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trunkmaster
nextspace
Objective-C2018–2026
trunkmaster / nextspace

nextspace

NeXTSTEP-like desktop environment for Linux

Systems & InfrastructureMobile & Desktop
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
24Distinct people
55Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
2.1KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

NeXTSTEP-like desktop environment for Linux

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

I've always liked NeXTSTEP's distinctive user interface. I wish we had a version that ran on modern hardware, similar to what https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace is trying…

felixding used a recommendation phrase. One indexed comment matches. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 7:02:26 AM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year55 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2018-08-02 21:58:08 UTC to 2026-10-26 04:24:26 UTC.

0510152018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 7 mentions; 1 submissions, 6 comments20182019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 1 submissions, 0 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 1 submissions, 5 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 16 mentions; 1 submissions, 15 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 1 submissions, 2 comments20222023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 0 submissions, 5 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 4 mentions; 1 submissions, 3 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 8 mentions; 0 submissions, 8 comments2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 0 submissions, 5 comments. Incomplete calendar period.2026*

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC716
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC110
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC615
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC16115
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC312
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC505
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC413
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC808
2026 (partial)2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC505

From the project README

An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.

Read the project’s introduction
NEXTSPACE NEXTSPACE is a desktop environment that brings a NeXTSTEP look and feel to Linux. I try to keep the user experience as close as possible to the original NeXT OS. It is developed according to the "OpenStep User Interface Guidelines". An explanation of the NeXTSTEP / NextStep naming convention is discussed in further detail here. I want to create a fast, elegant, reliable, and easy to use desktop environment with maximum attention to user experience (usability) and visual maturity. I would like it to become a platform where applications will be running with a taste of NeXT's OS. Core applications such as Login, Workspace, and Preferences are the base for future application development and examples of visual style and application integration methods. NEXTSPACE is not just a set of applications tightly integrated to each other. It is a core OS with frameworks, mouse cursors, fonts, colors, animations, and everything I think will help users to be effective and happy. Brief introduction to core NEXTSPACE applications contains some details and screenshots. Why? I like the look, feel, and design principles of NeXTSTEP. I believe it will become an interesting environment for developers and comfortable (fast, easy to use, feature-rich) for users. Unlike other 'real' and 'serious' projects, I have not yet defined a target audience for NEXTSPACE. I intentionally left aside modern UI design trends (fancy animations, shadows, gray blurry lines, flat controls, acid colors, transparency). I like the accurate, clear, grayish, and "boring" UI that helps, not hinder, to get my job done. Not planned Porting to other Linux distributions and operating systems. For now, I want a fast, accurate, and stable version for RedHat-based Linux distributions. Currently these are Fedora, CentOS Stream 9, Rocky Linux 9 and Alma Linux 9. However, NEXTSPACE was designed to be portable and thus this point may be changed in future. GNOME, KDE, macOS rival in terms of visual effects, modern design principles, look and feel. Implementing a macOS-like desktop paradigm. There is another good place for this -- see Étoilé. Installing There are several methods of NEXTSPACE installation: Get release builds here. At the time of writing there are RPM builds for CentOS 7, 8 and Fedora31. As of CentOS 7 EOL in 2024, no more CentOS builds will be created in the future. RPM packages will built for latest release of Fedora. Optionally may be created builds for stable Debian release and packed as a tarball. Make own build of packages. Installation is based off CentOS 7's minimal install, you can find full directions in the installation guide. Install it from source with help of build scripts (tested on Debian, Ubuntu LTS and Fedora). Please follow build instructions if you've choose this way. For developers For those who are eager to know "How it's done?" can find information on development tasks, goals, solutions, implementation details, and build instructions on the Wiki.
Read the full README on GitHub

What Hacker News says

3 sources
lproven·Oct 4, 2022
I described some of my feelings on the matter fairly recently here: https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/17/linux_desktop_feature... My personal preference, and what I'm writing on right now, is Unity. I am also very fond of the ROX Desktop. What would I really like to see? Well, barring attempts to just rip up everything and start again for no good reason, I think there would be a lot of mileage in recreating some of the classic UIs of the past that many people have loved. * Classic MacOS was a sublime UI, with a lot of subtle non-obvious features. In its way it was far more polished than Mac OS X, even now. * OS/2 2.x's Workplace Shell was not one of my personal favourites, but it had some excellent design features, and was loved by many. * I have an Amiga but I never was a big fan back in the day, but a good solid modern Amiga Workbench
Read the rest
clone would have some mileage, and as I said in the article, there are already FOSS implementations, just not for xNix. * GEM is FOSS now. Why not recreate DR's multitasking GEM/X on Linux, or any of the late-era multitasking GEM desktops from the Atari ST, such as Thing or TeraDesk? One of my favourite UIs is undergoing a pretty good re-implementation effort, in the form of NeXTspace: https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace There are more than half a dozen non-Windows-like desktop metaphors. Is that enough for you or shall I find some more? :-)
In Pop_OS Cosmic Desktop to Make Use of Iced Rust Toolkit Rather Than GTK
felixding·Jul 7, 2022Submission

Tell HN: Nextspace (NeXTSTEP-like DE) stopped development as author in Ukraine

AFAIK, NEXTSPACE is the only NeXTSTEP-like desktop environment that is (was) actively being developed (https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace). The author had been working on this project for more than 5 years and he had been pushing code almost every single day. Unfortunately, he had to stop development since Russia invasion of Ukraine, as he lives in Kyiv, Ukraine. He said he was OK and would like to continue development "after Ukraine’s victory" (https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace/discussions/412). But that was about 4 months ago. As someone who really likes NeXTSTEP and hopes NEXTSPACE to succeed, the current situation is sad. Just wanted to inform the crowds at HN about this. :wq
12 points · Open discussion
lproven·May 31, 2022
[Article author here] > I think my ideal Linux OS is probably Ubuntu/CentOS + something like macOS’s .app bundle file format for distributing end-user applications. Then I suggest looking at NeXTspace: https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace It does exactly that. CentOS, plus .app bundles, all integrated into a single bundle. But the .app bundles come from GNUstep, so you can't pick your own desktop.
In Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

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