Lumina (desktop environment)

Last updated
Lumina
Developer(s) iXsystems, Inc.
Stable release
1.6.2 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 26 December 2021
Repository
Written in C++
Operating system Unix and Unix-like
Type Desktop environment
License BSD-3-Clause
Website lumina-desktop.org

Lumina Desktop Environment, or simply Lumina, is a plugin-based desktop environment for Unix and Unix-like operating systems. It is designed specifically as a system interface for TrueOS, and systems derived from Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) in general, [2] but has been ported to various Linux distributions. [3]

Contents

History

Created in 2012 by Ken Moore, Lumina was initially a set of extensions to Fluxbox, a stacking window manager for the X Window System. [4] By late 2013, Moore had developed a graphical overlay for Fluxbox based on Qt4, and had created a utility for "launching applications and opening files". [4] The codebase was integrated into the PC-BSD source repository by early 2014, and a port was added to the FreeBSD Ports collection in April 2014. [4] The source code has since been moved to a separate GitHub repository "under the PC-BSD umbrella" and converted to use Qt5. [4] Development also focused on replacing the Fluxbox core with a Qt-based window manager integrated with the Lumina desktop. [4]

The project avoids use of Linux-based tools or frameworks, such as D-Bus, Polkit, and systemd. [5]

Features

The desktop and application menus are dynamically configured upon first being launched, as the desktop environment finds installed applications automatically to add to the menu and as a desktop icon. [3] The default panel includes a Start menu, task manager, and system tray, and its location can be customized. [3] Menus may be accessed via the Start menu or by right-clicking the mouse on the desktop background. [3]

Some features are specific to TrueOS, including hardware control of screen brightness (monitor backlight), preventing shutdown of an updating system, and integration with various TrueOS utilities. [2]

Utilities include: Insight, a file manager; File information, which reports a file's format and other details; and Lumina Open, a graphical utility to launch applications based on the selected file or folder. [3]

Version 1.4 included several new utilities. [6] The PDF reader lumina-pdf is based on the poppler library. [7] The Lumina Theme Engine replaced an earlier theme system; it enables a user to configure the desktop appearance and functionality, and ensures all Qt5 applications "present a unified appearance". [6]

Ports

Lumina 1.0.0 on TrueOS Lumina1.0.0-TrueOS.png
Lumina 1.0.0 on TrueOS

Lumina has been ported to various BSD operating systems and Linux distributions. These include:

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  2. 1 2 Lumina FAQ.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Watson 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Moore 2015.
  5. ↑ Lumina Desktop Environment homepage.
  6. 1 2 Nestor 2017.
  7. ↑ Larabel 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lumina 1.0 release.
  9. ↑ Freshports.
  10. ↑ "lumina-desktop added to repos – antiX Linux". antixlinux.com. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  11. ↑ Arch Linux.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Lumina Adds Luster to Linux Desktop". 14 February 2017.

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References

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