Taking a look back in time, at least one into the personal past, there were only a few popular graphical environments in the beginning. GNOME has always been there, and my mentor told me early on about KDE as "the nice thing" back then. More recently we have seen how the Linux community focuses on design, and the best we can find in systems with the kernel developed by Linus Torvalds is Deepin.
Deepin, which we can find as DDE for Deepin Desktop Eenvironment, is a graphical environment for Linux. Creo that you have to differentiate between environment and desktop: the environment is the design of the interface, while the desktop is that design plus the applications of the project. To enjoy the most complete Deepin experience, you have to use the desktop, and that's what this article is about.
Deepin: the most apple desktop
DDE 1, the first version of Deepin, was launched in 2013, in August, and it was used in Deepin Linux 12.12.1. Although they don't say it openly, they base their design on Apple's macOS, formerly Mac OS X. I know some people have an aversion to the apple, but I think even these users should calm down a bit when it comes to design. Already in 2012, Mac OS X began to borrow functions from iOS, and implemented the notification center and the launcher of apps (Launchpad), and Deepin seemed to like that.
The design itself consists of several parts:
- Dock at the bottom. By default and at the time of writing these lines it is part to part and floating, although each distro decides how to implement it. In the dock we find:
- Application launcher on the left.
- Widget to display the desktop just to the right of the app launcher.
- Favorite apps.
- System tray on the right, with toggles or quick settings and the trash can.
- The application launcher deserves a separate mention, since you can choose three options:
- Normal menu type Plasma or Windows 10.
- GNOME-like app drawer if the maximize button on the previous menu is clicked.
- Full screen menu separated by sections, if the button on the top left is clicked.
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- regular menu
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- App drawer
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- Drawer of apps by section
- Applications. The applications all have their own image, and are part of the design of the operating system.
From GTK to QT and DTK
Part of the interface is obtained by means of libraries. GNOME uses GTK, and it is what started using Deepin. Over time they switched to Qt, which is used in KDE, but later they ended up creating their own called DTK (Deepin Took Kit). With DTK they get the necessary freedom to obtain the very own design that was not easy to obtain with Qt and much less with GTK.
The windows are square, flat, and with buttons like Windows 10, but without colors.
Project-specific applications
deepin has your own set of apps, although it is not as extensive as those of GNOME or KDE. The K team has many of its own that are part of the KDE Gear and other Extragear, while GNOME has its official ones, those of its circle and others from collaborators. Deepin does not have such a large community behind it, but it does have its own applications for everything important. In this link they are all
To highlight some, the Terminal is an application that just doesn't stand out, even simpler than GNOME's. The Music app is like Amberol, and also somewhat reminiscent of what we see on iOS:
Image: Deepin
deepin has your own browser, which is actually a modified version of Chrome. It is not available in all distributions, but it is in Deepin Linux. It is compatible with everything in Chrome, but it has a Deepin design and they have removed everything they consider to be superfluous. It's not much because, for example, it does have developer tools. It does not allow you to sign in with a Google account.
In the application store it is also noticeable that they have wanted to put their stamp. It is what you have below these lines, but this is Deepin Linux. In addition to allowing login, it also Allows you to install Android apps (in theory, and not in any distro).
To see and learn more about Deepin, it is best to try it as explained in the following point.
How to test Deepin (DDE)
For Ubuntu users, it is best to try Deepin with UbuntuDDE. An operating system image can be downloaded from this link, and launches like any other Ubuntu version:
- Creating a Live USB. There are many ways to create Live USBs, among which I recommend using Etcher. Other tools include the native ones of the operating system, "dd", Rufus (Windows) or the Raspberry Pi Imager. Once created, the computer is turned off and boots from the USB.
- In GNOME Boxes or VirtualBox. You can also create a virtual machine and run the operating system from it. I like GNOME Boxes better for these purposes, since you don't have to install anything to see the system in full screen.
Deepin Linux
Another option is to use Deepin Linux, which offers the most Deepin experience possible. If what you want is to install the operating system, you can download your cd image, start it on your computer or a virtual machine and do what the wizard says. If a live session is preferred, the following must be done:
- Start from Deepin Linux.
- In the menu that would be GRUB, press the tab key. A command will appear below.
- In the command we have to do two things: we move with the navigation keys (arrows) and we change the language zh_CN for ours, for example, es_ES for Spanish from Spain. Then you have to delete the part that says "-installer" just after "livecd". The completz line for this example would be: .linux /live/vmlinuz boot=live components quiet splash union=overlay livecd local=es_ES.UTF-8 initrd=/live/initrd.lz
- Enter is pressed.
With this, what we have told you is that you DO NOT start directly in the installer and that the language is Spanish from Spain. And if we don't want to lower the ISO because we just want to take a tour of the system to see its design, it can be done in DistroSea.
Conclusion
When you have tried one of these two options, or others such as the community edition of Manjaro with Deepin, you will understand why it is so popular. It offers a simple GNOME-like experience, but with a more streamlined design.