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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OpenIndiana22 targets, 22 availableOpenIndiana releases and editions tracked in the OpenFactory public operating-system catalog.View distribution
OpenMandriva8 targets, 8 availableOpenMandriva descends from the same Mandriva heritage as Mageia but took a different technical road. It is an association-run independent project notable for compiling its distribution with the LLVM and Clang toolchain rather than the usual GCC, and for publishing builds aimed at modern processors, including variants optimized for particular AMD CPU generations. The flagship desktop is KDE Plasma, tracked closely, with the project often quick to ship new Plasma technology. Users choose between ROME, the rolling branch, and fixed point releases, with RPM packages managed through DNF. A control center in the Mandriva tradition survives here too, and the community, though compact, is dedicated. OpenMandriva suits people who enjoy a Plasma-first system with unusual engineering choices underneath. Opening it in an OpenFactory browser VM is the quickest way to see that combination in motion without spare hardware.View distribution
openSUSE Leap4 targets, 4 availableopenSUSE Leap is the project's fixed-release distribution, and its distinguishing feature is shared DNA with SUSE Linux Enterprise: Leap is built from the same sources as the commercial product, so its core packages match what paying enterprise customers run. That gives Leap unusual stability guarantees for a free distribution, along with a documented migration path onto supported SUSE systems for organizations that later want vendor backing. On top of that conservative core sit openSUSE's tools, including the YaST control center for graphical administration, zypper with RPM packaging, and optional Btrfs snapshots with rollback. Installation covers KDE Plasma, GNOME, Xfce, and server configurations without a desktop. Leap fits users and small organizations that want predictable point releases rather than rolling change, with upgrades on their own schedule. An OpenFactory browser session makes it simple to weigh Leap's steadier pace against Tumbleweed's freshness.View distribution
openSUSE Tumbleweed4 targets, 4 availableopenSUSE Tumbleweed is a rolling release with a safety obsession. Every snapshot passes through openQA, the project's automated testing system, before reaching users, which lets Tumbleweed ship very current software while filtering out much of the breakage rolling distributions are known for. Its second safety layer lives on disk: default installs use Btrfs with Snapper snapshots, so the system can boot back into a previous state after a bad change. Administration carries openSUSE signatures, including the YaST control center, which handles everything from partitioning to services graphically, and the zypper package manager working with RPM packages. Installation offers KDE Plasma, GNOME, Xfce, and other desktops from a single image. Tumbleweed suits developers and enthusiasts who want fresh packages with an engineering process behind them. Watching it run in an OpenFactory browser VM is an easy first step before trusting a rolling system.View distribution
PCLinuxOS7 targets, 7 availablePCLinuxOS is an independently maintained rolling distribution with a combination of traits found almost nowhere else: it packages software as RPMs but manages them with APT and the Synaptic graphical front end, a pairing inherited from its early days, and it deliberately ships without systemd, retaining a classic init arrangement. Begun as a package set for Mandrake Linux before becoming a full distribution, it remains a desktop-first project with KDE Plasma as the flagship environment and MATE and Xfce editions alongside. Wherever possible, administration happens through graphical tools, reflecting the founder's aim of a system comfortable for ordinary home users. The community produces its own monthly magazine and maintains remastering tools for building custom live media. Updates roll continuously, so there are no version reinstalls. It is a living branch of Linux history, and an OpenFactory browser session shows its old-school charm quickly.View distribution
pearOS4 targets, 4 availablePearOS is a hobbyist distribution with an unapologetic design goal: make Linux look and feel as close to macOS as taste and licensing allow. Its releases have generally used Ubuntu foundations with a GNOME-based desktop reshaped by a dock, a global top bar, rounded corners, and icon and typography choices that echo Apple conventions, and its release names have playfully mirrored Apple's own. Beyond the styling it remains a normal Debian-family system, with APT packaging and mainstream application availability, so the familiarity is cosmetic rather than a compatibility layer for Mac software. Projects like this fill a genuine niche: people leaving a Mac who want visual comfort, theming enthusiasts, and the simply curious. A small team and quick release turnover mean editions vary more than big-distro users expect. An OpenFactory browser VM answers the question that matters most here, which is how convincing the illusion feels.View distribution
