Where To Get Help
You can always post a note in the Desktop Linux Reviews Forum and we’ll do our best to offer feedback or at least point you in the right direction. You might also want to check out the moonOS discussion forum.
Final Thoughts & Who Should Use It
moonOS 3 was a very pleasant surprise, indeed. I’d never used it before and wasn’t aware of what it looked like either. I’ve become somewhat jaded by all the Ubuntu remasters but moonOS 3 was a breath of fresh air in an aesthetic sense. It has to be one of the best looking themes I’ve seen in any remastered distro.
I feel comfortable recommending moonOS 3 for anybody who wants to use a better-looking Ubuntu on their desktop.
Beginners should consider it for their primary Linux desktop alongside Linux Mint and some of the other usual distros. Intermediate and advanced Linux users should also consider it and, needless to say, distro-hoppers should surely give it a download as they’ll have fun checking it out and playing with it.
moonOS 3 is well worth a download. Check it out.
Summary Table:
| Product: | moonOS 3 Linux (Makara) |
| Web Site: | http://www.moonos.co.cc |
| Price: | Free |
| Pros: | Absolutely gorgeous remastered version of Ubuntu. Unique aesthetics, good selection of software, easy install. Features customized moonControl, moonGrub and moonSoftware tools. |
| Cons: | Install ran very slow in VMWare and I was unable to login after it was complete. It was necessary for me to switch to Parallels and install moonOS 3 again in order to login. |
| Suitable For: | Beginner, intermediate or advanced Linux users. |
| Summary: | A fantastically beautiful alternative to generic Ubuntu. One of the best remasters I’ve seen to date. Well worth a download just to experience the aesthetic appeal. |
| Rating: | 4/5 |
(18 votes, average: 4.06 out of 5)
Loading ...
Wow, Jim, you are reviewing all of the lesser known distros this week! I’ve heard of moonOS before, but I do not remember grabbing a copy; I may do so this time and see if I have any success getting it going with Virtualbox OSE. It certainly is a good looking distro! Maybe I will try the LXDE variation just to be different and see if it also has the same outstanding art work.
Hi Brian,
Yeah, there’s some fun stuff out there that doesn’t get much press. Glad you are enjoying the reviews. moonOS is definitely cool. Let me know how you like the LXDE version if you try it.
I tried out MoonOS 2 recently and was pleased with it. I like the feel of E17. The only problem I had with it involved reading my other hard drives. The live Cd mounted all my drives and parttions with no problems. But I missed a step on the install somewher. The other drives would show in the places gadget and in the MNT folder but I could not get them to mount even as root. I also prefer the itask-ng module over the regular shelf for launching applications.
I think MoonOS is the best of the Enlightenment Distros (OpenGEU, OzOS, Elive, Maryan etc). I’m pretty sure the “Light of Free Operating System” is a translation issue.
Thanks for this review with the nice screenshots. Good to know about this Linux distribution.
But I have one remaining question, why did you use the proprietary software VMware and Parallels, and why not the open source VirtualBox instead ?
The Moon tools look very much like Mint tools – or is it just me?
Albinootje, I have all three available on my computers (Parallels, VMWare and VirtualBox). I float back and forth depending on the distro though I lean toward VMWare solely out of habit. VirtualBox is great too though.
I grabbed moonOS 3, Makara, and I am using the standard E17 Enlightenment version with Virtualbox 3.0.6 on Debian Lenny. It did not take long at all to load and it runs pretty well, and it is indeed very attractive.
The LXDE version, as far as I can tell right now, is limited to Version 2 – I grabbed that and will give it a try as well.
Hi, Jim.
Thanks for your informative review of MoonOS. It looks interesting, and I’m downloading it now to check it out for myself.
By the way, “it’s” (with the apostrophe) means “it is.” I think there were a couple of places in the review where you meant to use “its” (no apostrophe). :)
Thanks again.
Tony
Hi Jim, great review by the way, just one question: do i need glasses because i can’t find the install icon or anything looking like an option to install to the hard drive like in MoonOS 2?
Kind regards
James
P.s I’m opening a new cafe/holistic centre soon and i think i might use MoonOS as the colour scheme! It’s very beautifully zen.
Ok. i do need glasses as all i needed to do was push the big icon that says “See file on desktop” when you move the mouse over it. Voila the install icon appears!
Yes you can call me names now.
Heh, heh. No problem, James. Sometimes it takes me a while to find the install icons too.
Thanks for the kind words about the review.
I always enjoyed the way Ubuntu kept some form of the Debian spiral in the desktop artwork… a sort of homage.
And I see Moon does, too.
As I belong to ‘distroshopper maniac club’ any distro fortunate to withstand the torture of me for more than one month,’Moon OS’ is the exception.. I am playing with it verson 2 for more than 5 months,and yet to make it crush…the sound problem has not detrred it not to use it.. Since other partitions are having Sabayaon , and Linux Mint substitute it..I’ll try to move MoonOs 3 as soon as possible..
I’m going to try it because its seems like a great remastered distro. I wish they had a 64 bit version. Very good review also.
Thanks,