A new beta build of CutefishOS is available to download.
While things aren’t quite “daily driver” ready (yet) the distro provides a quick and easy way to try the latest developments in the Qt-based Cutefish desktop environment on top of a familiar apt foundation. We looked at an Ubuntu-based offshoot a few months back.
In CutefishOS 0.6 beta the distro ships with a slew of new settings, including:
- Network proxy
- Sound settings
- Bluetooth settings
- 24-hour time option
- Power management
There’s some new functionality too, like being able to drag and drop tray icons to rearrange them. You can also transform the Cutefish dock into something more akin to a panel from the Dock settings page:
The Cutefish file manager supports drag and drop to move files, as well as the ability to show hidden files. Now I know these sound like basic features but remember that the developers have started from (nigh-on) scratch here. Features, big and small, do take a while to get implemented.
Finally, the Cutefish lock screen now shows media controls if music or videos are playing. There’s also a new unlock animation to enhance the user experience.
Interested in taking it for a spin?
You’ll find direct .iso download links on the Cutefish OS website.
Keep in mind the usual caveats that apply to sampling unstable software. While I didn’t encounter any major snafus during my hands-on the distro (like the desktop environment) remains a work in progress.