Q4OS

Software Screenshot:
Q4OS
Software Details:
Version: 1.8.8 / 2.3.3 Testing updated
Upload Date: 2 Oct 17
Developer: The Q4OS Team
Distribution Type: Freeware
Downloads: 7916

Rating: 3.7/5 (Total Votes: 14)

Q4OS is an open source distribution of Linux that provides users with a minimalistic computing environment comprised of a lightweight desktop environment and a handful of applications and utilities.

Distributed as 64-bit/32-bit ISO images

The system is distributed as two ISO images, one for each of the supported architectures (32-bit and 64-bit), that can be written to blank CD discs using any CD/DVD burning software, or deployed to USB flash drives using the UNetbootin application.

However, please note that these are not Live CDs, which means that you won’t be able to test the distribution before installing it. The boot prompt provides users with two installation options, as well as an advanced feature that allows OEMs to preinstall the OS on their computers.

Offers two installation methods

As mentioned, the boot medium comes with two installation methods. While the first one, called Classic Install is highlighted by default, we recommend to use the “NO questions, FULL automated” option, which will automatically partition the disk drive and install the operating system.

Installing Q4OS

The entire installation process should take between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on you your computer’s specs, as well as the media used, as USB sticks are much faster than CD discs. When the installation is complete, the installer will reboot the machine and start the Q4OS operating system.

At the login screen, you need to choose the predefined user, without a password. It will then ask if you want to set English as your default language, or choose a different one, as well as to set up a password for the adminq user.

Uses the Trinity Desktop Environment

The distribution uses Trinity DE (TDE), a clone of the old-school KDE3 desktop environment that was used a decade ago on various Linux distributions. It provides users with a familiar interface that looks exactly like the one of the Windows XP operating system.

Default applications

Default applications include the Konqueror web browser, Krusader twin-panel file manager, KWrite and Kate text editors, and a few other utilities. Support for Wi-Fi connection is also included in the distribution.

Bottom line

During our tests, Q4OS proved to be a fast, responsive and stable Linux-based operating system that runs well on low-end machines. It is the perfect Linux OS for Windows XP users!

What is new in this release:

  • New Q4OS Orion version 1.8.7 is available. The default start menu named 'Bourbon' has been tuned and polished a bit. First login Q4OS scripts, for example web browser automatic installer, now work on all supported architectures, including arm64 and armhf. As reported recently, we have made several significant modifications in Q4OS Orion to be ready for installation under other Debian based operating systems, so anyone is now enabled to gain Q4OS Orion based on Ubuntu as well as Devuan.
  • System packages updates and important security fixes are provided as well. All the updates are immediately available for existing Q4OS users from the regular Q4OS repositories.

What is new in version 1.8.7 / 2.3.3 Testing:

  • New Q4OS Orion version 1.8.7 is available. The default start menu named 'Bourbon' has been tuned and polished a bit. First login Q4OS scripts, for example web browser automatic installer, now work on all supported architectures, including arm64 and armhf. As reported recently, we have made several significant modifications in Q4OS Orion to be ready for installation under other Debian based operating systems, so anyone is now enabled to gain Q4OS Orion based on Ubuntu as well as Devuan.
  • System packages updates and important security fixes are provided as well. All the updates are immediately available for existing Q4OS users from the regular Q4OS repositories.

What is new in version 1.8.6 / 2.3.3 Testing:

  • Q4OS GTK+3 themes has been significantly improved in this version, supporting Google Chrome 59, which has definitively moved to GTK+3 libraries. We have made several relevant modifications in Q4OS Orion to be ready for installation under other Debian based operating systems, so anyone is now enabled to gain Q4OS Orion based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Xenial Xerus as well as Devuan Jessie, see Q4OS based on Ubuntu and Q4OS setup on Devuan. More under the hood improvements and Q4OS specific fixes are delivered as well. All the updates are immediately available for existing Q4OS users from the regular Q4OS repositories.
  • As claimed, the forthcoming Debian GNU/Linux 9.0 "Stretch" operating system has entered the final phase of development and should be released in a few days or weeks, so we are currently finishing in making to release new Q4OS Scorpion branch based on Debian Stretch. The new Q4OS Scorpion edition should be available in about a month or two after the official release of Debian Stretch.

