Linux Deepin 12.12.1 review

Let me be a little politically incorrect. Wait, whenever was I politically correct? Scratch that. So yes. What kind of service do you normally associate with Chinese products, let me ask you that? Most of you would probably say cheap and of average quality. To top that, throw in funny names and awkward translations.
Now, let's shatter all preconceptions. I would like to introduce Linux Deepin, a distribution based on Ubuntu, and wait, before you say, here is another boring clone, try to keep your boredom aside. Previously known as Linux Hiweed, and that's a trippy name too, this is now one of the leading Chinese Linux distros. But is it any good? Read to find out.

Live session - A card deck of fresh and new

On first boot, you really don't expect much. The last time I tried a Chinese Linux, it was with the very Windows XP like ylmf, which was okay, but not much more than that, and then Red Flag Linux, a RedHat clone, which was also kind of average. On the other hand, Deepin instantly surprises you with a colorful, optimistic desktop. The thing is, it's really nice branching away from the usual stock. You already know what to expect from software designers in the West. But once you go into the far side of the galaxy, all of a sudden, you discover a different approach to composition, color and aesthetics.

It's a Gnome desktop all right, but it's not ugly or stupid. It even has some small KDE elements, and it's quite appealing. Of course, the icon name spillover across two lines is a no-no, but that's the only thing I could fault at this very first glance.

Moreover, you get all kinds of cool things. Icon previews, hot corners, a stylish menu, which could benefit from less transparency. Still, it's clean and easy to navigate. While many other distros implement a fairly similar solution, you might assume it would be the same thing all over, but no, it's not.

Wireless, Samba sharing

They worked just fine. No worries. Moving on.

Multimedia - Awesome

Linux Deepin 12.12.1 does give you Flash and MP3, although some of the more exotic codecs have been left out. But that's not all. You get a sexy, slick media player called DMusic. First, it opens with a short intro screen, which explains the basic functionality. Really cool and very beautiful.

The same goes for the video player, which is called DPlayer. It looks somewhat like Windows Media Player, and it too comes with a stylish three-slide introduction that gives you a quick taste of your imminent experience.



After this shock of senses, watching Youtube almost feels too bland.

Performance

At some point, with too many programs open, the distro became slightly sluggish. While the CPU usage was relatively low in the live session, the memory consumption was huge, and Deepin was chomping through swap. I guess it has to do with the Intel graphics card not keeping up with the graphics stack, which used to be a problem in olden Ubuntu releases, before Pangolin and such. But we will see what gives later on.

Installation

There are not that many languages available in the setup. Three to be exact, two of which are Chinese, and the third the one you're reading right now.

No brainer here, it's simple. One Ubuntu, all Ubuntu. So it's just the matter of selecting the right partitions. For me, it meant displacing the fourth distro, Mint Xfce from its test slot and placing Deepin 12.12.1 there, alongside three other friends and family.

A pretty slideshow completes the picture. Or several pictures. Get it?

Using Deepin - Very fun

The installation was rather fast, I must say. There were no problems with the bootloader setup. The distro came up true and mighty, and the casing cooled after the installation strain. The responsiveness improved, but it was still not stellar compared to many other Ubuntu-based products. More soon.

Software management

Deepin Software Center is another awesome, unique piece of software. Underneath, it's the usual Ubuntu stuff, but the presentation layer has been altered to be truly amazing. First, you get the same cool splash screen. Then, interacting with the Software Center is really fun. Your searches come up with suggestions, inline. If you select any which software, a cute animation will toss it into the Install queue, where you can then watch the progress of your installations. Categories are crisp and clear to browse, the previews are shiny and inviting. This is quite joyful, I must say.

Skins!

But that is not all. You can skin your Software Center. You can skin all your applications, and the idea is similar to the one implemented in Kingsoft Office. Recall my review, and the little shirt icon in the window bar. The same thing here.

