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ZDNET's key takeaways
- SDesk is available now, free of charge, and you can install it on as many computers as you need.
- It's a fast and dependable Linux distribution with a user interface that anyone will be instantly familiar with.
- I experienced some minor issues during my setup, which were simple to resolve.
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I wouldn't normally suggest an Arch-based Linux distribution for new users, but every so often, I come across one that challenges my perceptions. Recently, I discovered an Arch-based Linux distro called SDesk, and there couldn't be a clearer use case for it.
Firstly, SDesk is fairly straightforward and doesn't do much to stand out from the ever-growing list of Linux distributions. Sometimes, that's a good thing. I wasn't sure what to expect after installing and logging in to this desktop distribution, but when I did, everything felt immediately familiar.
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SDesk opts for the GNOME desktop, which is configured to resemble a "standard" desktop that would be familiar to both Windows and MacOS users. On the interface, you'll find a panel, a menu, a top bar, favorites, and desktop icons. On the top bar, there's the Workspaces button (far left), the time/date (which, when clicked, opens notifications and calendar), and the system tray.
The list of pre-installed applications is also fairly standard, including:
- LibreOffice (office suite)
- Geary (email)
- GNOME Music (music player)
- GNOME Video (video player)
- Octopi (GUI package manager)
- GNOME Maps
- Swirl (web browser)
Of course, if you don't find the app you need, you can always install it with Octopi or Flatpak.
The one curiosity I encountered was Swirl, which isn't based on either Chromium or Firefox. In fact, I haven't had much luck finding any information about this web browser. I can tell you that Swirl is fairly minimal, with very few settings. It works fine, but I'm not ready to recommend a browser, since I can't find much information about it. You can always install Chromium or Firefox using Octopi. I installed Firefox and it runs quite well.
The extent of the Swirl Browser settings.
What I like
I really appreciate how the developers created a GNOME layout that should appeal to most users. It's clean, it's easy, and it looks quite good. It's also helpful that the distribution ships with most of the tools you'll need (the primary being a web browser and an office suite). I would, however, suggest you install Firefox or Chromium (as I mentioned earlier).
The performance is also quite good. I found applications responded instantly, nothing stalled, and apps installed quickly. This is fairly typical of Arch-based distributions, so I wasn't at all surprised.
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There's also window snapping, which SDesk does well. Most Linux desktops have this feature, but some limit the basic configuration to half of the display. SDesk takes this a step further and allows you to drag a window to any of the four quarters of the screen.
Here you can see three windows open, each snapped in its own convenient location.
What I don't like
SDesk is a fairly new distribution, which means it can be a bit rough around the edges. Let me explain.
After the usual round of testing (installing applications, tinkering with the settings, etc.), I ran an update and rebooted the machine. Upon reboot, I went to log in, and the desktop locked up. This happened after selecting the default user that popped up in the login window. I did a quick test (after a hard reboot) and clicked "Not Listed." After entering my password, I successfully logged in. I'm sure this is a bug that the developers will soon fix.
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Another issue was multimedia playback. Out of the box, SDesk doesn't have the codecs to play MP3 or MP4 files. Fortunately, this issue was easily resolved by installing the VLC media player like so:
Once I installed VLC, I could play whatever I needed.
Bottom line
Other than those two caveats, I found SDesk to be a viable Arch Linux-inspired distro for just about any user. As with any Linux desktop OS, there really wasn't much I couldn't do. After installing a few simple apps, I found SDesk could serve just about any purpose.
It's a beautiful, simple, fast, and reliable OS. What more do you need from a desktop operating system? You might even find yourself preferring it over your Windows desktop. You can download an ISO for SDesk here.
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