Lightweight Linux distribution, based on Debian
Linux distribution
Q4OS
is a
light-weight Linux distribution
, based on
Debian
, targeted as a replacement for
operating systems
that are no longer supported on
outdated hardware
.
[3]
The distribution is known for an addon called XPQ4, which adds
themes
intended to replicate the
look and feel
of
Windows 2000
and
Windows XP
.
[4]
[5]
[6]
History
Development of Q4OS began in 8th April 2014 to coincide with
Windows XP
's
end of extended support
in the same year.
[7]
LXQt
Desktop Environment was included from April 2014 to June 2015.
In 2018 TDE (
Trinity Desktop Environment
) was included.
In 2019, version 3.8 was released which was based on
Debian
Buster.
[8]
The original
KDE
based version has been discontinued since around 2018.
[9]
As of April 2020, the core developers of Q4OS, initially starting the project in
Germany
,
[10]
are now operating in
Prague
,
Czech Republic
.
[11]
[12]
Features
It comes with either the
Trinity Desktop Environment
, which is a fork of
K Desktop Environment 3
.
[13]
or
KDE Plasma 5
LookSwitcher, which lets the user switch visual themes
Desktop Profiler, which automatically installs some packages and programs that may be ideal for the user according to the profile that they choose
Q4OS Software Centre, which lets the user install some recommended packages and programs from a list
Q4OS Welcome Screen, which helps the user with some initial tweaks
Releases
Stable versions of Q4OS are derived from Debian's
Stable
release branch
with
long-term support
that lasts five years after their initial release.
[14]
Developmental "testing" versions of future releases are derived from the Debian Testing branch.
[15]
Version
[16]
|
Codename
|
Release date
|
End-of-life
|
Description
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
0.5.0
|
|
2013-07-04
|
|
Initial Release
[17]
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
1.1-RC2
|
|
2015-04-14
|
|
Second release candidate of Q4OS 1.1
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
1.2
|
Orion
|
2015-04-27
|
|
Initial version to be specified under codename Orion
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
1.2.3
|
2015-06-08
|
|
The
LXQt
desktop environment is now supported
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
1.4
|
2015-09-04
|
|
Initial version to support devices running on
ARM architecture
[18]
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
1.6.3
|
2016-08-05
|
|
Implemented
UEFI
support
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
1.8.4
|
2017-04-26
|
|
Icedove
is replaced with
Mozilla Thunderbird
, LXQt is unsupported
[19]
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
2.0.2
|
Scorpion
|
2016-01-06
|
|
Initial testing version of Q4OS Scorpion
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
2.3.6
|
2017-10-04
|
|
"Final beta" release
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
2.4
|
2017-10-04
|
2022-10
|
Initial stable release of Q4OS Scorpion and to provide long-term support
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
2.5
|
2018-06-03
|
2023-06
|
TDE is now bundled with
KDE Plasma
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
3.1
|
Centaurus
|
2018-01-29
|
|
Initial testing version of Q4OS Centaurus
|
Older version, yet still maintained:
3.8
|
2019-07-15
|
2024-07
|
Initial stable release of Q4OS Centaurus
|
Older version, yet still maintained:
3.10
|
2020-01-04
|
2025-01
|
TDE and KDE Plasma have been split into separate
installation images
|
Older version, yet still maintained:
3.13
|
2020-12-19
|
2025-12
|
The
Snap
daemon
has been removed from default installation
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
4.0
|
Gemini
|
2020-02-16
|
|
Initial testing version of Q4OS Gemini
|
Older version, yet still maintained:
4.6
|
2021-09-27
|
2026-09
|
Initial stable release of Q4OS Gemini
|
Older version, yet still maintained:
4.7
|
2021-11-22
|
2026-11
|
|
Older version, yet still maintained:
4.8
|
2022-04-05
|
2027-04
|
|
Older version, yet still maintained:
4.10
|
2022-08-01
|
2027-08
|
|
Older version, yet still maintained:
4.11
|
2022-12-24
|
2027-08
|
|
Older version, yet still maintained:
4.12
|
2023-05-03
|
2027-08
|
Calamares installer has been polished
|
Old version, no longer maintained:
5.0
|
Aquarius
|
2023-03-27
|
|
Initial testing version of Q4OS Aquarius
|
Current stable version:
5.2
|
2023-07-08
|
2028-06
|
Initial stable release of Q4OS Aquarius
|
Current stable version:
5.3
|
2023-10-14
|
2028-06
|
|
Current stable version:
5.4
|
2023-11-28
|
2028-06
|
|
Legend:
Old version
Older version, still maintained
Latest version
Latest preview version
Future release
|
Reception
SourceForge
featured Q4OS as "Community Choice" Project of the Month in April 2020.
