Kumander Linux

I'm a long time Xfce user and when I saw Kumander Linux I was intrigued by it's appearance. I wondered if it worked as good as it looks, and I wasn't disappointed - it's absolutely fantastic, and I'm loving that it's blazingly fast. Great job!

I have a few suggestions. I hope you don't object to them being in a single post, I jotted them down as I was using Kumander and I don't want to forget them.

I found the clock didn't set itself to the correct time when I installed Kumander. Is this something that needs looking at?

I had to dig around for the wallpapers, can Background in Desktop Settings point to /usr/share/backgrounds?

A hidden Xfce setting is drag and drop taskbar buttons. Right-click the taskbar > Panel > Panel Preferences > double-click Window Buttons > change the Sorting Order drop menu from Timestamp to None, allow drag and drop. Is this something you would find useful?

Would it be possible for GUFW to be turned on by default or made easy to access so that it's not forgotten?

I cannot live without Clipman, could it be installed by default?

Can msedit https://github.com/microsoft/edit be a default installation as it would be very fitting for Kumander?

Could MX Cleanup https://github.com/MX-Linux/mx-cleanup be used as a simple cleaner for Kumander? Bleachbit can be a bit hazardous.

Can you have Btop [or Htop] installed by default as a lot of reviewers use this when checking out a distro.

I changed 'Icon Type' in Desktop Icons to 'None' because I like a tidy desktop, and after a lot of head scratching I found this disabled the themed desktop menu. Can you make it clear that setting Desktop Icons to 'None' will cause this issue [or create a workaround].

I'll leave it there because you're probably on the verge of passing out.

Many thanks for a great distro.

Thanks for your kind words! We’re glad you love Kumander Linux.

About the clock: I believe you’re the person who commented on YouTube and sent us an email a while ago. We did reply to that email, but due to a configuration issue with our account, our response may never have reached you.

Does the time issue only happen with Kumander Linux? If it also happens with other systems, it could be caused by the BIOS battery. If it only happens with Kumander Linux, we’ll look into it thoroughly. On my end, I haven’t run into the time configuration issue you describe.

About Clipman: it was included in previous versions of Kumander Linux, and we’ll bring it back.

About Btop and Htop: we’ll include both, since they don’t increase the size of the ISO.

About MX Cleanup: we’ll include it, since a simple cleanup tool is indeed missing and it’s quite lightweight.

About GUFW: Kumander Linux aims to be a complete solution, unlike Windows, which is split into client and server editions. We’re working on a set of self-hosted services that can be enabled with a single click from a graphical interface, along with our own GTK4 firewall manager that will already know the ports each service uses. In short, there will be a graphical interface for managing the firewall, but it will be our own development rather than an existing solution like GUFW.

The idea is for Kumander Linux to offer self-hosted services similar to Microsoft Teams, Jira, or GitHub. I know these are free up to a point, but several of their most important features come at a cost. Ultimately, we want to cover everything a low-budget startup needs, without having to pay for per-user plans.

About msedit: due to several technical decisions, we only want to include software written in C/C++. At best, we could add it as an installable launcher in the Whisker Menu.

Roy will answer your other questions.

Best regards.

About the clock

I'm not the person you mention, I only found Kumander a couple of days ago. I formatted my drive to remove the previous distro I had on my drive [which had no problems with the clock], and installed Kumander. It was only after a few minutes use I found the clock was wrong - it was set to the wrong time zone.

About Clipman

It will be a useful addition.

About Btop and Htop

That should help to keep reviewers happy :)

About MX Cleanup

This will be very useful.

About GUFW

If the firewall you create is easy to use I'll be happy.

About msedit

Just a thought.

As a final suggestion, hows about using Mintstick?

Right-clicking on a USB drive would show 'Format Drive', if selected you're asked for your password, and if it's entered the drive is formatted.

Right-clicking an ISO shows 'Write to USB', if selected you choose the drive to be written to, you're then asked for your password, and if it's entered the device is unmounted and the ISO is written to the USB.

I believe Mintstick can also verify checksums, that would be useful.

Thanks for your replies.

I had to use inxi -Fxz to check my system details. I found that inxi was not installed. It's a tiny install, could it be a default part of Kumander for the sake of user convenience?

Is QRedshiftCinnamon something that could be added to Kumander? https://github.com/raphaelquintao/QRedshiftCinnamon

Could Ksnip replace [or complement] the standard screenshot tool? It's a really useful piece of software.

Would it be possible for configure toolbar to be used on Thunar so that Open/Close Split View and Change the active view type are shown?

Of course, we’ll include inxi, and we’ll also enable those options in Thunar’s toolbar.

I looked into QRedshiftCinnamon, and apparently it isn’t compatible with XFCE. There are alternatives, but they don’t seem to be as powerful as the solution you suggested. I’ll develop an alternative, as someone also requested something similar in a YouTube comment.

We have several applications ready for Kumander 3.0 Final Release, including one to replace the current screenshot tool. If you let me know which Ksnip features interest you the most, I can incorporate them without any problem.

> If you let me know which Ksnip features interest you the most, I can incorporate them without any problem.

TBH I find ksnip in its entirety really useful. I took the above Thunar screenshot and then added the red highlight above with it, and it took less than a minute. It is also useful for doing other basic work on images on my SSD. Since I'm on the subject of ksnip...

Here's a screenshot of a window, and on top is the compositor in Window Manager Tweaks. Would it be possible for the opacity of widow decorations to be set like I've done it in the image? It gives open windows an Aero look.

I made a suggestion above about Mintstick. You might have missed it because it was at the bottom of a long post. Here's what I wrote...

Hows about using Mintstick?

Right-clicking on a USB drive would show 'Format Drive', if selected you're asked for your password, and if it's entered the drive is formatted.