Applications

Deepin packs a very decent set of programs. You have no less than two office suites, both LibreOffice and Kingsoft Office. Then, you have Firefox, Chrome, Thunderbird, Pidgin, Skype, and some more. Not all is entirely rosy, though, because some tools really behaved weirdly. For example iptux came up, scrunched itself into a tiny, tiny rectangle and stayed that way. What it does and why it's needed, beats me. I could not resize it.

Desktop customization & beautification

By now, you have figured out that Deepin comes with a somewhat Windowsy look overall. Then, when you start customizing the desktop, it becomes even more apparent. You can change all kinds of things, and the menus are almost identical to Windows 7. Still, this is not necessarily a bad thing, because the different elements are composed with style and they work well.

System usage, suspend & resume

Deepin is not a hungry distro. It will satisfy itself with just 280-290MB of RAM and low CPU figures, but then, the underlying latency slash responsiveness thingie remains. It becomes really evident when the system monitor failed to refresh its grid, and you end up with the screenshots like below. Hot case despite the low activity, programs not being as snappy as they could, so maybe Deepin is trying too hard on hardware that just can't pull all its might along properly. There were no crashes, and suspend & resume worked fine.

Additional drivers

I was surprised to learn that Deepin lists my Intel Wireless as Broadcom Wireless, and using the driver. This is a surprise, because I have never seen something similar with any other Ubuntu-based distro on this test box, a T61 laptop.

3D effects & Compiz

In a very classic sense, Deepin gives you the Compiz Settings Manager, so you can fiddle around. This is similar to what used to be a norm in older releases of Ubuntu, but not anymore. Then again, Ubuntu moved to Unity, and Deepin has not. In turn, this seems to be having a negative effect on the overall desktop responsiveness. It's not crippling, but it's not smooth either.

Printing

It worked fine, Samba and all.

User manual

Now here's another cool surprise. Linux Deepin 12.12.1 comes with an interactive user manual, which is just a collection of image albums, explaining the fine details of this and that category. Nothing too strenuous, yet done with elegance and appeal. You also get the percentage counters, so you know how much you still have left to read. Great.

Other stuff

In the system info area, Deepin is the only distro I know that actually sums the local disk space and provides a single number instead of splitting it by the devices. Or maybe I am just being too fanboyish at this point. This is an excellent opportunity for you to dismiss the entire review based on here be one small omission.

But there's a catch!

You already know that Linux Deepin 12.12.1 is not the fastest distro out there, although it is not very hungry on resources, per se. The simple thing of the matter is, the application response time is slow, and I'd like to partially blame Compiz here. You feel the strain of the graphical stack. But that can be solved by using a more powerful machine, like my Nvidia-powered HP laptop for instance, so not everyone will notice this.
The bigger issue is that this is a Chinese product. And as such, it is entirely designed for the local market. Everything is geared toward the Chinese users, and you can't have any global market penetration that way. Most distros offer dozens of languages and as many regional servers that can distribute the load as well as speed up the updates and installations. But Deepin has only one repo, and it's far away, and for me, it was painful watching the installation of a few MB worth of take take tens of minutes, because the throughput was around 80-100KB/s most of the time, sometimes much less. So the question is, no matter how good Deepin is, can it make an impact?

Conclusion

I am utterly pleased with this distro, its problems notwithstanding. There were a couple of serious ones, the slow updates and the applications responsiveness, plus a few excusable niggles. On the bright side, Deepin is a whole constellation of interesting new features, all of which are beautiful and fun. This is truly one bright, shiny operating system.
It's functional too, and it really kills the little bias man inside your soul, who expected pretty low quality and copypasta features all over. Well, there are some, but they are done with moderation, they do not intrude or take over, they do not obstruct, and they blend well with the overall product. Plus, the Gnome framework has been tamed magically.
One day, once Deepin makes itself snappy and crisp and it gets repositories around the globe, it will truly have become a superb, peerless operating system for the common user. For the time being, it's a great promise of what it can be. 9/10, but it can be perfect, or even better. With the full force of a billion and a half people who might one day decide they want to use this, and no mistake, it has the potential of flooding the market with Linux. I am mightily pleased and totally surprised. Awesome.
Cheers.

