nOS, a virtual operating system that aims to ease the deployment, discovery, and use of dApps, has announced the launch of its alpha nOS TestNet. The nOS TestNet includes features such as staking, voting, block rewards, and a block explorer. While in alpha stage, nOS intends to frequently reset and start from new genesis blocks to publish new features and updates more quickly.

Among many of the upcoming features, nOS plans to release a TestNet faucet for NEP-5 NOS token holders. The faucet will distribute TestNet NOS tokens to allow users to run nodes, vote, and stake, and transfer NOS.

In a conversation with NEO News Today, founder of nOS, Dean van Dugteren said:

The details on how the faucet will work will be shared closer to release, but people won’t have to lock up or do anything with their NEP-5 NOS. It’s more to get people to get familiar with the TestNet than to make them do stuff with their NEP-5 NOS.

As the nOS blockchain will be in TestNet phase, at this point, users do not need to migrate or swap their NEP-5 NOS tokens.

History of nOS on NEO

nOS is a full-stack solution that aims to facilitate deployment of websites and applications in a decentralized and open-source environment. Early focus for the platform included the registration and management of domains and to make smart contract deployment simple on the NEO blockchain.

In July 2019, Splyse, the group developing Hash Puppies, released its puppy redemption mini-game on the nOS platform. Splyse stated it used nOS as the platform for the mini-game as it “provides the best user experience, supporting 3D WebGL games along with seamless integration with the NEO blockchain.”

Later that month, nOS updated its whitepaper to focus on enabling new revenue streams for web 2.0 and web 3.0 applications through blockchain-powered solutions. Along with the whitepaper update, nOS announced a partnership with Ark to facilitate the development of the nOS blockchain.

Moving forward, the nOS Browser will continue to support NEO and expand to offer support for additional blockchains including Ethereum, Bitcoin, ARK, and others.

The full announcement can be found at the link below:
https://medium.com/nos-io/nos-launches-testnet-and-blockchain-codebase-8614aa2f3a95