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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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Niche Distro Users: Why? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 3 months ago by BaumGeist@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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I occasionally see love for niche small distros, instead of the major ones...

And it just seems to me like there's more hurdles than help when it comes to adopting an OS whose users number in the hundreds or dozens. I can understand trying one for fun in a VM, but I prefer sticking to the bigger distros for my daily drivers since the they'll support more software and not be reliant on upstream sources, and any bugs or other issues are more likely to be documented abd have workarounds/fixes.

So: What distro do you daily drive and why? What drove you to choose it?

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[–] ssm@lemmy.sdf.org 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Because I'm a software luddite that believe we peaked in design at BSD/Plan9, and most of the "innovations" of enshittified corporate mainstream distros (redhat userland, atomic/immutable environments, "universal" (unless you're not on linux) package management, containerization of anything and everything) don't impress me, and more often than not turn me away. I'm not saying software can't improve, but when it comes to mainstream linux (especially redhat), innovation is always 0 steps forward 40 convoluted leaps back with bonus windows compatibility.

reliant on upstream sources

Not relevant to independent distributions, which I'd actually consider more of a problem with popular distros very often being forks (most often of debian).

[–] msage@programming.dev 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

So which distro do you use? Plan9 was never completed I think?

[–] bubstance@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Plan 9 is still actively developed in the form of 9front; updates and new features trickle down to 9legacy from there.

The "original" Plan 9—meaning stock 4th Edition—is more of a museum piece at this point, though, yes.

[–] msage@programming.dev 3 points 3 months ago

Oh boy, I know where I'm losing my next free weekend

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Just out of curiosity, what distro do you use?

Or maybe, despite the question, you use BSD? ( which is cool if so )

[–] ssm@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 3 months ago

I use OpenBSD on my production machine and VPS, I use Alpine Linux on my phone. I'm also partial to Void Linux, though I don't use it on any of my devices at the moment.