Hollywood is stupid; play videogames

I get a bit tired of people whining about films like Twilight, or long running franchises that don’t seem to end but continue to get worse. If I had a pound for the amount of times I’ve answered the question ‘Why do they keep making the same old things? Why not come up with something new?” with a simple ‘because it makes money’ I would have at least three pounds!
Like everything these days, the film industry is predominantly about money. That is of course when you’re talking Hollywood. If you want unique films that don’t fit the Hollywood mould and aren’t just the same films being churned out day by day then you need to look elsewhere.
I saw a Yahoo! Answers question the other day that got my back up somewhat, as a huge fan of world and independent cinema. It went something along the lines of ‘why are most movies stupid now?’ and went on to list loads of recent Hollywood films like The Amazing Spiderman and 21 Jumpstreet, claiming that young people these days watch complete rubbish. My answer was simple:
You’re watching the wrong films.
In my opinion you don’t go and watch Hollywood films if you get pissed off by cliches and cheesiness, but so many people are totally against watching anything that’s (god forbid) low budget or independent, or anything that doesn’t hit the mainstream (i.e. the cinema). A lot of people probably wouldn’t dream of checking out local film festivals for independent films, or renting and watching anything that isn’t mainstream, and don’t even get me started on people’s avoidance of any film with subtitles!
Now don’t get me wrong, Hollywood produces some fantastic films regularly, in fact I wouldn’t say the good ones are an exception at all.
I’m probably preaching to the choir at the moment because I know that the vast majority of the people that read this blog are like minded (because I read theirs also) and probably feel exactly the same!
I frequent my local DVD rental shop when I’m at home in Hudson regularly, and usually rent at least two films a week. It’s a small little building full of films from the brand new to the really old. It’s like a treasure trove for me, I love it there! There’s something so satisfying about picking out an actual, solid DVD rather than flicking through pages on iTunes when you fancy a film for the evening. and when we asked if they had it in yet, the person working there explained that they’d lose money if they bought it in because no one rents foreign films because they don’t like reading subtitles. So in other words they’ll wait for Hollywood to remake the series (which technically they already have) and then moan about how cheesy and unoriginal Hollywood films are.
Now is the time to point out that most foreign films have the option to watch it dubbed, so no subtitle reading necessary! *face-palm*
It worries me slightly that so many great foreign films get pushed under the radar and ignored. I was surprised by the sheer amount of people ignorant to the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when the (admittedly very good) remake came out last year. What worries me even more is that the original Swedish film had only been out a mere two years before Hollywood pounced on it. So when people complain about the cheesy rubbish coming out of Hollywood, what they really mean is ‘I can’t be bothered to look elsewhere and think outside the box’.

Anyway, I digress! The point of this rambling rant was to express my irritation with cinema-goers who constantly complain about Hollywood films being boring and unoriginal, because I’d be willing to bet money that they are the same types of people who refuse to watch world cinema, or indeed independent films, out of what is essentially laziness. I love to indulge in a cheesy Hollywood film every now and then, and I will be rushing to the cinema in April when Iron Man 3 comes out, I just hate it when it comes to leaving the cinema and one of the friends in the group is moaning about how cliche and awful these big budget, popular films are. They make money. Who doesn’t want lots of money? Why would
filmmakers who have the ability to be working in Hollywood not want to make something big budget and conventional that they know will make millions at the box office? There is always an audience out there willing to pay good money to see those kinds of films, so of course they’re going to keep making them. If you get pissed off with cliche Hollywood blockbusters, don’t watch them…look elsewhere, don’t moan about how ‘all films these days are stupid’.
Rant over!

americas first dictator

Glenn Beck was on fire Tuesday regarding President Obama’s State of the Union address last night, saying “all they do is spin and lie.”
“I say this, honestly, with a heavy heart today,” Beck said on his radio program. “What a sick, despicable circus spectacle. So far beneath all of us. From the attention-whores that line the aisle to kiss Caesar and his ring as he enters the chamber … to the human props that the president and, quite honestly the GOP, used to sell the wares, I couldn’t take it.”

