I tried AnduinOS 2.0, and it would be an easy way to ditch Windows for Linux

Highlights taken by ZDNET

• AnduinOS 2.0 beta is available, and it’s something special.
• This desktop distribution is fast, clean, and private.
• You can download and test the latest release now.

“Today, AIURSOFT Limited is excited to announce the beta release of AnduinOS 2.0.0. This isn’t just another system update; it’s the foundational, low-level script for our entire operating system.”

That’s the opening announcement about AnduinOS 2.0. It continues, “Listening carefully to community feedback about maintenance and package management, we’ve completely rethought how AnduinOS is built, distributed and maintained.”

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Essentially, AIURSOFT Limited is leaving behind the era of ‘remembering’ and moving into the era of true distro engineering.

What does that mean? Well, to boot, AnduinOS is now bundled inside a pristine, sandboxed debootstrap and chroot pipeline. And, what does that mean? AnduinOS now uses a proprietary, domain-specific language that is declared in XML and a series of automated compilation tools that enable the AnduinOS core to be converted into 56 independent, native .deb packages. Ultimately, that makes for a stable, predictable, and reproducible application.

More importantly, AnduinOS now uses a strict “failover” policy, such that if there are any unwanted Ubuntu packages during the build, the ISO generation is discarded. By doing this, you can be sure that the AnduinOS ISO you downloaded is clean and highly respectful of your privacy.

AnduinOS 2.0 is really good

Now, here’s the important part of AnduinOS 2.0 — it’s really good. Yes, it’s positioned as Windows 11 (which is good for some users, but I prefer a Linux-like desktop), it’s surprisingly stable for an early release (beta), it ships with zero bloatware, it doesn’t track you. at alland will make you feel at home when you first walk in.

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As for default applications, you get Firefox, a text editor, GNOME Software, a music player, a video player, and a few utilities. That’s all. Of course, you can install anything you need inside the Software application, including Flatpak applications, which are enabled out of the box, so there is no need to worry about having enough software.

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And it’s fast

What impressed me the most, beyond privacy and stability, was the speed. AnduinOS 2.0 is faster. Click on the app, and it opens immediately. I’m used to Linux desktop distributions being zippy (whether it’s the lightweight kind or not), but AnduinOS is surprisingly awesome, especially the beta release.

I can’t say if this is because of the new way of doing the extraction, but I can’t help but think that the new take on the recovery has something to do with speed. This is also a modified GNOME desktop, which means it benefits from the speed that the GNOME developers injected into the desktop. Even the file index is very fast. I created a file named zdnettest.txt from within the file manager, opened the desktop menu, typed zdnet, and the file immediately appeared, allowing me to open it. I’ve experienced this kind of indexing speed in KDE Plasma, but not GNOME.

GNOME has finally caught up with KDE Plasma at the front of the index. I did a quick test in GNOME with the latest release of Fedora, and the file search was very fast. As for the version, AnduinOS 2.0 runs on GNOME 50, but if you compare the speed of AnduinOS 2.0 with GNOME on Fedora 44, AnduinOS 2.0 gets the edge. The difference between the two would be the default kernel. While Fedora 44 uses kernel 6.19, AnduinOS 2.0 uses kernel 7.0.

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If I had to guess, speed comes from all of the above, and I’m very happy to see it. Also, I’m glad to see AnduinOS taking the GNOME desktop and making it more user-friendly. That’s not to say I’m thinking about the default GNOME layout, but for those unfamiliar with the Linux desktop experience, vanilla GNOME can be a bit confusing.

To make this possible, AnduinOS adds several GNOME extensions, such as Accent GTK Theme, ArcMenu, Blur My Shell, Clipboard Indicator, Dash to Panel, Bottom Right Notification, Removable Drive Menu, Tiling Assistant, and more.

All of this comes together to make a great special edition of AnduinOS.

Who is AnduinOS 2.0?

When I reviewed the previous release of AnduinOS, I said it made it easier to move from Windows to Linux.

Apart from that, AnduinOS 2.0 doesn’t change much from that before. If you’re looking to switch from Windows to Linux, you could do a lot worse than AnduinOS, and version 2.0 ups the ante with more speed and polish. On top of that, the new approach developers are taking to creating ISOs means you can trust the release even more — and that’s saying something (considering this is Linux).

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For those looking for an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution that guarantees they won’t follow you in any way and offers ISO-certified builds of an easy-to-use Linux desktop distribution, AnduinOS is hard to beat.

Download the AnduinOS 2.0 beta ISO, use it to create a live USB drive, boot it, install it, and enjoy next-level Linux.