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KaOS
A rolling-release distribution built entirely from scratch around a single, deliberate focus: KDE Plasma and Qt applications, with no other desktop environment offered at all.
Based on
Independent
First released
2013
Package manager
pacman
Desktop environments
KDE Plasma (exclusively)
KaOS takes an unusually narrow, opinionated approach for a general-purpose distribution: it only ships KDE Plasma, deliberately favors Qt-based applications over GTK ones where a choice exists, and builds its packages independently rather than basing itself on Arch, Debian, or any other distribution (despite using pacman as its package manager, adopted for its technical merits rather than any Arch lineage). That narrow focus lets its small team polish the Plasma experience more tightly than a distribution trying to support many desktops equally well, at the cost of being a poor fit for anyone who wants GNOME or Xfce instead. It's a favorite among KDE enthusiasts specifically for how closely and quickly it tracks new Plasma releases.
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