Default application selection

If all you have is the flash drive, what does that allow you to do?

The Linux Lite app selection is a little heavier than a standard distro loadout, with a few extra tools such as GIMP and VLC, which are full-fat apps for technically minded users. If this distribution was handed to an average office worker or a home user, they could probably scrape by through a day’s work with it without having to add anything else.

Porteus gives us some basic utilities, such as a file manager and text editor, a media player and a music manager. However, there is no graphical web browser. We understand that this is a fairly bare distro, designed to be expanded and customised, but we would rather have had a browser from the start, rather than a media player. An argument could be made that this could drag in some unwanted dependency cruft, but Porteus has quite a clean expansion architecture for adding and removing software.

EasyOS includes a large selection of apps. Expect to see wellknown tools such as the Chromium web browser, LibreOffice and GIMP, along with a large array of smaller tools that cover areas as diverse as scientific software, a virtual machine manager, graphics tools and video editing. It can feel like an eccentric muddle of lesser-known apps, but EasyOS could be ideal if you don’t have much time or a reliable online connection.

The AntiX application loadout is fairly extensive. It covers typical business and home uses, such as office tasks, web browsing and media playback. There is certainly more to the app offering than you would expect from a normal Linux distro, as mainstream apps such as Firefox sit alongside Dillo, a lightweight browser. The selection would get you through a typical workday.

The Ubuntu software layout covers the basics of typical office tasks, with a web browser and email application, and even a few luxuries, such as a media player. We suspect that most users would have resorted to adding some extras to the software list before a full day of work is done on this setup.

EasyOS has a mixture of mainstream and slightly quirky apps when first installed. We won’t knock this selection, though, as it covers most areas of computer usage.