Review: Endless OS 6.0.0
Quoting: DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. —
Several years ago I tried an earlier version of Endless OS and, in my 2016 review wrote: "The things which are likely to make Endless appealing to people who like Android and Chromebook computers are the same things which make the distribution unappealing to people like me who want a general purpose operating system. There are standard GNU command line tools available, but no low-level package manager. The distribution appears to have a Debian heritage, but no working APT package repositories. We cannot simply install video codecs, they must be purchased. This blocks us from having Firefox, VLC, Chrome or other popular applications."
I feel as though the first half of the above statement is still true in that Endless OS still appears to be targeting people who want a mobile-style operating system, something similar to a Chromebook or Android. Something that is, in other words, super easy to set up and provides a very straight forward, touch-like interface. This will probably make Endless OS ideal for less experienced computer users, students, and people who just need to run some popular desktop applications. People like me, who like to work with low-level elements and customize our environments, might feel a bit limited.
With that said, what stands out about my trial this week is how much more polished the Endless OS experience is, particularly where the second half of my above statement is concerned. A lot of this is thanks to the software centre and the advancement of Flatpak packages. Eight years ago Flatpak still wasn't great and there were not nearly as many applications available through the portable format. Now Flathub has a lot of applications, games, and educational tools. This greatly expands Endless's capabilities and makes it a much more complete experience.
I also want to say that the GNOME-based desktop has progressed a bit since my last trial with Endless OS. While the desktop worked poorly with my laptop, it did run smoothly in my virtual machine and offered pretty good performance and stability. In short, while the nature of Endless OS has remained much the same over the past eight years, the speed, software selection, and desktop polish have improved.
Endless OS is now at the point where I feel like I would recommend it for people who want a platform primarily for web browsing and cloud storage. Endless OS can do more than these tasks, much more, but the simple style and mobile-like interface are well suited to people who just need a few basic applications and a web browser.