With my first reader requested review of Crunchbang being a success I decided to do another. This time I took on Elementary OS: Luna. I am currently on a 6 year old HP ProBook with core i5 processor and 4GB ram and do all distribution reviews on VirtualBox.
In my research I read a few random reviews of Elementary OS and found that many people are claiming that this is a good alternative to Mac OS. Elementary OS is based on Ubuntu and it runs Pantheon for a desktop environment which is based on Gnome 3.
If you are downloading Elementary OS directly from the website you may see a dollar amount of $10.00 above the download button but paying is an option. This is how they cleverly ask that you pay for their product if you like it. As with most Linux distributions, donations are always accepted as this work is offered for free, however that is a post for another day.
Install
The install for Elementary OS was fast and similar to an Ubuntu install. It ran through all the basic questions regarding location and language. After the reboot, I noticed that the system was running a tad slow. To speed it up I installed preload and zram-config as well as ran all updates and upgrades to the system.
After the reboot I noticed that it was running much faster. I do not hold this against Elementary OS as it is important to run all updates and upgrades on pretty much every distribution after install.
Desktop and Settings
The desktop is pretty for sure. It offers a dock bar and panel for easy application launch. Both can be customized to include what you would need to get to in one click.
Taking a look at the setting menu I did notice a few differences in the set up. When changing the display you have options to change the dock and add hot corner options as well.
Applications
Elementary OS does not offer much in programs with the initial install. This is not a bad thing as it allows the user to download only what is wanted as opposed to uninstalling and installing according to their preferences.
You have two options on how to view your programs from the drop down application menu on the panel. You can either view all of them in one place as seen to the left.
Or you can view them based on category as seen to the right. Either way you have an easy search bar to be able to find the program you want quickly.
Software Center
The software center is nicely organized, however through searching I did see things that are not supposed to be in a software program, like books, and they cost money. While a Mac OS user could be used to this, as a Linux user I was taken aback by this "feature".
Regardless a download of FreeMind went quickly without showing any impact to the system or the software center. For those interested, FreeMind is a mind mapping tool that is easy to use for brainstorming.
Review
From your average user to a systems admin anyone can use this OS. The ability to easily find the packages you would like to install; combined with how Pantheon set up the applications menu will turn personalizing your computer into a great experience. Pantheon has taken Gnome 3 and added some of the more useful features that were lacking from Gnomes latest release. While it makes for a useful environment it is heavy on system resources.
Overall, I would agree that this distro is great for Mac OS users. The layout and design is similar so it would be a great distribution to ease into Linux with. I don't personally prefer this over any other distribution I have tried but I did enjoy how Elementary OS: Luna was laid out and how customizable it is.
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