Right-clicking an ISO shows 'Write to USB', if selected you choose the drive to be written to, you're then asked for your password, and if it's entered the device is unmounted and the ISO is written to the USB.

I believe Mintstick can also verify checksums, that would be useful.

Thanks for your time.

With regard to Redshift, I've found Gammy https://github.com/fasevd33/gammy/ . It has been discontinued, so it might need some updates, but when it was working it had rave reviews at https://alternativeto.net/software/gammy/about/...

'I've used f.lux, Redshift, Red Moon etc etc. I've tried them all and this one is my favorite. It's the only software I can find that does automatic adaptive brightness at the frame level. No more blinding white webpage openings or flash bangs from TV/Movies!'

'I've been looking forever for an app that will dim my screen at night, I tried a bunch but most of them were buggy or had some functionality paywalled, this one though is perfect, not only it dims my screen but it also adjusts my brightness automatically depending on the content that is being displayed and it also has temperature adjustment and it has been flawless! This one beats f.lux and even the Night light mode on Windows imo.'

Here's a review of the program https://www.ghacks.net/2020/03/16/gammy-is-an-adaptive-brightness-application-for-windows-and-linux/

Regarding Mintstick, this is a decision I will have to make with Roy. He is currently quite busy with another project, but he will be joining us here again soon. He is already aware of your suggestions.

As for the brightness control application, since it will work as a plugin within the panel, we will need to develop it ourselves. This is an important technical decision for the future of the project, and we will provide more details about it over the coming months.

The ecosystem we want to build for Kumander is one that is highly customizable and interoperable across different desktop environments and operating systems.

The most robust solution for an application that works as a plugin within a desktop environment is the one I am showing you in the image. The issue is that the teams developing the applications you suggested did not design their software to be part of an integrated ecosystem.

In the case of Mintstick, it is a utility for everyday use, with many alternatives available online. Therefore, it does not need to meet such strict criteria.

Your feedback has been very valuable to us because it helps us understand users' actual interests and prioritize features for future releases. Until now, we have had a rather limited perspective on what matters most to users, mainly because very few people take the initiative to suggest changes.

So, I can guarantee that the next version will include:

• Btop
• Htop
• Clipman
• MX Cleanup
• New brightness control application
• New battery plugin
• The changes to Thunar's toolbar

Hello Colin and thank you so much for becoming a patron! And thank you for the kind words.

As Daniel said, I am quite busy these days working on another project, in order to meet my family's financial needs.

Regarding adding MS Edit to Kumander Linux:

I actually think this is an excellent idea. That editor looks very nice and user friendly. It would be helpful for the users coming from Windows when using the Command Prompt.

I have investigated the project and it seems to be a clean cut text editor, which doesn't include telemetry or anything of that nature.

However, it does conflict with the core principle of Kumander Linux, which is to only use C/C++ and stay away from Rust. But then again, this is not our own project but a 3rd party application.

So I think perhaps we might be able to make an exception for it.

I will discuss this with Daniel.

As a final couple of requests, the calendar that is displayed when the clock is clicked has very little functionality. Kalendar https://github.com/echo-devim/kalendar is a minimal and functional old piece of software that has no dependencies and can be opened via the clock https://itsfoss.com/kalendar-app-linux/.

Lastly, can the Xarchive's Action > Preferences > Preferred archive format be set to zip as it's a universally known format, whereas I've never heard of its current apk default.

Many thanks for your time and replies, and I look forward to the update.

Xarchiver will be replaced with a more intuitive alternative, which already has ZIP set as the default format. Due to time constraints, I'm not sure whether we will be able to replace it in the next release.

The calendar is clearly outdated. Roy considers it very important that the clock's appearance in the panel remains consistent, and replacing it could affect that. I'll discuss this with Roy to see what we can do about it.

I totally agree that the current clock should not be changed as it is perfect for this setup.

If you right-click on the clock and click Properties you can select any calendar you like. Just type in the command to start the calendar in the highlighted box shown below. When this is done the replacement calendar opens when the clock is left-clicked.

I used to use the Gnome calendar, but it's slow through bloat, whereas Kalendar may be old, but it has no bloat. There are probably similar lightweight ones similar to Kalendar, but I haven't found them.

I'm not familiar with all the features of our current calendar. Several, or perhaps all, of the plugins will be developed by the Kumander team. For now, they are not a priority for us.

I'm attaching two images showing what the new brightness controller will look like. It works with both laptops and monitors. The application is still under development.

That looks great - I look forward to seeing it working.

> If you let me know which Ksnip features interest you the most, I can incorporate them without any problem.

With regard to this, I've taken a screenshot of ksnip highlighting in red the features I use...

...could they be incorporated into the screenshot tool you are creating? You would then have a screenshot tool and a simple image editor.

One last thing [I'm starting to sound like Columbo].

Would it be possible to make Kumander compatible with jxl, avif and webp images?

The app is still in development, but here are a few screenshots of how it currently looks.

The idea is to keep the layout intuitive and not overwhelm users with too many options. Several of the features you mentioned are already built in. They show up when you click on the screenshot, which brings up an editing toolbar. This was a deliberate user experience decision, since the app’s main purpose is taking screenshots, not editing images.

As for the images, the new version will also include a new, very robust image viewer. It supports WebP, but AVIF and JPEG XL aren’t supported for now due to technical limitations.

I’ll look into which Ksnip features are worth adding, but rest assured, it’s already far better than what’s available now.

The screenshot tool looks fantastic. The things I always use in ksnip are line and arrow drawing, add text, draw box, change colour [for text, lines etc], and crop. I'm sure you've already got some of these in your tool, the others are suggestions. I look forward to seeing the finished article.