elementary have just released the final version of their long expected elementary OS version 0.3 "Freya". After a week-long countdown, an expected release candidate was skipped and they went from beta 2 straight to the final.
A brief overview of the project from the Wikipedia entry:
elementary OS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. It makes use of a desktop with its own shell named Pantheon, and is deeply integrated with other elementary OS applications like Plank (a dock), Midori (the default web browser) and Scratch (a simple text editor). This distribution uses Gala as its window manager, which is based on Mutter. The distribution initially started as a set of themes and applications designed for Ubuntu which later turned into its own Linux distro. Being Ubuntu-based, it is compatible with its repositories and packages. It uses Ubuntu's own software center to handle installation/removal of software, though its own software center is in the making. Its user interface aims at being intuitive for new users without consuming too many resources.
The team is known for their highly polished "Pantheon" desktop environment as well as for their funding strategy that requires the visitor to enter a donation amount, even if it is zero, before revealing download links.
Will this release be solid enough for them to aim for the top spots of Linux distributions?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @06:10AM
No wait, this isn't OSX, this is imitation OSX. Well shit, it's just like listening to inner city urban niggers beg for coins while singing karaoke of In The Air Tonight. Oh, lord.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday April 13 2015, @06:28AM
Not sure a third derivative is ever going to make it to the top spot among linux distributions. The world is getting a little apprehensive about Debian's downstream anyway.
Still it's interesting how many different packages they had to fork to come up with a working DE they could call their own.
I periodically nuke a VM and fire up some small distro for fun and learning. Salix (Slack based) was my last project (no systemd). Maybe I'll give this one a try, just after I get done upgrading my OpenBSD to 5.7. So many systems so few hours.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @06:46AM
Technically Mint is a third derivative: Debian -> Ubuntu -> Mint .. and its #1 per Distrowatch now for a few years. I find a lot of the "smaller" distros quite flaky and soon blow them away after setting up a VM to take a look. Its hard to get away from systemd though as I run Mint primarily and am comfortably setup in my (photo) workflow and software needs at this point. It took 3 years to wean off of the Seattle medication, and then systemd - rats. Now what?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 13 2015, @08:08AM
LMDE - Linux Mint Debian Edition. Not Ubuntu based. Those of us who dumped Ubuntu don't load Ubuntu based OS's very often. Linux Mint was abandoned along with Ubuntu, but LMDE is still good on my machines.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Marneus68 on Monday April 13 2015, @06:47AM
nuf said.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 13 2015, @07:26AM
Ubuntu based distros don't make it onto my machine any more. I may take a look at it in a VM sometime, but Ubuntu isn't where I want to be. I left Ubuntu for many of the same reasons I dumped Gnome - the end user knows best what is right for him, not the developers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @10:16AM
If the process list of crap that distro runs didn't set you off, systemd must have.
(Score: 2) by E_NOENT on Monday April 13 2015, @10:21AM
If the process list of crap that distro runs didn't set you off, systemd must have.
What, everyone knows about Pantheon, Plank, Midori, Scratch, and Gala (which is *obviously* based on Mutter, you damn rube!)
I'm not in the business... I *am* the business.
(Score: 1, Troll) by kaszz on Monday April 13 2015, @12:46PM
So it's system'd and thus piece of crap?
(Score: 2) by Covalent on Monday April 13 2015, @02:34PM
I used to run Ubuntu on my machine. I loved it, at first. Lightweight, quick, free as in beer, free as in liberty, and super nerdy.
But the longer I ran it, the more problems I ran into. I'd update the OS and find things stopped working. I'd spend hours (or weeks) getting them working again, only to find them not working again 6 months later at the next release. My wife happily plunked away in OSX without a single headache but with innumerable "Oooh...that's new and I really like it!"s coming from her office.
Last year I gave up. I bought a MacBook and haven't looked back. Honestly, I just got tired of fixing my own computer.
It turns out that making an awesome OS is hard. You need a lot of dedicated people, and the experimental results here would seem to indicate that "the community" just isn't quite up to that task. I hope I'm wrong...but the evidence says otherwise.
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday April 13 2015, @04:27PM
Ubuntu has never been Lightweight or Quick. They've definitely fattened up over time as well. I have an eye on SteamOS. SteamOS could be an Extremely Awesome thing. I can already run almost every DOS game in existence using DOS Box. At some point I hope to do a similar thing with all of my old school Windows games. Wine may mature enough or perhaps ReactOS will fill that need. Then I can ditch Microsoft for good, hopefully.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2, Informative) by engblom on Monday April 13 2015, @05:34PM
Linux != Ubuntu.
There are other more stable distros out there.
My story is the exact opposite. OSX was so unstable and unfriendly to me that I did not care to stay with it more than two weeks. Then I had enough and installed Linux.
During those two weeks I begun to develop serious pain in my finger joints because of the bad designed user interface. What did they think about when they put the X for closing to the left and the scroll bar to the right and the menu far away from the window you work with? And what did they think about when you have to open the "file manager" (Finder) for launching less frequently used programs?
All the extra usage of the touchpad because of the UI got my fingers to really hurt. Even if I am in minority, I am strongly of the opinion that Linux is more user friendly (at least after a proper installation) than OSX.
(Score: 2) by engblom on Tuesday April 14 2015, @06:52AM
Sometimes the moderations surprises me. I definitely did not mean to troll with the post above. Still it got moderated as "Flamebait". The GP had problem with Linux, I had with OSX. If both sides are not allowed to be discussed, this site is not worth visiting. Are we not here to discuss topics from all angles? I even said that I might be in minority with my opinion about OSX.
The moderators should not give negative moderation for opinions differing from their own. They should rather give positive moderation for the opinions they agree with.
This is not the first time I see this kind of strange moderation.
With "Linux != Ubuntu" I simply meant Linux is bigger than just one single distro and treating Ubuntu as a synonym for Linux is wrong. The next sentence I made was there to clarify that Ubuntu is not the only Linux distro. There is no secret that the first months after a Ubuntu release, you have a lot of problems if you upgrade.
With the first line I simply meant something like this:
Liquid != Water (As there are more liquids than just water)
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday April 13 2015, @06:34PM
Last time I touched a mac, it was for one guy who needed some audio editing. Turns out the garageband application did not sync the waveform with the audio out. That's a pretty awful behavior for an integrated hw/sw platform.
OTOH my MacOS went really well for audio in the 90s.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @09:18PM
I got into Slackware to escape instability and stupid behavior in Windows. That lasted for five years or so, and then I got a Mac. I never looked back. Seven years after I bought my first Mac, I finally got a new one, and then only because I spilled water on the old one. The new one's chugging along perfectly. I've never had a problem (except spilled water) with them, and they stay out of my way while I get work done.
(Score: 2) by doublerot13 on Monday April 13 2015, @07:08PM
I recognize the time and effort these guys put into carefully ripping off OSX. Some...well lots of people like OSX but can't afford the price of admission to the Apple club.
I personally don't like OSX, so I don't care much for the UI of this distro. Less isn't more, it is just less. IMHO.