Have you heard of/used Q4OS?
Posted by SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 128 comments
I have replied to a least a dozen "what OS for low spec laptop" posts with a suggestion of Q4OS. Never got any interest at all. IMO, Q4OS is much more performant on low spec metal than Puppy, Linux Lite, Bodhi, etc. and I wonder why it has so little traction in that niche. Is it just that no one knows about it or something else?
NonfreeEqualsCringe@reddit
I haven't head of that distro until now, but giving that it says that it's based on Debian on its website, I immediately have a question: what does this distro do that Debian doesn't? I.e. why not install Debian instead?
Unfortunately the vast majority of Debian-based distributions cannot answer that question sufficiently.
CampyCamperton72@reddit
Sorry to dig up an old thread. The one unique thing they've added is S4 Snapshot. It makes an ISO out of your running system and turns it into a live installer USB. So, we created a custom plasma image with settings, wallpaper, desktop icons, and tweaks, then deployed it across 300 PC's (ditching Windows 10) in a very short time. I haven't seen anything this easy in other distros. As with all things Linux, there are 100+ ways to do something, but this was extremely painless. And, it runs beautifully. :)
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Well, for a start supporting 32 bit with the Trinity Desktop and the the KDE Plasma desktop for 64-bit. It has a very intuitive GUI installer and much better "I believe button" defaults than vanilla Debian.
I don't have hard benchmarks to present, but I use an ancient Acer Chromebook cb3 to get an approximation of real world performance and Q4 outshines everything else whilst still looking good and feeling snappy.
One other USP is that is has a Windows "theme" that eases Win users into a new OS without an instant, jarring GUI change.
thegreenman_sofla@reddit
What does it do better than LL or Devuan? Lower resource needs?
I'll give it a spin on my @11 year old pentium laptop and see how it compares to Zorin Lite.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Yes! Please do and let me know! IMO, much lower resource utilization and a better GUI.
thegreenman_sofla@reddit
You think with Plasma it will use less resources than XFCE? I'm skeptical, but I'll give it a go and see.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Dude, me 2 and that was kind of my point. I was thrilled to run Plasma on that glorified calculator.
IamNickJones@reddit
One year later thanks for the info 😁
Udab@reddit
RemindMe! 12 hours
Buddy-Matt@reddit
I switched from xfce to plasma on my laptop (not a low spec one if that matters) a couple of years ago, and was stunned that kde used less resources than xfce.
No idea if that's the case still or not, but I'll tip my hat where deserved, because I'd have assumed xfce would be leaner too, until I actually did the swap.
InstanceTurbulent719@reddit
their trinity desktop was forked from an old version of kde and now it's its own thing, I believe.
Runs great on a vm though. With 2gb of ram, it uses about 300 at idle
HappySinner1970@reddit
Yes, This IS a good question. I have noticed that you need newer equipment than what I have to run Debian properly. No matter what the websites say you should always try things on your equipment and go from there. Bunsenlabs and Q4OS are the ones I like and can turn to with confidence after installing a lot of different distros on my older equipment, they perform the best.
Hary06@reddit
I came across this topic about the Q4OS distro that I am interested in (I see that you have experience with it), the question is about the Windows installer, is it really that easy to install Q4OS with it and I am interested in the installation in dual boot with windows. Thanks in advance for your time.
Stock_String9804@reddit
Sorry to jump in, but if I may answer your question: yes, very easy! Just use your browser to go to the Q4OS website, select downloads tab, scroll down that page to Installer for Windows. Once that downloads, click on the .exe file and then follow the instructions. There are also YouTube videos that walk you through this process, if needed.
I initially decided on Q4OS because I wanted to try out Linux, in general, and this distro was easy to install from within Windows and could be dual booted with it. I can use it to get on the internet safely on my otherwise Windows 7 desktop and older ThinkPad laptops. I also have it installed as a dual-boot OS on my more powerful Windows 10 desktops mostly because I just really like this distro!
Best of luck with it, and I hope you enjoy Q4OS as much as I do!
