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OS X inspired Linux distribution

C

Cactii

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 14, 2005
68
117
Los Angeles
Just thought I would share this with the MAC community.

The other day I was looking for a small, lightweight linux distribution to replace Windows7 with on my girlfriends netbook. It was slow and had some problems with the video drivers after 20min of use to a state of unusable with constant flickering.

A few distros came to mind such as Ubuntu, Mint, Lubuntu etc,. Being a longtime Mac user I thought Linux Mint was the only distribution for her which actually does a decent job in the UI department :rolleyes: and would make it easy to use on a delay basis.

After a couple hours of reading through forum posts and searching for information just to see if this little Acer Aspire can run it I came across a distribution called "Elementary OS Luna".

I went through their screenshots and was impressed by how much "inspired" :rolleyes: they are by OSX. I have to admit the designers had a serious eye for detail.

Here is a video tour of the OS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwFFNcfNXW8

Design Concepts:
http://elementaryos.deviantart.com/gallery/

Desktop:
elementary_os_luna_wannabe_by_a12dhie-d4f56sa.png


I installed it with no problem. It's fast and I actually felt right at home thanks to the very similar look and feel of OSX :D.

So, if you have an old PC laptop/netbook and want to have a OSX feel, I would suggest downloading it now before it goes mainstream and Apple shuts them down for being "too inspired".

What do you guys think of this?
 
Last edited:
Ariii

Ariii

macrumors 6502a
Jan 26, 2012
681
9
Chicago
It only supports x86 :(. Hopefully if it becomes more popular, it'll support more architectures... Ubuntu already has an ARM and PowerPC version so it wouldn't be as hard as porting a complete OS to a new platform.
 
C

Cactii

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 14, 2005
68
117
Los Angeles
Ariii said:
It only supports x86 :(. Hopefully if it becomes more popular, it'll support more architectures... Ubuntu already has an ARM and PowerPC version so it wouldn't be as hard as porting a complete OS to a new platform.
Click to expand...

Since it is based on Ubuntu I would think it will come soon or later. From reading through their website it is a small team developing this from scratch with a unified look of all the applications. If Gimp could take some "inspiration" from Adobe or if Adobe would make some applications available on Linux I would actually consider it giving it a go.
 
Last edited:
76ShovelHead

76ShovelHead

macrumors 6502a
May 30, 2010
527
32
Florida
I like how they're creating their own apps tailored to the OS. It makes for a more integrated experience like OS X. I also like how their handling third party apps such as Geary by collaborating closely with Yorba, and Midori. I think this is probably one of the biggest reasons Linux is never taken too seriously, you've got so many distros but they rely on third parties for apps. Elementary is changing that, and I heard they were also trying to create standards/policies to establish a consistent look for developers to follow.

That said I prefer Ubuntu at the moment, it has more features. I hope Canonical will start developing their own apps and features for Ubuntu, like Elementary. Another problem with Linux is that distributions never release any innovative features along with the OS. I noticed a small change for Ubuntu however, their latest release has better integration and websites can now become apps pinned to the launcher with notifications. Dash is also getting more refined.
 
B

BRyken

macrumors 6502
Jul 17, 2008
266
0
Thanks for the tip. This is interesting as I'm starting to get a little more familiar with Linux and this could make the transition seamless.
 
PowerPCMacMan

PowerPCMacMan

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2012
800
1
PowerPC land
This looks great, but...

Will there be a port for PowerPC users to make use of this distro of Linux? I have been wanting to try Linux on my G5 Quad(Yes, I also use Intel Mac Pro, so don't worry).

I figure Ubuntu still works on PPC, maybe the developer has a PowerPC port in the works?



Ariii said:
It only supports x86 :(. Hopefully if it becomes more popular, it'll support more architectures... Ubuntu already has an ARM and PowerPC version so it wouldn't be as hard as porting a complete OS to a new platform.
Click to expand...
 
C

Cactii

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 14, 2005
68
117
Los Angeles
SkyBell said:
If they ever made a PPC version... I may have to give that a go. Downloading the beta right now, gonna try it on on my netbook and see what's what. :)
Click to expand...

How did it go with this release on your netbook?

Still running strong here. I did notice some problems with the wifi connection but I believe this is a problem with the actually netbook since It did this with Windows as well.
 
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