ChaletOS For Linux

ChaletOS is an open source and completely free computer operating system that provides users with a unique style similar with the one of the Microsoft Windows 7 or Vista. It is derived from the popular Xubuntu distribution, anofficial Ubuntu flavor that uses the Xfce desktop environment.

The distribution is available for download as Live DVD ISO images or approximately 1.5 GB in size each, designed for 32-bit or 64-bit computer platforms. The ISO images are hybrid, so you can write them on either DVD discs or USB thumb drives or 2GB or higher capacity, which can be later used to boot the operating system from the BIOS of a computer.

Among the boot options of the Live DVDs, we can mention the ability to start the live system with normal configuration, with ACPI disabled, with LAPIC and ACPI disabled, with enhanced disk drive support or in safe graphics mode. You can also start the installation directly (not recommended).

The developers recommend installing the ChaletOS distribution on a computer with an 1GHz or higher processor, at least 256 MiB of RAM (512MiB recommended), at least 8 GB free disk space, and a monitor/video card capable of 1024x768 resolution.

As mentioned, the distribution uses a highly customized graphical session built around the Xfce desktop environment, which means that it is lightweight and very responsive, and designed to look like a Windows 7 desktop. It comprises of a single panel (taskbar) located on the bottom edge of the screen, as well as a clock/calendar/system monitor widget on the desktop.

ChaletOS comes pre-loaded with numerous open source applications, among which we can mention Mozilla Firefox web browser, Pidgin instant messenger, Mozilla Thunderbird email and news client, Ristretto image viewer, Great Little Radio Player, Ubuntu Software Center, Popcorn Time, VLC Media Player, and Thunar file manager.