ZDNET’s key takeaways
blendOS is obtainable now to obtain and set up free of charge.
- This can be a nice immutable desktop working system for individuals who know what they’re doing and need the most effective of all potential worlds in a single platform.
- Customers new to Linux needn’t apply.
I’ve seen nearly each try at making one thing distinctive with Linux and, each every now and then, one thing actually leaves a mark. This time round, that one thing is blendOS.
blendOS is an immutable Linux distribution that, because the developer says, is “a seamless mix of all Linux distributions” and it does a fantastic job of virtually attaining that very factor.
Additionally: What is immutable Linux? Here’s why you’d run an immutable Linux distro
You see, blendOS consists of quite a few package deal managers (from different distributions). You will discover pacman (from Arch), apt (from Ubuntu), and blendOS’s personal mix device. You will additionally discover the podman container runtime, which provides one other layer of usability to the OS and the flatpak common package deal supervisor. So as to add to this cornucopia, there’s additionally the blendOS Internet Retailer, which lets you set up net apps (or request your favourite net apps to be added).
The place blendOS misses on this mission is that you simply will not discover Fedora’s dnf or openSUSE’s zypper package deal supervisor.
What this all means is that you will not solely have quite a few methods to put in software program, however you may have a large number of functions from which to decide on. If an app is not discovered within the apt repositories, it could be present in those who serve pacman. When all else fails, there’s flatpak. And if you wish to run a containerized model of an working system, you may select from Arch, AlmaLinux 9, Crystal Linux, Debian, Fedora 38, Kali Linux, Neurodebian Bookworm, Rocky Linux, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 23.04.
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On high of all this, you may select a model of blendOS with the desktop atmosphere that most closely fits you, from GNOME, KDE Plasma, XFCE, Cinnamon, Deepin, MATE, and LXQt.
For my evaluation, I selected the Deepin desktop and am glad I did. This model of blendOS is as stunning as it’s versatile. However, below all that magnificence and talent, is there an OS that can be utilized by the plenty, or is that this an working system geared for a particular consumer kind?
Let me reply that query for you.
Who’s blendOS for?
Given I selected the Deepin desktop, what I noticed initially had me fooled into pondering this could possibly be a fantastic OS for the plenty.
I used to be mistaken.
I am not saying that the typical consumer could not work with blendOS as a result of they definitely may. Because of Deepin desktop, every thing is immediately acquainted and straightforward to work with. However the second you open the Launcher, you may discover the bottom put in apps do appear to cater to at least one specific kind of consumer…the developer.
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Out of the field, there’s Electron 25, {Hardware} Locality Isotope, Neovim, Qt Assistant, Qt Designer, Qt Linguist, Qt QDBus View, Qt V4L2 take a look at Utility, Qt V4L video seize utility, and Software program Token, that are all very developer-centric. What you will not discover are apps like LibreOffice, GIMP, or Thunderbird…productiveness instruments for the remainder of us.
And the truth that blendOS provides the podman container runtime device makes it much more clear that builders are the supposed viewers.
Contemplate this. Its builders describe blendOS as “…an immutable distro that allows you to make containers of different distros.” So, yeah, this is not a Linux distribution that you simply’d set up in your grandparents or kids. blendOS is an working system for individuals who know what they’re doing and don’t need their platform of alternative getting in the way in which of doing it.
As an skilled Linux consumer, in minutes, I used to be putting in functions with instruments from different distributions, including net apps with ease, spinning up containerized working methods, and simply usually doing issues I could not do on different distributions with out some severe effort.
On high of all that, I had the Deepin desktop to take pleasure in, which is (as at all times) a factor of magnificence.
Additionally: UbuntuDDE weds Deepin Desktop with the latest Ubuntu for a beautiful, user-friendly distro
In the long run, if you happen to already love Linux, blendOS is a distribution that may carry you a lot pleasure. If you do not know Linux, I would not make this your launching level into the world of open-source since you may rapidly turn into confused by the sum complete of blendOS’s elements.