SparkyLinux

SparkyLinux
SparkyLinux 6.0 "Po Tolo" with Xfce
DeveloperSparkyLinux team[1]
OS familyLinux (Unix-like)
Working stateCurrent
Source modelOpen source
Initial release5 May 2012 (2012-05-05)
Latest release8.0[2] / 14 August 2025 (14 August 2025)
Available inMultilingual
Update methodAPT (front-ends available)
Package managerdpkg (front-ends available)
Supported platformsIA-32, x86-64, ARM
Kernel typeMonolithic (Linux)
UserlandGNU
Default
user interface		LXQt, MATE, Xfce and KDE
LicenseMainly GPL and other free software licenses, minor additions of proprietary
Official websitesparkylinux.org

SparkyLinux is a desktop-oriented operating system based on the Debian[3] operating system.[4] The project offers a ready-to-use operating system with various desktops to choose from.[5] SparkyLinux is released 3-4 times per year to provide the latest versions of all applications.

History

The project was born in October 2011 as an Ubuntu remix with Enlightenment as the default desktop having the name ue17r (Ubuntu Enlightenment17 Remix). After a few months of testing, the base system was changed to Debian and renamed SparkyLinux.[6][7]

Features

SparkyLinux has two main "flavors": the "stable flavor", which is based on the latest Debian stable, and the “rolling flavor”, which is based on the testing (next stable) branch of Debian and uses a (semi-)rolling-release cycle. Additionally, it includes a collection of tools and scripts to help users with easy administration of the system.[8]

The default desktop environments are LXQt (former LXDE), MATE, Xfce, and KDE, but users can install other desktops via 'Sparky APTus'.

As Sparky ISO image features a few proprietary packages, the 'Sparky APTus' provides a small tool called 'Non-Free Remover' which can easily uninstall all 'contrib' and 'non-free' packages from the system.[9]

Since 2023, the project has offered storage persistence from a utility that writes USB disk images. The feature so far only works on the MinimalGUI version of SparkyLinux.[10]

Special editions

  • GameOver Edition, targeted to gamers. It features a large set of free and open-source games and some needed tools.[11]
  • Rescue Edition, provides a live system and a large number of applications for recovering broken operating systems.[12]
  • Multimedia for audio, video, and HTML pages editing.
  • MinimalCLI and MinimalGUI.[8]