Hary06@reddit
Thank you very much for your encouraging and helpful comment, I also intend to install Q4OS alongside Windows. I hope I can do it without problems, otherwise I will contact you for some clarification.
pbandasiantime@reddit
hey, i just fresh installed q4os and i wanted to know how has your experience with it been?
HappySinner1970@reddit
Great user experience with q4OS. Daily driver for years. No problems.
pbandasiantime@reddit
i’ve been using it on my shit laptop with a N3060 cpu. i’m honestly impressed with how much improvement its made.
Hermit_Dante75@reddit
And here I thought that my T5300 was as bad as it got for this distro.
pbandasiantime@reddit
N3060 with a whopping 4gb of soldered RAM mind you.
HappySinner1970@reddit
WOW. That has only 2 cores. How much ram do you have? What can you do and where does the laptop start to slow down? Is surfing the web easy, do you use any office software? I want to know more?
pbandasiantime@reddit
It has 4gb of soldered, non-upgradeable ram! The only upgrade I made was on its storage, went from a 500gb HDD to a 240gb SSD.
I’ve been using it as media control device and sometimes I do browse the web on it. Oddly enough, it tends to chug on YouTube (especially when watching anything higher than 720p videos) HOWEVER, it handles other streaming services exceptionally well. Spotify and Netflix run great.
I can’t necessarily specify what sites it chugs on. It’s honestly a 50/50 split between chugging and being snappy!
I recently downloaded LibreOffice on it and it works great, no complaints there.
What’s more impressive is how it can handle GBA emulation! When it had the original Win10 OS, it completely struggled to do so, now it works fantastic.
Honestly, I’m just as impressed as you are with how it performs. Q4os does take some getting used to and I definitely do not use it as my primary device, but overall it’s definitely an impressive change.
HappySinner1970@reddit
Outstanding,,,,I am impressed. I have a i5 (4 cores) 8gigs of ram and things run smooth even when I run games on my virtual machine (Windows XP). Only slows down on occasion when I open up some click bait web site like Taboola. And even then just for a few seconds. I can even play all my old atari games online. Converting and editing videos is a little slow if the video is 15 minutes long it will take 15 minutes to convert to a different format. Libre Office works without any issues and Microsoft Office online, Google Docs and Microsoft Office on my virtual machine all work great. streaming videos from my laptop on UMP or Plex is smooth as long as its in the right format. If you upgrade your equipment I would love to know how it works out. In the meantime feel free to reach out if you have any questions. But I have to warn you I don't check Reddit daily. But I will respond.
pbandasiantime@reddit
That sounds really incredible! This OS really impresses me tbh. I do have one question, do you know how to prevent it from going to sleep?
I’ve disabled the function through display settings, but if I am not moving the mouse for 30 seconds, the display starts to fall asleep. Unsure what the cause his since I have disabled that function.
HappySinner1970@reddit
system settings ,,,,,then ,,,,power management,,,,then ,,,,,um ,,im looking in energy savings ,,,,,,it will ask you what to do when you press the power button,,,,hold on looking in advance settings
HappySinner1970@reddit
uncheck all that stuff that says hibernate and sleep in power management ,,,,um if I remember,,,I did these settings when I installed the OS years ago
HappySinner1970@reddit
I haven't been back here for a while, but I see you guys have been busy. I stopped dual-booting a long time ago, but I remember having issues with my anti-virus and having to whitelist the partition for Linux. I hope that isn't an issue for anyone. After some time had passed I became comfortable leaving Windows behind altogether and that was well over a decade ago.
edilaq@reddit
Yo si lo use sin problemas en un equipo antiguo (una Compaq C300), pasaron los años y luego lo instale en una ASUS Vivobook que era del año 2020, pero tuve problemas ya que no me reconocia el HDMI y el lector de tarjetas SD, entonces cambie a Lubuntu y esta vez no tuve problemas de incompatibilidad (dado que al estar basado en Debian, no es tan flexible con los drivers de hardware)
spryfigure@reddit
The only things I know about it is that KDE 3 (on which this is based on) doesn't get any security updates, so it's a huge security risk to run.
