*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?
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.
If you want something obscure barely anyone heard about try eComStation. Unfortunately you'll have to pirate it, but its really easy to find.
If you're not the pirating type, you can buy a license for ArcaOS to get something still supported.
It's a bit pricey though.
it's 130 bucks for a kinda useless, novelty OS.
Wow, I am definitely getting old if OS/2 is “obscure”
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.
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.
I mean even Solaris and the BSDs are just different flavors of Unix
... and Linux is not Unix. BSD and Solaris are, in my opinion, much better than any Linux. The problem is that BSD suffers from hardware incompatibility, and there are very few application programs for the current Solaris.
Good point. I should have worded my question differently.
You are not the only one. Haiku is getting close to daily driver capability.
You cannot practically use it on real hardware yet but one to watch is SaerenityOS.
It is unfinished enough to be a pipe dream but RavynOS is cool.
I am not sure there is anything outside the POSIX space that is really usable as a desktop on current hardware.
I remember how much I loved using Solaris in the 1990s in the computer lab at college. People still use Solaris? I never saw something as elegant and intuitive as Solaris in those old days.