MX Linux Forum

Please, build all packages Deepin Desktop Environment v. 20 for MXLinux 19.2!
https://deepin.org/

I'm also really interested to see DDE as a desktop environment option on MX Linux

Deepin is not a separate desktop environment, it is a complete distribution.

Others have packaged it for specific distros, but it is based on Debian Unstable, and has no 32-bit version, so that will be problematic for MX Linux.

Chris

The Deepin DE and accompanying accessories/utilities are available for installation in other distros, like Arch, Manjaro.

I think their own distro is now based on Debian 10. [DDE is not equal to Deepin distro]

But like I said Deepin 20 development is still rather turbulent.

Deepin 15 might be much more easy to build, and that one had nice UI, but it's a dead end after the massive changes in Deepin 20. For example IIRC, they changed window manager from mutter (gnome based) to kwin, to deepin-kwin, in a very short period.

Deepin DE 32 bit is in Fedora repositories. And since its environment has been ported to other distributions, it can also be ported to Debian. Deepin Linux itself as well as MX is based on Debian. It seems to me that there should be no problems. If Deepin developers could connect their repository to Debian, it would be lucky.

Privacy Issues with Deepin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSi2Y_u-ToM

dreamofdestinyua wrote: Fri Oct 02, 2020 1:10 pm Deepin DE 32 bit is in Fedora repositories. And since its environment has been ported to other distributions, it can also be ported to Debian. Deepin Linux itself as well as MX is based on Debian. It seems to me that there should be no problems. If Deepin developers could connect their repository to Debian, it would be lucky.

Then what are the Deepin repo addresses? If it was that easy, then a user could add the repo themselves and let us know how much smoke and fire came out of their machine when they added Deepin DE, much like those experimenting with a newer KDE version on MX.

It's all fine and dandy to say, "I could surely fly if I could just flap my arms fast enough!", but it's the fast enough part that's the problem.

I think user dreamofdestinyua needs to make a case for what DDE brings to the table. Also address why MX should introduce Chinese code. Disclaimer: I'm not xenophobic.

dreamofdestinyua wrote: Fri Oct 02, 2020 1:10 pm Deepin DE 32 bit is in Fedora repositories. And since its environment has been ported to other distributions, it can also be ported to Debian. Deepin Linux itself as well as MX is based on Debian. It seems to me that there should be no problems. If Deepin developers could connect their repository to Debian, it would be lucky.

Sparky Linux offers it, and Sparky is Debian Buster based, so you could find the Sparky repos and look at the packages and see if they would run on MX or not. I've been doing the experimenting with the advanced versions of KDE desktop, but I'm not interested in experimenting with this Deepin one myself.

I do know that from the time of Deepin 20 onwards, the Deepin DE packaged in Arch was discovered to have some code that sent transmissions back to deepin, as well as having licence terms of use that are worrying.

https://archived.forum.manjaro.org/t/ma ... 106251/321

and

https://archived.forum.manjaro.org/t/ma ... 106251/322

Post 321 - Arch has fixed this and their highly dubious licence is no longer there in Arch's repo version. [to be fair I think the EULA was meant for users of the actual Deepin OS itself]
Post 322 - not sure if the sending of data back to that IP address is still happening.

I followed the advice to cut off access to that IP address (via firewall) but for the uninitiated, it's a problem if not yet resolved.

I still have it as a trial install on archdeepin, which Antechdesigns (who made many wallpapers for MX) was building. This was pre-Deepin20. He's no longer maintaining it but it will continue to roll on since it's on Arch repos. So whatever deepin update comes down from Arch I get it. And Deepin 20 has issues. To me, the UI has regressed from the Deepin 15 version.


As for the mythical repo, I doubt it is easily accessible because I think deepin is now in the hands of new management that wants to commercialise it. Huawei is making laptops with it preinstalled.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepin


[ADDED: I installed archdeepin in the first place because Antech asked me for feedback. I've kept it out of curiosity but I don't use it for any serious work or do any internet banking etc on it]

andyprough wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 12:06 am Sparky Linux offers it, and Sparky is Debian Buster based, so you could find the Sparky repos and look at the packages and see if they would run on MX or not. I've been doing the experimenting with the advanced versions of KDE desktop, but I'm not interested in experimenting with this Deepin one myself.

