PureOS: a distribution composed solely of free software

PureOS is a modern and easy to use Debian-based distribution that exclusively uses free and open source software and is endorsed by the Free Software Foundation.

It is said that has the best privacy protection apps it ships with, which I assume is self-evident since I haven't experienced any significant pop-ups yet.

PureOS includes the best free privacy and security software and apps for privacy, including Tor browser, Duck Duck Go search engine, and HTTPS along with its own PureBrowser web browser.

This allows them to easily encrypt their entire operating system and data, with their own encryption keys, whether you download and install them yourself or receive them preloaded.

About PureOS

Before starting I must indicate that unfortunately this distribution does not have a 32-bit version so for those who have this architecture on their computers this distribution will not be able to use it.

This Linux distribution comes with Gnome and Wayland desktop environment by default. This is coming accompanied with several of the tools that are part of the Gnome project which complement the distribution for easy and optimal use by the user.

To be able to install applications in the distribution in a simple way, this distribution cIt has the Gnome Software Center, with which the novice user can install their favorite applications without any problem.

As mentioned, this system and its applications are free software, so the application repository does not use the Debian ones, otherwise this distribution implements its own application repository.

As for the applications that we can find by default in the distribution, we can see that they include LibreOffice as the office suite by default and was to be expected due to its focus on free software applications.

We can also find in terms of applications for entertainment to to the Rhythmbox Audio Player, Totem and Video Player.

On the other hand, for not including it in the previous list because it stands out a lot, the developers of PureOS really think about the entertainment of the users because we can also find Kodi within the distribution.

In the case of users who like to be testing systems and want to use PureOS as the main system we can find Boxes as a free alternative to VirtualBox.

Finally, among the other applications we find there are Calculator and Calendar, Polari IRC Client, and others.

Download PureOS

Currently the distribution is in its version 8.0 which is the first Beta of this branch, in the case of users who prefer stability, the current stable is version 7.0.

If you want to download this Linux distribution so that you can test it on your systems You can go to the official page of the project and in its download section they will be able to obtain the image of the system ready to be recorded and used.

The link for the beta version is this, while for those who want the stable version they can get it from this link, although it is already quite old.

Requirements to install PureOS

We must say that to install this system it is necessary to have at least:

• A 64-bit processor
• At least 1 GB of RAM
• At least 15 GB of disk space

How to record PureOS image?

Done the download pYou can burn the iso on a DVD or some USB. The method to do it from DVD:

• Windows: We can record the iso with Imgburn, UltraISO, Nero or any other program even without them in Windows and later gives us the option to right click on the ISO.
• Linux: They can use especially the one that comes with graphical environments, among them are, Brasero, k3b, and Xfburn.

USB installation medium

• Windows: They can use Universal USB Installer or Linux Live USB Creator, both are easy to use.

Linux: The recommended option is to use the dd command, it is important that you check in which drive the USB drive was mounted to proceed to record the data on it:

dd bs=4M if=/ruta/a/PureOS.iso of=/dev/sdx && sync

Once we have our media ready, we only need to have the BIOS configured so that the PC starts from the configured installation unit.