Deepin: When being deep in is good

I haven’t been able to use Deepin OS for a while now since my version 15.4 lost its ability to boot.

It was definitely giving me problems, but since I had Zorin 12 and Windows 10 on separate hard drive partitions, there really was no need for me to be concerned as I was still able to boot in to these alternate operating systems.

Deepin is pretty interesting, colorful and yes, beautiful. It is an OS that feels the way macOS used to feel in terms of responsiveness. macOS has not been snappy for a long time (unless you have a ton of ram along with higher spec’d graphics and processors like those in their current iMac Pro lineup).

That’s the way commercial operating systems for desktop computers are, though; each successive release demands increased hardware resources. These rising demands make older macs less suitable to run current versions of something like macOS–even if technically they meet hardware requirements and can run Apple’s latest and greatest OS (albeit in less robust fashion than newer Mac hardware can).

While Linux operating systems are known for running well on older machines, many, if not most of the modern Linux systems are now 64 bit architecture only–which effectively closes the door on older, 32-bit PCs and their available Linux choices.

There are still some 32 bit Linux systems that run well on older PCs such as MX-17 Linux and AntiX. My recommendation is to run the 64 bit Linux variants if your machine supports them, though, as after you add a little more than minimal memory, the 64 bit Linux OS’s tend to run rather well.

The machine I’m typing on is a 1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo HP Compaq with 4 GB of memory. And it is flying. I’m typing rapidly–80 to 100 words per minute with gusts up to 120 words. There is no latency in the system, no lag, no waiting for the blinking cursor to catch up to what it is I’m pointing and clicking on. This is an older machine and while it runs Windows 10 alright, Deepin crushes Windows 10 with regard to speed on it.

Speed is really my main consideration for picking and choosing the Linux operating systems that I do. There simply is nothing better than not having to wait any longer than you need to for things like boot up; did I say Deepin boots up incredibly fast? Well, it does.

I tried elementary OS which is purported to be beautiful and Mac like. I always end up referencing Apple and Macs in a lot of my writing. And for good cause. I loved Macs early on. They really were more beautiful than anything Microsoft and Windows copied, I mean, came out with. And Linux was not as user-friendly as it is now where novices can download and install the various operating system flavors that are out there.

elementary OS is billed as a replacement for macOS and Windows. But, even though version 5.0 Juno is an improvement over 0.4 Loki, and the version number reversal/change is welcome (instead of 0.5 Juno, it’s 5.0 Juno to avoid confusion over whether elementary OS is beta software or not), the system for me is still lacking. I received broken package errors on installation (which may have been my fault), but still, I was expecting a glitch-free install and it just did not happen.

I may revisit elementary OS in the future. I really want to be able to get behind a Linux macOS facsimile as an alternative to Apple’s now bloated macOS–if only to recommend it to people who are tired of purchasing new Macs when their old ones still work decently (but their Macs are just not supported any longer by Apple to run its latest OS).

In the meantime Deepin is a pretty darn pretty and fast OS–give it a spin and you’ll see what I mean.