bou

⚠️ This project is unmantained and image downloads have been disabled.

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Just a basic, opinionated take on the Ubuntu desktop.

What

bou is a Linux desktop based on the experience of using Ubuntu and other modern distributions for personal and professional purposes over the last 10 years. bou removes all the unwanted and distracting bits from a vanilla Ubuntu installation, adds software and extra tweaks based on conventions and strong opinions, and serves a clean, beautiful and practical desktop environment.

What's in

• Default Ubuntu installer
• Clean and minimal Gnome desktop environment
• apt and Homebrew for software packaging
• Light and dark flat, minimalistic windows themes
• Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers
• VS Code and Vim text editors
• Git version-control system
• Docker and containerd runtimes
• Go programming language
• Terminator terminal emulator
• zsh + oh-my-zsh as default shell
• Restic for backups
• Spotify music player
• Software dev tools: curl, jq, telnet, tmux, htop, bashtop, Node.js, etc.
• Other misc: ffmpeg, peek, xclip, neofetch, etc.

See Software for more...

What's NOT in

• LibreOffice suite
• Thunderbird email client
• Snap software packaging system
• GNOME Terminal
• On-boarding dashboard
• Ubuntu online accounts integration
• Ubuntu dock
• Icons on desktop
• Shotwell photo manager
• Rhythmbox music player
• Déjà Dup backups
• GNOME games

Why

As of 2021, Ubuntu and Gnome are a winning combination for an amazing Linux desktop environment experience. It's easy to install and to use, and everything works out of the box with most of modern machines. However, there's not a single time that you install Ubuntu (or a similar distro) and it is just ready to use: it doesn't look as you like it, it has many software that you'll never use, it doesn't include the basic tools you work with everyday.

bou is a very opinionated take on this, aiming from the first minute after install for a very clean interface, preferred use of the keyboard over the mouse, and a solid set of tooling for software development and engineering, thought for interoperabilty with other Linux and macOS machines.

How

bou is built with Cubic using a custom build script, based on a Ubuntu 20.04 LTS amd64 ISO file.

All software described above is included in the bou image, although some extra settings are performed after installation and user creation.

For who

Anyone interested on Linux for the desktop, either as a newcomer or as a software professional coming from Windows or Mac worlds.

Install

See installation guide.

Docs

See docs page.

Code of Conduct

bou is committed to fostering a welcoming community. Please read carefully our Code of Conduct for more information.

License

Licensed under the GNU General Public License, Version 3.0, (LICENSE or https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html)

Contribution

Any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, shall be licensed under the GNU GPLv3.