Deepin is a Chinese-made Linux distribution aimed at the average desktop computer user. However, it is a popular choice among users who want a beautiful and stable Linux.
Beauty is a tradition to Deepin. The distro features its desktop environment called DDE (Deepin Desktop Environment), one of, if not the best-looking Linux desktop environments.
With the latest release of Deepin 20.5, it’s better than ever before. Without a doubt, it is one of the most beautiful Linux distros based on the stable branch of Debian.
What’s New in Deepin 20.5
Deepin 20.5 is an incremental update, so visually, things haven’t changed much, but if we check the release notes, we can see how busy the developers have been with improving the capabilities of a number of the apps.
The majority, if not all, of these apps, are developed in-house and adhere to a consistent design language.
Face Recognition
Despite all of the concerns, facial recognition is becoming increasingly popular. The feature of unlocking the device with facial authentication is available on most recent Android and iOS devices.
So we start with the fact that one of the biometric authentication methods, namely face recognition, is now supported on compatible devices in Deepin. After enrolling your face in Control Center, you can use your face ID to log in to Deepin the next time you see the lock screen or the login interface.
Pinning a Screenshot
Another exciting change in Deepin 20.5 is the added “pinning” functionality in the Screenshot app.
When you click “Pin Screenshots” before taking a screenshot, the captured screenshot becomes sticky on top of windows and can be moved. You can use other apps while “pinning” this image to the desktop to increase work efficiency.
App Store Feedback
Deepin Store is an application integrating display, download, installation, commenting, and rating of a wide range of applications. Moreover, it elaborately screens and collects different types of applications for you.
But what’s more important is that the App Store app shipped with Deepin 20.5 includes entries for sending feedback and requesting updates. So, for example, if you’re having trouble installing or updating an app, you can report it directly to the app’s official support page and get help.
Furthermore, it works with touchscreen devices that support one-finger and multiple-finger gestures.
Other Improvements in Deepin 20.5
The Mail app now supports various useful features, such as automatic mail receiving after network reconnection and custom folder management, which has been thoroughly optimized.
On top of that, the framework and plugins have been replaced with the popular Vue+TinyMCE, resulting in a better user experience.
The Grand Search feature introduced in Deepin 20.2.4 also received some love from this release. The retrieval accuracy and search scope have been greatly improved, and file types and file extensions can now be used as keywords for more precise searching.
Under the hood, Deepin 20.5 is powered by Linux kernel 5.10. In addition, the distro now allows you to set multiple IPs for a single wired network adapter on the network side. Furthermore, the password authentication interactions for wireless networks have been optimized.
Apart from those mentioned above, some additional changes also deserve to be noted here.
In the new version, Device Manager allows devices to be enabled/disabled, which is quite handy functionality for users who prefer to work on the command line less often. On top of that, local drivers for devices in deb format can be installed, updated, and uninstalled.
You can refer to the full changelog or the project’s home page for detailed information.
Download
Deepin 20.5 was a rather large download at 3.5 GB, and the direct download speed was underwhelming.
If you’re new to Deepin and if you’re going to try Deepin, especially if you’re going to install it on a virtual machine, know that the Deepin installer requires you to have at least 60GB of disk space which is a massive amount of disk space for a Linux distro.
If you want to download Deepin 20.5, you can grab an ISO here and create a bootable USB for installation.
