Five Linux desktop distributions with a great future

If you're looking for a new Linux distribution, don't let the choices overwhelm you. This list of rising distributions will get you off to a great start.  

Linux is everywhere. It's on your servers and in your phones, cars, watches, toasters, refrigerators... and desktops. Although fewer users see Linux on their desktops than in their thermostats, even that is on the rise, partly due to the number of high-quality distributions. This new wave of Linux desktop distributions is bringing a confluence of user-friendliness, modern design, and stability to the open source platform.
 
The only problem you might have is figuring out which of the more recent distributions are the true darlings of the moment. Never fear, intrepid readers: I have you covered with the five Linux desktop distributions I feel are the hottest commodities coming out of the open source world.

1: Elementary OS Freya

Elementary OS Freya (Figure A) is the first Linux distribution in a long time to seduce me away from my long-time favorite, Ubuntu. There's a good reason for this. Elementary offers a perfect combination of modernity and old-school Linux. More than anything, users will appreciate how much thought was put into keeping a uniform look and feel across the board. 

Figure A

 
All apps carry a similar design spec and do exactly what you'd expect them to do. With Elementary OS Freya, there are no surprises. It works and it works impeccably. Anyone who has used Windows or OS X will immediately be at home in Freya. It's that well designed. Yet it doesn't give up its own unique flavor and design elements.

2: Chromixium

Chromixium (Figure B) is one of two Chrome OS-like distributions on this list. Chrome OS has managed to do something no other OS has done—bombproof the operating system. But some users are put off by the idea that Chrome OS has a certain local-app limitation. That's where distributions like Chromixium come into play. 

Figure B

 
Working with standard hardware, Chromixium allows you to enjoy a Chrome OS experience without having to purchase new hardware. Oh, and you can run all the great apps available for Linux. LibreOffice? No problem. Gimp? No problem. OpenShot, Scribus, Audacity, Ardour, Thunderbird... the list goes on and on. If you're looking for the elegant simplicity of Chrome OS and the power of Linux, give this distribution a try.

3: Solus

Solus (Figure C) was, at one point, Evolve OS. But a trademark spat between the developers and the UK Secretary of State Office caused the shift in name. Solus is the second Chrome OS-like distribution in the list. (I can't help it; I'm a fan of Chrome OS.) But where Chromixium might seem to struggle a bit in keeping every element congruent with the design, Solus succeeds on an Elementary OS Freya level. 

Figure C

 
Add to this the developer's desire to ensure zero scope creep and Solus is a project everyone should be watching. The desktop is centered on a built-from-scratch environment called Budgie, which does an outstanding job of keeping things simple. As you might expect, Solus is still in beta and development is on the slow side of things. Even so, keep your eyes glued to this distribution. When it comes out of beta, look out!

4: Korora

Korora (Figure D) is a re-spin of the Fedora project that "just works" out of the box. This distribution takes the bleeding edge Fedora, tones it down a bit, includes the necessary codecs for multimedia, and even allows you to select which desktop you want during install (Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE, Mate, or XFCE). Korora also preconfigures a few repositories the developers think most users would want (Adobe Flash, Dropbox, Google Chrome/Earth/Talk, RPMFusion, VirtualBox). 

Figure D

 
Korora developers are working on a unique tool called Lens. This project has a goal of creating an agnostic alternative to desktop UIs. It's actually a fairly impressive (and complex) idea, which you can read more about here.

5: Mageia

Mageia (Figure E) isn't new, but it's managed to remain under the radar since its inception in 2010. Mageia was given life as a fork of the now-defunct Mandriva Linux. Not only does Mageia promise to deliver a secure, solid, and sustainable operating system, it also brings about a stable and trustable governance of the platform—something other open source projects are having issues with. You can download KDE or GNOME versions of Mageia and know that neither will throw any surprises at you. What you expect, is what you get—it's simple, reliable, and stable software. 

Figure E

 
Mageia should be much applauded for the thriving community it has developed (and continues to nurture). I strongly believe that Mageia could become one of the primary distributions for those looking to run either the GNOME or KDE desktop.

Your choice?

There are so many Linux distributions, deciding which one to try can seem overwhelming. I believe each of these distributions will see quite a bit of attention in the coming years. Without fail, I would gladly recommend each of these for new and experienced users alike. Give one of these Linux distributions a try and see if it doesn't meet your needs.
 
Have you tried any of these distributions—or would you add a different one to the list? Share your recommendations with fellow members.
 
~ Jack Wallen

Read More

Chromixium: A new Linux distro with a Chrome OS twist

A long time Ubuntu fan, Jack Wallen opts to depart from the safe and familiar in search of something new. That search led him to a very Chrome OS-like Linux distribution called Chromixium. 

 

I already know what you're asking... why do we need a Chrome OS knock-off when we already have the real deal (and the real deal is dirt cheap)?
 
The answer to that question is two fold: 1) Because it can be done; and 2) Because you probably have plenty of older hardware sitting around that could easily power a Chrome OS-like operating system.
 
Recently, I had to reinstall the primary OS on my production machine. I opted to try something different than Ubuntu, so I started looking around at new distributions. In the end, the decision came down to two distributions:

• Chromixium
• Elementary OS Freya

I wound up going with Elementary OS Freya, but the decision was a challenging one. Why? Because Chromixium is incredibly well done and works as efficiently and easily as Chrome OS. In the end, however, Elementary OS Freya won out, because it offered a much superior audio recording experience.
 
