The variety in the Linux niche is endless, and yet another distribution that came under my radar these days proves it – Kumander. At first glance, it’s obvious—it is all about recreating the familiar look and feel of good old Windows 7. And to a large extent, it succeeds.
Under the hood, its latest Kumander Linux 2.0 (Bufalo) version, released on March 5, runs the stable Debian 12.10 release, powered by Linux kernel 6.1 LTS. The desktop environment is Xfce 4.18, featuring the Whisker Menu and a custom theme designed to mimic the still loved by many Windows 7 look.
I was really impressed with how fast Kumander operates—everything opens in the blink of an eye. Click, and it’s there. Of course, a big part of this snappy performance comes from the unbeatable combination of stable Debian and the lightweight Xfce desktop environment.
Now, let’s take a look at the apps that come preinstalled with Kumander Linux. I’d say the selection is (almost) well-balanced. You’ve got pretty much everything you need—maybe even a little more than necessary.
The default install takes up about 15 GB, which isn’t too bad. It covers your daily computing needs without going overboard like some distros, which are heavily bloated with software you’ll likely never touch.
By default, you get Google Chrome—which is a bit surprising since most other distributions don’t include it (it is not open-source software). VLC handles your multimedia needs, LibreOffice comes preinstalled for all your office tasks, and of course, GIMP is there if you want to do any image editing.
However, other preinstalled apps might raise eyebrows regarding “everyday use.” I’m talking about Audacity, VirtualBox, VS Codium, Steam, FileZilla, and PuTTY. Still, it’s clear that the developer behind Kumander is aiming to cater to a broader range of users by including tools that go beyond the basics.
Under the hood, Wine comes preinstalled and ready to go, so you can easily run Windows applications. Flatpak support is also included by default, which is great if you prefer a more traditional Linux-style way of installing apps. Just a heads-up: in the Software Center, most of the available applications are provided as Flatpaks.
Since the distro is based on Debian, it’s no surprise that its recommended system requirements are pretty modest—just a dual-core 1GHz 64-bit CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 20GB of disk space. In other words, it easily falls into the lightweight category—making it a good choice for breathing new life into older devices.
One last important note — if you decide to give Kumander Linux a try, just be aware that if you boot it up using the default “Live (amd64)” option, you won’t see the usual “Install” icon afterward. Yep, the developer didn’t bother to include something like the Calamares installer in that mode.
To actually install Kumander, you’ll need to choose either “Start installer” or “Start offline installer” right from the initial boot menu. That’ll launch the familiar Debian installer, and from there, you just follow the standard steps to get everything set up.
Conclusion
Kumander Linux left me with somewhat mixed feelings—but overall, I’d say they lean more positive. Would I recommend it? Well… yes and no. Let me explain.
First, it’s clearly a one-person project. If you’ve read this article of mine, you probably know I’m not the biggest fan of distributions maintained by a single developer.
On the other hand, however, you get pure Debian 12 with Xfce 4.18. So, there’s not much that can go wrong. If you’re comfortable with the default set of preinstalled apps and don’t mind the Windows 7-style theme, then by all means—give it a shot. You’ll be pleased with its speed and ease of use.
Speaking of Windows, though—I have to say, in my opinion, the developer might’ve gone a little too far in trying to mimic the Windows look and feel. Take this, for example:
Anyway. Kumander is yet another reminder that the Linux ecosystem is practically endless in what it can offer—it comes in all shapes and forms. And honestly, that’s one of the reasons we love it, right? If you’re curious, here’s the project’s website.