Does Sparky Linux include the source files in the repos or just the .debs?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say they don’t based on previous experience with things from their repos, but I could be wrong for these packages.

Unrelated, to Andy’s quote.

This topic (Deepin) has been covered before, Stevo covered it here a bit again. Maintaining a whole other Desktop environment is more work than it looks at first glance. Even if we did package everything, then we have to keep it updated, we have to deal with other user requests related to it. Again, more work.

If one of us is going to sponsor packaging it, sure, but I think we all have enough on our plates right now. If it was a matter of just packaging 10 things easily... we’d have done it already.

dreamofdestinyua wrote: Fri Oct 02, 2020 1:10 pm Deepin DE 32 bit is in Fedora repositories. And since its environment has been ported to other distributions, it can also be ported to Debian. Deepin Linux itself as well as MX is based on Debian. It seems to me that there should be no problems. If Deepin developers could connect their repository to Debian, it would be lucky.

To add to SwampRabbit's point, the Fedora deepin stuff doesn't seem to be current:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/DeepinDE

Looks like the packages were made for Fed 30 and Fedora is now at Fed 32. I believe during Fed 30's time, Deepin was at ver 15.

There doesn't seem to be continued maintenance of this package, and you have to ask yourself if there is a good reason why Fedora stopped (if I'm reading this correctly).


I can tell you that Antech stopped building archdeepin isos because he was frustrated by the many bugs, changes of direction in the development, bug reports that were not addressed. And he was originally a fan.

He now has an Archplasma release on sourceforge instead.

kksmith wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 1:54 am

figueroa wrote: Fri Oct 02, 2020 11:03 pm I think user dreamofdestinyua needs to make a case for what DDE brings to the table. Also address why MX should introduce Chinese code. Disclaimer: I'm not xenophobic.

is the code undesirable because it is chinese? at least have the spine to say so. disclaimer: i dont really mean that.

What DDE brings to the table is BEAUTY, and EASE-of-USE!

There is no such thing as "Chinese code" ... it's all written in English ... or at least English readable Python or {name your programming language of choice here], I don't know of any code anywhere, written in Chinese, Chinese isn't even a langauge ... but let’s not delve into that now! KDE which was recently added to MX has German code - you don't condone Nazi's by doing that, now do you?

Stevo wrote: Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:23 pm

dreamofdestinyua wrote: Fri Oct 02, 2020 1:10 pm Deepin DE 32 bit is in Fedora repositories. And since its environment has been ported to other distributions, it can also be ported to Debian. Deepin Linux itself as well as MX is based on Debian. It seems to me that there should be no problems. If Deepin developers could connect their repository to Debian, it would be lucky.

Then what are the Deepin repo addresses? If it was that easy, then a user could add the repo themselves and let us know how much smoke and fire came out of their machine when they added Deepin DE, much like those experimenting with a newer KDE version on MX.

It's all fine and dandy to say, "I could surely fly if I could just flap my arms fast enough!", but it's the fast enough part that's the problem.

Hope this helps ...

I am trying to install the Deepin Desktop Environment on MX Linux 19. For this, I have done the following steps:

#Download Key
wget http://packages.deepin.com/deepin/pool/ ... -1_all.deb

#Install Key
sudo dpkg -i deepin-keyring_2019.01.09-1_all.deb

#Open repositories list
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deepin.list

#Add line trackers to the file
deb http://packages.deepin.com/deepin/ lion main contrib non-free
deb-src http://packages.deepin.com/deepin/ lion main contrib non-free

#Save, close and update
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

#Install Deepin Desktop and required packages
sudo apt install dde

spanspek wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 2:36 pmHope this helps ...