Has this changed in the meantime?
Active_Lion3868@reddit
Je viens d'installer Q4OS et c'est optimal comme utilisation.
Psychological_List23@reddit
I installed Q4OS on older computer. I was switching from Windows to Linux and this is a very Windows-like operating system. I love it.
No_Passenger_9021@reddit
This is what I us on an old Asus 32 bit laptop. It works very well and is fast for an old machine.
iR
Hermit_Dante75@reddit
This is my first ever linux distro that I tried other than SteamOS, I decided to experiment in on an old Dell XPS with a T5300 CPU and 4GB of DDR2 667 MHz as a result of my experience with SteamOS, It surprised me because as a total newbie in the desktop linux enviroment. I was frustrated that my ancient laptop would not install Bazzite (everybody told me that Bazzite was basically a clone of SteamOS) due its legacy BIOS, Q4OS was the closest thing I could find to Bazzite, I first tried the KDE Plasma dekstop and it was very similar to SteamOS desktop and I could use it almost seamless for what I intendend to use it (office work, the VGA port to use old projectors, as streaming device connected to a TV, etc.), but it was consuming around 1GB of RAM at iddle, so I decided to give it a try to the Trinity desktop, It was nostalgic because I was a child in the winXP era. It was a bit more confusing than the KDE Plasma version but the 300-400MB at iddle sold it to me.
So, for someone who until I bought a Steam Deck had never touched a machine with Linux other than Android phones, it was a quite painless experience, getting somethings to work like playonlinux was tedious, however as I don't intend to mess with the kernel, I'm not a software developer after all, It has worked for me the last 3 months quite well on that old destitute laptop that I had forgotten about for years.
Sparc343@reddit
I must say, up until today I didn't really have a reason to be looking for a distro that was for old hardware; but today I dug out a laptop (and blew the dust off of it) that I haven't seen in AGES. So today I started looking for, and downloading, Several "old hardware" distros and I must say, Q4OS is by far the BEST one out of about 5 that I tried.
I must also admit that I also liked "Slax" but it seemed TOO bare. Which I assume may be even better for any machines that happen to be even older than this one that I'm currently on! So I think, moving forward, my top two recommendations for old a$$ hardware, would be Q4OS - or if for any reason you were trying to put it on a machine too old for even it, maybe then, Slax (since Slax seemed so bare)!
Specs of this machine as follows (inxi -F):
System:
Host: user-satellitea215 Kernel: 6.1.0-27-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
Desktop: Trinity v: R14.1.1 Distro: Q4OS 5.6.1-n1
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: TOSHIBA product: Satellite A215 v: PSAEGU-03801J
serial:
Mobo: TOSHIBA model: IALAA v: 1.00 serial:
BIOS: TOSHIBA v: 1.90 date: 02/25/2008
Battery:
ID-1: BAT1 charge: 59.2 Wh (100.0%) condition: 59.2/59.2 Wh (100.0%)
volts: 14.8 min: 14.8
CPU:
Info: dual core model: AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-60 bits: 64 type: MCP
cache: L2: 1024 KiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/2000 cores: 1: 800 2: 800
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD RS690M [Radeon Xpress 1200/1250/1270] driver: radeon v: kernel
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: radeon
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: r300 gpu: radeon
resolution: 1280x800\~60Hz
API: OpenGL v: 2.1 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: ATI RS690
Audio:
Device-1: AMD SBx00 Azalia driver: snd_hda_intel
API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-27-amd64 status: kernel-api
Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet driver: r8169
IF: enp14s0 state: down mac: 00:1e:ec:33:fb:ee
Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter
driver: ath5k
IF: wlp20s0 state: up mac: 00:1f:e1:00:b1:0c
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 34.08 GiB (7.1%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: A-Data model: SU800 size: 476.94 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 464.5 GiB used: 33.78 GiB (7.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 3.94 GiB used: 297.8 MiB (7.4%)
dev: /dev/sda2
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 43.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 184 Uptime: 50m Memory: 1.8 GiB used: 1.36 GiB (75.8%)
Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.26
This machine initially/originally came with Win Vista (yeuck I know) and I (temporarily swapped in a 500GB SSD for some distro 'hopping'). I must say, even "stock" Debian 12 ran like complete garbage on this machine! But Q4OS is utterly amazing; seems flawless on this machine! I HIGHLY recommend Q4OS if you're trying to rock some older hardware!
