Elementary OS is one of the most beautiful Linux distros that I have ever tried. It is based on Ubuntu and the version 0.4 of Elementary OS is based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. This review has been written after using the operating system for a complete week.
Test Machine
The PC used for testing the OS has an Intel pentium processor and two gigs of RAM. Elementary OS is installed in USB 2.0 thumb drive (not live USB).
Get Elementary OS
Elementary OS can be downloaded from the Elementary OS website.
In the download page, you have the option to pay 5$ or 10$ or 25$ or custom amount and then you can download the ISO. If you want to download it and use it for free or try it before paying, you can enter 0$ and download it.
The developers ask for money so that they can pay their bills and hire more developers. So, if you can donate some money, I request you to do it. By donating we can keep the project alive and may even boost its development. Remember that we can deploy the downloaded OS in as many computers as we can, so it isn't really costly. Elementary OS Installation
The installation of Elementary OS is same as that of Ubuntu.
Boot And Shutdown Duration
The boot speed of elementary OS is faster than that of all other lightweight distros that I have ever used.
Desktop
The default desktop environment used in elementary OS's Pantheon. It is written from scratch using Vala and GTK3 and and is sol polished. The desktop looks like OSX. But we can see the developers don't want it to be called a clone of it and many other features.
Usability
The system is easy to use and the dock always comes in handy. We can search and launch the installed apps from the Applications menu. So the navigation is simple even for beginners.
We can’t add icons to the desktop and there is no right click menu in the desktop. But this isn't a huge drawback as we can pin apps and folders to the dock. (There are some ways to add desktop icons and folders and you will find it from forum). Resource Usage
The operating system used about 720 MB of memory without any apps running except system monitor. So, it is better to have at least two gigs of RAM for smooth operation of the system.
Note: There is no system monitor installed by default.
App Center
Elementary os 0.4 Loki comes with a new AppCenter where we can find and install apps. You can also install and use Gnome software center or Synaptic package manager as they have more features than App Center.
Note: AppCenter won't show installable apps if run from live USB but works when the OS is installed to a HDD or USB key.
Web Browser
The default web browser is Epiphany. It uses WebkitGtk+ rendering engine. The browser is lightweight and simple. But I was not able to use google drive or Gsuite and some other sites.
Notification Center
There is a notification center placed at the top right side where the notifications from the installed apps will appear. It has a 'Do Not Disturb’ option to disable the notifications and it will be helpful. We can also disable notifications for individual apps also.
Dock
The Plank dock is placed at the bottom center of the desktop. It is simple and also looks beautiful.
Office
There is no office suites installed in default. It is also good as we can install office software of our choice. Not everyone needs a full-blown office suite like Libreoffice. Moreover the choice of not installing an office suite decreases the size of installation media.
Conclusion
The operating system is impressive and easy to use and great in aesthetics. People who want a beautiful system should give Elementary OS a try and I'm sure they would love it.The developers of Elementary OS have done a great work and should be appreciated. We want the developers to keep up the good work.
Are you going to install Elementary OS , then check out the list of things below that you have to do after installing Elementary OS . Things To Do After Installing UbuntuInstall all the available updates
Yes, the first thing that everyone should do after installing any operating system is updating the system. Type following commands in the terminal and your system will be updated.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
After installing the updates, restart your system then only the App Center will show the installable apps.
Enable Firewall
Firewall is disabled by default, so you have to enable it. To enable the firewall type the following in the terminal.
sudo ufw enable
Install Gnome Software
There is an App Center pre-installed but GNOME Software will be familiar and has more features. It can also be used to install .deb packages, so I recommend you to install it. To install Gnome software type the following command in the terminal and enter the password.
sudo apt install gnome-software
Install system monitor
Elementary OS doesn't come with system monitor, so install system monitor.
sudo apt install gnome-system-monitor
Install office software
There is no office software installed by default, so You may want to install Libreoffice (a full-blown office suite) or Abiword(word processor) and Gnumeric(spreadsheet) which are lightweight or other software of your choice. Please let us know which office software you will install and the reason for it.
Install another browser
Epiphany is good but it is not supported by many websites. So I recommend you to download some other browser like Mozilla Firefox or Chromium.
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