Updated Linux Distributions

Rescuezilla is a specialist Ubuntu-based distribution designed for system rescue tasks, including backups and system restoration. It was forked from the "Redo Backup & Rescue" project which was abandoned in 2012. Like its predecessor, it allows a "bare-metal restore" after any hardware failure directly from the live image. Some of the features include: works directly from the live CD/USB image; works with Linux, macOS and Windows; automatically searches a local area network for drives to backup to or restore from; recovers lost or deleted data files; includes configuration tools for managing disk and drives. Rescuezilla uses a simplified LXDE user interface.

RakuOS is an immutable Linux distribution based on Fedora, with a choice of KDE Plasma, GNOME and COSMIC desktops. It combines an immutable, read-only base system with the full package flexibility of a traditional Linux distribution. While the core system updates atomically and can be instantly rolled back, the system's persistent overlay lets the user install any package, either through the dnf package manager or the distribution's own software center called RakuOS Software. Installation of Flatpak packages is also supported. RakuOS uses the performance-optimised CachyOS Linux kernel and also includes a graphical CPU scheduling utility to fine-tune the system for gaming, workloads or power efficiency use cases.

Lilidog is a lightweight desktop Linux distribution based on Debian "Stable" and featuring a customised Openbox window manager. It incorporates the tint2 desktop panel, the Thunar file manager and the xfce4-terminal terminal emulator. Other window managers, including Awesome, dwm, i3, JWM and sowm, are also available for installation. Besides the standard Lilidog, the project provides two other editions of the distribution - the "Beardog" variant which starts without a display manager on login, and the "Waydog" flavour which uses the Wayland display server and offers a choice between the labwc and Sway Wayland compositors.

Kamuriki Linux is a Debian-based, desktop-oriented distribution designed for lightness and ease of use. It deploys the LXQt desktop environment with a classic Windows-like look and feel and it also provides the Wine compatibility layer which enables some Windows applications to run under Linux. The distribution supports English and Japanese languages.

stillOS is an immutable Linux distribution based on AlmaLinux and featuring a customised GNOME desktop. It includes atomic updates and support for Flatpak packages. It also comes with a number of custom applications, such as stillControl (a tool for configuring desktop layouts), stillCenter (a software center with a curated store), stillTerminal (a custom terminal emulator that integrates with DistroBox containers and remote SSH instances), and Quick Setup (a first-boot tool to allow selection and installation of preferred applications). The project's goal is to provide a consumer-ready desktop Linux distribution that is user-friendly, stable, consistent and predictable.

FreeBSD is a UNIX-like operating system for the i386, amd64, IA-64, arm, MIPS, powerpc, ppc64, PC-98 and UltraSPARC platforms based on U.C. Berkeley's "4.4BSD-Lite" release, with some "4.4BSD-Lite2" enhancements. It is also based indirectly on William Jolitz's port of U.C. Berkeley's "Net/2" to the i386, known as "386BSD", though very little of the 386BSD code remains. FreeBSD is used by companies, Internet Service Providers, researchers, computer professionals, students and home users all over the world in their work, education and recreation. FreeBSD comes with over 20,000 packages (pre-compiled software that is bundled for easy installation), covering a wide range of areas: from server software, databases and web servers, to desktop software, games, web browsers and business software - all free and easy to install.

Mageia is a fork of Mandriva Linux formed in September 2010 by former employees and contributors to the popular French Linux distribution. Unlike Mandriva, which is a commercial entity, Mageia is a community project and a non-profit organisation whose goal is to develop a free Linux-based operating system.

Essora Eos is a set of desktop Linux distributions based on Devuan, featuring the JWM or Openbox window managers or the KDE Plasma or LXDE desktop environments. It uses the OpenRC init system and the Xlibre display server. The distribution aims to be clean, minimal, fast and customisable, with only the essential tools installed by default. Essora Eos uses the Calamares system installer and provides a custom graphical configuration utility called "Essora Control Centre".

SmartOS is an open-source UNIX-like operating system based on illumos, a community fork of OpenSolaris. It features four technologies - ZFS (a combined file system and logical volume manager), DTrace (a dynamic tracing framework for troubleshooting kernel and application problems), Zones (a lightweight virtualisation solution), KVM and bhyve (two full virtualisation solutions for running a variety of guest operating systems, including Linux, Windows, BSD and Plan9). SmartOS is designed to be particularly suitable for building clouds and generating appliances.

