Try Linux Distributions Online
Browse Linux distributions, exact releases, and desktops, then launch an available target as a browser virtual machine. No local install required.
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SliTaz8 targets, 8 availableSliTaz is an independent micro-distribution, assembled from its own package base rather than another distro's, that fits a working graphical desktop into an image measured in tens of megabytes. It runs comfortably from RAM, boots quickly on very old or very small machines, and uses its own lightweight package manager, tazpkg, with a companion toolchain for building packages and remastering the system. The default environment is a frugal Openbox-based desktop with a small set of applications chosen for size, backed by a surprising number of extra packages in the repositories. Development alternates between stable releases and a continuously updated cooking branch. The project has francophone roots and a small, long-running community. SliTaz makes sense when the machine is tiny, the bandwidth is scarce, or the goal is studying minimal system design. An OpenFactory browser VM spares you hunting for period hardware just to try it.View distribution
Solus33 targets, 33 availableSolus is an independent desktop distribution, built from scratch rather than derived from another project, and it is the birthplace of the Budgie desktop environment, which has since spread to other distributions. Development follows a curated rolling model: updates land continuously but are grouped and tested, with a weekly cadence for the stable channel, aiming at current software without daily surprises. Packages use the eopkg format and tooling, descended from the PiSi package manager, and the project maintains its own repositories with a deliberately tidy selection. Official editions cover Budgie, KDE Plasma, GNOME, and Xfce, each configured with care. Solus is explicit about being a home-computing desktop first rather than a server platform. It appeals to people who want a polished, self-contained system outside the Debian, Fedora, and Arch families. OpenFactory offers a browser session of Solus for an unhurried first look.View distribution
SparkyLinux41 targets, 41 availableSparkyLinux is a Polish-rooted Debian derivative that offers two personalities: stable editions built on Debian's released branch and semi-rolling editions that follow Debian testing for fresher software. Across both lines it publishes a wide selection of desktops, with lightweight environments such as LXQt, Xfce, and Openbox prominent, plus minimal command-line images for building custom systems. The project maintains its own APT repositories on top of Debian's and adds the APTus family of graphical helpers for installing applications, codecs, and system components without terminal work. Special editions bundle themed tool sets, including a GameOver edition for gaming, a multimedia edition for creators, and a rescue image for repair jobs. Hardware demands stay modest throughout the lineup. Sparky appeals to users who like Debian's plumbing but want quicker conveniences. Comparing its editions in an OpenFactory browser VM beats downloading a stack of ISOs.View distribution
SpiralLinux21 targets, 21 availableSpiralLinux is a small project with a precise goal: deliver plain Debian with the awkward parts already configured. Created by the developer behind GeckoLinux, it installs Debian stable arranged with Btrfs subvolumes and automatic Snapper snapshots, so a botched update can be rolled back, along with zram swap, improved font rendering, printing support, and enabled proprietary firmware where hardware needs it. Its central design rule is adding no repositories and no custom packages of substance: after installation the system upgrades directly from Debian's own archive, can be pointed at testing or unstable, and remains pure Debian underneath indefinitely. Spins exist for the major desktops, including Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE Plasma, Xfce, and lighter options. It suits people who want Debian's reliability without its setup rituals. An OpenFactory VM in the browser shows how finished this take on Debian feels at first login.View distribution
Tails3 targets, 3 availableTails, The Amnesic Incognito Live System, is a Debian-based operating system with a single organizing principle: leave no trace. It runs exclusively as a live system from removable media, routes every network connection through the Tor anonymity network while blocking connections that would bypass it, and forgets everything at shutdown unless you deliberately create an encrypted Persistent Storage area. The desktop is a restrained GNOME setup bundling tools its audience needs, including the Tor Browser, encrypted password and messaging utilities, and software for handling sensitive documents. Journalists, activists, and abuse survivors are the archetypal users, and the project is developed in close association with the Tor Project. Tails is not meant to be installed, and its threat model shapes every default. An OpenFactory browser VM can demonstrate the desktop and workflow, though real anonymity requires booting genuine Tails media on hardware you trust.View distribution
