RefreshOS 2.5: The Debian remix that borrows from every desk in the house
(2025/08/29)
- Reference: 1756478647
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/08/29/refreshos_25/
- Source link:
RefreshOS is a Debian and KDE-based distro with a difference: it casts its net a lot wider for tools and components.
[1]RefreshOS 2.5 is a Debian-based distro using the KDE desktop – but very little of KDE apart from the desktop itself. This version is based on Debian 12, so, fully updated, it's effectively Debian 12.11. This also means that it's still based on KDE Plasma 5 – specifically, 5.27.5, the stock version for Debian "Bookworm."
Distro creator Jordan Tyler Burchett of [2]eXybit Technologies told us that earlier versions of RefreshOS were built on Kubuntu, but it switched to Debian with this version:
We're very aware that Debian 12 is now borderline ancient. Hardware compatibility issues have been our biggest challenge, and addressing this is our main focus for RefreshOS 3. That release will be built on top of Debian 13 stable and will introduce our own repositories alongside Debian's, allowing us to offer newer software without compromising stability.
All of the distro's components (bar one, which we'll come back to) come from the standard Debian repositories. As shipped, RefreshOS does not support Flatpak or Snap packages, and this restriction applies system-wide. You get some FOSS favorites such as LibreOffice (7.4.7) and GIMP (2.10.34).
[3]
RefreshOS 2.5's default desktop: a beagle in place of the usual penguin
However, many of them do not come from the KDE project. In fact, we don't think we've ever seen a KDE-based distro that used so many non-KDE components in its default installation. The file manager is Nemo, from the Cinnamon desktop. The terminal emulator is the latest LXTerm, from LXDE. The text editor is Pluma, from MATE. The optical disk writer is Xfburn, from Xfce. The desktop Calendar and Calculator apps come from Deepin.
Not all of Plasma 5.27 has been replaced: RefreshOS uses KMail, the KDE address book, the KDE archive manager, the Plasma System Monitor, the Discover graphical software manager, and of course the System Settings control panel.
[4]
It's an interesting combination. As we have [5]noted before – in fact, [6]more than once – KDE Plasma itself is rather inconsistent, with some apps using traditional menu bars and other hamburger menus, some apps using version numbers and others dates, and so on. Using an assortment of apps drawn from other environments doesn't make RefreshOS any less consistent. Most of its choices use the plain old menu bar-style UI, which we strongly prefer.
[7]
[8]
The OS has an overall dark theme, and quite restrained styling, with a wallpaper behind the GRUB menu, an animated logo on the loading screen, and a curving avenue of trees on the login screen. Our least favorite image was the beagle on the default wallpaper, generated by an LLM bot, but we're powerfully averse to generative "AI" imagery. Personally, this vulture barely notices color schemes and themes as a rule, but we suspect that these are probably all over the place – and good luck trying to impose greater visual uniformity if you do care about such things.
[9]
Four different apps from four different desktops, but they all work together harmoniously
We mentioned that one component isn't from the Debian project. That is the web browser, which is Brave. We expressed our grave reservations about Brave when [10]Zorin OS 17.3 adopted it earlier this year . We did note there that the Zorin developers have neutered the lion by disabling most of its more controversial features, such as its built-in cryptocurrency. RefreshOS's developer has not done this. In fact, on the browser's first run, it immediately asked us if we wanted to sign up for its [11]Basic Attention Token reward scheme.
[12]GhostBSD 25.02 adds 'Gershwin' desktop for a Mac-like twist
[13]FydeOS offers ChromeOS without the Google strings attached
[14]Opinionated Arch derivative CachyOS overtakes Mint and MX on DistroWatch
[15]A Linux alternative? Debian/Hurd shows microkernel Unix dream is alive
We do not. We stand by our earlier recommendation: read " [16]Stop using Brave Browser " and " [17]Why I recommend against Brave ," then install [18]Waterfox or [19]LibreWolf if you're worried about Firefox's [20]expanding LLM-bot integration .
