 Visitor Reviews |
wattOS
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Reader supplied reviews for wattOS
Average rating
8.9 from 19 review(s)
Version: R13
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-07-10
Votes: 9
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Forgive me Watt OS for I have sinned. I was a faithful user a few years ago, but was lured away by other flashier, and sexier Debian based distros. I should have known they would all let me down. All I have left are a stack of useless and unwanted burned DVDs. Like the prodigal son, I have returned and beg your forgiveness. I know that Watt OS is the best, most reliable form of Debian. Watt is very easy to install, it's simple but functional LXDE environment does not strain my laptop's resources yet remains blazing fast. Why did I ever stray? Watt OS is basic but powerful and free of the bugs that hide in more complex distros. I won't be fooled by another pretty face. All praise to Watt OS! It's a gift for one and all.
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Version: R13
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-05-19
Votes: 6
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Installed on an old HP/Compaq DC5700 with 4 gigs of ram, stock GPU, 80 GB Hard Drive, and a Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz. Shocked how well WattOS runs. I have tried other distros like Bohdi, Q4OS, Zorin, and Lubuntu on my DC5700 and none ran as fast and was easy to set up the way I want it as WattOS. Currently running the Brave browser with 6 extensions installed and 11 tabs open. Can switch between tabs with hardly any lag and watch YouTube in 720p with no stutter. Recommend to anyone looking to keep an old desktop in service
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Version: R13
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-05-09
Votes: 8
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wattOS R13 surprised me. Many other lightweight distributions have tweaked browsers that cannot run some websites. Right out of the box, the Firefox ESR that came with it, ran everything without hiccups or pausing. It was on an old Dell with 875 mb ram.
To really find out how smooth it is, I put it in a qemu virtual machine on an old Toshiba laptop. Plays all music vidoes, Every movie from start to finish without random slow downs.
Whatever the developers at wattOS are doing, they are doing it slightly different and better than the other debian based lightweight distros .
The footprint was under 512 mb of ram being used.
I did not do any gaming or heavy programming with it, only for entertainment.
Now I can watch the Roku channel in my garage on what I thought was an obsolete computer.
wattOS really can breathe new life into old computers.
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Version: R13
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-04-24
Votes: 3
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Wattos has gotten raving reviews.It's part of my current crazy, confusing configuration of 24 distros, with only one on an internal hard drive. Watt checks all my boxes, but I've only started using this release recently. I have it installed on a Seagate Barracuda 2 TB
drive connected via a SATA conversion cable to s USB port on my Dell Optiplex 9020 mini tower. It is the most rock solid Debian-
powered distribution I have used to date, and I've been through them by the tens. This computer is a quad core with a speed of 3.7 GHz, 16 GB RAM hooked up to that Seagate (15 Distros) and a 2 TB Hitachi Fantom external Drive and the processor is an Intel Xeon E3-1200. I enjoy using LXDE on this release, although the font in the menu is quite small for my eyes.
It reminds me of Windows 98, on which I did considerable personal financial work back in its day. Hopefully Watt will outlast this well-used computer, originally stocked with Windows 10.This is a Distro on which youngsters new to the Linux world can get their wings.That includes youngsters in the second childhood.
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Version: R13
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-04-08
Votes: 6
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Normally prefer Fedora & Arch but tested WattOS on a low netbook & it worked like magic.
Have tested a few light-weighted types & none worked well.
WattOS works well on my low processor HP 8GB RAM netbook 1TB HDD, all the light-weight distro on the chart are just "bluffers".
Perhaps a lighter GUI package manager other than synaptic to include a few basic tools like VLC, better browsers, code editors & libre office etc ...for users to add or remove without using the terminal or synaptic.
Installation was quick & simple; please keep it light & fast.
If you want to go "heavy" then have 2 versions one light weight & another for regular debian based users.
Happy for WattOS - God bless.
Cheers
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Version: R13
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-02-05
Votes: 18
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WattOS is absolutely one of the best isos to have! Been using WattOSD for many years. Go back to when it was Ubuntu, I like it being on Debian only more, no need for the extra layer of configurations and scripts.
Lxde uses Openbox by default, the Lxde portion with PCManFM and Lxterminal is very fast and robust, couldn't ask or find better in my opinion.
WattOS is fast, very liquid like behavior, or just snappy. It's a distro in which a user can build a powerful, robust, and unbloated so that you can freely install what you need or what without conflicts.
