Media-creation distros
Creative flow is paramount.
The requirements of a GUI that’s used for multimedia aren’t massively different from that of a normal desktop. The interface should be quick and easy to use, as you often need to be on the ball when using Linux as the hub of your studio. In the case of distributions that offer a large number of tools, the launcher should be convenient and make use of categories. Clarity in areas such as launch icons is welcomed.
We expect customisation features that are easy to use, because when you’re working on creative endeavours, you often need to customise the layout to enable your workflow. To us, that means that you can easily make top-level selections such as changing the overall theme and the font size, as well as adjusting small details or adding features such as extra panels to the desktop. Oh, and we prefer configuration features that are easy to locate and preferably centralised and searchable. Options that can’t be found aren’t much use.
AV Linux 7/10
The default AV Linux theme is dark, and it makes some use of transparency and other effects, giving flashy looks at the expense of some extra resource usage. Along the top is a large dock with some major media-creation apps, while on the bottom is a smaller taskbar and launcher. On the backdrop, there’s a useful status display area showing real-time updates on essential info such as kernel version, memory usage and CPU temperature.
As you might expect from an Xfce desktop, there’s great scope for customisation, but the relevant features are spread out across different tools. This is largely down to how Xfce works, and the MX Tweak tools further duplicate the appearance options. We hit another snag when switching to the light theme that resulted in a nearly unreadable terminal.
It’s a good-looking tweakable desktop that will appeal to the technically minded.
Fedora Design Suite 6/10
The desktop here is a rather minimalist implementation of the standard Gnome one. When you first log in, you’re greeted with a pretty airbrushed backdrop and the standard Gnome status bar. Pressing the super key or clicking in the status bar invokes Gnome’s combined launcher and app switcher. This means an extra click or two, as you can’t switch tasks without using the full-screen switcher.
From the launcher screen, you can find apps via searching by typing, or you can click on the Show Apps icon. From here, you can browse the installed apps by icon. A snag is that there are few categories and they are thrown in with the app icons.
The minimalist approach might have been designed to offer a distraction-free environment for artists, but having no dock leads to extra steps when launching commonly used applications or switching between them. It’s an odd choice.
Fedora Jam 8/10
Although it comes