Releases and reception

  • SparkyLinux 1.0 – codename “Venus” was renamed from ue17r to SparkyLinux 1.0 on January 15, 2012.[13]
  • SparkyLinux 2.0 – codename “Eris” was released on December 19, 2012. [14]
  • SparkyLinux 3.0 – codename “Annagerman” was released on July 27, 2013. [15]
  • SparkyLinux 3.4 – codename “Annagerman” was released on June 03, 2014.[16][17]
  • SparkyLinux 3.5 – codename “Annagerman” was released on September 06, 2014.[18][19][20]
  • SparkyLinux 4.0 – codename “Tyche” was released on June 26, 2015.[21]
  • SparkyLinux 5.0 – codename “Nibiru” was released on July 17, 2017.[22][23]
  • SparkyLinux 5.5 – codename “Nibiru” was released on July 27, 2018.[24]
  • SparkyLinux 6.0 – codename “Po Tolo” was released on August 20, 2021.[25]
  • SparkyLinux 7.0 – codename “Orion Belt” was released on June 15, 2023.[26][27]
  • SparkyLinux 8.0 – codename “The Seven Sisters” was released on August 14, 2025.[28][29][30]
  • SparkyLinux 9.0 – code name “Tiamat” (based on Debian 14 “Forky”) is in beta testing.[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ "SparkyLinux Team". Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Sparky 8.0".
  3. ^ "Derivatives/Census/SparkyLinux - Debian Wiki". wiki.debian.org. debian.org. 16 August 2025. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  4. ^ Smith, Jesse (14 August 2025). "DistroWatch.com: SparkyLinux". distrowatch.com. Copenhagen, DK: Atea Ataroa Limited. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  5. ^ "SparkyLinux Wiki". Sparky Wiki.
  6. ^ "SparkyLinux 1.0 wersja finalna". Linuxiarze.pl. 5 May 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  7. ^ pavroo (13 October 2021). "ue17r". ArchiveOS. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  8. ^ a b pavroo (18 December 2024). "About". SparkyLinux. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  9. ^ pavroo (20 September 2023). "Sparky APTus". SparkyLinux. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  10. ^ pavroo (20 January 2023). "Sparky 2023.01 + Persistence". SparkyLinux. Retrieved 2023-02-05.
  11. ^ Newell, Gary (October 2014). "An Everyday Linux User Review Of SparkyLinux Gameover Edition". Everyday Linux User. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  12. ^ pavroo (4 May 2021). "sparky_rescue [Sparky Wiki]". Sparky wiki. Poland: SparkyLinux. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  13. ^ pavroo (16 October 2021). "10 years of SparkyLinux!". SparkyLinux. Poland. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  14. ^ Smith, Jesse (18 February 2013). "First look at SparkyLinux 2.1 "Ultra" edition". DistroWatch Weekly. No. 495. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  15. ^ Newell, Gary (26 November 2013). "Everyday Linux User review of SparkyLinux 3.1 Razor-Qt Edition". Everyday Linux User. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  16. ^ Fagioli, Brian (8 July 2014). "SparkyLinux 3.4 GameOver -- a Linux distro for gamers". BetaNews. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  17. ^ Germain, Jack M. (20 August 2014). "SparkyLinux GameOver Is a Winning Work-Play Combo". LinuxInsider. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  18. ^ Gayan (11 October 2014). "SparkyLinux 3.5 (E18) Review – Lightweight, Comes with Lots of Apps, But a Bit Buggy". Hectic Geek. Archived from the original on 2018-08-14. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  19. ^ Smith, Jesse (20 October 2014). "SparkyLinux 3.5". DistroWatch Weekly. No. 581. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  20. ^ Kanoy, Michael D. (30 September 2014). "SparkyLinux: Low Resource OS Packing Dynamite!". Reach Unlimited. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  21. ^ Smith, Jesse (26 June 2015). "Distribution Release: SparkyLinux 4.0 (DistroWatch.com News)". distrowatch.com. Copenhagen, DK: Atea Ataroa Limited. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  22. ^ Watson, J. A. (July 21, 2017). "Hands-on with Sparky Linux 5, powered by Debian". ZDNet. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  23. ^ Germain, Jack M. (27 July 2017). "SparkyLinux 5: Great All-Purpose Distro for Confident Linux Users". LinuxInsider. Encino, CA: ECT News Network, Inc. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  24. ^ Smith, Jesse (27 July 2018). "Development Release: SparkyLinux 5.5 Dev (DistroWatch.com News)". distrowatch.com. Copenhagen, DK: Atea Ataroa Limited. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  25. ^ Smith, Jesse (20 August 2021). "Distribution Release: SparkyLinux 6.0 (DistroWatch.com News)". distrowatch.com. Copenhagen, DK: Atea Ataroa Limited. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  26. ^ Cafiero, Larry (10 July 2025). "Sparky Linux: "Takes the Options Ball and Runs With It!"". FOSS Force. King, N.C.: Unicorn Media. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  27. ^ Wallen, Jack (19 February 2024). "Sparky Linux is a blazing-fast distro that can keep your older machines running for years". ZDNET. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  28. ^ Smith, Jesse (14 August 2025). "Distribution Release: SparkyLinux 8.0 (DistroWatch.com News)". distrowatch.com. Copenhagen, DK: Atea Ataroa Limited. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  29. ^ Borisov, Bobby (14 August 2025). "SparkyLinux 8.0 Launches with Debian 13 Base". Linuxiac. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  30. ^ pavroo (14 August 2025). "Sparky 8.0". SparkyLinux. Poland. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  31. ^ pavroo (17 August 2025). "Sparky 9 code name and repos". SparkyLinux. Poland. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
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