I am trying to install the Deepin Desktop Environment on MX Linux 19. For this, I have done the following steps:

#Download Key
wget http://packages.deepin.com/deepin/pool/ ... -1_all.deb

#Install Key
sudo dpkg -i deepin-keyring_2019.01.09-1_all.deb

#Open repositories list
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deepin.list

#Add line trackers to the file
deb http://packages.deepin.com/deepin/ lion main contrib non-free
deb-src http://packages.deepin.com/deepin/ lion main contrib non-free

#Save, close and update
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

#Install Deepin Desktop and required packages
sudo apt install dde

Excellent, thanks for sharing the steps, please let us know about your progress and what works and what doesn't. And if it breaks anything else on MX.

I will leave it up to people who are really interested to test this at their own risk.

I'll pass.

kksmith wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 1:54 am

figueroa wrote: Fri Oct 02, 2020 11:03 pm I think user dreamofdestinyua needs to make a case for what DDE brings to the table. Also address why MX should introduce Chinese code. Disclaimer: I'm not xenophobic.

is the code undesirable because it is chinese? at least have the spine to say so. disclaimer: i dont really mean that.

Just another way for the CCP to gather data from the rest of the world.

figueroa wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 4:46 pm
Just another way for the CCP to gather data from the rest of the world.

In this specific case, how?

Like I said previously in this thread , Deepin as packaged in arch repos was certainly at one stage reporting home, though it could just be for commercial data analytics rather than any political reasons (which comments like "another way for the CCP to..." would imply) . Probably hardware specs and what programs were installed on your system, per their UOS licence.

Still not good but it would make them no different from Google or MS or other commercial entities anywhere in the world if they could get away with it depending on their country's privacy laws and public perception.

https://archived.forum.manjaro.org/t/ma ... 106251/316

Extract:

I installed XFCE just to have a comparison and ran Wireshark directly after login (with sudo).
With XFCE traffic was normal without any suspicious destination even as I started the XFCE settings.
Unfortunately Deepin behaved differently. Every time I opened the Control Panel there was the same amount of Traffic to www.wshifen.com 3 (103.235.46.39).
DNSDBLookup.com tells me that the corresponding IP belongs to Baidu Cloud and is located in Hong Kong.
It looks like, it is always the same amount of data that gets sent and it happens each and every time I open the Control Panel. Changing settings or starting Deepin programs does not seem to generate any other traffic.

UOS licence which has since been removed from version in arch (though you might still get it if you install direct from deepin repos). It's certainly broader than most privacy permission documents out there.

https://archived.forum.manjaro.org/t/ma ... 106251/321

Extract:

reading trough the UOS Privacy Policy document and it states that the "User Experience Program" collects the following information:

1.1.1. Equipment and system information
Device information includes your device motherboard information, BIOS information, CPU information, memory information, hard disk information, partition information, network card information, etc .; system information includes system software version, system last update time, system language, daily users, each download Use source information.
1.1.2. Application software information
For example, the version of each application you installed in the system, and the start / exit time information of each application.

That would be a lot of data. In my test there was only a couple of hundred Bytes of data after the hand shake that was sent. Seems to me too small to fit all that data.
It doesn't matter anyway because the destination IP address (103.235.46.39) is currently hard coded. I simply blocked this IP in my firewall and this way Deepin could no longer phone home. There seem to be no advanced function built in currently to overcome such a simple road block.

Would be interesting for those who enable the deepin repos and install from there report on whether the UOS is still there, and if the distro still reports home when you open the control centre.

asqwerth wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 12:10 am Like I said previously in this thread , Deepin as packaged in arch repos was certainly at one stage reporting home, though it could just be for commercial data analytics rather than any political reasons (which comments like "another way for the CCP to..." would imply) . Probably hardware specs and what programs were installed on your system, per their UOS licence.

