Garuda Linux

Reader supplied reviews for Garuda Linux Average rating 8.4 from 262 review(s) What are your thoughts on Garuda Linux? 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: -- 250308240428231029221019211128201205 Rating:    -- 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 out of 10 Your review (minimum 250 words): Past reviews - sort by: DateVotes Version: 250308 Rating: 10 Date: 2025-06-28 Votes: 4 Amazing, 10/10! I'm using Garuda LInux Broadwing, Soaring release. It's the first distro that I found where my DaVinci Speed Editor works via Bluetooth with DaVinci Resolve Studio. Previously I was on Pop!_OS 22.04 and even though I could connect the Speed Editor to the laptop via bluetooth, DaVinci Resolve wasn't seeing it. It was only working if connected on usb. Installing DaVinci Resolve Studio was the easiest thing ever. And it has the menu bar working! The only gotcha with DaVinci on Garuda is that after installing, I had to remove a few libs: /opt/resolve/libs/libglib-2.0.so* /opt/resolve/libs/libgio-2.0.so* /opt/resolve/libs/libgmodule-2.0.so* There's also an amazing article dedicated to DaVinci Resolve on ArchWiki Oh, and I needed to create a custom desktop file to launch resolve with `env LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=iHD QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=1 /opt/resolve/bin/resolve` Without this, the scaling is terrible on high dpi screens on Linux in general. Installing PixInsight was also very very easy. Just run the `.run` file. But it has to be done through the terminal, just like the Linux installation instructions say on the Pleiades Astrophoto website. So that's a 10/10. The support on the garudalinux forum is fenomenal! I had some trouble due to my specific hardware configuration, but a lot of people jumped in and helped me. In the end there is an issue where if I connect my external monitor over HDMI, it makes the system very very slow when I try to play youtube videos. I get 10fps or so and everything else is slowing down. But if I connect the display via usb-c, then the videos work ok. For anyone interested, my hardware is: Laptop: Asus Zenbook Pro Duo UX582HS CPU: intel i9 11900H GPU: RTX 3080, 8Gb RAM: 32 GB External display: Asus ProArt PA279CV, 4k. Luckily it has an USB-C input. For a Linux system, Garuda is 10/10 in my book, but I still need a virtual machine or something for Affinity Photo and CaptureOne though. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 250308 Rating: 10 Date: 2025-06-26 Votes: 4 Garuda basically saved me from Windows. I feel very lucky that I found it and tried it when I decided to completely leave Windows. A little over 2 years ago, I made the switch. After about 6 months of wonderful luck on my desktop, I decided to put Linux on my laptop as well. I chose a different distro because I was worried about a rolling release model on a computer I didn't use every day. Unfortunately though, my Laptop had an Nvidia GPU (which I know can be tricky on Linux) that I never could get to work. Eventually my laptop also stopped being able to successfully install updates. I spent some time troubleshooting the issues, got the updates to work again after some effort, but never was able to get the dGPU to work properly. Eventually, I decided I was going to try other distros on my laptop, and started with Garuda since, at that point, it had been running every day on my desktop for over a year without a single issue. Garuda just worked out of the box. GPU was working, fully accelerated gaming was possible again. It's been on my laptop for about 8 months, no issues with updates or drivers. I have ran into less problems with Garuda Linux in the last 2 years, on 2 machines, than I was accustomed to on Windows. Pros: -garuda-update is royalty. Chef's kiss. I didn't realize how good running updates could be before this. -powerful and up-to-date Arch based system. -Chaotic AUR has most everything you're likely to need. -very good balance of "hand holding" through the install process and daily use. It doesn't get in your way, but will warn you if you might be doing something dumb. -btrfs snapshots Cons: -Some of the default choices in the Dragonized edition are not my cup of tea. Easily fixable. -Some software developed for Linux is only released as .deb or .rpm, which is not as straightforward to get working in something based on Arch. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 250308 Rating: 10 Date: 2025-05-31 Votes: 7 I used Garuda KDE Lite, a Fast, Polished, Arch-Based Distro That Just Works. Garuda KDE Lite pleasantly surprised me. Like other user-friendly distributions (Mint, Ubuntu, MX Linux), it automatically detects and enables all core hardware components out of the box. However, as this is the Lite edition, a few things—like Bluetooth support and power profile management—need to be installed manually. Once that's done, though, everything works perfectly without any further tweaking. Installation is fast, the interface is clean, and most importantly, I haven’t had to troubleshoot a single thing after setup. Garuda uses Btrfs with automatic system snapshots on every package installation or system update. These are integrated into the boot menu via GRUB, giving you the option to roll back if something goes wrong. It’s a smart, confidence-inspiring feature—and even better, I never actually had to use it !!! Software availability is another highlight. Garuda enables the Chaotic-AUR repository by default, giving you access to an enormous range of up-to-date packages, easily installed through the included graphical tools. It also provides an excellent suite of configuration and maintenance utilities: kernel management, language and locale settings, user accounts, date/time adjustments, and more—all accessible through a user-friendly interface. Overall, it feels like a "do-it-all" distro—modern, responsive, and tailored to users who want power without the pain. The only downside specific to the KDE Lite edition is the missing Bluetooth and power-profile support out of the box. This seems intentional, probably targeting desktop users rather than laptops. Still, the installation is easy and safe, so it’s hardly a dealbreaker. Rating: 10/10 — A sleek, Arch-based system that’s both powerful and hassle-free. Was this review helpful? Yes No See all 262 reader reviews of Garuda Linux...