Linux distribution released ROSA Desktop Fresh GNOME R2

A free distribution of ROSA Desktop Fresh GNOME R2 has been released, based on the ROSA Desktop Fresh R2 codebase, in which the stable and proven GNOME 3.8 release is selected as the graphical desktop environment, further enhanced for convenience and reliability.

For very impatient immediately submit a link to download images .

But usually in the news about releases of Linux distributions there are eternal questions “why?”, “What exactly is the contribution of distributors?”, “Why I might be interested in this particular distribution, there are dozens of others”, so I will try to answer these questions under the cut. There will also be a screenshot.
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So, the main “desktop environment” is a modified GNOME 3.8. For GNOME Shell, many have a very close attitude, caused by very strange innovations in the interface area, which is why they even call it the “postdesktop desktop environment”, and, unfortunately, the traditional “dampness”, with lots of bugs and oddities in completely unexpected places .

Here the third GNOME was patched in critical places, supplemented with extensions, including several specially written, decorated with its own theme. This is done to please the lovers of the minimalist interface of the third gnome, to make life easier for those who are used to Win / Mac / KDE /, and in general, to make work safer and more convenient.

In fact, you can even download as many as three GNOME modes in the distribution:

• Modern GNOME-shell with improvements and additional extensions - “dash-launch / switch” has always been accessible from the left panel, notifications from instant messengers, including Skype, go to the always visible top panel, returned shortcuts on the desktop, etc.
• "Classic" mode, reminiscent of the "good old GNOME2", with the menu and the bottom panel.
• A specially designed simplified mode “GNOME Fallback”, designed for weak computers and netbooks, without the graphic acceleration required by the mainstream gnome [1] .

As for the rosa-elementary design theme, there, besides a lot of professionally drawn icons, the design has rational ergonomic goals: for example, in this GNOME theme, KDE applications are not alien, and the appearance of windows is more familiar to Windows users. Yes, the classic block of buttons with minimization and the red close button: “ ... while explaining to her where that, I understood very much why in the Dew design there was a big red button to close the window! ... " But of course, it is easy to install any theme you like from hundreds of popular [2] , and the wallpaper (only beautiful but specially “boring” wallpapers are included) can be changed directly from the browser.

The distribution kit is full-fledged - not some kind of an add-on on someone else's package base - packages are baked in ABF's own build system, it is constantly checked by automatic and manual testing, and according to its results, as well as user comments, a lot of improvements are made that improve ergonomics and reliability.

What did his team work on in this distribution? Let us put down the hard work of Sisyphus to regularly rebuild and update tens of thousands of application and system packages, fussing with the support of hardware and peripherals, and give just a few examples of improvements in the basic functionality.

Universal and non-stressful installation [3] :

• A new technology for the formation of an ISO-image, so that the images recorded on the USB-carrier were loaded even on a number of “problem” BIOSes (HP Elitebook, Sony Vaio, ...), on which there was previously a hang. After all, CD-roms in leptopes almost became extinct, and at the same time there are many such laptops whose BIOS went crazy when they shoved an ISO-hybrid image recorded on a USB flash drive with support for standard and EFI downloads.
• The minimum of troublesome questions during installation is guessing the layout, language and time zone according to GeoIP, plus reasonable computer auto-naming.
• The user created during installation is considered an administrator and is immediately included in sudoers.

The efficiency and effectiveness of the keyboard and touchpad, which is important for advanced users:

• Fixed non-working hot keys on GNOME systems when using non-English layouts [4] .
• The typographical layout of Bierman 3.0 is already in the distribution, you just need to select the “typing key” [5] .
• Standard Windows hotkeys are supported [6] , and to learn hotkeys, you can always call the pop-up cheat sheet [7] .
• Solved problems with scrolling on “classic touchpads” [8] and troubles from wireless keyboards and mice [9] .

Serious focus on the dekstop system as a “universal video player” - fixed and gnomobag with full-screen flash video, here you can watch videos directly from FTP-resources, DRM-video works out of the box [10] .

There are a lot of edits to the Gnome Control Center, both by adding new settings that were previously deeply hidden from the user in the depths of the gnome registry, and are accessible only through special tweakers, and just to work [11] .

Reliability bugs are ruled, such as increased memory consumption [12]

A bunch of other usability issues have been fixed [13] .

You can continue for a long time, but to save time, I summarize - in general, these are not separate “unique products inside the distribution kit”, but many seemingly unnoticeable improvements, after which the system starts working “as it should” and “as expected”.

Distribution suitable for entertainment and for work. Out of the box, everything that a “home user” might need is a browser + flash, players with codecs, an office, etc.

There are more than 20 thousand packages in the repositories (Main ≈ 12 thousand, ontrib ≈ 12 thousand, + Nonfree + Restricted + ...), but it's probably easier to say that there are all known open-source programs / technology stacks (LibreOffice, TeX, LAMP / C ++ / ... ), and the standard installation of the repositories can put the usual closed-source, such as Skype / Steam / Dropbox.

And finally, the promised screenshot from my laptop:



I invite you to try, probably in the first place, GNOME lovers, well, or those who appreciate the minimalism of the interface, however, according to our experiments, is quite suitable for home users, including very domestic ones. Unless it is desirable to explain that "in any incomprehensible situation, press the WIN button." I myself am a Windows switcher, but I feel comfortable because of the compatibility of hotkeys (I always placed the panel in Win on the left).

Download , burn to disk or flash drive and try - you can first live mode, then you can put it.

Comments and suggestions are welcomed!