Still not good but it would make them no different from Google or MS or other commercial entities anywhere in the world if they could get away with it depending on their country's privacy laws and public perception.

https://archived.forum.manjaro.org/t/ma ... 106251/316

Extract:

I installed XFCE just to have a comparison and ran Wireshark directly after login (with sudo).
With XFCE traffic was normal without any suspicious destination even as I started the XFCE settings.
Unfortunately Deepin behaved differently. Every time I opened the Control Panel there was the same amount of Traffic to www.wshifen.com 3 (103.235.46.39).
DNSDBLookup.com tells me that the corresponding IP belongs to Baidu Cloud and is located in Hong Kong.
It looks like, it is always the same amount of data that gets sent and it happens each and every time I open the Control Panel. Changing settings or starting Deepin programs does not seem to generate any other traffic.

UOS licence which has since been removed from version in arch (though you might still get it if you install direct from deepin repos). It's certainly broader than most privacy permission documents out there.

https://archived.forum.manjaro.org/t/ma ... 106251/321

Extract:

reading trough the UOS Privacy Policy document and it states that the "User Experience Program" collects the following information:

1.1.1. Equipment and system information
Device information includes your device motherboard information, BIOS information, CPU information, memory information, hard disk information, partition information, network card information, etc .; system information includes system software version, system last update time, system language, daily users, each download Use source information.
1.1.2. Application software information
For example, the version of each application you installed in the system, and the start / exit time information of each application.

That would be a lot of data. In my test there was only a couple of hundred Bytes of data after the hand shake that was sent. Seems to me too small to fit all that data.
It doesn't matter anyway because the destination IP address (103.235.46.39) is currently hard coded. I simply blocked this IP in my firewall and this way Deepin could no longer phone home. There seem to be no advanced function built in currently to overcome such a simple road block.

Would be interesting for those who enable the deepin repos and install from there report on whether the UOS is still there, and if the distro still reports home when you open the control centre.

I agree that software shouldn't phone home. The more we know the better position we are in. But why the double standards? Firefox sends a lot of data including a unique hardware identifier which means your browsing habits can be tracked. It also has the capability to change your settings remotely.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/
https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/pubs ... rivacy.pdf

I'm not here to defend Deepin, just to point out that MX ships a piece of software by default that does exactly what people blame Deepin for. Instead of applications Firefox tracks your extensions and can disable them remotely if needed.

The big lesson here is probably that when there is a corporation involved whether it is UOS or Mozilla, then data will be collected and likely shared with governments and/or third party partners.

We could of course decide that this discussion is nonsense as long as we continue to use iOS and Android devices.

Deepin has a bad rep, and rightly so IMO.

Sparky wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:27 am Deepin has a bad rep, and rightly so IMO.

I agree. THAT's WHY we want to have DDE (the desktop environment) on MX Linux, an OS that we can trust!

Let's not confuse the DE with the OS (as chrispop99 did in comment #3)!

I said in any earlier comment that I've tried ...

#Add line trackers to the file
deb http://packages.deepin.com/deepin/ lion main contrib non-free

... but it did not work well, lion is too old, eagle is beta ... it's apricot that I want to work on MX Linux!

Apt complains that it "doesn't have a release file".

Can anybody point me in the right direction?

Did you need it? https://github.com/FZUG/deepin-desktop

Thanks!

spanspek wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 1:26 pm Apt complains that it "doesn't have a release file".

It usually means your repo address is faulty.

If you manage to find correct repo address (maybe by installing Deepin 20) don't forget that installing DDE on MX requires you to use the systemd boot option.

Thanks for the reply.

installing DDE on MX requires you to use the systemd boot

... that's what I'm trying to avoid!

What am I missing?

^Check out the version number. Looks like it should work.

Rob

Applications that sneakily spy on you without notice (Firefox doesn't try and hide what they do, do they?) are still gonna do it, no matter if they are running in Deepin OS or on top of MX Linux. You can probably verify that using Wireshark (newer version in our test repo, too), and maybe a firewall could block that.

rob.chaffe wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 1:46 pm ^Check out the version number. Looks like it should work.

Rob

Thats what I thought too! But it doesn't ...

spanspek wrote: Thu Oct 08, 2020 4:56 am

rob.chaffe wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 1:46 pm ^Check out the version number. Looks like it should work.

