Linux Deepin

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There’s an article on Forbes about a Linux flavor called Deepin. The writer claims that the interface is better than Windows or Mac. I hope to check it out soon.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2018/12/10/meet-the-linux-desktop-that-blows-away-windows-10-and-macos/#2af9bdd50001

One thing that bothers me a bit is this flavor of Linux originates from China.

Red Ruffnsore

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AlexEiffel, HiFlyer, Elly

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It’s a nice-looking desktop environment (but, IMO, a bit slow in comparison to Linux Mint Cinnamon on the same hardware).

Have a look at this additional forbes.com review (which addresses the Chinese ownership) and this Quora comparison with Elementary OS (which, whilst old, gives interesting background info.).

Perhaps also read the Deepin EULA then search the interwebs for discussion, e.g.:

2.Intellectual Property Rights. The software and all its components are owned by Deepin Technology and/or other licensors

… before installing.

BTW – The download from the Deepin website is horrendously slow. Use the Sourceforge download link instead.

Hope this helps…

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Mr. Natural, Microfix

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I’ve tried and tested many linux distro’s over the years and I wouldn’t touch deepin with a USB stick. Never trusted it since the report a while back. It may look pretty but, pretty things can lure the unwary.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Cybertooth

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From the Forbes article:

Every major setting you need to manage or tweak your operating system exists within the Deepin control center, accessible by clicking an icon in the dock or taskbar. Doing so presents a translucent sidebar that slides out from the right side of your desktop. From here you can access account management, default apps, network settings, themes and fonts, power management, system updates and everything else you’d expect… You can also rearrange the boot order of various operating systems you have installed, and even setup a VPN connection. All from this single sidebar. No extraneous windows. And once you’ve drilled down into a particular category, it’s a snap to access others by clicking the relevant icons on the left and jumping directly to them.

What caused the reviewer to to laud Deepin? It provides quick and easy access to the controls needed to manage and customize your system! Apple has never really wanted end users to do a lot of tweaking… and Microsoft is definitely going in the wrong direction, in removing control from the hardware owner unless using an Education or Enterprise version. Linux Mint is easy for first time Linux users to install, and Deepin is as well.

As Microsoft shoves buggy updates to Home users, all of us Windows 7 aficionados are looking for alternatives to Windows 10. But pretty and easy and customizable is not all we are looking for. Security… Privacy… and no unwanted updating or telemetry, from an ethical business/group we can trust… China has a long history of a lack of freedom for individual people… as well as surveillance… so even as Microsoft betrays personal computer users, it is probably wise not to trust those who never committed to ideals of personal freedom and choice in the first place….

(But the videos of Deepin look so smooth and nice…)

Its a shame that Microsoft couldn’t have explored AI, and the cloud, without sacrificing Home and Pro users… that they haven’t offered to simply extend Windows 7’s end of life (I’d pay for the privilege) or offered something that meets the needs of individual and small business users in terms of stability and privacy.

A non-techy person like me is unable to evaluate the source code and what it does… so have to look at the reputation of the developer(s), and what more knowledgeable people have found… but it would certainly be nice to be able to integrate a control panel like that into an operating system that provides security, privacy, and good looks…

… still looking…

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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David F, Mr. Natural

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Microfix wrote:

I wouldn’t touch deepin with a USB stick. Never trusted it since the report a while back.

Any more info or – better still – a link to ‘the report’?

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Elly

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Mr. Natural wrote:

The writer claims that the interface is better than Windows or Mac.

Everyone has their own idea about how good an interface is. You have to try it for yourself to see if you like it.

Remember the “Metro” vs “Windows 7” debate? People almost went to war over that one.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Bill C.

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I’m not installin’ it! ……

 

Red Ruffnsore

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Bill C., Elly, Cybertooth

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DistroWatch page on Deepin:  https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=deepin

This guy Dedoimedo is a frequent, outspoken,  distro reviewer at DistroWatch.  His latest review on Deepin (from last year):

https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/deepin-15-4.html

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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Mr. Natural, Elly

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JohnW wrote:
This guy Dedoimedo is a frequent, outspoken, distro reviewer at DistroWatch.

This guy Dedoimedo is a frequent, outspoken, distro reviewer at DistroWatch. His distro reviews, along with many others, are often linked on DistroWatch.
FTFY 😉

Submitted with respect, a small point of clarification:

DistroWatch(.com) is a great site if you’re looking for lots of useful up-to-date info on open source *nix-based operating systems (e.g., linux, bsd).