Sparc343@reddit
I must say, up until today I didn't really have a reason to be looking for a distro that was for old hardware; but today I dug out a laptop (and blew the dust off of it) that I haven't seen in AGES.
So today I started looking for, and downloading, Several "old hardware" distros and I must say, Q4OS is by far the BEST one out of about 5 that I tried.
I must also admit that I also liked "Slax" but it seemed TOO bare. Which I assume may be even better for any machines that happen to be even older than this one that I'm currently on!
So I think, moving forward, my top two recommendations for old a$$ hardware, would be Q4OS - or if for any reason you were trying to put it on a machine too old for even it, maybe then, Slax (since Slax seemed so bare)!
Specs of this machine as follows (inxi -F):
CPU:
Info: dual core model: AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-60 bits: 64 type: MCP
cache: L2: 1024 KiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/2000 cores: 1: 800 2: 800
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD RS690M [Radeon Xpress 1200/1250/1270] driver: radeon v: kernel
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: radeon
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: r300 gpu: radeon
resolution: 1280x800\~60Hz
API: OpenGL v: 2.1 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: ATI RS690
Audio:
Device-1: AMD SBx00 Azalia driver: snd_hda_intel
API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-27-amd64 status: kernel-api
Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet driver: r8169
IF: enp14s0 state: down mac: 00:1e:ec:33:fb:ee
Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter
driver: ath5k
IF: wlp20s0 state: up mac: 00:1f:e1:00:b1:0c
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 464.5 GiB used: 33.78 GiB (7.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 3.94 GiB used: 297.8 MiB (7.4%)
dev: /dev/sda2
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 43.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 184 Uptime: 50m Memory: 1.8 GiB used: 1.36 GiB (75.8%)
Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.26
This machine initially/originally came with Win Vista (yeuck I know) and I (temporarily swapped in a 500GB SSD for some distro 'hopping'). I must say, even "stock" Debian 12 ran like complete garbage on this machine! But Q4OS is utterly amazing; seems flawless on this machine! I HIGHLY recommend Q4OS if you're trying to rock some older hardware!
ozmosTheGreat@reddit
can confirm. q4os with Trinity DE is a great choice for low spec hardware. Runs well on my 2010 4g Toshiba laptop
Ampul80@reddit
More love for Q4OS. imho the best distro for older hardware. Used it in the past, forgot about it, using it again.
einpoklum@reddit
I was asking the same question a while back, after having previously installed other distributions on older laptops, e.g. Lubuntu, Linux Lite and antiX. I'm mostly pleased with the result! (Except for Bluetooth; and that's not just Q40S' fault)
So, basically - the proselytization works.
I'm actually thinking of installing it on my own laptop (a ThinkPad X201), despite it having enough memory to manage a beefier distro. Haven't decided yet.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
| So, basically - the proselytization works.
Muh-hahahah! 😈
You can also easily add Xfce as a DE if you are not fond of Trinity
einpoklum@reddit
I actually kind of like it. In "regular" distros I choose cinnamon, and annoyed by its GNOME'ishness (especially that file picker... ugh).
DoubleOwl7777@reddit
its so niche that no one knows about it. looks interesting though, but i am happy with regular debian.
einpoklum@reddit
It targets older / low-specs machine. Have you compared it on one of those?
If you're happy with Debian - consider switching to Devuan. It's Debian vanilla but without systemd. Feels and behaves the same.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Agreed but 12 won't run well on a lot of older hardware. Q4 does.
slikrick_@reddit
Why does it run better, things don't just "run better" it's either by running less or cutting out stuff. Which is fine, but that is what should be stated, not just "runs better"
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
I see your thrust here, but when we say that a Formula One car "runs better" than a Hyundai, that phrase is indeed doing some linguistic heavy lifting so that we are not here all day explaining to each other what we already know. Follow up questions are allowed in English, so there is no need to re-cap, shoehorn, and exposition dump every single fact and figure into one sentence.
slikrick_@reddit
Nope, it's actually important, because it's the same software. Your example does not hold, because in this case both cars have the same design and engine.
