Black GNOME Linux For Linux

Black GNOME Linux is an open source distribution of Linux based on the latest unstable release of the world’s most popular free operating system, Ubuntu, and built around the controversial GNOME desktop environment.

This custom Ubuntu flavor can be downloaded from its official website or using Softpedia’s secure servers (see download link above) as a Live DVD ISO image that has been engineered to support only 64-bit (x86_64) instruction set architectures.

The simple to use boot menu will help the user to quickly start the live environment with default options or in safe graphics mode, copy the content of the ISO image to RAM and run the live session from there ejecting the media, as well as to directly start the installer.

You can start the operating system in text only mode, perform a system memory check, verify the integrity of the bootable medium (only if using a DVD disc), as well as to boot an existing OS from the first disk drive.

Before you can use the GNOME session of this Linux distribution, you must log into the system by pressing Enter on the “Live Session User” button and again on the empty password field, which means that there’s no password for the live user.

We have to admin that this is the first time we encounter a GNOME setup like the one used in Black GNOME Linux. The panel has been moved to the bottom edge of the screen and includes some very nice tweaks, the GNOME launcher is always visible on the left side of the screen, and you can easily cycle between the four virtual workspaces from a custom panel located on the right side of the screen.

The distro includes some of the best of breed applications, among which we can mention AbiWord word processor, FileZilla file transfer client, Mozilla Firefox and Midori web browsers, BleachBit system cleaner, LibreOffice office suite, Synaptic Package Manager, Shotwell image viewer and organizer, Rhythmbox music player, and VLC Media Player.

Summing up, Black GNOME Linux is a really nice distribution of Linux that allows users to test the powerful and modern GNOME desktop environment, which has been highly tweaked, on top of the latest upstream Ubuntu release. Keep in mind though, that it is specifically designed for testing purposes only and it should not be installed on production machines.