El­e­men­tary OS 6

El­e­men­tary OS is a user-friendly and visually appealing operating system that can be used without much prior knowledge. However, because of issues among its de­vel­op­ers and errors in the current version El­e­men­tary OS 6, the future of the Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion is uncertain.

As of 2011, the de­vel­op­ment team of El­e­men­tary OS made it their mission to create a user-friendly, powerful and, according to them, ethical operating system based on Ubuntu that oriented on macOS in terms of its visual and handling appeal. Its de­vel­op­ers consider El­e­men­tary OS an al­ter­na­tive to Windows and Apple. The focus is on smooth pro­cess­ing and ease of use, more so than in­di­vid­ual con­fig­u­ra­tion options. With Pantheon, El­e­men­tary OS also has its own desktop en­vi­ron­ment. The Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion is open source and ex­clu­sive­ly financed through donations. Personal data is not collected.

With El­e­men­tary OS 6.0 Odin and 6.1 Jólnir, de­vel­op­ers are relying on a new in­stal­la­tion program with its own front end. These versions are based on Ubuntu 20.04 and focus on easy handling. The desktop en­vi­ron­ment Pantheon has been adapted and can now switch between regular and night mode if required. Much like the previous versions of El­e­men­tary OS, the sixth edition relies primarily on its own software, which is listed in the AppCenter. With El­e­men­tary OS 6, however, this is provided as a flatpak. The latest version provides improved touchpad support and three-finder swiping.

If you are con­sid­er­ing using El­e­men­tary OS 6, it’s worth looking at the ad­van­tages and dis­ad­van­tages of the operating system to make a more informed decision.

• Optics: El­e­men­tary OS has always been con­sid­ered a visually high-quality Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion. El­e­men­tary OS 6 tops its pre­de­ces­sors in this respect. However, the appealing en­vi­ron­ment is not an end in itself, but provides a better overview.
• User-friend­li­ness: This leads to an overall better handling. Although El­e­men­tary OS needs a bit of time to get used to, operation is intuitive and well thought-out.
• Ubuntu: The Ubuntu base ensures that the operating system is not just fast and secure, but that numerous programs are available. These are usually not pre-installed, but can be easily imported.
• Costs: El­e­men­tary OS 6 is available free of charge, much like its pre­de­ces­sors. The de­vel­op­ers ask for donations, but the download is done according to the pay-what-you-want principle. It is also possible to pay nothing and try out the operating system first. This applies to the software from the El­e­men­tary en­vi­ron­ment.

• Hardware problems: After the release of the new version, many users com­plained about hardware problems and even went so far as to talk about an un­fin­ished release. Most bugs have been fixed in the meantime, but there are still said to be frequent problems with certain graphics cards.
• Latest software: Since the base Ubuntu 20.04 is a bit older, there is a large offer of programs, but they are not always available in the latest version.
• AppCenter: The AppCenter of El­e­men­tary OS is clear and user-friendly, but it only focuses on the software from the El­e­men­tary universe.
• Community: The El­e­men­tary OS community is available to discuss questions and errors.
• Insecure future: The de­vel­op­ers behind El­e­men­tary OS, Daniel Foré and Cassidy James Blaede, are at odds, which is why the future of the company has been uncertain for several months. This does not affect the current version (yet), but it is currently (March 2022) not fore­see­able whether and how El­e­men­tary OS will continue.

El­e­men­tary OS is not a slim system like Linux Mint or the minimal Arch Linux. Linux offers better options for dealing with older and weaker computers. To use El­e­men­tary OS 6 a 64-bit dual-core processor with at least 4 GB of RAM and 15 GB of storage space is required. For smooth usage, a larger memory is rec­om­mend­ed. A monitor with a res­o­lu­tion of at least 1,024 x 768 and a disk with 4 GB are rec­om­mend­ed for in­stal­la­tion.

El­e­men­tary OS 6 is a good option for users seeking a coherent operating system that is easy to use without much prior knowledge. Users switching from Windows or Mac to Linux may feel com­fort­able with El­e­men­tary OS 6, but should allow a bit of time to get used to it. Those looking for a more in­di­vid­ual approach would be better off using other solutions.

Various Linux dis­tri­b­u­tions for laptop and PC are available. Besides Ubuntu and Debian, Manjaro Linux also enjoys great pop­u­lar­i­ty. Kali Linux is a good choice for extended network and system analysis. Among the most popular Linux server dis­tri­b­u­tions are the suc­ces­sors of CentOS – AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux.