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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Gershwin desktop is being developed for both BSD and Arch Linux.
- Gershwin is based on GnuStep and resembles MacOS.
- You can spin up a virtual machine and try the alpha version of Gershwin.
Confession time: I don’t give any of the BSD-based distributions enough attention. One reason is that I find BSD (and all its children) not really suited for people who’ve never used Linux. There’s a reason for that issue: BSD is not Linux. BSD is more Unix than Linux, and Unix isn’t an OS that anyone not well-steeped in Linux should touch.
I’ve been using Linux for nearly 30 years, and every time I touch a BSD, I get confused.
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That being said, a new desktop environment is being developed for both BSD and Arch Linux, called Gershwin, that could give the MacOS desktop a run for its money.
However, be aware that Gershwin is in early development, and the only stable way to try it out is via GhostBSD. Even then, Gershwin isn’t fully usable yet. In fact, there’s not much you can do with Gershwin, other than get a peek at what it looks like. And there’s not much you can change (yet). You can also install Gershwin on Arch Linux, but I wouldn’t recommend that route because it’s unstable.
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Gershwin is based on GnuStep. If you know anything about GnuStep, you know it was a rewriting of NextStep (which inspired AfterStep). That’s a lot of steps.
All apps are managed through the dock (as opposed to having a desktop full of icons). There’s an app launcher, but I’ve yet to get it to work as expected. The only way I was able to get applications to run was from Tools > Run GUI and typing the name of the application launcher (such as firefox).
Clearly, Gershwin is not ready for mass consumption (or even those who are well-versed in Linux). Gershwin is clearly in alpha stage development, so if you go in expecting a fully realized desktop, you’ll be disappointed.
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Even so, I love the fact that someone is creating a MacOS-like desktop based on GnuStep.
But what about the MacOS look?
Saying that Gershwin is a dead ringer for MacOS might be a bit of an overstatement, but given how early this OS is in development, it’s pretty clear where the developers are going with it. Gershwin will look like a MacOS desktop, with a caveat.
That caveat is caused by GnuStep.
GnuStep is very much old-school, and anything based on it will have an old-school look and feel. That issue means the Gershwin desktop might wind up looking like a MacOS desktop from a few releases ago. Gershwin looks more like OS X than MacOS (if you know the difference between the names, you’ll know what I mean).
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I admit that I’m biased here, because one of my first Linux desktop environments was based on GnuStep. Any time I see something that even slightly resembles GnuStep (or AfterStep), I get nostalgic. If the developers can craft Gershwin into a usable, modern(ish) take on GnuStep, I think it could be something special.
If you want to try Gerswhin, do what I did and download the GhostBSD ISO and spin up a virtual machine. I wouldn’t suggest installing Gershwin on a PC because you’ll be disappointed with how little you can do with the desktop at the moment.
If you like your desktops to feel both modern and nostalgic, Gershwin might be right up your alley… when it’s finally ready for the masses.
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