Developer | Q4OS development team |
---|---|
OS family | Linux |
Working state | Current |
Source model | Open source |
Initial release | 0.5.0 [1] / 4 July 2013 |
Latest release | 5.4 [2] / 27 November 2023 |
Available in | Multilingual |
Update method | APT |
Package manager | dpkg |
Platforms | x86-64, i386, armhf, arm64 |
Kernel type | Linux kernel |
Userland | GNU |
Default user interface | TDE, KDE Plasma |
License | Free software licenses (mainly GPL) + some proprietary |
Official website | q4os |
Q4OS is a light-weight Linux distribution, based on Debian, targeted as a replacement for operating systems that are no longer supported on outdated hardware. [3] The distribution is known for an addon called XPQ4, which adds themes intended to replicate the look and feel of Windows 2000 and Windows XP. [4] [5] [6]
Development of Q4OS began in 8th April 2014 to coincide with Windows XP's end of extended support in the same year. [7]
LXQt Desktop Environment was included from April 2014 to June 2015.
In 2018 TDE (Trinity Desktop Environment) was included.
In 2019, version 3.8 was released which was based on Debian Buster. [8]
The original KDE based version has been discontinued since around 2018. [9]
As of April 2020, the core developers of Q4OS, initially starting the project in Germany, [10] are now operating in Prague, Czech Republic. [11] [12]
It comes with either the Trinity Desktop Environment, which is a fork of K Desktop Environment 3. [13] or KDE Plasma 5
LookSwitcher, which lets the user switch visual themes
Desktop Profiler, which automatically installs some packages and programs that may be ideal for the user according to the profile that they choose
Q4OS Software Centre, which lets the user install some recommended packages and programs from a list
Q4OS Welcome Screen, which helps the user with some initial tweaks
Stable versions of Q4OS are derived from Debian's Stable release branch with long-term support that lasts five years after their initial release. [14] Developmental "testing" versions of future releases are derived from the Debian Testing branch. [15]
Version [16] | Codename | Release date | End-of-life | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
0.5.0 | 2013-07-04 | Initial Release [17] | ||
1.1-RC2 | 2015-04-14 | Second release candidate of Q4OS 1.1 | ||
1.2 | Orion | 2015-04-27 | Initial version to be specified under codename Orion | |
1.2.3 | 2015-06-08 | The LXQt desktop environment is now supported | ||
1.4 | 2015-09-04 | Initial version to support devices running on ARM architecture [18] | ||
1.6.3 | 2016-08-05 | Implemented UEFI support | ||
1.8.4 | 2017-04-26 | Icedove is replaced with Mozilla Thunderbird, LXQt is unsupported [19] | ||
2.0.2 | Scorpion | 2016-01-06 | Initial testing version of Q4OS Scorpion | |
2.3.6 | 2017-10-04 | "Final beta" release | ||
2.4 | 2017-10-04 | 2022-10 | Initial stable release of Q4OS Scorpion and to provide long-term support | |
2.5 | 2018-06-03 | 2023-06 | TDE is now bundled with KDE Plasma | |
3.1 | Centaurus | 2018-01-29 | Initial testing version of Q4OS Centaurus | |
3.8 | 2019-07-15 | 2024-07 | Initial stable release of Q4OS Centaurus | |
3.10 | 2020-01-04 | 2025-01 | TDE and KDE Plasma have been split into separate installation images | |
3.13 | 2020-12-19 | 2025-12 | The Snap daemon has been removed from default installation | |
4.0 | Gemini | 2020-02-16 | Initial testing version of Q4OS Gemini | |
4.6 | 2021-09-27 | 2026-09 | Initial stable release of Q4OS Gemini | |
4.7 | 2021-11-22 | 2026-11 | ||
4.8 | 2022-04-05 | 2027-04 | ||
4.10 | 2022-08-01 | 2027-08 | ||
4.11 | 2022-12-24 | 2027-08 | ||
4.12 | 2023-05-03 | 2027-08 | Calamares installer has been polished | |
5.0 | Aquarius | 2023-03-27 | Initial testing version of Q4OS Aquarius | |
5.2 | 2023-07-08 | 2028-06 | Initial stable release of Q4OS Aquarius | |
5.3 | 2023-10-14 | 2028-06 | ||
5.4 | 2023-11-28 | 2028-06 | ||