Hats off to the developer for their work, there was a period of time i thought perhaps WattOS is gone and the project terminated, or maybe just retired...but gone. Nope, it's back better than ever. I have had WattOS installed even during the Dormant period, I very much appreciate the developer to continue at this point.
WattOS in my opinion, couldn't get any better, I know and look forward to being proven wrong.
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Version: R13
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-01-01
Votes: 39
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So far excellent experience, with an initial ram consumption of 512 MB, not low but for today with Kernel 6.1 is excellent, (even XFCE already exceeded by far the GB of ram consumption). It runs fast, light, agile, it does not have so many add-ons; it brings the just and necessary to not fill it with tools and packages; and to be able to start filling it according to one's need... it would be a debian already with a minimum LXDE desktop under Openbox, the user already comes as root... the just and necessary... congratulations.
The best thing is that it does not bring repositories different from debian. So it is just a debian configuration that saves a tedious work of initial setup.
I am a Debian and Linux user for more than 30 years, demanding... and I think I will give it a very good chance. (other Distros under debian, have not captivated me, like MX...). My base distro is Debian SID (unstable), I have had very few crashes in years... And I am entertaining myself by resurrecting it again...
Let's see how it goes, I'm going to put it on one of the several servers I have (some as a file and download server; a couple with nodered and MQTT, another with MariaDB). I'm going to start with NODERED which has very low demand..
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Version: R12
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-12-06
Votes: 65
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A distro that works very well. Simple installation, all you need is there, then pick and choose to add your favorite packages and softwares as you wish, without all the bloatware. Works like a charme on a Macbook Pro 2010.
I tested few distros for minimalistic hardware for older computers : all of them are incredibly ugly, in order to spare RAM and CPU for these old computers.
But two of them gave good visual effects and user experience : LXLE and WATTOS.
Congratulations for the work.
Bobby,
Macbook Pro 2010, Intel Core 2 Duo 2,13 GHz. 4GB ram.
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Version: R12
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-11-13
Votes: 4
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I have several distros on a multi-drive PC desktop. Using wattOS going back when it was an Openbox distro and Ubuntu, enjoyed it a lot more with just Debian. It has always been a sleek, fast and just works distro and I'm glad the developer is back with a new build with Lxde.
Reminds me a lot of CrunchBang in the beginnings, distro hopping to find that one suitable distro for a daily driver was a quest for many. WattOS is a fine distro, it's a minimalist delight, and simple to use and expansion to a full blown work machine if need be. Never had issues, nor any breakage, even when I pushed it to run Sid (unstable), which in my opinion is very stable.
This is a professional built distro, not a project distro and by a seasoned developer. Give it a test drive, you will be glad you did!
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Version: R12
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-07-07
Votes: 2
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I'm using this since a few months on my very low spec Asus X205TA (Atom Z3735G, 2 GiB RAM [not expandable], 32 GiB eMMC [not expandable]) and it really does what it says on the tin. Sure, given the very low RAM (and the slow eMMC) this PC has, I had to setup zswap, but the PC turns on and it's ready in a few seconds, then everything works very well.
The only complain I have is that installation fails on EFI32 hardware (yes, this PC has a 64bit 4-core processor but a 32bit EFI...) so you have to fix the bootloader yourself, which is not that much fun if you don't have experience.
Good alternatives to wattOs are Bodhi and LXLE. I had tried all three of them and chose the first as my favorite anyway.
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Version: R12
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-06-22
Votes: 11
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Fast, very fast. Has a very clean, fresh looking intuitive desktop. Running as Live CD at idle with wifi connected it came in at about 360MB. It is a very fast distro running circles around MX on the same hardware 16 year old hardware. I tested this as an alternative to the untrustworthy (in my judgement antiX). It is not quite as light at idle but it appears to load browsers etc faster. Also the desktop is more intuitive. In some respects this desktop reminds me of Q4OS in terms or practicality and ease of use. One negative is the lack of available docs,it seems they want you to sign up for a forum in order to even view documentation - what the kittens?
This is a desktop that will make old Window users immediately at home. If you are running old hardware you owe it to yourself to test WattOS along with SliTaz, Q4OS, Bodhi, FossaPup, LXLE, Porteus and BionicPup.
tfb
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Version: R12
Rating: 5
Date: 2023-04-04
Votes: 1
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I installed this on an Dell Latitude E-6500. The install was easy enough and it does run with a very light "footprint" However there are some issues. There is no Date and Time adjustment, NTP function, driver manager or print support installed by default. These can be installed after the OS install, but you'd expect these basic functions to be installed by default. Flatpak applications do not integrate with the system menu, even when installed through the Gnome software manager. I couldn't recommend this Distro for a novice. Watt OS R-12 is still a "work in progress".
