RefreshOS is a top contender for new Linux users

RefreshOS 3.0 is a polished Linux distribution built on Debian 13 and KDE Plasma 6.3.6, running the Wayland compositor and Linux kernel 6.12. It arrives with what the Linux community calls sane defaults: drivers and firmware, multimedia codecs, sensible audio and power settings, and a curated set of apps such as VLC, LibreOffice, GIMP, Kdenlive, Thunderbird, Elisa, PhotoQt, KWave Sound Editor, KolourPaint, Pluma, Weather, Brave, KDE Connect and KMouth.

A new Reload Menu moves categories to the right and adds a pin so the menu stays open when launching multiple apps. Three RefreshOS themes are provided — Hybrid (default), Light and Super Dark — and small tweaks quickly change the look, from Window Decorations to panel behavior.

Performance is strong: apps open quickly and animations remain smooth even with desktop effects enabled. Flatpak is included by default, though integration with KDE Discover requires adding the Discover Flatpak backend and enabling Flathub.

refreshos, debian 13, kde plasma, wayland, linux 6.12, flatpak, flathub, vlc, libreoffice, kde discover