Fedora Media Writer vs Solus

Fedora Media Writer creates bootable USB drives by writing Fedora images to them. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and can download the image before writing. A Live Fedora drive can be booted to try Fedora without making permanent changes to the computer. Getting started requires a 4GB USB flash drive.

Writing uses direct access to the device and replaces its existing contents and partition layout. Fedora Media Writer includes a Restore feature to put the drive back into a standard single-partition layout. Image checks can include comparing the USB device with the downloaded ISO or booting it and running a media check. Fedora also advises verifying downloaded images with a checksum file signed by a Fedora Project OpenPGP certificate. Installation options include Fedora's RPM package, Flathub on Linux, Windows releases, and a macOS DMG. The project identifies the software as GPL-2.0 licensed and directs users with crashes or writing errors to open a GitHub issue. It is free: free.

Solus is a free, independent Linux operating system for home and office use on personal computers. It comes in Budgie, GNOME, Plasma and Xfce desktop editions. Budgie includes settings tools and Raven for notifications, media playback and sound-device controls; Xfce is intended as a lightweight option for less powerful hardware. Solus follows a stable rolling release model, with weekly updates that the project says are tested before release and do not require system reinstalls. It ships with Firefox, Thunderbird and LibreOffice, and supports Flatpak applications. The Software Center provides graphical software management, while eopkg handles package operations from the command line. Minimum requirements are a 64-bit x86-64 processor, 4 GB RAM and 10 GB free disk space. Solus is available as installable ISO images for physical computers, including desktops and laptops. Installation help is available through its documentation, Matrix community and forum. The project describes itself as volunteer-run and reliant on community donations.