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Version: R12
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-03-25
Votes: 6
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...I give it a 9 but should be a 10...It is LXDE and one of the LAST of a dying linux breed of "flavors". I'm a SENIOR and have been using LINUX since LINDOWS - and prefer openbox simplicity and clean looks, its highly configurable! I realize WattOs is made for lightweight, but a package update notifier is lacking - it is available in SYNAPTIC though! As to printer hookup, well, printers are using driverless printing today and CUPS is changing things...wirelessly, etc. Debian #11 should last a while for now... Works on my Lenovo thinkpad T540P and plan to install on several seniors towers as their primary OS in the NEAR future. Most are older models of i3-i5 chipsets with stock memory. Other than that, for the average surfer and user - WattOS is a WAVE above for me!
Much appreciative this OS has been REVITALIZED to todays LINUX standards of "CHOICE"...
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Version: R12
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-02-18
Votes: 2
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I run an older laptop, so am always looking at light distros that don't tax the system too much, and wattOS seem to fit the bill quite nicely.
I appreciate as well that the default selection of apps is small, as otherwise I tend to spend a great deal of time uninstalling apps that I don't need (since boomer me is not a working power user, that means that many of the apps you might find necessary are just landfill for me). But since we are using the massive Debian repos, and Synaptic is installed, everything that you might need should be there at your fingertips. You don't even have to drop to CLI to get it done.
In my trials I didn't push the envelope much, but did use it to test out some items that I had heard interesting things about (like the Brave and Min browsers). In my runs in installing various the things that I tend to use, Synaptic would occasionally throw up a caution/error message where something failed to run due to incorrect permissions and rights, yet everything seemed to install and run none-the-less. Therefore I didn't delve into any possible issues there.
So overall, I found R12 to be a quite capable desktop experience that didn't throw me any curves or lead me into any dead ends. On that I can recommend it to folks. Really, the only thing keeping me from hitting a 10 on the meter is the init software, and I know that sort of outs me as an outlier. But to the average user with average needs, this distro is solid and capable.
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Version: R12
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-01-12
Votes: 4
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I keep an eye on distros aiming to low power and memory consumption and I can say straight away that WattOS has been up to the task.
Very minimal memory footprint at startup 480mb~. Very responsive desktop. Stays under 2GB memory usage even under heavier loads.
The general feeling I got is that of an improved / more polished version of the standard Debian LXDE desktop without the bloat.
Preinstalled software is very limited indeed but this makes sense. WattOS installation media is one of the smallest in Linux World at ~1.2GB.
Yet the small ISO size must have been the reason why WattOS installer did not complete installation offline. It is understandable to require active network connection but users should have been at least warned ahead of starting the installation. Mabox for instance warned me that I must be online to install it.
Default dark theme is pleasant but I prefer light themes for increased legibility. "Customize feel n look" app made the switch to Adwaita theme / icons a matter of seconds. Desktop now looked more traditional / old-fashioned but easier to work with.
The only somewhat serious problem I had was with flatpaks. I keep receiving the message "'/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share'
'/home/myusername/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share' are not in the search path set by the XDG_DATA_DIRS environment variable, so applications installed by Flatpak may not appear on your desktop until the session is restarted." Reboot unlike in other DEs does not solve this problem. I tried a few workarounds. No luck. Only way to create menu entries for the one or two essential flatpaks I have to use was by creating symbolic links to /usr/share/applications or creating custom menu entries. Not biggie in my books. Still an inconvenience.
If you're familiar with Debian n debian distros, you'll find WattOS pleasant and a good base on which to build a lightweight system tailored to your needs.
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Version: R12
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-12-01
Votes: 3
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Awesome discovery!
I had never heard of wattOS, until Distrowatch announced the appearance of R12 two weeks ago. Downloaded, put on a Ventoy stick, smooth installation (important for me: Calamares allows the use of a pre-formatted partition with my choice of UUID & label, my choice if and where to install grub), booted just fine with ~ 350 MB memory usage after opening the terminal.
