Linux distribution
Rhino Linux 2023.1
Nate Drake takes a ride on the Rhino, exploring the rich Unicorn desktop, as well as the pleasures and perils of rolling releases.
IN BRIEF
Rhino Linux is a worthy successor to its predecessor, providing an amazing Xfcebased desktop incorporating the latest Ubuntu code. If you can handle potential instability, take the Rhino by the horn.
SPECS
CPU: 1.5GHz dual-core
Mem: 2GB
HDD: 20GB
Builds: x86_64, aarch64
They say that Rome wasn’t built in a day and the same is true for Rhino Linux. The project went through five betas before its official release in August.
If the name sounds familiar, it may be because lead developer AJ Strong worked on Rolling Rhino Remix – autility to convert Ubuntu into a rolling release Linux distro by tracking the devel packages.
While Rhino Remix reached end of life last October, Rhino Linux has picked up the cudgels and also follows a rolling release model using the Ubuntu devel repos.
As it is a rolling distro, the team also made the decision to use the Pacstall package manager, which allows users to install packages from the Arch User Repository (AUR). The developers claim this allows updates to be delivered faster.
If an AUR-inspired package manager weren’t enough, the OS also includes Rhino-pgk, a metapackage manager written in Bash, which combines Apt, Pacstall, Flatpak and Snap into a compact UI. It can be used to install, remove, search and upgrade all package managers at once by running commands such as rhino-pkg update .