This week Elementary OS team has launched their latest stable release of eOS 0.4 code named Loki.
Elementary OS names its releases after Gods and Creatures of Norse Mythology (0.3 was known as Freya – symbolizing beauty, fondness of love).
The name Loki is unusual because it is described as wily trickster God in Norse Mythology http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-aesir-gods-and-goddesses/loki/.
Anyway, I am a big fan of Elementary OS (http://elementary.io/) since Freya was released. I liked it mainly because of its simplicity and beauty.
Similar to Freya (and other Elementary OS releases), Loki is based on Ubuntu – Ubuntu 16.04 stable release to be precise.
Ever since beta is released, I am waiting eagerly for the stable candidate and at last it was available near to the same day as apple released announced iOS and OS X Sierra (What a coincidence) After all, Elementary OS describes itself as – “A fast and open replacement for Windows and macOS”
I downloaded Loki ISO from torrent:
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:535c241c5b14fdfe47bec6cbaac4a39cd41c719e&dn=elementaryos-0.4-stable-amd64.20160909.iso&tr=https%3A%2F%2Fashrise.com%3A443%2Fphoenix%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.demonii.com%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.ccc.de%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.publicbt.com%3A80%2Fannounce&ws=http://sgp1.dl.elementary.io/download/MTQ3Mzk1NjMyNA==/elementaryos-0.4-stable-amd64.20160909.iso
It is about 1.3 GB. The installation was simple.
Major differences compared to Freya are:
- UI or the desktop environment – Pantheon looks even more polished
- Ubuntu 16.04 is built on the 4.4 series of Linux Kernels. Hence Loki is taking advantage of latest Linux Kernel
- Noticed python 3.5.2 was also installed by default
- Notification center is redesigned with DND (do not disturb) option
- Epiphany is default browser (I had to quickly install Chromium as I was not able to login to WordPress or Google account on Epiphany browser)
- There is a lightweight email client
- Most of the apps are looking improved and fresh
Here are some of the screenshots of my Elementary Loki:
Desktop
AppCenter
Epiphany browser
Mail Client
Calendar
Music Player, Video Player
Overall, there is a great improvement over Freya in terms of look and feel design. Hope to see Loki improving further.
Teaslegourd 