You are trying to lie and shill, and you are dodging hard questions. Honestly sad.
Upbeat_Spot4582@reddit
I have been using Lubuntu Long Term Support versions for several years. But I am still using the 20.04 version, because 22.04 or 24.04 lost support for my DVB-T usb device. However, 20.04 is nearly to being no longer supported, so I made a search for modern light linux distros. I tried several (antiX, bodhi, puppies, BunsenLabs, LXDE, Mint, MX, Q4OS and Debian) in a spare laptop, and my favourite has been Q4OS, but with the LXDE desktop, which is the one I was used in Lubuntu until they "upgraded" to LXQT. Therefore, I will install Q4OS with LXDE in my main computer. (It is not that I could not run Ubuntu or other more weighted distros, it is that I want my RAM for my own processing, not for fancy desktop features that I don't need.)
djkido316@reddit
Sorry but all these aren't distros but only customized versions of debian, If one wants a truly lightweight distro he/she can install either install base installation of alpine linux and use a window manager like fluxbox which is really lightweight and comes with a panel.
Last time i checked Alpine linux on a Q9400+2GB+Mechanical drive it used about less than 1 percent of cpu and 100mb ram on boot with everything installed.
JacobPersico@reddit
Yes Q4OS IS a Linux Distro. Yes many Linux Distros ARE Debian based, but there is more to a Linux Distro then whether it is Debian based or uses RPM, etc. I think the fact that it is super light weight and uses the Debian package manager are huge advantages. I don't think the newest Debian can support computers as low spec as the newest Q4OS.
djkido316@reddit
Its called a derivative not a distro as a long time Linux user i can also generate a custom ISO with calamares and my own customizations so would you be calling it a distro or just a derivative?
JacobPersico@reddit
How do you know if I even use Windows? I use a Linux Distro on a regular basis (Linux Mint). And yes I DO know how a Linux kernel works, it's the part of the OS that communicates with the hardware. Your making accusations against me when you know nothing about me. I also run a Linux Distro on my VPS server (Ubuntu Server). And yes I use Windows and Android also. My advise is to not make accusations about someone when you don't know if there true or not.
djkido316@reddit
I'm not assuming anything, Clearly you don't know how Linux works, Linux kernel is not just part of the OS rather its the thing that makes Linux well Linux.
And since you never tried to challenge me any of my points they still stand corrected.
JacobPersico@reddit
But what about an even older lower spec computer computer. There is a version of Q4OS that can handle a 32bit computer with 350MHz CPU / 256MB RAM / 3GB disk. Can Debian do that? I'm not nocking Debian as I'm sure it's wonderful. I'm just saying there is a lot of work to make a new Linux Distro even when it's based on an older Linux Distro. The new Linux Distro has to be maintained. It's not enough to make a Linux Distro, you also have to keep it up to date.
djkido316@reddit
Someone managed to run alpine linux on a pentium i586 with 128mb ram on youtube, go and search it, Q4OS isn't doing anything special, Linux kernel in general literally supports even the oldest hardware.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ETqwL0NddQ
JacobPersico@reddit
They still have to package all the peaces together.
djkido316@reddit
No they don't please stop arguing just for the sake of argument.
Q4OS like many other debian derivatives uses binary packages from debian repos without any modification in the source, clearly you don't know what you're talking about!
JacobPersico@reddit
Your telling me they don't "package all the pieces together" so that would mean Q4OS doesn't make an ISO with a bunch of packages together. You can clearly see that on Q4OS's website you can download an ISO with a collection of software and some customization. What your saying is ridiculous. I never said they don't use "binary packages from debian repos without any modification". I never said they add there own computer code. (I don't know if they do or not). I only said that they put the pieces together, and you turn around and are like, "No they don't".
