Deepin 20.1 released

[crosscourt]

More here, https://distrowatch.com/11119

[wove]

I have been following this distro since it was Hiweed Linux. I never committed to using it for any length of time, but really did enjoy their somewhat novel approach to UI. I am impressed with their unique view on work flow, and the speed with which they implement a vision, and the speed that they can abandon the vision when becomes clear that the view simply does not work out.

It is based on Debian Buster, in fact the new release is Debian Buster 10.6, which is now supplanted with 10.7. Default install is kernel 4.4 with 5.8 as an option. The 4.4 kernel is an LTS version while kernel 5.8 is already deprecated. The release notes indicate that in an upcomming update the Debian base will be moved to 10.7 and the kernel will be updated to the 5.10 which is also an LTS version.

Deepin has licensed CrossOver and it was included for sometime, although I think now you need to install it from the strore. I have never had reason to use it, but I think I have found a use for CrossOver. (CrossOver is developed here in Minnesota with the headquarters in Minneapolis.) This latest release comes with a Deepin built browser, which should be interesting to try out. Most of the Deepin built applications are quite functional, but have a somewhat alien interface.

The Deepin desktop environment has been very heavy on system resources, and the release notes make a big point about all the optimizing that has been done to make it speedier and more efficient. It will probably be several days before I will get around to giving it a spin, but I look forward to seeing what they have released.

bill

[crosscourt]

Ive never liked the UI in Deepin but I havent used it for a time, so may give it another look. Resource usage as you mentioned is a bit too high for my taste.

[crosscourt]

One of the biggest issues with Deepin was the snooping problems that occured back in 2015 with the app store. Its inevitable that people were suspicious to start given its a Chinese distro.

It appears those issues arent a problem anymore and the move to Debian seems to have cleared the air as well, even though many actually preferred it being based on Ubuntu.
Deepin 20 for me has a MacOS Big Sur influence in it and if you like that type of GUI youre going to enjoy using it.

[wove]

After spending way to much time and probably spending enough to buy a decent x240 to begin with I have the the X240 working to my satisfaction.

In any event, I have installed Deepin on it. Not a bad OS overall. Memory usage is ~800MB at startup. They have a great many of their own home built applications, which are on the whole have a very nice clean and useful UI. Some still need lots of work, for instance the Calendar application can not import any standard calendar formats. Their own browser is called "Browser" and it is a chromium browser, but has no way to log on to Google, which is probably because China does not allow Google services.

It installs much like Chrome OS in that it creates a half dozen partitions, including a restore partition. Encryption for the hard drive is offered by the installer, with a password required for boot. You can log into your account via password, or via finger print. On the X240 it appears that all hardware is supported out of the box, including the SD card reader, which is very often not supported.

The music player does not support internet radio. The Photo Manager is very minimal. The DE is built with QT as are most of their home built applications. The app store is nice, but is missing many of the applications that I tend to like. Overall I will most likely not stick with Deepin, but it is very polished, and in use is buttery smooth. Their is an attention to detail that many Linux distros lack.

bill

[crosscourt]

Between the resource usage, the issues with their app store and their applications being a bit lacking, it really wasnt the distro for me, nor would I recommend it.