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elementary OS


Last Update: 2023-01-31 20:27 UTC



elementary OS is an Ubuntu-based desktop distribution. Some of its more interesting features include a custom desktop environment called Pantheon and many custom apps including Photos, Music, Videos, Calendar, Terminal, Files, and more. It also comes with some familiar apps like the Epiphany web browser and a fork of Geary mail.

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Average visitor rating: 6.57/10 from 373 review(s).


elementary Summary
Distribution elementary OS
Home Page https://elementary.io/
Mailing Lists --
User Forums --
Alternative User Forums
Documentation https://elementary.io/docs/learning-the-basics
Screenshots DistroWatch Gallery
Screencasts
Download Mirrors https://elementary.io/DistroWatch Torrent Archive
Bug Tracker https://bugs.launchpad.net/elementary
Related Websites --
Reviews 7.x: DistroWatchMichlFranken (German)
6.x: DistroWatchHeise (German)
5.x: DistroWatchCMS CriticLinux JournalOrdinatechnicDistroWatchHeise (German)
0.4: DedoimedoDistroWatchThe Tao of MacDedoimedo
0.3: elastic2ls (German) • DistroWatchLinux.com
0.2: Pro-Linux (German) • derStandard (German) • BinaryTidesWordpressLWNLinux Za Sve (Croatian) • WEB UP8LinuxBSDosWordpress
0.1: DedoimedoLWNBlogspotTech Drive-inBlogspotMuyComputer (Spanish) • OMG! Ubuntu!
Where To Buy or Try

Recent Related News and Releases
  Releases announcements with download links and checksums:
 • 2023-01-31: Distribution Release: elementary OS 7.0
 • 2021-12-20: Distribution Release: elementary OS 6.1
 • 2021-08-10: Distribution Release: elementary OS 6.0
 • 2021-06-16: Development Release: elementary OS 6.0 Beta 2
 • 2021-05-01: Development Release: elementary OS 6.0 Beta
 • 2020-05-02: Distribution Release: elementary OS 5.1.4
 • 2020-02-07: Distribution Release: elementary OS 5.1.2
 • 2019-12-03: Distribution Release: elementary OS 5.1
 • 2018-10-16: Distribution Release: elementary OS 5.0
 • 2018-09-21: Development Release: elementary OS 5.0 Beta 2
 • 2018-07-04: Development Release: elementary OS 5.0 Beta 1
 • 2017-05-18: Distribution Release: elementary OS 0.4.1
 • More elementary releases...

  Headlines:
 • 2023-03-06 elementary OS offers new file manager and network widget improvements
 • 2022-12-02 elementary OS team fixes delta updates
 • 2022-11-04 elementary provides Flatpak, GNOME updates
 • 2022-10-06 elementary OS fixes Gala regressions, introduces software centre features
 • 2022-09-07 elementary OS explores responsive designs
 • 2022-05-04 elementary team updates settings, plans for version 7
 • 2022-02-01 elementary OS improves its mail and calendar functions
 • 2021-10-05 elementary OS improves its app centre
 • 2020-12-05 elementary OS being tested on the Raspberry Pi
 • 2020-12-02 elementary OS to gain multi-touch gestures
 • More elementary headlines...

