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Solus


Last Update: 2024-02-02 02:44 UTC


Solus is a Linux distribution built from scratch. It uses a forked version of the PiSi package manager, maintained as "eopkg" within Solus, and a custom desktop environment called "Budgie", developed in-house. The Budgie desktop, which can be set to emulate the look and feel of the GNOME 2 desktop, is tightly integrated with the GNOME stack. The distribution is available for 64-bit computers only.



Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 31 (302), 6 months: 26 (319), 3 months: 19 (395), 4 weeks: 12 (678), 1 week: 42 (286)

Average visitor rating: 7.49/10 from 181 review(s).


Solus Summary
Distribution Solus
Home Page https://getsol.us/
Mailing Lists --
User Forums https://discuss.getsol.us/
Alternative User Forums
Documentation https://help.getsol.us/
Screenshots DistroWatch Gallery
Screencasts
Download Mirrors https://getsol.us/download/DistroWatch Torrent Archive
Bug Tracker https://dev.getsol.us/maniphest/
Related Websites  
Reviews 4.5: DistroWatch
4.4: DistroWatchMichlFranken (German)
4.x: DistroWatchDistroWatchLinuxzasve (Croatian) • DistrocrunchDistroWatchOrdinatechnicDedoimedoAverage Linux UserCMS CriticHeise (German) • DedoimedoDistroWatch
3: OrdinatechnicDistroWatchCMS CriticLinux.comPro-Linux (German)
2017.x: DedoimedoDarkDuckDistroWatch
1.x: DedoimedoDistroWatchFreedom PenguinLWNHecticGeek
Where To Donate, Buy, or Try Donate

Recent Related News and Releases
  Releases announcements with download links and checksums:
 • 2024-01-09: Distribution Release: Solus 4.5
 • 2023-07-08: Distribution Release: Solus 4.4
 • 2021-07-11: Distribution Release: Solus 4.3
 • 2021-02-03: Distribution Release: Solus 4.2
 • 2020-01-25: Distribution Release: Solus 4.1
 • 2019-03-18: Distribution Release: Solus 4.0
 • 2017-08-15: Distribution Release: Solus 3
 • 2017-04-18: Distribution Release: Solus 2017.04.18.0
 • 2017-01-02: Distribution Release: Solus 2017.01.01.0
 • 2016-10-19: Distribution Release: Solus 1.2.1
 • 2016-09-07: Distribution Release: Solus 1.2.0.5
 • 2016-06-20: Distribution Release: Solus 1.2
 • More Solus releases...

  Headlines:
 • 2023-04-18 Solus team planning a come-back
 • 2023-02-13 Solus project status updates
 • 2021-09-14 Solus to replace GTK in Budgie desktop
 • 2019-10-03 Solus updates supported desktops
 • 2019-03-21 Budgie 10.5 shipped with Solus 4.0
 • 2019-01-15 Solus roadmap for 2019
 • 2018-11-02 Solus team regaining account access
 • 2018-10-27 Solus founder out of contact
 • 2018-09-21 Solus updates install media
 • 2018-06-27 Solus polishes desktop tools
 • More Solus headlines...

