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!
Yeah I'm someone who thinks systemd is pretty good, but I still avoid it on personal machines just because I think it's level of market penetration creates a dangerous monoculture.
+1. systemd is something the Linux ecosystem really needs, but its execution is abysmal. We should be designing around standards so the best product can win. We should not be designing around singular implementations that could make it easy for Red Hat to execute a EEE strategy to consolidate Linux on the workstation.
I can't wait till a crowdstrike-like flaw is exposed in systemd so we can all see how terrible^W wonderful monocultures can be.
Like Linux?
This kind of happened with the
xzhack already. I didn't look into it heavily, so this is anecdotal, but accordingly thexzhack relied on systemd to execute the backdoor, so if you didn't have systemd on your machine, the backdoor was essentially inert.That's not at all the conclusion you should draw. xz was linked into systemd but that was just a convenient target. Once xz was compromised it could have targeted literally anything that loaded it. Your only real defence would have been not to install it at all.