Rob

Thats what I thought too! But it doesn't ...

Your version is 0.3.8. You need at least version 0.3.8.1 according to the picture.

dreamer wrote: Thu Oct 08, 2020 11:30 am

spanspek wrote: Thu Oct 08, 2020 4:56 am

rob.chaffe wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 1:46 pm ^Check out the version number. Looks like it should work.

Rob

Thats what I thought too! But it doesn't ...

Your version is 0.3.8. You need at least version 0.3.8.1 according to the picture.

Thanks dreamer ... well spotted! The dot and the dash - I didn't notice the difference at first, thought I had 0.3.8.3 ... but I have 0.8.3-3

This is a nice thread, I read from OP to #34. The beauty of linux... when we want something, anything can be done. Keep up with this interesting effort to get DDE on MX.

+1000

spanspek wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 1:26 pm Apt complains that it "doesn't have a release file".

I just read the DistroWatch review. It mentions the problem with the missing release file.
https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issu ... 005#deepin

There were some issues with package management during my trail. These all appear to be rooted in the missing "Release" file on one of the repository servers.

Not abandoning my quest to have dde as a desktop environment <i>option</i> for mxlinux, but I have learnt some valuable lessons starting with another base. Q4OS (I suspect it used to be linpus) was used ...

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 425956BB3E31DF51
sudo apt update
sudo apt install dde

Could somebody please help with this challenge ...

Preparing to unpack .../dde-kwin_5.2.0.7-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking dde-kwin (5.2.0.7-1) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/dde-kwin_5.2.0.7-1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/etc/xdg/kdeglobals', which is also in package desktop-defaults-mx-kde 20.08.02
dpkg-deb: error: paste subprocess was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/dde-kwin_5.2.0.7-1_amd64.deb
E: lstat /lastore/override/desktop2uaid: no such file or directory
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Posts that I've read on manjaro forum indicate that installing dde on top of a KDE install is not a good idea because they both use kwin window manager but may have different configuration settings .

You might wish to try installing dde on top of a MX xfce base.

Thanks for the advice ...

xfce base complains too ...

Unpacking deepin-default-settings (2020.09.11-1) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/deepin-default-settings_2020.09.11-1_all.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/etc/skel/.config/Trolltech.conf', which is also in package desktop-defaults-mx-xfce-desktop 20.06.01

Got it working!


Here's how :

1. Started with MX-19.2_September_x64.iso - turned on systemd ... viewtopic.php?f=104&t=57536
2. Removed XFCE with these instructions ... https://mxlinux.org/wiki/xfce/how-to-co ... move-xfce/
3. sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 425956BB3E31DF51
4. added this repo deb https://mirror.deepines.com/testing/deepin-20-beta/ apricot main contrib non-free (Spanish repo, much faster) ... it says beta but is not!
5. sudo apt update
6. sudo apt install dde
7. voilà!

Sorry, the Deepin version has long been stable. Does anyone have a real experience of how to make him work?

https://community-packages.deepin.com/deepin/ apricot main contrib non-free ...

If you don't want to use the spanish repo because it "says" beta

Would you be kind enough to give the command to connect this repository?

Hi there ...

Thanks for the question! Adding repositories can be done in various ways.

On the command line this might work ...

sudo add-apt-repository "https://community-packages.deepin.com/deepin/ apricot main contrib non-free"

I use synaptic and enter the values there!

(warning: completely unsupported)

'add-apt-repository' also adds a buster repo, better is this: and then run 'MX Fix GPG keys'.
Works for me in MX KDE, but when it's activated I see it wants to do 462 updates without me installing anything. So if you use this, you're not really using MX Linux anymore.
To remove repo:

Thank you all, I will try!

"So if you use this, you're not really using MX Linux anymore."

I agree. But still using linux, right? mx as base .... many mx tools doesn't work .... but some important ones do!

DDE works on debian 10 proper (buster) - I've tested it on some other distros (q4os works well - not perfect) but I hope that the mx community can help make DDE a viable choice of desktop environment for future users!