*or distribution

Having been a (GNU-)Linux user since 2006 (desktop only), I have done what many Linux users have also done: hop around from one thing to another.

That all stopped a few years ago when I decided that I would just stick with Debian. I was happy and comfortable. It worked. I used Stable, Testing, Unstable… no issues.

That is until about 4 months ago I was cleaning and found an older laptop and decided to try something different on it: Alpine Linux.

I even wrote about it on my blog. It was such a nice installation and process that I decided to put it on my main personal laptop.

Since April I have been using Alpine and I must say I am pleased. Differences from one Linux to the next aren’t much to write about. With Alpine however, I finally experienced another part of Linux that I hadn’t had the opportunity to enjoy: the community.

Package requesting? Easy. Asking for help? No shame. Patience and help provided? Excellent.

None of those comments are to disparage other OS communities. It is simply that I had only ever used popular distros (Debian- and Arch-based) so I never needed to ask for help. Either way, I am still using Alpine.

So, just to repeat the titular question: what have you tried out this year? What are your impressions?

  • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
    2·
    1 year ago

    I feel like I’m the only one who doesn’t consider different Linux distros to be different OSes. I was expecting to read people trying out Haiku, ReactOS, Solaris, any of the *BSDs, or something I’ve never heard of.

    • ciko22i3@sopuli.xyz
      0·
      1 year ago

      If you want something obscure barely anyone heard about try eComStation. Unfortunately you’ll have to pirate it, but its really easy to find.

      • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
        0·
        1 year ago

        That’s a good find. I’d never heard of it. I always thought OS/2 was pretty great, although I only got to mess around with it a few decades again. Looking up eComStation led me to ArcaOS, which seems like a more updated eComStation. OS/2, Amiga, BeOS and NeXT should have been more popular.

        • LeFantome@programming.dev
          1·
          1 year ago

          I think MorphOS is considered the up to date Amiga.

          For BeOS, Haiku is pretty great.

          ArcaOS is literally OS/2.

          There is no modern NeXT OS but there is a recent DE effort if all you want is the user experience.