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elementary OS screenshot

elementary OS

elementary OS is an Ubuntu-based desktop distribution. Some of its more interesting features include a custom desktop environment called Pantheon and many custom apps including Photos, Music, Videos, Calendar, Terminal, Files, and more.

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SmartOS screenshot

SmartOS

SmartOS is an open-source UNIX-like operating system based on illumos, a community fork of OpenSolaris. It features four technologies - ZFS (a combined file system and logical volume manager), DTrace (a dynamic tracing framework for troubleshooting kernel and application problems), Zones (a lightweight virtualisation solution), KVM and bhyve (two full virtualisation solutions for running a variety of guest operating systems, including Linux, Windows, BSD and Plan9).

Technical Specs Comparison
elementary OSSmartOS
Debian, Ubuntu (LTS)BaseSolaris
apt / deb, flatpakPackage Managerpkgsrc
systemdInit Systemother
Fixed ReleaseRelease ModelFixed Release
8.1Latest Version
BeginnerDifficultyIntermediate
December 22, 2025Release DateJune 11, 2026
x86_64
Architecture
x86_64
PantheonNo Desktop
Desktops
PantheonNo Desktop