KaOS 2022.04 released

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crosscourt
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KaOS 2022.04 released

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wove
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Re: KaOS 2022.04 released

Post by wove »

I tend to forget about KaOS, but it is an exceptionally nice KDE distro. They state right away that they are a packager and do not create software. They do x86 hardware, kde desktop and QT and nothing else. I would imagine they started from ARCH, but they do maintain their own repositories and their own version of AUR. All the pacman commands work as expected, but they do have Octopi as a package manager. It is a rolling release, but rolls a bit slower than Arch. Their implementation of AUR is about the same. except all the package build scripts are tested to work with their software repositories.

They added flatpak support last summer(?) so it is much easier to add gtk applications if desired. Their hardware detetection and support is first rate. I first came across them trying to install Linux on a first generation Intel Mac, and the first linux distro I came across that seamlessly did EFI boot right from a thumbdrive. Hold down the option key when booting the Mac, and KaOS appeared as bootable, and it did indeed boot; finding all the odd ball Apple hardware and configuring it to be useable.

They regularily release snapshot installers. They generally have some unique layout, but it is not something they have concocted and baked in, it is just a layout created using tools available within KDE, making it as easy as any KDE distro to set it up how you like. Falkon is the default browser, and with this release they moved from Calligra to LibreOffice as the default office suite. They tend to change default multmedia applications with every snapshot release.

KaOS feels very snappy even running from a live image, and are blindingly snappy when installed on hardware, even very old hardware. The documentation is overall rather poor, and the support community is rather persnikity. (If you have trouble with something it is far easier to change distro, than getting help sorting it out.)

If you do know your way around KDE you will have no troubles, and overall it is a very fast and pleasant system to use. Hardware support is top notch. All updates are vetted before being released, so there is no breakage from surprise updates, while you will always remain within a couple weeks of running the latest and greatest.
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crosscourt
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Re: KaOS 2022.04 released

Post by crosscourt »

Flatpak made a huge difference but KaOS is a nice distro that deserves a bit more press.
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