President Barack Obama greets members of Congress as he leaves after giving the State of Union address before a joint session of Congress in the House chamber Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, in Washington. (AP Photo/Larry Downing, Pool)

Beck asserted that, frankly, “there’s a good chance you’re a sociopath” if you’re a politician in Washington, D.C. today.
This was particularly evident, he added, when the president had “the nerve to mock millions of Americans who have already suffered greatly because of [Obamacare], and mocked the tens of millions more who will soon be joining them.”

‘America’s First Dictator’

Beck said he believes every American should document that “this was the State of the Union where our president declared he would become America’s first dictator.”
“This transition began with Woodrow Wilson,” Beck said. “From America that is based on the Constitution to Philip Dru: Administrator, which is just a name for dictator.”
But Beck said that perhaps more “chilling” than the president’s repeated assertions that he will go around Congress, was that half of the U.S. Congress was actually standing up and cheering.
“The founders set this up so each branch would fight for their power,” Beck explained. “It wasn’t just, ‘Well, we’re just going to separate these things and it will just go along fine.’ They knew that in the hearts of men was selfishness and a hunger for power, and so each branch would say, ‘No, no, no. You’re not crossing that line. That’s my power.’”
But Beck said that at the State of the Union, the “lemmings” who are about to lose their power cheered the president on “like the Roman Senate and Caesar.”

US President Barack Obama waits to deliver his the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on January 28, 2014 at the US Capitol in Washington. AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKI

‘Unchallenged’ Contradictions

Beck said that President Obama often “takes a little bit of truth and then weaves in a lie” in his speeches. During his State of the Union address, President Obama repeatedly said that America is a land of opportunity, but in the same speech, felt the need to take executive action to create a “ladder” to the middle class.
“Wait a minute. Didn’t you just say a barkeeper’s son could become the Speaker of the House?” Beck asked. “Didn’t you just say that a single mom from the 1960s – when single moms were a pariah in our society, and from a mixed marriage – that kid can become president of the United States? What the hell happened to your ladder? … How does this contradiction always go unchallenged? Why is it, Mr. President, that you made it? Not just to the middle class, but you kept climbing that invisible ladder that doesn’t exist to the highest class. You are more wealthy and powerful than I will ever be … You make the richest 1% look like rookies.”

Unemployment Benefits

“Last night the president again looked us in the eye, he looked Congress in the eye, and he begged them to give the unemployed ‘a fair shot,’” Beck reflected. “As if we currently do nothing for the unemployed … Right now unemployment benefits last [weeks] short of two full years! Two full years! 99 weeks. Mr. President, what would be a fair shot? 199 weeks? 1,999 weeks? 19,000 weeks? What’s a fair shot, Mr. President?”
Beck continued with mounting indignation: “And the reason why we need more time is because your policies are crippling businesses! So we can’t hire more people. Some of us are on the brink every single day as business owners, looking, ‘how can I make payroll when the government continues to screw me every step of the way?’”

Equal Pay for Equal Work

“And then the president,” Beck continued, “after looking down his nose and squaring his shoulders and mocking us – he then had the nerve to boldly proclaim that women deserve equal pay for equal work.”
“I am so sick of this argument,” Beck said in disgust. “Is there anyone in the sound of my voice that disagrees with that? Is there anyone that says, ‘Oh, you know what? She’s one of them dames. Let’s pay her half.’ There’s nobody that thinks that way!”

President Barack Obama, accompanied by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., leaves after giving his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday Jan. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Climate Change

Beck said President Obama brazenly attempted to “shut anyone up with any different point of view on climate change” by saying “the debate is over; climate change is a fact.”
“The fact is, the debate’s not over,” Beck said shortly. “I’m sorry, Mr. President. The fact is, you have nothing. You can’t prove this point. There are far too many variables, too many things that change, too many things we just don’t know, too many things all these so-called scientists have gotten wrong … That seems to open the debate back up that man-made global warming is a massive hoax.”