JacobPersico@reddit
I didn't say they don't use unmodified binary packages. They still have to put all the binary packages together and then add customization. Even if they don't add any code themselves they are still bundling it all together and putting it into an ISO to install. I don't know if Q4OS adds any of there own code or not, but I know they at least put all the parts together in an ISO and add there own customization. I still consider that a Linux Distribution, I don't know what everyone else in the world considers it.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
We are kind of on the same page but fluxbox looks like ass IMO compared to Q4 with around the same footprint.
djkido316@reddit
Wrong, Fluxbox can be highly riced, and yet footprint is about 5mb of ram, any other DE atleast needs 150-200mb.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
OK, man. How many people "rice" thier systems from a text file?
Maybe you want best Distro for experts.
djkido316@reddit
Ricing is easier than most people think for example there's hundreds if not thousands of configs on github, Literally you have to do is clone the repo and put the files in your home directory and relogin. That's literally about it xD
BarrierWithAshes@reddit
I've messed around with it briefly. I like the trinity desktop but I prefer XFCE so I ended up just hopping from it. Was easy to set up and had no issues working with it though.
It not having an entry on neofetch is about the only 'problem' I have with it.
JacobPersico@reddit
I'm pretty sure you can just install neofetch from the terminal by running sudo apt install neofetch. And you should be able to install XFCE on it to but you might need the terminal looks like it's just sudo apt install xfce4 (https://wiki.debian.org/Xfce#Install_Xfce_in_an_already_installed_system)
BarrierWithAshes@reddit
I meant when you run Neofetch it didn't display a the Q4OS logo. Too obscure to have one. Neofetch is dead anyways so whatever replaced it probably has an entry.
JacobPersico@reddit
Wow. Interesting.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Funny, that annoyed me slightly as well. The default Debian logo is OK, but you can also either make your own ASCII logo for Q4 or just D/L one someone else has made and then do:
alias neo='neofetch --source /path/to/your/ASCII/file/MyNewLogo.txt'amazingrosie123@reddit
I have just heard about Q4OS, I have a surface pro 4, and haven't found a distro that works well. Someone told me that Q4OS works well on his surface, so I'll have to give it a try.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
I'm guessing you installed it and it just worked.
I still don't like apt, so maybe 'nala' as a wrapper? Do apt info nala.
JacobPersico@reddit
What's wrong with apt? It's pretty easy to use and works well from my experence.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Nothing at all "wrong" w/ it. It just does not expose all the features I'd like it to; nala simply adds additional usability.
amazingrosie123@reddit
No chance yet, real life keeps getting in the way, but it's on the list. I need to try F40 as well.
JacobPersico@reddit
Yes I've heard of it. I looked up Linux Distros for low spec computers for my friend's computer that only has 0.5 GiB of RAM and a 32bit processor. One of the current version supports hardware even lower then that. I picked that one for him because I had heard about it from another friend that was already using it is the version he really loves. It ran really well.
tnetenbaa@reddit
A few years ago I Installed Q4OS with XPQ4 on a system for my mom to finally get her off of XP and she still uses it to this day with no issues.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Yep, same. And then I started giving it to friends and clients for personal use so they would quit asking me for free support.
Hary06@reddit
I came across this topic about the Q4OS distro that I am interested in (I see that you have experience with it), the question is about the Windows installer, is it really that easy to install Q4OS with it and I am interested in the installation in dual boot with windows. Thanks in advance for your time.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
I never used the Centaurus installer; I always do it the old way w/ diskpart or gparted. Your comment prompted me to try it on a VM and I gotta say it is pretty good. It exposes most important options and settings in a noob-friendly way.
Hary06@reddit
Thanks for the reply, I'm a Linux beginner so when I saw their installer it seemed suitable for a first installation.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
You're welcome. No matter which distro you wind up with, I'd suggest getting comfortable with doing things in the terminal. Knowing your way around APT, DNF, et. c. is half the battle.
