Mangaka Is an Artful Blend of Simplicity and Style
MANGAKA is a not-so-traditional Linux distro (Linux-OS) with a gorgeous look.
AFTER gaining some traction among fans of the manga and anime communities, Mangaka fell dormant in December 2009. However, developer Animesoft International regrouped and issued a new release June 6. The latest Release Candidate version came out on June 20.
The Mangaka Project -- the name means "love" in Japanese -- started out with the code name of "AngelOS."
The unusual desktop environment and design may not tickle everyone's fancy, but the stunning artwork built into the background images and some of the homegrown applications will give some users something to smile about.
Manga, a style of printed comics created in Japan, has a long and complex history in Japanese art. Anime is an artistic literary form associated with Japanese animated productions, featuring hand-drawn or computer-generated images. Putting those two art-form cousins into one Linux distro results in one pretty slick Linux experience.
Mangaka's desktop display uses stunning artwork evocative of Anime and Manga.
Mangaka's desktop display uses stunning artwork evocative of Anime and Manga.Kindred Elements
The new Mangaka release is based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, or Trusty Tahr. Actually, Mangaka is much more of a hybrid than its Ubuntu core underpinnings suggest. It is built around elements of the ElementaryOS, which also is designed around the Ubuntu core. Both run the Pantheon desktop. A newcomer to LinuxLand, this desktop is not found in many mainstream distros.
However, Mangaka and ElentaryOS are not mirror Linux distros. Two major traits make them different. The most obvious difference is the stunning artistic background that you get with Mangaka. The other is a better mix of installed software that draws more from the Ubuntu ecosystem than it does homegrown apps.
The Desktop View
If nothing else, Mangaka's artwork makes this distro a fun Linux experience. The Pantheon desktop is easy to use and configure without demanding learning curves.
The Pantheon desktop's bottom dock resembles Apple's OS X, although it is distinctively Linux-like with its transparent top panel bar. That said, do not expect all the traditional Linux panel functionality.
Mangaka's Pantheon desktop combines similarities of the GNOME 3 Shell and
OS X.
It is neither a clone of the OS X desktop nor a mimic of a purely GNOME environment. It just looks and works a little like both of them.
Mangaka's Pantheon desktop combines similarities of the GNOME 3 Shell and
OS X.
It is neither a clone of the OS X desktop nor a mimic of a purely GNOME environment. It just looks and works a little like both of them.
Controlling Factors
Changing settings is very easy in Pantheon. To remove the icon, right-click any dock icon and uncheck "keep on dock." Right-click on any icon in the Slingshot app menu to add that application to the dock.
The dock settings let you change the size of the icon, hide when a focus window is maximized, hide when a focused window overlaps the dock, automatically hide when not in use, or never hide. Configuring the four Hot Corners is just as simple.
Each corner has the same eight options to do nothing, or to select a particular window action or screen display. You can add a custom command option -- but when I tried adding the missing "Shade" command for one of the corners, it did not work.
In the Pantheon desktop, the top window border has no buttons for minimize/maximize or right-click menu options. All of the window navigating is done through moving the mouse to a configured hot corner, but there is an X in the upper right corner to close the window.
