Quirky Linux 8.6 is the latest in the 'Xerus' series, binary-compatible with x86_64 Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS, though built with woofQ and architecturally very different from Ubuntu. Quirky is an experimental distribution, that forked from Puppy Linux a few years ago, and has followed a different path, exploring some new ideas. Continuing the Puppy tradition, Quirky has a 'complete' suite of applications, drivers and utilities, in a very small size. Version 8.6 is an incremental upgrade from 8.5, with package upgrades and architectural improvements. The SeaMonkey web browser is now 2.49.4 and the Linux kernel 4.14.63. EasyShare, simple network file and printer sharing, continues to evolve, and now supports connection to an Android phone.

Recent Related News and Releases

Distribution Release: Quirky 8.7.1 Barry Kauler has announced the availability of a new version of Quirky, a lightweight Linux distribution and sister project to Puppy Linux. The new version changes the base packages of the distribution from Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.04. " The transition has been made to building with Ubuntu Bionic Beaver 18.04.1 DEBs, and now codenamed 'Quirky Beaver', first release is version 8.7.1, for x86_64 PCs. Some announcement blurb: Quirky Linux 8.7.1 is the first in the 'Beaver' series, binary-compatible with x86_64 Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS, though built with woofQ and architecturally very different from Ubuntu. Quirky is an experimental distribution, that forked from Puppy Linux a few years ago, and has followed a different path, exploring some new ideas. Continuing the Puppy tradition, Quirky has a 'complete' suite of applications, drivers and utilities, in a very small size. Version 8.7.1 is very similar to 8.6, but with a complete upgrade of package versions. The kernel is now 4.18.9. " Further information can be found in the project's release announcement. Download: beaver64-8.7.1.iso (461MB, MD5, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Quirky 8.4 Barry Kauler has announced the release of a new version of the Quirky distribution. Quirky is a lightweight distribution and a sister project to Puppy Linux. It is assembled using a custom tool called Woof. The new version, Quirky 8.4, is built using the latest available packages from the Ubuntu 16.04 repositories: " Version 8.4 has many architectural improvements and package upgrades, including new packages Sakura, Refind, EasyApps, PupControl, VTE and EasyShare. EasyShare is a simple 'one stop shop' for network file sharing and printing, using Samba and SSHFS. Upgraded applications include Pclock (0.8.2) and SeaMonkey (2.49.1). The Linux kernel is now version 4.14.17. Xerus 8.4 has retained the theme of 8.2; however, the desktop has a simplified icon layout, with new 'apps' and 'share' - 'share' launches EasyShare and 'apps' launches radky's EasyApps. There is an introduction to EasyShare here . Note that EasyShare works in EasyOS 0.7.1 and Quirky 8.4, but is designed to be able to be ported to other Puppy distributions. release announcement and in the release notes. Download: xerus64-8.4.iso (413MB, MD5, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Quirky 8.2 Barry Kauler has announced the release of a new version of Quirky, a close relative to Puppy Linux that is built using a tool called Woof. The new release, Quirky 8.2, runs on 64-bit x86 computers and offers mostly incremental improvements over previous 8.x releases: " Quirky Linux 8.2 x86_64 is codenamed 'Xerus' and is built using the woofQ Quirky Linux build system, with the help of Ubuntu 16.04.2 binary packages. Thus, Xerus has compatibility with all of the Ubuntu repositories. Quirky is a fork of Puppy Linux, and is mainly differentiated by being a "full installation" only, with special snapshot and recovery features, and Service Pack upgrades, though recently there is limited support for live-CD session-saving and "frugal" installation. Version 8.2 has many architectural improvements and package upgrades, including new packages JWMDesk, UrxvtControl and Take-a-Shot. Among architectural improvements, the overlay file system has been dumped in favour of aufs, mime-handling fixes, and network-connection refinements. A significant change in application selection is VLC dumped in favour of Xine. The Linux kernel is version 4.11.11 and SeaMonkey is upgraded to version 2.48b1. " Further information can be found in the project's release announcement and in the release notes. Download: xerus64-8.2.iso (410MB, MD5, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Quirky 8.1.6 Barry Kauler has announced the availability of an update to Quirky, a sister distribution to the lightweight Puppy Linux project. The new release, Quirky 8.1.6, updates the project's 8.1.x series and is compatible with binary packages built for Ubuntu 16.04. " Quirky Linux 8.1.6 x86_64 is codenamed "Xerus" and is built using the woofQ Quirky Linux build system, with the help of Ubuntu 16.04 binary packages. Thus, Xerus has compatibility with all of the Ubuntu repositories. The Linux kernel is version 4.4.40 and SeaMonkey is upgraded to version 2.46. Quirky is a fork of Puppy Linux, and is mainly differentiated by being a "full installation" only, with special snapshot and recovery features, and Service Pack upgrades. " The release announcement and release notes for Quirky 8.1.6 offer further details and a list of known issues. " There are some known issues: 1. There is Bluetooth support, but it needs work. 2. SeaMonkey has a few problems. It is stuck on DuckDuckGo for starters. 3. CLI VLC only. A full GUI video player needs to be installed. " Download: xerus-8.1.6-amd64.iso (398MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Quirky 8.1 Barry Kauler has announced the release of Quirky 8.1. Quirky is a sister project to Puppy Linux and offers a lightweight, user friendly desktop experience. The latest version, Quirky 8.1, diverges from past Quirky releases by supplying download images for Raspberry Pi 2 & 3 computers and not x86-powered computers. " All Quirkies prior to 8.1 have been built for x86 and x86_64 PCs. Version 8.1 is the first to be built for the ARM platform, specifically the Raspberry Pi 2 and Pi 3. Note that Quirky will not work on a Pi 1. It is expected a build for the Odroid XU4 is coming soon. The functionality is much as you have come to expect with a Puppy-derivative -- you get 'the kitchen sink' in a very small package. That is, an application for just about everything and utilities to setup and configure just about anything. A difference though, with the Raspberry Pi build, is that it includes LibreOffice and Inkscape, whereas Puppy-derivatives usually have light-weight choices, such as Gnumeric, Abiword and InkscapeLite. This decision was made so as to provide the same functionality out-of-the-box as Raspbian, and in fact a whole lot more. " The release announcement has more information. Download: quirky-pi2-sd-8gb-xerus-8.1.img.xz (358MB, MD5, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Quirky 8.0 Barry Kauler has announced the launch of Quirky 8.0. The new release of the Quirky distribution is binary compatible with Ubuntu 16.04 and can install Deb packages from the Ubuntu software repositories. The new version of Quirky includes support for booting on UEFI-enabled computers and features version 4.4.7 of the Linux kernel. " 8.0 has Linux kernel 4.4.7, SeaMonkey 2.40, and a host of applications to fill every need. As per inheritance from Puppy Linux, Quirky includes the 'kitchen sink' in a very small download. Significant new features for 8.0, in no particular order, are BluePup GUI management for Bluetooth, the ISO now boots on UEFI-firmware machines, YASSM GUI to manage Samba, YouTubeDL GUI YouTube downloader, and many applications updated. And, as usual, a multitude of bug fixes and little improvements. " Additional details can be found in the release announcement and in the project's release notes. Download: xerus64-8.0.iso (347MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Quirky 7.3 Barry Kauler has announced the release of a new version of Quirky, a sister project to Puppy Linux. The new version, Quirky 7.3, marks the start of the project's Werewolf series, which is binary compatible with Ubuntu 15.10. " Quirky Werewolf 64-bit version 7.3 has been released. Here is a brief announcement: Quirky 7.3 is the start of the 'Werewolf' series, able to install packages from the Ubuntu 15.10 Wily Werewolf repositories. Version 7.3 has major improvements to running from live CD, with fast boot-up, zram compression and session saving. The live CD has become viable for on-going usage, as an alternative to performing an installation to fixed or removable drive. These improvements also apply to the 'frugal' mode of installation. There have been numerous bug fixes and upgrades. The kernel is now 4.2.5 and SeaMonkey is 2.38. " Further details can be found in the project's release announcement and in the release notes. Download: werewolf64-7.3.iso (294MB, MD5).