The preinstalled software bundle seems spartan to me, after all the ISO has 1.2 GB. I'm okay with that, easy to `apt install` just my preferred apps. After that, e.g. abiword & gnumeric instead of libreoffice, the disk usage is merely 4.7 GB. Very snappy, excellent performance, look & feel perfect for me!
For the last years LXLE has been one of my favourites, but this one is better - considering that the former came up with a 'new' release based on Ubuntu 20.04 this summer and eats more resources. As a fan of LTS releases I'm happy with the Debian 11 base.
Cons? No tool for printer setup - however after installing cups that's a piece of cake. I haven't found out yet why the repos are locked often, apt telling me that I have to wait xx hours until they are available to the public again. This behaviour is new to me.
For an average user with average Linux skills no reason for a score deduction.
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Version: R12
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-11-27
Votes: 3
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Downloaded the R12 version. Ran the live usb testing on a Dell 3636 desktop and a Dell Inspiron 3340 laptop.
It detected the wifi in both desktop and laptop. Keyboard, mouse and touchpad (laptop) were also detected.
Firefox ESR worked quickly and well as long as you don't open many tabs.
Very low power consumption was detected in the laptop (even when running youtube)
Basic home file structure. Other folders like Videos, Templates, etc can be easily added.
This is a basic no frills distro with Debian in the LXQT desktop. It is easy to learn and manuver.
I also installed the Chrome browser and added extensions to both browsers.
I heartily recommend to anyone who wants a simple system that doesn't need much tweaking to get it to run.
Good for old and new computers.
PS.... If you need a more advanced distro with excellent out of the box adjustment, I recommend SparkyLinux Xfce but then that
would be another review.
WattOS R12 I give a 10 out of 10 review.
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Version: R12
Rating: 6
Date: 2022-11-25
Votes: 1
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So wanted this to work
Installed on MacBook late 2009 and was intending to put on an old Dell Inspiron 5000 series
At first it looked like it could be a goer but then lots of freezing.
Pros:
- seems fast for a debian based distro
- light weight
- flatpak support built in
Cons:
- seems to freeze readily when a few tabs or programs running
- a lot of time under the bonnet command line needed
The period of no development is a little eyebrow raising, but, then so is the pleasant surprise when an old distro re-emerges
Hope they sort the freezing out...
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Version: R12
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-11-19
Votes: 14
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First of all it is what it says. An energy saver distro,very light in resources and extremely fast. I installed this os yesterday and I'm really impressed cause i was using the antix os for a year now.
The average temperature of CPU is between 43-45C which is absolute magnificent. If you have a 11 years old laptop like i do,the first thing you check is the average temperature cause a lot of linux distros make your pc overheating due to the lack of fitting well with the intel/amd cards etc.
Also in Watt os the ram consuming is extremely low. Its 330-340 in idle situation and cpu consuming is zero to none
The LXDE desktop is very steady compared to antix icewm manager which makes the screen blinking alot
The Watt os guys really did a nice work to put everything in the right place cause another thing i noticed is that firefox esr behaves alot better than of firefox esr in antix os. The scrolling is much better when youre browsing and the loading times in every website are extremely fast,considering the fact that firefox esr is not the fastest browser out there. Probably this happens cause Watt os guys chose to put in os the applications an average user should need and not a crazy large amount of applications which serve nothing
Althought i expected the claws email out of the box and mpv instead of vlc it didnt bother me cause i installed them later along with libre writer. Firefox ESR+claws+mpv(or vlc)+audacious+libre office is all the apps you need and you can have them in this distro so no big deal
As of the printer install and settings its very easy due to synaptics package manager to get the HPLIP toolbox and whatever you need from installations to updates the synaptics package manager is a reliable source
Yeah i think I'm alot excited about the Watt distro and i hope for everyone to give it a try especially if you own an old laptop/notebook cause honestly is worth it.
