The distro is still in the design stages

Nov 24, 2014 10:17 GMT  ·  By

Google's new Material Design approach proved to be a real success and now Linux developers are looking to make a new distribution that is capable of adhering to those guidelines, which is actually something new in the ecosystem.

We don't see Google too often as an upstream generator of ideas, much less of designs, but it looks like the new Material Design concept that has been implemented in the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop is making quite an impression.

So much so that a developer is determined to build a Linux distribution that is able to fit in the strict guidelines of the project, which have been carefully outlined by Google.

And this is not just about adopting a simple theme for a Linux distribution that already exists. Developers might be able to provide an approximation by using the tools that are already available, but it won't be even close to Google's design.

The differences are too big from what is already available on Linux and there is no realist way of doing it, at least not with any kind of success. This is why the developers actually need a new desktop environment and a new Linux base that would be under their complete control.

Material Design in Linux distros sounds great

The new project is called Quantum OS. For now, there are very few details about the new OS and it will take a while until we'll be able to try it out. We do know that it will use a desktop shell for Wayland and that the application framework will be built in QML (just like Canonical is doing with Ubuntu Touch and Unity).

"Welcome to Quantum OS! We are working on developing an operating system based upon Linux which conforms to Google’s Material Design guidelines. The focus will be on creating a stable and easy-to-use operating system with a heavy emphasis on well-thought-out design."

"We plan to develop the desktop shell and applications primarily using Qt 5 and QML, which will allow us to build highly polished and dynamic user interfaces and will work well for implementing Material Design. If possible, we will build the desktop shell in as much QML as possible built on top of the QtCompositor API, which provides a Qt framework for building a Wayland compositor," said Michael Spencer on the official website.

The project was initially named Quartz, but there was a conflict with the X.Org X Window System that runs on OS X, which is called XQuartz. The named was quickly changed to Quantum. You can see in the gallery below what the developer is planning to do with the system.

Quantum OS with Material Design (4 Images)

Quantum OS with Material Design
Another Quantum OS sample with Material DesignMaterial Design by Google
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