35
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by NokkR6@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml

Hey guys! I'm looking for a unique and creative Linux distro that i can use in day to day situations. Any reccomendations?

top 41 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago

OS means operating system, the thing that allows to get shit done. You don't want this to be unique nor creative.

[-] A_norny_mousse@piefed.social 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'm glad this is getting at least a few upvotes.

You can still play around with it, but the base should be boringly solid and widely compatible.
Then make it unique.

And I don't mean to say that distro developers or even users shouldn't be creative.

[-] Bitflip@lemmy.ml 31 points 2 days ago

Unique? Hannah Montana Linux is back.

[-] HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago

But to be honest, TempleOS is way cooler.

While plan9 is Unix tidied up a bit.

[-] NokkR6@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago
[-] phanto@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

I put it on a machine as a joke and, well... Three months and it hasn't gone bye-bye.

[-] HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago

Look at distrowatch.org.

Myself, I am using plain old Debian stable since about 17 years, after using SuSE and a bit of Ubuntu since 1998 or so.

I also use a bit of Arch and Guix when it comes handy.

So, I am a boring guy.

But back to your question: What du you want? What is your goal?

[-] aary@lemmy.ml 15 points 2 days ago

Guix, NixOS, Gentoo. Which situations do you mean?

[-] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago

I second this. Would add gobolinux

[-] NokkR6@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Browsing, studying and working(jornalism writing and research)

[-] comfy@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It's disappointing to see only one reply (so far) challenging your request. Why do you want a unique distro for day to day?

I've used a variety of unique distros simply to explore them, or for specific purposes which the OS uniquely fills. And it's great that some non-unique OSs have workflows that change the ways a new user may be familiar with (e.g. tiling window managers). But I've ultimately had a great time picking a stable, popular daily driver and creatively customizing it to look and act unique and personalized.

[-] CallMeAl@piefed.zip 12 points 2 days ago
[-] NokkR6@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

How is the experience? I heard it's a very fun distro.

[-] SwooshBakery624@programming.dev 6 points 2 days ago

Chimera is a general-purpose Linux-based OS born from unhappiness with the status quo. We aim to create a system that is simple, transparent, and easy to pick up, without having to give up practicality and a rich feature set.

https://chimera-linux.org/

[-] TrivialRevolution@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I've used alpine and can confirm, it's pretty fun and efficient.

I've even been thinking of trying to setup a super small work environment on it, a full Wayland desktop daily driver, like, using labwc, lxqt, foot terminal and Emacs making it into a terminal first workplace with the ability to exploit it's computing efficiency to make use of the modern stack in stuff like web browsing when the terminal tooling doesn't cut it.

My computer can run everything pretty well already, but a terminal first environment is the perfect training for me to get used to my new split keyboard layout, while also being a perfect excuse to go all in on my programming hobby by setting everything up in a container like environment such as alpine, additionally, the minimalism larp appeals a lot to me, it just feels right.

[-] confusedpuppy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 days ago

I use Alpine Linux as a daily desktop. I use swaywm and foot, sometimes LibreWolf for browsing. I'm mostly using the command line with some TUI's so it's a very minimal system.

I found out I really enjoy POSIX scripting so that's how I choose to spend my spare time. I try to make scripts that make using the CLI environment easier to use.

If you are interested, I have a script that can setup Alpine on a desktop with full disk encryption. I didn't figure out how to do it, I just made the script easier to use. https://codeberg.org/taters/Alpine-Linux-Install_Full-Disk-Encryption_LVM

I also use it for two Raspberry Pi devices. I think the minimal environment is good for a server. Less complexity and attack surface to think about.

I've learned a lot about computers and the operating system with Alpine, it's been a fun experience.

[-] phanto@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 days ago

I tried to run Genshin Impact on Alpine once. Did not succeed.

[-] lilith267@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago

Never got Genshin working on any distro, even the "anime game launcher" launcher

[-] phanto@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

I have it running right now on Fedora using lutris. Standard install, no weird steps or anything. Lutris is flatpak.

[-] lilith267@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago

I drove Alpine a while back and the docs are amazing for getting every little thing setup. LabWC, Wayfire, and River (now river-classic) all ran perfectly with a fully custom EWW bar/launcher/notifications ontop of them. I only ever played the OG S.T.A.L.K.E.R games and Anomaly on that setup but they ran without hiccup

Its still installed on my laptop but I haven't really touched it in quite some time, and my desktop is on Bazzite since its mainly a gaming machine. I dont recommend Alpine as a desktop distro because of the amount of setup/configuration needed, but I find it much nicer to use as a dev system than Arch

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

GoboLinux. It does the software-as-directory thing, like MacOS.

[-] Peasley@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

i always liked Bunsenlabs, very nice minimalist setup. windowmaker live (wmlive) is also interesting, more in a retro direction.

For the opposite side of the spectrum: Garuda Linux Dragonized

[-] NokkR6@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Thank you! Gonna give a try.

[-] ZoDoneRightNow@kbin.earth 5 points 2 days ago
[-] NokkR6@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Gonna take a look. Thanks.

[-] cthulhupunk0@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago

Unique? Personal favorite of mine: https://dyne.org/dynebolic/

Personally, my "I'm too lazy to build this from the ground up" daily driver is cachyos now...used to be Manjaro or Garuda, but I feel like cachy does the same stuff with less bloat.

When I feel picky and want to spend the time, void is my goto. Xbps is a fantastic package manager. Nix is worth running as a daily driver once (although guix sounds REAL interesting), but it's not for folks who want to avoid a steep learning curve. If you want something more gentoo-flavored, sabayon is gentoo for the lazy (and it bundles a binary package manager for those who are impatient xD ).

I know one guy who daily drove tinycore for a while. Same with puppy Linux. I couldn't get into beyond the occasional live boot.

[-] tiptoes@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago
[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago

QubesOS is such a cool idea, I just wish it didn't take 2 GPUs and a ton of work to make it play games with any effectiveness

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 days ago

Could always get a dirt cheap AMD GPU off of eBay. Basically anything GCN or newer will work.

[-] SwooshBakery624@programming.dev 1 points 2 days ago

Technically not a Linux distro, but a Xen distro.

[-] NokkR6@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I was looking for to try this one but i'm afraid is too much for my computer. I am getting dell alienware 16 4050.

[-] als@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 days ago

I've been playing around with Alpine Linux lately which has been fun. Also if you haven't used an immutable distro before, they're quite different to play around with.

[-] NokkR6@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Gonna give a look. Thank you!

[-] historicaldocuments@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

All of them at once.

Get very, very good at virtual machines, containers, and networks and set up your computer so that it looks like an OSCP test lab environment. Have your daily driver computer have its own user space networks decoupled from each other.

We're kind of at a point where a lot of concepts have been done and done well. If you get used to having NFS (securely!) set up, you can run it on your host computer which runs something relatively boring and have a bunch of VMs that do whatever you want. Tried something weird with the latest Gentoo and it didn't work? Flip the off switch on that VM, mount the image as a drive and copy off what you want, then start over.

[-] mHtt@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago
[-] NokkR6@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago

It's about distros updates?

[-] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago
[-] NokkR6@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I heard about it, but never tried.

[-] eremophila@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Redcore

https://redcorelinux.org/

No idea what your day to day is, or what you consider "unique and creative", or why that would be selection criteria for an os though.

this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2026
35 points (90.7% liked)

Linux

67960 readers
688 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS