, only x86_64 images
-are provided, as there is still work to be done on i686 and aarch64 support.
+It is recommended to try Redox OS in a virtual machine before trying on real hardware. See
+the [supported hardware](https://www.redox-os.org/faq/#which-devices-does-redox-support) section for details on what
+hardware to select for the best experience.
 
-Remember to verify images with sha256sum: https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.8.0/x86_64/SHA256SUM
+Remember to verify the images checksum with the `sha256sum` tool, use [this](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/SHA256SUM) link for the x86_64 images.
 
 ### Demo
 
-A 768 MiB image containing the standard desktop environment as well as pre-installed
-demo applications
+A 1536 MiB image containing the Orbital desktop environment as well as pre-installed demo programs.
 
-- **Live (recommended)**: https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.8.0/x86_64/redox_demo_x86_64_2022-11-23_638_livedisk.iso
-- Pre-installed: https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.8.0/x86_64/redox_demo_x86_64_2022-11-23_638_harddrive.img
+- [Real Hardware Image](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_demo_x86_64_*_livedisk.iso)
+- [Virtual Machine Image](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_demo_x86_64_*_harddrive.img)
 
 The demo image includes these additional packages:
 
-- [DOSBox](https://www.dosbox.com/): A DOS emulator
+- [DOSBox](https://www.dosbox.com/) - A DOS emulator
 - Games using PrBoom:
     - DOOM (Shareware)
     - [FreeDOOM](https://freedoom.github.io/)
-- [Neverball and Neverputt](https://neverball.org/): OpenGL games using llvmpipe
-(performance may vary!)
-- [`orbclient`](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/orbclient): demo orbital
-application
-- [Periodic Table](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/periodictable): an app
-for viewing information about chemical elements
-- [Redox OS Games](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/games): command line
-games for Redox OS
-- [`rodioplay`](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/rodioplay): a music player
-capable of loading FLAC and WAV files
-- [Sodium](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/sodium): a vi-like editor
-- [`sopwith`](http://www.sopwith.org/): a classic PC air combat game
-- `syobonaction`: a freeware platforming game
+- [Neverball and Neverputt](https://neverball.org/) - OpenGL games using LLVMPipe (performance may vary!)
+- [orbclient](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/orbclient) - An Orbital client demo
+- [Periodic Table](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/periodictable) - A program for viewing information about chemical elements
+- [Terminal games](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/games) - Command-line games
+- [rodioplay](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/rodioplay) - A FLAC/WAV music player
+- [Sodium](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/sodium): A vi-like text editor
+- [sopwith](http://www.sopwith.org/): A classic PC air combat game
+- syobonaction - A freeware platforming game
 
 ### Desktop
 
-A 256 MiB image containing only the standard desktop environment. Use this if
-you want to download a smaller image
+A 512 MiB image containing the Orbital desktop environment and some programs for common tasks. Use this if you want to download a smaller image.
 
-- Live: https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.8.0/x86_64/redox_desktop_x86_64_2022-11-23_638_livedisk.iso
-- Pre-installed: https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.8.0/x86_64/redox_desktop_x86_64_2022-11-23_638_harddrive.img
+- [Real Hardware](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_desktop_x86_64_*_livedisk.iso)
+- [Virtual Machine Image](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_desktop_x86_64_*_harddrive.img)
 
 ### Server
 
-A 256 MiB image containing only the command-line environment. Use this if the
-desktop image is not working well for you
+A 512 MiB image containing only the command-line environment. Use this if the desktop image is not working well for you.
 
-- Live: https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.8.0/x86_64/redox_server_x86_64_2022-11-23_638_livedisk.iso
-- Pre-installed: https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.8.0/x86_64/redox_server_x86_64_2022-11-23_638_harddrive.img
+- [Real Hardware](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_server_x86_64_*_livedisk.iso)
+- [Virtual Machine Image](https://static.redox-os.org/releases/0.9.0/x86_64/redox_server_x86_64_*_harddrive.img)
 
 ## Changes
 
-There have been quite a lot of changes since 0.7.0. I have manually enumerated
-what I think is important in this list. Links to exhaustive source-level change
-details can be found in the [Exhaustive Details section](#exhaustive-details)
+There have been quite a lot of changes since 0.8.0. We have manually enumerated
+what we think is important in this list. Links to exhaustive source-level change
+details can be found in the [Changelog](#changelog) section.
 
 ## In Depth
 
+The most important changes are shown below.
+
 ### Kernel
 
 - The memory performance was improved a lot by the introduction of a new buddy allocator (p2buddy)