Table Notes and Explanations

(Please refer to the table below.)
  • 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.
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Feature 7.0
horus
6.1
jolnir
6.0
odin
5.1.7
hera
5.0
juno
0.4.1
loki
0.3.2
freya
0.2
luna
0.1
jupiter
Feature
Release Date 2023-01-31 2021-12-20 2021-08-10 2020-08-14 2018-10-16 2017-05-17 2015-12-09 2013-08-11 2011-04-01 Release Date
End Of Life                   End Of Life
Price (US$) Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Price (US$)
Image Size (MB) 2600-2700 2200-2300 2200-2300 1400-1500 1400-1500 1000-1100       Image Size (MB)
Free Download ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO Free Download
Installation Graphical Graphical Graphical Graphical Graphical Graphical Graphical Graphical Graphical Installation
Default Desktop Pantheon Pantheon Pantheon Pantheon Pantheon Pantheon Pantheon Pantheon GNOME Default Desktop
Package Management DEB DEB DEB DEB DEB DEB DEB DEB DEB Package Management
Release Model Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Release Model
Office Suite -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- GOffice Office Suite
Processor Architecture x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 i386, x86_64 i386, x86_64 i386 Processor Architecture
Init Software systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd Upstart Upstart Upstart Init Software
Journaled File Systems Btrfs, ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Journaled File Systems
Multilingual Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes         Multilingual
Asian Language Support                   Asian Language Support
Full Package List 7.0 6.1 6.0 5.1.7 5.0 0.4.1 0.3.2 0.2 0.1 Full Package List
Package 7.0
horus
6.1
jolnir
6.0
odin
5.1.7
hera
5.0
juno
0.4.1
loki
0.3.2
freya
0.2
luna
0.1
jupiter
Package
abiword (3.0.5) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2.8.6 abiword (3.0.5)
alsa-lib (1.2.8) 1.2.6.1 1.2.2 1.2.2 1.1.3 1.1.3 1.1.0 1.0.27.2 1.0.25 1.0.23 alsa-lib (1.2.8)
amdgpu (23.0.0) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 8.780 amdgpu (23.0.0)
bash (5.2.15) 5.1 5.0 5.0 4.4.18 4.4.18 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.1 bash (5.2.15)
bind (9.18.13) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- bind (9.18.13)
chromium (111.0.5563.64) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- chromium (111.0.5563.64)
cups (2.4.2) 2.4.1 2.3.1 2.3.1 2.2.7 2.2.7 2.1.3 1.7.2 1.5.3 1.4.4 cups (2.4.2)
dhcp (4.4.3-P1) 4.4.1 4.4.1 4.4.1 4.3.5 4.3.5 4.3.3 4.2.4 4.1.ESV-R4 3.1.3 dhcp (4.4.3-P1)
e2fsprogs (1.47.0) 1.46.5 1.45.5 1.45.5 1.44.1 1.44.1 1.42.13 1.42.9 1.42 1.41.12 e2fsprogs (1.47.0)
firefox (111.0) -- -- -- -- -- -- 42.0 -- -- firefox (111.0)
freetype (2.13.0) 2.11.1 2.10.1 2.10.1 2.8.1 2.8.1 2.6.1 2.5.2 2.4.8 2.4.2 freetype (2.13.0)
gcc (12.2.0) -- -- -- -- 7.3.0 5.3.1 4.8.2 4.6.3 4.4.4 gcc (12.2.0)
gimp (2.10.34) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- gimp (2.10.34)
glibc (2.37) 2.35 2.31 2.31 2.27 2.27 2.23 2.19 2.15 2.12.1 glibc (2.37)
gnome-shell (44.0) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- gnome-shell (44.0)
