Gnome OS Transitioning Toward a General-Purpose Distro
If you're looking for the perfectly vanilla take on the Gnome desktop, Gnome OS might be for you.
To date, I've used Gnome OS as a means to see what's coming for the desktop environment. Typically, I run Gnome OS from within the Boxes app (because you can't run it as a virtual machine). However, this will probably change once Gnome OS transitions (as it has been reported by Linuxiac) to a general-purpose Linux distribution.
There are some things that will remain a part of Gnome OS. First and foremost, it will continue to deliver a very stock, unaltered version of the Gnome desktop environment. Second, it will remain an immutable distribution, which is great for security. Gnome OS will also stick with Flatpak apps as the primary source of app distribution and installation.
Adrian Vovk, a contracted developer for Gnome, wrote in his blog, "I’ve had numerous conversations with a number of people involved in the Gnome community. We discussed the implications of the Gnome project making an end-user Gnome-focused OS. Generally, I found that the reception and outlook are positive." He then mentioned hearing Harald Sitter (of the KDE team) give a talk at Akademy 2024 entitled "An Operating System of Our Own," where Sitter mirrored Vovk's thoughts on Gnome OS, which inspired Vovk to write about the possibility of Gnome OS becoming a general-purpose operating system.
In the same post, Vovk announced that he has "stopped development of carbonOS as an independent project. This means that carbonOS’s independent packaging is no longer maintained. The project and its mission will continue, however: ideally in Gnome OS and as part of the Gnome Project, or as a downstream fork of Gnome OS."
Vovk also assured users that Gnome will not change its relationship with its existing downstream and noted that the plan is to eventually try to monetize Gnome OS.
For further reading and discussion about this project, check out the gnome-os tag on Gnome Discourse.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Latest Cinnamon Desktop Releases with a Bold New Look
Just in time for the holidays, the developer of the Cinnamon desktop has shipped a new release to help spice up your eggnog with new features and a new look.
-
Armbian 24.11 Released with Expanded Hardware Support
If you've been waiting for Armbian to support OrangePi 5 Max and Radxa ROCK 5B+, the wait is over.
-
SUSE Renames Several Products for Better Name Recognition
SUSE has been a very powerful player in the European market, but it knows it must branch out to gain serious traction. Will a name change do the trick?
-
ESET Discovers New Linux Malware
WolfsBane is an all-in-one malware that has hit the Linux operating system and includes a dropper, a launcher, and a backdoor.
-
New Linux Kernel Patch Allows Forcing a CPU Mitigation
Even when CPU mitigations can consume precious CPU cycles, it might not be a bad idea to allow users to enable them, even if your machine isn't vulnerable.
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5 Released
Notify your friends, loved ones, and colleagues that the latest version of RHEL is available with plenty of enhancements.
-
Linux Sees Massive Performance Increase from a Single Line of Code
With one line of code, Intel was able to increase the performance of the Linux kernel by 4,000 percent.
-
Fedora KDE Approved as an Official Spin
If you prefer the Plasma desktop environment and the Fedora distribution, you're in luck because there's now an official spin that is listed on the same level as the Fedora Workstation edition.
-
New Steam Client Ups the Ante for Linux
The latest release from Steam has some pretty cool tricks up its sleeve.
-
Gnome OS Transitioning Toward a General-Purpose Distro
If you're looking for the perfectly vanilla take on the Gnome desktop, Gnome OS might be for you.