Frequently Asked Questions
How is it different from other desktop environments?
- Designed to work best with TrueOS® and Project Trident®, but specifically works very well for the BSD community at large. Lumina® can also be easily ported to any OS, including Linux distros).
- Does not require any of the commonly-used desktop implementation frameworks (DBUS, policykit, consolekit, systemd, HALD, etc..).
- Does not come bundled with any “end-user” applications (web browsers, email clients, multimedia software, office suites, etc..). The only utilities that Lumina brings to the table by default are the ones written specifically for the project and are generally for background/utilitarian functionality (the largest utility is the file manager).
- Simple text-based configuration file for setting system-wide defaults for new users. This allows distributors of the desktop to easily pre-set the system defaults/interface so it just works for the end user.
- Plugin-based interface design. This allows the user to make the desktop as light/heavy as desired (within reason) simply by choosing which plugins to have running on their desktop/panels.
- Designed to function as a general-purpose system interface – easily pre-configured to run on any type/size of device or screen.
- See the features page for additional details.
What operating systems is it available for?
Lumina is highly portable and should work on any Unix-like operating system, with a single OS-compatibility class for porters to check/update as necessary. It has already been ported to all the various BSD operating systems, as well as many of the Linux distributions.
What graphical systems is it available for?
Lumina is currently only available on the X11 graphical system. The code-base is designed to be easily ported to another graphical system sometime down the road (only a single file to re-implement in the new system), but at the present moment, there is no scheduled time for any conversions to take place.
What does it look like?
- Due to the flexibility of Lumina®’s plugin-based framework, the interface can take almost any appearance that you want (including copying other common desktop interfaces). Please view our “Screenshots” page for some examples.
- Note that as we continue to create more plugins with every new version of Lumina®, the variability of the interface just continues to grow. If you have a particular plugin/feature that you would like to see, please post a feature request!
How can I get involved?
View the Community Page for inspiration on how to get started!