Pearl Linux says NO to SNAPS but Yes to Flatpaks

As with most debian based distros the debian package is the default waymost of the system installs software that you choose either through software managers, synaptic, Gdebi, command prompt or the new deb-get app from Martin Wimpress, the lead developer of Ubuntu MATE. For a while now the regular firefox, is installed by default with Ubuntu using the snap installer and that version has been lacking even the basic ability to easily configure your default home. Altho it is doable on Ubuntu its a pain for even the advanced user to consistently be able to have the new tab contain your personalized links and the number of rows of thumbnailed links etc. With the switch to firefox-esr we get the basics in working order Pearl Linux. Firefox and all of the updates on  Pearl uses a debian package. Pearl has many ways of installing software including our Software Manager GUI which features many deb packages as well as a bunch of flatpaks. You can also use our other software installer called Pearl Software which is an easy go to for installing the tested and recommended software for each Pearl release starting with series 12.

Pearl Linux has chosen to disallow SNAP installs by default however if you choose to use snaps you can just remove the config file " /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref " then update the apt database by doing " sudo apt-get update".

Final note on the ways you may install software by default on Pearl is you may install Appimages as well. Most AppImages integrate into the menus automatically during the install process.

The premature switch from pulseaudio to pipewire

Starting with Pearl Linux 12, all releases have the ability to switch back to pulseaudio over the new default sound server which is now pipewire. We do not recommend you make the switch backwards unless you experiece issues with the software you are using. If however you have any issues we make it easy to make that switch by simply installing
"pearl-pulseaudio-config". To do so use synaptic to install that package. You may also open a terminal and do " sudo apt-get install pearl-pulseaudio-config ". to convert back to pipewire do " sudo apt-get install pearl-pipewire-config ".  These debian packages are available on our repository.

For professional audio the clear choice is to use pulseaudio and jack over pipewire and wireplumber. There are plain and simply too many areas that pipewire is not mature enough for these professionals and that includes our studio, Star Studios.

Pearl Linux has felt the pain from what I feel was the premature switch to using pulseaudio to pipewire as the default sound server on most major Linux distributions. For most consumers you won't experience any issues at all and most likely when just using audio to play YouTube ad your media players you may have some minor improvements however for users that require a solid, low latency as well as users of the higher end sound cards and multiple sound cards using jack with pulseaudio is a much better choice due to how well pulseaudio with jack handles all possible configurations when routing applications and plugins as well as recognizing of the many sound devices themselves.

The Pearl Linux Release Notes

The Pearl Linux 12 series is now complete with our recent last 3 uploads. The first to upload was The Pearl Desktop version which is our own DE called the Pearl Desktop Environment, PDE for short. This is a lightweight DE that features multiple window managers including Compiz desktop effects. This desktop is a mix between xfce and lxde. The layout and feel is made to provide a OS X look and feel with layout switcher to switch between OS X and Windows layouts. The last two uploads are much like PearlMATE Studio version minus the extra audio recording software. All releases in the 12 series have our updated "Pearl Software" app which is an app that makes it an easy place to installed or remove most of the software that we feature in this version that runs the base from Ubuntu 24.04 LTR.

The latest release from Pearl Linux is our long waited for release built on the base from the Ubuntu 24.04 LTR.
The first desktop environment from this series is on our favorite the MATE Desktop Environment. It is entitled
Pearl MATE Studio 12. We are featuring two different iso's one of which is a lighter weight one that has a little less software installed to fall under the normal size limitation of 4G when creating backup or respin iso's. The second iso is a little larger and it contains extra software preinstalled including Harrison's MixBus, Carla extra VST and LV2 audio plugins and drum machine plus more. Installed on this iso, (the larger one over 4G's in size) has the correct debian package to allow for the oversize iso creation. The README file on Sourceforge were you download them from contains info on how to make the smaller iso also capable of creating those larger iso's. This involves using a different version of a program called mkisofs than the default Ubuntu based distros have which is inside the package "genisoimage".

The best feature on this new release is the Text to Speech system. We call it PiedPiper. Using the software Pied to download and manage voice models for Piper TTS. Piper TTS makes it possible for Linux to finally have a true natural sounding text to speech solution thats been missing on the absolutely besy platform for an OS which is Linux. And its FREE. On the full version, the larger iso, there is a text file on the desktop called PiedPiper.txt. We created another version of this text file here. On this one we kept the same content basically added a little more to it and if you compare the two of how it is layed out you can see how Piper is smoother, the pauses are more natural.

