Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Chromixium OS is no longer available. Per the developing team, Google contacted them and requested a name change. Chromixium was very similar to Google trademarks. It is now called Cub Linux, but it should still carry on as usual.
Now I am an avid fan of Arch-based Linux distros. Therefore, I am greatly enthused by the development of Apricity OS. In fact, in the dictionary, apricity is defined as the warmth of the sun. The development team is in Chicago, IL. This distro has a dedicated blog and forum. The forum is active with quick answers to problems. There will be an online store for Apricity dedicated goods. Apricity is based on the rolling release of Arch Linux, therefore the OS has the most up-to-date packages and security updates.
The main goal of Apricity is: “Welcome to Apricity OS, a modern, intuitive operating system for the cloud generation of computing. We believe that an operating system should be easy to use, easily accessible, and beautifully designed. We have also incorporated software in order to minimize security risk as much as possible.”
I downloaded the iso directly from www.apricityos.com. The iso can be obtained via torrent too. They do not support 32-bit machines. The bootable USB was easy to create and there were no issues in the install. The installer is Calamares. It is a refined product that is on the same level as the Ubuntu Installers.
I have the Gnome desktop installed. Their Gnome desktop is streamlined and responsive. They recently released the Cinnamon desktop. The developers recommend Cinnamon for older hardware or for a more traditional desktop environment. The default backgrounds are wonderful.
The OS uses the Pamac and AUR for software management and updates. It comes installed with great default programs such as PlayonLinux, GIMP, Libreoffice, Caffein, and ICE. Caffeine prevents the computer from going to sleep. ICE is a great option from Peppermint Linux.
The default browser is Chrome. The Chrome browser has the following extensions installed by default: Ghostery, Great Suspender, and Pushbullet. These extensions have different purposes. Ghostery prevents online tracking. The Great Suspender streamlines the browser efficiency by killing the background processes on inactive Chrome window tabs. Per the Apricity developers Pushbullet, is a tool that lets you send links and small files between your devices, and lets you receive mobile notifications, texts, and phone calls across all your devices.
Other features to Apricity are Syncthing and Sbackup. Per the website: “Syncthing allows you to share large amounts of data across multiple platforms allowing you to be as connected as possible. Syncthing can transfer large files even faster than cloud-based alternatives. Furthermore, your files and personal information are stored only on local devices, not in the cloud, and are encrypted along every step in the file transfer process.”
SBackup, is one of the easiest ways to backup your computer. While remaining simple and easy to use, it has many notable features which make it stand apart from the competition. SBackup is able to create both compressed and uncompressed backups, able to split uncompressed backups into multiple parts, supports scheduled backups and manual backups, can back up files to both local and remote destinations, and has a variety of advanced options such as logging, and email notification.
I have not yet used Syncthing and Sbackup on my computer. So I cannot comment on these features. I have used the ICE application to access Full Circle and my Google Drive. I have added these to my Gnome Dock for quick ease. You can see these favorited icons next to Firefox.
I am impressed with Apricity. My only complaint was that a previous update broke Pamac in early February. This was an upstream problem from the developer. Apricity cited that a fix will come soon from the upstream developer. This fix took over 2 weeks to be installed. Antergos and Manjaro fixed the broken Pamac update within 24 hrs. by rolling back to the previous version.
In my humble opinion, the Apricity developers should be proactive in fixing vital programs such as Pamac. Granted there was a bandaid solution offered in the bug forums. This fix was posted only 4 days after the Pamac breakage. However these issues should be addressed quickly if Apricity wants to be a known and respected cloud distro. Despite this criticism, I still like Apricity and the direction it is going.
Next month, I will offer Crouton Ubuntu and the Gallium OS as possible cloud distros directly on the Chromebook hardware.