KDE Plasma 5 will be used as default desktop environment

Feb 20, 2017 23:44 GMT  ·  By

Some of you out there might remember the Descent OS distro created by Brian Manderville and based on the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system, and today we have some bad news for them as the development is now officially closed.

Descent OS first appeared in February 2012 as a lightweight Ubuntu derivative built around the GNOME 2 desktop environment. Back then, it was known as Descent|OS, and was quite actively developed with new features and components borrowed from the latest Ubuntu releases.

A year ago, the developer announced, after a two-year break, that he was getting ready for the next major release of the distribution, Descent OS 5.0, and prepared a first Alpha build for those who wanted to help him with the testing, but it didn't seem like people were interested in this project anymore.

As such, earlier this morning, Brian Manderville dropped the big news that he was ceasing development of Descent OS effective immediately on both Google+ and Twitter accounts of the project. So no old or newer releases of Descent OS will be available for download anymore.

"It's time to say good-bye to an old friend. The project that kick-started my career and passion in Linux. The project that has stayed with me throughout the entirety of my career," said Brian Manderville. "It pains me to say that as of now, I am ceasing development of Descent OS."

Meet Arkas OS

But this is not the end of the road for Brian Manderville as a Linux OS developer, as he's happy to present its upcoming GNU/Linux distribution called Arkas OS, based on the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system and built around a customized, modern KDE Plasma 5 desktop environment.

The goal for Arkas OS is to offer an open source platform for writers, artists, and comic makers who don't want to use other closed-source OSes or pay for any software application. A first snapshot is coming soon and will include popular apps like Krita and Scribus, and the look and feel are practically identical to Descent OS.

Arkas OS
Arkas OS