Even so, Chromixium is an outstanding choice for anyone wanting Chrome OS on non-Chromebook hardware. What does it offer? Here are some of the features:

• LTS Linux PAE Kernel 3.13
• Chromium web browser (with the option of using the proprietary Google Chrome)
• Pepperflash plugin
• Openbox window manager
• Compton desktop compositor
• Plank dock
• LXPanel
• GTK+3 for a consistent look and feel

For anyone who has been around Linux long enough, the use of Openbox window manager (derived from the old-school Blackbox window manager) should be intriguing, especially in conjunction with a compositor. Openbox has been around for a while (initial release was 2002) and has always been lauded for its speed and small footprint. With Chromixium built on a Linux kernel, with a lightning fast desktop designed to mimic Chrome OS, what is there not to love?

Why you should try Chromixium

I can sum this up in a few quick bullet points:

• If you've used Chrome OS and would love to see it with just a bit more flexibility
• If you have aging hardware and want a solid OS to use
• If you're looking for an incredibly easy-to-use OS that can serve just about any purpose
• If you like the idea of Chrome OS with native apps like LibreOffice and GIMP
• If you like the idea of Chrome OS but need much more local storage

The list, seriously, goes on and on.

Why you should not try Chromixium

Again, I can sum this up in a few bullet points:

• You hate Linux
• You hate anything that resembles a Google product
• You'd prefer the Chrome OS experience with the incredibly fast-booting Chromebook hardware
• You depend on applications that aren't available for the Linux platform

Installation

As with most Linux distributions, you can "try before you buy" by running Chromixium as a live instance. Once you've tried it, you'll probably want to install it. The installation of Chomixium is as simple as installing any Linux distribution. You simply boot from the ISO image (download here and burn it onto a DVD or USB flash drive), log into the desktop with the credentials Username: user / Password: user, and click the Install icon in the Panel.
 
You'll need to enter the sudo password user in order to start the installation process. The installation wizard is very user friendly and shouldn't toss anything your way that you haven't seen before.

Setting Chrome as the default

Out of the box, Chromium is the default browser. This is fine, except for the fact that you might find certain sites don't function quite as well with Chromium. If you'd prefer to use the official Chrome as the default browser, you'll first need to install it. Here's how:

1. Open up Chromium
2. Go to the Chrome download page
3. Download the 32 bit .deb (For Debian/Ubuntu)
4. Click Accept and Install
5. Click Save to download the file to your Downloads folder
6. Once it's downloaded, close the browser
7. Open Files (the default file manager) from the dock
8. Navigate to the Downloads folder
9. Double-click on the file google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb, and it will open in the Package Installer
10. Click on Install Package and enter your password when prompted
11. When the installation finished, close the Package Installer

Now to set Chrome as the default, follow these steps:

1. Open a terminal window by hitting [Control]+[Alt]+[T]
2. Enter the command sudo cp /usr/bin/chromium-browser /usr/bin/chromium-browser-old and type your sudo password when prompted
3. Enter the command sudo ln -s -f /usr/bin/google-chrome /usr/bin/chromium-browser

At this point, Chrome will be your default browser.

The caveats

Chromixium isn't perfect (what do you expect from a 1.0 release?), and one of the biggest issues I've come across is that installed applications do not appear in the menu. Although the menu is great for all your Chrome apps and searching, it does next to nothing for those apps you install via Synaptic or the command line. There is, however, a bit of a hidden menu that allows you access to more of the Linux side of things. If you right-click anywhere on the desktop, the OpenBox menu will appear. Within this menu, you can:

• Launch locally installed applications
• Launch the Control Panel
• Run commands
• Change the desktop wallpaper
• Logout/shutdown
• Gain quick access to settings (Figure A)

Figure A

The Chromixium local menu.

With the help of this menu, Chromixium becomes the best of both worlds. At first blush, you might wish to have these two menus integrated as one. However, given enough thought, you might come to the same conclusion I did... separately, they're much more powerful. After using the dual menus long enough, I realized the two were better left apart. This separation means better Google integration without getting muddied by the plethora of available Linux applications. Most likely, you'll spend the majority of your time on the Google side of things, but when you need a bit more, it's just a right-click away.
 
The last issue you might find is the lack of a clear and obvious front end for package management and an update manager. Chromixium offers Synaptic, GDebi, Ubuntu Software Center, dpkg, and apt for the management of packages. This is too much (Figure B).
 
Figure B
 

Too many package manager front ends.

Chromixium needs to settle on one and leave it at that, because the primary user base for Chrome OS want simplicity. Instead, they'll find Synaptic in the Applications | System, the Ubuntu Software Center in Applications | Internet, GDebi in Applications | System, Software & Drivers in Applications | Settings, Automatic Updates in Applications | Settings... you get the idea.
 
The developers need to rein this in to avoid confusion.

Conclusion

If you're looking for one of the simplest Linux distributions, one that's very well integrated with Google, you need to give Chromixium a closer look. I've yet to come across a Linux distribution that does as good of a job at mimicking Chrome OS. Being a fan of the Google platform, this might eventually wind up being a perfect confluence of design and execution. For a 1.0 release, Chromixium is seriously impressive.
 
~ Jack Wallen

Read More