Jack Wallen / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.
ZDNET's key takeaways
StormOS makes Arch Linux more user-friendly and accessible.
Preloaded apps and Zen kernel boost performance out of the box.
Minor drawbacks: RustDesk clutter and Xfce complexity for newbies.
Arch Linux tends to get a bad rap for being too hard to use for anyone who's not spent months or years using Linux. If you've never touched Linux, that rap is pretty spot on, because Arch Linux is one of those distributions where the command line is not nearly as optional as it is on, say, Ubuntu.
There are a few takes on Arch Linux (such as Manjaro Linux and EndeavorOS) that go a long way to alleviate the pain of using one of the more challenging Linux distributions. Another option is StormOS, which is a Linux distribution I'd not heard of until I ran into it by accident. My curiosity was immediately piqued, and I downloaded an ISO and fired up VirtualBox to spin up a virtual machine.
Also: How much RAM does your Linux PC really need in 2025?
As soon as the installer fired up, I knew this was going to be a take on Arch that was far more user-friendly. It wasn't until the installation was finished and I logged in for the first time that I realized StormOS not only achieved its goal, but surpassed it.
... continue reading