Legend: Old version Older version, still maintained Latest version Latest preview version Future release |
SourceForge featured Q4OS as "Community Choice" Project of the Month in April 2020. [12]
In January 2022, TechRadar considered Q4OS as one of the best light-weight Linux distributions of the year for its Windows installer and support for older hardware, notably systems running on 32-bit processors. [20]
Quarkos (formerly known as Quark) is an official fork of Q4OS that uses an Ubuntu base instead of Debian. [21] It describes itself as a 'user-friendly, desktop oriented operating system based on Ubuntu Linux'. [22] It comes in two variants, one of which uses the same desktop theme as Q4OS, while the other uses a visual theme similar to Windows 10. [23]
Quark 20.04 'Focal' was the first release, coming with the same base as Ubuntu 20.04. It was released on the September 25th 2020, featuring only the KDE Plasma 5 desktop. [22] On November 3, 2020, the development team announced that Microsoft Edge was now available for Linux, and users of Quark would be able to install it by downloading a .esh file from the Q4OS GitHub repository. [24]
Quark 20.04.4, released September 24, 2021 added bugfixes from upstream Kubuntu. [25] On October 9, 2021, the development team announced the general availability of the Windows installer for Quark 20.04 Focal. [26]
Quark 20.04.5 was made available on November 28, 2021, bringing bugfixes from Kubuntu and Trinity desktop environment R14.0.11. [27] An updated version of the Quark installer for windows was released on February 2, 2022. [28]
Quark 20.04.6 brought security bugfixes from upstream Kubuntu.
Quark 21.10 'Impish' testing was announced on October 9, 2021, based on Kubuntu 21.10 and tools backported from Q4OS 4 'Gemini'. [29] It was released with a stable version on October 18, 2021, with KDE Plasma 5.22 by default and the Windows and Q4OS themed variants. It also came with another edition with the Trinity 14.0.11 desktop backported from Q4OS. [30] Quark 21.10 was supported until August 2, 2022, following the end of support for Ubuntu 21.10.
Quarkos 22.04 'Jammy' was released on August 24, 2022, based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Plasma 5.24. It will be supported until at least April 2027. [31]
Quarkos 22.04 changes the branding from simply Quark to Quarkos, bringing separate installation media for the Trinity desktop, which has been updated to R14.0.12, but with the KDE Plasma edition as the default. [31]
Quarkos 22.04.5 and 22.04.6 were released on December 29, 2022 [32] and February 27, 2023 [33] respectively, each bringing security updates and bugfixes from upstream Ubuntu.
Quarkos 22.04.7 was released on March 19, 2023, and brought updates from the latest release of Ubuntu 22.04. It also replaced much of the Q4OS branding with its own, including artwork, logos and branding integrated into the system. [34] The source code was made available on the Q4OS project GitHub. [35]
Quarkos 22.04-r8, released on June 23, 2023, brought the newest patches from Ubuntu 22.04 and Q4OS. It improves the Debonaire Plasma theme, updates the Trinity Desktop Environment to version 14.1.1 and includes fixes for the Trinity audio system. [36]
FreeXP is a system based Q4OS which included XPQ4. Users can set up the system using a .esh file to install the full set of features, or a live installer with the changes already made. [37] The purpose of the project is to provide an 'XP Simulation', similar to how FreeDOS emulates MS-DOS, making it easy to run legacy Windows XP applications and executables. [38] The standalone project has merged with the XPQ4 project, where users can download FreeXP, XPQ4 installer for the Plasma or Trinity desktop, and 'Free10', a project similar to FreeXP but emulating Windows 10. [37]
Mandriva Linux is a discontinued Linux distribution developed by Mandriva S.A.