Table Notes and Explanations
  • Select view:
  • To compare the software in this project to the software available in other distributions, please see our Compare Packages page.
  • Notes: In case where multiple versions of a package are shipped with a distribution, only the default version appears in the table. For indication about the GNOME version, please check the "nautilus" and "gnome-shell" packages. The Apache web server is listed as "httpd" and the Linux kernel is listed as "linux". The KDE desktop is represented by the "plasma-desktop" package and the Xfce desktop by the "xfdesktop" package.
  • Colour scheme: green text = latest stable version, red text = development or beta version. The function determining beta versions is not 100% reliable due to a wide variety of versioning schemes.
Feature 4.5 4.4 4.3
Release Date 2024-01-09 2023-07-08 2021-07-11
End Of Life      
Price (US$) Free Free Free
Image Size (MB) 2200-2600 2200-2600 1800-2100
Free Download ISO ISO ISO
Installation Graphical Graphical Graphical
Default Desktop Budgie, GNOME, KDE Plasma, Xfce Budgie, GNOME, KDE Plasma, MATE Budgie, GNOME, KDE Plasma, MATE
Package Management Flatpak, eopkg (pisi fork), Snap Flatpak, eopkg (pisi fork), Snap Flatpak, eopkg (pisi fork), Snap
Release Model Rolling Rolling Rolling
Office Suite LibreOffice LibreOffice LibreOffice
Processor Architecture x86_64 x86_64 x86_64
Init Software systemd systemd systemd
Journaled File Systems      
Multilingual Yes Yes Yes
Asian Language Support Yes Yes Yes
Full Package List 4.5 4.4 4.3
abiword (3.0.5) 3.0.5 -- --
alsa-lib (1.2.11) 1.2.10 1.2.9 1.2.4
amdgpu (23.0.0) -- -- --
bash (5.2.21) 5.1 5.1.16 5.1
bind (9.18.21) -- -- --
chromium (121.0.6167.139) -- -- --
cups (2.4.7) 2.2.13 2.2.13 2.2.13
dhcp (4.4.3-P1) -- 4.4.2 4.4.2
e2fsprogs (1.47.0) 1.47.0 1.47.0 1.45.6
firefox (122.0) 121.0 114.0.1 89.0.2
freetype (2.13.2) 2.13.2 2.13.0 2.10.4
gcc (13.2.0) 13.2.0 -- --
gimp (2.10.36) 2.10.36 -- --
glibc (2.39) 2.38 2.36 2.33
gnome-shell (45.3) 45.2 43.5 40.2
gnucash (5.5) 5.5 -- --
gnumeric (1.12.56) 1.12.55 -- --
grub (2.12) 2.04 2.04 2.04
gtk (4.12.5) 4 4.10.4 3.24.29
httpd (2.4.58) 2.4.58 -- --
inkscape (1.3.1) 1.3.2 -- --
k3b (23.08.4) 23.08.4 -- --
kmod (31) 31 30 25
krita (5.2.2) 5.1.5 -- --
LibreOffice (24.2.0) 7.6.4.1 7.5.3 7.1.4
linux (6.7.3) 5.15.145 6.3.8 5.13.1
lxpanel (0.10.1) -- -- --
mariadb (11.1.3) 10.6.15 -- --
mate-desktop (1.26.2) 1.27.3 1.27.1 1.24.2
mesa (24.0.0) 9.0.0 23.0.3 21.1.3
mysql (8.3.0) -- -- --
nautilus (45.2.1) 45.2 43.4 40.2
NVIDIA (545.29.06) -- 535.54.03 465.31
openbox (3.6.1) 3.6.1 -- --
openjdk (21.0.2) 17 -- --
openssh (9.6p1) 9.6p1 9.3p1 8.6p1
openssl (3.2.1) 3.1.4x 1.1.1u 1.1.1k
perl (5.38.2) 5.38.2 5.36.0 5.32.1
php (8.3.2) 8.1.22 -- --
plasma-desktop (5.27.10) 5.27.10 5.27.5 5.22.2
postfix (3.8.5) -- -- --
postgresql (16.1) 16.1 -- --
Python (3.12.1) 3.10.13 3.10.11 3.7.11
qt (6.6.1) 6.6.1 6.3.0 5.15.3
samba (4.19.4) 4.17.12 4.16.10 4.13.9
systemd (255.3) 253.15 251.15 247.7
thunderbird (115.7.0) 115.6.0 102.12.0 78.11.0
vim (9.1) 9.0 -- --
vlc (3.0.20) 3.0.20 3.0.18 3.0.16
wayland (1.22.0) 1.22.0 1.22.0 1.19.0
xfdesktop (4.18.1) 4.18.1 -- --
xorg-server (21.1.11) 21.1.10 1.20.14 1.20.12


Reader Ratings
Reader supplied reviews for Solus

Average rating
7.5
from 181 review(s)



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Past reviews - sort by:

Version: 4.5
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-01-25
Votes: 31


After saying I'd give up in my previous review due to NVMe drives not being read in the installer, I decided to give it one more try since the newest version switched to Calamares. Seems to have been the magic bullet for fixing my install issues, as the installer was ready at ramming speed with the partitions on my NVMe drive. Also seemed to configure EFI properly for once.

Now that I'm in the system, everything seems to work fine for me out of the box. No complaints on my end now. Repos maybe a little sparse but we also have flatpak to compensate. Only wish is that they had more 3rd party source install support.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 4.5
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-01-12
Votes: 30


As soon as the release of 4.5 came out I jumped at the chance to give it a try on bare metal. The addition of the Calamares installer is a very welcomed change. The installation went well with no issues whatsoever. I installed the XFCE Beta to give a test run on my gaming rig and I have encountered no problems whatsoever. As far as gaming goes I was pleasantly surprised to see it's performance comparable to that of Nobara. Everything just works as intended and I just might leave it and use it as a daily driver for a while. Hats off to the Solus team. Very nice release.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 4.5
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-01-12
Votes: 17


Since I have decided to not use Windows anymore, I have tested a lot distros and desktop enviroments. The Solus 4.5 was released (I have used Solus in the past) and downloaded Budgie, Gnome, KDE iso's for checking (XFCE not yet, as it is still beta). I've installed all of them and tested with e.g. gaming. I have had no problems and I have decided to go with the Gnome desktop (personal preference and it is the only one having Wayland as default). Why not a 10 out of 10? There is always room for improvements. To the Solus team, good job! I am happy you are back!


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