Developer | Intel |
---|---|
OS family | Linux (Unix-like) |
Working state | Current |
Source model | Open source |
Initial release | 6 February 2015 [1] [2] [3] |
Marketing target | DevOps, AI, Cloud, Container [4] |
Available in | English, Spanish, Chinese |
Update method | Rolling release, [1] auto-updating [5] [6] [4] [7] |
Package manager | swupd |
Platforms | x86-64 |
Kernel type | Monolithic kernel (Linux) |
Default user interface | |
License | Multiple [12] |
Official website | clearlinux |
Clear Linux OS is a Linux distribution, developed and maintained on Intel's 01.org open-source platform, and optimized for Intel's microprocessors with an emphasis on performance and security. [13] [14] Its optimizations are also effective on AMD systems. [15] Clear Linux OS follows a rolling release model. Clear Linux OS is not intended to be a general-purpose Linux distribution; it is designed to be used by IT professionals for DevOps, AI application development, cloud computing, and containers. [16]
In 2015, Intel introduced Clear Linux OS at OpenStack Summit 2015, Vancouver [17] initially, it was limited to cloud usage. [18] [19] Intel began the Clear Containers project to address container security. [20] [21] [22] In 2015, originally, Clear Linux OS was deployed as a single monolithic unit. [23] In May 2019, Clear Linux OS released a new Desktop Installer and started a Help Forum. [24] [25]
Clear Linux OS is available via Microsoft Azure marketplace, [26] [27] and Amazon Web Services marketplace. [28]
Clear Linux OS supports 2nd generation Intel Core (Sandy Bridge) CPUs and later, Xeon E3 and later, and Silvermont-based Intel Atom C2000 and E3800 processors. [29] [30] [26] An installed system is booted via the EFI boot loader or via systemd-boot. [25] Minimum system requirements are SSE4 and CLMUL (carry-less multiplication), as well as UEFI. [25]
Clear Linux OS uses reference stacks to install images that are optimized and tested together for specific use-cases. [31] It also utilizes a strict separation between User data and System config files, called stateless, so that even a misconfigured system will still boot correctly and then perform a factory reset so it can be reconfigured.
By default, Clear Linux OS ships with the GNOME desktop environment [4] and most graphical effects are disabled. KDE Plasma and Xfce are also available for installation.
Packages are usually installed and updated through bundles with the help of swupd
, [32] which is described as an OS-level software update program, using delta updates to minimize update size. Flatpak is also preinstalled and can be used to install and use packages.
Mixer is the tool for creating 3rd-party-bundles, which can then be installed using swupd
. [33]
For containers:
Clear Linux was referred to in early documentation as Clear Linux™ OS, later as Clear Linux* OS with a corresponding footnote acknowledging that the rights to "Linux" may be possessed by others. [2] [3] Clear Linux OS has been referred to, in the literature, as Clear Linux™ OS, Clear Linux* OS, Clear Linux OS, Clear Linux*, Clear Linux. [35]
A Linux distribution is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and often a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one of the Linux distributions, which are available for a wide variety of systems ranging from embedded devices and personal computers to powerful supercomputers.
Solaris is a proprietary Unix operating system originally developed by Sun Microsystems. After the Sun acquisition by Oracle in 2010, it was renamed Oracle Solaris.
Ubuntu is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in multiple editions: Desktop, Server, and Core for Internet of things devices and robots. The operating system is developed by the British company Canonical, and a community of other developers, under a meritocratic governance model. As of October 2023, the most-recent release is 23.10, and the current long-term support release is 22.04.
Puppy Linux is an operating system and family of light-weight Linux distributions that focus on ease of use and minimal memory footprint. The entire system can be run from random-access memory (RAM) with current versions generally taking up about 600 MB (64-bit), 300 MB (32-bit), allowing the boot medium to be removed after the operating system has started. Applications such as AbiWord, Gnumeric and MPlayer are included, along with a choice of lightweight web browsers and a utility for downloading other packages. The distribution was originally developed by Barry Kauler and other members of the community, until Kauler retired in 2013. The tool Woof can build a Puppy Linux distribution from the binary packages of other Linux distributions.
openSUSE is a free and open-source Linux distribution developed by the openSUSE project. It is offered in two main variations: Tumbleweed, an upstream rolling release distribution, and Leap, a stable release distribution which is sourced from SUSE Linux Enterprise.