Tiny Core Linux13 targets, 13 availableTiny Core Linux pursues minimalism to its logical end: the graphical base image measures in the low tens of megabytes, and even that is larger than the console-only Core edition beneath it. The system boots into RAM and is assembled at each startup from extensions, small packages that mount rather than install, so by default the operating system is effectively new at every boot, with persistence something you configure deliberately. The desktop, when present, is a spartan environment built on FLTK and the FLWM window manager. The design descends from ideas its lead developer explored in the Damn Small Linux era, and it turns Tiny Core into a construction kit for appliances, kiosks, embedded projects, and truly ancient hardware, as well as a teaching tool for how little a Linux system actually needs. Starting it inside an OpenFactory browser VM makes that strange, stateless boot model easy to witness.View distribution
Trisquel GNU/Linux14 targets, 14 availableTrisquel GNU/Linux is one of the few distributions endorsed by the Free Software Foundation, a status that requires shipping no proprietary software, drivers, firmware, or documentation at all. It is built from Ubuntu's long-term-support releases with the nonfree pieces stripped out and a fully free kernel substituted, and it replaces branded applications with free counterparts, including its own unbranded browser build. The main edition uses the MATE desktop, with a lighter edition and a KDE variant maintained alongside, and packages flow through the familiar APT and deb machinery. Because it refuses binary blobs, hardware support depends on choosing components with free drivers, a constraint its community documents carefully. Trisquel sees real use inside free-software organizations and among users who treat licensing purity as the deciding requirement. Testing it in an OpenFactory browser VM neatly sidesteps the hardware question while you evaluate the software itself.View distribution
Tuxedo OS3 targets, 3 availableTUXEDO OS is published by TUXEDO Computers, a German vendor of Linux laptops and desktops, and it is the system those machines ship with, offered freely to everyone else. It combines an Ubuntu long-term-support base with a current KDE Plasma desktop, updated well ahead of Ubuntu's own KDE packaging, and adds the TUXEDO Control Center, an application for managing fan behavior, performance profiles, keyboard lighting, and power settings on supported hardware. The vendor maintains its own driver and update repositories on top of Ubuntu's APT ecosystem, and the default software selection stays close to mainstream desktop needs. Because a hardware company supports it commercially, polish and driver issues receive steady attention. TUXEDO OS suits KDE fans who want a conservative base under a fresh Plasma, with or without the matching laptop. An OpenFactory VM in the browser demonstrates the Plasma experience before any hardware decision.View distribution
Ubuntu37 targets, 37 availableThis is Ubuntu's standard desktop: Canonical's GNOME-based flagship and one of the most widely used entry points to desktop Linux. Ubuntu customizes GNOME moderately, adding a dock, its Yaru look, and installer and settings refinements while keeping the core workflow intact. Releases follow the famous fixed rhythm, arriving each April and October, with long-term-support versions every two years that receive years of updates and dominate corporate and cloud deployments. Software comes from a very large deb archive through APT alongside Canonical's Snap system, which delivers containerized applications and remains a signature Ubuntu trait. Hardware certification programs, extensive documentation, and the sheer size of the community mean most Linux questions are answered with Ubuntu in mind first. It is the reference point against which other desktop distributions get compared. An OpenFactory browser VM puts the canonical experience, in both senses, one click away.View distribution
Ubuntu Budgie11 targets, 11 availableUbuntu Budgie is the official flavor pairing Ubuntu with the Budgie desktop, an environment that originated in the Solus project and emphasizes a clean, modern layout with an applet-driven panel and the Raven sidebar for notifications and quick settings. The flavor's maintainers add considerable polish of their own, shipping a collection of optional applets, layout presets that reshape the desktop toward different conventions, and careful theming, so users can rearrange the furniture without hunting through third-party extensions. Beneath the surface it is ordinary Ubuntu: the shared package archive over APT, Snap availability, the April and October cadence, and long-term-support releases for stability-minded users. Budgie sits between heavyweight desktops and minimal window managers, drawing on GNOME technologies without adopting GNOME's workflow. The flavor suits people who want something contemporary but conventional. A short session in an OpenFactory browser VM reveals whether Budgie's balance suits you.View distribution
Ubuntu Cinnamon7 targets, 7 availableUbuntu Cinnamon is one of the newer official Ubuntu flavors, created to answer a simple wish: the Cinnamon desktop, best known from Linux Mint, running on an unmodified Ubuntu base. Cinnamon supplies a traditional, discoverable layout, with a panel, applet system, and menu that Windows-accustomed users navigate without instruction, while the Ubuntu underpinnings bring the standard archive, APT and deb packaging, Snap availability, and the April and October release rhythm with long-term-support versions. The distinction from Mint matters: Mint alters Ubuntu's defaults in many places and omits Snap, while this flavor keeps Ubuntu conventions intact and simply swaps the desktop. That makes it attractive to people who prefer Ubuntu's ecosystem decisions but Mint's desktop feel. Its community is small and focused, tracking upstream Cinnamon releases as they land. Comparing it against Mint side by side is exactly the kind of test OpenFactory browser VMs make trivial.View distribution