[12]
In January 2022,
TechRadar
considered Q4OS as one of the best light-weight Linux distributions of the year for its Windows installer and support for older hardware, notably systems running on
32-bit processors
.
[20]
Forks
Quarkos
Quarkos (formerly known as Quark) is an official fork of Q4OS that uses an
Ubuntu
base instead of
Debian
.
[21]
It describes itself as a 'user-friendly, desktop oriented operating system based on Ubuntu Linux'.
[22]
It comes in two variants, one of which uses the same desktop theme as Q4OS, while the other uses a visual theme similar to
Windows 10
.
[23]
Quark 20.04
Quark 20.04 'Focal' was the first release, coming with the same base as Ubuntu 20.04. It was released on the September 25th 2020, featuring only the KDE Plasma 5 desktop.
[22]
On November 3, 2020, the development team announced that
Microsoft Edge
was now available for Linux, and users of Quark would be able to install it by downloading a .esh file from the Q4OS
GitHub
repository.
[24]
Quark 20.04.4, released September 24, 2021 added bugfixes from upstream
Kubuntu
.
[25]
On October 9, 2021, the development team announced the general availability of the Windows installer for Quark 20.04 Focal.
[26]
Quark 20.04.5 was made available on November 28, 2021, bringing bugfixes from Kubuntu and Trinity desktop environment R14.0.11.
[27]
An updated version of the Quark installer for windows was released on February 2, 2022.
[28]
Quark 20.04.6 brought security bugfixes from upstream Kubuntu.
Quark 21.10
Quark 21.10 'Impish' testing was announced on October 9, 2021, based on Kubuntu 21.10 and tools backported from Q4OS 4 'Gemini'.
[29]
It was released with a stable version on October 18, 2021, with KDE Plasma 5.22 by default and the Windows and Q4OS themed variants. It also came with another edition with the Trinity 14.0.11 desktop backported from Q4OS.
[30]
Quark 21.10 was supported until August 2, 2022, following the end of support for Ubuntu 21.10.
Quarkos 22.04
Quarkos 22.04 'Jammy' was released on August 24, 2022, based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Plasma 5.24. It will be supported until at least April 2027.
[31]
Quarkos 22.04 changes the branding from simply Quark to Quarkos, bringing separate installation media for the Trinity desktop, which has been updated to R14.0.12, but with the KDE Plasma edition as the default.
[31]
Quarkos 22.04.5 and 22.04.6 were released on December 29, 2022
[32]
and February 27, 2023
[33]
respectively, each bringing security updates and bugfixes from upstream Ubuntu.
Quarkos 22.04.7 was released on March 19, 2023, and brought updates from the latest release of Ubuntu 22.04. It also replaced much of the Q4OS branding with its own, including artwork, logos and branding integrated into the system.
[34]
The source code was made available on the Q4OS project GitHub.
[35]
Quarkos 22.04-r8, released on June 23, 2023, brought the newest patches from Ubuntu 22.04 and Q4OS. It improves the Debonaire Plasma theme, updates the Trinity Desktop Environment to version 14.1.1 and includes fixes for the Trinity audio system.
[36]
FreeXP
FreeXP is a system based Q4OS which included XPQ4. Users can set up the system using a .esh file to install the full set of features, or a live installer with the changes already made.
[37]
The purpose of the project is to provide an 'XP Simulation', similar to how
FreeDOS
emulates
MS-DOS
, making it easy to run legacy
Windows XP
applications and executables.
[38]
The standalone project has merged with the XPQ4 project, where users can download FreeXP, XPQ4 installer for the Plasma or Trinity desktop, and 'Free10', a project similar to FreeXP but emulating Windows 10.
[37]
See also
References
- ^
"Q4OS Website Archived on Wayback Machine At 7th July 2013"
.
Archived
from the original on 2013-07-07
. Retrieved
2024-02-11
.
- ^
"Q4OS - desktop operating system"
. Retrieved
3 January
2024
.
- ^
Wallen, Jack (2018-02-16).
"Q4OS Makes Linux Easy for Everyone"
.
