Above all SparkyLinux is a desktop-oriented Linus distribution based on the Debian. The project offers a ready to use operating system with a set of various customized lightweight desktops to choose from. As a result it is fast, lightweight and fully customizable.
The project was born in 2011 as an Ubuntu remix. After a few months of testing, the base system has been changed to Debian and it was renamed to SparkyLinux.
As its based on Debian, the rich repo of Debian apps are available via Synaptic package manager and one can also use the apt command line package manager to download from Debian package repository.
What’s new in SparkyLinux 2021.03
- New edition with KDE Plasma 5.20.5
- Packages upgraded from Debian testing repos as of March 5, 2021
- Linux kernel 5.10.13
- Firefox 86.0
- Thunderbird 78.8.0
- LibreOffice 7.0.4.2
- LXQt 0.16.0
- MATE 1.24.1
- Xfce 4.16
- Openbox 3.6.1
- VLC 3.0.12
- Exaile 4.1.0
- Calamares 3.2.37
- Sparky APTus AppCenter 20210302
Sparky uses the Calamares installer. As a result the installation is smooth, easy, and uneventful. Of course it works on UEFI firmware and Legacy Boot (MBR) systems.
Sparky APTus help you manage the system’s packages. APTus is preinstalled in all Sparky editions by default.
System re-installation is not required because it’s a (semi-)rolling distro. Just make full system upgrade via Sparky Upgrade GUI tool or a command:
sparky-upgradeor
sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgradeIn addition new rolling ISO images can be downloaded from the download/rolling page.
Bottom line
In conclusion if you want a Debian-based distribution with some nice administrative utilities added, Sparky can be a very good choice. In general, Sparky is not targeted to Linux beginners, but rather users with some amount of Linux knowledge.