In a world of gray-blue software, RefreshOS is colorful and has personality. It has a well-curated assortment of apps that displays much more thought than in most distros. Installation uses the Calamares cross-distro installer, a good choice. In fact, one of the only changes we didn't think was a definite improvement was the use of the [21]Avalon menu as the app launcher. As ever, KDE offers a profusion of alternatives in [22]this department – we counted 37 others – and Avalon looks good and is simpler than most of them, but the single long, uncategorized list of apps is not a particularly helpful layout.
It's no heavyweight, either: it only used 8 GB of disk space and 1.1 GB of RAM when idle, which isn't bad for 2025.
[23]
Browser aside, we quite liked RefreshOS 2.5. We don't agree with all the app choices – we prefer Thunderbird to KMail, for instance – but they all do their jobs, and most share the same UI, which is more than you can say for KDE's own app catalog. As ever with a minority remix, there is a small risk that if you do encounter problems, you may not find much of a community to offer help. But underneath, it's just Debian – simply better-looking and more colorful. ®
Get our [24]Tech Resources
[1] https://refreshos.org/download_refreshos_2-5.html
[2] https://exybittechnologies.com/about.html
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/08/28/refos_2-5_desktop.jpg
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aLHOliyOs7CxP-czG1GWTgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/09/plasma_524/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/15/openshot_3_and_kdenlive/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aLHOliyOs7CxP-czG1GWTgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aLHOliyOs7CxP-czG1GWTgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/08/28/refos_4_apps.jpg
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/03/zorin_os_173/
[11] https://basicattentiontoken.org/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/27/ghostbsd_2502/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/21/fydeos_chromiumos_degoogled/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/20/cachyos_distrowatch/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/18/debian_hurd_13/
[16] https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-brave-browser/
[17] https://thelibre.news/no-really-dont-use-brave/
[18] https://www.waterfox.net/
[19] https://librewolf.net/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/22/firefox_142/
[21] https://store.kde.org/p/1386465/
[22] https://store.kde.org/browse?cat=398
[23] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aLHOliyOs7CxP-czG1GWTgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[24] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
[1]RefreshOS 2.5 is a Debian-based distro using the KDE desktop – but very little of KDE apart from the desktop itself. This version is based on Debian 12, so, fully updated, it's effectively Debian 12.11. This also means that it's still based on KDE Plasma 5 – specifically, 5.27.5, the stock version for Debian "Bookworm."
Distro creator Jordan Tyler Burchett of [2]eXybit Technologies told us that earlier versions of RefreshOS were built on Kubuntu, but it switched to Debian with this version:
We're very aware that Debian 12 is now borderline ancient. Hardware compatibility issues have been our biggest challenge, and addressing this is our main focus for RefreshOS 3. That release will be built on top of Debian 13 stable and will introduce our own repositories alongside Debian's, allowing us to offer newer software without compromising stability.
All of the distro's components (bar one, which we'll come back to) come from the standard Debian repositories. As shipped, RefreshOS does not support Flatpak or Snap packages, and this restriction applies system-wide. You get some FOSS favorites such as LibreOffice (7.4.7) and GIMP (2.10.34).
[3]
RefreshOS 2.5's default desktop: a beagle in place of the usual penguin
However, many of them do not come from the KDE project. In fact, we don't think we've ever seen a KDE-based distro that used so many non-KDE components in its default installation. The file manager is Nemo, from the Cinnamon desktop. The terminal emulator is the latest LXTerm, from LXDE. The text editor is Pluma, from MATE. The optical disk writer is Xfburn, from Xfce. The desktop Calendar and Calculator apps come from Deepin.
Not all of Plasma 5.27 has been replaced: RefreshOS uses KMail, the KDE address book, the KDE archive manager, the Plasma System Monitor, the Discover graphical software manager, and of course the System Settings control panel.
[4]
It's an interesting combination. As we have [5]noted before – in fact, [6]more than once – KDE Plasma itself is rather inconsistent, with some apps using traditional menu bars and other hamburger menus, some apps using version numbers and others dates, and so on. Using an assortment of apps drawn from other environments doesn't make RefreshOS any less consistent. Most of its choices use the plain old menu bar-style UI, which we strongly prefer.