Linux.com
. Retrieved
2022-03-30
.
- ^
Germain, Jack M. (2015-03-18).
"Q4OS Is a Bare-Bones Business Tool"
.
TechNewsWorld
. Retrieved
2022-03-30
.
- ^
Stahie, Silviu (2014-09-09).
"Q4OS 0.5.18 Is an Almost Exact Linux Replica of Windows XP ? Gallery"
.
Softpedia
. Retrieved
2022-04-07
.
- ^
"Q4OS - ??????"
.
kaniyam.com
(in Tamil)
. Retrieved
2024-02-12
.
- ^
Ranchal, Juan (29 November 2017).
"Q4OS: nunca ha sido mas facil usar Linux junto a Windows"
.
MuyComputer
(in Spanish)
. Retrieved
2022-03-27
.
- ^
Nestor, Marius (28 July 2019).
"Q4OS Operating System Brings the Trinity Desktop to Debian GNU/Linux 10 "Buster"
"
.
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.
- ^
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"Linux auf dem Stick: 10 Ideen fur den Einsatz"
.
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.
- ^
Germain, Jack.
"Fresh bit o' Linux to spruce up that ancient Windows Vista box? Why not, we say..."
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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.
q4os.org
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
a
b
"April 2020, "Community Choice" Project of the Month ? Q4OS"
.
SourceForge Community Blog
. 2020-04-03
. Retrieved
2022-03-27
.
- ^
Thommes, Ferdinand (16 May 2014).
"Das Design von Windows XP lebt in Linux weiter"
.
ComputerBase
(in German)
. Retrieved
2021-09-06
.
- ^
Paul, John (2019-05-26).
"Q4OS Linux Revives Your Old Laptop with Windows' Looks - It's FOSS"
.
It's FOSS
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
"Development Release: Q4OS 4.2 Testing (DistroWatch.com News)"
.
DistroWatch
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
"Q4OS - desktop operating system"
.
q4os.org
. Retrieved
2022-03-21
.
- ^
"Q4OS Website Archived on Wayback Machine At 7th July 2013"
.
Archived
from the original on 2013-07-07
. Retrieved
2024-02-11
.
- ^
"Q4OS - desktop operating system"
.
q4os.org
. Retrieved
2022-03-09
.
- ^
Nestor, Marius (2017-04-25).
"Debian-Based Q4OS 1.8.4 Operating System Lets Users Select Alternative Desktops"
.
Softpedia
. Retrieved
2022-03-22
.
- ^
Sharma, Shashank; Peers, Nick; Cox, Alex; Drake, Nate; Sharma, Mayank (2022-01-17).
"Best lightweight Linux distros of 2022"
.
TechRadar
. Retrieved
2022-03-27
.
- ^
February 2021, Mayank Sharma 26 (2021-02-26).
"Quark 20.04 review"
.
TechRadar
. Retrieved
2021-09-06
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
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a
b
"Quarkos / Blog: Stable release Quark 20.04"
.
sourceforge.net
. Retrieved
2023-10-07
.
- ^
"Official Website of Quarkos"
.
quark-os.sourceforge.io
. Retrieved
2024-02-11
.
- ^
"Quarkos / Blog: Microsoft Edge for Quark"
.
sourceforge.net
. Retrieved
2023-10-07
.
- ^
"Quarkos / Blog: Quark 20.04.4"
.
sourceforge.net
. Retrieved
2023-10-07
.
- ^
"Quarkos / Blog: Installer for Windows 10 update"
.
sourceforge.net
. Retrieved
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.
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"Quarkos / Blog: Quark 20.04.5 Focal"
.
sourceforge.net
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.
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"Quarkos / Blog: Update to installer for Windows"
.
sourceforge.net
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.
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"Quarkos / Blog: Quark 21.10 Impish testing release"
.
sourceforge.net
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.
- ^
"Quarkos / Blog: Quark 21.10 Impish stable"
.
sourceforge.net
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.
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.
sourceforge.net
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.
- ^
"Quarkos / Blog: Quarkos 22.04.5 Jammy"
.
sourceforge.net
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
"Quarkos / Blog: Quarkos 22.04.6 Jammy"
.
sourceforge.net
. Retrieved
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.
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"Quarkos / Blog: Quarkos 22.04.7 Jammy"
.
sourceforge.net
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.
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.
sourceforge.net
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a
b
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.
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.
- ^
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External links