CentOS as a group is a community of open source contributors and users which started in 2003 and has been sponsored by Red Hat since 2014. CentOS Linux versions up to CentOS Linux 8 are 100% compatible rebuilds of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, in full compliance with Red Hat's redistribution requirements. In 2020 it was announced CentOS Linux is being discontinued and replaced with CentOS Stream, a developer-focused distribution which acts as a middle-stream between Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Luberri Linux is a desktop-oriented distribution based on Linux Mint, with Cinnamon as the preferred desktop. It is localised into the Basque language and is primarily intended for the Basque-speaking users, although it supports the Spanish language as well. Luberri Linux is especially appropriate for use in educational institutions as it includes five years of support, regular updates, integration with Active Directory on Windows, and a vast range of applications suitable for learning varied subjects, such as typing, chemistry, geography, mathematics, programming, or mind and concept maps.

Aurora is a Fedora Silverblue-based Linux distribution with the goal of being a general-purpose workstation. It uses the KDE Plasma desktop. Like Fedora Silverblue, Aurora's root filesystem is immutable (read-only), which makes the system more stable, less prone to bugs, and easier to test and develop. Updates, upgrades and rollbacks to a previous image are available via the rpm-ostree utility. The distribution also features Flatpak applications and Toolbox containers.

KLV-Airedale is an independently-developed, general-purpose and minimalist Linux distribution featuring a customised Xfce desktop. It is compatible with Void, as it uses Void's package management tools and repositories. The distribution is built using a custom build script called FirstRib, which deploys the OverlayFS filesystem to provide a frugal install, Squashfs capabilities, and an option to copy the system to RAM (copy2ram). Like Void, KLV-Airedale uses the runit init system.

StartOS is a Debian-based Linux distribution optimised for personal servers. It facilitates the discovery, installation, network configuration, service configuration, data backup, dependency management and health monitoring of self-hosted software services. After installation, the distribution boots into a Firefox browser with several services pre-installed and others, including various Bitcoin, communication, data and artificial intelligence services available from the project's online marketplace. The server can be accessed locally or from anywhere in the world via Tor network's Onion service. The distribution is developed by Start9 Labs, Inc.

Unraid OS is a Linux-based commercial operating system designed to provide an easy-to-use and flexible platform for building and managing a Network-Attached Storage (NAS). Some of Unraid's main features include the ability to mix and match drives of different sizes, an easy-to-use web interface for managing storage, virtual machines and Docker containers, protection to safeguard against drive failures, ability to expand the storage by adding more drives.

NetBSD is a free, secure, and highly portable UNIX-like Open Source operating system available for many platforms, from 64-bit AlphaServers and desktop systems to handheld and embedded devices. Its clean design and advanced features make it excellent in both production and research environments, and it is user-supported with complete source. Many applications are easily available through The NetBSD Packages Collection.

Archcraft is a minimal Linux distribution based on Arch Linux. The project provides a graphical user interface using minimal window managers rather than full featured desktop environments. Archcraft is installed using the Calamares system installer and includes the yay package manager to facilitate fetching software from the Arch User Repository.

Flatcar Container Linux is a container-optimized operating system based on Gentoo Linux. It is a minimal operating system image which includes only the tools needed to run containers and it supports all of the popular methods for running containers. The distribution ships an immutable filesystem and includes automatic atomic updates. Flatcar Container Linux runs on most cloud providers, virtualization platforms and bare metal servers.

Bluefin is an Linux distribution, based on Fedora Silverblue or CentOS, that aims to provide a stable and secure system with pre-installed software and hardware support, GNOME desktop, Flatpak integration, and Distrobox inclusion. It features an immutable, read-only root file system, enhancing system stability and security. Bluefin provides various editions of the product, including "gts" (based on the previous stable version of Fedora), "stable" (based on the current stable version of Fedora), and "lts" (based on the current version of CentOS Stream). It also offers a developer mode with various tools and container-based technologies for developers.

Ultimate Edition, first released in December 2006, was a fork of Ubuntu and Linux Mint though recent versions (starting in 2024) have been based on Arch Linux. The goal of the project is to create a complete, seamlessly integrated, visually stimulating, and easy-to-install operating system. Single-button upgrade is one of several special characteristics of this distribution. Other main features include custom desktop and theme with 3D effects, support for a wide range of networking options, including WiFi and Bluetooth, and integration of many extra applications and package repositories.