After using Linux for a while, I often come across a famous quote: “Life goes on, fiddling never stops.” However, to be honest, after getting a job last year, due to the company being stingy and not providing a computer, I had to use my own computer for work… really不敢乱折腾 (I still remember the despair of losing my thesis papers on Baidu Cloud Disk…). But after changing jobs, putting everything on Baidu Cloud Disk… I was once again tempted.
Actually, this time the fiddling wasn’t due to being annoyed; rather, it was because the current system was actually having problems —- inexplicable screen flickering.
I don’t remember when this started, but my laptop’s screen would randomly and irregularly black out and flash. Sometimes there were horizontal snowflakes flashing. At first, I thought it might be related to the warranty expiration… after all, it was bought from a factory store (really cheap…), and when I got the computer, it seemed like it had been refurbished (the box was somewhat damaged, and the screws on the back of the laptop were worn out). Then, after using it for three months, the keyboard backlight failed. But after observing for some time, I found that this flickering was quite peculiar because it happened more when an external screen was connected or when using a browser; if not using a browser and not connecting an external screen, it almost never happened. Moreover, the flickering occurred in ordinary users, but if logged in as root, no matter how you played around, it wouldn’t happen…
So I concluded that I must have accidentally modified some configuration files causing software issues, so I decided to reinstall (absolutely not because contacting the merchant for warranty was ignored~).
Since we’re reinstalling, and since this laptop is no longer used for work, why don’t we try something new?
Actually, I’ve been watching Deepin’s DDE for a long time… to be honest… it’s always better to know your own people… I feel that the Deepin team really understands the needs of domestic users. From the very beginning, it was just fancy but had lots of bugs and didn’t allow customization (at first, it was really pretty, but there were many bugs and you couldn’t customize it), but now it still looks good, and its functionality, usability, and performance have improved… it’s really made great progress. As a result, Deepin has gained quite a few users internationally (Deepin’s international community also has many posts, and the Manjaro community maintenance distribution board often discusses Deepin).
Although I’ve always downloaded the latest Deepin community edition live CD to try it out whenever there was an update, it wasn’t until recently that I realized that some XFCE shortcuts and features were not available in Deepin. Moreover, before this version, Deepin’s resource consumption, fluidity, and stability were far inferior to XFCE, so I always tried for a night but ultimately didn’t install it on my real machine.
This time it’s different, one thing is that I don’t need to use my personal laptop for work anymore, secondly, I’m relatively free now, so there’s no lack of time to adapt to the new operation mode. Plus, Deepin updated to version 15.7 recently, and Manjaro’s Deepin source has also been updated. So I decided to format my computer and start using it.
I have to say… in the first few hours, the differences were still not too great, but after two days, I gradually got used to it… so people… once they accept a set…
By the way, I also discovered something really cool: Deepin had touchpad gesture support last year. It supports three-finger maximize and restore windows, as well as quickly splitting windows left and right. This gesture can greatly alleviate the discomfort of not being able to use super+mouse drag window. Note that this gesture is built into DDE and does not conflict with libinput-gesture, so if you install libinput-gesture again, both gestures will fight for control. The current DDE gesture configuration file is /usr/share/dde-daemon/gesture.json, which is in JSON format, feeling easier to understand than libinput-gesture.
Still, here are my desktop screenshots from the past:
Mint (Cinnamon)
Manjaro (Cinnamon)
Manjaro (Xfce)
Manjaro (Deepin)
