Crystal Linux[1] is a new operating system, based on Arch Linux that hopes to become the Fedora of Arch Linux by bringing new “stuff” to the Linux desktop while being user-friendly.
Crystal Linux has been released on the GPLv3.0 and uses its own GUI installer to make getting the distribution installed a snap. This new Linux distribution features an easy-to-use package manager, Btrfs snapshots, zRAM support, and a choice between GNOME, KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, Mate, Budget, Onyx, XFCE, Sway, LXQt, i3-gaps, bspwm, AwesomeWM, and herbstlufwm.
The installer the developers have created is nothing short of brilliant. Not only is it beautiful, it makes installing this Arch-based Linux distribution something anyone can do.
Out of the box, Crystal Linux doesn’t include a large swath of installed applications, but it does include a well-designed app store, where you can install all of the necessary apps you need with the click of the mouse or trackpad. By default, you’ll only see the GNOME apps (Weather, Gedit, Terminal, System Monitor, Disks, and Calculator) as well as Firefox and Vim.
I did find, during the installation, that I had to run a few upgrades to the live system before I could complete the task. Other than that, this brand new Linux distribution shows serious promise that it makes Arch Linux an option for new users.
Download a Crystal Linux ISO from the project GitHub page[2], just remember that this new distribution is still very new and has yet to reach a stable release. Because of this, I wouldn’t recommend using Crystal Linux for production machines.
