Recommended minimum system requirements
Clear Linux* OS can run on most modern hardware and is capable of running with modest hardware resources. Out of the box, Clear Linux OS can run on a single CPU core, 1 GB RAM, and 2 GB of disk space.
For use cases requiring minimal resources, Clear Linux OS about can be used to create a highly customized installation that can even run on a system with a 128MB of memory and 600MB of disk space, for example.
Installer requirements
The live desktop installer requires at least 1 GB of RAM because more resources are required to run in live mode than after Clear Linux OS is installed onto persistent storage.
For hardware with less resources, use the live server installer because it has a smaller memory footprint.
See https://clearlinux.org/downloads for more download options.
System requirements
Clear Linux OS requires an x86 64-bit processor which supports Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.1 (Intel® SSE 4.1), and it requires a system that supports UEFI.
The Clear Linux OS installer performs a system compatibility check upon booting. To manually verify system compatibility with Clear Linux OS, run the compatibility check tool or go to http://ark.intel.com and check for these features:
- Instruction Set:
- 64-bit
- Instruction Set Extensions:
- Supplemental Streaming SIMD Extension 3 (Intel® SSSE3)
- Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.1 (Intel® SSE 4.1)
- Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.2 (Intel® SSE 4.2)
- Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI)
- Carry-less Multiplication (PCLMUL)
The following processor families have been verified to run Clear Linux OS:
- Intel® Core™ Processor Family (2nd generation or greater)
- Intel® Xeon® E3-xxxx processor
- Intel® Xeon® E5-xxxx processor
- Intel® Xeon® E7-xxxx processor
- Intel® Atom® processor C Series
- Intel® Atom® processor E Series
Recommended configurations
For general Clear Linux OS desktop use the recommended minimum requirements include:
| Component | Configuration |
| Processor | Compatible x86 64-bit processor |
| Memory | 4GB RAM |
| Disk | 20 GB |
| Graphics | Device with openGL support (e.g. Intel HD/UHD Graphics) |
| Network | Active Internet connection |