Peppermint OS7 targets, 7 availablePeppermint OS started life as an Ubuntu derivative known for treating web applications as first-class desktop citizens, and its modern releases continue that theme from a Debian stable base, with builds also published on Devuan for people avoiding systemd. The desktop is Xfce, configured lightly and neutrally, and the project adds its own small utilities, including a welcome hub for post-install choices and tooling for turning websites into windowed, app-like launchers. True to its lightweight roots, Peppermint keeps the default software load minimal and lets users pick their own browser and applications rather than bundling opinions. Package management is the familiar APT world of debs. The audience is people with modest hardware, cloud-centric habits, or a taste for building up a lean system from a quiet starting point. An OpenFactory browser VM hands you that first-boot experience without imaging a USB stick.View distribution
PikaOS8 targets, 8 availablePikaOS is a small gaming-focused distribution that began as an Ubuntu derivative and later rebuilt itself on a Debian base, keeping its mission constant while swapping foundations. That mission is comfort for players: kernels carrying gaming-relevant patches, straightforward installation of graphics drivers including NVIDIA's, and preinstalled compatibility tooling for running Windows games. The team maintains its own packaging on top of the Debian world, delivering fresher components than the parent's stable pace would allow, with updates flowing quickly. Desktop editions come customized rather than stock, and documentation lives in a project wiki that is unusually candid for a small distribution. PikaOS fits enthusiasts who want a Debian-family system tuned for play without doing the tuning themselves, and its small team keeps decisions quick and visible. An OpenFactory VM lets you inspect those conveniences from a browser tab before anything touches your disk.View distribution
Pop!_OS8 targets, 8 availablePop!_OS is developed by System76, a company that sells Linux computers, and the distribution doubles as the software half of that hardware business while remaining free for everyone. It builds on Ubuntu but diverges visibly: automatic window tiling can be toggled for a keyboard-driven layout, workspaces are arranged for fast switching, and a separate ISO ships with proprietary NVIDIA drivers preinstalled for machines that need them. System76 has invested in its own desktop direction, developing COSMIC, an environment written in Rust, to succeed its customized GNOME experience. Recovery is treated as a feature, with a refresh-install option that reinstalls the system while preserving user files. Packages come from Ubuntu's ecosystem plus Pop's own repositories, with Flatpak integrated into its shop. Developers, gamers, and creators on modern hardware form the core audience. OpenFactory lets you test the tiling workflow from a browser before deciding.View distribution
Porteus Linux17 targets, 17 availablePorteus is a portable live distribution built from Slackware and engineered for speed above almost everything: it boots in seconds from USB media, runs from RAM, and keeps its footprint tiny by shipping a compact core plus optional pieces. Software arrives as modules, compressed bundles that activate or deactivate instantly instead of installing, which makes assembling a personal toolkit unusually clean; changes can be written back to the media so the system persists between machines. Users pick a desktop at download time from a broad menu that has included Xfce, LXQt, MATE, KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, GNOME, and Openbox. A sibling project, Porteus Kiosk, applies the same technology to locked-down single-purpose browser terminals. Porteus rewards people who like carrying a fast, private system in a pocket. Loading it into an OpenFactory browser VM previews the modular design with zero preparation.View distribution- postmarketOS3 targets, 3 availableAn Alpine-based mobile Linux distribution with mainline-oriented device support and several touch shells.View distribution
PrimTux4 targets, 4 availablePrimTux is a French educational distribution designed for children of primary school age, built by teachers and volunteers on a Debian base and shaped by the realities of classrooms and family computers. Its central idea is age-appropriate environments: the desktop presents curated profiles that grow with the child, from early readers to older students, each exposing suitable applications while keeping system settings out of reach. The software library bundles well-known educational titles and learning games, and content filtering for safer browsing is part of the design. Hardware demands stay low on purpose, because school machines are often donated or old. Documentation and community support are primarily in French, though the system can be used elsewhere. PrimTux occupies a niche that general-purpose distributions rarely handle well. Teachers and parents can preview the whole setup in an OpenFactory browser VM before dedicating a family computer to it.View distribution