gnucash (4.13) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- gnucash (4.13)
gnumeric (1.12.55) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1.10.8 gnumeric (1.12.55)
grub (2.06) 2.06 2.04 2.04 2.02 2.02 2.02beta2 2.02beta2 1.99 1.98 grub (2.06)
gtk (4.10.1) 4.6.6 -- 3.24.20 3.22.30 3.22.30 3.18.9 3.14.15 3.4.2 2.22.0 gtk (4.10.1)
httpd (2.4.56) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- httpd (2.4.56)
inkscape (1.2.2) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- inkscape (1.2.2)
k3b (22.12.3) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- k3b (22.12.3)
kmod (30) 29 27 27 24 24 22 15 -- -- kmod (30)
krita (5.1.5) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- krita (5.1.5)
libreoffice (7.5.1) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- libreoffice (7.5.1)
linux (6.2.7) 5.15 5.11 5.11 5.4 4.15 4.8 3.19 3.2 2.6.35 linux (6.2.7)
Package 7.0
horus
6.1
jolnir
6.0
odin
5.1.7
hera
5.0
juno
0.4.1
loki
0.3.2
freya
0.2
luna
0.1
jupiter
Package
lxpanel (0.10.1) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- lxpanel (0.10.1)
mariadb (10.11.2) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- mariadb (10.11.2)
mate-desktop (1.26.1) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- mate-desktop (1.26.1)
mesa (23.0.0) 22.0.5 21.0.3 21.0.3 20.0.8 18.0.5 12.0.6 10.5.9 9.0.3 7.9git mesa (23.0.0)
mysql (8.0.32) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- mysql (8.0.32)
nautilus (44.0) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2.32.2 nautilus (44.0)
NVIDIA (525.89.02) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 260.19.06 NVIDIA (525.89.02)
openbox (3.6.1) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- openbox (3.6.1)
openjdk (19.0.2) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- openjdk (19.0.2)
openssh (9.3p1) 8.9p1 8.2p1 8.2p1 7.6p1 7.6p1 7.2p2 6.6p1 5.9p1 5.5p1 openssh (9.3p1)
openssl (3.1.0) 3.0.2 1.1.1f 1.1.1f 1.1.1 1.1.0g 1.0.2g 1.0.1f 1.0.1 0.9.8o openssl (3.1.0)
perl (5.36.0) 5.34.0 5.30.0 5.30.0 5.26.1 5.26.1 5.22.1 5.18.2 5.14.2 5.10.1 perl (5.36.0)
php (8.2.4) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- php (8.2.4)
plasma-desktop (5.27.3) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- plasma-desktop (5.27.3)
postfix (3.7.4) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- postfix (3.7.4)
postgresql (15.2) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- postgresql (15.2)
Python (3.11.2) 3.10.6 3.8.2 3.8.2 3.6.7 3.6.7 2.7.11 2.7.5 2.7.3 2.6.6 Python (3.11.2)
qt (6.4.3) 5.15.3 5.12.8 5.12.8 5.9.5 5.9.5 5.5.1 -- -- -- qt (6.4.3)
samba (4.18.0) -- -- -- -- -- -- 4.1.6 3.6.3 3.5.4 samba (4.18.0)
systemd (253.1) 249.11 245.4 245.4 237 237 229 -- -- -- systemd (253.1)
thunderbird (102.9.0) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- thunderbird (102.9.0)
vim (9.0) 8.2 8.1 8.1 8.0 8.0 7.4 7.4 7.3 -- vim (9.0)
vlc (3.0.18) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- vlc (3.0.18)
wayland (1.21.0) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- wayland (1.21.0)
xfdesktop (4.18.1) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- xfdesktop (4.18.1)
xorg-server (21.1.7) 21.1.3 1.20.13 1.20.11 1.20.8 1.19.6 1.18.4 1.15.1 1.11.4 1.9.0 xorg-server (21.1.7)

