Deepin (; stylized as deepin; formerly known as Linux Deepin and Hiweed Linux) is a Linux distribution based on the Debian "stable" branch. It features the Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE), built on Qt and available for a variety of distributions. The Deepin userbase is predominantly Chinese, though DDE is in most prominent Linux distributions' repositories as an alternative desktop environment. The company behind the development, Deepin Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of UnionTech (), is based in Wuhan, China.
History
The distribution began in 2004 as Hiweed Linux. In 2011, the development team behind Deepin established a company named Deepin Technology to support commercial development of the operating system. The company received business investments the same year it was founded.
Deepin Technology joined the Linux Foundation in 2015. In 2019, Huawei started to ship Linux laptops pre-installed with Deepin.
Deepin has introduced a new package manager called "linglong"
Overview
Deepin ships a mix of open-source and proprietary programs such as Google Chrome, Spotify and Steam. It also includes a software suite of applications developed by Deepin Technology, as well as WPS Office, 360 Security Guard, CodeWeavers' CrossOver and many others.
The development of Deepin is led by China-based Deepin Technology Co., Ltd (). The company generates revenue through the sale of technical support and other services related to it. As of 1 January 2020, Deepin Technology is a wholly owned subsidiary of UnionTech (). The release cycle has followed various schedules but currently aims at four releases per year. Releases are delayed if the work of development and testing has not been completed.
The distribution is widely praised for its aesthetics in various reviews, while it has also been criticized for various perceived breaches in user privacy.
Market share
According to Deepin, in December 2022 the operating system had more than 3 million users worldwide, supported 33 languages, and had accumulated more than 80 million downloads since 2008 (when it was renamed "Deepin" from "Hiweed Linux" and also changed to Ubuntu and Gnome as a basis).
Deepin Desktop Environment
Deepin features its own desktop environment called Deepin DE or DDE for short. It is written in Qt. The distribution also maintains their own Window Manager dde-kwin. The desktop environment was described as "the single most beautiful desktop on the market" by Jack Wallen writing for TechRepublic. The DDE is also available in the software repositories of Fedora 30.
UbuntuDDE and Manjaro Deepin are community-supported distributions, that feature the Deepin Desktop Environment and some deepin applications. It is also possible to install DDE (Deepin Desktop Environment) on Arch Linux.
Deepin applications
Deepin comes with a number of applications built via the DTK (Deepin Tool Kit), which is based on C++ and Qt. The following is a list of Deepin Applications created by the Deepin development team:
Deepin Boot Maker
Deepin Installer
Deepin File Manager
Deepin System Monitor
Deepin Package Manager
Deepin Font Installer
Deepin Clone
Deepin Picker
Deepin Store
Deepin Screen Recorder
Deepin Voice Recorder
Deepin Screenshot
Deepin Terminal
Deepin Image Viewer
Deepin Movie
Deepin Cloud Print
Deepin OpenSymbol
Deepin Music
Deepin Calendar
Deepin Remote Assistant
Deepin Manual
Deepin Emacs
Deepin Presentation Assistant
Deepin Calculator
Graphics Driver Manager
Deepin Repair
Deepin Editor
Deepin Installer
Deepin comes with an installer named "Deepin Installer" that was created by Deepin Technology. The Installer was praised by Swapnil Bhartiya writing for linux.com as having "the simplest installation procedure" that was also "quite pleasant." Writing for Forbes, Jason Evangelho complained about the installer requiring the user to select their location from a world map, though concluded by saying, "Aside from my little time zone selection pet peeve, the installer is beautiful, brisk and very intuitive."
Reception
The distribution is generally praised for its aesthetics by users and reviewers alike, such as linux.com, Fossbytes and Techrepublic.