The AI-enabled Deepin Linux distro has just received its latest update, dubbed V23 RC2. This version of Deepin comes with a number of package updates and new features. But it's not all about the features; the look and feel are the main spotlight of this distro, which is made possible by its unique user-friendly desktop environment, Deepin. Some say it looks as if someone modded the macOS UI to look more like Windows 11.

Exactly as the Release Candidate part suggests, this isn't a perfectly stable distro. The latest super-stable version of Deepin is 20.9, which is said to be optimized for 'productivity environment'. So, while V23 RC2 will most likely work fine for most tasks, it is a good idea to try it on a VM before giving it a shot on an actual PC.

As for the features and fixes, Deepin V23 RC2 comes with a huge list of changes in tow. The key ones include video playback improvements, the option to apply updates without doing a backup of settings/data, the updated Nvidia graphics drivers (Nvidia fans, rejoice!). A lower number of snapshots than before now gets created in order to keep the /boot/ partition cleaner. The full list of changes can be found below.

▶▼[New Features and Optimizations]

• Added "Backup Update" toggle feature: Access the Control Center - Update Settings - Other Settings, and turn off the toggle to perform system updates without backing up the system (use with caution).
• Newly integrated system fonts include WenQuanYi Micro Hei, WenQuanYi Zheng Hei, and WenQuanYi Bitmap Song.
• Updated the closed-source nvidia-graphics-drivers package.
• Optimized to enhance video decoding compatibility, supporting decoding of multiple video streams and playback of videos in various resolutions.
• Optimized to reduce the number of snapshots to prevent the /boot/ partition from being filled up by kernel snapshots due to backups.
• Optimized the installer trial mode to support selection of system language and keyboard layout before entering the system (currently, "Time Zone" must be selected after entering the system).
• Optimized the display style of the encrypted network lock icon on the lock screen interface, which was too small; it has been modified to be consistent with the interface when the system is not locked.

[Basic Package Updates]

glibc 2.38 :

Security: Known security vulnerabilities have been fixed, enhancing the system's security.

Performance and Features: Memory management and multithreading performance have been improved, and better internationalization support has been provided.

llvm-toolchain 17 :

Performance Optimization: Compiler optimizations have been enhanced, resulting in faster execution of the generated code.

New Feature Support: Supports the latest programming language features and hardware instruction sets.

Python Integration with Version 3.12:

The Python interpreter and standard library have been optimized to improve execution speed and memory efficiency.

New language features have been introduced and existing syntax has been improved, making the code more concise and readable.

Known security vulnerabilities have been fixed, enhancing the security of Python code.

dpkg 1.22.6 :

Package management functionality and performance have been improved.

The stability and efficiency of system package management have been enhanced.

apt 2.8 :

The efficiency and reliability of the package management tool have been increased.

The process of software package installation and updating has been improved.

lightdm 1.30.0 :

The performance of the display manager has been enhanced.

openssl 3.2.0 :

Security: Security vulnerabilities have been fixed, enhancing cryptographic security.

Performance and Features: Performance optimizations and support for new cryptographic algorithms have been introduced.

pam 1.5.3 :

Authentication management functionality and security have been improved.

The reliability and security of the system's authentication mechanism have been enhanced.

libxcrypt 4.4.36 :

The upgrade of the encryption library brings security fixes and updates to encryption algorithms.

libselinux 3.5 :

Security: Improvements have been made to SELinux policy enforcement and overall security.

acl 2.3.1 :

The upgrade of the Access Control List (ACL) library brings performance improvements and new features.

audit 3.1.2 :

The upgrade of the auditing system brings improvements to log recording and new auditing capabilities.

libxcb 1.15 :

The upgrade of the X protocol library brings performance improvements and support for new features.

libx11 1.8.7 :

The upgrade of the X11 library brings enhancements to the display server and new functionalities.

libdrm 2.4.119 :

The upgrade of the Direct Rendering Manager brings support for new hardware and performance optimizations.

ncurses 6.4 :

The upgrade of the terminal handling library brings new features and performance improvements.

freetype 2.13.2 :

The upgrade of the font rendering library brings support for new fonts and improvements in rendering performance.