What is new in version 1.8.4 / 2.2.1 Testing:

  • The most significant new feature is integration of alternative desktop environments into the native Q4OS 'Desktop profiler' utility. Users can now select alternative desktops to install and use alongside the default Q4OS Trinity desktop. LXQT support has been depreciated in Q4OS Orion, while we intend to support it thoroughly in the Q4OS 'Scorpion' edition. Icedove messaging application is no more available by the Q4OS installer, as it has been replaced by the real Thunderbird 45.8 release.
  • Another minor improvements have been implemented and security fixes have been received from the stable Debian base.

What is new in version 1.8.3 / 2.2.1 Testing:

  • New update of stable Q4OS 'Orion' desktop is available. Bunch of important packages updates and security patches has been delivered, as well as improvements of the native Q4OS update manager application. All the changes are available for existing Q4OS users via the automatic update process.

What is new in version 1.8.2 / 2.2.1 Testing:

  • New version 1.8.2 is based on the the most recent release of stable Debian Jessie 8.7, important security patches have been applied and core system packages have been updated. Q4OS Update manager has been rewritten from scratch to provide a robust and reliable tool for safe system upgrades. Other Q4OS specific fixes and under the hood improvements are delivered as usual. All the updates are immediately available for existing Q4OS users from the regular Q4OS repositories.
  • Most attention is now focused on the development of the testing Q4OS 'Scorpion' version 2.2, based on Debian 9 Stretch. Q4OS 2.2 Scorpion continues to be under development so far, and it will stay as long as Debian Stretch will be testing, the release date is preliminarily scheduled at about the turn of April and May 2017. Q4OS 'Scorpion' will be supported at least five years from the official release date.

What is new in version 1.8 / 2.2.1 Testing:

  • Q4OS development team is pleased to announce immediate availability of the new significant release of the Q4OS 'Orion' desktop, version 1.8. This is a stable version of the Q4OS desktop, based on the recent Debian Jessie 8.6 release and the brand new version of the Trinity 14.0.4 desktop environment, complete release notes are available on the Trinity desktop environment website.
  • Some of the Q4OS specific tools has been updated as well, the LookSwitcher tool has been rewritten and users can now choose from different desktop themes. Live Installer offers an easy way to automatically create set of partitions to install Q4OS system to. Support for UEFI systems has been enhanced, important bug fixes and various improvements are provided as usual. All the updates are immediately available for existing Q4OS users from the current Q4OS repositories.

What is new in version 1.6.3 / 2.2.1 Testing:

  • New version 1.6.3 adds initial UEFI support for both, live CD and install CD. Q4OS media are now ready to boot on UEFI machines, install Q4OS system in UEFI mode as well as automatically insert an entry into the boot manager.
  • Q4OS Orion 1.6.3 is re-based on the the latest release of Debian Jessie 8.6, system packages have been updated and important security patches have been applied. Q4OS specific fixes and under the hood improvements are provided as usual. All the changes will be pushed via the automatic update process for existing Q4OS users in the days to come.

What is new in version 1.6.2 / 2.2.1 Testing:

  • Q4OS development team is pleased to announce immediate availability of the new significant update of the Q4OS 'Scorpion' desktop, version 2.2. This is a testing version of the Q4OS desktop, based on the recent Debian 9 Stretch release with the upgraded Linux kernel 4.6, GCC 6 and the Trinity 14.0.4 desktop environment. The alternative LXQT desktop is supported in Q4OS, so users can have Trinity and LXQT desktops alongside installed and choose which one to log in. Q4OS 2.2 'Scorpion' continues to be under development so far, and it will stay as long as Debian Stretch will be testing. Q4OS 'Scorpion' will be supported at least five years from the official release date.

What is new in version 1.6.1:

  • The significant Q4OS 1.6 'Orion' release receives the most recent Trinity R14.0.3 stable version. Trinity R14.0.3 is the third maintenance release of the R14 series, it is intended to promptly bring bug fixes to users, while preserving overall stability. The complete list and release notes you will find on the Trinity desktop environment website.
  • New Q4OS 1.6 release includes set of new features and fixes. The default desktop look has been slightly changed, Q4OS 'Bourbon' start menu and taskbar has been polished a bit and has got a few enhancements, for example the icons size varies proportionally to the system panel. Native Desktop profiler tool has got new, optimized 'software to install' list.

What is new in version 1.4.9 / 2.1.1 Testing:

  • New significant update of Q4OS 'Scorpion' desktop is available, version 2.1. This is testing version of the Q4OS desktop based on Debian 9 Stretch with the upgraded Linux kernel 4.5 and the Trinity 14.0.4 desktop environment. Q4OS 'Scorpion' will become stable, as soon as Debian Stretch will do so.
  • We have included the 'Bourbon' start menu, the brand new default start menu in Q4OS. The two panel 'Bourbon' menu is highly efficient and customizable and features a search line, favorites, history and more options. System packages have been updated and some improvements have been ported from Q4OS Orion stable version.
  • We invite anyone to try out this testing Q4OS Scorpion 2.1 and report bugs and glitches, you can download live CD's for x64 and i686-pae cpu architectures from dedicated Testing releases webpage. Keep in mind, testing versions are not intended for daily use in production environments.

What is new in version 1.4.9 / 2.0.3 Testing:

  • We introduce 'Bourbon' start menu, the brand new default start menu in Q4OS. The two panel 'Bourbon' menu is highly efficient and customizable and features a search line, favorites, history and more options.
  • Q4OS 1.4.9 'Orion' is based on the most recent Debian 8.4 'Jessie' stable version released a few days ago. System packages have been updated and important security patches have been applied. A significant update for the native Q4OS uninstaller fixes the unintentional removal of the 'locales' package. Numerous under the hood improvements is provided as usual.
  • All the updates will arrive into repositories in the days to come, update manager or unattended upgrades mechanism will take care about to update computers of current users.

What is new in version 1.4.7 / 2.0.2 Testing:

  • A complete Trinity repository has been added to the system as the main new feature. Access to all the Trinity software were given to users by default, there is no need to add external Trinity repositories anymore. Bunch of important packages updates and security patches has been delivered as usual.

What is new in version 1.4.4 / 1.4.3.3 ARM / 2.0.0 Testing:

  • The new Q4OS release ships with brand new update notifier and manager, as well as several different improvements. Update notifier pops up an icon in system tray, when updates are available from system repositories and lets administrator to apply them on request. Other improvements include optimized desktop profiles, fast data transfer from Android devices, broader support for various multimedia formats and more. Bunch of more or less important bug fixes, packages updates and security patches has been delivered as usual.

What is new in version 1.4.1 / 2.0.0 Testing:

  • The significant Q4OS 1.4 'Orion' release adopts new Trinity R14.0.1 version. Trinity R14.0.1 is the first maintenance release of the R14 series, and is the result of several months of ongoing effort by the TDE development team. It brings numerous improvements and fixes, the complete list and release notes you will find on the Trinity desktop environment website.

What is new in version 1.2.7:

  • The stable version of Q4OS live CD is available for free download and use. Users are now able to perform safe Q4OS testing on a real hardware without installation. Anybody is welcome to try out and see Q4OS system in action. As an option, it's possible to proceed Q4OS installation directly from the live environment using integrated graphical live installer. You can download the live CD iso from our website and burn it onto CD/DVD or create bootable USB stick, we can recommend to use 'unetbootin' or similar tools for this purpose.

What is new in version 1.2.2:

  • We introduce the new 'Software Centre' in this version, now it makes management of free applications much easier. We plan an important option for the Software Centre, which would allow direct purchasing of non-free applications and installing them in Q4OS seamlessly. The other notable change coming with the new Q4OS release is completion of several Welcome Screen translations, thanks to excellent work of external translators from different countries. A few internal improvements and bug fixes has been closed as usual.
  • All packages will arrive into repositories in the days to come, automatic update process will take care about to update computers of current users.

What is new in version 1.2.1:

  • We are proud to announce the immediate availability of the new Q4OS 1.2 release, codenamed 'Orion', supported until 1st May 2020 at least.
  • The Q4OS Desktop is a powerful and reliable operating system based on proven desktop model, represented by the recent 'Trinity desktop' environment. Q4OS comes with its own exclusive utilities and features, especially with the 'Desktop profiler' for profiling your computer into different professional working tools, 'Setup utility' for the smooth installation of third-party applications, a 'Welcome Screen' with several integrated shortcuts to make system configuration easier for novice users, KDE4, XFCE and LXDE alternative environments installation scripts and many more.
  • Q4OS is designed to work flawlessly on the latest laptops and desktops as well as older computers, supports a wide range of different hardware. There is native integrated wireless networks manager and many drivers and firmware received from the famous Debian stable base.
  • We introduce the new official logo, it will be an integral part of Q4OS branding. The legacy 0.5.x Q4OS branch will continue to be supported by the security team.

What is new in version 0.5.25:

  • Firmware for many Broadcom wireless devices has been included, so Q4OS will automatically recognize and makes ready most of the BCM43 and other wireless network cards. New commandline tools 'qrepoadd', 'qreporm' and 'qrepolist' has been introduced to easily handle external repositories, for example 'sudo qrepoadd trinity' adds complete Trinity repository. Q4OS Development Pack is now able to create more comfortable passwordless installers for privileged 'sudo' users. It will be used to update most of standard Q4OS application installers in the following weeks. A few another improvements and bugfixes is provided, particularly for alternative KDE4 desktop environment.

