The New Generation
Check out these wonderfully crafted distros that give the operating system from a certain fruit-named company a run for its money
UBUNTU DERIVATIVES ARE A DIME A DOZEN. Some you could probably recreate yourself by installing a desktop and changing some default applications. But some are simply outstanding, taking the rock-solid Ubuntu base and adding unique and powerful features on top.
One example is Elementary OS which, through its own Pantheon desktop, brings a sleekness and simplicity that rivals Mac OS. Instead of forcing users to read manuals (which in many cases just raises more questions), one of Elementary OS’s aims is to have minimal documentation. It aims to be sufficiently intuitive that users should be able to figure things out for themselves. Another of its design aims is “concision,” keeping things simple and avoiding bloat. Finally, it strives for “accessible configuration”-not bombarding the user with options, or asking for information that could be obtained automatically.
This might sound like fluffy design speak, but when you see how the app indicators subtly convey useful information, how the infobars gently notify you of exigent situations, and how everything integrates so nicely, then you’ll see that there’s substance to it all.
It would be remiss of us not to mention, in a spread about beautiful distros, Pop!_OS. We were thoroughly impressed by the 20.04 release back in April. Pop!_OS (we like most everything about it, bar the awkward punctuation) is made by Colorado-based Linux system manufacturer System76. Being an OEM, the team wanted to be able to ship an OS that was guaranteed to work with their hardware. But also, just like the other distros named in these pages, an OS that makes it easy for users to do whatever they want to do. Pop’s desktop is much closer to Gnome 3 than what Mint, elementary OS and Solus offer, but don’t be afraid. Likewise, don’t be afraid that the latest release gives you the option to experience-in a very gentle way-the fun and joy of a tiling window manager.
Pop!_OS ships two editions: One featuring the Nvidia proprietary graphics driver, and one featuring open source drivers for AMD and Intel hardware. System76 has contributed an awful lot to Linux, including a Firmware Manager front-end for updating firmware via Fwupd. In Pop, this is integrated into the update tab in the Gnome Settings application. Naturally, this works with not only System76 hardware, but anything supported by Fwupd (which is quite a lot of hardware). Pop also has a bunch of tweaks for common gripes, such as multiple displays and hybrid graphics.