Deepin Linux 20.2.2 Released With A Brand-New App Store, Android Apps Support, And More

The developers of the Chinese distribution of GNU Linux, Deepin, based on the stable version of Debian, announced the availability of a new version of the most beautiful distribution in the Linux world. 

Deepin OS version 20.2.2 brings a set of new features and bug fixes for various components and components of the operating system to improve system consistency and stability and enhanced the overall user experience. 

As usual for most Chinese projects, despite its useful features and beautiful design, Deepin Linux distribution suffers from a partial lack of translation into foreign languages, so we find some core operating system applications and components are in the Chinese language, and this is unfortunate, and we hope to be fixed in the Next versions of this beautiful Linux distro. 

The first great and new feature in Deepin Linux 20.2.2, is that the OS comes now with Secure Boot support. 

Secure Boot is a security standard developed by members of the PC industry to help ensure that a device boots using only software that is trusted by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), preventing malicious software such as rootkits from loading while the OS is booting, and harming the PC. To support Secure Boot, the OEM must have a Microsoft-signed Secure Boot certificate, which Deepen OS developers said it has obtained. 

As usual, Deepin OS allows the user to install the distribution using either the stable mainline version of the Linux kernel or the long-term supported version, and users can choose which kernel version they want to use while they boot from the installation disk. Deepin Linux 20.2.2 comes with the Linux kernel long-term Supported version 5.10, in addition to the standard stable version 5.12 of the kernel. 

This recent version also comes with a completely redesigned new software center or App Store, with fresh visual design, simplified interaction, rich functions, improved Visual content presentation, more reasonable application classification, and support for sorting according to application ratings, downloads, and update time dimensions, making it easier to obtain diverse types of applications. But, as we said earlier, most of the sections of the new App Store are in the Chinese language, which limits the user experience with this brilliant software center. 

Another feature provided by the App Store in Deepin Linux 20.2.2 is the support for Android applications, but the development team did not give any other details about this support, how it will be, nor what Android applications are supported, except that the Android apps work only on the Linux Kernel 5.10 for now, and since most of the App Store sections are not translated Yet to English, there is no way for us to check anything. 

But I cannot sit still and wait for the development team to clear things up, so I did some research and found that Deepin can actually run Android apps, but not from the Deepin App Store. 

Running Android apps on Deepin OS is based on a package that is not pre-installed by default with the operating system, called "uengine" which acts as a container allowing Android apps to be installed and run similarly to Anbox but without the need to install Snapd or anything related to it.

To install uengine follow these steps by running the following commands on the terminal: 

• Update the operating system: 

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

• Install uengine package:

 sudo apt install uengine 

• After successfully installing the package, search for available Android apps on the Deepin repositories by running this command: 

 apt search uengine 

Notes:

1. You can also use Synaptic package manager to find the apps: run sudo apt-get install synaptic; And search for uengine on the search box on the top of the app. 
2. Most apps are for Chinese people, but I found Microsoft Outlook, OneDrive, Xbrowser, and Amazon China app.  

• To install the Xbrowser App, for example, run the following command:

 sudo apt install uengine.com.mmbox.xbrowser 

You can also install APK files via the container: 

• Make sure you installed a browser app first, like Xbrowser. 
• Run the following command on the terminal to launch the Android container: 

 /usr/bin/uengine-launch.sh --package=org.anbox.appmgr --component=org.anbox.appmgr.AppViewActivity 

•  A window similar to the interface of the smartphone will appear, open the Settings application, then go to the Security section and activate the option to allow installation from unknown sources.  

• Now open the browser, and download the APK of your choice via any third-party Android store as APKPure, Uptodown, ...etc., and install it as usual. 
• The icon of the installed application will appear in the container’s app list, and you can launch it by clicking on it with the mouse. 
• That is it, enjoy your favorite Android apps on Deepin Linux, and do not forget to tell us about the apps that worked with you, and your overall experience with the distro. 

 

Limitations: 

1. Apps installed from the terminal appear in the Deepin Apps list, and you can launch them directly from there, while you will have to open the Android container with the above command every time you want to launch the APKs you installed manually. 
2. Not all Android apps may work in the distribution, especially those that rely on Google Mobile Services. 

Deepin 20.2.2 release comes with many fixes and features also for a group of system components and applications such as:  

• Adding a variety of biometric authentication methods in the "login, lock screen, and control center" interface. 
• The "New folder/document" option would be shown in the right-click menu if the folders were too much and took the full page in the list view on Deepin file Manager. 
• New extensions have been added to the browser app, with an improved UI display under the search box, and importing bookmarks from the Chrome browser process. 
• The Downloader's font can be changed with the system font settings 
• Adding support for different GPU models, including A10, A10G, A30, PG506-232, RTX A4000, RTX A5000, T400, T600. 
• Adding support for the rtl8852ae network card. 
• The app crashed once the Install button was clicked, has been fixed in the Package Installer. 
• Fixing an app crash after clicking "Send" or saving the draft in Mail App. 
• The "Play All" button on the search result page cannot be clicked bug on the Music app has been fixed. 

And much more bug fixes. You can view the full change log on the Deepin Linux website.