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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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Who here uses a less popular Linux distribution? What made you choose it? (lemdro.id)

submitted 1 year ago by mfat@lemdro.id to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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Hey fellow Linux enthusiasts! I'm curious to know if any of you use a less popular, obscure or exotic Linux distribution. What motivated you to choose that distribution over the more mainstream ones? I'd love to hear about your experiences and any unique features or benefits that drew you to your chosen distribution.

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[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yes and no.
As the other commenter said, you can apply live if it has to be (but you absolutely shouldn't).

But, I never have to reboot anyway. When I install apps, I do that in containers (Toolbox, Distrobox, Flatpak) and they give me all functionality I need.
You basically only install drivers and absolutely essential stuff per OSTree and you only do that once.

Updates get applied and installed in the background for me. There's no prompt to reboot, they only get staged.
I shut down my PC every few days anyway, and when I boot, I boot into the new image.

I don't see that as a problem. Rebooting is only a matter of seconds on a NVME

[–] d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I haven't really used Tool/Distrobox so correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they basically contain a sort of a lightweight copy of the OS (minus the kernel/and some core stuff? ), so wouldn't you have to keep all your containers up-to-date as well, in addition to your host OS? I'm just wondering how much of a double-up/space waste there is going on with such a setup.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

I'm no expert, so I can't help you much.

The container downloaded in less than a minute in my case, and I have really really bad internet.
The containers are really minimalist (basically only a set of dependencies) and shouldn't take much disk space.

Heck, and even if they do, space is really cheap anyway.
They function sort of like how Flatpaks do. With Flatpaks, you also don't download a whole OS, only dependencies.

Maintainence wise, you're right.
Normally, you would have to type the "distrobox-upgrade" command to update all containers.
In my case, since I use uBlue, this gets done automatically afaik.