I love the Xfce desktop environment. There’s no arguing that it’s a blisteringly fast and lightweight experience. But I’ve been very vocal about the first impression it typically makes, requiring users to invest some time tweaking and polishing. In fact, that is simultaneously Xfce’s biggest weakness and biggest strength. A boutique desktop Linux distribution named Enso OS, however, is giving Xfce an unusually beautiful presentation right out of the box.
Oh, and you may not be surprised to read that the reason for this is, in part, thanks to elementary OS.
The project is still in Beta — the latest version is Enso OS 0.3.1 which released last week — but it looks promising. Enso OS creator Nick Wilkins says the team built this Linux distro on top of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS for a stable base, and then “re-themed Xfce to our own liking.”
So what makes it special, aside from the feeling you get when you see these screenshots or watch the distro in action? It’s the fact that Enso OS incorporates Plank, elementary’s Gala window manager and the Panther launcher — itself a fork of elementary’s Slingshot launcher and catered toward Xfce use.
The Enso OS team also forked elementary’s stylish AppCenter, which they call Apphive. I did notice it’s quite slow to load initially, but I can let that slide for now since this is an early beta release. On the plus side, Apphive does feature native Snap support.
(It also features some fantastic wallpapers!)
Enso OS really feels like a passion project, and I say that with all kinds of positivity. It’s as if the team couldn’t decide between elementary OS and Xubuntu, so they simply created their dream hybrid of both distributions, stirring in other elements they couldn’t live without.
The result is, well, way more elegant than you’ve probably seen from a stock Xfce install. Even in Manjaro or Xubuntu. No customization was done for these screenshots, except moving Plank to the bottom center in some photos. I think what really makes me stand up and pay attention is the beautiful Xfce presentation on top of the smooth Gala animations.
Enso OS is one to watch, folks. If you’re interested in taking it for a test drive, you can download it here via SourceForge.
