In the end of November 2022 (1 year ago), I switched from MacOs to Linux (Debian with KDE Plasma) on my MacBook.
No regret! Was a very good decision.
I think, I’ll never go back.
Experience:
- I did not know about KDE Plasma until 1 year ago. The picture in my head about Linux was pretty much GNOME. I’m a huge fan of KDE Plasma now. KDE Plasma 6 in 2024 will probably be awesome.
- The GitHub repository “Awesome-Linux-Software” was awesome during the first weeks. It made me realize that most of the stuff I was already using, is also available for Linux. Only software I had to leave behind: Affinity Designer (IMO far more intuitive to use than GIMP, sorry FOSS community) and Visual Studio for Mac (which is dead anyway)
- The only advanced thing I had to do in the beginning: My WIFI connection is always gone when I close my MacBook, but there is not automatic reconnect when I reopen it. None of the usual stuff recommended when using Debian on a MacBook helped. So, I had to write a service that checks for this (something with rmmod, modprobe, brcmfmac, …). Probably too much for a casual user and hopefully not necessary for them…
TODO in the next year:
- Trying out gaming on Linux, maybe buying a Steam Deck
- Migrating to KDE Plasma 6 (and switching to Wayland)
- Recommending
our religionLinux to others
Try Void. I was aiming at Arch as well, but then I stumbled upon Void… never made the switch to Arch.
What’s good about Void?
It doesn’t use systemd, it uses runit.
The repo is full of any software you might need, including proprietary (through xbps-src).
Everything just works, if it doesn’t it’s probably your fault.
It’s a rolling release distro, yet focused on stability and usabilty, so you won’t get the latest and greates, but instead builds that are known to be solid. For example the kernel, it’s not the latest, as is with Arch, but it’s maybe one or two minor versions behin. The same applies to software, they’re known to jump versions if the current build proves to be unstable.
Lightning fast boot up. It’s also the fastest distro there is, apart from the *BSDs.
Compiling and testing is a breeze thanks to xbps-src.
A lot of tools and scripts that make building templates for software not in the repo very easy.
Supports a lot of architectures. NetBSD is the only other POSIX OS that supports more architectures than Void.
There are other things, I’m sure, but these are the ones I can think of ATM.
it’s pretty much just arch without systemd then. which is enough of a dealbreaker for me, as I think that systemd is the best thing to happen to linux since sliced bread.
No, that’s Artix.
No, it’s not Arch without systemd. Arch breaks a lot more than Void does. Ask Void users when was the last time a Void update broke their system. I use it as a daily driver, plus for a lot of other things (at work and home) that are considered mission critical. I would never use Arch for that. Also, it’s faster than Arch, it supports A LOT more architectures than Arch does… or any other Linux distro for that matter (LFS excluded).
Personally, I’ve never had an Arch update break my system. But it’s probably only a matter of time
I can only see x86 and ARM though. Where MIPS? PPC32BE? And I’m not even asking for some obscure architectures like SuperH.
Do you know any other distro that’s not LFS or Gentoo that still supports x86? I said a lot, not everything. Most distros don’t support anything below 64-bits.
A fork supported PPC up until a while ago. That project halted though. There was a new spin on it, can’t remember the distro’s name though.
xbps-src can cross compile for MIPS. There are no packages in the repo for MIPS though.
You guessed it:
But also OpenWRT.
How to they even support early raspis?
Oh, come on 🤦.
What? I have it on my MIPS router.
I meant as in a real OS, not a stripped down version meant to run as firmware.
Not even console locale did on my notebook, have to fix that setup sometime. And the installer is pretty barebones and a bit buggy.
Nononono, there are only two POSIX certified linux distros: K-UX and Huawey’s EulerOS.
What exactly did you do that you couldn’t change your locale? You do know that you have to reconfigure glibc-locales afterwards.
What exactly is buggy about the installer?
POSIX certification costs money. There are a lot of distros and OSes that are POSIX compatibe, just not certified.
Oh, i did? Thanks anyways!
I had to work around it so that it doesn’t send me to (disk? network? not sure anymore) setup again and again.
Never happened to me. How long ago was this?
A month or so. Maybe i should reflash again.
You should also probably try and see if the same thing happens in a VM. The flash drive might be failing and I don’t think Void does CRC checks of files when copying them… definitely not when funning them, like the installer for example.
EDIT: I remember the installer bringing me back to the partitioning setup, but that’s because I partition manually, not through the Void installer, so the installer thinks that that step is skipped. No worries though, just go to the end of the installer setup and continue with the provided settings. If an adequate target partition has been set, it will install Void.