Nitrux OS

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wove
Posts: 1188
Joined: Mon May 04, 2020 4:47 pm

Nitrux OS

Post by wove »

Nitrux OS <https://nxos.org/> is a pecular distro. Perhaps most generally interesting is that it is built on Debian Unstable and uses the Neon repositories to provide the latest KDE software. It provides three default sessions, Plasma on X11, Cask on X11 and Cask on Wayland. Nitrux is the lead on the Maui frameworks.

Maui frameworks is an attempt to do "convergence" based on Plasma. I beleive Maui is also used by Jing OS for their Jing tablet. I have been Nitrux in a virtual machine. Since the host machine still holds onto the touch gestures for the system, it is not really possible to see how well or poorly Nitrux handles them. It does seem this might be really nice on a 2 in 1 device. Live mode goes directly into the Plasma desktop, so in live mode on the Surface Go Nitrux is no different than any other Plasma distro.

The default Plasma desktop in Nitrux uses Latte Dock and a top bar and is defaulted to look very much like Mac OS. The one nice feature is that when one hits the maximize button not only does the app go full screen, but is also automatically moved to its own work space. Mac OS has always done that I think it is an exceptionally nice feature.

At the moment Nitrux needs to have TouchEgg installed to use swipe gestures to move between workspaces, but from what I have read Plasma is expecting to bring swipe gestures for Workspaces and Activities soon. This would provide a Gnome Shell type work flow, which is why I use Gnome Shell and if KDE had that work flow possible I would probably move back to KDE.

At this time Nitrux seems a bit scattered. They are developing their own applications on the Maui framework they created, so they have their own file manager (Index) and music player (Wave). It has long been a frustration of mine that Linux distros are always trying to re-invent the wheel. I am going to keep an eye on Nitrux, the Debian/Neon mix is interesting as it stands, and with some built in gestures and Maui's touch screen enhancements it might become useful on the Surface Go
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