Most Linux users associate Africa with Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Ubuntu, but other Linux fruits thrive on African themes: The exotic-sounding MakuluLinux takes its name from a Zambian mountain. Maintainer Jacque Raymer publishes Makulu, which means "big" in the language of the Zulu, for a number of desktops: KDE, Xfce, Cinnamon, and a soon-to-be-released LXDE/Xfce hybrid.

Start-up Linux distros often fall into predictable patterns, but MakuluLinux comes across as a truly original vision. Makulu's sophisticated design, inspired collection of extras, and sophisticated package selection help it stand out against the field of competing distributions.

According to the Makulu website [1], the ambitious goal of the project is to provide "… a sleek, smooth, and stable user experience that is able to run on any computer from old to new, from netbooks to notebooks, desktops to server stations." Like other Linux variants designed for out-of-the-box usability, Makulu comes pre-installed with the necessary codecs and drivers for smooth multimedia experience on a variety of hardware platforms. Makulu also comes pre-installed with the Steam gaming platform. According to the Makulu developer, you can "… simply log in to Steam and start playing your favorite game titles."

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