HappySinner1970@reddit
I have been using Q4OS for Years as my daily driver. There is nothing I can't do with it. My daughter has used my laptop more than once over her chrome book for school projects. Nuf said about Q4OS.
2jznat@reddit
Q4OS is the best of all light distros, I always suggest it for older thinkpads etc. I'm using it since 2019 on many many old laptops and it is a beast, runs perfect on 512MB RAM.
GuestStarr@reddit
A lot late to the game but here goes. I see Q4OS (the Plasma version) as an easy way to install Debian and hop onboard the Linux ship, with some useful little bits of extras. The most useful of them is the small curated appshop that holds everything needed for everyday computing. If that's not enough, and the user has some experience it's easy to use Plasma Discover and the Debian repos, of course. Q4OS also looks and feels somewhat familiar to people immigrating from windows. For me - no support calls. Just install and forget, it'll just keep chugging on.
It doesn't need much hardware-wise. I have had usable systems running on Atom (x5-8300) and Celeron (starting from N2830) and AMD E1 with 2 to 4GB and they run fine as long as you don't open too many tabs and streams simultaneously.
Mohamad40SD@reddit
Yes Q4OS is a good distro for both newbies and those with old PCs and laptops like dell HP ect
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Yes, thanks. We seem to be in the minority -- lots of "opinions" on this one.
Its frankly weird what gets traction here. I still get replies to a throw away post I made 3 years ago telling some lady she was not likely to burn her house down by hiding a WAP behind a dresser. Least interesting thing I have ever written and it lives on in perpetuity.
Mohamad40SD@reddit
Its fine my friend just use which distros you love the most like I used Ubuntu unity in my Linux journey Before Switching to Opensuse Tumbleweed
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Man, that is some major co-inky-dink there! Same distro I am running on my work machine. I tried SilverBlue but I think it needs time and is def not for everyone.
prokousholi@reddit
I have tried it on potato pc. As long as you use desktop it's ok. When you open a browser everything become slow. So, no it doesn't magically improve a potato pc. I get much more performance with kde plasma 5
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Taking off my engineer hat and putting on my hobbyist hat for some good old fashioned anecdotal evidence:
IME, for "reasons", Q4 really dislikes Firefox. It runs like shite. My solution was just chromium which is pretty performant under Q4.
As for KDE Plasma 5, to be fair, you can get it almost as light as Q4 if you manually strip the config down to nothing. I guess I could write a script for that, but if an old box doesn't run really fast on Q4 it is headed for the bin.
prokousholi@reddit
You are right. It was firefox I tried on q4. Really heavy on the was. I don't know why
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
The only reason I even sussed this out is because I had to use chromium to D/L firefox, and chromium was fine. I still like Q4 for ancient hardware tho.
VelvetElvis@reddit
Because Trinity is a security nightmare?
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Well, that is definitely an opinion. Let's look deeper:
I have been in security far too long to just tell someone that I think they are wrong. I simply start asking questions and that usually does the job for me.
VelvetElvis@reddit
I can show you a desktop environment with a complete network stack that's been all but abandoned for over a decade. There's no CVEs and such because absolutely no one who cares about such things uses it. It's like still using Windows XP.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Sorry, I guess I was wrong; you have a STRONG opinion.
| There's no CVEs and such because absolutely no one who cares about such things uses it. It's like still using Windows XP.
That is just wrong. No one is running this as a prod server, mind, but people in the industry including friends do use it in very specific personal use cases such as rehabilitating old hardware setups for grandpa or turning a low spec Chromebook into an actual computer. It is not at all like XP in that it is perfectly usable, runs modern software, and Debian 12 gets regular security updates.
VelvetElvis@reddit
A Raspberry Pi can run moden Debian with XFCE or LXQT just fine. I collect old thinkpads and put linux on them. I'm currently on a ThinkPad X220 tablet PC from 2012 running Ubuntu MATE 22.04.
What machine are you running that isn't mission critical and can't be replaced with something that can run a modern DE for less than the cost of a cheap pair of shoes?