PROS
Very fast and light on resourses just what the watt os guys say
Best tuning i've ever seen between the applications and system which makes the distro user-friendly with everyday task
Calamares installation is ridiculous easy,not a problem at all. Boot loading time is ok,everything works fine
You dont have to be an advanced linux user for the Watt os. Very easy-handling
CONS
The Watt os forum has to be expanded. I understand that there was an absence for a couple of years but i hope the watt community to get back and get growing with many new users like me also
The touchpad settings. Watt os has only configurations for keyboard and mouse so you have to add some parameters in home/config file to get your touchpad back in life
The absence of redshift-like application. In my opinion every distro should have a color temperature-tuning application out of the box cause people spend a lot of time infront of a screen
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Latest Reviews
Project: wattOS
Version: R13
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-07-10
Votes: 9
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Forgive me Watt OS for I have sinned. I was a faithful user a few years ago, but was lured away by other flashier, and sexier Debian based distros. I should have known they would all let me down. All I have left are a stack of useless and unwanted burned DVDs. Like the prodigal son, I have returned and beg your forgiveness. I know that Watt OS is the best, most reliable form of Debian. Watt is very easy to install, it's simple but functional LXDE environment does not strain my laptop's resources yet remains blazing fast. Why did I ever stray? Watt OS is basic but powerful and free of the bugs that hide in more complex distros. I won't be fooled by another pretty face. All praise to Watt OS! It's a gift for one and all.
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Project: wattOS
Version: R13
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-05-19
Votes: 6
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Installed on an old HP/Compaq DC5700 with 4 gigs of ram, stock GPU, 80 GB Hard Drive, and a Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz. Shocked how well WattOS runs. I have tried other distros like Bohdi, Q4OS, Zorin, and Lubuntu on my DC5700 and none ran as fast and was easy to set up the way I want it as WattOS. Currently running the Brave browser with 6 extensions installed and 11 tabs open. Can switch between tabs with hardly any lag and watch YouTube in 720p with no stutter. Recommend to anyone looking to keep an old desktop in service
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Project: wattOS
Version: R13
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-05-09
Votes: 8
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wattOS R13 surprised me. Many other lightweight distributions have tweaked browsers that cannot run some websites. Right out of the box, the Firefox ESR that came with it, ran everything without hiccups or pausing. It was on an old Dell with 875 mb ram.
To really find out how smooth it is, I put it in a qemu virtual machine on an old Toshiba laptop. Plays all music vidoes, Every movie from start to finish without random slow downs.
Whatever the developers at wattOS are doing, they are doing it slightly different and better than the other debian based lightweight distros .
The footprint was under 512 mb of ram being used.
I did not do any gaming or heavy programming with it, only for entertainment.
Now I can watch the Roku channel in my garage on what I thought was an obsolete computer.
wattOS really can breathe new life into old computers.
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Project: wattOS
Version: R13
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-04-24
Votes: 3
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Wattos has gotten raving reviews.It's part of my current crazy, confusing configuration of 24 distros, with only one on an internal hard drive. Watt checks all my boxes, but I've only started using this release recently. I have it installed on a Seagate Barracuda 2 TB
drive connected via a SATA conversion cable to s USB port on my Dell Optiplex 9020 mini tower. It is the most rock solid Debian-
powered distribution I have used to date, and I've been through them by the tens. This computer is a quad core with a speed of 3.7 GHz, 16 GB RAM hooked up to that Seagate (15 Distros) and a 2 TB Hitachi Fantom external Drive and the processor is an Intel Xeon E3-1200. I enjoy using LXDE on this release, although the font in the menu is quite small for my eyes.
It reminds me of Windows 98, on which I did considerable personal financial work back in its day. Hopefully Watt will outlast this well-used computer, originally stocked with Windows 10.This is a Distro on which youngsters new to the Linux world can get their wings.That includes youngsters in the second childhood.
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Project: wattOS
Version: R13
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-04-08
Votes: 6
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Normally prefer Fedora & Arch but tested WattOS on a low netbook & it worked like magic.
Have tested a few light-weighted types & none worked well.
WattOS works well on my low processor HP 8GB RAM netbook 1TB HDD, all the light-weight distro on the chart are just "bluffers".
Perhaps a lighter GUI package manager other than synaptic to include a few basic tools like VLC, better browsers, code editors & libre office etc ...for users to add or remove without using the terminal or synaptic.
Installation was quick & simple; please keep it light & fast.
If you want to go "heavy" then have 2 versions one light weight & another for regular debian based users.
Happy for WattOS - God bless.
Cheers
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Project: wattOS
Version: R13
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-02-05
Votes: 18
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WattOS is absolutely one of the best isos to have! Been using WattOSD for many years. Go back to when it was Ubuntu, I like it being on Debian only more, no need for the extra layer of configurations and scripts.
Lxde uses Openbox by default, the Lxde portion with PCManFM and Lxterminal is very fast and robust, couldn't ask or find better in my opinion.
