Elive

Reader supplied reviews for Elive Average rating 5.8 from 45 review(s) What are your thoughts on Elive? Please include a few pros and a few cons, along with your overall impression of the operating system. Our FAQ page has tips on writing a good mini-review. Version: -- 3.8.523.0.42.01.00.60.50.4.20.30.1 Rating:    -- 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 out of 10 Your review (minimum 250 words): Past reviews - sort by: DateVotes Version: 3.8.52 Rating: 10 Date: 2026-09-15 Country: Italy Votes: 0 I have been happily using Elive on my laptop for a few years now and (although I do test-drive others) would find it unthinkable to get used to anything else again. With every upgrade it gets better and better and now even offers the latest Enlightenment Desktop as a choice as well. Why the devs still consider it beta is beyond me, it's rock-solid stable and beautiful and has been so for a quite a while. The forum is very helpful, especially for new adopters and is filled with "howtos" on customizing the desktop to one's own desires. The current Retrowave themed E16 based LTS 3.8.50 version is stunningly good and doesn't really need any tweaking other than maybe turning off sound effects which can be a little off-putting, but then again others may like them. There are also some tutorials on theming the future Enlightenment Desktop, which is helpful for those who want the latest Enlightenment releases but find the default theme rather bland. For a lightweight distro that doesn't require a lot of RAM or CPU use, giving it longer battery life and less heat, it's the perfect choice for any laptop. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 3.8.52 Rating: 10 Date: 2026-09-10 Country: France Votes: 5 I tested the Elive distribution on VirtualBox in 2025. Now, in 2026, I have installed it on all four of my PCs. This Debian-based distribution, customized by the Elive team, is truly very stable and fast. The installation process is a pleasant experience; as you progress, you are offered various choices regarding software, background music, and more. Having installed several distributions, I find Elive to be a cut above the rest... Everything is simple. The E16 and E27 desktops are very enjoyable, and the distribution is easy to get the hang of. Plus, the team is responsive and quick to answer questions on the forum. Thanks for this distribution. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 3.8.50 Rating: 8 Date: 2026-08-26 Country: Germany Votes: 0 Actually I have tested 3.8.52 which is not yet in the menu. I run it on a Mac mini 2014. Here are the pros: 1. Installation ok, sometimes unnecessarily drawn out because of dialogues with a progressbar completely covering up a confirmation window so you could not see it at all, but technically in order otherwise. 2.The system is very responsive in general, stable, and fast at startup: only ca. 30 secs until login screen. 3. The recommended e16 desktop is pretty and very customizable. 4. It comes with a lot of applications already for all kinds of purposes. Unwanted ones can be uninstalled easily and be replaced by something else. 5. If you are stuck with something, there is a helpful community and a forum with a lot of howtos. You may need it a bit more often than usual in the beginning, because the Enlightenment desktop is different from more mainstream ones. But it also is no rocket science, if you are open to other environments and are not too determined to stick to old habits. I have set up my Mac mini like my main work computer (Linux Mint) with all the applications I use there. Everything works fine and is stable and fast. Theoretically I could just switch computers now. Only problem I could not solve is an issue with ssh: I can connect my Mint machine with the Elive one over ssh and use rsync, but not the other way round: connection refused. Don't know why. But there are other tools for the same purpose which work, so this is not the end of the world. Although this is a Beta, it seems to be mature enough for being used as a workhorse. Chapeau for the developer indeed. I look forward to a future stable version. Cons: 1. Enlightenment desktop is something different from mainstream desktops and in the beginning has a moderate learning curve. This may turn down some people, but once you know your way around, it is fine. 2. Window management: Application windows appear all over the place when you launch something. I managed to tame them by setting them to open under the mouse pointer in Enlightenment Settings. You just have to place your cursor in the desired place beforehand. I could go more into detail here which would be beyond the scope of this place here. Overall this is a good, fast, good-looking and stable distro with a non-mainstream desktop which is worth taking a look at. Was this review helpful? Yes No See all 45 reader reviews of Elive...