LinEx

LinEx is a free, open-source distribution of Linux developed by the Extremadura Regional Government in Spain and CENATIC, the Spanish National Competence Centre for the Application of Open Source Technologies. It is based off of the award-winning Debian GNU/Linux.

Available for download as a dual-arch Live DVD

The distribution is available for download as a dual-arch Live DVD ISO image, which has been designed from the ground up to support both 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) instruction set architectures.

Clean boot prompt with only two options

The boot prompt is beautifully designed, clean and includes only two options, the ability to boot the live system with standard options and drivers or to start the graphical installer directly. Please note that the default language is Spanish.

The GNOME desktop environment uses a single taskbar

As mentioned, GNOME is in charge of the graphical desktop environment inside LinEx, dressed with a an attractive dark theme and custom icons. It uses a single taskbar located on the upper side of the screen, from where the user can easily navigate the main menu, launch applications, as well as to interact with running programs.

Includes some of the most popular open source apps

There are numerous applications pre-installed in it. Among some of the most important ones, we can mention Transmission BitTorrent client, Liferea news reader, Mozilla Firefox web browser, Ekiga softphone, Evolution email and calendar client, LibreOffice office suite and Rhythmbox music player.

Bottom line

Summing up, LinEx is a good-looking, stable, reliable and low on resources distribution of Linux that uses a traditional, classic GNOME desktop setup on top of the latest upstream Debian GNU/Linux release.

The distro can be used directly from the Live DVD or installed on a computer with at least a Pentium III processor and 512MB of RAM. Keep in mind though, that it has been designed with the Spanish user in mind.