Solus

Reader supplied reviews for Solus Average rating 7.8 from 257 review(s) Please select a rating in the range of 1-10. Please write at least a few sentences about the distribution while limiting your review to 4080 characters. What are your thoughts on Solus? 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: -- 4.94.84.74.64.44.34.14.03.999932017.04.18.01.2.1 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: 4.9 Rating: 9 Date: 2026-07-01 Country: Morocco Votes: 0 Pros : - No bloatware - Regular updates every week on Friday - Curated updates (e.g: Ubuntu Budgie, Fedora and EndeavourOS ship Budgie 10.10, while Solus still ship Budgie 9.4 as there are still many issues with Budgie 10.10) - Boot up very fast - Easy compared to other Rolling release distros Cons : - Does not support a lot of DEs like Cinnamon, Cosmic or Unity - Not advisable to install multiple DEs alongside, otherwise it may cause some issues - Difficult to compile apps from source (probably it's me) Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 4.9 Rating: 10 Date: 2026-06-17 Country: France Votes: 6 15 years of experience with Linux Mint/LMDE, by choice, with occasional testing of other Linux distributions, including Solus, before quickly returning to Linux Mint. And now, after installing Solus OS 4.9 'Serenity', I not only kept it, but I also installed it on my other mini PCs, except for one older one, which I left running Windows, just in case. I'm completely satisfied with the Budgie version on my newer mini PCs, and XFCE on my older ones, plus one running Plasma, the KDE version of Solus. I also tested the Gnome version, which didn't suit me. "Rolling release," specifically the Linux kernel, version "7.0.12-344.current," as of today, June 17, 2026, while awaiting version 7.10, which will certainly be released soon. It's worth noting, however, that I'm not into gaming at all, but only use computers for standard office tasks. I was the first to be surprised to have switched from Linux Mint/LMDE after about fifteen years of use; I wasn't expecting it at all. For me, for my purposes, Solus OS is close to perfect. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 4.9 Rating: 10 Date: 2026-06-02 Country: Austria Votes: 17 After years of distro hopping and trying just about everything the Linux world has to offer, I've finally found a distribution that feels like home: Solus Linux. My current setup consists of an Intel NUC 11 with 32 GB of RAM and a Samsung 998 EVO NVMe SSD, running Solus with GNOME on a Btrfs filesystem. From the very first installation, the experience has been outstanding. The installation process is remarkably simple and fast. Within minutes, the system was installed, configured, and ready to use. There was no unnecessary complexity, no hunting for obscure settings, and no post-installation troubleshooting. Everything simply worked as expected. One of the first things that impressed me was the boot time. Installed on my NVMe drive, Solus boots incredibly fast. From pressing the power button to reaching a fully usable GNOME desktop takes only a matter of seconds. The system feels responsive at every level, whether launching applications, updating packages, or simply navigating the desktop. As a rolling-release distribution, Solus has a unique and highly organized update model. Friday is sync day, and updates arrive in a controlled and predictable manner. What I particularly appreciate is the transparency of the project. Every detail of the weekly updates is published on the Solus website, allowing users to see exactly what has changed, which packages were updated, and what improvements were made. This level of communication inspires confidence and demonstrates the professionalism of the team behind the distribution. Stability is where Solus truly shines. Rolling releases are often associated with breakage or unexpected issues, but that has not been my experience at all. In fact, I have never encountered a serious problem since installing Solus. Updates install cleanly, the system remains consistent, and everything continues to function exactly as it should. It delivers the freshness of a rolling release without the instability that many users fear. Another pleasant surprise was Secure Boot support. Setting up Secure Boot was straightforward and well-documented. What can sometimes become a frustrating process on other distributions was handled with minimal effort on Solus. No distribution is perfect, of course. There are a few packages I would like to see included in the repositories. Snapper, for example, is currently missing. As someone who uses Btrfs, having Snapper readily available would be a welcome addition. However, this is a relatively minor complaint and certainly not something that negatively impacts my overall experience. What ultimately makes Solus special is how cohesive the entire system feels. Every component appears thoughtfully integrated, and the developers clearly prioritize quality over quantity. Rather than overwhelming users with endless choices and complexity, Solus focuses on delivering a polished, reliable desktop experience. I've tried countless Linux distributions over the years. Some were exciting, some were innovative, and some were highly customizable. Yet none of them managed to keep me satisfied for long. Solus is different. It combines speed, stability, simplicity, and thoughtful design in a way that few distributions achieve. For me, Solus is a perfect 10 out of 10. More importantly, it's the distro where I finally feel at home. Was this review helpful? Yes No See all 257 reader reviews of Solus...