Proxmox VE3 targets, 3 availableProxmox VE is the virtualization layer many administrators reach for when they want commercial-hypervisor capabilities on open source foundations. Installed on bare metal, it presents a web interface from which you create and manage KVM and QEMU virtual machines alongside LXC system containers, mixing both freely on the same Debian-based host. Clustering is native: several nodes can be joined together, guests migrated between them while running, and high availability configured so workloads restart elsewhere after a failure. It speaks modern storage fluently, from local ZFS pools with snapshots to hyperconverged Ceph, and its scheduled backup and restore tooling is widely respected. Everything is scriptable through a documented API, while the enterprise repository subscription remains optional rather than required. The learning curve is real but well documented. Walking through the console inside an OpenFactory browser VM is a sensible rehearsal before installing it on a physical box.View distribution
Puppy Linux7 targets, 7 availablePuppy Linux is less a single distribution than a family of tiny systems built with a shared toolkit called Woof-CE, which can assemble a Puppy from the packages of different parent distributions, so official releases exist in Ubuntu-compatible, Debian-compatible, and Slackware-compatible flavors. Every Puppy shares the same defining behavior: the whole operating system loads into RAM and runs from there, which makes it startlingly quick on weak hardware and lets it operate from a USB stick, a disc, or a few files parked inside another operating system. Sessions can persist through save files, and lightweight window managers in the ROX-Filer tradition keep the desktop simple. Puppy shines at reviving ancient computers, rescue and recovery work, and portable computing. Its ecosystem and terminology take a little learning. An OpenFactory browser VM is an easy way to meet a Puppy before deciding which flavor suits your old machine.View distribution
PureOS5 targets, 5 availablePureOS is maintained by Purism, a company that builds privacy-focused laptops and phones, but the operating system stands on its own as a fully free distribution derived from Debian. It has earned endorsement from the Free Software Foundation, a status that requires excluding proprietary drivers, firmware, and applications entirely, so it runs best on hardware chosen with that constraint in mind. The default desktop is GNOME with privacy-respecting settings, and packages arrive as debs through APT from PureOS's own archive, which filters Debian for freedom. The same system spans form factors, since Purism has shipped PureOS on both its laptops and its Librem 5 phone with convergence as a design goal. It suits people whose first requirement is software freedom rather than maximum hardware compatibility. Because firmware limitations can make bare-metal installs fiddly, an OpenFactory browser VM is a friction-free way to look around PureOS.View distribution
Q4OS7 targets, 7 availableQ4OS is a Debian stable derivative with an unusual headline feature: first-class support for the Trinity Desktop Environment, the community project that continues the classic KDE 3 interface. Trinity gives Q4OS an extremely light, old-school desktop that feels instantly familiar to long-time Windows users, and the distribution also publishes a KDE Plasma edition for those who want a modern environment on the same dependable base. The project pitches itself for productivity and professional use, emphasizing long support windows aligned with Debian's cycle and simple setup on ordinary office hardware. Its Desktop Profiler application applies software bundles in one step, and resource requirements stay low enough to keep retired machines useful. Package management is APT with deb packages. It is a sensible candidate when replacing aging Windows installations on a budget. Through OpenFactory you can open Q4OS in a browser and judge the Trinity experience for yourself.View distribution
Raspberry Pi OS2 targets, 2 availableRaspberry Pi OS is the official operating system of the Raspberry Pi line, maintained by Raspberry Pi itself and previously known as Raspbian. It is built from Debian, tuned for the Pi's ARM processors and modest memory, and ships in several forms: a Lite image that boots to a console for servers and embedded projects, and desktop images built around a lightweight, purpose-made environment with sensible defaults and beginner-friendly configuration tools such as raspi-config. The system integrates the Pi ecosystem's essentials, including GPIO programming libraries and first-party utilities for imaging and settings, and it benefits from an enormous body of tutorials written specifically against it. Education and hobby electronics remain its heartland, though plenty of small servers run it quietly for years. OpenFactory can emulate a Raspberry Pi in your browser and provides direct image downloads, so you can explore the desktop before buying a board.View distribution- ReactOS2 targets, 2 availableReactOS releases and editions tracked in the OpenFactory public operating-system catalog.View distribution
