UBXI KDE 6 Desktop released + RPK2 now in testing!

We are proud to announce the release of the first official UBXI port, based on the KDE Plasma 6 desktop environment, as well as calls for testing on our Nushell rewrite of RPK, our meta-package manager. Both projects have been in the works for quite some time, and we are excited to finally bring them to you.

UBXI KDE 6 Desktop

In 2023, we detailed our plans for the Unicorn Beyond XFCE Initiative, with the simple goal of porting the Unicorn workflow, theming, and other design elements to desktop environments beyond XFCE. These UBXI ports would be packaged into pacscripts, just like the standard Unicorn Desktop, and shipped into Pacstall's repositories for use on Rhino Linux systems. We invited members of the community to contribute their own UBXI ports, which we could then bring in to provide officially under the Rhino Linux Team.

Spearheaded by one of our community members, villamorrd (opens in a new tab), after 3 months of development and fine-tuning, we are proud to bring you the UBXI KDE Desktop (opens in a new tab), based on Plasma 6. This port brings the full Unicorn experience to KDE, from the workflow to the color scheme, and we are very happy with how it turned out - we hope you are too.

To switch to the UBXI KDE Desktop on Rhino Linux, simply run: rpk install ubxi-kde-desktop-git

We plan to offer additional disk images with the UBXI KDE Desktop shipped out-of-the-box by the end of 2025. Until then, be sure to let us know what you think in our Discord (opens in a new tab), and if you have any issues or requests, please report them to our Features & Issues Tracker (opens in a new tab) with bug(ubxi-kde) or prop(ubxi-kde).

RPK2 now in testing

Our rewrite of Rhino PKG (RPK) in Nushell, RPK2, has finally hit our testing grounds, rhino-stampede-dev. Given the integral role that RPK plays in Rhino Linux, we felt it best to release the rewrite as a secondary package first, to ensure any issues that slipped through development are caught before making their way to the main stage.

Users can install the full Rhino Stampede testing suite, which includes both the Unicons icon pack and RPK2, with: rpk install rhino-stampede-dev

Or, to install just RPK2, run: rpk install rhinu-pkg-git

The command may then be invoked as either rhinu-pkg or rpk2, until it is fully released and merged into the standard rhino-pkg. All other syntax should be the same!

Community feedback on the rewrite over the next few months will be crucial - you can help take part in shaping the future of Rhino Linux! Just as with the new UBXI port, let us know about your experiences with it in our Discord (opens in a new tab), and please report any issues found or feature requests in our Features & Issues Tracker (opens in a new tab) with bug(rpk2) or prop(rpk2).

Many thanks, and as always happy rolling,

The Rhino Linux Team