Linux distribution
Nate Drake takes a ride on the Rhino, exploring the rich Unicorn desktop, as well as the pleasures and perils of rolling releases.
They say that Rome wasn’t built in a day and the same is true for Rhino Linux. The project went through five betas before its official release in August.
If the name sounds familiar, it may be because lead developer AJ Strong worked on Rolling Rhino Remix – autility to convert Ubuntu into a rolling release Linux distro by tracking the devel packages.
While Rhino Remix reached end of life last October, Rhino Linux has picked up the cudgels and also follows a rolling release model using the Ubuntu devel repos.
As it is a rolling distro, the team also made the decision to use the Pacstall package manager, which allows users to install packages from the Arch User Repository (AUR). The developers claim this allows updates to be delivered faster.
If an AUR-inspired package manager weren’t enough, the OS also includes Rhino-pgk, a metapackage manager written in Bash, which combines Apt, Pacstall, Flatpak and Snap into a compact UI. It can be used to install, remove, search and upgrade all package managers at once by running commands such as rhino-pkg update .
And if this weren’t bleeding-edge enough, Rhino also comes with its own customised version of the Xfce 4.18 desktop, code-named Unicorn.
You can take Unicorn for a ride by testing Rhino in live mode, just as for stock Ubuntu. (Indeed, the boot screen still says ‘Xubuntu 23.04’, revealing its roots.)
The desktop is extremely colourful and slick. The developers claim to have been inspired by Gnome in creating Unicorn, which is obvious from the plank launch bar on the left of the screen. This even helpfully tucks itself away when you maximise a window.
Even if you’re a fan of Xfce, you should take the time to open the Gnome-inspired app grid. You’ll find some familiar default applications, including the Thunar file manager, Mousepad and the Xterm terminal utility.
The team at Rhino has also created some custom tools of its own. Try clicking the U to launch the search bar. It has a similar function to KDE Plasma’s KRunner but seems to integrate better with the desktop itself, similar to Mac OS’s Spotlight.
Other exciting home-made features include RhinoDrop. This is touted as an open source alternative to Apple’s AirDrop, to allow file sharing between devices. Currently, the tool is accessible only via htt
