Oracle Linux is an enterprise-class Linux distribution supported by Oracle and built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Some of the special features of Oracle Linux include a custom-build and rigorously-tested Linux kernel called "Oracle Unbreakable Kernel", tight integration with Oracle's hardware and software products including most database applications, and "zero downtime patching" - a feature that enables administrators to update the kernel without a reboot.
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.
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This is a review of Oracle Linux 9.2 with the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) used as a desktop operating system.
NB: A BTRFS root file system can be created by using the UEK version.
The UEK Boot ISO image was downloaded and written to a USB for installation.
The Anaconda installer is used (like Fedora, Centos, etc.) and did the job fine.
A BTRFS root file system was chosen to allow a couple of small SSDs to be set-up in a RAID 0 array for a reasonably sized system.
However, the default layout was changed to have and ext4 boot partition and a 2 GB swap partition.
The installation completed without any issues.
The installed Oracle system is operating very well, runs fast and seems extremely stable.
The Gnome desktop environment is provided with minimal applications being added during installation.
I prefer this as it allows me to chose the software applications I want, rather than ones chosen by a distro packager.
Oracle repos, RPMFusion and Flatpaks can be used to obtain additional software applications.
No difficulty has been encountered in finding any of the applications I use. Although, I did find that Oracle's CRB repo was needed in addition to Oracle's EPEL repo to install ffmpeg.
System upgrades to Firefox can lag behind official releases, so I replaced the installed version with the Flathub version.
Also, (being a desktop system) I removed the “rhn-setup” application.
All hardware was detected without any problems.
Software management can be handled by using dnf or Gnome Software. Both methods are working well.
Generally, any documentation needed has been easily found with a quick internet search.
Oracle Linux is performing very well and I suspect I'll be using it as my default desktop operating system for quite a while.
Version: 9.1 Rating: 9 Date: 2023-06-24 Votes: 6
Okay, Oracle 9.2 is a BIG download, but absolutely worth doing. Distrowatch does not provide selection for 9.2 yet.
Thing is, after install I kept working on Wayland with the Noveau driver for Nvidia. Works perfectly on my desktop.
My advice is to wait a 30 seconds after the boot of Gnome for great performance and speed.
Question of software in the repos, all you need is there, but it is not Fedora. In comparison with Fedora, Oracle is minimalistic, but you can get all what is needed for the desktop.
For software I installed flatpak as if Oracle is Red Hat. Works great.
Why I do not give a 10 is I left for 2 weeks, and by return I expected at least 1 update.
There were no updates.
This is, together with Rocky Linux, the absolute best gnome distro I ever used. Did however not use Debian 12 or OpenSuSE 15.5 yet.
So if you search a great rock stable workhorse and you want it devellopped by a firm, go for Oracle. You prefer Community or other desktop, go for Rocky. Have fun.
I want to make very clear I use Oracle on my home desktop. I am a Linux user since Corel Linux and used almost all major distros including Slackware, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Opensuse...
Version: 9.1 Rating: 3 Date: 2023-05-27 Votes: 0
Installer sucks bad. Freezes and has other issues.
If you can't get past the installer part reliably why would you trust this to run your server?
Inconsistent release cycles. 6 releases in 12 years? Come on...no thanks.
It just feels like a very unstable and outdated RHEL clone that has nothing special to offer. Whatever this distro can do RHEL does it better. Since this is supposed to be a server distro there is literally zero reason to pick this over RHEL. None whatsoever.