Reader supplied reviews for Redcore Linux
Average rating
8.0 from 30 review(s)
Version: 2301
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-11-14
Votes: 25
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Hardware: OptiPlex 3060, Intel i3-8300T X(4) 3.200GHz CoffeeLake-S UHD Graphics 630, Memory used 2954MiB/15824MiB, RedcoreHardened Rolling.Boulder.Uphill x86_64 Kernel: 6.1.61-redcore-lts, Window Manager: KWin, Packages: 1618 (emerge). Note that the default init in Gentoo & Redcore is "openRC."
Redcore 2201 (Rastaban) was installed over a year ago and has successfully upgraded through two rolling releases (Sirius & Rolling.Boulder.Uphill), including all the updates. Old Apple devices will work fine with RC; wifi & ethernet drivers are installed by default if required — a great way to repurpose those Apple PCs sitting in the cupboard gathering dust.
Note: this is a biased review as I'm a long-term Redcore (RC) user. RC is pure Hardened Gentoo that installs in minutes using the Calamares GUI installer. The live ISO/installer is around 4GB, designed to be installed offline, and the installer includes just about all the software needed to run as a typical desktop. KDE Plasma is the only supported desktop. Unlike Gentoo, the goal of Redcore is to be a binary OS, rather than a source-based distro, making it easier and substantially quicker to install packages than its parent. Achieved by RC's package wrapper, "Sisyphus," with typical usage being "sisyphus install ," or if choosing to install a package that is unavailable in the RC repositories, it can be installed from Gentoo using the same install commands, but adding "-e" to the end of "sisyphus install -e." It's straightforward; unlike "emerge," Sisyphus just works. Avoid installing packages with "emerge" as it installs the package as an alien, potentially resulting in instability of package management. If you install a package with "emerge," it is essential to sync the RC & Gentoo repos with the command "sisyphus spmsync." Updates & upgrades are not prompted; you must take the initiative to run them yourself. There are two ways to do this: Sisyphus GUI, accessible via the system icon in the Plasma app launcher. Note that using the SISYPHUS GUI will not install source-based updates, and you will be prompted to use the terminal and run the command "sisyphus install upgrade -e." I choose to run this command when updating. This syncs the packages and the RC & Gentoo repos, looks for all updates & upgrades, and then asks you to confirm the listed installs. Please run "sisyphus --help," and there you will see a list of commands, and you can ask for help like "sisyphus branch --help."
Overall, RC is a fast, responsive and stable distro. I find RC more stable than Debian & Arch distros. It's my workhorse. The initial release of RC was in 2017; there were issues in 2018 &and historical. Please don't negatively rate RC if you use the command "emerge" due to ignorance or not researching how to run the package wrapper Sisyphus. Don't use "emerge" unless instructed by the developer, either directly or on the news page at redcorelinux.org. Ensure your hardware is supported, and note that RC is only compatible with AMD & Intel 64 hardware. Btrfs is only supported as a storage device, not for the RC OS drive; use ext4.
Community support is available at Libera IRC #redcorelinux. Be patient for great community help and be considerate of different time zones. It's not a huge community but a very supportive one. I hope this provides more understanding of RC, and hopefully, you will see the benefits of RC as I have.
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Version: 2301
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-11-08
Votes: 0
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It's a superb distribution and it's easy to use even though it's based on Gentoo. Too bad it doesn't offer a GNOME desktop version.
The software repository contains too few applications and I think they should add more of the popular programs.
If they offered a version with GNOME and more applications in the official repository it would surely be more successful.
Otherwise it is a superb distribution. Too bad it's not as well known as it deserves to be. But neither is it promoted by the developer much more.
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Version: 2301
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-09-19
Votes: 1
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After unsuccessful attempts, years ago, to install Sabayon, I remained curious to try a Gentoo-based distro and finally got around to downloading Redcore's large ISO (2.5 hours on my rural broadband).
Unexpectedly, installation on both desktop and laptop was then the quickest and sweetest I have ever experienced. Even more unexpectedly, given its low profile on Distrowatch, it has so far proved to be a truly outstanding distro: full-fat, solid-feeling, but very fast and polished, too.
Cons? Personally, I've never found KDE very intuitive (though Plasma is much better than earlier iterations), and there is slight inelegance in the UEFI start-up screens. That's it: I don't think a 10 is realistically possible, but this is more a 9.8 than a 9.
Huge thanks to all at Redcore for this excellent system!
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