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Home Tech Services & Software Open Source

Universal Blue is a new paradigm for the Linux desktop and it's
brilliant

There's a new type of Linux distribution that does something no other
operating system can do, and it blew my mind over the weekend.
jack-wallen
Written by Jack Wallen, Contributing Writer on April 17, 2023
Reviewed by Min Shin

  * 
  * 
  * 
  * 
  * 

The Bluefin default desktop.

Universal Blue rebased with the Bluefin image.

Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET

I've been using Linux since 1997. Years ago, I reached the point
where I was certain there was nothing that could surprise me anymore.
Fast forward to this past weekend when Jorge Castro reached out to me
and proved me wrong.

Jorge used to work with Ubuntu but is now working on a new project,
called Universal Blue. Without going into the technical details of
what this distribution does (because most average users don't really
care what happens "under the hood," they only care that things work),
let's see if I can describe what Universal Blue is. Understand, this
is really new stuff we're talking about... and it's cool.

Also: Thinking about switching to Linux? 6 things you need to know

Imagine you've installed an operating system and you poke around and
decide it's not the right desktop for you. Maybe you installed a
version which ships with the GNOME desktop. With Universal Blue, what
you can do is "rebase" the operating system such that it now is based
on KDE Plasma. 

Or MATE. 
Or LXQt.

I'm sure that list will continue to grow.

Also: How to use KDE Plasma Places for a much more efficient desktop

According to the Git documentation: "With the rebase command, you can
take all the changes that were committed on one branch and replay
them on a different branch. For this example, you would check out the
experiment branch, and then rebase it onto the master branch..."

Technically speaking, a Linux distribution isn't actually "based" on
a desktop environment but it's an easy way to explain it.

Over the weekend, I did some basic testing with this. I started out
using the default Universal Blue release. After installing that, I
used the rpm-ostree rebase command and rebased the OS with the
Bluefin version. 

According to Jorge, Bluefin "is me and some friends taking uBlue and
then making it our own -- this is where I make stronger opinionated
decisions, the Ubuntu-style dock and app indicators, and a
ChromeOS-like maintenance cycle. For devs, it includes a bunch of
cloud tools like Kubernetes' kind. The overuse of cloud terminology
is on purpose, I'm trying to use known-proven tech from cloud on the
desktop for reliability and features, so you'll see all the usual
cloud-native words in there, good for SEO." 

Also: How to install Linux applications from the command line

When I went to do the rebasing, the command was:

sudo rpm-ostree rebase ostree-unverified-registry:ghcr.io/ublue-os/bluefin:38

After the process was completed, I rebooted, logged in, and saw a
completely different desktop environment.

I already know what you're thinking: Why not just install a different
desktop over the existing OS? That's a valid question and I'll
explain by way of an example. Recently, I found Pop!_OS becoming
rather unstable. I tried to track down the issue but was
unsuccessful. In the end, I decided to install a different desktop
environment. 

Also: How to simplify Flatpak app installation on the KDE Plasma
desktop

First, I tried KDE Plasma but was quickly reminded why I didn't much
care for that desktop environment (it's too much like Windows). Then
I tried Enlightenment, but that environment didn't much care for
Wayland, so it was a no-go. I was going to install standard GNOME,
but that would break Pop!_OS. Pantheon? Nope. I soon realized it was
probably time to switch to a different distribution, but I don't
really have the time to do so at the moment. Now, if I were using
Universal Blue, I could simply run the rebase command and make the
switch. There would be no breakage, no complicated dependencies to
deal with, and no mess. It's clean, fast, and simple.

Also: The best Linux laptops for consumers and developers

When I experimented with Universal Blue over the weekend, I was
reminded of just how cool the Linux operating system is. All of a
sudden, I felt like I was back in the late 90s or early 2000s and was
seeing the future of operating systems before my eyes. That's how
impressive Jorge's work is. 

I've been considering making the jump to Fedora OS. After all, one of
the first versions of Linux I ever used was Red Hat 5.2 (after a
failed Caldera Open Linux 1 experiment). With Universal Blue (which
is based on Fedora), I would never have to worry about such an issue
again. It would also curb that feeling of "distro hopping" that so
many Linux users succumb to.

At the moment, Universal Blue is still in alpha, so I wouldn't
exactly recommend it for installation on machines you use daily. But
install it as a virtual machine and see how amazing the rebasing
feature is. Also, at the moment, the rebasing must be done with the
command line. Hopefully, at some point, a GUI tool will be created to
remove the need to do the rebasing from the command line. The simpler
everything in Linux gets, the more people will use it.

Also: The most important reason you should be using Linux at home

I stand in awe of what Jorge has done with this project and hope it
flourishes as I believe it can and should. If you're curious about
this, make sure to download Universal Blue and test the rebasing
feature. I suspect, once this comes out of alpha, it might very well
wind up being my daily operating system. I'm also confident, once you
try Universal Blue (and its rebasing feature), you might come away
with the same opinion.

You can read more about what Jorge Castro is doing with Universal
Blue on his official blog.

See also

 
Linux Ubuntu desktop
How to install Ubuntu Linux (It's easy!)
 
Woman using laptop on a couch
How to run a Windows app on Linux with Wine
 
Typing on a laptop
How to get started with Git on Linux
 
Female IT Server Specialist Standing in Data Center. View from Rack
Server Cabinet with Cloud Server User Interface Icons and
Visualization in the Foreground.
How to kill a process in Linux

  *  
    Linux Ubuntu desktop
    How to install Ubuntu Linux (It's easy!)
  *  
    Woman using laptop on a couch
    How to run a Windows app on Linux with Wine
  *  
    Typing on a laptop
    How to get started with Git on Linux
  *  
    Female IT Server Specialist Standing in Data Center. View from
    Rack Server Cabinet with Cloud Server User Interface Icons and
    Visualization in the Foreground.
    How to kill a process in Linux

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