Ubuntu Kylin12 targets, 12 availableUbuntu Kylin is the official Ubuntu flavor created for Chinese-speaking users, developed with partners in China as a localized daily desktop. Its centerpiece is UKUI, a desktop environment developed by the Kylin team with a layout and visual language tuned for users accustomed to Windows conventions, complete with its own control panel and application suite. Localization goes beyond translation, covering Chinese input methods, fonts, calendar conventions, and integration with services common in China. The foundation is standard Ubuntu, sharing the archive, APT and deb packaging, and the April and October release cadence with long-term-support versions. UKUI itself has spread beyond this flavor and is packaged on other distributions as well. For users outside China, Ubuntu Kylin offers a look at how thoroughly a desktop can be regionalized. An OpenFactory browser VM makes that tour possible without changing anything on your own system.View distribution
Ubuntu MATE11 targets, 11 availableUbuntu MATE brings the MATE desktop, the direct continuation of the classic GNOME 2 interface, into the official Ubuntu family. Its personality comes from choice: the MATE Tweak tool switches the entire desktop between named layouts, from traditional two-panel arrangements to configurations echoing other operating systems, a degree of built-in flexibility few desktops offer. The environment is mature, stable, and lighter than modern compositing desktops while remaining full-featured, and the flavor has a history of strong support for single-board computers alongside ordinary PCs. Underneath sit the usual Ubuntu mechanics: the shared deb archive with APT, Snap availability, April and October releases, and long-term-support versions. Ubuntu MATE particularly suits people who formed their habits in the GNOME 2 era and never found a modern desktop they liked better. Flipping through its layout presets inside an OpenFactory browser VM is an entertaining five minutes.View distribution
Ubuntu Studio13 targets, 13 availableUbuntu Studio is the official flavor assembled for creative production across audio, video, graphics, photography, and publishing. Its most serious engineering goes into sound: the system is configured for low-latency audio work, with professional routing and plugin support arranged so recording and synthesis workflows function shortly after installation, a task that normally eats days of manual configuration. The bundled software spans digital audio workstations, video editors, compositors, painting and photo tools, and desktop publishing applications. In its current form the flavor uses the KDE Plasma desktop, and its installer tooling can add the Studio stack to an existing Ubuntu system rather than demanding a dedicated install. The base follows Ubuntu's archive, APT packaging, and April and October cadence with long-term-support releases. It is aimed at musicians, podcasters, and visual creators. An OpenFactory browser VM lets you inventory that toolset before rebuilding a workstation around it.View distribution
Ubuntu Unity6 targets, 6 availableUbuntu Unity is the official flavor that resurrects Unity, the desktop Canonical built and shipped as Ubuntu's face for years before returning to GNOME. Unity's design remains instantly recognizable: a launcher docked on the left edge, a global menu bar that saves vertical space, and the HUD, which lets users type to search an application's menus instead of hunting through them. The revival began as a community remix led by a very young developer and earned official flavor status, keeping the desktop alive atop current Ubuntu bases with the shared archive, APT, and the standard April and October rhythm. It serves two audiences: people who genuinely preferred Unity's ergonomics, especially on widescreen laptops, and the curious who missed that era of Ubuntu. The workflow still has sincere defenders. An OpenFactory browser VM is the least disruptive way to revisit it or meet it for the first time.View distribution
VanillaOS4 targets, 4 availableVanilla OS rethinks the desktop as an appliance. The system is immutable: its core is read-only, and changes land through ABRoot, a transactional mechanism that stages updates in an alternate root and switches over atomically, so a failed update cannot leave the machine half-broken and the previous state remains bootable. Applications live apart from the base, primarily as Flatpaks, while the apx tool creates containerized subsystems on demand, letting users pull packages from several different distribution ecosystems inside sandboxes without touching the host. The project began on an Ubuntu base and later moved to building its own images directly from Debian. The desktop is intentionally stock GNOME, free of heavy branding. Vanilla OS suits people curious about where atomic desktops are heading and anyone tired of systems that degrade over time. An OpenFactory browser VM is a fitting sandbox in which to study a system built around sandboxes.View distribution
Void Linux21 targets, 21 availableVoid Linux is an independent distribution written from scratch rather than forked, and its choices read like a considered dissent from mainstream defaults. Init and service supervision come from runit, a small and fast alternative to systemd; packages are handled by XBPS, Void's own package manager, backed by a source tree for building anything locally; and the whole system is offered in two C library flavors, glibc and musl. It is a rolling release, but a measured one, favoring tested updates over constant churn. Installation images range from a bare console system to ready desktops such as Xfce. Void appeals to users who want a lean, transparent system, quick boots, and the educational value of assembling their environment, without joining the largest distro families. Its combination of traits is genuinely uncommon, and an OpenFactory browser VM is a painless way to feel how different it is.View distribution
