Porteus KDE For Linux

Porteus KDE is a freely distributable Linux operating system based on the well known Slackware Linux distribution and built around the KDE Plasma Workspaces and Applications desktop environment.

Porteus is a minimalistic and open source distribution of Linux that tries to be a community remix of Slax, an operating system based on Slackware Linux. It provides users with multiple editions, including a Kiosk flavor.

This edition is distributed as two Live CD ISO images, one for each of the supported architectures (64-bit and 32-bit). It can be easily deployed on a USB flash drive (recommended) using the UNetbootin application, or written to a blank CD disc with a CD/DVD burning software.

It features an eye-candy boot menu designed to allow users to copy the entire ISO image to RAM (requires at least 1GB of system memory) and run the operating system from there, ejecting the boot medium.

Users can use the boot menu to start an existing operating system, run Porteus in text mode only, start a fresh session (the default boot option is persistent), initialize a PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) server, or access the PLoP boot manager.

The desktop environment used in this edition of Porteus is a stripped-down KDE4 session, comprised of a single taskbar at the bottom edge of the screen, from where users can launch their favorite apps, interact with the system tray area and active windows, or access the main menu.

Default applications include the Qmmp audio player, SMPlayer video player, Mozilla Firefox web browser, Transmission BitTorrent client, uGet download manager, Gwenview image viewer, and the Pidgin multi-protocol instant messenger.

During our tests, the distribution proved to boot very fast, supports several languages, features its own Software Center application that allows users to install, update or remove packages, and its very own dependency-resolving package manager.

Summing up, Porteus KDE is an unique Linux distribution that brings the attractive KDE4 desktop environment to low-end machines and computers with old hardware components. It also provides LXDE, Razor-Qt, Xfce, MATE and Kiosk editions.