Original

iDeal OS is a computer operating system, an enhanced and personalized "respin" of the powerful MX Linux distribution, with the best privacy and security settings enabled by default.

Welcome to the world of Linux!

Secure

The main goals of iDeal OS are privacy and security: you can surf, shop, trade and bank online with complete peace of mind, without annoying ads, tracking, logging, bugs, viruses or unwanted disclosure of personal information.

The free Quad9 recursive DNS service is enabled by default and protects your computer from a wide range of threats such as malware, phishing, spyware, and botnets.

Protective

iDeal OS can protect the youngest members of your family by preventing unwanted content from being opened in front of their eyes.

Our children are our future, let them learn and enjoy technology while keeping them safe.

Specialized

iDeal OS is available in two different editions:

• Emerald Edition is designed to give you the best applications for your everyday computing needs. A friendly desktop experience for everyone.

• Diamond Edition turns your computer into a great workstation with a wide range of professional tools for your business. Empowering entrepreneurs, freelancers, programmers, web designers, content creators, artists, YouTubers, etc.

A comparison chart of the major installed applications can be found here.

iDeal OS Emerald Edition

Intuitive, simple and familiar interface, yet powerful when you need it.

iDeal OS Emerald comes with a pre-installed set of applications that allow you to work with the most common types of office documents, browse the Internet and manage your emails, enjoy your music and video collections, organize and edit your photos.

Thousands of free applications are available to help you personalize your computer even more: welcome to the world of Linux!

iDeal OS Emerald is always up-to-date: it automatically checks for available updates, but you decide if and when to install them.

iDeal OS Emerald is also "green": it is a 1:1 copy of the OS that I run on a 12 year old laptop, and it still performs quite well. Save money and the environment by keeping your hardware for a few more years.

iDeal OS Emerald Edition is free and fully functional: download and try it, installation is simple and straightforward.

Let me know what you think, and if you like it, please consider making a donation.

iDeal OS Diamond Edition

Based on the core of the Emerald Edition, iDeal OS Diamond Edition is a complete and powerful professional workstation!

It comes with a pre-installed set of applications that allow you to produce and edit almost any type of audio, video and image files. Powerful tools to support your creativity and imagination!

Applications for machine virtualization and artificial intelligence research and development are also included. Get ahead of the competition and grow your business with the best of tools!

Thousands of free applications are available to help you personalize your computer even more: welcome to the world of Linux!

iDeal OS Diamond is always up-to-date: it automatically checks for available updates, but you decide if and when to install them.

iDeal OS Diamond Edition is available with a one-time donation of 59€ or more as a token of appreciation for the hundreds of hours spent on this project.

Let me know what you think: your feedback is very welcome and will help me make iDeal OS even better.

Hardware requirements

iDeal OS Emerald Edition runs smoothly on PCs with a dual-core CPU, 4 GB of RAM and a 32 GB hard drive, and performs well on PCs with a quad-core CPU, 8 GB of RAM and an SSD hard drive.

Given the nature and purpose of iDeal OS Diamond Edition, an 8-core CPU, 16+ GB RAM, and 512+ GB NVMe or M2 SSD are recommended to take advantage of the great included software. The better your graphics card, the more you can handle complex video editing tasks (an NVIDIA GTX 1650 or equivalent is the minimum recommendation).

How to install

You can try iDeal OS in live mode, without modifying your current operating system (please note that performance is noticeably slower in live mode).

Before installing iDeal OS, please back up all your important files! The installation process will format your computer's hard drive / SSD, making it impossible to recover your files!

A fully functional bootable Live USB key can be created from the downloaded .ISO file using graphical tools like Etcher (on Windows, Mac or other Linux) or Rufus (on Windows only): just follow the application's instructions.

Reboot your PC from the USB key by pressing the boot menu button (a list of PC brands with their corresponding hotkeys).

iDeal OS will start in Live mode. You can explore and test it, and if you decide to install it:

1 ) back up all your important files to another HD drive / SSD / USB key;

2 ) run the MX installer and follow the instructions.

If necessary, the default passwords in live mode are:

User demo: demo

User root: root

Please remember that iDeal OS is a respin/snapshot of the powerful MX Linux distribution based on the Debian stable branch: as such, updates follow the "parent" timeline plus my personal contribution to maintain the iDeal OS customizations. You will automatically receive notifications about available updates. New respins/snapshots will be released when major changes occur: this avoids lots of packages to be downloaded in case of a new installation.

iDeal OS is not an official respin/release of MX Linux.

Download iDeal OS

iDeal OS Emerald Edition is free and fully functional: download and try it, installation is simple and straightforward.

Let me know what you think, and if you like it, please consider making a donation.

iDeal OS Diamond Edition is available with a one-time donation of 59€ or more as a token of appreciation for the hundreds of hours spent on this project.

iDeal OS Diamond Edition is a curated selection of tools to achieve first-class results in the creation of multimedia content: professional applications to boost and support your imagination and creativity.

About iDeal OS

Hello, my name is Luca.

I have been around computers since the days of the Commodore 128: hobbies, work and passion have given me a lot of experience in configuring operating systems and applications for various purposes. Since discovering Linux and the world of open source software, I have been involved in various projects.

iDeal OS Emerald Edition is the fruit of these experiences. Try it, it's free!

Let me know what you think, your feedback is very welcome and will help me make iDeal OS even better.

Thank you very much...

Get in Touch

Reach out to us for inquiries about iDeal OS, the alternative operating system designed for your peace of mind.