WattOS is fast, very liquid like behavior, or just snappy. It's a distro in which a user can build a powerful, robust, and unbloated so that you can freely install what you need or what without conflicts.
Hats off to the developer for their work, there was a period of time i thought perhaps WattOS is gone and the project terminated, or maybe just retired...but gone. Nope, it's back better than ever. I have had WattOS installed even during the Dormant period, I very much appreciate the developer to continue at this point.
WattOS in my opinion, couldn't get any better, I know and look forward to being proven wrong.
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Project: wattOS
Version: R13
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-01-01
Votes: 39
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So far excellent experience, with an initial ram consumption of 512 MB, not low but for today with Kernel 6.1 is excellent, (even XFCE already exceeded by far the GB of ram consumption). It runs fast, light, agile, it does not have so many add-ons; it brings the just and necessary to not fill it with tools and packages; and to be able to start filling it according to one's need... it would be a debian already with a minimum LXDE desktop under Openbox, the user already comes as root... the just and necessary... congratulations.
The best thing is that it does not bring repositories different from debian. So it is just a debian configuration that saves a tedious work of initial setup.
I am a Debian and Linux user for more than 30 years, demanding... and I think I will give it a very good chance. (other Distros under debian, have not captivated me, like MX...). My base distro is Debian SID (unstable), I have had very few crashes in years... And I am entertaining myself by resurrecting it again...
Let's see how it goes, I'm going to put it on one of the several servers I have (some as a file and download server; a couple with nodered and MQTT, another with MariaDB). I'm going to start with NODERED which has very low demand..
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-12-06
Votes: 65
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A distro that works very well. Simple installation, all you need is there, then pick and choose to add your favorite packages and softwares as you wish, without all the bloatware. Works like a charme on a Macbook Pro 2010.
I tested few distros for minimalistic hardware for older computers : all of them are incredibly ugly, in order to spare RAM and CPU for these old computers.
But two of them gave good visual effects and user experience : LXLE and WATTOS.
Congratulations for the work.
Bobby,
Macbook Pro 2010, Intel Core 2 Duo 2,13 GHz. 4GB ram.
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-11-13
Votes: 4
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I have several distros on a multi-drive PC desktop. Using wattOS going back when it was an Openbox distro and Ubuntu, enjoyed it a lot more with just Debian. It has always been a sleek, fast and just works distro and I'm glad the developer is back with a new build with Lxde.
Reminds me a lot of CrunchBang in the beginnings, distro hopping to find that one suitable distro for a daily driver was a quest for many. WattOS is a fine distro, it's a minimalist delight, and simple to use and expansion to a full blown work machine if need be. Never had issues, nor any breakage, even when I pushed it to run Sid (unstable), which in my opinion is very stable.
This is a professional built distro, not a project distro and by a seasoned developer. Give it a test drive, you will be glad you did!
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-07-07
Votes: 2
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I'm using this since a few months on my very low spec Asus X205TA (Atom Z3735G, 2 GiB RAM [not expandable], 32 GiB eMMC [not expandable]) and it really does what it says on the tin. Sure, given the very low RAM (and the slow eMMC) this PC has, I had to setup zswap, but the PC turns on and it's ready in a few seconds, then everything works very well.
The only complain I have is that installation fails on EFI32 hardware (yes, this PC has a 64bit 4-core processor but a 32bit EFI...) so you have to fix the bootloader yourself, which is not that much fun if you don't have experience.
Good alternatives to wattOs are Bodhi and LXLE. I had tried all three of them and chose the first as my favorite anyway.
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-06-22
Votes: 11
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Fast, very fast. Has a very clean, fresh looking intuitive desktop. Running as Live CD at idle with wifi connected it came in at about 360MB. It is a very fast distro running circles around MX on the same hardware 16 year old hardware. I tested this as an alternative to the untrustworthy (in my judgement antiX). It is not quite as light at idle but it appears to load browsers etc faster. Also the desktop is more intuitive. In some respects this desktop reminds me of Q4OS in terms or practicality and ease of use. One negative is the lack of available docs,it seems they want you to sign up for a forum in order to even view documentation - what the kittens?
This is a desktop that will make old Window users immediately at home. If you are running old hardware you owe it to yourself to test WattOS along with SliTaz, Q4OS, Bodhi, FossaPup, LXLE, Porteus and BionicPup.
tfb
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 5
Date: 2023-04-04
Votes: 1
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I installed this on an Dell Latitude E-6500. The install was easy enough and it does run with a very light "footprint" However there are some issues. There is no Date and Time adjustment, NTP function, driver manager or print support installed by default. These can be installed after the OS install, but you'd expect these basic functions to be installed by default. Flatpak applications do not integrate with the system menu, even when installed through the Gnome software manager. I couldn't recommend this Distro for a novice. Watt OS R-12 is still a "work in progress".
