This Linux distro makes your old laptop feel like a Mac - and it's free

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ZDNET key takeaways

• pearOS is now an Arch-based distribution.
• This Linux distro looks and feels like MacOS.
• You can install and use this OS for free.

Pear OS has had a bit of history. It started out as a Debian-based Linux distribution called Pear OS. Then, out of nowhere, it was renamed Comice OS. The rename gremlins struck again, and it was back to Pear OS.

Pear OS was then sold to a company hoping to keep the distribution alive, but that experiment did not last long, and a single developer, Alexandru Bălan, brought it back, only this time as pearOS.

Bălan switched from the Debian base to an Arch base, gave it a new installer, the 6.17 kernel, and KDE Plasma 6.5.3. Of course, Bălan tweaked the KDE Plasma theme until it looked ...