A Hackintosh is a computer that runs Apple's Macintosh operating system macOS on computer hardware that is not authorized for the purpose by Apple. This can also include running Macintosh software on hardware it is not originally authorized for. Benefits of "Hackintoshing" can include cost, ease of repair and piecemeal upgrade, and freedom to use customized choices of components that are not available in the branded Apple products. macOS can also be run on several non-Apple virtualization platforms, although such systems are not usually described as Hackintoshes. Hackintosh laptops are sometimes referred to as "Hackbooks".
SUSE is a Luxembourgish multinational open-source software company that develops and sells Linux products to business customers. Founded in 1992, it was the first company to market Linux for enterprise. It is the developer of SUSE Linux Enterprise and the primary sponsor of the community-supported openSUSE Linux distribution project. While the openSUSE "Tumbleweed" variation is an upstream distribution for both the "Leap" variation and SUSE Linux Enterprise distribution, its branded "Leap" variation is part of a direct upgrade path to the enterprise version, which effectively makes openSUSE Leap a non-commercial version of its enterprise product.
Fedora Linux is a Linux distribution developed by the Fedora Project. It was originally developed in 2003 as a continuation of the Red Hat Linux project. It contains software distributed under various free and open-source licenses and aims to be on the leading edge of open-source technologies. It is now the upstream source for CentOS Stream and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Moblin, short for 'mobile Linux', is a discontinued open source operating system and application stack for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), netbooks, nettops and embedded devices.
Calculate Linux is a Linux distribution optimized for fast deployment in an organization environment. It is based on the Gentoo Linux project and includes many preconfigured functions.
Peppermint OS is a Linux distribution based on Debian and Devuan Stable, and formerly based on Ubuntu. It uses the Xfce desktop environment. It aims to provide a familiar environment for newcomers to Linux, which requires relatively low hardware resources to run.
Android-x86 is an open source project that makes an unofficial porting of the Android mobile operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance to run on devices powered by x86 processors, rather than RISC-based ARM chips.
Solus is an independently developed operating system for the x86-64 architecture based on the Linux kernel and a choice of Budgie, GNOME, MATE or KDE Plasma as the desktop environment. Its package manager, eopkg, is based on the PiSi package management system from Pardus Linux, and it has a semi-rolling release model, with new package updates landing in the stable repository every Friday. The developers of Solus have stated that Solus was intended exclusively for use on personal computers and will not include software that is only useful in enterprise or server environments.
Docker is a set of platform as a service (PaaS) products that use OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers. The service has both free and premium tiers. The software that hosts the containers is called Docker Engine. It was first released in 2013 and is developed by Docker, Inc.
Mirantis Inc. is a Campbell, California, based B2B open source cloud computing software and services company. Its primary container and cloud management products, part of the Mirantis Cloud Native Platform suite of products, are Mirantis Container Cloud and Mirantis Kubernetes Engine. The company focuses on the development and support of container and cloud infrastructure management platforms based on Kubernetes and OpenStack. The company was founded in 1999 by Alex Freedland and Boris Renski. It was one of the founding members of the OpenStack Foundation, a non-profit corporate entity established in September, 2012 to promote OpenStack software and its community. Mirantis has been an active member of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation since 2016.
Snap is a software packaging and deployment system developed by Canonical for operating systems that use the Linux kernel and the systemd init system. The packages, called snaps, and the tool for using them, snapd, work across a range of Linux distributions and allow upstream software developers to distribute their applications directly to users. Snaps are self-contained applications running in a sandbox with mediated access to the host system. Snap was originally released for cloud applications but was later ported to also work for Internet of Things devices and desktop applications.
Container Linux is a discontinued open-source lightweight operating system based on the Linux kernel and designed for providing infrastructure for clustered deployments while focusing on automation, ease of application deployment, security, reliability, and scalability. As an operating system, Container Linux provided only the minimal functionality required for deploying applications inside software containers, together with built-in mechanisms for service discovery and configuration sharing.
Pop!_OS is a free and open-source Linux distribution, based on Ubuntu, and featuring a customized GNOME desktop environment known as COSMIC. The distribution is developed by American Linux computer manufacturer System76. Pop!_OS is primarily built to be bundled with the computers built by System76, but can also be downloaded and installed on most computers.
CBL-Mariner is a free and open-source Linux distribution that Microsoft has developed. It is the base container OS for Microsoft Azure services and the graphical component of WSL 2.