Linux distribution
SparkyLinux 2024.05
Nate Drake blinks and almost misses this zippy Debian-based distro, so light on resources it runs perfectly on ancient hardware.
S parkyLinux is based on Debian. There are two main flavours, one of which is based on the latest stable release of Debian (in this case Debian 12). The other is based on the unstable branch of Debian and is the focus of this review.
The main website describes this version as for “more advanced users, who aren’t afraid of a little less stable version of applications”. As our most unstable writer by far, Nate was well suited to put SparkyLinux through its paces. But he hit a snag when downloading ISOs from the main website, due to his browser blocking the files as insecure. On closer inspection, it seems while sparkylinux.org has a valid SSL certificate, file downloads take place over regular HTTP. So, we recommend using the provided md5/SHA checksums to verify download integrity. You can also choose the SourceForge mirror, which uses a secure connection. Customisability seems to lie at the heart of the Sparky ethos, as ISOs of around 2GB are available with the LXQt, MATE, Xfce and KDE desktop environments. You can also install further packages, codecs and desktop environments post-install via Sparky APTus.