FFmpeg 6.1.1 :

Multimedia Processing: Improvements in encoding and decoding performance for multimedia files, with support for more formats and more efficient processing.

New Features and Format Support: Support for the latest media formats and encoding standards, enhancing the compatibility and functionality of multimedia applications.

mesa 24 :

Graphics Performance: Improvements in graphical rendering performance and support for new hardware, enhancing the performance of 3D graphics and gaming.

Support for New Features: Support for the latest OpenGL and Vulkan features.

xorg-server 21.1.10 :

The upgrade of the X.org server brings improvements and new features to the display server.

wayland 1.22.0 :

The upgrade of the Wayland protocol brings enhanced display server capabilities and performance.

zlib 1.3 :

The upgrade of the compression library brings performance improvements and support for new algorithms.

xz-utils 5.4.5 :

The upgrade of the XZ compression utilities brings performance optimizations and new features.

bzip2 1.0.8 :

The upgrade of the compression utility brings performance improvements and security fixes.

tar 1.35 :

The upgrade of the archiving tool brings support for new archive formats and performance improvements.

libzstd 1.5.5 :

The upgrade of the Zstd compression library brings performance optimizations and new features.

libxml2 2.9.14 :

The upgrade of the XML processing library brings support for new XML standards and performance improvements.

icu 74.2 :

Internationalization Support: Improvements in character encoding and internationalization support, enhancing the performance of applications in multilingual environments.

Performance and Features: Performance optimizations and the addition of new feature support.

libbsd 0.11.7 :

The upgrade of the BSD library brings new features and performance improvements.

glib2.0 2.80 :

Faster memory allocation, more efficient string processing, and improved performance of data structures.

New APIs and features to support more advanced programming tasks and new use cases.

Security fixes to prevent potential security vulnerabilities and attacks.

tzdata 2023d :

The upgrade of timezone data ensures the accuracy and currency of the system's timezone information.

util-linux 2.39.3 :

The upgrade of the system utilities collection brings new tools and performance improvements to existing tools.

attr 2.5.1 :

The upgrade of the file system extended attribute brings new features and performance improvements.

perl 5.36.0 :

The upgrade of the Perl programming language brings new language features and performance optimizations.

initramfs-tools 0.142 :

The upgrade of initramfs tools brings improved boot image generation and new functionalities.

network-manager 1.44.2 :

The upgrade of the network management tool brings new network technologies and better support for network configuration.

pipewire 1.0.0 :

The upgrade of the audio and video streaming processing framework brings new features and performance improvements.

bluez 5.71 :

The upgrade of the Bluetooth protocol stack brings support for new Bluetooth specifications and performance improvements.

coreutils 9.4 :

The upgrade of the core utilities brings new features and performance improvements.

gnupg2 2.2.43 :

The upgrade of the GPG encryption tool brings new encryption algorithms and enhanced security.

shadow 4.13 :

The upgrade of the user account management tool brings new features and security improvements.

procps 4.0.4 :

The upgrade of the system process tools brings new features and performance improvements.

sudo 1.9.15 :

The upgrade of the sudo command brings new features and security improvements.

kmod 30 :

The upgrade of the kernel module management tool brings new features and performance improvements.

gcc-12 with integrated version 12.3:

The upgrade of the GCC compiler brings new language support and improved compilation performance.

binutils 2.41 :

The updated version of Binutils provides better performance and more features, such as support for new instruction sets and an optimized linker.

It includes bug fixes and improvements, making the development environment more stable.

qtbase-opensource-src 5.15 :

The upgrade of the Qt base library brings bug fixes and performance improvements.

qt6-base 6.6 :

The upgrade of the Qt6 base library brings new features and performance improvements.

gtk 3.0 3.24 :

The upgrade of the GTK 3 graphics library brings new controls and performance improvements.

gtk4 4.12.3 :

The upgrade of the GTK 4 graphics library brings new controls and performance improvements.

openjdk-17 17 :

Introduces new language features and library updates, enhancing development efficiency and code quality.

