rlxOS is a beauty, but you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- rlxOS is an immutable Linux distribution that is available now and shows real promise but has real issues.
- It offers a lovely take on Xfce and offers high performance for new and old hardware.
- Plagued by an SSL issue, it’s very challenging (if not impossible) to install applications in its current state.
rlxOS[1] is immutable. For those who don’t know, the idea behind an immutable operating system means the core of the operating system is read-only. That means everything but logs, user configurations, and user files cannot be changed by users. The reason behind this is security. Immutable operating systems are some of the most secure on the market.
The rlxOS distro does immutability quite well…maybe too well.
Also: The best Linux laptops[2]
The first thing you’ll notice (upon installing rlxOS) is that it makes Xfce look quite good. When I first booted rlxOS, I would have thought the desktop was either Budgie or KDE Plasma. I’m used to Xfce looking a bit old-school but rlxOS flips that script and presents the desktop with a more modern twist. It might not have the elegance of, say, Budgie, but it certainly is on par with most desktop environments.
As far as pre-installed applications, you get a rather limited number, such as Firefox, Parole Media Player, a file manager, and a lot of apps for the tweaking of settings. Beyond that, however, things start to take a turn for the less-than-user-friendly.
Let me explain.