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Version: 1.0 Web: https://lumina-desktop.org
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Many Linux users will be accustomed to the fact that KDE Plasma is the most configurable of the Linux desktop environments, although it‘s quite a heavyweight. Those who like lighter solutions often stick to LxQt and enjoy snappier performance, but LxQt development has stalled lately and for some users this has become quite a problem. Luckily, we have another more robust, light and feature-rich Qt-based desktop that we can turn to and it’s called Lumina.
This desktop environment was initially developed to complement the user-friendly PC-BSD operating system—the BSD flavour that’s aimed at desktop users. Recently, a shiny new version of Lumina was released and version 1.0 is the first official stable edition of this exciting desktop.
While there are already other lightweight desktops, Lumina is special in that it has minimal external dependencies, which results in very good portability. In fact, you don’t need to install PC-BSD in order to enjoy Lumina. You’ll find that there are many carefully prepared binary packages for nearly all popular Linux distros. You’ll also discover that the loaded desktop occupies as little as 150MBs of RAM and feels very snappy.
Lumina includes a desktop with a classic bottom panel, an application menu and several utilities, such as lumina-fm for file management, lumina-search search engine and app launcher, along with the quite self-explanatory lumina-screenshot tool and luminafileinfo for viewing file properties.
Lumina also offers its own configuration dialogs for certain desktop settings, including screen resolution, fonts and styles. As for the remaining core features, Lumina relies on system-wide tools, such as Pavucontrol for dealing with audio and NetworkManager for web access. There is, however, no home-brewed window compositor for Lumina yet—the project recommends using Compton for window management.
Overall, Lumina offers a solid base for those unafraid to apply heavy customisations and quite a lot of post-install polish to their desktop. In return you get multi-monitor support, a fast and responsive interface with consistent menus and dialogs.
“You get multi-monitor support, a fast and responsive interface.”