Ferenos: A Refreshing Take On Kde Plasma That Could Win You Over

Once upon a time, FerenOS was based on Linux Mint and used a special edition of the Cinnamon desktop. In November 2020, the developers switched to KDE Plasma, and the change has been a big step forward for the distribution.

The latest version of FerenOS (2025.03) is designed around the user. What this means is that you’ll enjoy a desktop that is easy to install and then happily gets out of your way so you can do what it is you need to do.

That sort of sounds like most Linux distributions, right? That being said, what does FerenOS do to draw users to this distribution? Consider these:

• It offers a uniquely themed KDE Plasma desktop with a set of beautiful wallpapers.
• The default web browser is Vivaldi.
• It includes all of the applications you’ll need to get started, such as LibreOffice, Geary, VLC, a web browser manager (to easily install other browsers, the Kamoso music player, Merkuro Calendar and Contacts, a driver manager, Timeshift, and two app stores.
• It offers a Transfer Tool to easily back up and restore data.
• Plenty of global themes to choose from.

Okay, so let’s get real here. Just about every Linux distribution could claim many of those points as its own. Most distributions are unique, many are beautiful, and plenty are user-friendly. What sets FerenOS apart?

First off, there’s the FerenOS take on KDE Plasma. Confession time: I do love a good amount of transparency on my desktop. That’s not to say FerenOS takes KDE Plasma and delivers the levels of transparency I once had on highly customized AfterStep or Enlightenment desktop back in the early 2000s. What FerenOS does do is deliver transparency in just the right places, such as the desktop menu, which is gorgeous out of the box (Figure 1).

The transparency extends to the panel and the notifications button at the top center. Beyond that, widows are fairly traditional. Of course, I opted to change the KDE Plasma panel to floating, to give it a more unique look (Figure 2).

Vivaldi

Then there’s the Vivaldi browser, which is a unique choice for a default browser. I’ve always been a fan of Vivaldi; his Four Seasons is… oh, wait, wrong Vivaldi.

The Vivaldi browser is quite good. Although the UI isn’t quite as configurable as that found in either Opera or Zen Browser, it offers enough flexibility to make it an outstanding option. With the ability to set vertical or horizontal tabs, use Workspaces, customize the theme, and you can even hide the bookmarks toolbar for a cleaner UI. And then there’s the sidebar, which gives you quick access to Bookmarks, the Reading List, Downloads, History, Notes, and Sessions, and allows you to add web panels for translations, mail, calendar, tasks, and more.

In other words, Vivaldi is one of the more customizable browsers on the market.

Before you think it, FerenOS isn’t just a coat of pretty paint on an otherwise standard desktop distribution.

Performance

If you’ve been following KDE Plasma long enough, you’ll know that this full-blown desktop environment performs as well as any on the market. Whatever the KDE developers have done, they’ve turned what was otherwise a sluggish desktop into something remarkably fast and stable, and FerenOS puts this on display.

Every app I installed and opened ran flawlessly and quickly.

To test this claim, I installed Ollama on FerenOS, as well as the Msty front-end. I’ve used this combination on several desktops and found that it can get a bit bogged down on less optimized distributions. After opening Msty, I set up the local AI option (which takes some time) and then kicked the tires. By default, Msty sets up Gemma 3 as the local AI. I was planning on using Llama 3.3, but that model requires 42.36 GB of local storage, and given I was running FerenOS as a virtual machine, that was a no-go.

At least by way of Msty. From the command line, I was able to pull the llama3.2 LLM and use it.

Keep in mind that Llma3.2 is strictly text-based, so there’s no image generation available. That LLM only requires 2 GB of storage, so it was a suitable option.

After the pull, I ran the query “What is Linux?” and was surprised at how long it took to complete. Of course, the virtual machine had only 3 GB of RAM available, so an LLM would abuse the system resources. Once Llama3.2 gathered its thoughts, it printed out the response very quickly. I ran the same query via the Msty GUI, and the initial response took about as long (Figure 3).

In the end, even using a system resource hog like llama3.2 didn’t bring FerenOS to its knees, so you can imagine how well it handles traditional apps.

Impressive.

Who Is FerenOS for?

My initial reaction to this question would be anyone looking to migrate from Windows to Linux, especially those with older machines running Windows 7/8/10. Such a machine would perform considerably better with FerenOS than it did with Windows.

But don’t mistake FerenOS for one of the handful of distributions geared specifically for Windows users, as that is not the case. FerenOS aims at delivering a robust Linux desktop distribution that can be used by anyone, and it certainly succeeds. I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest FerenOS to just about anyone.

The only thing FerenOS is missing out (from my perspective) is the ability to share folders to a network with Samba. From my point of view, this is an oversight on the developers’ part, and they should include it by default. Although LAN folder sharing might be more in line with business usage, I’ve always used Samba sharing on my home LANs, and it’s an important feature for me.

Other than that one oversight, FerenOS is a wonderful desktop distribution that anyone could easily install and enjoy.

The post FerenOS: A Refreshing Take on KDE Plasma That Could Win You Over appeared first on The New Stack.