OpenKylin 1.0: First Stable Release of an LFS Distro from China
If you have come to read this publication because of its striking title, you have surely been captivated for several reasons. The first is that you have probably heard a Existing GNU/Linux distro named Kylin which has been in stable versions for a long time. The second thing is that it is built from scratch, that is, at Linux From Scratch (LFS) style and it is always interesting to know about distros of this style. Lastly, it comes from China.
However, and especially with respect to the latter, if you are an avid consumer of news about free and open technologies, and about the global geopolitical technological situation, you will know that for some time now, China and other countries like Russia tend to have as a policy technological independence for reasons of state security. And for this, for a long time they have been building technological solutions (operating systems, applications and platforms), which are often based on free and open developments such as GNU/Linux. As you will know now, knowing a little more about «OpenKylin 1.0».
And before getting fully into the news, it is worth noting that the previously mentioned Chinese GNU/Linux Distro called Kylin OS, little known by many, has gone through several stages since its creation, in which it has gone from having a FreeBSD base to Linux, and from being a public and governmental initiative to being a joint development (public and private).
While, deepin OS which is usually better known both by Chinese and by others around the world, has steps from having an Ubuntu base to Debian, and probably in the future it may change to a much more independent one for them. In addition, there is Uos which is a kind of commercial or corporate Deepin.
OpenKylin 1.0: Release of the first stable version
What is OpenKylin?
According to the documentation available in the official website of your Community this LFS Distribution is described as:
A community-sourced desktop operating system led by the openKylin community for desktops, laptops, tablets, and embedded devices with major architectures such as: X86, ARM, and RISC-V. It adopts the leading version in terms of kernel, base libraries, and application software, and is the technical upstream of the commercial version of Kirin, which follows the same path and is developed in concert with the commercial version. At the same time, openKylin Community Edition will also integrate various innovative technology applications to gather the strength of the industry and jointly promote the innovative development of the Linux industry.
And among his many featured features The following can be briefly mentioned:
- Offers good multi-arch support: Therefore, it supports X86, ARM, and RISC-V architectures for PCs, laptops, and tablets, including Raspberry Pi and COOL Pi development boards for ARM architecture, and Hifive unmatched, VisionFive, and RISC-V architectures . While, for the RISC-V architecture it has completed the adaptation of Hifive unmatched, Safang VisionFive and Ali Pinto Trailing Shadow 1520.
- Use the UKUI Desktop Environment: Currently, it implements by default, the new generation of the UKUI 4.0 desktop environment, both on computers and mobile devices. While, in Tablet type devices, it offers a pleasant user experience, due to the inclusion of a tablet mode.
- Includes a large number of applications available: It has a wide ecosystem of self-developed applications, especially for the multimedia and office environment. In addition, it offers an OpenKylin software store that provides users with thousands of software from various sources, most likely meeting the needs of average home and office users, and all age ranges.
And in case of more official information or downloadyour is available Official website.
What's new in OpenKylin 1.0
New features included in this recent release (05/06/2023) include the following:
- Its installer, for now, is only available in Chinese and English. And it offers the base (by default) the Linux Kernel 6.1.
- Its installation is quite similar to others, that is, it asks to configure the language, the time zone, the user account, and the installation method, to choose between a complete and automated installation or a custom installation to make simple adjustments, especially of the partitioning of the storage medium where it will be installed.
- At the end of the installation, it shows us its beautiful and functional desktop environment. UKUI (Ultimate Kylin User Interface) extends the functionality of the Linux OS very well, providing a set of basic applications for it, among which are: Mozilla Firefox, WPS Office , Vim Text Editor, Video Player and Weather App, a weather or weather application. Also, UKUI offers a friendly and familiar visual look, very similar to Windows 7/10 GUI.
Note: More than 4.000 developers, 74 SIGs (Special Interest Groups) and more than 200 companies have participated in its development.
Summary
In short, now that you are interesting LFS Distro of Chinese origin has reached its first stable version, that is, the version «OpenKylin 1.0», it will surely start to be more known and used outside of China. Above all, when it begins to offer better multilingual support, especially for the Spanish language. But regardless of that, we wish you, like every free and open project, much success and great progress in your development. While, if you want to see more screenshots of its graphic interface and installation process, we invite you to click on the following link.
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