RebornOS8 targets, 8 availableRebornOS is an Arch-based distribution that grew out of the community around Antergos, continuing that project's mission after it ended: make Arch installable by ordinary people without diluting what makes Arch attractive. Its installer is the centerpiece, offering an unusually long menu of desktop environments and window managers so users can compose a preferred system at install time instead of assembling it afterward. Underneath, it remains genuinely Arch, with rolling updates, pacman, access to the Arch User Repository, and a supplementary repository for the project's own tools and defaults. The team experiments steadily with installer technology and edition variety, which gives the distribution a tinkerer-friendly character. RebornOS suits people who find raw Arch installation tedious but want the full breadth of desktop choice the Arch world offers. Auditioning desktops through an OpenFactory browser VM first makes that long menu far less intimidating.View distribution- Redox OS2 targets, 2 availableRedox OS releases and editions tracked in the OpenFactory public operating-system catalog.View distribution
Rocky Linux18 targets, 18 availableRocky Linux was founded by one of the original creators of CentOS after that project moved upstream of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and its name honors a late CentOS co-founder. The distribution's stated aim is faithful, bug-for-bug compatibility with each corresponding RHEL release, giving administrators a drop-in production platform without subscription fees. It is governed through the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, structured to keep control with the community. Technically it is classic enterprise Linux: RPM packages with DNF, SELinux enforced, a conservative kernel, roughly a decade of support per major release, and images for bare metal, clouds, and containers. Rocky is common in web hosting, research computing, and enterprises standardizing on the RHEL ecosystem without the licensing. Desktop use is possible but clearly secondary. Spinning it up in an OpenFactory browser VM is a convenient way to check tooling and package behavior before committing servers.View distribution
Siduction Linux9 targets, 9 availableSiduction is a rolling-release distribution that lives directly on Debian unstable, the branch Debian developers call sid, and it makes no attempt to hide that heritage. The project takes regular snapshots of sid, adds its own kernel builds, fixes, and unusually candid release notes, and ships live media in several desktop flavors, including KDE Plasma, Xfce, LXQt, and lighter window manager options. Packages are standard debs managed with APT, and upgrades follow the continuous dist-upgrade rhythm familiar to Debian veterans. The community is small, friendly, and honest about the trade involved: sid moves fast and occasionally breaks, and siduction's documentation teaches you to read the warnings before upgrading. That makes it a genuine enthusiast's system and a useful window into where Debian is heading next. If you are curious what daily life on Debian's development branch feels like, an OpenFactory VM offers a safe first taste.View distribution
Slackware Linux7 targets, 7 availableSlackware is the oldest Linux distribution still in active development, and it has kept a consistent philosophy across that entire span: the system stays close to upstream software, is configured through plain text files, and puts as little automation as possible between the administrator and the machine. Its package tools install prebuilt archives but famously do not resolve dependencies for you; users handle that themselves or lean on community build scripts from SlackBuilds.org. Releases arrive when they are ready rather than on a schedule, sometimes years apart, while a current branch tracks ongoing development for the impatient. The full installation ships a generous amount of software, including the KDE Plasma and Xfce desktops. Slackware suits people who want to understand every part of their system and who enjoy Unix tradition for its own sake. Running it in an OpenFactory browser VM is a gentle reintroduction to that old-school discipline.View distribution
Slax5 targets, 5 availableSlax is a pocket-sized live operating system designed to boot quickly from a USB stick or disc image and leave the host machine untouched. Modern Slax builds on Debian, with a parallel line based on Slackware preserving its original heritage, and both stay deliberately tiny by shipping a minimal Fluxbox-based desktop with only a few essential applications. Its defining mechanism is modularity: software comes as self-contained bundles that can be activated or deactivated without traditional installation, and changes can persist on writable media so your portable system remembers you between machines. Because the Debian variant can draw on APT when networked, the small footprint does not impose a small ceiling. Slax is a favorite for rescue work, kiosk-style duties, demonstrations, and older computers. Loading Slax through OpenFactory is fitting, since a disposable browser VM matches its run-anywhere, change-nothing philosophy.View distribution
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.