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Deepin - China's Flagship Linux Distribution

Hello everyone, I'd like to introduce you to the Linux distribution Deepin. It's a distro from China, but it looks like it was specifically made for people who are already used to Windows and Mac OS X.

What is Deepin?

One advantage of this Windows alternative from the Far East is its modern look, which comes with DDE. Similar to what Microsoft is doing for the first time with Windows 11, the icons in the taskbar are centered here. In the past, the Deepin system was based on Ubuntu, but today it's completely independent, based on Debian-APT. DDE (Deepin Desktop Environment) is Deepin's own window manager. DDE is based on QT, just like KDE for Linux.

The creators of Deepin describe their operating system as China's leading Linux distribution, dedicated to providing a beautiful, user-friendly, secure, and reliable operating system for users around the world. So leading, in fact, that it's number one in China.

Deepin Linux comes with a built-in tool for accessing websites that, according to the About dialog, is simply called "Browser" and is based on Chromium. However, I would recommend using Firefox, which is relatively easy to install.

Deepin looks like a mix of Mac OS X and Windows

It even has an AI application similar to Microsoft CoPilot, with the major difference that it can be run locally and doesn't send sensitive data to the company.

Configuration and operation are very easy, and the constant password prompt can be turned off.

There are a variety of apps in the App Store. Linyaps is similar to Snap but is organized directly by Deepin. There are many games and applications that can help the user.

The installer reminds me of Windows 98 Setup, where you first make the settings and then start the setup. While the Linux system is being installed, the setup informs you about the new features in a carousel.

The interface is more reminiscent of Mac OS X, combined with elements from Windows. You can also recognize the AI assistant "UOS AI". Every icon and element is lovingly designed like Apple, creating a "wow" effect.

Origin of Deepin

Deepin was developed by the Chinese company Deepin Technology Co, Ltd. It started as Hiweed Linux in 2004, and in 2011 they founded a company to advance commercial support. From 2015, the company joined the Linux Foundation, and since 2019, Huawei has been selling laptops that come standard with Deepin.

In addition to support for x86 processors, there is also support for LoongArch, especially since they will also support the Chinese processor manufacturer Loongson, which produces its own variant of the RISC-V processor. Additionally, there is also support for ARM64 and RISC-V 64bit processors.

The Deepin Desktop Environment is a window manager desktop based on the QT framework, similar to KDE, which is also based on the QT framework.

The two companies behind the Deepin Distro and LoongArch processors are in partnership to make China less dependent on numerous Western components like Intel, AMD, Apple, or Windows.

Deepin is available in 30 languages, including English.

The ISO file is approximately 5 GB in size, and with the tool Rufus, you can easily transfer the content to a USB stick and create a bootable Live USB stick. For UEFI systems, you partition the USB stick in the GPT partition scheme and FAT32 formatting; otherwise, you use the classic MBR partition scheme for older systems.

Unlocked state only after installation

Since the distro is set to Chinese and for China by default, you can't do much in Live USB mode because you need a user login, similar to an Apple ID, to proceed. This also applies to the App Store.

However, once the system has installed everything on the hard drive, the lock is no longer valid, and you no longer need an account; the system realizes that you are outside of China. This is probably due to the strict regulators in China, which is why there is a responsible company behind Deepin. They control the content, what is allowed into China and what is not.

The App Store is also lovingly designed and offers almost everything you need. With a fully installed system, you can also use the App Store without an account and install all programs as usual.

If the App Store doesn't offer the application you're looking for, you can even install a .deb package made for Debian, because you don't have to mess around with the console; you can simply install it via the GUI with a double-click. This is because Deepin is naturally based on Debian.

Start screen and functionality

The lovingly designed start screen reminds me of both the Windows and Mac OS login screens; the mascot image is the raccoon dog Tanuki, but you can also select other avatars in the user settings.

There is a "Do Not Disturb" function. The keyboard shortcuts can be changed as desired, so I had to change the shortcut for "Large Search" because it bothered me while typing. So I switched to Ctrl+Shift+S, and the annoying search field no longer appears while typing.

