The release of the Nitrux 2.0.0 distribution kit, built on the Debian package base, KDE technologies and the OpenRC initialization system, has been published. The distribution develops its own NX Desktop, which is an add-on to the KDE Plasma user environment, as well as the MauiKit user interface framework, on the basis of which a set of typical user applications is developed that can be used on both desktop systems and mobile devices. To install additional applications, the AppImages self-contained package system is being promoted. The size of the boot image is 2.4 GB. The developments of the project are distributed under free licenses.
The NX Desktop offers a different styling, its own implementation of the system tray, notification center and various plasmoids, such as a network connection configurator and a multimedia applet for volume control and media playback control. Applications built with the MauiKit framework include Index file manager (Dolphin can also be used), Note text editor, Station terminal emulator, Clip music player, VVave video player, NX Software Center, and Pix image viewer.
A separate project is developing the Maui Shell user environment, which automatically adapts to the screen size and available input methods, and can be used not only on desktop systems, but also on smartphones and tablets. The environment develops the concept of "Convergence", which implies the ability to work with the same applications both on the touch screens of a smartphone and tablet, and on large screens of laptops and PCs. The Maui Shell can be launched either with its Zpace composite server using Wayland, or by running a separate Cask shell inside an X server-based session.
The main innovations of Nitrux 2.0:
- The main desktop components have been updated to KDE Plasma 5.23.5, KDE Frameworksn 5.90.0 and KDE Gear (KDE Applications) 21.12.1.
- KWin settings have been changed to improve performance and improve UI responsiveness.
- The size of the main ISO image has been reduced from 3.2 to 2.4 GB, and the size of the reduced one from 1.6 to 1.3G (without the 500 MB linux-firmware package, the minimum image could be reduced to 800 MB). By default, Kdenlive, Inkscape and GIMP are excluded from the distribution, which can be installed from the repository in AppImage format, as well as in the nx-desktop-appimages-studio set along with Blender and LMMS.
- The AppImage package with Wine has been removed, instead it is proposed to install AppImage with the Bottles environment, which includes a collection of ready-made settings for running Windows programs in Wine.
- At an early stage of loading an iso image, microcode loading is provided for Intel and AMD CPUs. Added i945, Nouveau and AMDGPU graphics drivers to initrd.
- The settings of the OpenRC initialization system have been updated, the number of active terminals has been reduced to two (TTY2 and TTY3).
- Changed the layout of the elements of the Latte Dock. By default, a new nx-floating-panel-dark panel layout has been proposed, including the top and bottom panels as before, but moving the application menu to the bottom panel and adding a plasmoid to activate the overview mode (Parachute).
Application menu changed from Ditto to Launchpad Plasma.
The top bar retains the global menu with window and title controls, as well as the system tray.
- Changed window decoration settings. For all windows, the frames and the line with the title are now removed. Client-side window decoration (CSD) has been disabled for the Maui application in order to unify the look and feel of all applications. You can return the old behavior in the settings "Settings -> Appearance -> Window Decorations"
- To move application windows, such as programs based on the Electron platform, you can use the Alt modifier or select the option to move the window from the context menu. To change the size of the window, you can use the combination Alt + right-click + move the cursor.
- Updated optional Latte bar layouts to offer a single bottom bar or top bar menu option.
- Software versions have been updated, including Mesa 21.3.5 (Mesa 22.0-dev build is available from the repository), Firefox 96.0 and Pacstall 1.7.1 package manager.
- By default, Linux kernel 5.16.3 with Xanmod patches is used. Packages with vanilla Linux kernels 5.15.17 and 5.16.3 are also offered for installation, as well as the 5.15 kernel with Liquorix patches. Updating of packages with branches 5.4 and 5.10 is discontinued. Added a package with additional firmware for AMD GPUs that are not in the package with the Linux kernel.
Source: opennet.ru