Testing Multiple Linux Distributions Is Now Possible Without Even Closing Your Browser, with DistroSea
One of the consequences of GNU/Linux environments being free software is that there is an enormous variety of options to choose from when deciding which distribution to install on our machines.
Until recently, one of the most popular tools for this task was DistroTest, a website that allowed users to emulate various Linux distributions directly in their browser for a first look, free of any security risks.
However, DistroTest has been offline for some time now. Fortunately, when one door closes another opens quickly, and in its place a new alternative has emerged called DistroSea, which offers a very similar user experience.
This means that anyone turning to DistroSea can try out various Linux distributions without having to install any of them on their own machines.
LINUX and GNU: LINUX: WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT WORKS
Using DistroSea
Using DistroSea is straightforward: when you visit the site you will find a wide list of popular distributions, such as Alma Linux, Arch Linux, CentOS Stream, Debian, Fedora, Linux Mint, openSUSE, Slackware, Ubuntu… among many others.
And not only can you try one distribution or another — once you select one, you will be able to choose a specific version of it.
Once you have selected the distribution and version, the website will start virtualizing the chosen operating system and, within seconds, a session will open in which users can interact with the distribution.
Alpine Linux in the browser, in full-screen mode
By default it launches in full-screen mode, but users simply need to press ESC or F11 to return to the normal view.
At the moment, DistroSea offers ‘only’ 39 virtual machines to test. However, its creators plan to add more distributions in the future. They also intend to soon add a server located in Europe or the US, to address the latency issues caused by the current server, which is located in India.
As for how DistroSea works, few details are available at this time. According to a Reddit thread, it appears that most distribution ISO images are downloaded via the quickget script from the Quickemu project, a handy tool for fast and easy emulation. The noVNC libraries are used to render the desktop inside a web page.
