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Starling 0.5.0 is a free, open-source-oriented software family built around a Swift-based Linux desktop. It combines a conventional 2D desktop with an optional walkable 3D waterfront city, includes first-party productivity and system apps, and extends to a cross-platform terminal and Swift development SDK. The desktop release targets x86_64 Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, with a Windows route through WSL2.
What Starling is
Starling is a new Linux desktop environment whose shell, compositor, framework and applications are written in Swift. Its framework ports Flutter’s Dart framework concepts to Swift while running on the Flutter engine’s C core. The desktop includes a Wayland compositor, an X11 server, floating and tiling window management, spaces, a dock, Launchpad and screen-recording support.
The defining visual option is a choice between a familiar 2D desktop and a walkable 3D waterfront city. The 3D environment is optional, so users who want a conventional desktop workflow do not have to use it.
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Desktop 0.5.0 is aimed at amd64 (x86_64) PCs running Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. The release notes report graphics testing with AMD, Intel and NVIDIA hardware, as well as VirtIO-GPU/virgl in a virtual machine. Those statements describe tested configurations, not a guarantee that every device or driver will work identically.
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Windows users can run the desktop through WSL2 with Ubuntu 26.04. The Linux desktop instructions are tied to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and should be checked again when a later Starling release changes its base requirements.
How to install the Starling desktop
Native Ubuntu installation
- Use an amd64 PC running Ubuntu 26.04 LTS.
- Download the Starling 0.5.0
.debpackage supplied for the desktop release. - Open the downloaded package with Ubuntu’s package installer and complete the installation.
- Start the Starling desktop from the installed applications, then choose the 2D shell or the optional walkable 3D environment.
The release is distributed as a Debian package rather than as a generic archive, so an Ubuntu-based system is the supported path for this version. If your machine uses a different distribution, architecture or Ubuntu release, the documented requirements do not establish compatibility.
Windows through WSL2
- Install WSL2 with an Ubuntu 26.04 environment.
- Install the Starling desktop inside that Ubuntu environment.
- Start the session with
starling-session. - Open an RDP client and connect to
localhost:3390.
This WSL2 mode presents the Starling session over RDP; it is not a native Windows desktop build.
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Starling ships nine first-party applications. The App Store is the route for installing additional software, while Terminal provides a real pseudo-terminal (PTY) that runs the user’s login shell.
| Application | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Settings | Configure the desktop and system options. |
| Files | Browse and manage files. |
| Terminal | Run the login shell through a real PTY. |
| Text Editor | Edit text documents. |
| Calculator | Perform calculations. |
| App Store | Install more applications. |
| Task Manager | Inspect and manage running tasks. |
| Video Player | Play video files. |
| Image Viewer | View image files. |
Starling Office: Writer, Slides and Sheets
Starling Office is presented as a free, open-source suite containing Writer, Slides and Sheets. The suite claims to open, edit and save Microsoft Office file types in the DOCX, PPTX and XLSX formats.
- Writer: word-processing documents, including DOCX files.
- Slides: presentations, including PPTX files.
- Sheets: spreadsheets, including XLSX files.
The project describes the suite as “Free to use. Open to study, change, and build on.” File-format compatibility is a stated capability; documents with complex layouts, macros or application-specific features may still need checking after conversion.
Starling Terminal on Linux, macOS and Windows
Starling Terminal is a separate cross-platform terminal for Linux, macOS and Windows. It supports local shells as well as remote workspaces with persistent sessions that can be reconnected after a network connection drops. On Linux, its installation page lists GNOME, KDE, Wayland and X11 support.
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Building apps with the Starling SDK
The Starling SDK is aimed at Swift developers. It includes a terminal widget, shell and escape-sequence handling, fonts, scrollback and selection, plus a plain-app template for projects that do not need the terminal widget.
Prerequisites and bundle sizes
- A Swift toolchain is the only prerequisite stated by the SDK page.
- The SDK cache is stored under
~/.starling/sdk. - The stated download bundle sizes are 14 MB for macOS, 17 MB for Windows and 23 MB for Linux.
Creating a project
- Install a compatible Swift toolchain.
- Run
starling-create. - Choose the plain-app or terminal-oriented template when prompted.
- Let the tool download the appropriate SDK bundle and scaffold a Swift Package Manager project.
- Build and run the generated project with the normal SwiftPM workflow for your operating system.
starling-create supports Linux, macOS and Windows, so the same project-generation approach is available across all three platforms. The desktop build guide specifies Swift 6.2.3 for its Linux instructions; toolchain requirements can change in later releases.
How Starling compares as a desktop choice
Starling’s documented profile is unusually broad for a 0.5.0 Linux desktop: it combines Wayland and X11 support, floating and tiling window management, a built-in app catalog, an office suite, a cross-platform terminal and a Swift SDK. The table summarizes the capabilities established for this release without implying a neutral head-to-head test against another desktop.
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Quick Recap
| Comparison area | Starling 0.5.0 |
|---|---|
| Base operating system | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS on amd64; Ubuntu 26.04 through WSL2 on Windows |
| Display technologies | Wayland compositor and X11 server |
| Window management | Floating and tiling modes, spaces, dock and Launchpad |
| First-party apps | Nine listed apps, including Files, Terminal, App Store and media viewers |
| Office formats | DOCX, PPTX and XLSX open/edit/save claims |
| Remote work | Terminal persistent sessions; WSL2 desktop access through RDP at localhost:3390 |
| Developer tooling | Swift-based SDK and starling-create project scaffolding |
| Release status | Version 0.5.0, so capabilities and requirements may evolve |
What to check before installing
- Confirm that the computer is amd64/x86_64 and runs Ubuntu 26.04 LTS for the native desktop path.
- Check GPU and virtual-machine configuration if you plan to use the 3D waterfront environment.
- For Windows, verify that WSL2 and an Ubuntu 26.04 instance are available, and that an RDP client can reach
localhost:3390. - If you are developing, install the Swift toolchain version required by the current build documentation; Linux desktop instructions specify Swift 6.2.3 for this release line.
- Back up important DOCX, PPTX and XLSX files before testing round-trip edits, especially when they contain advanced formatting or macros.
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