Q4OS Forum

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 228

Besides the Ubuntu thing, how does QuarkOS differ from Q4OS?

Somehow only now learned about the "sister" project of Q4OS, QuarkOS. Very cool!

Other than being based on Ubuntu rather than Debian, how else does it differ?

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,593

Website

Re: Besides the Ubuntu thing, how does QuarkOS differ from Q4OS?

Quarkos is Q4OS based on Ubuntu essentially, see https://quark-os.sourceforge.io/ . There is no another fundamental difference.

crosscourt

Banned

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 2,706

Re: Besides the Ubuntu thing, how does QuarkOS differ from Q4OS?

Ive used it and it works very well. There are a number of users here in the forum.

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 228

Re: Besides the Ubuntu thing, how does QuarkOS differ from Q4OS?

Quarkos is Q4OS based on Ubuntu essentially, see https://quark-os.sourceforge.io/ . There is no another fundamental difference.

Not any differences in available software? Not any other meaningful difference?

Ahem...that begs the question as to "why" (even make it available)?

crosscourt

Banned

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 2,706

Re: Besides the Ubuntu thing, how does QuarkOS differ from Q4OS?

Its pretty self-explanatory as QuarkOS uses the Ubuntu base, 22.04 the last time I used it(its based on Kubuntu LTS 24.04 now). No Snap but you can install it. App choices are about the same but with a Ubuntu base, your app choices vary a bit more. For some the hardware support in my opinion is a bit better, and Ubuntu isnt as slow as Debian in terms of upgrading apps. Its still not as up to date as some other Ubuntu based distros, and KDE users who like the more recent KDE 6.4 series, youll need to look elsewhere, same as the issue with Debian.
Outside of the Q4OS design,TDE,customization, features and apps, it offers nothing over using Kubuntu LTS instead. Im not aware of any other Ubuntu based distro that uses TDE, other than Quark OS.

Last edited by crosscourt (2025-08-10 02:53)

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,593

Website

Re: Besides the Ubuntu thing, how does QuarkOS differ from Q4OS?

...that begs the question as to "why" (even make it available)?

For users who prefer Ubuntu base for some reason.

LuBär

Member

Registered: 2025-10-12

Posts: 2

Re: Besides the Ubuntu thing, how does QuarkOS differ from Q4OS?

Thanks to the Q4OS team for their work on QuarkOS!!! Firstly, TDE provides one of the most resource-efficient desktop environments available, and secondly, the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS base includes hplip 3.23.12, which I need for my HP Smart Tank 5006 (5005), whose scanner only runs with hplip 3.23.3 or higher. Unfortunately, the new version of Debian 13 (Trixie) also "only" contains hplip version 3.22.10. I haven't yet tested whether a higher hplip version could be manually installed as a third-party package (at least I couldn't with Debian 12 due to the many dependencies not available in the repository).
This way, I can continue using QuarkOS, the familiar and popular Q4OS I used to use, without having to forgo support for my HP 5006 (I had temporarily switched to Linux Mint before accidentally discovering this sister project). I use QuarkOS with both KDE Plasma on my more powerful workstation and TDE on a less powerful laptop (both older devices) – and it runs excellently on both (as I knew it would with Q4OS).
Please continue to maintain this project – at least until Debian natively supports a higher hplip version (then Q4OS would also be an alternative for me again)! Thanks again – I'm happy to support you too!

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,593

Website

Re: Besides the Ubuntu thing, how does QuarkOS differ from Q4OS?

Welcome to the forum @LuBär and thanks for the message