The new 'Tux' Desktop Release dresses up Linux. The closet was distro.

The stand-alone distribution of the tailor-made operating system by Germany-based Tuxedo Computers offers a reasonably productive option among the bloated supply of Linux variant.

You could only get Tuxedo OS pre-installed. The company has a line of computers. It's mission statement to have Linux accessible to the general public is fulfilled now that anyone can try it. Tuxedo OS is similar to a default installation of Kubuntu, just with custom startup and shutdown screens and wallpaper.

Buying dedicated Linux computers instead of re-purposing old Windows or Mac hardware can be difficult due to a scarcity of manufacturers. System 76, a U.S.-based company, popularized its own in-house Linux variation, POP!_OS, as a separate Linux distribution.

The OS of Tuxedo Computers was based on the latest version of the Linux operating system. System 76 made the desktop different. Both versions can run on most computer configurations.

Not a standard.

The latest Linux offering is called Tuxedo OS version 1.0. The company has a pre-installed OS on its hardware lineup. The public release is more polished than it appears.

The desktop is not a complete clone of what you can get in other versions. In-house developers took six months to develop, test, document and design the stand-alone offering.

The left-side panel shows open windows.

The Tuxedo version of the desktop environment includes Tuxedo Control Center and Tuxedo Tomte driver configuration service.

The accent color and wallpaper set are included. Flatpak is an alternative software distribution package that is pre-installed instead of being disabled by default.

There are some problems with the loading routines.

The disheveled approach to installing Tuxedo OS was my biggest disappointment. The developers made it hard for newcomers to run the live session from a DVD or a thumb drive.

I almost gave up on installing it because of all the frustration. The operating system is pleasant if you like the KDE desktop. It takes a long time to get it loaded to try out even before you can click on the install button.

The problem is not unique to running an OS on dedicated hardware. If the developers expect users to adopt Tuxedo OS, they need to design a more fail-proof installation engine.

The GUI-driven interface was the beginning of my horror tale. The process with most Linux installations starts with the ISO files, and you can click on an option to move to the next set of options. The menu was confusing and often did not work.

The first screen had choices such as "boot from HDD and DVD" and "WebFAI notebook and desktop installation." There was a separate listing forUEFI Firmware settings.

There was no readme file option or other sources of information on what the options meant. The menu and website didn't offer any help.

Lots of guessing.

The first option suggests starting the computer from a hard drive or other media. The second option specifying a HDD or a VM was different.

The result displayed only a terminal screen command prompt when I selected the top option. The second entry started the virtual machine from the ISO installation medium.

It only worked on computers with an agreeableBIOS setting. I tried the installation on four different computers, and some of them had settings that disabled secure boot on Windows machines.

The installation went astray on some machines and never started on others. The encounter led me to change theBIOS andUEF settings on the menu.

Plan on a lot of waiting.

The first menu screen was not displayed until after each attempt to install the distro. I mean as long as 15 minutes. I had to wait for the blinking indicator light on the optical drive to come back on, so I could try again.

The DVD installation was completed after I found the right combination of choices on one of my test bench computers. The time factor for doing so was longer than usual.

Response time varied from step to step once the installation process got beyond the initial menu selections. I had to click a blank entry field at the bottom of the screen to make a list of languages, because the initial language default is German.

On some of my test gear, the window wouldn't open; on another rig, I had to lock up the computer to make a language selection or time zone.

A progress bar advanced to 40% on one computer that actually got beyond these steps. The desktop came up on the screen after 10 or more minutes. I was going to try out Tuxedo OS.

I didn't test Tuxedo OS after the live session. I will never know what happened when the hard drive installation was delayed.

Why do you want to use Tuxedo OS?

Once the developers get the hang of the installation ISO, this public release will be more inviting. The package has some useful features due to the combination of the roots and the desktop.

There is a small selection of games pre-installed. Two custom applications and the Tuxedo Control Center system-monitoring app are included. Tuxedo WebFAI Creator is a panel applet, so you can easily turn it off.

The OS prober feature was bundled by developers. It was easy to install Ubuntu as a dual boot. Users were given a boot menu to choose which OS to use for each session after Prober detected other OSes.

The same ISO is used when installing on a hard drive. A prompt appears before the installation starts.

You can choose your file system from the stand-alone version of Tuxedo OS. You can add btrfs or XFS to the ext4.

The bottom line.

When the developer releases an upgrade, I will circle back. I don't see why I should swap out my favorite daily driver for a new one.

The potential of taking the main stage position is piqued by Tuxedo's approach. The K suite of apps bundled in this now "new" distro has a lot to offer, and I use several of them on my main productivity computer. You can find Tuxedo OS on the website.

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