PCLinuxOS, often shortened to PCLOS, is a rolling release Linux distribution for x86-64 computers, with KDE Plasma, MATE, and XFCE as its default user interfaces. It is a primarily FOSS operating system for personal computers aimed at ease of use.
Ubuntu is a Linux distribution derived from 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 April 2024, the most-recent long-term support release is 24.04.
Kubuntu is an official flavor of the Ubuntu operating system that uses the KDE Plasma Desktop instead of the GNOME desktop environment. As part of the Ubuntu project, Kubuntu uses the same underlying systems. Kubuntu shares the same repositories as Ubuntu and is released regularly on the same schedule as Ubuntu.
The Oxygen Project is a project created to give a visual refresh to KDE Plasma Workspaces.
KDE Plasma 4 is the fourth generation of the KDE workspace environments. It consists of three workspaces, each targeting a certain platform: Plasma Desktop for traditional desktop PCs and notebooks, Plasma Netbook for netbooks, and Plasma Active for tablet PCs and similar devices.
A desktop environment is a collection of software designed to give functionality and a certain look and feel to an operating system.
LXDE is a free desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. This makes it especially suitable for use on older or resource-constrained personal computers such as netbooks or system on a chip computers.
Linux Mint is a community-driven Linux distribution based on Ubuntu, bundled with a variety of free and open-source applications. It can provide full out-of-the-box multimedia support for those who choose to include proprietary software such as multimedia codecs. Linux Mint can come with three different desktop environments by default; Cinnamon, Xfce, and MATE.
LightDM is a free and open-source X display manager that aims to be lightweight, fast, extensible and multi-desktop. It can use various front-ends to draw the user interface, also called Greeters. It also supports Wayland.
Linspire is a commercial operating system based on Debian and Ubuntu and currently owned by PC/OpenSystems LLC. It had been owned by Linspire. Inc. from 2001 to 2008, and then by Xandros from 2008 to 2017.
Netrunner is a Debian-based open source Linux distribution for desktop computers, laptops, netbooks and ARM-based devices.
The Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE) is a complete software desktop environment designed for Linux and Unix-like operating systems, intended for computer users preferring a traditional desktop model, and is free/libre software. Born as a fork of KDE 3.5 in 2010, it was originally created by Timothy Pearson, who had coordinated Kubuntu remixes featuring KDE 3.5 after Kubuntu switched to KDE Plasma 4.
KDE Plasma 5 is the fifth generation of the KDE Plasma graphical workspaces environment, created by KDE primarily for Linux systems. KDE Plasma 5 is the successor of KDE Plasma 4 and was first released on 15 July 2014. It was succeeded by KDE Plasma 6 on 28 February 2024.
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.
KDE neon is a Linux distribution developed by KDE based on Ubuntu long-term support (LTS) releases, bundled with a set of additional software repositories containing the latest versions of the Plasma 6 desktop environment/framework, Qt 6 toolkit and other compatible KDE software. First announced in June 2016 by Kubuntu founder Jonathan Riddell following his departure from Canonical Ltd., it has been adopted by a steadily growing number of Linux users, regularly appearing in the Top 20 on DistroWatch.com's popularity tables.
Ubuntu is a Debian-based Linux distribution for personal computers, tablets and smartphones, where the Ubuntu Touch edition is used; and also runs network servers, usually with the Ubuntu Server edition, either on physical or virtual servers or with containers, that is with enterprise-class features.
Calamares is a free and open-source independent and "distribution-agnostic" system installer for Linux distributions.
Plasma is a set of graphical shells developed by KDE for Unix-like operating systems. With the KDE brand repositioning in 2009, Plasma 4.4 succeeded KDE 4.3. Currently, it has four workspace variants: one for desktop PCs and laptops, one for TVs, one for smartphones, and another for embedded and touch-enabled devices. Plasma Desktop, in its default configuration, resembles KDesktop from K Desktop Environment 3 and Microsoft Windows XP; however, extensive configurability allows radical departures from the default layout.
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