Progress on the desktop issue in Linux continues to advance and is on the right track, as with the recent news from AMD about the development of ACS: AMD's new Weston-based composite server, and the improvements it has received in relation to other desktops and even the development of COSMIC which is going smoothly, the improvements in Wayland, among other things, everything looks pretty good.
And now, desktop development on Linux couldn’t shine any brighter as a new desktop environment has been unveiled, which goes by the name of Orbitiny Desktop, a completely new desktop environment that has been developed from scratch using the Qt framework.
About Orbitiny Desktop
Orbitiny, is presented as A new proposal for the Linux desktop which seeks to combine traditional desktop elements, such as panels, menus and icon placement, with new ideas that had not been previously explored in other environments.
Uno of the highlights from Orbitiny is its panel, which supports the expansion of functionalities through plugins. Also supports drag and drop interaction, which allows transferring files from the desktop to the panel or exchanging applets. Users can also create and save different profiles that define custom sets of applets and settings. Among the 18 included add-ons, one of the most relevant is an applet that implements a start menu, allowing easy navigation through installed applications.
In addition, Orbitiny goes beyond traditional navigation methods, sinceand introduces the use of on-screen gestures to perform actions and operations. Gestures are activated by drawing a specific outline in an empty area of the desktop while holding down the mouse button. The system allows up to 12 gestures to be defined per mouse button, making it possible, for example, to open a program using a custom gesture.
Features and functionalities
Orbitiny is developing its own set of utilities and applications, This includes a file manager, a notification system, a file search interface, and a program for creating screenshots. The desktop environmentIt can be started in any existing user environment, such as KDE or GNOME. In these cases, Orbitiny takes control of the full screen, displaying its own desktop overlaid on the current environment.
Another of the innovations that it boasts is the Ability to use any directory as a location for desktop content, without needing to be linked to the standard $HOME/Desktop folder. This allows each screen to display a different desktop, adapting to the user's needs.
LCustomization of context menus is another notable feature. Users They can define their own menus that do not interfere with the operation of other applications.s, and also feature an interface for browsing through the directory contents using a directory browser. Additionally, the context menu includes a button that allows you to execute arbitrary commands to process the selected file.
TIt also introduces a feature that specially marks the icons of files that have been copied. or moved to the clipboard, making them easier to identify. This mark also appears when the contents of a directory change, providing a clear way to see which files have been modified, and you can combine files by simply dragging one over another.
The environment allows you to paste content from the clipboard directly to the end or beginning of an existing file, If the operation is performed on a directory, the system will automatically create the necessary file. It is also possible to paste from the clipboard into multiple selected directories simultaneously, making it easier to manage large amounts of files.
Another useful feature is lthe function that allows you to open a terminal emulator for the selected directory, By choosing multiple directories, multiple terminals can be opened at once, which optimizes the workflow. In addition, the system supports the definition of custom actions that can be applied to selected files.
Of the other features that stand out:
- Includes a panel that displays running tasks and installed applications, allowing quick access to relevant system information.
- In its portable form, it makes it easy to create a fully functional work environment by placing all the necessary files and programs in a directory or flash drive, allowing the environment to be replicated on other systems without complications.
- Integrated support for Wine and DOSBOX also makes it easy to run Windows and DOS applications by simply clicking on an .exe file to run it in Wine.
- It supports the MAFF (Mozilla Archive Format), which allows you to package the content of web pages into a single file.
- Shortcuts are also highly configurable in Orbitiny, as it is possible to bind multiple commands to a single shortcut, such as one command for left-click and another for middle-click.
- The system allows you to change the scale of icons on the desktop using the context menu or by using the Ctrl key combination and the mouse wheel.
- Allows you to bind actions to specific empty areas of the desktop when double-clicking, providing even greater customization in interacting with the environment
- The built-in device manager is also a useful tool, allowing you to enable and disable hardware devices from the kernel module loading and unloading level.
Finally, it should be mentioned that The development of Orbitiny aims to ensure portability between various Linux distributions and offer support for Live environments. The code is written in C++ and is distributed under the GPL license. If you are interested in learning more about it, you can check out the details In the following link.