Voyager Live7 targets, 7 availableVoyager Live is a French project that dresses Ubuntu in an unusually complete costume. Its principal edition builds on the Xfce desktop, layered with curated wallpapers, conky status displays, themed panels, and a large set of preinstalled tools and scripts for adjusting the experience, while a companion edition applies similar styling to a GNOME desktop. The intent is a system that feels decorated and ready on first boot rather than a blank slate, yet everything underneath stays standard Ubuntu, with APT packaging and the usual repositories and support lifecycle. Releases track both long-term-support and interim Ubuntu versions, and the project publishes detailed visual guides in French and English. Voyager attracts users who enjoy an opinionated, ornamental desktop without doing the theming themselves. Since appearance is the whole argument, opening Voyager in an OpenFactory browser VM is the fastest way to learn whether its taste matches yours.View distribution
Xubuntu14 targets, 14 availableXubuntu is the official Ubuntu flavor carrying the Xfce desktop, and it has spent a long history perfecting a particular balance: lighter than the mainstream desktops, yet complete and polished enough to feel like a first choice rather than a compromise. Xfce contributes a conventional panel-and-menu workflow, fine-grained configuration through small focused dialogs, and a development pace that values stability over reinvention. Xubuntu adds tasteful defaults and sensible application choices, including the Whisker menu for launching, on top of the full Ubuntu foundation: the shared deb archive with APT, Snap availability, April and October releases, and long-term-support versions. Its resource appetite sits comfortably below GNOME's and Plasma's, though modern Xfce is no longer aimed only at weak machines. Xubuntu suits pragmatists who want a desktop that simply keeps working the same way. An OpenFactory browser VM offers an unhurried look at that quiet consistency.View distribution
Zorin OS19 targets, 19 availableZorin OS is an Ubuntu-based desktop built by a team in Ireland around one guiding idea: computers should feel familiar from first contact. Its signature tool, Zorin Appearance, switches the entire desktop between layouts echoing Windows, macOS, and classic or modern Linux arrangements, so switchers keep their muscle memory. The Core edition rests on a refined GNOME base, the Lite edition has offered an Xfce environment for older hardware, and an Education edition bundles learning software; a paid Pro tier adds extra layouts and content while the free editions remain fully functional. Zorin also pairs with phones through Zorin Connect and can suggest Linux alternatives when a user opens a Windows installer file. Packages come from Ubuntu's ecosystem with Flatpak support included, on a stable long-term-support base. OpenFactory can boot the free editions in your browser, which makes comparing the layouts almost instant.View distribution
AerynOS 2025.12 GNOMEAvailableRelease: 2025.12Desktop: GNOMEx86_64Launch AerynOS 2025.12 GNOME through OpenFactory's verified AerynOS source.View exact target- AerynOS 2026.03 GNOMEAvailableRelease: 2026.03Desktop: GNOMEx86_64Launch AerynOS 2026.03 GNOME through OpenFactory's verified AerynOS source.View exact target
- AerynOS Current GNOMEAvailableRelease: CurrentDesktop: GNOMEx86_64Launch the verified AerynOS Current GNOME image.View exact target
- AerynOS Rolling GNOMEAvailableRelease: RollingDesktop: GNOMEx86_64Launch the verified AerynOS Rolling GNOME source image.View exact target
How it works
From a browser test to your own Linux image
1. Choose a target
Pick a distribution family, release, desktop, and an available launch target.
2. Launch a clean VM
Use the real desktop in your browser. The temporary machine is discarded when the session ends.
3. Build what you need
For supported targets, select packages and settings, test the result, and download the built image.
Questions about trying Linux online
- Can I try Linux online without installing it?
- Yes. Choose an available distribution, release, and desktop, then open its launch page. OpenFactory starts a remote virtual machine and renders it in your browser, so you do not need to repartition your computer, create a USB installer, or install local virtualization software.
- Do files and settings persist between browser VM sessions?
- No. Each launch uses a fresh overlay over an immutable source image. Files and settings work normally during the session, but the machine state is discarded when the session ends. Each visitor gets a separate environment and never inherits changes made by another visitor.
- Does every catalog release have an exact launch image?
- No. Use the availability filter and the target page to confirm what can launch. Some historical catalog entries can use a current or compatible launch source. If an exact release matters for testing, verify the reported version inside the guest before relying on the result.
- Can I customize a distro after trying it?
- For supported build targets, yes. OpenFactory provides a separate builder where you can select packages, services, users, and security settings, test the generated image in a browser VM, and download the completed artifact. Build and output options vary by target.