I found a Linux distro that pairs a clean, Mac-like UI with a 'trade-free' philosophy - and it's super fast

5 hours ago 7

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ZDNET key takeaways

Tromjaro is a Manjaro-based Linux distribution.
This distro uses Xfce desktop and includes well-curated apps.
You can download and install Tromjaro for free.

A trade-free operating system, that's what Tromjaro means. But what does a trade-free operating system have to offer?

Well, it means a lot, especially if you're tired of the imbalance between those who have versus those who want. From the developers' perspective, this "trade-free" OS wants nothing from its users, such as no data collection and no demands for attention: "This is the purest form of free and the most honest one."

Essentially, you have an operating system (based on Manjaro) that collects no data and wants no fee. Sounds pretty much like Linux, right?

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When I walked through the process of installing Tromjaro, it struck me that these developers are pretty serious about their approach. Even during the post-install setup, I was prompted to set up the Internet Content Blocker. Unfortunately, that feature didn't open. I even went through the Settings app, and couldn't get it to work.

I decided to continue with my testing anyway.

Once the setup was complete, I had an Xfce desktop on a Manjaro-based distribution that was laid out in a MacOS-like style.

I'm not gonna lie, I was impressed. The installation was smooth, the desktop clean, and the app menu filled with all the tools you might need. You get LibreOffice (with the database component added for good measure), the Pamac GUI for the pacman package manager, a clipboard manager, a color profile manager, a kernel manager, a cron job GUI, the Czkawka cleanup tool, Firefox, a resources monitor, a multimedia player, web apps, and much more.

The list of preinstalled apps is an impressive collection of tools curated for the average user to hit the ground running.

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But why should you try Tromjaro over any other distribution that uses Xfce?

First, Tromjaro boots very fast. On top of that, Tromjaro performs like a champ. This Linux distribution can compete with any lightweight OS on the market.

There's also the addition of the Videoneat app, which curates science materials (in the form of documentaries, movies, courses, tips, and more). I'd never known about this service and found it fascinating. Each video must be downloaded (via torrent) before viewing, which can take some time, depending on the clip size. However, the quality of the videos is good, and some are worth watching.

To further consider why someone would use Tromjaro, I turned to the (lengthy) list of things the developers changed from the Manjaro base, including:

Layout Switcher for XFCE.
Theme Switcher for XFCE.
Applied the same fixes for the entire XFCE desktop for themes and icons.
Integration and enabling of the Chaotic-AUR repository.
Hand-picked wallpapers that are more or less unique to the distro.
Co-created the default TROMjaro icon pack.
Enabled Global Menus and HUD.
Added more options to Settings Manager, such as RGB lights setup, system and files backup, webcam, a system cleaner, and more.
Gestures for mouse, touchpad, and touchscreen.
Support and optimizations for touchscreen devices.
Flatpaks and AUR support, as well as a Tromjaro-specific repository.
Support for AppImages.
Automatic system backup.
All common files (video, audio, documents, images) are opened with properly tested apps.
A heavily tweaked Firefox with removed annoyances and trackers, a handful of addons for even more protection, and more.
Trade-free apps for VPN, file sharing, messenger, and more.
Custom internet searches that are accessed from the system's menu.
A custom web app library.

That's a pretty impressive list that would benefit most users. Clearly, the Tromjaro developers are taking their mission seriously.

There's also a handy series of videos you can watch that help explain what Tromjaro is all about.

Performance

As I said earlier, Tromjaro performs as well as any lightweight distribution I've tested. Part of the reason for this success is the Xfce desktop, but you cannot discount the optimizations the developers have considered.

I ran my usual Ollama test on Tromjaro, and it verified what I'd assumed about the distribution. It's fast. Really fast.

After my initial query, "What is Linux?", I followed up by asking Ollama to write a Python GUI program that allows users to input specific bits of information and append this to a file.

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Ollama went to work and immediately crafted the application. The speed at which the app was created was impressive.

Conclusion

I was surprised to run across a Linux distribution that I'd never heard of, and with Tromjaro having the lofty trade-free mindset, I was glad to have stumbled upon it.

Although Tromjaro won't woo me away from Pop!_OS (that's a tall task for any distribution), it will remain on my list of distributions to consider for future needs.

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I'd recommend installing Tromjaro on a spare computer (or a virtual machine) to get a feel for what it's all about. Who knows, this might wind up being your next distro hop.

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