I know there's a bunch of prehistoric embedded crap still in use but it's always either headless or airgapped.
catfish_dinner@reddit
alpine exists, that's why
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
I like Alpine too. Wouldn't recommend it for Grandma tho. And that oddball C library... Not for beginners.
coderman93@reddit
musl-libc isn’t odd so much as it just isn’t GNU.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
That's fair
GaiusJocundus@reddit
I have a pentium III that I'll try this on.
sadlerm@reddit
If the selling point is just TDE, I can run that on any distro.
It's exactly the same thing I said about Solus.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
The selling point is that TDE runs.. smoothly, on ancient metal. I thought I made that point.
sadlerm@reddit
My point is I can just install a minimal Xorg Debian install and then install TDE. Why does Q4OS exist?
PeppermintOS, siduction, LMDE, heck even Xebian all have clear reasons for existing. I don't understand the point of Q4OS however.
BCat70@reddit
I'm on Q4OSon my laptop now. It seems to be well optimized for laptops, and it cariies Trinity DE right out of the box. It SCREAMS on my light weight build.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Yes, this is what I was trying to say. Thanks.
Few_Detail_3988@reddit
I use Q4OS on my old eeepcs x101. I also tried Bhodi, which was blazing fast and incredibly snappy, but I didn't like the look and feel of it. Q4OS fulfills my needs of an lightweight system and I See no need of changing at the moment.
apo--@reddit
I had tried it (probably in a VM, I don't remember) when the only option they offered was the Trinity DE (a fork of KDE 3).
I would not use it most likely. Maybe though someone could try Trinity DE in a very old computer. Try it in a VM to see what extra tools they include and if any of them are useful to you. Otherwise you could use regular Debian.
techdog19@reddit
I have used it in the past good distro. Works well.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
I was starting to think I was the only one.
techdog19@reddit
On low spec laptops it is fantastic.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
I got \~1,000 decommissioned Chromebooks from a failed startup for freakin' cheap, re-provisioned them all into linux boxes and gave them to my school district. Q4 out performed everything else I tried by a lot.
techdog19@reddit
TDE is very lightweight compared to modern desktops and has a ton of functionality.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Agreed but q4 needs lower specs to function. Especially CPU.
Drwankingstein@reddit
never heard of it, I do however have a compaq mini right beside me from the windows xp days (good old xp). Ill give it a whirl
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Sweet! That old you may have a problem with BIOS. If so lemme know; there are established work arounds.
Drwankingstein@reddit
I should be fine with the bios, currently I run arch 32bit on it so it should be fine there.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Yep, you are very likely good
sleepyooh90@reddit
Most people don't run ancient hardware and therefore distributions like this is less popular. Even my old core 2 duo t400 can use regular Ubuntu and it's 13 years old.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Yes, as stated, it is a niche OS.
iwasjusttwittering@reddit
I'm aware of Q4OS because of Distrowatch and possibly one or two Trinity fanboys in my local Linux community. The distro doesn't inspire great confidence though.
This is actually my issue with a lot of derivative distros: they don't tell who maintains them and how. I've wanted to rant about that for a while.
Q4OS specifically: they don't publish release notes with a changelog, I can't find source repos with their customizations either, and it's unclear who the maintainers are. There's this forum thread where they seem very dodgy to me.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Sorry, before I get carpet bombed I should mention that I do all the work in a REMnux VM.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Yeah, you are not wrong. I can look under the hood as well as anyone without the SC and it all seems legit, but yes. I work in security and have a +20 paranoia level, so I know it is not phoning home or anything, unless there is some zero day I am unaware of.
Warthunder1969@reddit
I've heard of it but never used it or installed it.
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
It seem to be targeted at really low spec hardware but has a really impressive Trinity DE. Looks and feels pretty good even on baked potatoes.
MidnightObjectiveA51@reddit
My preferred recommendation for really old hardware - that and Emmabuntus
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
Maybe I am slow but this is new to me. 100% checking this out. Thank you, man!
whatstefansees@reddit
In general I tend to avoid anything that gets recommended by single missionaries
SF_Engineer_Dude@reddit (OP)
That is objectively the best strategy.