this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Share Your Favorite Linux Distros and Why You Love Them (lemmy.fmhy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by InternetPirate@lemmy.fmhy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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So we can clearly see the most popular distros and the reasons why people use them, please follow this format:

  • Write the name of the Linux distro as a first-level comment.
  • Reply to that comment with each reason you like the distro as a separate answer.

For example:

  • Distro (first-level comment)
    • Reason (one answer)
    • Other reason (a different answer)

We're looking to create a comprehensive list of the most popular Linux distributions and the reasons why people use them.

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[–] nychtelios@rlyeh.icu 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

NixOS, I have a fetish for configuration files

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm currently doing my second pass of Nix after diving deep into it last time and coming out unsatisfied. The same problems that I had before with it are problems I'm seeing again:

  • disjointed configs pulled from random source or build repos on the internet
  • unintuitive grammars with parameters that require you to download an autocompletion spec
  • flakes that aren't immediately easy to grok

Contrast that with my last Guix experience:

  • Lisp form, super easy to understand grammar
  • Recipes are so trivial that I've written three on my first day
  • Source tree is included and you are expected to add branches to it

The only problem with Guix that I can see is that it's not as popular

[–] nychtelios@rlyeh.icu 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Flakes are extremely simple (my whole system is a flake: https://github.com/cmargiotta/dotfiles ), but they are basically not documented.

The grammar is really really bad, I prefere a lot the Guix one too! I am using NixOS only because the last time I tried Guix I didn't find a lot of packages for their extremist GNU policy (I agree, but I need some packages), is it still like that?

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

is it still like that?

Yes and no -- there are now non-free repos (so you can install firefox for example), and even non-free binary repos too.