Reader Ratings
Reader supplied reviews for elementary OS

Average rating
6.6
from 373 review(s)



What are your thoughts on elementary OS?
Please include a few pros and a few cons, along with your overall impression of the operating system.
Our FAQ page has tips on writing a good mini-review.

Version:

Rating:    out of 10

Your review (minimum 250 words):




Past reviews - sort by:

Version: 7.0
Rating: 3
Date: 2023-03-08
Votes: 13


I'm probing elementaryOS 7 since a couple of weeks. I came across due to the release announcement on distrowatch.com.

For downloading the ISO, the developer team asks for a donation. While it seems at the beginning, it cannot be downloaded without a donation, putting 0 (zero) amount allows to download it for free.
I was willing to give a donation to support the development, but wanted to try it before. Which turned out as a wise decision.

Pro's:
- Very beautiful and intiutive Pantheon desktop environment.
- Smooth installation process.
- Lean initial setup with small number of pre-installed applications.

Con's:
- Many pre-installed applications are buggy:
- AppCenter crashes when trying to click a specific category, e.g. "Office".
- Video player plays video sound, but doesn't show the picture.
- Mail doesn't work at all. Crashes with every second click. I needed to replace this with Geary.

- Some strange default settings, e.g. mouse middle click (to paste in the terminal) is disabled.
- While the desktop environment is nice as mentioned above, the window manager misses some controls, e.g. to minimize a window. Right-click on the window title and select 'Hide' or press Cmd+H keys will do the job. That's cumbersome. And there is no option to configure this.
- Most of the system updates running via AppCenter require a restart. Why? It's not Windows.
- A few basic tools are missing in the initial setup, e.g. system monitor.

Conclusion:
It was worth to try it, but for many daily tasks it's not suitable because of the mentioned con's.
I see a lot of potential for the development, and I hope upcoming releases will improve. I'll keep monitoring this.

I will return to Mint.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 7.0
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-02-27
Votes: 8


Sorry but this is a garbage operating system. Way too many issues ranging from hardware to software.
They have made zero improvements in the nVidia realm. Screen tearing galore. WiFi issues have plagued this distribution for years for whatever reason and continue to be on issue. Same goes with Bluetooth.

Pile this on top of an already troubled, stuttery user interface and buggy, lackluster default applications. There is just no way to take this seriously. App Store kinda sorta works when it wants. And if you're lucky enough to not take your system down you're met with very limited software.

For beginners this is not. Be honest here... the out of the box experience is trash. You're going to have to spend some time to get it to a place of usability, functionality and if you're lucky, stability. Just too much work required for this one.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 7.0
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-02-24
Votes: 0


Elementary OS has some ups and downs, but mostly I find myself enjoying the default experience and I'll probably stick with it for quite some time.

The "AppCenter" is a flatpak "app store" style application that has a decent variety of software designed specifically to fit the design they're going for in elementary, and there's usually at least 1 of each type of application you could want readily available. Since these are flatpaks you can go to the flathub website and download a flatpak from there, which will cause AppCenter to begin to show the full Flathub library on top of its own library. I found this to be kind of necessary when all was said and done, since popular applications like Firefox, Steam, Discord (yuck) aren't available anywhere in the default AppCenter library. I understand why they have only a limited selection of applications, as it provides a more curated experience, but I can't say I'm a huge fan of the decision not to provide something as simple as Firefox (it it was a decision, at all). I have been using some of their own AppCenter programs as an alternative to the ones I'm used to and they have worked very well and looked very nice for the most part, so I'm pretty happy with a lot of the software they do provide, regardless. If required, you can also install software through apt on the command line since behind the scenes it's based on Ubuntu, but if you're here, you're probably wanting something a little less reliant on using the command line to begin with.

The Pantheon desktop environment looks, feels, and sounds really nice. Touchpad gestures feel great and the animations are nice and smooth on my 2017 gaming laptop. I've had no issues with hardware support, either. The choice to have the Close button on the left and the Maximize button on the right and Minimise button to be just clicking the application icon on the dock took a little getting used to, and I think it could be a tripping up point for some people, but it's not really an objectively bad decision when it comes down to it, and if you really hate it you can install "Pantheon Tweaks" to add a new set of options to the System Settings application that can change it to Mac style, Windows style, whatever you need.

There are, however, some features completely missing from the Settings application that I hope are implemented in a future edition of elementary. The VPN settings only offers OpenVPN as an option, so configuring Wireguard or some other type of VPN directly in the settings application is out. Also missing is Bluetooth PAN connection settings, so while you can access the menu for regular old Bluetooth pairing, connecting to and disconnecting from a Bluetooth network is not an option in the settings app. Thankfully, because elementary is using Network Manager in the background, you can still configure or activate these networking options on the command line or with nmtui if you prefer (slightly more) graphical ways to do it. There are issues for both of these missing features already on their Github repository, but time will only tell if these are implemented in time for the next version.

All-in-all, despite some trip ups that require usage of the command line (it is Linux, after all), elementary is a distribution that feels like the small team of developers really care about providing something outside of the status quo. Pantheon being developed right alongside the distribution makes things feel tight and clean in a way that many distributions don't achieve.
There's a vision here, and despite some clouds, the developers are well on their way to realising it.


Was this review helpful? Yes No

See all 373 reader reviews of elementary OS...


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