The ‘Sorry’ State of the Union

“So what is the state of our union?” Beck asked his audience. “Not according to the president, his party, or the Republicans … not those who lied, passed blame to everyone else, but just according to a man, a man like any other man.”
“The state of the union is sorry,” Beck asserted. “…The state of the union is dark and dismal, and it needs to reconnect with reality. The state of our union is upside down.
But Beck said that if you happen to be a “lying politician” or a “well-connected crony,” the state of the union has “never been better.” In addition to having influence and control, Beck said they have a media that will “attack like a pack of rabid wolves” anyone who says anything remotely “out of line.”
The radio host asked whether Americans are a people that will let the president “and his elitist friends, his allies, his union thugs,” or “the Republicans and their business thugs” reshape America in their image.

Dead Sea Scrolls are All Jewish!

All the scrolls recovered belong to Hebrew Bible in original ancient language form. The Dead Sea Scrolls were published by the Jewish community for only themselves and have nothing to do with Roman Catholic Bible translations. It's smarter to worry about Max Weber's "Protestant Ethnic and the Spirit of Capitalism" then any Dead Sea Scrolls. A thumbnail version goes like this. There appears to be lots more Protestant capitalists than there are Catholic ones. Also, Protestant countries tend to be more economically developed than Catholic ones - so why? Marxism would say that people's ideas are a manifestation of the economic structure they find themselves in, but Weber believes this is only partly true, although he starts off strongly opposed to Marxism, in the end he is much less certain of the limits of the role of economics in providing the base for these ideas to flourish.. All the same, he believes that there is something in Protestantism that makes Capitalism more or less inevitable and that is not present in Catholicism. Now, given the countries picked - Italy and Spain on the Catholic side, Northern Europe and England on the Protestant side, you could possibly argue that living in a country with an incredibly bad cuisine is the problem. But Weber focuses on religion. In the last chapter he says that extreme Protestant views run something like this - God has a perfect plan which he worked out at the dawn of time. There is nothing you can do to change this plan. You don't deserve to be saved - no one does (we are all contemptible sinners and it is only God's grace which saves us in any sense). You cannot know you are saved. The only way you might 'guess' is if God rewards you. So, if you work hard and gain riches you are obviously in God's favour and therefore you might also be saved. Spending money is a sin. So, Calvinism and other extreme sects encouraged people to work hard and not to spend - prerequisites for the growth of Capitalism. Now, that bit is the bit this book is mostly known for. But what I found interesting was the idea at the very end that becoming increasingly wealthy - like Silus Marner - also leads one to become increasingly obsessed with secular interests, not least in increasing ones own wealth to the point of a fetish and to become obsessed with worldly goods, rather than heavenly ones. So, while Protestantism is seen as a kind of prerequisite for the early development of Capitalism, ironically enough, Capitalism does not return the favour and works to undermine the extreme forms of this faith that assisted its own development.

Parent's pre-internet social life

With Youtube, Facebook, Google+, Flickr, ICQ, Skype, Plentyoffish, OkCupid (online dating) and AIM, how does my parents even come up with the idea with offline social life. Unfortunately, with all of these accounts, my parents still believe I need this extinct version of social life. I say everybody is on facebook, but unfortunately Facebook is demoralizing in their opinion. I live in mixed capitalist society, where everybody wants to sell you something or mind their own business as Plato said. People really do mind their own business and they call the cops if you interrupt them. People will tell the cops of harassment so why bother. Sixty percent Americans still play online multiplayer on consoles and handhelds such as Xbox One or Playstation 4? If people are not on a dating website, they likely already have a girlfriend or are married to their girlfriend. What the hell.

I was in the bar fifty times. At the bar, I socialize with other patrons and listen to country and rock music normally in bars these days.  It was fun, but there was little to do. You had to interrupt a group every time and introduce yourself. Even then, they ask me what I am talking about. I got a phone number from Adam about a year ago.  Adam, who is 21, is a part of a bar-hopping posse.  Everybody bar-hops at 21.  I think I was playing Playstation 2 or Xbox missed out on bar hopping entirely at 21. Oops!