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-03-25
Votes: 6
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...I give it a 9 but should be a 10...It is LXDE and one of the LAST of a dying linux breed of "flavors". I'm a SENIOR and have been using LINUX since LINDOWS - and prefer openbox simplicity and clean looks, its highly configurable! I realize WattOs is made for lightweight, but a package update notifier is lacking - it is available in SYNAPTIC though! As to printer hookup, well, printers are using driverless printing today and CUPS is changing things...wirelessly, etc. Debian #11 should last a while for now... Works on my Lenovo thinkpad T540P and plan to install on several seniors towers as their primary OS in the NEAR future. Most are older models of i3-i5 chipsets with stock memory. Other than that, for the average surfer and user - WattOS is a WAVE above for me!
Much appreciative this OS has been REVITALIZED to todays LINUX standards of "CHOICE"...
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-02-18
Votes: 2
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I run an older laptop, so am always looking at light distros that don't tax the system too much, and wattOS seem to fit the bill quite nicely.
I appreciate as well that the default selection of apps is small, as otherwise I tend to spend a great deal of time uninstalling apps that I don't need (since boomer me is not a working power user, that means that many of the apps you might find necessary are just landfill for me). But since we are using the massive Debian repos, and Synaptic is installed, everything that you might need should be there at your fingertips. You don't even have to drop to CLI to get it done.
In my trials I didn't push the envelope much, but did use it to test out some items that I had heard interesting things about (like the Brave and Min browsers). In my runs in installing various the things that I tend to use, Synaptic would occasionally throw up a caution/error message where something failed to run due to incorrect permissions and rights, yet everything seemed to install and run none-the-less. Therefore I didn't delve into any possible issues there.
So overall, I found R12 to be a quite capable desktop experience that didn't throw me any curves or lead me into any dead ends. On that I can recommend it to folks. Really, the only thing keeping me from hitting a 10 on the meter is the init software, and I know that sort of outs me as an outlier. But to the average user with average needs, this distro is solid and capable.
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-01-12
Votes: 4
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I keep an eye on distros aiming to low power and memory consumption and I can say straight away that WattOS has been up to the task.
Very minimal memory footprint at startup 480mb~. Very responsive desktop. Stays under 2GB memory usage even under heavier loads.
The general feeling I got is that of an improved / more polished version of the standard Debian LXDE desktop without the bloat.
Preinstalled software is very limited indeed but this makes sense. WattOS installation media is one of the smallest in Linux World at ~1.2GB.
Yet the small ISO size must have been the reason why WattOS installer did not complete installation offline. It is understandable to require active network connection but users should have been at least warned ahead of starting the installation. Mabox for instance warned me that I must be online to install it.
Default dark theme is pleasant but I prefer light themes for increased legibility. "Customize feel n look" app made the switch to Adwaita theme / icons a matter of seconds. Desktop now looked more traditional / old-fashioned but easier to work with.
The only somewhat serious problem I had was with flatpaks. I keep receiving the message "'/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share'
'/home/myusername/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share' are not in the search path set by the XDG_DATA_DIRS environment variable, so applications installed by Flatpak may not appear on your desktop until the session is restarted." Reboot unlike in other DEs does not solve this problem. I tried a few workarounds. No luck. Only way to create menu entries for the one or two essential flatpaks I have to use was by creating symbolic links to /usr/share/applications or creating custom menu entries. Not biggie in my books. Still an inconvenience.
If you're familiar with Debian n debian distros, you'll find WattOS pleasant and a good base on which to build a lightweight system tailored to your needs.
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-12-01
Votes: 3
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Awesome discovery!
I had never heard of wattOS, until Distrowatch announced the appearance of R12 two weeks ago. Downloaded, put on a Ventoy stick, smooth installation (important for me: Calamares allows the use of a pre-formatted partition with my choice of UUID & label, my choice if and where to install grub), booted just fine with ~ 350 MB memory usage after opening the terminal.