The response times with the mouse and keyboard are quite fast, the system is relatively lean, and it responds very quickly to inputs. It occupies an average of 5 GB of RAM with Firefox, Discord, LibreOffice Writer, and Telegram running for me.

If the AI feature is enabled, RAM consumption can increase even further, depending on the size of the AI model. This can range from 2 GB to 50 GB of RAM.

It's always the little things

The boot animation is even animated. The calendar also provides an overview of your appointments or tasks, so you can plan your appointments in Outlook style, and the appointments are also displayed in the calendar.

The image viewer lets you view photos and pictures as you were used to from Windows XP.

With the Screen Recorder, you can take screenshots or mark an area for screenshots; you can optionally record as a video, which is also accessible via the task menu.

There are numerous included wallpapers, and many wallpaper packages that can be installed from the App Store, so the user can choose as in this example.

With Plasma (KDE), you have to try out the various plugins for the start menu, app switcher, desktop handler, etc. to find out which one you like best. You might even have to take notes because it's so complicated. In DDE, everything is in one place, which we like much better and makes it much easier to explore. In addition to several status icons in the taskbar, there is also a drop-down "Quick Settings" panel like in GNOME or newer versions of macOS.

With WPS Office 2019, a strong team. WPS Office 2019 is the Microsoft Office alternative for Linux that can also handle Office file formats better than LibreOffice. Deepin is inspiring and encouraging.

Task Manager

If you press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, you can select the Task Manager, as you are used to from Windows.

The Task Manager also provides an overview of the system, what is currently running, and how the utilization is. Tasks can be easily terminated with the mouse. In the tabs, you can switch the view to services or processes per user. Additionally, it provides information about disk and network utilization.

Control Panel

Deepin also has a central "Control Panel" from which various settings can be made.

It is noticeable that you can also select the energy-saving mode and that everything visually is more reminiscent of Mac OS X.

To set up printers and scanners, you have to go through another program called "Print Manager," where you configure the printers on a CUPS basis. For maintenance, there are utilities, such as this passable imitation of the MacOS Disk Utility. You can also format a USB stick from the file manager.

Unfortunately, the Control Panel does not yet offer a complete translation into English, but I hope this will change soon.

AI Assistants

It is unlikely that AI will become standard on Linux desktops. Yes, you can add them via extensions, use them in a browser, and even install applications to use ChatGPT. But most distributions are hesitant to add it as a standard feature.

The special and most striking thing about this Linux distribution is that a CoPilot-like system has been created with UOS AI.

It is possible to ask the AI questions, but also to translate or summarize marked texts.

Deepin has opted for the reverse path and integrated UOS AI. Zhang Lei, Senior Vice President and CTO of Unisoft, explains: "UOS AI currently realizes the ability to access the major mainstream models at home and abroad and encapsulates them in the public capabilities of Deepin, which underlie the AI. At the same time, we will gradually open UOS AI for third-party applications so that more applications can directly access the large models on Deepin."

In addition, it works with external API interfaces via online services such as OpenAI. However, local AI models can also be used, which increases your own data security. An integration with API is also possible via the local Olama AI interface, so that larger or specialized AI models can also be used.

You can mark texts anywhere and an icon appears with which the AI can summarize, explain or even translate texts.

Currently, the translation of the AI is unfortunately designed for Chinese and English; it is currently learning English. But with Olama, it might also be possible in English if the AI model was originally made for English.

Conclusion

The Linux distribution Deepin is highly recommended for people who want to switch to Linux but don't have much knowledge of Linux. Deepin is number 1 among the most used distros in China. Almost all actions can be performed with the mouse only. Only a few special cases, such as the installation of VMWare Workstation Pro and language files for WPS Office 2019, still need to be done via the console. The built-in AI, similar to CoPilot, helps me to perform light AI tasks for me.

Recommendations as well as tips and tricks for dealing with Linux can be found here [1]. Because here are many recommendations documented that I can teach you how to get away from the usual paid programs like Photoshop and Microsoft Office. Just come back when this article has been updated.