The first formal release of Rhino Linux is available to download.
Rhino Linux is a rolling-release Linux distro based on Ubuntu. It is a community-based project and not an official Ubuntu flavour. I’m not sure if there’s any linage to the “Rolling Rhino” project ex-Ubuntu desktop manager Martin Wimpress created in 2020.
Following a series of successful beta builds (which passed me by, I confess) Rhino Linux 2023.1 is now available to download. This snapshot release is available for 64-bit Intel/AMD systems and ARM64, with specific builds provided for Pine64 and Raspberry Pi devices.
There’s no “change log” of features specific to this first release that bloggers such as myself can digest and relay. But the project website lists a number of things that differentiate this distro from a traditional Ubuntu release:
- Customised XFCE 4.18 desktop environment called “Unicorn“
- AUR-esque package manager called Pacstall
- rhino-pkg meta-package combines apt, pacstall, flatpak, & snap
- Custom themed Calamares installer
- Your System app
The version available to download at the time of writing ships with the Linux 6.4 kernel release.
Interested in taking Rhino Linux for a ride?
You can download Rhino Linux 2023.1 from the project website for Intel/AMD and ARM devices. If you run an earlier version (such as a beta build) you can upgrade to the latest set of packages from the command-line using either rpk or pacstall.
Do let me know what you think of Rhino Linux down in the comments. Is an Ubuntu-based rolling release distro something you’ve been dreaming of, or are you content with established distro titans in this area, such as Arch?
