Garuda Linux KDE Dr460nized | A Beautiful Gaming Distro

Garuda Linux is an Arch based distribution that has already made a few appearances on the Tyler’s Tech YouTube channel. I’ve previously taken a look at their LXQt, Wayfire and KDE Ultimate offerings. This time I took a look at another variation of KDE which has been dubbed “Dr460nized”. You can download this version in two different flavors. One of them being a standard edition which will be suitable for most users. The other is geared towards Gaming and that’s the version I opted to install. The ISO size for the Gaming version was around 3.5GB making it a fair bit heavier than the standard version which weighed in at roughly 2.2GB.

Booting up the ISO you’ll see that it defaults to the non free drivers. Once you’re in the live environment you can begin the installation process. It uses the Calamares installer and much like all of the other versions of Garuda uses BTRFS as its default file system. While you’re choosing which drive to install your system to you will also be able to choose if you want a swap partition with or without hibernation. I opted for a swap partition with the ability to hibernate which worked flawlessly on Garuda Linux. All in all installation took under 10 minutes from start to finish on my machine.

The first time you boot up your newly installed system it will give you the option to run the Setup-Assistant. This will guide you through upgrading your system and installing some additional packages. One thing I was happy to see during this process was when I was given the choice of setting up AppImage integration. AppImages are a universal packaging format that will run on any distribution. Which I actually prefer in certain cases over Flatpak or Snap (which aren’t included out of the box). However, as this is an Arch based distribution you should find that the AUR (Arch User Repository) will have you covered.

Visually Garuda Linux have done an excellent job at making a beautifully designed out of the box desktop experience. It uses the “Sweetified Plasma” global theme and “Beautyline” icons which gives you plenty of bright colors and dark windows with transparency. The dock at the bottom of the screen as well as the panel at the top are provided by Latte-Dock.

You’ll find that out of the box it comes installed with a whole host of applications to get you up and running. It also includes Timeshift which it will utilize for full system snapshots using BTRFS. Automatic snapshots are configured to take a new snapshot every time you perform a system upgrade. This should give you added peace of mind in case any issues arise. As you would expect from a distribution thats focused on gaming it also ships with many gaming applications. It uses the Linux-tkg-bmq kernel and general performance in games felt smooth and responsive.

This version of Garuda Linux uses fish as its default shell instead of something like bash or zsh. The minimum system requirements are 4GB of RAM and 30GB Storage space. I found that on a fresh boot I was using a little over 1GB in RAM which is to be expected for a distribution of this class. Overall my first impressions of this distribution are better than I expected. This is definitely a distribution I would be happy to recommend to anyone looking for a beautiful desktop with decent gaming capabilities.

What do you think of Garuda Linux KDE Dr460nized? Let me know in the comments below!

Intro & Installation - 00:00
Post installation - 01:39
Gaming - 17:44

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[TylersTechNow]

"Due to recent outage we are in the process of rebuilding our Chaotic-AUR, for that we do apologize for any inconvenience this has cased. Kindly we ask you to be patient while we rebuild what has been lost. No ETA can be provided, keep an eye out on forums for announcement."

[Adityarm.]

Love how beautiful this distro looks. Best one I've seen.

[yakugoesgaruda]

I left Windows for Garuda Dr46onized Gaming release 6 month ago, it is the first distro that inspired me to take the step over to Linux.
Still I consider my self a noob and a GUI user but im slowly learning commands and how to use the terminal...
Now im running my pc on four screens without any issues what so ever, customized about everything possible and it looks awesome!!
After detoxing from Windows software I now use only opensource software, that took me some time, it was har letting go of the programs ive learned to master... Today I manage all my needs on my Garuda system, grahpic design, gaming, banking and all officelike tasks.

I can very much recomend you to try Garuda!! I only found it after trying 25+ distros and at that time was scared of leaving Windows,
you will probably find everything youre looking for in Garuda!

[OGdrnfr]

For everyone concerned about the RAM usage, Ive installed it on an old 2. gen i3 4GB RAM laptop already to run Minecraft. There were no official Windows graphics card driver (too old) but with Garuda worked all worked ootb after installing Java. So this can indeed breathe life into old devices :)
Thanks for that very well done review!

[PixelZombie]

Very beautiful Linux distros! I loved the icons too they blend very well with the dark environment! I also really liked that it comes with the dark theme by default!

[gerald]

I've been running it for about 2 weeks. Beautiful desktop. Thank you for the review.

[dipanjanpalchowdhury]

Have been using the dragonized gaming version for a month so far I just love, there were a couple of times when I broke the system but thanks for the backups I could restore it in a matter of minutes.

[nathanrego]

Just wanted to say I love ur videos! Your super in-depth and answer all of my questions by the time the video is over! Thanks a lot!

[finnk]

This is a great distribution for the average user to get up and running with. It comes with some great software preinstalled and has a lot of polish!
Choosing a more minimal install list and simplifying visual effects should easily fix the ram usage.
Thanks for the vid 👍 I think this will be my full-time Linux installation in the near future!

[KishoreG]

I installed this the other day. Amazing distro!

[GabiRuta]

Really love this Garuda Linux. It is on my laptop now in KDE Dragonized version. Thank you Tyler.

[sirajtayyabkhan]

You made a good comprehensive review of Garuda linux.

[fakepro]

I'm running this right now and it's very nice. I have used the grub backup menu more times than I can count lol and the theme is great because it's been the theme I've been using for the last year anyways so having a spin based around it is amazing.

[error]

Finally a distro that makes full use of modern PC's. It runs and looks great in my Ryzen box and it's gaming performance is top notch.

[Kolor-kode]

Been running this on my laptop for a while after seeing on a DT vid. No complaints so far.

[anantgupta]

TO let the setup assistant work. Just do the same thing 2 times. It will work

[ABHISHEKSINGH-jycn]

Whats about Download KDE Dragonized BlackArch

[mateen]

Hey Tyler, can you please review Garuda Gnome version. Btw i love watching your videos. Keep up the good work bro!

[justskittle]

I've used it for a week I think. Beautiful desktop and effects, probably the coolest I've ever seen, but man, it's way too heavy

[neo.x]

garuda linux is indian i am proud of my country