Dedoimedo(.com) is a great site if you find value in reading the opinions and recommendations of Dedoimedo.

Hope this helps.

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There has been some controversy about Deepin having spyware, but if you use Google, Facebook, or Microsoft, you are already compromised. Deepin version 15.8 was released on 05 Dec 2018 and there is a very decent and informative YouTube 5:17 video published 07 Dec 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0w5GOYiPhY

Highly recommended for all interested in Linux Deepin to watch that 5:17 minute video.

 

Amazing Truths Revealed: Link to Simply Magnificent AskWoody Knowledge Bases

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Mr. Natural

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Lars220 wrote:

There has been some controversy about Deepin having spyware, but if you use Google, Facebook, or Microsoft, you are already compromised.

I’ve seen a couple of  posts (Reddit, for example) from last year about ‘spyware’ on the Deepin website (likened to Google Analytics) but cannot find any mention of possible ‘spyware’ in the Deepin OS itself.

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Linux Mint has everything you need.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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Still waiting to hear specific and/or verifiable reports of/links to ‘spyware’ or other criticisms… other than just xenophobia.

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You may want to try Manjaro Deepin (based on Arch) vs Deepin (based on Debian), if you’re concerned about security, but are still interested.

Manjaro Deepin uses the Deepin interface, but is really Arch behind the scenes, and I doubt it being compromised. The mirrors should be much faster as well.

Here’s the link to a review:

https://hackernoon.com/manjaro-deepin-review-a-clean-minimal-and-powerful-linux-distro-6c0ccac04cd8

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Mr. Natural, Microfix

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I’ve been using Deepin 15.8 for a couple of weeks now, first in a VM then on a 6-year-old Dell Core i3 laptop. I’m aware of concerns about possible spyware but haven’t been able to find a network monitor as easy as Nir Sofer’s CurrPorts for the Windows platform. Instead I used Deepin’s built-in System Monitor and watched for spurious external network connections… and didn’t see one.

I mention this only because TechRepublic have just released a review (which, unfortunately, didn’t address any ‘spyware’ concerns).

I’ve had to re-purpose the Dell back to Windows for someone but during my brief testing Deepin handled all the test files I threw at it, including word processing, spreadsheet, sound and video (MP4 and MKV) straight out of the box (although I did replace the included WPS Office Suite with LibreOffice as I’m more familiar with it). I also replaced Google Chrome with Firefox but, again, that’s just a personal preference. I was going to install VLC but the Deepin Movie app worked just fine.

I didn’t get the chance to check printing, scanning and/or network file sharing but I’ll be looking for another laptop so I can check these functions out as well.

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Elly

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I’ve just been allowed the temporary (perhaps) short-term loan of another i3 Dell Latitude E7440 laptop (yuck, how do you clean mould from the keyboard without spraying with bleach?) and, coincidentally, Deepin have released v15.9… which I’m now downloading to a temporary storage area.

It’s obvious from previous comments here on AskWoody that Deepin is not a well-loved Linux distro… but I’m going to install it anyway after being pleasantly surprised by Deepin 15.8.

(BTW… the download from Deepin’ website was going to take nearly 24 hours so I downloaded from SourceForge instead – only 7 minutes… just sayin.)

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For cleaning, check out iFixit’s Laptop Keyboard Cleaning Guide.

They go step by step, with pictures… but suggest 90% alcohol to dampen a cloth for cleaning, rather than bleach. They also show how to fix sticky keys…

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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Rick Corbett

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Elly wrote:

For cleaning, check out iFixit’s Laptop Keyboard Cleaning Guide. They go step by step, with pictures… but suggest 90% alcohol to dampen a cloth for cleaning, rather than bleach. They also show how to fix sticky keys…

Thanks Elly… I used an isopropanol alcohol wipe first, followed by a foam cleanser over the entire laptop to get rid of any residue (and smell), particularly the stickiness on the lid.

(Folks, take it from an ex-smoker… smokers perhaps need to know how their habit coats everything.)

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Elly

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Rick Corbett wrote:

(Folks, take it from an ex-smoker… smokers perhaps need to know how their habit coats everything.)

Including the inside.  I have bought used laptop parts (motherboards, etc.) and just about choked once I opened the box and the wall of stink hit me.  It’s concentrated yuck, all over every surface inside and out.  The parts I was buying were all internal bits, but on systems that use a fan (which is nearly all of them), the smoke particles get drawn in and settle on everything inside.

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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No kidding! I have opened some where the heat syncs, fans, and vents are clogged with a brown cake and the brownness also covers the rest of the innards. Being a life-long non-smoker, it’s overwhelming.

