I've been a Linux user for a long time. Except for a period of using Windows 8.1 and 10, I can get by just fine with alternative operating systems. Linux has come a long way since first trying it out in the late 1990's using Slackware and Red Hat. A lot of hardware is now supported and the installs need little fine tuning now. Almost everything works out of the box. I plan to write another article just on Linux but that's for another day.
A new distribution that I've been using is called Android x86. It is the popular phone and tablet OS ported to work on Intel and AMD chips. Android itself is built around the Linux kernel so has many similar components. Google has to provide the source code of most of Android by using Linux as the kernel. It is open source software. But it works differently than other distributions like Ubuntu.
What are the benefits of using this over other desktop oriented Linux distributions? The install process is very easy and the system works very fast as Android was designed to work on slower hardware. So most newer desktops and laptops are more than powerful enough to run it. If you have an Android phone, all of your apps will be available on your computer and the user interface is the same. However, to get the most of this system, having a touch screen computer is a must in my opinion. You can use the mouse but it is a much better experience having touch available as Android was designed for touch devices. Below is a screenshot of my main screen using the stock launcher and an iOS themed one.
I use many of the art apps that are available in the google play store and using them on a 14 inch touch screen is a great experience. Of course if you have to have Windows programs this is not the setup for you. For those who don't, it is a fast and touch optimized experience and it is completely free.
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Stock images are from pixabay.com not including artwork & photography claimed by me.
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