Redox OS is the fastest Linux distribution I’ve ever tried and you should try it despite what it lacks

This is a little different for me in the Linux distributions review area because redox OS It’s not exactly a new Linux distribution. It is an experimental, UNIX-like, general-purpose, microkernel-based operating system written in Rust. Even after about a year of development, Redox OS is nowhere near ready for regular use (if ever). However, it certainly impresses me.

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Not with his appearance. Redox OS looks pretty normal.

Not with the number of pre-installed applications. Redox OS only includes a handful of applications.

Not because of its stability. Being a version prior to 1.x, the Redox operating system is not stable.

What is it about this operating system that has me so intrigued? Speed.

In all my years of testing and using operating systems, I have never experienced anything this fast. Click on an app and it will open instantly… and I mean instantly.

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Of course, given the state this operating system is in, it shouldn’t surprise you that not all apps work. For example, the Netsurf application (web browser) opens but does nothing. After opening Netsurf, you can’t even close it (for whatever reason), nor does it show the default web page. Redox OS also borrows from System 76’s COSMIC (which is expected to see a 1.0 version this year), using some of its applications, such as COSMIC Terminal, COSMIC Text, and COSMIC File Manager.

Still, it’s crazy how fast this thing is. I’m used to my operating systems running at a certain level of speed. Pop!_OS in me thelio desk It’s a beast, but Redox OS, which runs as a virtual machine with limited RAM and CPU, runs circles around Pop!_OS in the speed category.

Part of that could be due to the fact that there isn’t much going on under the hood of the Redox OS. Given the few apps installed, there probably aren’t a ton of background apps and services running. Still, when an app opens instantly, the developers are doing something right.

It could be that Redox OS is written in Rust, which solves some of the most frustrating memory management problems commonly associated with C and C++ (two popular programming languages ​​for operating systems).

When you combine that level of speed with a familiar-looking desktop, it’s pretty easy to conclude that this project could be something special. Although I don’t suggest you run to the Redox operating system page and download an ISO. No. The operating system is too incomplete for that. Even the installation does not work as explained in the installation documentation. The best way to experience Redox OS is through a virtual machinewhere you can see for yourself how fast it is, but don’t expect to be productive in any way, as there is very little to help you with any task at hand.

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If you read the Welcome.txt included in the virtual machine image, you’ll see that Redox is “an operating system written in Rust, a language that focuses on security and high performance.” Furthermore, it says: “Redox is _not_ just a kernel, it is a full-featured operating system, providing packages… that together form a functional and convenient operating system.”

Of course, “functional” is relative at this point. It took me a few tries (which actually involved stopping and restarting the VM) but I finally couldn’t get Netsurf to run properly and, unfortunately, it’s quite disappointing. For example, although it displays website content, it is unable to render most sites correctly. Hopefully in the future Redox OS can find a better option for a web browser. I don’t care how fast your operating system is: without a viable web browser, it’s useless.

The other applications on the operating system offer a variety of usability. For example:

• The Calendar app displays a calendar, but you can’t add anything to it.
• The terminal app works, but it randomly crashes the system.
• File Manager works, but you often need to refresh the view to see the changes.
• I think Sodium is a Minecraft client, but there’s no way to know for sure because the app doesn’t do anything.
• The image viewer only showed the desktop background image and nothing else.
• The periodic table shows exactly what you expect…the periodic table.
• I have no idea what Pixelcannon is, but it certainly doesn’t do anything other than display a cartoon smiley face.

There’s no Settings app, no right-click desktop menu, and a few other options are missing. Even so, Redox OS still manages to impress me with its unmatched speed.

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I hope those behind Redox OS continue their work because Redox OS could be the future of desktop operating systems. If this OS is successful, it will go a long way in proving that Rust is a great choice for desktop development, and more and more Linux distributions could adopt that idea.

If you want to see how fast an operating system can run, I recommend you spin up a Redox OS virtual machine and see for yourself.