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Review: umbrelOS 1.7.4
Quoting: DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. —
The umbrelOS distribution is pleasantly easy to get started using. Once we download the appropriate file, it is just a matter of picking which drive will hold the operating system and pointing a web browser to the proper address. As long as we don't accidentally overwrite the install medium, the process is quite simple.
The distribution is fairly light on resources. It is fast, light enough to run on an older Raspberry Pi board, and the user interface is mostly easy to navigate. There were a few moments where I had to hunt for things (app launchers, login credentials), but with a little poking around I always found what I wanted. The interface is pleasantly streamlined and I didn't have any serious problems with it. For the most part, it is hard to mess up umbrelOS, unless we dig deeply into the settings panel in the Advanced section.
I want to give credit where it is due, what is included by default (settings, widgets, the software centre) all work and work quickly. I had no problems with the defaults. My main issue with umbrelOS was not what it provided, but what was not included. The umbrelOS distribution is a single-user operating system, which feels limiting, even for a home server. The platform works over HTTP only, there is no HTTPS option. This seems to be true for both the underlying distribution and the services we can install on it. I'm not thrilled with the idea of sending private files and credentials over the network unencrypted. There is a little documentation, but it deals almost exclusively with installing the operating system. I was not able to find any information on using the distribution, which would have saved me time when I was trying to find launchers and configure some settings.
The single user aspect of umbrelOS we can mostly work around by installing additional applications, such as Nextcloud. Though, while this mostly works, it does mean that single-user services are limited and we will need to share our user account with other people who want to use our applications.
Basically, what I came away thinking after using umbrelOS for a few days is that it is well suited to home situations where there is only ever one person who will be using the server. However, it starts to show its limitations if we want to run it in a home with a family or in a small office. It's really set up to be a "personal" server more than a "home/family" server.
What is included works and runs smoothly. I was impressed with how easy umbrelOS makes it to set up network services. I'm hoping the project expands a bit to make it easier to enable HTTPS and separate user accounts for family or guests.