Snowlinux For Linux

Snowlinux is an open source software project that produces Debian- and Ubuntu-based distributions of Linux with the ultimate goal to be as user-friendly as possible, no bloatware, no viruses and no complex setups. It is released every six months and distributed in multiple editions, with the Xfce, MATE, Cinnamon and Enlightenment desktop environments.

You can easily download the distribution as Live DVD ISO images from its official website or via Softpedia (see link above). Both 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) hardware platforms are supported at this moment.

The Live DVD ISO images come with a very minimal boot menu from where you can start the live session with default drivers, as well as to use the failsafe mode in case some hardware components are not recognized by the first boot option. Keep in mind though, that while the 32-bit edition will run on both 32-bit and 64-bit hardware platforms, the 64-bit flavor will support only 64-bit architectures.

It is quite strange to see the MATE desktop environment on the main Snowlinux edition, when there’s already a dedicated MATE edition. It uses the same single panel layout that is used with success in the aforementioned Snowlinux flavor.

Default applications include the Shotwell image viewer and organizer, Mozilla Thunderbird email and news client, Mozilla Firefox web browser, Rhythmbox music player, as well as the entire LibreOffice office suite.

When compared with Debian GNU/Linux, Snowlinux features better software selection, an improved installer and bootloader, beautiful and clean look and feel with custom desktop and icon themes, as wel as a wide range of system improvements. The distribution is supported until May 2016 and it’s 100% compatible with the official Debian software repositories.