Deepin, a Chinese-made Debian-based Linux distro, is well-known among beauty and aesthetics enthusiasts. Aimed at the average desktop computer user, the distro comes with the in-house developed DDE (Deepin Desktop Environment), one of the best-looking Linux desktop environments.
After the Preview release of the upcoming Deepin 23 in August, we now have an alpha version available, giving us a good idea of what to expect from the final release.
Deepin 23 – What to Expect?
Enhanced Installer
We’ll start with the installer, which has seen a lot of improvements. Some of the new features include visual enhancements and a revamped design.
Apart from that, the developers have simplified it as much as possible, making installation a breeze. So, with only a few mouse clicks, you have an operating system installed and ready to use.
However, despite the installed OS taking up less than 10 GB of disk space, the installer still requires a minimum of 64 GB of storage to install Deepin. So, keep that in mind if you decide to try out this alpha release.
Flow Design
Introducing the so-called Flow app design will undoubtedly be the most notable change in Deepin 23. But what exactly does this mean?
Flow design is one of the important updates of Deepin 23. It focuses on simplicity, friendliness, and vitality principles. From the visual design to the product interactions, we hope that the design is clear and concise and the interaction is coherent, smooth, and full of vitality.
In a nutshell, the flow design is an implementation of Deepin developers’ views on how apps should look visually and how users should interact. It is specially designed for the next-generation Deepin OS.
So, if you’re familiar with GNOME and the Libadwaita concept, you’ll understand what we’re talking about.
As you might expect, most of the core apps that Deepin 23 will include, such as Music, Image Viewer, Album, and so on, will be built on and adhere to the flow design.
Deepin’s devs will implement its concept with the help of the dtkdeclarative library – a control library for creating native applications with flow-design styles based on Qt Quick and Qt QML framework.
The fundamental principles on which Deepin’s flow design is built are as follows:
- Useful first, beautiful next
- Simple and lightweight
- Keep flexible
- Emotional design
Those interested in learning more can do so by visiting this page.
Linglong Package Format
The Linglong package format will probably be the most controversial feature that the Deepin 23 release will provide to users. As we know, Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage are already well-known names in the Linux community. But be prepared to add another one to the list: Linglong.
It is a new independent package management format focused on resolving various compatibility issues caused by complicated package formats and cross-dependencies under Linux and reducing the security risks associated with decentralized permissions control.
Additionally, Deepin’s devs have created a special app store, which users can find at store.linglong.dev. Finally, the documentation is available here for those who want to learn more about Linglong.
Other Deepin 23 Highlights
Deepin 23 will surprise its users with a new application called Backup and Restore for backing up user data to an external device.
Furthermore, some core apps have received functional improvements, such as Music, Image Viewer, and Album. Additionally, the apps mentioned above will no longer be provided as native DEB applications but in the new Deepin’s Linglong format.
The Linux kernel version used in the Deepin 23 Alpha is 5.18.17, but this will almost certainly change before the final release.
More information is available in the official announcement. If you want to try the Deepin 23 Alpha release, the direct download of the installation ISO image is provided below.
