The Linux ecosystem is vast and diverse, offering a multitude of distributions to suit every need and preference. With hundreds of distros to choose from, it’s a pity that most are rarely mentioned while the popular ones are constantly being regurgitated.

This thread aims to celebrate this diversity and shine a light on smaller projects with passionate developers. I invite you to pitch your favorite underappreciated distro and share your experiences with those lesser-known Linux distributions that deserve more attention.

While there are no strict rules or banlists, I encourage you to focus on truly niche or exotic distributions rather than the more commonly discussed ones. Consider touching upon what makes your chosen distro unique:

  • What features or philosophies set it apart?
  • Why do you favor it over other distros, including the popular ones? (Beyond “It just works.”)
  • In what situations would you recommend it to others?

Whether it’s a specialized distro for a particular use case or a general-purpose OS with a unique twist, let’s explore the road less traveled in the Linux landscape. Your insights could introduce fellow enthusiasts to their next favorite distribution!

  • boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net
    11·
    4 months ago

    Fedora Kinoite: the most stable update and package mechanism there is.

    Even though the packages are really new, it is still stable and you always have a rollback.

    Even more, you can reset the system, and we are experimenting with factory resetting too. Resetting means as long as your system has some bootable backup, you can get back to 100% vanilla but current version, without reinstalling.

    • baduhai@sopuli.xyz
      7·
      4 months ago

      Fedora Kinoite NixOS: the most stable update and package mechanism there is.

      Even though the packages are really new, it is still stable and you always have a rollback.

      And it’s declarative.

        • null@slrpnk.net
          3·
          4 months ago

          Kinda crazy that I’m running NixOS on 3 boxes…

          How do I get anything done?

        • baduhai@sopuli.xyz
          2·
          4 months ago

          It’s funny, you could take the text you wrote for Kinoite and it’s aplicable to pretty much any atomic distro, regardrdless of how it implements that atomicity(if that’s a word).

          • boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net
            1·
            4 months ago

            Depending if you just mean all the Fedora Forks or really all the other implementations (Android, ChromeOS, SteamOS, VanillaOS, microOS/Aeon XeniaOS (?)) afaik Fedora Atomic is the best.

            This does not apply to OpenSUSE microOS for example, where there is no reset capability.

            And the lack of either using ostree (which is like git) or chunked container images, makes the updates still package based and more prone to breaking.