Jack Germain reports via El Reg
Debian-based Q4OS, developed by a team of software designers in Germany, has a lightweight design that allows it to run on nearly any hardware config. I have run it on [aging] computers from the early days of Windows Vista.
Q4OS version 2.4, Scorpion, released in early October, has a lot in its favour for new users and converts from Microsoft Windows 10. One of the factors that distinguishes the distro from more mainstream Linux offerings such as Ubuntu or Fedora is the default Trinity Desktop Environment [a fork of the last release of KDE3].
[...] Prior to this latest Q4OS release, Trinity was the only desktop option available. Being able to use other desktop options makes Q4OS more attractive.
It also lets users do something that nearly all other distros with multiple desktops do not. After you install the [the OS with its] default Trinity desktop, you can run the desktop installation chooser tool to install any of the other supported desktops--and repeat the process as often as you want to try out your favourite environments or change up your computing routine.
[Supported desktops include LXQT, XFCE4, Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, and MATE.]
The Q4OS Scorpion release comes with long-term support, which means the developer provides security patches and software updates for five years, giving this release a shelf life to at least October 2022. It is based on the Debian Stretch 9.2 and Trinity 14.0.5, which are among the latest platforms available.
A trend among Linux devs is to drop support for old 32-bit computers. Not the Q4OS team. The Q4OS community released both 64-bit ISOs for newer computers and 32-bit versions with or without the PAE memory extension technology. Thus, the OS will run on most of the legacy hardware still in circulation.
So if your desktop or laptop ran Vista, it will run Q4OS Linux fast and reliably. This is a smart way to energise old computers.
[...] The distro under the hood is stable and efficient. Everything about this distro's design and functionality makes using it pleasant and efficient.
(Score: 3, Touché) by KritonK on Thursday November 02 2017, @08:49AM (2 children)
Sounds nice, but it runs systemd.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday November 02 2017, @08:57AM
antiX 17, a Linux distribution without systemd, is released [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 02 2017, @09:45AM
How to setup Q4OS on Devuan (without systemd)
http://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1592
How to make Q4OS look like a clone of Windows 2000/XP using XPQ4 theme pack
http://dailylinuxuser.com/2016/11/make-q4os-look-like-windows-with-xpq4.html
EXE Linux - Devuan with Trinity Desktop Environment
http://exegnulinux.net/