Now as far as the Audio Production it's alot easier due to the fact we are using pipewire but with the correct jackd2 extra packages that make audio setup a breeze. Pipewire smoothly uses jackd2 when using your multitrack software such as Ardour or MixBus, Carla, or even Audacity if you choose while being able to use audio on Web Browser without reconfiguring anything ...truely plug and play audio.

Hope you enjoy this release of Pearl MATE Studio 12 :-)

The latest release from Pearl Linux OS is PearlDDE. Pearl DDE based on the deepin desktop environment (DDE) ,
and based on Ubuntu 22.04 / Pearl 11. The default look and feel for this release was left to the DDE defaults to
preserve the powerful and beautiful look of the desktop environment itself. The main difference, of course, is the
lack of a top panel as with every Pearl release to date has defaulted with a Mac OS X look and feel. Specifically
the Snow Leopard version of OS X. We of course added most of the Pearl tools including standard look and feel
standards of Pearl such as wobbly windows and the minimize window effects. The main bonus you have by choosing
Pearl to run this desktop environment is the Pearls Software Manager for adding much more software than the App
Store that DDE provides which is also included. Enjoy this release from Pearl Linux ... a bit of a twist from our norm.

Just Released PearlMATE Studio 13. This is the only Complete Audio Workhorse that runs on the latest Debian base.
To have the latest available software for any of the Pearl 13  series of releases simply open up Pearl Sources and
put a check beside Debian sid repository under Additional Software Sources then do a update and full-upgrade.

Pearl Linux OS has just released our first Semi Rolling Release. Runs on the soon to be released Debain 12 which is codenamed Bookworm. This currently is very stable and runs most Pearl packages without issues with exception of the Software Manager which we are still working on.  Installs everything you need to undergo most every computer need out of the box.

Pearl 13 codenamed "Preslee",  will feature at least 3 desktop environments of which MATE and XFCE have already been just released and our own DE, PDE, The Pearl Desktop Environment, will follow within a month of the first two DE's for the Pearl 13 series of releases.

PearlLinux for RPi with TwisterOS Is the only release in the Pearl 12 series which is based on Debian 11 (Bullseye). At Pearl Linux we also build for the armhf and arm64 platforms. Pearl creates releases for the Odroid C1+ Odroid C2 as well as the Raspberry PI 3 and the more recent Raspi4 64 bit ARM64 arch of the Raspberry PI 4. All Pearl releases using these  archs are all great inexpensive project boards.

New release Pearl 11 now out and available for download. Pearl 11 comes in two desktop environments one is MATE and the other is our customized DE called PDE The Pearl Desktop Environment.

Pearl hits 10... version 10 that is and it is based on Debian instead of our normal Ubuntu base. Just released the Xfce 32bit and Cinnamon 32bit Desktop Environments.The 64 bit Xfce should be out within a couple days. These will be the only DE's planned for the Pearl 10 series. Took a while on this lots of headaches and bit of leaning as well. Starting with version 11 in the near future we will continue back with Ubuntu base. And little down the line a Debian Bulleye backed release.

It's been a while since we have updated the website just no time in a day anymore.  Well it's been many years and I feel compiz has earned it's place at least for a while in the Linux community, when Pearl started their was alot of support for completely dropping Compiz. We are so glad to see other distros show some interest as well as much of the noobs to Linux base. Now then, that being said, we all like change right and as far as alternatives to my favorite, Compiz I really like the Cinnamon Desktop. A more Windows ...actually a much more Windows layout and feel.

I personally work with multimedia software such as the Mix Bus DAW (multitrack) on Pearl Studio. Using The Cinnamon desktop as oppose to MATE which our layout points that DE toward a Mac OS X feel The advantage .. no more dodging that bottom dock when MixBus uses every bit of that screen. My favorite developer Clement at Linux Mint is behind Cinnamon and it's very polished workings. I feel the Linux Mint version of Cinnamon is one of  the most solid OS to date... Thats my opinion and I am the Compiz freak.. Please enjoy the new Debian Buster (10) built upon system from Pearl Linux.

Pearl Linux OS has been available for free download since 12/2014 with our first release simply titled Pearl Linux. It was based on the 14.04 released version of Ubuntu. That release was using the XFCE desktop environment. Since then we now offer the MATE, GNOME, LXDE and soon to come our own DE PDE which is a DE that revolves around the Compiz Window Manager and uses elements from LXDE and XFCE4 desktops. Since the release of Pearl OS 3.0 we are now maintaining our own repository on site. The reason I felt Pearl was needed early on was the overall exceptance from the developer communities to allow pretty much Compiz to disappear.  With the Linux platform you may if you choose, to maintain your own repository that can be added to whatever Linux base you choose to build on to maintain the elements you choose to keep active. Thankfully many others felt the same as I did and Compiz these days is widely exepted.