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Too bad you did not have the time for removing the laptop’s key caps to soak in a bleach solution or put them in a dishwasher safe mesh bag.

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I wouldn’t remove the keycaps on a laptop for cleaning.  Most of them use the scissor style, and they’re easily broken.  I’d clean them in-place on a laptop or a laptop style desktop keyboard!

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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Oh dear – then I will not attempt that. I was saw some newer model laptops on display that these keyboards are almost more board than key, only at most less than approximately four millimeters of travel.

These newer things since after 2011 just do not convey the sense of meaningful contact even though Newton’s Third Law seems to still be working while typing these characters. 😉

I did have to clean one, and it wasn’t easy to so without worrying about causing a worse case of liquid damage!

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On newer laptops, key travel is typically 1.2 to 1.4 millimeters, with those that exceed this being praised for their unusually good keyboards.  The newer Macbook models with the notorious butterfly keyboard have only about half a millimeter!

Such is the price of being thin.

I own three newer laptops, all of which use the chiclet or island key design.  It has its benefits… my older laptops with a non-chiclet design (of which I also own three) have more travel by far, but it is also much easier to catch the edge of a key and accidentally pull the cap off with those older models.

If you happened to hit any given key off-center with an older-style non-chiclet laptop keyboard, you could feel the bottom edge of the neighboring key scrape the finger as the key reached its full travel, then again on the way up.  It was a little bit uncomfortable, and certainly was disconcerting; it doesn’t lend to a “quality” feel.

If the off-centeredness of the keypress was bad enough, the neighboring keycap could be pulled right off its scissor mechanism by the up-moving finger.  It takes only a tiny bit of upward force to dislodge the keycap, and nothing but the plastic scissor mechanism itself actually holds the key in place.  This happened to me several times over the years I’ve owned and used laptops with that type of keyboard.  Fortunately, nothing ever broke, but once the keycap was off, I could see how delicate the plastic bits inside the key mechanism really were, and I could see I’d been lucky.

Chiclet-style laptop keyboards protect the bottom edge of neighboring keys with the bit of plastic or metal between the keys, and that scraping of the next key over doesn’t happen if you fat-finger a keypress.  Any scraping that would take place would just be on the material between the keys, which can’t be easily dislodged.  That doesn’t really happen, though, as the reduced travel of these keys generally means they don’t “submerge” very much, so there’s really not any scraping of which to speak.

Despite the advantages of the chiclet design, the older style keyboards still have a better feel, IMO, because of the much greater key travel seen in those models.  Underneath the surface, chiclet keyboards still use a scissor design nearly all the time (the butterfly design on some Macbooks being the most prominent difference).

Side note: When I first saw these new laptop keyboards being referred to as “chiclet” keyboards, it immediately conjured memories of the first time I had heard a keyboard referred to as such.  That was with the IBM PCjr, which was initially shipped with a wireless chiclet keyboard featuring rubber island-style keys.  The keyboard was generally reviled for having a really terrible feel, and it was made worse by knowing that IBM had done it on purpose to prevent people from buying the cheaper PCjr for serious work rather than the full IBM PC.  Sales of the PCjr were terrible, with the keyboard being one of several design deficiencies of the unit, and soon IBM released an improved non-chiclet keyboard without the hated rubber keys.  The improved keyboard was included with all new PCjrs, and it was offered as a free replacement for the chiclet keyboard for existing owners of PCjrs.

By then, it was too late to save the PCjr, and it went down as one of the computing world’s big flops.  The bad keyboard was only one of several intentional design flaws that led to the PCjr’s failure, but it was probably the most memorable.

For years, “chiclet” keyboard was synonymous with the IBM PCjr keyboard, so when I saw the term applied to laptop keyboards that did not have nasty rubber keys, it kind of surprised me.  The rubbery feel of the PCjr keyboard wasn’t why it was called chiclet, though; that was a term that referred to the Chiclets candy-coated gum popular at the time, whose individual pieces were roughly the size and shape of a key on a PCjr keyboard.  Any keyboard with the “island” design, where you can clearly see bits of the keyboard/laptop case (the “ocean” in the island metaphor)  between each of the keys, is also referred to as having a “chiclet” design.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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I’ve worked on a few machines as has been described here, the most unfortunate one was a gentleman who kept smoking after being put on oxygen.  But then his description of sleeping on bags, in cargo planes, of Agent Orange in the Asian theatre was quite disturbing.  I ended up getting his computer but wasn’t much worth using.

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