What is new in version 0.5.24:

  • New commandline tool to globally change display DPI is introduced for Q4OS to be usable with Hi-DPI screens. Important core system packages updates and security fixes has been applied. Users could appreciate better system integration and cleaner dependencies of Adobe Flashplayer, especially in combination with Firefox 34 or later.
  • New version brings improvements for Q4OS developers too. Underlying Development Pack API has been extended with the localization and internationalization tools and unique Q4OS installer integrated into core system, so Q4OS self-extracting setup files could be packed much more efficiently.

What is new in version 0.5.23:

  • The Christmas release improves XDG standards compliance, brings more accurate GTK3 theme and fixes screen resolution detection weighty bug. Several internal improvements and bugfixes has been closed as usual.
  • Installation of LXDE and XFCE desktop environments alongside default Q4OS is now enabled, sudo users are free to install using terminal commands 'sudo apt-get install lxde' or 'sudo apt-get install xfce4' respectively.

What is new in version 0.5.22:

  • The new version improve font appearance for GTK2 applications and brings more accurate GTK2 styles in both classical and modern Q4OS themes. Lookswitcher, the tool to switch between Q4OS desktop themes, now works flawlessly, it has been fixed to prevent styles mixing on some rare switch attempts. Shortcuts in non-default Kickoff menu have been updated. More internal improvements has been made and several minor bugs has been closed.

What is new in version 0.5.21:

  • New Q4OS version 0.5.21 focus on password management and handling, fixes annoying glitches related to sudo command and gui applications running with elevated root privileges. In addition new gui themes has been added for GTK applications to accurately follow Q4OS design. Several bugs has been fixed as usual.
  • Shrinking of full-offline installation ISO images continues and it has not yet stopped the size of incredible 309Mbytes for x64, respectively 331MBytes for i386 architecture. Feel free to download and explore fast and powerful Q4OS desktop.

What is new in version 0.5.20:

  • Significant update 0.5.20 of Q4OS Desktop is out. The essential new feature is KDE4 desktop integration into Q4OS system. It is comprised of two plasma themes, converted crystalsvg icons, splash theme and original Q4OS desktop look&feel configuration. Single-command script "kde4-install" for automatic easy installation is included. If user want to setup complete KDE4 desktop alongside standard Q4OS desktop, he will run the "kde4-install" script from terminal. He will be able to choose session type "KDE Plasma Workspace" option on KDM login screen and make experience with brand new environment. He will be free to select basic classical Q4OS desktop too, of course.
  • This Q4OS release brings much more improvements, notably new desktop cursor theme, other slight desktop look changes and simple command line tool "ctrl_autologin.sh" for password-less logins management. As many as possible Q4OS scripts has been updated from bash to dash compatible Posix syntax and several internal improvements and bugfixes has been closed.

What is new in version 0.5.19:

  • We are pleased to announce release of Q4OS 0.5.19 version. An alternative "Kickoff" menu has been signigicantly improved and more GUI translations has been made. There is new "ipcodecs" installer script for super-easy installation of all kinds of proprietary multimedia codecs that you might need.
  • This release has arrived with several important security fixes, especially all up to now "Shellshock" patches. The automatic update process is enough for preceding installations and users will not have to restart their computers. With this mind, it's likely that more Bash patches will arrive in the days to come.
  • Q4OS is now stable enough to be recommended for everyday use.

What is new in version 0.5.18:

  • Lookswitcher, the tool to easy switch between classical and modern user interface, has been rewritten, bunch of GUI improvements has been made.
  • Script for APT database lock detection ported to C programming language.
  • Several security updates and updated packages.
  • Prepared underlying API for easy installation of recent applications versions from Backports repository and automatic detection of national environment and language.
  • Q4OS is now stable enough to be recommended for everyday use.

What is new in version 0.5.17:

  • Bugfixes
  • Look and feel improvements

What is new in version 0.5.16:

  • Bugfixe release.

What is new in version 0.5.15:

  • Development pack updates
  • Look'n feel improvements
  • Bugfixes

What is new in version 0.5.11:

  • Look & feel improvements
  • Bugfixes

What is new in version 0.5.9:

  • Wireless improvements
  • Bugfixes

What is new in version 0.5.8:

  • Wireless support
  • Internationalization improvements
  • Bugfixes

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