SparkyLinux
SparkyLinux is a desktop-oriented operating system based on the Debian operating system.
The project offers a ready to use operating system with a set of various customised lightweight desktops to choose from.
History
The project was born on October, 2011 as an Ubuntu remix with Enlightenment as the default desktop having the name ue17r. After a few months of testing, the base system has been changed to Debian and it was renamed to SparkyLinux.Features
SparkyLinux is based on "stable" and "testing" branch of Debian and uses 'rolling-release-cycle'.It includes a collection of tools and scripts to help users with easy administration of the system.
The default desktop environments are LXQt and XFCE but users can download and install other Sparky versions with desktops such as Budgie, Enlightenment, or MATE. There is a CLI edition for advanced users as well.
SparkyLinux offers a special gaming edition "GameOver" targeted to gamers. It features a large set of free and open-source games and some needed tools.
Another special edition of SparkyLinux Rescue provides a live system and a large number of applications for recovering broken operating systems.
Sparky editions of: LXQt, Xfce and GameOver are offered with a set of applications for daily use, large set of additional Wifi drivers and multimedia codecs and plug-ins.
As of Sparky 4.3 features the "MinimalGUI" and "MinimalCLI" editions which provides the Sparky Advanced Installer which lets the users install one of 20 about different desktops of their choice.
As Sparky iso image features a few proprietary packages, the 'Sparky APTus' provides a small tool called 'Non-Free Remover' which can easy uninstall all 'contrib' and 'non-free' packages from the system.
Releases
SparkyLinux is released 3-4 times per year to provide the latest versions of all applications.| Colour | Meaning |
| Red | Release no longer supported |
| Green | Release still supported |
| Blue | Future release |
| Release | Name | Date | Release notes |
| 1.0 | Venus | 2012-05-05 | SparkyLinux 1 Final |
| 2.0 | Eris | 2012-10-12 | SparkyLinux 2.0 Eris |
| 3.0 | Annagerman | 2013-07-27 | SparkyLinux 3.0 |
| 4.0 | Tyche | 2015-06-26 | SparkyLinux 4.0 |
| 4.1 | Tyche | 2015-10-02 | SparkyLinux 4.1 |
| 4.2 | Tyche | 2015-12-21 | SparkyLinux 4.2 |
| 4.3 | Tyche | 2016-04-29 | SparkyLinux 4.3 |
| 4.4 | Tyche | 2016-08-20 | SparkyLinux 4.4 |
| 4.5.2 | Tyche | 2016-12-18 | SparkyLinux 4.5.2 |
| 4.7 | Tyche | 2017-11-18 | SparkyLinux 4.5.2 |
| 4.8 | Tyche | 2018-05-13 | SparkyLinux 4.5.2 |
| 4.9 | Tyche | 2018-11-11 | Sparky Linux 4.9 |
| 4.11 | Tyche | 2019-07-10 | Sparky Linux 4.11 |
| 5.0 | Nibiru | 2017-07-16 | SparkyLinux 5.0 |
| 5.1 | Nibiru | 2017-09-27 | SparkyLinux 5.1 |
| 5.2 | Nibiru | 2017-12-20 | SparkyLinux 5.2 |
| 5.3 | Nibiru | 2018-03-10 | SparkyLinux 5.3 |
| 5.4 | Nibiru | 2018-06-11 | SparkyLinux 5.3 |
| 5.6.2 | Nibiru | 2018-12-07 | SparkyLinux 5.6.2 |
| 5.7.1 | Nibiru | 2019-04-03 | SparkyLinux 5.7.1 |
| 5.8 | Nibiru | 2019-07-17 | SparkyLinux 5.8 |
| 5.9 | Nibiru | 2019-10-07 | SparkyLinux 5.9 |
| 5.10.1 | Nibiru | 2020-02-05 | SparkyLinux 5.10.1 |