The preinstalled software bundle seems spartan to me, after all the ISO has 1.2 GB. I'm okay with that, easy to `apt install` just my preferred apps. After that, e.g. abiword & gnumeric instead of libreoffice, the disk usage is merely 4.7 GB. Very snappy, excellent performance, look & feel perfect for me!
For the last years LXLE has been one of my favourites, but this one is better - considering that the former came up with a 'new' release based on Ubuntu 20.04 this summer and eats more resources. As a fan of LTS releases I'm happy with the Debian 11 base.
Cons? No tool for printer setup - however after installing cups that's a piece of cake. I haven't found out yet why the repos are locked often, apt telling me that I have to wait xx hours until they are available to the public again. This behaviour is new to me.
For an average user with average Linux skills no reason for a score deduction.
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-11-27
Votes: 3
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Downloaded the R12 version. Ran the live usb testing on a Dell 3636 desktop and a Dell Inspiron 3340 laptop.
It detected the wifi in both desktop and laptop. Keyboard, mouse and touchpad (laptop) were also detected.
Firefox ESR worked quickly and well as long as you don't open many tabs.
Very low power consumption was detected in the laptop (even when running youtube)
Basic home file structure. Other folders like Videos, Templates, etc can be easily added.
This is a basic no frills distro with Debian in the LXQT desktop. It is easy to learn and manuver.
I also installed the Chrome browser and added extensions to both browsers.
I heartily recommend to anyone who wants a simple system that doesn't need much tweaking to get it to run.
Good for old and new computers.
PS.... If you need a more advanced distro with excellent out of the box adjustment, I recommend SparkyLinux Xfce but then that
would be another review.
WattOS R12 I give a 10 out of 10 review.
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 6
Date: 2022-11-25
Votes: 1
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So wanted this to work
Installed on MacBook late 2009 and was intending to put on an old Dell Inspiron 5000 series
At first it looked like it could be a goer but then lots of freezing.
Pros:
- seems fast for a debian based distro
- light weight
- flatpak support built in
Cons:
- seems to freeze readily when a few tabs or programs running
- a lot of time under the bonnet command line needed
The period of no development is a little eyebrow raising, but, then so is the pleasant surprise when an old distro re-emerges
Hope they sort the freezing out...
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Project: wattOS
Version: R12
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-11-19
Votes: 14
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First of all it is what it says. An energy saver distro,very light in resources and extremely fast. I installed this os yesterday and I'm really impressed cause i was using the antix os for a year now.
The average temperature of CPU is between 43-45C which is absolute magnificent. If you have a 11 years old laptop like i do,the first thing you check is the average temperature cause a lot of linux distros make your pc overheating due to the lack of fitting well with the intel/amd cards etc.
Also in Watt os the ram consuming is extremely low. Its 330-340 in idle situation and cpu consuming is zero to none
The LXDE desktop is very steady compared to antix icewm manager which makes the screen blinking alot
The Watt os guys really did a nice work to put everything in the right place cause another thing i noticed is that firefox esr behaves alot better than of firefox esr in antix os. The scrolling is much better when youre browsing and the loading times in every website are extremely fast,considering the fact that firefox esr is not the fastest browser out there. Probably this happens cause Watt os guys chose to put in os the applications an average user should need and not a crazy large amount of applications which serve nothing
Althought i expected the claws email out of the box and mpv instead of vlc it didnt bother me cause i installed them later along with libre writer. Firefox ESR+claws+mpv(or vlc)+audacious+libre office is all the apps you need and you can have them in this distro so no big deal
As of the printer install and settings its very easy due to synaptics package manager to get the HPLIP toolbox and whatever you need from installations to updates the synaptics package manager is a reliable source
Yeah i think I'm alot excited about the Watt distro and i hope for everyone to give it a try especially if you own an old laptop/notebook cause honestly is worth it.
PROS
Very fast and light on resourses just what the watt os guys say
Best tuning i've ever seen between the applications and system which makes the distro user-friendly with everyday task
Calamares installation is ridiculous easy,not a problem at all. Boot loading time is ok,everything works fine
You dont have to be an advanced linux user for the Watt os. Very easy-handling
CONS
The Watt os forum has to be expanded. I understand that there was an absence for a couple of years but i hope the watt community to get back and get growing with many new users like me also
The touchpad settings. Watt os has only configurations for keyboard and mouse so you have to add some parameters in home/config file to get your touchpad back in life
The absence of redshift-like application. In my opinion every distro should have a color temperature-tuning application out of the box cause people spend a lot of time infront of a screen
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