[7]
[8]
The OS has an overall dark theme, and quite restrained styling, with a wallpaper behind the GRUB menu, an animated logo on the loading screen, and a curving avenue of trees on the login screen. Our least favorite image was the beagle on the default wallpaper, generated by an LLM bot, but we're powerfully averse to generative "AI" imagery. Personally, this vulture barely notices color schemes and themes as a rule, but we suspect that these are probably all over the place – and good luck trying to impose greater visual uniformity if you do care about such things.
[9]
Four different apps from four different desktops, but they all work together harmoniously
We mentioned that one component isn't from the Debian project. That is the web browser, which is Brave. We expressed our grave reservations about Brave when [10]Zorin OS 17.3 adopted it earlier this year . We did note there that the Zorin developers have neutered the lion by disabling most of its more controversial features, such as its built-in cryptocurrency. RefreshOS's developer has not done this. In fact, on the browser's first run, it immediately asked us if we wanted to sign up for its [11]Basic Attention Token reward scheme.
[12]GhostBSD 25.02 adds 'Gershwin' desktop for a Mac-like twist
[13]FydeOS offers ChromeOS without the Google strings attached
[14]Opinionated Arch derivative CachyOS overtakes Mint and MX on DistroWatch
[15]A Linux alternative? Debian/Hurd shows microkernel Unix dream is alive
We do not. We stand by our earlier recommendation: read " [16]Stop using Brave Browser " and " [17]Why I recommend against Brave ," then install [18]Waterfox or [19]LibreWolf if you're worried about Firefox's [20]expanding LLM-bot integration .
In a world of gray-blue software, RefreshOS is colorful and has personality. It has a well-curated assortment of apps that displays much more thought than in most distros. Installation uses the Calamares cross-distro installer, a good choice. In fact, one of the only changes we didn't think was a definite improvement was the use of the [21]Avalon menu as the app launcher. As ever, KDE offers a profusion of alternatives in [22]this department – we counted 37 others – and Avalon looks good and is simpler than most of them, but the single long, uncategorized list of apps is not a particularly helpful layout.
It's no heavyweight, either: it only used 8 GB of disk space and 1.1 GB of RAM when idle, which isn't bad for 2025.
[23]
Browser aside, we quite liked RefreshOS 2.5. We don't agree with all the app choices – we prefer Thunderbird to KMail, for instance – but they all do their jobs, and most share the same UI, which is more than you can say for KDE's own app catalog. As ever with a minority remix, there is a small risk that if you do encounter problems, you may not find much of a community to offer help. But underneath, it's just Debian – simply better-looking and more colorful. ®
Get our [24]Tech Resources
[1] https://refreshos.org/download_refreshos_2-5.html
[2] https://exybittechnologies.com/about.html
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/08/28/refos_2-5_desktop.jpg
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aLHOliyOs7CxP-czG1GWTgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/09/plasma_524/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/15/openshot_3_and_kdenlive/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aLHOliyOs7CxP-czG1GWTgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aLHOliyOs7CxP-czG1GWTgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/08/28/refos_4_apps.jpg
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/03/zorin_os_173/
[11] https://basicattentiontoken.org/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/27/ghostbsd_2502/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/21/fydeos_chromiumos_degoogled/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/20/cachyos_distrowatch/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/18/debian_hurd_13/
[16] https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-brave-browser/
[17] https://thelibre.news/no-really-dont-use-brave/
[18] https://www.waterfox.net/
[19] https://librewolf.net/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/22/firefox_142/
[21] https://store.kde.org/p/1386465/
[22] https://store.kde.org/browse?cat=398
[23] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aLHOliyOs7CxP-czG1GWTgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[24] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Doctor Syntax
“we counted 37 others…”
And every one better than W11's menu.
“we counted 37 others…”
We need to make one, super-duper version that’s powerful enough and configurable enough to work for everyone’s use case.