Solus

Reader supplied reviews for Solus Average rating 7.6 from 233 review(s) Please specify which version of the distribtion you are reviewing. 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: -- 4.84.74.64.44.34.14.03.999932017.04.18.01.2.1 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: 4.8 Rating: 10 Date: 2025-12-11 Votes: 5 I tried a view Distros on an 2016 Intel NUC 6 featuring a Celeron J3455 CPU with Intel HD Graphics onboard. As you can imagine this isn't the fastest machine nowadays. So I searched for a Distro which would revatilize this Mini PC. I tried several Distros like Mint 22, MX 23 or Zorin 18. But then came Solus. The Solus live system booted so fast from my USB stick, that I was impressed from the beginning. The installation is simple, maybe slower than other Distros but totally okay. After installation Solus boots in a view seconds, even on this old machine. I decided to use the KDE version which runs on Wayland out of the box and absolutely smooth, responsive and flawless. I don't use a lot of software. The view I use, like KeePassDX, Audacity, VLC or GIMP are all available as native system packages. All software in freshly new versions. By the way, all multimedia codecs are installed by default. The rolling system updates work well, I would suggest to use the feature to apply updates on reboot. All in all I really can recommend Solus to everyone who seeks for a fast, reliable, rolling Distro, which is independent and optimized to be used as a desktop client. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 4.8 Rating: 10 Date: 2025-12-08 Votes: 22 I have been through "distro-hopping" hell. I’ve tried them all: the stability of Mint and Fedora, the bleeding-edge speed of CachyOS and openSUSE Tumbleweed, the technical complexity of Void, and countless others like Pop!_OS or Nobara. While some were good, none felt "finished." They were either bloated or required constant maintenance. Then I installed Solus, and the search ended. Solus feels fundamentally different because it is independent and built from scratch. It isn’t trying to be a server OS; it is laser-focused on Desktop Performance. The difference is palpable—the kernel is tuned for low latency, making the system feel incredibly "snappy" and responsive compared to the sluggish feel of Debian or RHEL-based systems. The "Curated Rolling" model is a masterpiece. I get the latest software updates without the anxiety of my system breaking (a common issue with Arch-based distros). It is the perfect balance of bleeding-edge tech and rock-solid stability. If you are tired of configuring, fixing, and hopping between distributions, give Solus a try. It respects your time, maximizes your hardware, and just works. I’m finally home. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 4.7 Rating: 10 Date: 2025-11-29 Votes: 22 I've been using linux or over 20 years now. Started with Ubuntu, loved it and distrohopped ever since. I tried Ubuntu's derivatives, Linux Mint, Lmde, Debian, Elementary, Opensuse, Sparky linux, Solus, Fedora, Manjaro, Endeavouros, Kali linux, Big Linux, MX linux, Anduinos, .... But in the end I returned to Solus. At a certain moment I thought Solus would stop as the team behind it was small and in heavy waters. But they survived. Why choose Solus? It is independent, light, fast, semi-rolling, stable, consistent and fairly complete. I find the Budgie desktop one of the best. It is simple, yet customizable enough, light and responsive. Also all the apps on the budgie desktop on Solus open up quickly and run smoothly. The eopkg management is straightforward and fast. Installing and removing packages without leaving rubbish behind is a piece of cake and with the latest development where the software centre is replaced by either discover or gnome software with flatpak preinstalled, the software choice is nearly unlimited. The developing team listen to the users and actually do what they promised to do. So, all in all, a nearly perfect distro. Was this review helpful? Yes No See all 233 reader reviews of Solus...