Ade Malsasa Akbar contact
Senior author, Open Source enthusiast.
Friday, July 20, 2018 at 22:28


This is a collection of recommended configs to to after installing deepin 15.6 for beginner users. This includes changing deepin repository mirror, customizing panel and menu, setting up IMAP email in Thunderbird, adding recommended applications (in image editing, programming, and multimedia), preparing Flatpak, plus some further info about deepin itself. Enjoy deepin!

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Read also about deepin 15.6: download links, making the bootable media, and its installation guide.

 1. Change Deepin Repository Mirror


Note: in the Terminal, Ctrl+Shift+C is copy and Ctrl+Shift+V is paste.

By default, deepin repo points out to China. You may look at Deepin Mirrors List to see whether there is a nearby mirror to your country. On the desktop, to change mirror location is pretty easy:
  • 1) open up your Deepin Terminal
  • 2) $ sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
  • 3) Edit the address from the original one 'http://packages.deepin.com/deepin' into the alternative address 'http://XXX.YYY/deepin' where the alternative is one address your find from Mirror List above. For example, change it into 'http://kartolo.sby.datautama.net.id/deepin' if you are from Indonesia.
  • 4) Press Ctrl+O+Enter in nano Terminal.
  • 5) $ sudo apt-get update
  • Done
After editing, it looks like this:

Example setting of local mirror nearby in Indonesia

2. Customize Your Panel & Menu


What's your favorite layout, Windows-like or macOS-like? Right-click on the dock at bottom > Mode > switch to "Efficient Mode" to make it Windows-like. Ultimately, anyone would say it's very similar to Windows 7 panel. To revert back to macOS-like, switch to "Fashion Mode" once again. Ultimately, you can reposition the panel by right-click > Location > Top/Bottom/Left/Right.

Four different deepin desktop layouts

3. Dark Theme


Yes, deepin 15.6 also provides a dark theme by default. Change it by going to System Settings > Personalization  > Theme > select "Dark Theme". But this won't change them all because each original Deepin Application has its own "Dark Theme" menu; so you need to enable the switch manually in the File Manager, for example. Anyway, it's easy and understandable.

Dark theme configuration

Where the "Dark Theme" menu in each Deepin App window

4. Privacy Pack


Since the 2013 global surveillance leak, we're now more aware with our own internet privacy. You can find similar recommendation like this in PRISM Break. So here's a summary of suggestions you better consider to apply to your new deepin 15.6:

KeePassX on deepin 15.6


5. Setting Up Your Email in Thunderbird


Do you want your Gmail (or Yahoo!, or Hotmail, or everything else) to be accessed with Thunderbird in IMAP/POP mode? Sure, that's easy. For instance, to setup Gmail with IMAP mode:
  • 1) Open it up from desktop menu > Thunderbird
  • 2) Go to menu > New Message > Existing Mail Account > enter your name, your abcdefg@gmail.com username, and Gmail password there > press Continue.
  • 3) Let it scans your mail server > it shows you the options between IMAP and POP, so choose IMAP > press Done.
  • 4) Let it reads all your Gmail Inbox as well as another Gmail folders. All done. 
BitMessage Mail inbox inside Thunderbird

For another email provider, such as Yahoo! or BitMessage, just edit the mail server address entries according to your email provider documentation: [Yahoo! IMAP, Yandex IMAP, Live Mail IMAP, BitMessage IMAP].

Setting up IMAP of BitMessage Mail


6. Programming Pack


deepin is awesome, it includes by default C and C++ language compilers, Python 2 and Python 3 interpreters, Perl 5, and GNU Bash Shell 4. By default you just need to use Deepin Text Editor to learn programming with those mentioned languages as the code translator programs are there already. But if you want more, you can install any of these suggestions:

Geany (an excellent replacement for Notepad++ or Sublime Text)
    • $ sudo apt-get install geany 
Java Runtime Environment (JRE; require to run Java applications)
    • $ sudo apt-get install default-jre
Java SDK (OpenJDK; required to develop Java applications)
    • $ sudo apt-get install default-jdk
LAMPP (Apache, MySQL, PHP bundle)
    • $ sudo apt-get install lampp 
Qt Creator (full-featured, completely documented C++/Qt Framework development environment)
    • $ sudo apt-get install qtcreator
GTK+3 Devel (full GTK+3 or GNOME development environment with the awesome Builder IDE)
    • $ sudo apt-get install gnome-devel
Node.js (the quite popular server-side JavaScript framework)
    • $ sudo apt-get install build-essentials nodejs npm

Geany reading a C source code file


7. Ugly LibreOffice Fix


You may be install LibreOffice and find soon that the interface looks "ugly". That is because by default deepin does not come with support for LibreOffice GTK interface. To fix it, run command below and restart all LibreOffice programs:

$ sudo apt-get install libreoffice-gtk3

Easy fix for LibreOffice UI on deepin

8. Show Disk Free Space


Go to your file manager > right-click System Disk > Properties > see the "Free Space" field.

Showing free space of the main partition


9. Prepare Your Flatpak


For more information, read about Flatpak and see Flathub.

Flatpak is included by default! You may check it out by the command $ flatpak --version . To install something, you need to prepare it. Then do the followings:

  • 1) $ sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
  • 2) $ flatpak search editor
  • 3) You find many programs availabe under the keyword editor such as "video editor" and "text editor" and many more. For example, you may find UberWriter there with the file name de.wolfvollprecht.UberWriter.
  • 4) To install program, use the filename: $ flatpak install de.wolfvollprecht.UberWriter
  • 5) To run program, either run it from menu or by command: $ flatpak run de.wolfvollprecht.UberWriter

An example in using Flathub to help installing a Flatpak program


10. Graphic Design Pack


For professional grade of image editing and desktop publishing, you can install any of these:

Inkscape (similar to CorelDRAW or Adobe Illustrator)
  • $ sudo apt-get install inkscape
GIMP (similar to Photoshop)
    • $ sudo apt-get install gimp
Scribus (similar to Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress)
    • $ sudo apt-get install scribus
MyPaint (similar to Photoshop, but special for painting/drawing)
    • $ sudo apt-get install mypaint
Krita (similar to Photoshop and MyPaint, with animation capability)
    • $ sudo apt-get install krita
Synfig Studio (similar to Macromedia Flash MX, special software to produce 2D animation) 
    • $ sudo apt-get install synfigstudio
Blender (the best free software for 3D modelling and animation)
    • $ sudo apt-get install blender

Inkscape vector editor in action


11. Multimedia Editing Pack


For popular creative activities concerning video and audio, you can install any of these:

WinFF (video/audio converter that is complete and user-friendly)
    • $ sudo apt-get install winff 
Kdenlive (non-linear video editor)

    • $ sudo apt-get install kdenlive
Subtitle Editor
    • $ sudo apt-get install subtitleeditor
Audacity (non-linear audio editor)

    • $ sudo apt-get install audacity


Deepin Information Resources


Finally, you can always grab official resources about deepin OS from Wuhan Technology and the community below:



This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.