HackerOS is what a Linux enthusiast’s OS should be

There are over 1,000 Linux distributions on the market. Throw a rock into the tech pond, and I guarantee that you’ll hit a Linux distribution. They are everywhere and range from the incredibly simple to the incredibly complex.

The majority of Linux distributions that are used tend to live in the middle ground, where you get a solid mix of user-friendliness and advanced features. There are also some distributions that, on the surface, sound like they would be geared toward a specific user base, but turn out to be pretty universal in nature.

Such is the case with HackerOS.

The name HackerOS elicits images of hoodie-wearing individuals in dark rooms, sitting in front of a bank of monitors, using Linux to wreak havoc on the world.

Thank you, Hollywood.

After installing HackerOS, you even see an image that is very similar to what I described (Figure 1).

Figure 1: It might look menacing, but it’s not.

What is HackerOS?

HackerOS is a Linux distribution that is based on Debian (Testing) and targets regular users, gamers, and cybersecurity enthusiasts.

That’s a pretty wide range of user types. Almost immediately after installation, I was able to confirm that HackerOS is a good fit for each of the above types.

HackerOS ships with the KDE Plasma desktop (version 6.5.4) powered by the Wayland graphics platform, kernel 6.18.5, and zsh (Z Shell). You can use the default Debian kernel, or you can install the XanMod or Liquorix kernel for improved performance. You also get preinstalled firmware for better hardware compatibility, as well as GOverlay and Steam for gaming.

There are also the usual apps (web browser, media players, text editor, etc.). What is missing is an office suite, an email app, and a few more of the usual suspects.

Okay, it took me a while of digging and testing to start to understand why this is called HackerOS.

First and foremost, you need to understand that there are different editions of HackerOS. I bet you can guess where this is going.

The available versions are:

• HackerOS Official – what I tested. This is for average users who want the KDE Plasma desktop.
• HackerOS NVIDIA – this is the version you want for NVIDIA GPUs. This is for average users with NVIDIA GPUs.
• HackerOS Official: Xfce – the Xfce version. This is for average users who prefer the Xfce desktop.
• HackerOS Official: GNOME – the GNOME version. This is for average users who prefer the GNOME desktop.
• HackerOS: Hydra – a version that resembles Garuda Linux. This is for average users who want a beautiful desktop out of the box.
• HackerOS: Cybersecurity – a version with several tools geared toward cybersecurity. This is for those who are heavily into security.
• HackerOS: LTS – the long-term support version. This is for average users who want/need long-term support.

The thing that impressed me most during my time with HackerOS was the terminal. I tend to stick with Linux distributions that use Bash, so experiencing ZSH was a treat. For example, the Bash shell is case sensitive. If you have the command HackerOS-Steam and you type hackeros-steam, that command will not run.

If, on the other hand, you run that command in ZSH, and hit enter, the shell will automatically add the correct capitalization (Figure 2). 

Figure 2: I would love for Bash to adopt this feature.

If you use the terminal a lot, this can be a real time saver (so you’re not always searching for the correct capitalization of a command).

Because I opted to go the KDE Plasma route, I knew it would be easy to share a folder to my LAN with HackerOS. All I had to do was right-click a folder (I always go with the ~/Public folder), select Properties, click the Share tab, and click Install Samba (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Sharing a folder from HackerOS to a LAN is pretty easy.

The “hacker” commands

HackerOS includes a few unique commands. For example, if you run the command hacker, you’ll receive a listing of commands that are geared toward hackers, admins, and developers. Here’s an example: run the command hacker, and you’ll seea  list of commands you can run with it. Let’s play a game. Issue the command hacker game and you’ll be presented with a text-based game where you play a hacker in a high-security digital fortress with a mission to breach the central mainframe and extract classified data.

Fun times.

Some of those commands (such as hacker unpack) have sub-commands, so make sure you poke around to see what’s available.

Summing up my experience

I enjoyed my time with HackerOS. Although it looks like a fairly typical Debian-based distribution, the further you dive down the rabbit hole, the more interesting things you’ll find.

However, it wasn’t perfect. For example, the desktop is a mixture of English and Polish, and I wasn’t able to change that. Also, some of the hacker commands don’t work. When I attempted to run hacker shell, I received an error because the actual script used is missing.

Besides those two issues, I found HackerOS to be a treat. It adds just enough to level this distribution such that it can be used by just about anyone.

If you’re interested in HackerOS, download the ISO of your choice and give it a go.

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