Improves JVM performance, making Java applications run more efficiently.

systemd 255 :

Improves system boot and service management, increasing system boot speed and the flexibility of service management.

Adds new security features and policy configuration options.

grub2 2.12 :

Supports more file systems and hardware, enhancing compatibility and stability of system boot.

Fixes potential security issues during the boot process, strengthening the security of system boot.

[Bug Fixes]

• Fixed the issue where the default input method's dictionary output content was incorrect.
• Fixed the issue where Linglong applications (email, browser) could not connect to the internet after the system upgrade.
• Fixed the issue where shutdown, restart, and logout operations could not be executed immediately due to Linglong application process hanging.
• Fixed the issue where custom-installed icon themes could not be used normally.
• Fixed the issue where the network name text display color was abnormal in the lock screen interface for some users.
• Fixed the issue where certain models could not enter the system desktop after updating and upgrading dde-network-core to version 2.0.25 and restarting.
• Fixed the issue where setting Deepin Browser as the default browser did not take effect in the default programs.
• Fixed the issue where Deepin Home applications dragged to the taskbar did not respond when clicked.
• Fixed the issue where black small icons appeared in the launcher and on the desktop after downloading and installing the appimagehelper application from the app store.
• Fixed the abnormal input prompt and display issue when setting a password for the personal hotspot.
• Fixed the issue where the pop-up data in the Control Center's Language and Region did not match the data on the outer page display.
• Fixed the issue where the mouse cursor was not displayed after some AMD GPU devices installed the system and entered the desktop.
• Fixed the issue where the permissions for the config.yaml configuration file in the Linglong directory were incorrect.
• Fixed the issue where the send and receive time of emails was displayed incorrectly in Linglong Mail.
• Fixed the issue where the time obtained by Linglong Browser was eight hours behind the actual system time.
• Fixed the issue where the time currently displayed in Linglong Calendar did not match the system time.
• Fixed the issue where 360 Browser installed under the Linglong environment could not be opened.
• Fixed the issue where after installing an application from the app store, upon restarting the system and entering the app store, the already installed application still showed as not installed.
• Fixed the issue where after saving a new screenshot image, a process without an icon appeared in the save path on the taskbar.
• Fixed the issue where black small icons appeared in the launcher when printer drivers were added.
• Fixed the issue of continuously popping up the right-click menu and the window returning to the previous level after using the right-click menu in the application folder to send to the desktop.
• Fixed the issue where the icons on the left side of the launcher window mode were displayed abnormally.
• Fixed the issue where the icons in the full-screen launcher app group preview were inconsistent with the actual app icons.
• Fixed the issue where when the font size was set to 20, some application names in the launcher were not fully displayed, and there was no hint information when the mouse moved over the app.
• Fixed the issue where the launcher crashed when dragging an app out of a folder and then dragging it back into the folder.
• Fixed the issue where the display of application names in the Control Center's Default Programs was in package names.
• Fixed the issue where opening a terminal from the taskbar resulted in one normal terminal icon and one terminal icon with a gear.
• Fixed the issue where no application icon was displayed on the taskbar when invoking the terminal's Thunder mode.
• Fixed the issue where the window manager crashed after opening the launcher with window effects enabled for the first time, and then closing the window effects with a shortcut key.
• Fixed the CVE-2024-4453 security vulnerability.

[Known Issues Pending Fixes]

• Pre-installed browser cannot access the internet after switching networks (restart the application).
• Occasionally, during use, Linglong applications may be uninstalled (browser, email, calendar); simply reinstall them to resolve the issue.

One of the key appeals of Deepin is its Microsoft Copilot-like integrated AI assistant, named UOS AI. Though this isn't a new feature, it is definitely one worth mentioning as it allows those shifting from Microsoft Windows to still have an AI assistant that works out of the box. And if you need more software than what is offered by the distro out of the box, the Deepin app store is there with nearly 40,000 applications that are claimed to be perfectly compatible with Deepin.

Those interested can download V23 RC2 as well as the latest stable (20.9) Deepin release here.